Surely you've heard of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP [99¢ / $1.99], right? If not, I'm pulling this web site over right now and giving you a lecture on the subject. S&S is a fantastic collaboration between musician Jim Guthrie and artist Craig D. Adams with Capybara Games providing the glue that put the whole project together. It's a point and click adventure game with some of the best pixel art I've seen in my entire life paired with an entirely original soundtrack that combines with the game itself so well that portions of the game flat out gave me chills of awesomeness.

I could get into the plot of the game, but a large part of enjoying it is discovering the game world for yourself. I wrote our review with this in mind, and as such it's written in layers so you can stop reading when you're reached your desired comfortable level of spoilers.

Sworcery comes in two flavors. There's the iPhone only version which is on sale today only for 99¢. Similarly, there's a universal version for both the iPhone and iPad which is on sale for $1.99 today as well. Personally, I greatly prefer the game on the iPad, but there are some aspects (like rotation for combat) that are better on the iPhone so it doesn't make a whole lot of difference which device you play it on as long as you play it.

In addition, the soundtrack of the game, Sword & Sworcery LP - The Ballad of the Space Babies is also on sale. It's a "name your own price" sale, so you can decide to pay a million dollars, the $8.99 that it's going for on iTunes, zero dollars, or anything in between. It's really a great piece of work, so if at all possible try not to be one of those people who give nothing (or a penny) for this fantastic album.

Back in March, Gameloft announced a new 3D action game called Backstab. Strangely, the game seemed to be an exclusive to the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play phone which also launched that month. Most people speculated that the title would eventually make its way to iOS, and indeed we did get our hands on an iPad version of Backstab at E3 earlier this month, though we still didn’t know when it would be hitting the App Store. Today, Gameloft has officially announced via their Twitter that Backstab will be launching this Thursday the 23rd, and have released new screens and a trailer which you can see below:

As you can see from the trailer, Backstab has a heavy pirate theme going on but gameplay looks really similar to the stealth-style killing of the Assassin’s Creed series. I never played the Xperia version of the game, so am not really qualified to say if that is a winning mashup or not, but it’s definitely intriguing. At least we won’t have long to wait before putting the game through its paces when it launches on Thursday. Until then you can check out the new screenshots at Gameloft’s Facebook page or partake in a discussion of Backstab in our forums.

The App Store contains some excellent platform games, and for a new platform game to do well amongst such popular platform titles it needs to bring something interesting to the table. Meganoid [99¢] by OrangePixel is a new pixel-art platform game with a catchy chip-tune soundtrack. It was initially released on Android (230,000+ downloads), but has now been ported to the iPhone. It provides 70 levels of platforming goodness, which is less than the 90 levels provided on the Android platform, but still a decent amount of gameplay. This game is available free in the Android Marketplace where it's supported by ads, however for the iPhone it costs a buck.

Each level is fast paced, with most taking under a minute to complete...or a few seconds to die. The aim is to reach the exit portal, collecting diamonds along the way. You receive a star for reaching the exit portal before the timer hits zero. And a second star for collecting all the diamonds. These two goals don't need to occur in the same run, so you can have an initial play to slowly and carefully locate all the diamonds and scope out the level, then replay for the speed star. Obtaining both of these stars unlocks the more challenging 'Sarge mode' for that level, wherein you play the white-haired Sarge. Acquiring all the diamonds as Sarge earns the third and final 'Sarge Star'. Achievements are managed via OpenFeint.

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There are plenty of popular car racing games in the AppStore; Real Racing 2 [$6.99/HD], Death Rally [99¢] and Reckless Racing [99¢/Lite/HD] spring to mind, to name a few. However, moto-racing is less frequently represented, so it's nice to find a new game about Italian motorcycles which looks pretty sweet. Ducati Challenge [$3.99/HD] from Ducati and Digital Tales opens with a montage of Ducati motorcycles in action, complete with pumping music. If you're a motorcycle, Ducati or racing game enthusiast, check this out.

