Remember this time last year? We were heaping dump trucks full of praise on Superbrothers' Sword & Sworcery EP both in our initial hands-on, then again a few days later as we further reflected on just how impressive the whole experience was. Since then, our forums have been going wild with speculation, especially as Superbrothers' kept slowly releasing details and commenting on possible release dates.

So what's been taking so long? Well, now that the game is officially nearing release, Superbrothers' were willing to open up on just what it is that they've been up to. Here's the terrible secret of Sword & Sworcery: What we saw back at GDC 2010 was basically a polished prototype, what we played was quite literally all there was that was completed at the time. While you could shake your fist at the sky and damn Superbrothers for hoodwinking you, you could realize the entirely too clever thing this has allowed them to do.

So many games that we preview are either completed or very close to it. From a developer's perspective, all you can really do then is listen to feedback and try to mitigate what people don't like or criticize either in future updates or last minute changes before the game is released. Getting the world excited for Sword & Sworcery when it was just an incredibly intriguing prototype has more or less flipped this process completely around.

The vague previews and trailers have resulted in a hurricane of comments as people post what they hope the game will be. Superbrothers has been following this discussion like a hawk, and through the year that the game has been in development, seemingly implementing things from the various "wish lists" people have had. They also admitted throughout the conversation we had that there were several times in the development process where they debated releasing what they had, but decided to continue development until the game was at (or as close as humanly possible) to 100% in their eyes.

Superbrothers' weren't willing to let me shoot any video of the game yet, but the good news is that next week we'll have a full hands-on of the final version of Sword & Sworcery. Until then, what I can say is that I'm blown away by how much better the game looks since our last glimpse at E3 last year. They've added tons of lighting effects, and if you're crazy about parallax scrolling, you're going to be in heaven. The art of Sword & Sworcery now still is blatantly minimalist pixels, but the crazy amount of parallax layers in the game gives it a fantastic looking almost-3D effect.

I've likely said too much already, but please stay tuned for our preview next week. I absolutely cannot wait to play the final version of the game in its entirety and see whether or not this backwards development cycle worked for Superbrothers.

Earlier today Sega announced that a port of last year’s console title Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing would be coming to iOS. Today I was able to stop by a hands-on event for the game and spend some time with an early pre-alpha build, and so far it’s shaping up nicely. If you’re unfamiliar with Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, it’s similar to Mario Kart but with a selection of Sega characters. It’s a fast-paced racing game with special weapons you can use to slow down your enemies and powerups that help you gain an advantage in the race.

Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing will feature 10 playable characters including the expected stable of Sonic-related characters like Sonic, Dr. Robotnik, and Tails; and some more obscure characters like Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue, Beat from Jet Set Radio, and B.D. Joe from Crazy Taxi. There will be 12 tracks to race on over a single-player Grand Prix or Challenge mode, and local multiplayer with 1v1 over Bluetooth or 2-4 players over local WiFi. There isn’t currently any online racing functionality, but the developers have stated that it’s always a possibility in a future version.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing played very well despite still being in an early state. The tilting to turn was very responsive and fun to use, and I usually dislike tilt-to-steer options in racing games. There are plenty of boosts and weapon pickups scattered throughout each track, so there’s always some sort of carnage going down. One nice aspect to the game is how you earn points with each race which will go to unlocking each of the characters and tracks in the game, lending a nice goal-oriented progression to playing. The game is also quite colorful, and although it isn’t heavily detailed the game moves so fast that it’s hard to notice.

Here’s some video of me playing through one race using B.D. Joe from Crazy Taxi:

Sega pegs the release of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing for Spring, and there is definitely some additional polishing that needs to be done before then. The frame rate stuttered a tiny bit and many of the sound effects and some music aren’t present at this time, as you can tell from the above video. Still, it’s shaping up fairly nicely and I’m definitely looking forward to the release. You can check out a discussion for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing in our forums, and we’ll have more from the game as its Spring release date approaches.

Firemint just announced their first brand new title since the launch of Real Racing and Flight Control.

Play as Agent Squeek, the dashing and debonair undercover mouse. Outsmart ferocious felines and crack fiendish challenges! Sneak, sprint and strategize in your quest to save every precious piece of missing cheese.

