Since Arnold and Blake foolishly decided to trust the fate of their weekend in the questionably capable hands of Saturday delivery drivers, I'm the first person in the TouchArcade crew to successfully secure an iPad. I'm still waiting for the hundreds of iPad games we've been hoarding since they started showing up on the App Store to sync, but so far my initial impressions of the device are almost exactly what I expected.

The screen is beautiful, browsing the internet on is great, and the included Apple apps (notably the iPad mail client) are especially impressive and will undoubtedly make the iPhone feel cramped in comparison if I get too used to it. The one thing that did take me by surprise is the weight of the device, especially being so use to the feel of my Kindle. But, according to reviews, the battery figures Apple provided apparently are accurate and I'm more than willing to put up with a little extra bulk for a device that can go all day without being plugged in.

I'm likely going to be spending the day powering through as many of the iPad launch lineup as possible, as well as seeing how quickly I can adapt my iPhone video shooting rig to the larger device. I've got my personal list of games I'm the most interested in trying, but (assuming they made appropriate offerings to the gods of Saturday delivery) Arnold and Blake should soon be joining me in the iPad fiesta.

I suppose we can take requests for what you guys would like to see first, so feel free to drop a comment on this story and we'll try to prioritize our initial impressions based on the general consensus. The first game I'm going to be firing up is Mirror's Edge [App Store, quickly followed by Warpgate HD [App Store], and I'm not even sure to go from there.

Also, if you're curious to see any specific iPhone game upscaled on the iPad, we'll likely also be doing a roundup of sorts of iPhone classics running on the iPad or something like that.

We all know that iPhone platform devices are capable mobile gaming devices. There are some real gems in the App Store that take particular advantage of the iPhone's unique capabilities, with more on the way. Apple knows it too -- they've long been advertising the iPod touch specifically as a game machine. An Apple patent application that was made public on April 1 may indicate that Apple wants to take iPhone gaming to an even higher level.

First filed back in 2008, the patent in question, US20100081505, is entitled ACCESSORY FOR PLAYING GAMES WITH A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE. The abstract follows.

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The Apple iPad is about to launch this morning, and up until now, Apple has been very tight with early access to the tablet device. So much so, it's been rare to see footage of games played on actual devices. In fact, many developers have been unable to test their games on final hardware.

This morning, Apple has posted some in-hand videos of several well known games being played on the iPad. Here they are:

Scrabble for iPad

Asphalt 5 HD

Real Racing HD

Note we've received full size (1027x768) screenshots from Real Racing HD: one, two, three, four, five

Labyrinth 2 HD

All of these games are already available in the App Store. We'll have our own hands on videos with various iPad games once we have our iPads in hand.

App Store Links:

• Scrabble for iPad, $9.99
• Scrabble Tile Rack, Free (iPhone/iPod Touch)
• Real Racing HD, $9.99
• Asphalt 5 HD, $6.99
• Labyrinth 2 HD, $7.99

One year ago Chillingo sent us a teaser about their upcoming 3D adventure shooter Vampire Origins. Today, the game finally went live in the App Store.

Vampire Origins is a macabre 3D shooter reminiscent of Alone in the Dark and early Resident Evil titles. The backdrops are pre-rendered and your character, his enemies, and various special items are rendered as 3D objects within the backdrop setting. You move from screen to screen in this fashion, and the transitions are quick, but there's no scrolling of the backdrop of any sort.

The story that ties it all together, well rendered in cartoon-style cut scenes, did have me anxious to see how things turn out. The typical battle scenarios are fine. With an onscreen stick and button, you move through the various screens, shooting enemies with a tap (auto-target or tap-the-enemy), utilizing various weapons that can be picked up along the way. While you can use the on-screen button to auto-fire, I found tap-firing directly on the enemies to be more accurate.

What's not so good are the sort-of boss-sequence fights that, while making for the best static screenshots, actually involve basically zero play skill. When you go up against a powerful villain, you watch a lovely, cinematic fight sequence -- but basically only have to trace a line in the indicated direction to perform your attacks. It feels completely detached from the action and runs on for too long.

The forum response to the game has been rather negative, which I believe is based mostly on high expectations for the long build-up for the game, and the seemingly dated gameplay. Personally, having had a historical fondness to this sort of formula from early Playstation games, I actually enjoyed the gameplay setting and found the adventure sequences to be well done. That said, I can see how it would seem dated, and tap to shoot mechanic is almost never a positive. In the end, however, the game was fine, but not great which makes it hard to recommend at the $6.99 launch price.

