In celebration of the recent release of Dark Nebula - Episode Two [99¢], developer 1337 Game Design has dropped the price of the original installment to free. If you don't own Dark Nebula - Episode One [Free] yet, you seriously need to stop whatever it is you're doing and download it. Unfortunately it's over the 20MB limit for 3G app downloads so iPhone users will have to find some WiFi, but thankfully the game will be free all weekend so you've got plenty of time.

On the surface, the Dark Nebula games are just tilt controlled ball rollers, but in actuality they are so much more than that. The production value of both games is flat out insane, with amazing graphics, excellent sound, and masterful level design. Episode One will likely only take you an hour to complete, but it will be one fantastic ride.

We have reviewed both Episode One and Episode Two if you want to check them out, but really, you should just download the first while it's free and immediately pick up the second if you enjoy it as I think the sequel is even better than the original.

This afternoon at QuakeCon, John Carmack surprised everybody by pulling out his iPhone 4 and running a demo of id Software's upcoming title Rage. Rage is an upcoming console and PC title that has been in development for the last few years, and is a brand new IP from id. It will be a mixture of first-person shooting and driving, set in a post-apocalyptic world similar to something like the Fallout series.

Rage for iPhone uses the same id Tech 5 engine that they are using to build the console versions of the game, and the demo is quite possibly the most impressive looking graphics we've ever seen running on the platform. Carmack states that there will be one Rage title released this year as sort of a “show off” game for what is capable, with a more full fledged Rage game to be released next year to coincide with the console release.

Check out the video demonstration from the QuakeCon keynote over at Kotaku to see for yourself how impressive Rage looks running on the iPhone.  The game runs at a solid 60fps on an iPhone 4, but Carmack states that the game will be able to run well even on an original iPhone and up.  This is exciting news, and we'll be looking forward to hearing more information on these upcoming Rage titles, as well as whatever else id may be cooking up for the iPhone, in the future.

Update: Much better video showing the smooth framerate.

QuakeCon 2010 is a free four day gaming festival that takes place down in Dallas, TX every year. QuakeCon is host to a massive LAN as gamers from all over bring their PC's to come play games locally, see the latest software and hardware from various vendors, and compete in various tournaments. I've never been able to make it to the event, but it's always been high on my to do list as friends of mine who go every year routinely rave about what an awesome time QuakeCon is.

...But just because we're not in Texas this weekend doesn't mean we're missing out on all the QuakeCon festivities, as to celebrate the event id Software has significantly dropped the price of all of their iPhone games. These games are all worth owning, and highly recommended.

DOOM Resurrection, $6.99 → $1.99 - Everything that is awesome about a modern Doom game applied to a rails shooter. The fact that the game is on rails was a point of tons of controversy when the game was originally released, but we thought it was absolutely awesome in our review and is still high up there among the best looking iPhone games to this day.

Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum, $1.99 → 99¢ - It's hard to get much more classic than Wolfenstein 3D when it comes to first person shooters. The iPhone port has a wide array of control options and since its initial release was update to Platinum which includes more maps, more bosses, and even custom map support. There's also a lite version to try.

DOOM Classic, $6.99 → $1.99 - This game hardly needs an introduction, but much like Wolfenstein 3D, this classic first person shooter is right at home on the iPhone with a ton of control options, along with 36 missions to play through across four episodes. Doom Classic has both deathmatch and cooperative multiplayer, but unfortunately you can only play with local players.

DOOM II RPG, $3.99 → 99¢ - This odd spin on the Doom universe still has you killing demons with huge guns, but this time it's in a turn based RPG setting. It's a little weird, but once you get past the whole Doom going from a first person shooter to an RPG, Doom II RPG is a ton of fun. For more details and gameplay video head over to our review.

Wolfenstein RPG, $1.99 - This isn't on sale as it's published by EA, but it's odd to mention the rest of id's lineup without Wolfenstein RPG. It plays very similar to Doom II RPG, although the plot and events that transpire in Wolf RPG seemed substantially more wacky. Check out our review for more information on exactly how many chickens you'll be kicking in this game.

QuakeCon goes all weekend, and these sales will only last for the duration of the event. If you've been thinking of picking any of these games up, make sure you do it by Sunday night.

