Just when you thought you had enough of Bejeweled, PopCap has released an update to the massively popular Match 3 game adding the competitive one minute Blitz mode that has been so popular on Facebook. According to the Facebook application page for Bejeweled Blitz, there are over 10 million monthly active users.

The iPhone version naturally connects to the Facebook version as detailed by Games.com:

The iPhone version also includes all of the same power-ups -- score multipliers and laser gems -- vital to pushing your score to unbeatable heights. Your high scores will automatically show up on the leaderboard in the Facebook version, and you'll be able to post brag notes on your Facebook page anytime you score a metal in the game (see example below). We were impressed to see our new high scores appeared in the Facebook version's leaderboard in real time, as well as our brag notes.

This tight Facebook integration allows you to compete on the existing leaderboards as well as in the weekly tournaments and prize drawings.

The Blitz mode is a free update to the Bejeweled 2 iPhone game. Facebook connectivity is, of course, required to take advantage of the online component. You can play in an offline mode if you prefer, but then you may as well be playing the existing single player modes.

App Store Link: Bejeweled 2, $2.99

The Settlers is a real time strategy (RTS) gaming series that has evolved quite a bit over the past two decades. Gameloft’s The Settlers as a standalone game brings a slightly different take on RTS to the iPhone/iPod Touch platform that for the most part delivers, but also bringing a few frustrations along the way including the omission of a freeplay mode. Ultimately, The Settlers is a solid experience and good introduction for newcomers to the series.

As with any typical RTS game, the objective is to build a community, establishing a means of income, develop a powerful military, and expand territories. The Settlers, however, is less about tactical micromanagement and more about strategic planning. In many ways, The Settlers is a game focused on urban planning where the placement and construction of buildings play heavily in your success. Unlike many of today’s RTS games, direct control of individual or groups of units is limited. You literally establish a virtual society where your vision will set it down the path to success or failure. This premise alone makes The Settlers worth considering especially for newcomers to the series.

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After the arrival of Don Bluth's Space Ace in the App Store, fans of these classic laser disc games were hoping that Dragon's Lair would also make its way to the iPhone.

We're not sure how long this notice has been in place, but TouchArcade reader trystero spotted an announcement by Digital Leisure that they will be bringing Dragon's Lair to the iPhone due to popular demand.

The "Fall" timeframe makes us think this notice has been in place for some time, but we're still hopeful the game will arrive sooner than later.

If you're a child of 80's video games like me, few games likely bring back more traumatic memories of horrifying difficulty than Ghosts 'n Goblins. While the game was originally released in arcades in 1985, it wasn't until 1986 that Ghosts 'n Goblins cursed the NES with its presence and quickly grew in fame as one of the most difficult games of all time. Over the years there have been many sequels, ports, and remakes of the game with the most recent being Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights [App Store] for the iPhone.

So what has changed over the years? Well, the most noticeable thing are the sprite-based graphics from days of old have been replaced with a 2.5D world with all kind of new animations and environmental effects. It's hard to say how much this improves the game though, as the textures are low resolution, the animations appear to be almost intentionally ridiculous, and what's worse is the game doesn't run very smoothly even on my iPhone 3GS.

The difficulty has been significantly decreased from the original. You can now absorb multiple hits from enemies before dying, and there are a whole array of additional weapons and power ups to be found in the game. Unfortunately, it seems that most of the challenge in the game now comes from negotiating the inherent lack of precision in the virtual D-Pad controls. Similar to how we felt about Earthworm Jim, if your memories of Ghosts 'n Goblins involve a physical D-Pad, you will likely have an uncomfortably awkward adjustment period of missing jumps and falling in to pits.

Because of the increased life bar and chests with power-ups littering the game, the only real threat that the monsters you come across pose is knocking you backwards in to a pit. At the end of each level there's a boss, but the gimmick of each boss only amounts to dodging different things. Levels feature multiple check points, and it seems like there's always a checkpoint just before a boss so if you don't beat them the first time you will almost assuredly beat them the second.

There is an in-game store where you can buy access to various cheats for 99¢ each. These cheats range from infinite lives to stronger armor and weapons. Unfortunately, there's no "don't fall in pits constantly" cheat you can buy, so none of them seem really that useful. Since after you die you're able to select the last level you were on and start from that point, even having infinite lives doesn't help that much.