The game features three modes: Quick Challenge, Championship and Multiplayer. Quick Challenge allows you to practice before a race, to familiarize yourself with the bike and track. You choose the difficulty level and number of laps. Championship Modes include easy (4 races), medium (6 races) and hard (12 races), which must each be beaten in turn as they're locked initially. Each Championship begins with qualifying practice laps which determine who scores pole position, followed by the race itself. Multiplayer mode lets up to four petrol-heads race via a local wi-fi connection and works with a combination of iPhone and iPad devices.

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It’s bonus podcast time! This week, we pulled Ten One Design’s Czar of Top Doggery, Peter Skinner, from his work to talk to us about... well, his work. Ten One is responsible for the Fling and the Fling Mini, two peripherals we’ve been raving about since they hit store shelves. In our conversation, we ask Peter what gave Ten One the initiative to create the joysticks. We also delve into the company itself and learned how its culture informed the products it creates.

More importantly, we (as in Brad) learned that 3D printers exist and, theoretically, you can print out a physical 3D model of whatever when using one. I’ve never left a conversation so sure that I needed to drop 15 to 30 thousand dollars on something.

But in all seriousness, Peter was a great guest and he shed a lot of light on how Ten One does business and thinks. I think you’ll enjoy the conversation.

Speaking of that, you can give the interview a listen just below. Additionally, you grab it on iTunes or the Zune music marketplace via our channels.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-Bonus-001.mp3, 16.1MB

Music for this episode was provided by the super talented Jim Guthrie. The song is "Audio Pepsi" off the album A Thousand Songs. You can buy the entire album or stream all the songs at his Web site. Guthrie is also responsible for the Sword & Sworcery [$4.99] soundtrack. Additionally, you can visit Ten One Design here.

Ice T once said, “I’m on the front line, and I am a rapper.” He’s also said, “I have to grow my audience.” The latter is something most game publishers can get on board with, while the former is... well, an Ice T quote. Regardless, we see the attempts to draw more people in every single day. Why, actually, Capcom is in the thick of fleshing out its audience right now with a new sale that sees four of its most high profile titles reduced to 99 cents.

Here’s the list:

• Street Fighter IV [$.99]
• Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. [$.99]
• Dead Rising Mobile [$.99]
• Devil May Cry 4 Refrain [$.99]

We’re not sure, exactly, when the sale will end or if other titles will join the mix at a later date, but it’s probably best to just be safe and gobble up these titles ASAP if you’re in the mood for any of them. Personally, I think SFIV is the best of the bunch.

A new fruit is appearing in Fruit Ninja [$.99] and Fruit Ninja HD [$2.99] this afternoon as a free update to the delectable App Store darling. The fruit? It’s the pomegranate, a pink-ish fruit best used in kollivozoumi and as a reward for impish phoenixes who act like parrots in public and perch on large, grizzled, and muscled men.

The new fruit isn’t just fodder -- Halfbrick tells us that it’s a multi-slice bullet time fruit that offers an opportunities to score huge at the end of Arcade and Classic mode games. It won’t be appearing in Zen Mode, though, as it’s a little too raucous.

In addition to a new fruit, this free update will also give owners a new track in the Dojo and also the ability to see friends high-score results. We’re pretty stoked about the latter -- it’s a fantastic way to competitive play. Lord knows how long I’ve spent attempting to beat some of my buds’ Pac-Man DX scores, for example.

Fruit Ninja has been making a lot of noise of late. A Kinect version of the game was shown during E3 and met with some rave previews. I’ve been told that this version is also an awesome shoulder workout, but I suppose that’s neither here nor there.

Jared did a marvelous preview of 1-bit Ninja early last month, and the game originally was scheduled to be released a few weeks later. Since then, we've gotten comments, emails, and forum threads wondering where in the heck it was. Well, good news, it's coming this Thursday.

Check out the new trailer:

And here's some screenshots to whet your appetite:

Looks awesome, right? I love the idea of a classic Gameboy-esque platformer with the 3D twist to find hidden parts of each level. It'll be out this Thursday, and you can bet on us having a review out shortly afterwards.