Firemint is an Australian game company that has seen a massive amount of success for the iOS platform. They made headlines early in the life of the App Store with their ambitious Real Racing title. But even before Real Racing ever launched, they saw the surprise success of Flight Control which kicked of the entire "line drawing" genre for iOS.

We know there's been a lot of pressure to see what their next original game would be, given the success of their previous titles. We'll have some hands on time with Agent Squeek later this week at GDC 2011. In the meanwhile, they've set up a Facebook Page for the upcoming game.

Gameloft just announced that they have made a long term, multi-platform licensing agreement with Epic Games, Inc for the Unreal Engine 3. Julien Fourniais, Vice President of Production at Gameloft had this to say:

“Gameloft is very pleased to partner with Epic, especially with their ability to stay ahead of the curve and continually place the best game engine technology in developers’ hands at any given point in time. Using Unreal Engine 3 allows us to push game visuals with remarkable lighting and high-fidelity environments. We are confident that players will enjoy the games powered by Unreal Engine 3.”

Ever since Epic Games first revealed the Unreal Engine 3 for iOS, we've been excited to see what developers might come up with. Uptake, however, has been slow possibly due to licensing fees.

Gameloft's been no slouch from a game engine perspective as is. Gameloft is planning to release four new games with the Unreal Engine 3, two in 2011 and two in 2012.

The golden gate bridge is in sight, the aroma of Moons Over My Hammy fills the air, and an army of people wearing name tags are wandering about town. This can only mean one thing! Well, I suppose it could mean many things but in our case it's the kick-off of GDC in beautiful San Francisco, California. First held in 1988, GDC seems to have grown exponentially and has changed with market trends over the years. With the advent of the App Store, the conference has substantially shifted gears to be surprisingly iOS-centric, filled with developers from all over the world anxious to sit in on iOS talks and meet fellow iOS game makers.

But what does this mean to you, faithful TouchArcade reader? It just so happens that all of these developers absolutely love meeting with people like us to show off their up and coming games, share ideas, and otherwise just spill their guts on what they've been up to and what they plan on doing in the future. Looking back at our GDC 2009 and GDC 2010 coverage, we saw tons of cool games. Judging by our meeting schedule, which couldn't possibly be more insane, we're going to have even more cool stuff to write about this year. (Particularly so as Apple seems intent on crashing the event by unveiling the iPad 2 this Wednesday barely a block away from where GDC is taking place.)

If you're a developer, we look forward to meeting with you. If you don't have an appointment with us yet, it's not too late, but we'll likely need to get creative with when and where we meet. Send me an IM via AOL Instant Messenger. My screen name is ioburn [Status: ]. If you don't have an AIM account, signing up is easy and only takes a second. Alternatively, AIM even connected to Facebook and Google Talk, if you would rather use that. Of course you can also email at tips@toucharcade.com, it just won't be anywhere near as fast. (Be sure to put "GDC 2011" somewhere in the subject for email filters.)

Also, don't forget about our party on Wednesday night at Bin 55 in the lobby of the Marriott. We're going to kick things off at 8:00 PM and go until they kick us out, which should be sometime between 11:00 PM and midnight. Find someone from TouchArcade and we'll trade you your business card for a fancy schmancy TouchArcade tyvek bracelet for free drinks. (If you don't have a business card, a GDC pass will suffice.)

Likely the best way to track us down and follow what we're doing at GDC will be via Twitter. Here's our array of Twitter accounts:

• @hodapp - Eli Hodapp
• @arnoldkim - Arnold Kim
• @blakespot - Blake Patterson
• @jaredta - Jared Nelson
• @nicholsonb - Brad Nicholson

Let's get this conference kickin'!

One of the surprise hits from last year was Game Dev Story [$3.99/Lite] from Kairosoft. This quirky simulation game allowed you to create your own game development company and release a series of titles across multiple platforms. Game Dev Story was littered with all kinds of references to the real history of video games, making it especially appealing to long time gamers like myself. We loved the game when we reviewed it last October, and Game Dev Story went on to suck countless hours from iOS gamers ever since.