App Store Link: Vampire Origins, $6.99

Spacetime Studios has finally revealed a project they have been working on for the past several months. Pocket Legends is a realtime 3D massively multiplayer online game where you can play with anyone from around the world over Wi-Fi, 3G and even EDGE. The game will be coming out for both the iPad as well as the iPhone and iPod touch.

iPad screenshot, click for Full Size

The game has 3 classes of characters (Mage, Tank, Ranged) with upgradable stats and skills. Features include:

• 3D real-time persistent iPhone MMO
• Plays across all devices (2g, 3g, 3gs, touch)
• Worldwide multiplayer adventures over Edge, WiFi, and 3G networks
• Client/server architecture supports thousands of players
• Upgrade and customize your avatar
• Thousands of loot items
• Dozens of skills
• Regular content updates

Here's the trailer:

The iPad version just appeared in the store while the iPhone/iPod Touch version is currently in review.

App Store Link: Pocket Legends for iPad, Free

Back at PAX East I met with the guys from Mission Critical Studios to see their upcoming game, DrNanoX. It's still in development, but they got me a brief trailer that shows the opening of the game and a little bit of gameplay footage. In the game, you play as a shrunk down doctor who is dispatched inside the bodies of your patients to manage medical maladies from the inside.

What struck me as rather interesting about this game is that the same people behind this game actually also do a number of commercial medical animations as well and it's fun seeing how they've turned these scientifically accurate animations in to a silly little third person shooter/adventure game. We'll see how DrNanoX turns out when it's released, but for the time being, it seems like an interesting premise that I look forward to trying out once it hits the App Store.

Yesterday we posted a review of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 for the iPhone, and since then I've still been sneaking little play sessions whenever I can today. With the insanity that was the never-ending flow of iPad news in the past 24 hours, I didn't have time to shoot a gameplay video that a few people asked for, but thankfully, Activision just released the following gameplay trailer:

For more details on the game, hop over to our review. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 is the skateboarding game to own right now if you're at all interested in the sport and own an iPhone. As I spend more time with the game and get even better with the controls I find myself liking it more and more.

You don't want to miss this one.

App Store Link: Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, $9.99

Back when the iPad was first announced, one genre that it seemed people on our forums really wanted to see on the device was board games. A number have developers have answered the call, but one of the most interesting offerings we've seen so far is Days of Winder's Small World. Small World [App Store] is a fantasy-based world conquest game where players take turns playing the included races which cover the gamut of orcs, elves, and more to take over everything.

For more information about the game, you can either check out the overview on the Days of Wonder site or check oug this shockingly articulate kid named Hayden who does a surprisingly good job explaining everything you'd ever want to know about playing the board game in this video:

Small World has some serious board game streed cred', named Games Magazine's game of the year and selling close to 60,000 copies worldwide, Small World should be an excellent fit on the iPad. I realize it's getting cliche to say this game is also on the list of games I'm totally loading on my iPad, but, well, it is.

iPad App Store Link: Small World for iPad, $4.99

As we enter the final hours of the iPad pre-launch fiesta, more and more videos of iPad games are coming online. We likely won't have video of games on actual devices until tomorrow, but for the time being, watching these games being played in the simulator with a set of hands gives an idea of how much different they will likely feel on the iPad:

Games featured in the trailer, which are all currently available on the App Store:

• Asphalt 5 HD, $6.99
• Dungeon Hunter HD, $6.99
• Let's Golf HD, $6.99
• Modern Combat: Sandstorm HD, $6.99
• N.O.V.A. - Near Orbital Vanguard Alliance HD, $9.99
• NFL 2010 HD, $6.99
• Real Soccer 2010 HD, $6.99
• Uno HD, $6.99

I never really was able to get in to Touchgrind [$4.99] because of how zoomed in the camera needed to be to provide a good playing surface on the iPhone and iPod touch. Back before anyone knew the iPad even existed they released a video of the game running on a huge multi-touch surface, and ever since then I've wanted to play the game on a much larger screen.

Anyone with an iPad will be able to enjoy playing the game like this tomorrow with Touchgrind HD [$7.99], and it even includes a two player split screen mode.

Similar to the video of Touchgrind on a huge display, they also released a video of Labyrinth 2 [$4.99 / Free] being played on a 24" LCD with a PlayStation 3 controller taped to the back to capture the tilt controls. Labyrinth 2 is a game we absolutely loved in our review, and I only expect Labyrinth 2 HD [$7.99 / Free] to be even more fun on the big screen of the iPad.

Of course we haven't actually been able to try these two games yet, but both of them are already in my iTunes library ready to be loaded as soon as I get home with my iPad tomorrow.

App Store Links:

• Touchgrind, $4.99
• Touchgrind HD, $7.99 (iPad)
• Labyrinth 2, $4.99
• Labyrinth 2 Lite, Free
• Labyrinth 2 HD, $7.99 (iPad)
• Labyrinth 2 HD Lite, Free (iPad)

Firemint has let loose gameplay videos for iPad sequels for their massive hits Real Racing and Flight Control.