Feeling a little cynical about politics? Pick up Frogame's TITUS [$1.99]. You won't feel any better about the world, but you might enjoy being the one on top of a corrupt system for once.

This is the oddest title I've played in a while. The art is strange enough (though quite attractive), with sinister-looking characters that look like something Edward Gorey might have thought up. But the story is even stranger. You play Titus, an agoraphobic watchmaker who wants to become president of Wealland. You're up against the sinister Black Squirrels, a secret society lead by a mime named Desmond who seems oddly obsessed with destroying you personally. You'll have to employ all manner of dirty tactics to take them down, most of which are played out in a collection of 3D mini-games.

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If there's one genre I enjoy the most on my iPad or iPhone, it's puzzle games. Developer Reality Twist brings us an interesting puzzle game called DaWindci [99¢/HD] that has a fresh feel and great atmosphere, and although it was released a couple of months ago I've been enjoying it a lot as of late. In DaWindci you peacefully guide a hot air balloon through the skies and mountaintops using simple swiping gestures, navigating terrain and solving various puzzles. The game provides a very zen-like experience with a soothing acoustic guitar track and calming ambient wind noises. It's almost impossible to not want to just sit back and explore the different levels as you float about.

The game is presented with a 3d overhead view of the landscape. The graphics look great, and combined with the amazing ambient noise effects everything pulls together beautifully to provide a very surreal, lifelike experience. The goal of each level is to reach the finish line, but with mountaintops and trees blocking your path, it's not always a simple solution. Switches are scattered across the levels which must be navigated to and activated to open new pathways to allow your balloon to pass through.

There's only two gestures for controls, both of which are simple and work well. A swiping gesture will create a current of wind that pushes your balloon, and a circle gesture will create a tornado which can be used to activate switches or rip up trees and farmhouses. The real challenge is in the simplicity of the controls and finding the smoothest way to operate your balloon. While you can swipe as fast as you want to, it's much too difficult to control your balloon in the tight spaces that are all too frequent, and if you hit a mountaintop enough times you'll fail and have to restart the level. Small, gentle swipes is really all that's needed except when trying to work through a forest of trees. Keeping a slow and steady pace is the key to finishing with minimal damage and a good time.

In addition to getting level bonuses for finishing quickly and carefully, each level also holds 3 hidden items that you'll have to find in order to get the maximum possible score. These items can be found along your path or sometimes in the farthest corners of the map, as well as underneath trees or farmhouses. This really gives you something to look for and forces you to cover the entire level while figuring out how to pass the level itself.

You can always replay a level to complete a bonus you may have missed, but for your first play through I recommend just enjoying the ride and finding the hidden items naturally as you solve the puzzles. Plus, it gives you a better idea of how you'll want to complete a level on those eventual speed runs. With all the goals necessary to get 100% completion, it's easy to say that this has some serious replay value as it's almost impossible to find the three hidden items and make the required time in a single run.

The puzzles have a good amount of variety to them, and later on the levels get pretty crazy and begin to provide a good challenge. There are 45 levels split up between different themed worlds, each offering their own unique types of puzzle elements. Each of the levels are quite a lot of fun, especially when trying to find all three hidden items on every single level. Completing enough levels with enough points awards you stars which you can use to buy new skins for your hot air balloon, allowing you to customize it with your own choice of colors and designs. Finally, the game also has multiple Game Center achievements for you points junkies out there.

DaWindci comes in two flavors: an iPhone and iPod touch only version and a universal version with additional iPad support. Normally, the universal version will cost you more, but as of this writing it's on sale for just 99¢. With a smooth soundtrack driving the action and excellent puzzle solving gameplay, DaWindci is a complete, beautiful, and unique puzzler that you really shouldn't miss out on if you're a fan of the genre.

The general rule of thumb for cooking chicken is that you want to cook it slowly so it retains its juices and doesn’t dry out too quickly. It's a delicate balance to ensure you don't walk away with food poisoning, but if you get it just right, you'll have a tasty treat. The same goes for most puzzle games and AQSystem's Toast the Chicken [99¢] is at first a slow burn, but as the difficulty ramps up it becomes clear it's an original concept that doesn't play like much else before it.