Coming off the huge success of Game Dev Story, Kairosoft has talked about their plans to bring a sequel to iOS in the distant future. Then earlier this year, they launched an interesting looking title called The Game Dealer in the Japanese App Store. Similar to Game Dev Story, The Game Dealer has you heading up a brick and mortar video game store and dealing with all the simulation elements that go along with it.

We speculated that The Game Dealer would be the next to get a localized US release, but earlier today we were surprised to see that Kairosoft’s US follow-up to Game Dev Story is instead a game called Hot Springs Story [$3.99]. In Hot Springs Story, you (unsurprisingly) manage a Japanese hot springs inn, building it out to your liking and attracting customers to patronize your establishment. AppBank has a gameplay video of the Japanese version of Hot Springs Story to give you an idea of what it plays like:

Hot Springs Story has been available in the Japanese App Store since December, and seeing as how it was their follow-up release to Game Dev Story in Japan I still think we’ll end up seeing The Game Dealer localized as well in due time. For now, though, you’ll be able to live out your fantasy of running a relaxing hot springs resort, just as you’ve always dreamed... right? Early impressions in our forums are positive, noting that the interface and mechanics are nearly identical to Game Dev Story but with a few welcome enhancements like zooming and landscape display.

The gameplay appears to be just as engaging as well, and chances are if you liked Game Dev Story then you’ll get similar enjoyment out of Hot Springs Story. Just don’t start playing too close to your bed time if you value sleep. We’ll have more on Hot Springs Story once we’re able to break away from our GDC shenanigans long enough to engulf ourselves in the world of hot springs management, but you can grab the game right now for an introductory sale price of $3.99.

The TouchArcade staff has been busy traveling and preparing for what is sure to be a busy week at GDC, but this little bit of news is definitely worth a mention as it's sure to get some of our non-iPad owning readers excited. On Friday, 2D Boy officially announced on their blog (again) that World of Goo will be coming to the iPhone and iPod touch. You may remember that World of Goo was originally announced for the iPhone back in late 2009. That version never materialized, however, and after more than a year of wondering what may come of World of Goo for iOS the game finally did release for the iPad last December.

After seeing an incredible amount of success with the iPad version of World of Goo, 2D Boy has gone back to work at getting the game primed and ready for a smaller screen debut. Speaking of smaller screens, 2D Boy promises that the World of Goo works really well despite having less screen real estate, but they have implemented a pinch-to-zoom feature to make sure that the gameplay is as accessible as it can be.

We gave the iPad version of World of Goo 5 stars in our review and even picked it as our iPad Game of the Year for 2010. The touch screen ended up feeling more natural to the gameplay than any previous version of the game, and I'd imagine that it should translate very well to the iPhone and iPod touch too. 2D Boy gives a very non-comittal response of "hopefully sometime in March" in regards to a release date, but we'll definitely be keeping our eyes on its development and bring you more information on World of Goo for iPhone in the near future.

Back in October we reported that the classic Bitmap Brothers Atari ST / Amiga / DOS Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe would be making its way to iOS in the form of Speedball 2: Evolution. Moments ago, the game went live in the App Store as a Universal application for both iPhone and iPad [link] and we've taken a close look over the past few days.

Speedball 2 is a futuristic cybersport that's something of a mix between handball and ice hockey. The game takes place between two opposing teams -- nine players to a team -- in an enclosed, metal arena littered with power-ups and arrayed in warp portals and various score-enhancing mechanisms. Points are scored by getting the metallic ball past the opposing defense and into the goal, but brutality and violence are rewarded along the way. The overall feel is something akin to Atari's earlier, football-inspired arcade cybersport Cyberball, I've always felt. It's nicely visceral.

The first thing to say about the iOS version of Speedball 2 is that it's an enhanced version of the classic Atari ST original. I note that right off, due to the fact that a remake of the game was released on the Xbox Live Arcade, featuring "enhanced" 3D graphics...which were anything but. They were 3D, but they were awkward and poorly animated and did not compare to the "classic" mode's top-down, 2D graphics of the original. Speedball 2: Evolution for iOS takes the original's 2D graphics and enhances them while leaving them in their original orientation, making the iOS release the best looking version of Speedball 2 to date.