Back at WWDC we met with Fish Labs to see the sequel to Galaxy On Fire 3D [$2.99 / Free] running on the iPad. Before getting any deeper than this, it's important to know the roots of the Galaxy on Fire series so you can fully appreciate just how far the game has come. Both Galaxy on Fire and its sequel originated from J2ME games that weighed in at under 1 megabyte each in their original form. Galaxy on Fire 3D saw an incredible leap from the J2ME game, and its sequel makes even bigger advancements. Before looking at what the game has become today, take a good look at the original screenshot to the right, in all its J2ME glory.

Galaxy on Fire 2 is a space conquest game, with a massive galaxy map to explore, multiple factions to align yourself to, a dynamic economy, and tons of other neat features that all add up to an impressive amount of depth. The original Galaxy on Fire was something special, but the sequel seems to be exceeding the original in every way imaginable.

Generally speaking when we do a preview post like this, we'll just cherry pick two or three of the coolest screenshots that developers send us, but that isn't really possible with Galaxy on Fire 2. That just really wasn't possible with the batch that Fish Labs sent us, especially with them all being rendered at iPhone 4 Retina Display resolution:

Galaxy on Fire 2 is in beta testing right now, and Fish Labs expects to release both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game simultaneously in October. For more information check out their extensive developer blog or the thread in our forums. There is also some iPad gameplay footage in our last preview at WWDC, but that was so long ago it's hard to say how representative that even is of the game right now.

I can't wait.

Originally released in 1985 by the now defunct Data East, Road Blaster is a LaserDisc game in the style of Cobra Command [99¢]. Road Blaster was one of the last LaserDisc games ever released, and is set in a Mad Max-like post apocalyptic world where you play as a vigilante on the road hunting down a biker gang in attempt to bring them to justice for the death of your wife. Along the way you will need to do all kinds of tricky driving maneuvers before finally facing off with the gang's leader.

The only time this game has been seen outside of Japan is in the Sega CD port which not only suffered from the same horrid video compression of all Sega CD games, but also got renamed to Road Avenger. Revolutionary Concepts have completely remastered the game, and when it is finally released, it will play at 60FPS at full iPhone 4 or iPad resolutions. They've also completely redesigned the dashboard of the car, added in tilt controls, and made a whole list of other tweaks.

Check out this comparison between the original arcade and iPad versions of the game:

Road Blaster is currently in the final stages of development, and is expected to be released on the App Store sometime next month.

As we reported a few months ago, Square Enix's phenomenal iPhone exclusive RPG Chaos Rings was heading to the iPad. Game producer Takehiro Ando already had the game up and running on an iPad just days after the iPhone release, but wanted to take the time necessary to rework all of the graphical assets to take advantage of the higher resolution iPad screen. Now the day has finally come for Chaos Rings for iPad [$15.99] to be unleashed on iPad gamers everywhere. If you aren't familiar with the game take a look at our full review of the iPhone version and you'll see that we really, really like Chaos Rings. This sentiment should apply to the iPad version as well, just with crisper graphics and a larger area of play. From our review:

After putting the game through its paces, I can safely say it stands to not only meet any high expectations but exceed them in remarkable fashion. With stunning visuals and captivating gameplay that is tailored specifically for Apple's device, Chaos Rings defines what an RPG experience should be like on a mobile platform.

In the end, it's not really about how Chaos Rings does anything especially new, but rather how it takes all the pieces of a traditional role-playing game and packages it together in a way that feels natural to the platform. The result is something more akin to an action-adventure game with heavy RPG elements. The turn-based fighting is gratifying and never got old, and the story and character development remains immersive even in short play sessions. The entire experience feels like a high quality console offering shrunk down to portable size. Chaos Rings is executed brilliantly on just about every level, and has all the makings of a true classic.

Also, in celebration of the release of Chaos Rings for iPad, all of Square Enix's games are on sale in the App Store. You can check out all of their titles by clicking this iTunes link here, and there are some great deals to be had on some excellent games. At any rate, if you are an iPad owner and an RPG fan, don't hesitate to pick up Chaos Rings for iPad as it's not only one of the finest games available, but looks stunning on the larger screen. Hi res screenshots and player impressions can be found in the Chaos Rings for iPad thread in our forums.

Last year, Capcom released an entry from its classic franchise Ghosts 'n Goblins to the iPhone, titled Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights, which we reviewed on release. If you were a fan of the original series a couple of things really stuck out about the game. First and foremost was the change from 2D sprites and pixel art to 3D character models and backgrounds. It looked blocky and lacked detail, and just didn't have that charming, colorful look of the originals. Still, I could look past the graphical change as long as the game still played the same. The problem was... it didn't. Gameplay was sluggish, and the poor virtual controls made playing through the game an exercise in frustration. To top it all off, for one of the most notoriously difficult game series of all time, Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights was a total cakewalk.