The goal of each of the 50 stages is to set the chickens in the room on fire. To do so, you'll be swiping the screen to move a scientist around and tapping an area to set a fire. Each fire you set will spread every time you move across a grid or wait out a turn. As any smart chicken or human would be wont to do, they'll move away from the fire as it gets closer, meaning a bulk of the game is spend figuring out how to corner the chickens and protect the scientists at the same time. Game over comes from your death, or the death of the other scientists sometimes spread around the levels.

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I love technology, so when I discover a severed robot head, my first instinct is to place it back on its body. This makes me ideally suited for the physics puzzler  D-Capitatrax [99¢/HD] from developer Gamesmold. The background story is simple: a machine known as the "Golden Mistress" became jealous of the new advanced models of female robot, so she decapitated them all. However, she didn't realize the new-and-improved sexy robo-girls possessed wormhole generating capabilities, which would enable them to teleport their severed robotic heads back towards their curvaceous artificial bodies.

This game requires a combination of tilt and touch controls. Tilting your device to the left or right causes a severed robot head, and other objects in the level, to roll about. There are also two portals which you can touch and relocate, to establish a wormhole. Once the two portals are in position, you roll the head into one portal so it teleports to the strategically chosen destination. The goal is to navigate the level, collect three battery packs, then reunite the head with the body. If you've played the popular Portal series, then you'll be familiar with the concept of strategically placing portals. The developer acknowledges that D-Capitatrix is "a kind of 2D interpretation of the Portal gameplay".

To make things interesting, a number of obstacles are placed in your path, including fire, electricity, balls, bombs, concrete barriers, weight-activated platforms and nasty head-crushing wall-traps. There's also the risk of teleporting somewhere without an exit, which leaves you stranded and forced to restart the level. And if you're not gentle with your tilting, objects like bombs may slide unintentionally into your wormhole, with explosive consequences.

Some puzzles require the robot head to build up speed to travel further. This is achieved by placing the two portals in-line with each other, forming an endless loop. The teleported object will move faster and faster through the wormhole, accompanied by a satisfying acceleration sound. When you suddenly move one portal to a new location, the teleported object shoots out at warp speed. This speed burst helps the head move further or, if your bomb supply is depleted, can smash a concrete barrier. You can't tilt your device completely upside down, so instead portals are used to jump into the air.

The robot graphics are retina and lovely. The level graphics are minimalistic which is appropriate, however the fire effect does look a bit average in comparison to the quality lady-bots. Did I mention the robots in this game are sexy electronic she-bots? I can only assume that "D-Capitatrix" is a play on the words "decapitated" and "dominatrix", because once you complete a level her head spins into place and she turns and struts off with a fierce Beyonce-style, hip-waggling sashay. She also talks in an appropriately sexy computerized monotone. And the music matches the futuristic setting perfectly.

There's 30 levels to solve in total. Most levels require some thought to solve, but nothing too strenuous on the brain so far. Unfortunately, efficient gameplay is not really rewarded. There's no time-limits or move-counters, nor any three star rating system, so there's no incentive to optimize your solution or replay for better scores. In fact, there are no scores or achievements, just the satisfaction of unlocking each level and helping the cyborg sisterhood. The original release did experience some crashes, but the latest update appears to have resolved these. There's also a slight delay at times, while levels are loaded.

D-Capitatrix is a strategic puzzler that's engaging and entertaining. Who can resist unique gameplay, appealing graphics, good music and hot bots, for a buck? Not me. This is one of those games which flies slightly under the radar, but is definitely worth checking out.

Space is a pretty lonely place, something you'll discover in Jonathan Mulcahy's A Long Way Home [99¢]. Stranded a hundred light years away from Earth after a catastrophic ship explosion, the game's astronaut hero has to find a way home. He travels from galaxy to galaxy alone, with just a haunting piano soundtrack and an occasionally chatty wrist computer to accompany him.