The list of things Speedball 2: Evolution brings to the table is vast. There are 336 individual players, 20 in-field power-ups, 16 classic Speedball teams along with 12 new intergalactic teams, a 10-season career mode, 10 single-player modes, a multiplayer mode (Bluetooth & WiFi), six arenas on four different planets, and 22 achievements in all. It's an impressive list. The various play modes allow for long-term team-building or just a quick detached match -- whatever suits you.

I, personally, spent more time with the original Speedball back in the day, than with the sequel, and so certain enhancements over said original stand out to me. Among them are the arrays of stars for each team on the arena walls that add points when illuminated by a tag from the ball, sets of spiral ramps situated on the sidelines that alter point-multipliers, and the electrobounce chargers that turn the ball into a weapon. That's not to mention the many power-ups that can be collected during the game, such as those that provide faster movement, body armour, or even freeze the opposing team in place.

Speedball 2 offers tilt controls as well as an optional onscreen D-Pad. I found that I like the tilt controls better than those of most iOS games, but more precision is offered by the onscreen D-pad, which is centered where you touch, adding a nice bit of flexibility. It's a tap anywhere to pass the ball, and a tap-and-hold to perform a high, long-distance pass or to jump to catch such a pass.

In evaluating the game for this review I spent notable time with the Atari ST original to see how it compares to the iOS release -- and had fun in the doing. After playing both titles side-to-side, I have to say that the iOS version is a bit steeper in the difficulty department than the ST original. Also, graphically the iOS version is notably superior to the ST version. I'd call the two pretty well matched on the fun scale, though I was a little more successful on the field on the ST due to its somewhat lower level of difficulty. And, I don't think it was about the controls -- of course the Atari version with a physical stick controlled better, but it was more about the game as presented.

Speedball 2, and its classic predecessor Speedball, brought the excellent Cyberball mechanic to the home, and Speedball 2: Evolution does likewise to the App Store. This is a classic arcade-style sports game that is more about fun than about simulation and accuracy. And, if you're the kind of gamer that takes sports on a pretty casual level like I do, that's a win.

As an avid fan of the retro aesthetic, it's with a hopeful heart that I try out every retro game in the App Store that I come across. Sadly, all too often the charm ends right there -- with the aesthetic. But, on the occasions where all those blocky pixels and glowing vectors are backed up by addictive gameplay, I'm a happy gamer, indeed. And a happy gamer is what two titles from Dan Bliss at BinarySquare have made me. They're not new releases, but titles we seem to have overlooked for whatever reason and it's only in the last month or so that I've spent real time with them.

Dragon Panic - $0.99

Originally released almost two years ago, Dragon Panic [App Store] is a cute little dodge and blast game that looks like something you'd see on a Sega Master System.

The game puts you in tilt-based control of one of two dragons, Berny or Blaze, trapped in a sort of dungeon of horrors. Said horrors come in the form of spears, skulls, arrows, and potions falling from above. You must run about the dungeon, blasting the falling implements with a ball of flame that can only be fired diagonally upward at a fixed angle. If you miss and an object hits the floor, it cracks a floor stone, which will shatter on a second impact, cutting you off from a section of the dungeon. If an object hits you, it's game over. And, blasting one of the potions grants a boon, such as eliminating all falling objects onscreen, replacing a missing floor stone, or adding a ricochet to your fireballs.

Just going on the description alone Dragon Panic might seem like an overly simple, unremarkable game, but after one round I was hooked. It packs a definite just-one-more-time draw to rank on the leaderboards.

SpaceBlast HD - $1.99

An iPad-only title, SpaceBlast HD [App Store] (no relation to the earlier SpaceBlast for iPhone) is a straight-up Asteroids clone that does a great job of capturing the glowing vector aesthetic -- complete with a slight flicker -- of the classic Atari shooter.

Destroy the rocks and stay alive is the name of the game, as you'd expect, and black holes, weapons upgrades, and an online scoreboard are planned in a future update.

SpaceBlast HD's "vectors" are semi-trasnlucently rendered over a space scene backdrop, an effect that evokes the old cardboard + mirror + CRT arrangement that added color to certain vintage arcade cabinets. Below the playfield are onscreen buttons for rotation, thrust, shields, fire, and hyperspace that "clack" like the real thing.