Now, nine months after the first release, Arthur is back in Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights II. Did Capcom learn from their mistakes and improve upon the fairly disappointing first game? Well, sort of. Visually, everything is practically identical to the first game, and running side by side they are almost indistinguishable. Game mechanics are also similar in regards to health, powerups, level progression, and so forth. In addition to Arthur, you do get a new character to play as in place of Lancelot from the first game. Perceval is also a sword wielding hero but plays much differently than Lancelot in that he cannot shoot at characters and has a much bigger focus on magical attacks. Also, he can dash attack through certain walls, which can affect what route you take through the game and is a cool addition.

Where Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights II really improves over its predecessor is in performance and controls. The game now runs a great deal faster, and feels much closer to the originals when jumping from platforms and fighting with enemies. Best of all is the addition of an analog stick for movement rather than a finicky d-pad. Moving your character is much, much easier now, and you can even place the virtual controls wherever you want on the screen in the options. These changes improve the game drastically over the first, and I'm actually having a lot of fun playing through it this time around.

Game length appears to be about the same as the first, based on the scrolling map view you get before starting a level. The difficulty is still on the easy side, and hopefully this gets improved with an update like the first game received that added a Hard mode. There's also the same type of cheats that can be purchased for 99¢ each as IAP that the first game had, if you find the game isn't easy enough for you to begin with. It's still not the prettiest game around, but it's not the ugliest either, and overall Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights II is a huge improvement over the first thanks to the overhauled performance and controls.

TouchArcade Rating:

Backflip Studios is a true indie success story that we've been following for quite a while now. They've had smash hits on the paid charts with Ragdoll Blaster [$1.99 / Free] and its sequel Ragdoll Blaster 2 [$2.99 / Free] as well as the free charts with both Paper Toss [99¢] and Strike Knight [99¢]. Recently, they've teamed up with fellow indie developers Team Phobic to release Tunnel Shoot [99¢], a fun little tunnel shooter that both is universal and supports the Retina Display of the iPhone 4.

NinJump, Backflip's latest fun and free game was released mere moments ago. The game plays a lot like Ninjatown: Trees of Doom [$1.99] in that you're scaling either side of the screens as a ninja like character. Tapping sends your ninja jumping from one side of the screen to the other, swinging his sword around attacking anything in his path. If you attack three of the same things in a row, you get powered up and soar even higher.

Like Backflip's other games, there's really not a whole lot of depth to NinJump. You climb as high as you can, submit your scores via OpenFeint powered leaderboards, and try again. The lack of depth doesn't make the game any less fun though, as I've found myself randomly firing it up to play since we got our first preview of the game. If you're a sucker for super-simple pick up and play high scoring games, you really need to give NinJump a try -- and, it's free.

After spending a considerable amount of time with Halfbrick Studios' upcoming game, Monster Dash, I've found my new favorite iPhone game. The games I seem to spend the most time with on my phone are pick up and play highly randomized games that are fun to play for only a few minutes at a time. Canabalt [$2.99] nailed it, and has been one of my go to games for nearly a year now. Monster Dash takes Canabalt one step farther, and instead of just running faster and faster jumping in between buildings, you're armed with a shotgun, and need to mow down an endless horde of monsters wandering about in your path.

Included in the game are multiple settings ranging from the zombie infested cityscape seen above, to an asian themed setting where you're running on top of a huge wall. While running around, you warp between these settings and your standard shotgun gets replaced with a number of other weaponry including a huge electric gun, a powerful pistol, and even a machine gun jet pack. With each monster or set of spikes you hit, you lose a heart, and once you run out of hearts the game is over. (There are also power ups to restore health.)

If you think the trailer for the game is awesome, it's nothing compared to actually playing the game. Halfbrick get so many things right with Monster Dash it's not even funny. There are OpenFeint online leaderboards, a ridiculous amount of achievements, stat tracking that keeps track of everything from how many mummies you've killed to how many times you've jumped and even your accuracy with weaponry. The game has great fast paced music, fabulous looking sprite-based graphics, and it even loads quickly. Monster Dash will be available on the App Store on August 19th, and that date really can't come quickly enough.