Despite the game's many flaws, it's still Ghosts 'n Goblins. Everything from the map scrolling across the screen between deaths to your guy running around in his underwear when you take enough damage to lose your armor is in place. If you're into nostalgia, Ghosts 'n Goblins does deliver but, otherwise, the iPhone version of the game can't really stand on its own. If this is the first you've heard of Ghosts 'n Goblins, you'd probably be better off playing it on a real console with a real d-pad.

App Store Link: Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights, $2.99

Puzzle games have been wildly popular in the casual gaming market, a fact that has inevitably, for better or worse, resulted in a saturation of the genre on the AppStore. Because of this, it's a wonder that Totemo [App Store] can still inject a great deal of life and charm into the genre.

The basic premise behind Totemo is somewhat similar to block removal games like Mental Blocks [App Store] and the countless other games where you're removing pieces from the game board. Each level in Totemo, of which there are over 60, poses a different arrangement of "spirits", which you must release into the nethers by binding them to the totem ever present on the left of the screen.

Each spirit you select will light up one part of the Totem with a fully lit totem removing them from the playing field. Spirits can only be removed by selecting those in the same row or column, and so the unique twist lies with finding the correct order for discarding your spirits and clearing the level of them entirely- a feat that gets surprisingly challenging by about level 20. Without perfect execution, you will find yourself with only one or two spirits remaining, unable to bind them completely to the Totem and thus encouraged to renew your attempt.

The source of this encouragement is an endearing totemic spirit guide who walks you through the gameplay features at the beginning of the Story Mode and gradually narrates the tale as you progress through the levels. His charm is an embodiment of the excellent presentation and overall feeling of Totemo. Each level is gorgeously crafted, with different animated backdrops for each chapter of the story and lively matching objects that are introduced to ramp up the challenge.

Extra touches such as how the eyes of valid spirits focus on the player when another is selected, and how a level can be instantly restarted by shaking the device, really show off the care that has gone into Totemo's development. Together with an interesting if quirky selection of tribal and electronic tunes to accompany each level, Totemo sports a great deal of polish for a puzzle game.

For those who are finished with the Story mode, there is also a Survival mode that has you breeze through the levels as quickly as you can on a timer, additional time being added on completion of a level. The competitive types will be pleased to note that a comprehensive online leaderboard records your scores in Survival mode, sortable by Daily, Weekly and All time scores.

Here is a teaser video released by the developer that doesn't show any gameplay, but will give you a good idea of the atmosphere to expect in the game:

For $0.99, it is hard not to justify a look into Totemo at least, particularly if you consider yourself a puzzle fan. There is even something there for the action puzzler, with Survival mode getting quite frenetic as you race against the clock. Visit the discussion thread for more opinions about the game.

App Store Link: Totemo, $0.99

Towards the end of July this year we previewed a massive multiplayer online game set in space called Outer Empires [App Store] by Ironwill Studios. Aside from its new iPhone client, Outer Empires also works by pointing any modern browser to the game's web site at outer-empires.com.

The game is quite similar to a 2D version of EVE Online, and the game concept has remained the same since our preview:

Outer Empires takes place in a persistent galaxy where players can choose from a variety of different activities as you play in the intergalactic sandbox. There are tons of quests (or "Missions" as they're called in game) to complete that range from simple transport jobs to exploring and bounty hunting. Once you establish yourself in the world, you can set up colonies as well as run or join a guild (or "Factions" in Outer Empires).

There's a whole array of upgrades, ships, and other things to buy as you rank up in game. While the iPhone client costs $1.99, you can play the web version for free and neither version of the game has mandatory subscriptions. If you do choose to subscribe, you will get double the experience and space bucks of free users for completing the same missions. Subscription prices range from $3.99 a month with options for 3, 6, or 12 month discounts along with a $99.99 lifetime subscription.

Outer Empires is a cool concept, but like any online game how much fun you have with it will likely depend on the community inside of the game. I'd definitely at least give the free browser version of the game a try if the idea of a mobile space MMO interests you, and if you find yourself captivated by the Outer Empires universe, pick up the iPhone client.

App Store Link: Outer Empires, $1.99

Capcom release the iPhone version of their long running Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise with the "Gold Knights" edition today.