Real Racing HD

The iPad enhanced version carries enhanced graphics and a number of new features including:

• Car Skins - select photos from your photo album to wrap the images around your selected car
• Ghost Racing - race against a pre-recorded ghost from other players around the world
• Watch replays of their races within the game with different camera angles

Flight Control HD

Meanwhile, Firemint's genre-creating Flight Control also benefits from the large iPad screen with many more features including a 3D-glasses mode.

• Split-screen “versus” mode: play competitively by sending your planes to capture aircraft from your opponent.
• Co-operative multiplayer on a single iPad: share landing duties with a friend on one of three HD airfields.
• Multiplayer on two devices (selected from iPad, iPhone or iPod touch): land aircraft of your own color, and direct others off the screen for your fellow Controller to land.
• New Snow airfield with variable wind direction in addition to the four Classic iPhone airfields (Original, Beach, Carrier and Outback) and three HD airfields, for a total of eight single-player airfields.
• Quirky “3D view” airfield brings Flight Control to life like never before – use red/cyan glasses to see aircraft floating above the iPad (3D glasses not included, widely available from retailers such as amazon.com at low cost).
• Many more enhancements including all-new path continuation, improved collision warnings, a new “safe” fast forward function, and a longer version of the Flight Control song

The two sequels are iPad only and available now.

App Store Links (iPad): Real Racing HD, $9.99, Flight Control HD, $4.99
App Store Links (iPhone/iPod Touch): Real Racing, $4.99, Flight Control, $0.99

For 25 years now, I've been an avid flight simulator fan. (That's longer than Flight Simulator II to X, but who's counting.) And the sim series that I spend the most time with is X-Plane from Laminar Research. When I'm looking for a bit of relaxing entertainment during my commute, I often fire up one of the iPhone versions for some accelerometer-controlled soaring. But, for "serious" virtual flight sessions, I turn to the Mac version, which enjoys a much larger screen and additional sim features. That said, it should come as little surprise that I was quite pleased to see X-Plane for iPad [link] appear in the App Store as iPad titles began going live yesterday.

Says developer Austin Meyer of the iPad version,

The large screen and powerful processors of the iPad provide a tremendous amount of power that we have NOT seen in ANY mobile device to date. As well, the huge touch-screen interface for cockpit control and accelerometer-based sensing for flight control allow an interface to the virtual cockpit that is simply amazing.

According to Meyer, X-Plane for iPad features new, high resolution scenery and aircraft data, delivering four times the detail of the iPhone version. Terrain is dotted with 3D buildings, including terminals in San Francisco, Seattle, and Innsbruk, Austria. A reworked interface features much more detailed instrument panels and an RF control that's uniquely suited to the iPad. Background Air Traffic Control radio chatter, new to this version, adds depth to the experience of real cockpit flight.

I've long been impressed with just how enjoyable a flight experience the iPhone version [App Store] provides, despite the small screen. The notion of sitting on the couch and enjoying a much enhanced version of this experience is a nice one. (One doesn't always want to belly-up to a desk and grab a flight-stick when the wild blue yonder calls.) This is likely to be an obvious buy for any iPad-owning flight sim fan.

Those more interested in hardcore aerial combat games and unfamiliar with the X-Plane series should be aware that this is definitely more of a true simulation than a Ace Combat-type affair.

App Store Link: X-Plane for iPad, $9.99

Secret Exit just released some full-size screenshots and details about their iPad-followup title Zen Bound 2. The game is, of course, a followup to their highly acclaimed Zen Bound puzzle game where the goal is to paint wooden sculptures by wrapping them in rope.

Secret Exit reports three goals for Zen Bound 2: "to make it more accessible, more beautiful, and it had to justify itself as a sequel with new gameplay." The new version of the game includes more levels of shorter length offering a larger variety of themes and gameplay modes. Visuals are enhanced with new textures, reflections/shadows and dynamic shift. Finally, they've included a new game element called "paint bombs".

Features include:

• Over 100 levels in nine Trees
• New gameplay modes with paint bombs
• Highly detailed visuals, gorgeous on the iPad screen
• New Ghost Monkey music (total soundtrack 45 mins)
• All levels from the original Zen Bound, all with visual upgrades, some with new gameplay
• New levelsets include the Tree of Tribute, featuring guest stars from other independently developed iPhone games

Here are some full-size screenshots of the new game (click to view):




Zen Bound 2 is available for $7.99. Obviously, we haven't had time to try the iPad version first hand quite yet, but we loved the original. It'll be on the top of our list come Saturday.

App Store Link: Zen Bound 2, $7.99 (iPad Only)

Today the iPad App Store opened up, revealing a great many iPad launch titles to those itching to see what they'll be loading onto their iPads when they arrive on Saturday. The amount of iPad app news this has generated today has us feeling as if we're standing in the middle of a tornado, admittedly. And so, without a great deal of rhyme or reason, I've chosen a few iPad games, now in the App Store, to highlight, the only real criterion being that they're titles we've not recently covered and are ones that I'm personally anxious to get my hands on.