I'm hoping most readers have played a game of Asteroids at some point. SpaceBlast HD is the closest thing I've seen to that experience on the iPad.

Dan Bliss previously brought us the retro-inspired Buganoids, Kerplinkus, and Space Out.

Remember Sword & Sworcery? We called it "the most amazing game we've seen at GDC" last year. A few months later we sat down with Nathan Vella who gave us a fairly in-depth hands-on that we were able to catch on video. To really get the low down on S&S though, if this is the first you've heard of it, you should check out our further reflection on Sword & Sworcery post from GDC 2010.

Check out the new trailer:

According to Superbrothers, the game will be released "around the Vernal Equinox" (which is late next month). We've got a meeting booked with the Sword & Sworcery creators at GDC '11 next week, and hopefully can secure some more details then.

I had absolutely nothing but good things to say about Battleheart [99¢] in our review when it was first released. It's an entirely multitouch controlled real-time RPG battle game, which pits your varied party of four adventurers against many different types of monsters and bosses.

Battleheart takes traditional RPG elements found in party-based RPGs and even to some extent MMORPGs and boils them down to their essence. At its core, gameplay consists of managing a four member party through various battles. There isn't really any story to speak of aside from random flavor text describing characters and levels, characters only have four equipment slots, and there's only two statistics for each class to even worry about. In my early time with the game the latent RPG power gamer inside of me initially thought that how simple everything initially seems to be was a significant drawback, but oh, how wrong I was. ...Read More

Battleheart was just featured by Apple as the game of the week on the App Store, and in response Mika Mobile has dropped the price of their game to 99¢ for a very limited time.

If you were waiting on picking up Battleheart for whatever reason, now is your chance to pounce. Since its initial release it has been updated a few times with various tweaks and fixes. Don't miss this game while it's 99¢.

Here's one that will make a select few of our readers stand up and shout, while merely drawing a faint "hmm" from the rest. But, as Arnold and myself are among the standers and the shouters... Last night, in honor of the 20th anniversary of their founding, the Free Tools Association (or FTA) released a free bundle of their classic demoscene productions and games wrapped in their ActiveGS Apple IIgs emulator as the Universal application ActiveGS - Best of FTA [App Store].

FTA and the associated groups Apple Chemical Software (ACS) and Second Sight Software were well known in the pre-web online Apple II communities for their to-the-metal, assembly-coded demos, games, and utilities that pushed the Apple II to its limits. Among the included productions are Nucleus and Modulae, probably the most well loved and beautifully executed demos to be found on the IIgs, as well as the playable demo of the group's take on the pseudo-3D shooter Space Harrier. Those checking out this collection who have no Apple II in their past should note that the Apple IIgs, which was released in 1986, is an 8/16-bit computer that runs at 2.8MHz -- and that's in "fast" mode.

The Modulae demo, running under emulation on a Windows machine:

The group's ActiveGS emulator used in this application is a front-end for the multiplatform KEGS, which emulates the Apple IIgs and, by extension, the Apple IIe. It's available in both stand-alone applications and as a browser plug-in and is the primary emulation system behind the Virtual Apple ][ website where hundreds of Apple II programs can be run online.

In this iOS version, the emulator simply provides hard coded execution of FTA's demos, so it won't work as a general emulator.

UPDATE: Developer Olivier Goguel has chimed in on the comments thread and provided a link to a video of a version of ActiveGS running on the iPad, loaded with many more Apple II demos and games than are featured in the App Store release. But don't get too excited...

For approval reason, this version contains only FTA product! For a sneak preview of the full version, have a look at this video, but don't expect it to be live soon...

Last November, indie developer Spaces of Play released their unique take on the Lemmings formula called Spirits [99¢/HD]. In Spirits, you negotiate a series of 40 cleverly designed levels while commanding a group of floppy-headed spirit folk. The general gameplay is pretty similar to Lemmings, where you can assign tasks to individual spirits like digging holes or becoming ladders so your fellow spirits can make it past a blocked path. What really set Spirits apart is how there are various wind currents flowing through each level, and when you direct your spirits into these currents their umbrella-like heads filled with the breeze and they were swept up into the flow of air.