Developer description of the game includes:

• Brilliant 3D graphics and classic platform action!
• For the first time, play as two different heroes each with a unique play style.
• Master six different weapons per character and power up each weapon with magic.
• Destroy treasure chests to uncover weapons and more powerful suits of armor.
• Further customize your Ghosts ‘N Goblins experience with DLC.

The game is on launch sale for $2.99 until November 23rd. The game also offers additional "cheat" power-ups and extras that can be purchased for $0.99 a piece. These add ons include:

• Unlimited Lives
• Increase the attack power of Arthur's weapons
• Increase the rapid fire and superiority of Lancelot's weapons
• Use of magic regardless of armor's condition, increase magic's power and decreases charging time
• Increases durability of all armors
• Makes enemies weaker and removes all magicians and traps in the stage

The use of any of these extras prevents you from being ranked in the local high scores.

Early impressions are being collected in our forums. We'll post detailed impressions and a video in time.

App Store Link: Ghosts'n Goblins Gold Knights, $2.99

Glen Corpes recently released his visually stunning game Ground Effect into the App Store.

Ground Effect is an arcade style Ekranoplan racing game that takes place around a series of 14 different sets of islands. Despite the relative simplicity of the geometry of these islands, the game is visually stunning with extremely impressive draw distance and silky smooth framerates. The game is controlled utilizing either tilt or touch controls while acceleration is handled automatically. There are two on screen buttons for boosting and braking, and doing well in the game requires intelligent management of boost, which slowly recharges when you're not using it.

The game is structured as a pure arcade racer in which your goal is to get 3rd place or better to unlock the subsequent map. Each map is set up as a series of checkpoints that you must pass through to complete the laps. Even with this setup, the levels are free roam which in some cases allows you to try to find a shorter (but more dangerous route). As a low flying vehicle, you can only skim your way across low surfaces or make your way up gradual inclines. Fly into too steep a portion of rock or land, and you'll crash. The game has a really great sense of speed and movement as you find yourself bobbing over surfaces trying to make the best time, and level designs are also varied and enjoyable.

The video shows both in-game flying (brake and accelerator shown) as well as alternate camera views which aren't included in the game (though can be invoked).

Each of the levels end up requiring at least a few tries to familiarize yourself with the twists and turns and how best to maximize your boost. While there are other vehicles you are competing against, they primarily serve as time markers as there is no ship to ship interaction. There is also nice Ghost race mode that lets you continue to compete against your best performance and adds notably to long term replayability.

While the core gameplay is solid, the game's extras are a bit rough around the edges. While there are 10 ships to choose from, the differences are cosmetic only so there's no incentive to explore the different ships. Meanwhile, the high score system is local only and does not allow you to enter your name, so the game can't practically support more than one player on a given installation.

Despite these minor limitations, the game is great fun and has kept me coming back. The forum response likewise been very positive. We also spoke about this game in our recent podcast.

App Store Link: Ground Effect, $3.99

Russ Menapace of Human Powered Games and Josh Presseisen of Crescent Moon Games join us to talk about their upcoming 3D RPG Ravensword as well as a number of other gaming titles this week.

Ravensword

• Ravensword - Their upcoming 3D RPG. How it came together, their background, and the controls

Games We Played

• Wheeler's Treasure
• Cell War
• Ground Effect
• Blue Defense!

Upcoming Games

• Rogue Planet

Podcast music provided by Overclocked Remix.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes or Direct Download (M4A, 47MB)

While I could go absolutely crazy with Baha Men references here, I'll spare our readers and instead just cut to the chase-- The Canadian and Australian beta period of ngmoco's virtual pet game TouchPets Dogs [App Store] is finally over. Much like Eliminate [App Store], TouchPets is a free to download game, but your play time is limited along with the advancement of your dog.

Your dog in TouchPets is powered by virtual dog food, which you can either buy or just wait for your in-game dog food bowl to slowly recharge on its own just like energy in Eliminate. The main difference is, while you can play Eliminate all day long if you wanted to without earning credits, your dog in TouchPets actually goes to sleep when it runs out of food. Feeding your dog increases its energy meter, which then is depleted as you play with it.