Last week we posted the preview trailer of XMG Studio's Cannon Cadets [$1.99] which has since been released on the App Store. Riding on the undeniably successful coattails of Angry Birds [99¢ / Free / HD], Cannon Cadets provides similar physics-powered gameplay with some new twists that make it worth checking out if you're like many people who have beaten every level in Angry Birds and now just anxiously await the next content update.

Gameplay is fairly similar in that you're shooting things at various makeshift forts filled with enemies, only instead of birds and pigs, Cannon Cadets is home to robots and evil monkeys. By pulling back on a cannon you can shoot one of the cadets in to the robot base, and similarly, each level is completed by destroying all the robots. Gameplay is spiced up a bit with levels that are a bit more puzzle oriented, with moving obstacles to deal with and other physics gimmicks that go together like an odd Rube Goldberg machine.

One thing that I like a lot about Cannon Cadets is the secret levels that are unlocked by hitting various targets in the game world. I thought the golden egg portion of Angry Birds was really awesome, and this just takes that a step further in providing some actual incentive to finding the secret levels to play them instead of just filling out a golden egg page for the sake of completion.

Cannon Cadets comes loaded with 80 levels, and there's even talk of a level editor on the way via future updates and an iPad version. The game hasn't swayed me from my love of Angry Birds as I think Angry Birds flat out just has more character to it and a better physics engine, but Cannon Cadets is totally a competent supplement with similar gameplay and more than enough content to keep you busy between Angry Birds updates.

For all the remarkable games we are seeing nowadays on the App Store, we are blessed with very few epic RPGs. It seems that developers are still unwilling to invest in the content heavy, quest-driven adventures that many other platforms routinely enjoy. Publisher Nate Games has thoughtfully identified this gap in the market and have given us the next best thing-- a direct port of a critically acclaimed 2009 title for the PSP-- Crimson Gem Saga [$9.99] by Atlus Games.

As the name would suggest, Crimson Gem Saga is indeed an epic by definition, weighing in at a satisfying 30-40 hours of story-driven, turn-based combat and exploration of a colorful, mythical world. Crimson Gem Saga makes no delusions, drawing strongly from the tenets of the Dragon Quest series in doing little to crack the molds of the genre, but focusing instead on bringing that traditional RPG experience in as fine a package as possible.

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This afternoon Gameloft announced the sequel to Gangstar: West Coast Hustle [$4.99 / Free] entitled Gangstar: Miami Vindication. Along with this announcement is a fairly extensive gameplay trailer compared to the teasers Gameloft usually releases which shows car chases, riding motorcycles, and even piloting helicopters. According to Gameloft, Miami Vindication is "the most ambitious crime simulation ever developed for handheld," which is a lofty claim considering the extensiveness of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars [$9.99 / Free].

Gangstar: Miami Vindication should be available fairly soon, as looking at Gameloft's previous game releases they generally don't release this kind of trailer without the game being very close to being done. For more information on the original Gangstar, check out our review. Also, Gangstar: West Coast Hustle HD [99¢] for the iPad is on sale for 99¢ and for that price is totally worth picking up if these kind of open world crime games are your cup of tea.

One of the most classic game franchises of all time, Castlevania, finally made its long awaited debut on the iPhone last month, but not exactly as fans had expected. Rather than the action-oriented, whip-lashing platformer that we've grown up with the last two decades, the iPhone iteration of Castlevania appeared as a match 3 puzzle game with RPG elements.

Dubbed Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night [$1.99], the game takes place during the same timeframe as one of the most heralded entries in the series, Symphony of the Night. The majority of the game content stayed faithful to its inspiration in regards to equipment, enemies, and overall style, but the realtime fighting and platforming had been replaced with gem matching battle sequences reminiscent of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. After the initial disappointment of Castlevania Puzzle not being the type of game we were used to, looking past that aspect and judging the game on what it is meant to be revealed a fun RPG puzzler with a wealth of content to play through.

While we really liked the game in our review, opinions remain mixed amongst fans in our forums. If you were ever on the fence about purchasing Castlevania Puzzle, it just got a whole lot cheaper to take the dive and check out the game for yourself. Konami is having a 60% off “Back to School” sale on the game, dropping it in price from $4.99 to $1.99. If you're a Castlevania fan you'll likely get two dollars worth of enjoyment out of the presentation alone, and if you're a puzzle battling fan there are very solid game mechanics in place for some satisfying battles against the computer. If you're a fan of both, then this is a very good deal for the amount of content it contains, and I recommend checking out Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night during this limited time sale.