To find his way home, he needs to jump from asteroid to asteroid, collecting enough dark matter to open a wormhole and travel another light year toward Earth. The asteroids rotate slowly, and its your job to pick the right moment to jump. Time it well and aim correctly, and he'll fly in a straight line toward your next target, or near enough to get picked up in its gravity. Aim poorly and he'll fly straight off into the endless void of space. Not a good way to go.

I found it challenging enough to survive many of the game's 100 levels, because jumping across large chasms of space from tiny, rotating asteroids takes a lot of precision. Even if you've got great aim, the challenge ramps up as you're introduced to debris fields, asteroids that limit your jumps, teleporting dark matter and other obstacles. But despite all the potential chaos this is a slow, thoughtful game. Occasionally you'll need to act fast, but for most of the game you'll be waiting for the perfect jump.

A Long Way Home rewards patience, while impatience usually gets you killed. You can walk around the asteroids using your choice of on-screen, accelerometer or hot zone controls, and that speeds things up a bit, but if you jump too soon you'll have to wait until you've drifted away and then start the whole level over again. If that sounds like something that would make you want to smash your iPad over your knee after a few tries, this isn't your game.

Even with the patience of a saint, you may run into a few frustrating spots. You can die unfairly in some levels, skimming the edge of the screen or getting a little too close to a debris field. I also ran into one bug that nearly broke the game, letting me skip a few levels and making my computerized companion wander off for the start of a new galaxy. A reset fixed it, but a major error like that makes me a bit more cautious about recommending the game.

If you can look past those few bugs, though, A Long Way Home is a game worth experiencing. With my headphones in and the music on, the feeling of loneliness was so visceral that I found myself actually missing my chats with the wrist computer. It can really hold up its end of a conversation, but it's only around to introduce new game mechanics. The rest of the time, it's just you and the universe. I wouldn't blame anyone who found that dull, but with a few fixes this could be a real indie darling. If you're up for patient, thoughtful gameplay that makes for an evocative experience, you should give A Long Way Home a shot.

Early yesterday I made a post sharing Manomio CEO Stuart Carnie's intent to bring iCade support to his Commodore emulation systems. Early this morning, he posted a video of the Amiga game International Karate + running under his iAmiga emulation system with full iCade support. I've not had a chance to test out his latest development build personally, but I wanted to share the video for to pique retro gamers' appetites.

And, speaking of Manomio's Amiga and C64 emulators, Craig Rothwell behind the iControlPad (and Wizzley Presto) reached out and is sending over an eval device for us to check out. Manomio is currently in the process of building iControlPad support into their emulators, as promised. We'll report on that shortly.

In this week’s episode of TAS we discuss WWDC and The Bearded Ones’ adventures at the San Francisco-based event. We also gab about Super Goblin War Machine, Red Ball 3, and the next sensation to sweep the world, Techno Kitten Adventure. As if that wasn’t enough, we also cover some of the more profound stories from the front page.

If you’re into us -- and, really, who isn’t at this point -- you can grab us on the iTunes as well as the Zune Marketplace. We’re also into streaming and you can do that just below via this little link thing:

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-004.mp3, 51.3MB

A couple of notes this week before the official show notes. At the top of the show, we ask that you all rate us on iTunes and shoot us written reviews. If you haven’t done that yet, I forgive you and allow you this second chance to do so. Also, a bunch of audio interviews with some people you know are coming down the pipe. We’ll bust these out separately to listen at your leisure. Hope you enjoy them as much as we will.

Now for the REAL notes:

Games

• Super Goblin War Machine [Free]
• Red Ball 3 [$1.99]
• Techno Kitten Adventure [Free]

Music for this episode was provided by the super talented Jim Guthrie. The song is "Audio Pepsi" off the album A Thousand Songs. You can buy the entire album or stream all the songs at his Web site. Guthrie is also responsible for the Sword & Sworcery [$4.99] soundtrack. Cool stuff.