What initially seems like a very simple virtual pet game quickly turns in to a surprisingly elaborate dog training roleplaying game of sorts where you need to constantly be raising your dog's attributes to rank up as a dog trainer and caretaker. As you level up, more items will be purchable at the pet store using the in-game puppy bucks currency which is earned by keeping your dog happy. There are also career paths for your dog to embark on such as becoming a crime fighter or a rescue dog along with silly careers such as a scientist or a politician.

Each step in your career requires items from the pet store you need to buy along with other requirements like trainer rank, dog happiness level, and some career missions even require you to bring another dog along, which brings us to the social aspect of the game. Since the game leans to heavily on Plus+, TouchPets must be constantly connected to the internet to play.

At any time during the game you can look through your Plus+ friends and invite their dog to come play with yours. The dogs then form relationships and can become friends, get angry with each other, or even fall in love. Every milestone in game is saved online and can be shared on Facebook, and your dog (as well as your activities with friends' dogs) are constantly synchronized with ngmoco's servers.

This allows you to do things like invite a friend's dog over and feed them. When your friend loads up the game, it grabs the latest snapshot of their dog saved on the TouchPets servers, and their recently fed dog will be have a full energy meter in their game. The social aspect of TouchPets is surprisingly fun, and the crazy dog relationships, scuffles, and love triangles that form have been endlessly amusing.

You can train your dog to do tricks, and if you're a good enough trainer (and have enough puppy bucks) you can even own multiple dogs. There's tons to do in TouchPets, and you could just play the game utilizing the free food you get throughout the day. Doing so, however, only allows you to play sporadically for a few minutes at a time, but otherwise there is no limit on how much you can advance your dog. If you're patient enough you could have a house full of dogs with multiple completed career paths without paying for anything.

The other way to play the game involves buying the different packs of virtual dog food which are currently priced between 99¢ and $29.99. Keep in mind though, the game seems to be designed more towards playing the game a little bit every day. While you could, for example, buy the $30 pack, and power your way through the game in few days, I'm not sure you'd have much left to enjoy. I've been playing TouchPets since the start of the Canadian beta, and without paying for anything I've ranked up significantly along with progressing nicely down the scientist career path by just playing a little bit each day.

TouchPets Dogs is definitely one of the best virtual pet games I've played, largely in part due to how much it utilizes Plus+ for building relationships between dogs. It adds a completely unexpected level of depth and complexity to the game that will likely keep me playing it for quite some time. I might eventually buy some food, but I've been happy with the amount of play time I'm getting with my free food allotment each day. Since the game is free, there really isn't much reason to not give it a spin. Further impressions and play dates are being coordinated in the official discussion thread in our forums.

App Store Link: TouchPets Dogs, Free

There are few things on the App Store (Short of maybe Edge [$4.99 / Free].) that have as much drama surrounding them as Manomio's C64 [$4.99]. All the way back in June we originally reported on its existence along with the sad news that the fully licensed emulator was rejected by Apple for violating the terms of the SDK regarding installing and launching executable code.

In September, the C64 emulator was finally approved by Apple, and available for a short period of time. Just a few days later, it was pulled from the App Store because the BASIC interpreter included was not removed, only disabled, and reactivating it was extremely simple.

Manomio once again submitted an updated version of the emulator to the App Store, and it was finally approved this afternoon. Aside from (hopefully) removing all the things that Apple didn't like, it also sports up to a 30% performance improvement, onboard instructions for each of the included games, and three new games: International Basketball, International Baseball, and International Tennis.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Following its initial rejection, we did a full hands-on preview, and aside from the improvements and changes mentioned above the emulator seems quite similar to its original release. Since C64 has had such a torrid history of being pulled from the App Store and then taking months to reappear, if you've been waiting to grab this fully featured emulator, I wouldn't hesitate for long.

App Store Link: C64, $4.99

Gameloft has released footage of their upcoming skateboarding game Skater Nation in their first ever video podcast which details many of their games. It also includes brief clips of unreleased games including Skater Nation, Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain, Castle Frenzy and Rogue Planet.

Relavent details from their upcoming Skater Nation game include:

• Fully 3D
• Nonlinear City Environment
• 8 Skaters
• Upload tricks and replays to YouTube

We started the embedded video at the relevant part for Skater Nation, and you can keep watching to see the remainder of the titles listed. The video can be watched in its entirety by rewinding to the beginning or watching at Gameloft's blog. They promise more details on NOVA and Avatar games in their December podcast.