If you weren't around for the great Enviro-Bear 2010 [99¢] fiasco of, well, 2009, here's what you missed- Imagine you're a bear, driving a car, and you have five minutes to fatten yourself up as much as possible before finally driving your car in to your bear cave. The ridiculousness of the game's premise was matched only by the terrible controls and even worse pixel art which in our review we dubbed the best bear driving simulator on the App Store. (A worthy title.) I invoke the unholy name of Enviro-Bear because it's from those same fiery depths of hell that So Long, Oregon! [$1.99] was forged in.

So Long, Oregon! is "A fun new game about American history" according to the developers, where you pilot (I say pilot because you spend most of the game airborne) a Conestoga wagon from Independence, Missouri to El Dorado-- The legendary city of gold. Much like the original Oregon Trail, you'll need to cross rivers, travel the countryside, murder swaths of helpless animals, become afflicted with various diseases, and lose your loved ones in the process of searching for said ancient gold.

Unlike the the original Oregon Trail, you don't make it to El Dorado through intense simulation, ration management, profession selection, caulking and/or floating the wagon across rivers, or anything else. Instead you just hold down the left arrow and go flipping over hills, and tapping the screen to let out a barrage of bullets to kill anything in your path to then collect its meat for your food stores. The hills and mountains are tall, and will often send you flipping end to end or just flat out landing upside down forcing you to wait until your wagon rights itself.

Along the way you'll find various settlements such as indian camps that give you food, disease, or flat out curse your wagon. There are also trading posts that you can trade for food, bullets, or sometimes even see a doctor. There are other surprises along the trail, but I won't spoil them.

The novelty value of So Long, Oregon! is out of this world, especially if you have fond memories of the original Oregon Trail. But, much like Enviro-Bear 2010, both the controls and gameplay seem to be intentionally bad so if you're looking for something serious So Long, Oregon! is not what you need. If you do like these kinds of silly games, there's a lot to love about So Long, Oregon! such as multiple ridiculous game modes with tons of wagons to race, tons of animals to shoot, a case of the super-measles to deal with, and others. There's also all kinds of Open Feint achievements and online leaderboards.

The windows version of the game can be downloaded for free and likely will provide more So Long, Oregon! than one person would ever need in their life. If you need more, download the iOS version which also happens to be universal and is equally weird regardless of which device you're playing it on.

Big Bucket Software's The Incident [$1.99] which we featured in yesterday's upcoming games roundup was approved mere moments ago and is now available for download on the App Store. The Incident takes the basic vertical jumping game premise that has become wildly popular on the iPhone and adds a new twist to it, and that twist amounts to massive piles of junk falling from the sky. The variety of objects that fall from the sky is astounding, ranging from boulders to crates to electric guitars and even Smart cars.

The game is controlled by tilting your device right or left to move, and tapping on the screen to jump. You're able to move objects around by walking in to them, and sometimes you can flip falling junk around with a well timed jump underneath whatever you're trying to move. Seven levels are included in the game, starting with the street and ending in space. Each level consists of its own height goal, and you just need to stay on top of the falling pile of junk to climb upwards. This sounds simple enough, and the first few levels are fairly easy, but it doesn't take long until things are falling so fast that you will have your fingers crossed that a health powerup spawns or a checkpoint is near.

The Incident is host to some excellent chiptune music, power ups, power downs, fantastic pixel art retro graphics, some odd achievements, and it's even universal. I tend to be preferring the game on my iPhone, but that's more just because holding and tilting the iPad for extended periods of time can be tiresome. I'd love to see some kind of onscreen control option, at least for the iPad, but as is the game is still fun to play on either device.

According to The Incident's web site, the developers are already hard at work on updates to add even more levels and gameplay. Hopefully somewhere along the way they add in some kind of online scoring and achievement tracking, because only having local scores is a huge bummer for a game like this. I'd love to see how I rank globally on things like how long it takes me to climb, how many coins I've collected, how many times I've been crushed by a couch, and a ton of other things.

Even without online scoring, The Incident has quite a few things I like to see in iPhone games. It saves at each checkpoint, so you can either play for a few minutes at a time or even longer, the controls work well, the graphics look cool, it's universal from the get go, and I really dig the whole concept behind the game. Forum members in The Incident's thread are enjoying it a lot, and I really can't wait to see what Big Bucket Software has planned via updates.