The wind factor turned Spirits into a very different beast than its inspiration Lemmings, and the fantastic hand-drawn artwork and beautiful music made for an incredibly engaging gameplay experience. We really liked Spirits in our review, and it has even gone on to win several different design awards since its release in November. While originally released on the iPad, in December an iPhone version hit the App Store, and despite the smaller screen space the excellent gameplay translated very well. Now, to celebrate the coming of GDC in San Francisco which kicks off next week, both the iPad and iPhone/iPod touch versions of Spirits are available for just 99¢.

Either version of Spirits was well worth their original price points, and at 99¢ each they are practically no-brainers if you're into puzzle games, or if you just like games with very pleasing aural and visual features. There is a very challenging nature to Spirits if you try to beat each level using the least amount of spirits as possible, or if you are trying to collect the often difficultly placed bonus plants throughout the levels for maximum completion. But these are not required, and there's also a very casual aspect to Spirits if you're just looking for basic completion of each level, and the music and visuals offer an almost zen-like experience as you play.

There's a discussion of Spirits taking place in both the iPad games thread or the thread for the iPhone version, and it's highly recommended that you check out Spirits during this 99¢ sale which will be running until next Friday, March 4th.

App Store Links:

• Spirits, $0.99
• Spirits for iPad, $0.99 (iPad Only)

George Washington’s name day came and went without the dozens of celebratory App Store sales we associate with federal holidays. I’ll admit it; I was ticked about this at first. Not only was George the US’ first president, he was also the tallest, strongest, and best endowed. A dude as great and beautiful as he was needs to be honored by price-slashings. But, hey, now I'm not so sore about the situation. Gameloft realigned my humours and tamed my choler with this beauty of a sale, which sees 30 of its games reduced to less than a dollar.

Here’s the list:

Asphalt 5
Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles HD
Blokus HD
Brain Challenge HD
Chess Classics HD
Driver
Dungeon Hunter HD
Fishing Kings
Frankenstein - The Dismembered Bride HD
Gangstar: West Coast Hustle
Hero of Sparta HD
Hero of Sparta 2 HD
Let’s Golf
Modern Combat: Sandstorm
NFL 2010 HD
NFL 2011 HD
NOVA
NOVA 2 HD
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within [and its HD version]
Real Soccer 2010 [and its HD version]
Real Soccer 2011
Real Tennis HD
Secrets of the Vatican HD
Shrek Forever After HD
Shrek Kart
Skater Nation
Star Battalion [and its HD version]
UNO HD
Tom Clancy’s HAWX
War in the Pacific
Zombie Infection HD

That’s a lot of games, and a lot of iPad HD versions for sale, right? Oh, and to be clear, I’ve no idea what Gameloft is throwing a sale for... but I’ll go ahead and keep pretending that its celebrating the greatest man (not named Tesla) who ever graced this Earth.

One of the big news items of 2010 in the world of iOS was the unveiling of the Unreal Engine on the platform. Epic Citadel [Free] was the first taste we got of this fantastic engine, with Infinity Blade [5.99] hitting the scene a little later as the first real game using the engine. Since then, there hasn't been a whole lot of activity with the Unreal Engine on the App Store. Trendy Entertainment released both Dungeon Defenders [99¢] and Chicken Coup [99¢] but that's about it as far as UDK games on the App Store is concerned.

Why so few games? Well, it all comes down to licensing. Previously, the Unreal Engine was free to use until you crossed the $5,000 mark in sales. This made using the Unreal Development Kit a little hard to swallow for most developers, especially as the proverbial pie was sliced so many times between Apple's percentage, any potential publisher's percentage, and Epic's percentage. This didn't leave much left for the actual developer, and unless you could guarantee that your game would be wildly successful, it didn't make much sense to use.

Mark Rein recently announced that this royalty threshold has been increased to $50,000, which hopefully will be much more enticing to developers. We'll still need to see how this all plays out over the next year, but from we're sitting, the Unreal Engine seems even more appealing now. If you were a developer that previously wrote off using the UDK because of royalty fees, it may be time to reconsider.