So, without further ado...

Minigore HD from Mountain Sheep -- $4.99

The iPad adaptation of Minigore sounds better than ever with 14 playable characters, "guest stars" from Hook Champ, Zombieville USA, Sway, and Envrio-Bear 2010, and redone graphics to take full advantage of the iPad's screen acreage.

Warpgate HD from Freeverse -- $7.99

Freeverse's real-time strategy title Warpgate is here for the iPad, but not yet for the iPhone. Who would've guessed? (The iPhone version should be making its debut any day now.) All that we've seen indicates that this is a RTS title not to be missed.

Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone from Telltale Games -- $9.99

Inspired by Steve Purcell's comic series Sam & Max, Lucas Arts in 1993 released the SCUMM-based adventure Sam & Max Hit the Road to much critical acclaim. Sequels followed and the odd, starring duo gathered something of a cult following. Those in the cult will be happy to see the just-released iPad title from Telltale Games, Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone.

Cogs HD from Chillingo -- $4.99

In January we took a look at steampunk puzzler Cogs and very much liked what we saw. Cogs HD is now in the App Store and rendered on the iPad's 10-inch screen,

Mirror's Edge for iPad -- $12.99

We recently posted about Mirror's Edge for the iPad, but at the time, it was to be a $14.99 title. While still premium, it seems to have made its debut at $12.99 -- just a shade less dear.

Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies from Activision -- $14.99

This bundle of zombie smackdown is the most expensive game on our list, but it does look like fun. Bigger screen = more menacing zombies.

Fieldrunners for iPad from Subatomic Studios -- $7.99

Fieldrunners. Everyone's favorite tower defense game. Well, my favorite, anyway. And it's here in full-screen iPad glory.

Touchgrind HD from Illusion Labs -- $7.99

Touchgrind is a highly unique iPhone skateboarding game. Skateboarding for your fingers, really. But the one limitation? Screen size. The iPad version should have no such limitation.

Ocean Blue from Com2uS -- $9.99

Ocean Blue falls under the Entertainment category -- it's not really a game. But it looks pretty fun. It has the distinction of being "the first realistic diving experience on the iPad." We're anxious to check it out.

Scrabble for iPad from Electronic Arts -- $9.99

Scrabble. On a big multitouch screen. Not cool enough? How about this:

Scrabble Tile Rack for iPhone / iPod touch -- Free

Use your iPad as the Scrabble board and connect wirelessly from your iPhone or iPod touch to use it as a private tile rack while you are playing Scrabble.

Harbor Master HD from Imangi Studios -- Free

Imangi has produced an HD version of their chaos management game and is giving it away for Free.

There are plenty more announcements, screenshots and info about upcoming iPad games in our dedicated forum.

It's hard to track everything that's happening in the App Store right now. This is going to be a rather insane weekend for everyone connected with the iPad. Don't worry, our usual iPhone and iPod Touch game coverage will also resume but over the next week there's going to be a lot of news and attention on the iPad.

EA has been busy these past few weeks prepping for multiple iPad launches as well as a sequel to the popular Sims 3 for iPhone. Sims 3 World Adventures continues with much of the same format of the first version by building on the existing familiar gameplay.

Sims 3 gameplay revolves around customizing and controlling your Sim while meeting its needs, fulfilling its wishes and generally just exploring the world around you. World Adventures starts off just like Sims 3 with basic character customization (clothes, physical features, personality) but also allows existing players to import their character from the first version directly into the second.

Immediately after finalizing your choices for your character, a brief tutorial walks you through the basics of the game and how to keep your Sim satisfied. Sims have the same basic needs you're used to, between needing to eat, sleep, bathe and go to the bathroom as well as a goals and wishes. The goals pop up randomly, and act like mini objectives for what to do in the game.

The biggest difference in World Adventures is the scope of the game with added locations that you can travel to. If you loved the gameplay of the original but felt the original Sims 3's world was a bit small, this version is for you. Beyond your own town, there are 3 additional locations including Egypt, France and China. Each location has its own buildings, inhabitants, goals and tourist attractions. Also included are 52 new goals and 4 new mini-games. The mini games include ruin exploration, air flight, bartering and language games. Succeeding in these mini-games help you along the way. For example, the in flight mini game prevents you from getting air sick which will suck up valuable time at your destination while you recoup. Meanwhile better language skills add to your charm, improving your interaction with others.

The first Sims 3 for iPhone successfully trimmed down the Sims series to a solid handheld experience. World Adventures expands on that by giving you additional adventures, clothing and locals to explore.

App Store Link: Sims 3 World Adventure, $6.99