DotEmu, who brought the retro titles Nicky Boom, Krypton Egg, and Golvellius to the App Store, has just given Touch Arcade an exclusive heads up on their latest IP acquisition. And for shooter fans, this is pretty much the best news you could hear: The renowned shooter classic R-Type is coming to the iPhone and iPod touch. The studio informs us that development is currently under way and the title should hit the App Store sometime in the next few months.

"We are very pleased to work on R-Type and to start our collaboration with Irem Software Engineering Inc. Our main goal is to make the best touch version possible of this great game to seduce both fans and new players. This is really a great game and we are eager to release it!" said Xavier Liard, CEO of DotEmu.

For those somehow unfamiliar with R-Type, a bit of history. R-Type is a side-scrolling shooter released to the arcade by Japanese publisher Irem in 1987. The game is set in the 22nd century and places the player in control of the R-9a "Arrowhead" fighter craft with the goal of defending humanity against the bio-mechanical alien life form known as the "Bydo." Battle is waged in and among a complex series of levels, some machine-like and metallic, some biological in nature.

( screenshot of arcade version )

R-Type is widely considered to be one of the best shooters ever made and is known for its viciously designed levels and extreme difficulty. (IGN ranked it 7th in their list of the 10 most difficult games to beat.) The game has been ported to a great many platforms, including the Xbox Live Arcade and the Wii Virtual Console, and has spawned many sequels as well as imitators.

( screenshot of arcade version )

The arrival of a classic of this magnitude -- one that stands so notably apart in its genre -- is wonderful news for iPhone gamers.  DotEmu is a French development and publishing house dedicated to bringing classic 80's / 90's games to modern platforms. See our interview with DotEmu CEO Xavier Liard, from last year, for a close look at the company's history and vision for iPhone game development.

See the following video of the arcade version of the game for a look at the action.

DotEmu has not released any iPhone-specific screenshots or demo videos, but they did reveal that the game will feature D-pad, touch, and tilt controls and that they are focused on getting those controls implemented in a perfectly playable fashion. They have also indicated that they are eager to dig into the issue of iControlPad support and, barring something unforeseen, plan to have support implemented either in the initial release or in an update.

We will share any further news and assets surrounding R-Type for the iPhone as we get them.  Stay tuned.

For those who never picked up Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter game, it has now dropped in price from $6.99 to $4.99.

The game is a hack and slash RPG that we reviewed back in September. The only real criticism of the game was that it was somewhat easy, but our conclusion was very positive:

Overall though, Dungeon Hunter is a blast. Until Blizzard releases an iPhone port of Diablo or Microsoft does the same with Dungeon Siege, Dungeon Hunter is a great alternative. If you like slaying monsters, earning experience, doing quests, and picking up an obscene amount of loot in the process, Dungeon Hunter is the iPhone game for you.

Gameloft has also released a Lite/Free version to try.

App Store Link: Dungeon Hunter, $4.99, Dungeon Hunter - FREE, Free

We've been following the iControlPad project since it was first revealed in May 2008. A new video has been revealed showing the latest prototype hardware which has been significantly redesigned. Their blog explains:

What we got [in terms of feedback on the original design] was interesting, the design worked but obviously needed to be altered for each type of iPhone and the controls were a bit cramped, plus it was quite large to carry. We were not 100% happy with this. If we are going to do this we want to do it right.

As some of you know we have access to the parts used on the openPandora handheld - which has dual analogue nubs.

A sleepless night then resulted a huge design change.

Here's a new video of the hardware playing Mario Kart in emulation (on jailbroken hardware):

This project has always been more interesting than practical as it was originally limited to jailbroken hardware due to the SDK restrictions. The launch of iPhone 3.0 firmware and SDK, Apple announced that the dock connector is now accessible to hardware manufacturers, though we haven't seen it taken advantage of quite yet.

We've dropped them a line about the possibility of official SDK support, and we'll keep you up to date. Developers, of course, would have to provide direct support for such a device, though the developers of C64 the Commodore 64 emulator have already said they would support such a device.

[via Engadget]