This week on The TouchArcade Show, we push through even more Skyrim discussion and other delightfully off-topic shenanigans to bring you the latest and greatest iOS talk. Because this week has been woefully light on interesting news, we instead decided to run clean-up. At the top, we discuss the 2011 games we liked the best but didn't quite make it into our GOTY show. Also, we dive into Eli's experience with OnLive on the iPad and, of course, answer your user questions.

2011 was a radical year for the site and especially this podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in over and over again and rating us so highly on iTunes. You guys are the best. Seriously. The best.

You can give this week's episode a listen via those download links listed just below. Additionally, you can download and subscribe to us over iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. The coolest people on Earth listen to us via the latter method, so get on that. Peer pressure!

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We're about to lean back in our chairs, puff our proverbial pipes, dust off our hands, and put 2011 to a close. It's been a heck of a year for iOS gaming, and we've gone totally overboard with year end coverage, listing the greatest games the App Store had to offer.

TouchArcade has gotten even more awesome over the year, and our community has grown to be an even better place for iOS gamers to chillax, find out about new games, and discuss their favorites. We're super-excited for 2012, and I can't wait to see what new iOS devices will be released, what games will surprise us, and everything else that comes with being totally immersed in the world of iOS.

Here's a list of our various year end coverage in case you missed any of it:

• Best iOS Games: 2011 Buyer's Guide
• TouchArcade Game of the Year 2011: 'Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP'
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites - Brad
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites - Jared
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites - Eric, Nissa, and Troy
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites - Eli
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites - Blake

Also, just for fun, here were our top ten most viewed stories in 2011:

1. 'DragonVale' Review - Here There Be Freemium Dragon Breeding
2. Get It Before It's Gone: 'iMAME' Hits the App Store
3. Atari Brings 100 Retro Titles to iOS in "Atari's Greatest Hits"!
4. 'Infinity Blade' Comparison - iPad vs iPad 2
5. 'Zenonia 3: The Midgard Story' Review - RPG Grinding at its Finest
6. 'Tiny Tower' Review - Tiny People in a Freemium World
7. '7 Little Words' Review - A 12 Letter Name Meaning "Clever Word Game"
8. 'Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP' for iPad Review - An Incredible Pixel-Powered Audio Visual Experience
9. Dragon Shout: A Hip, Upcoming 'Skyrim' Map App
10. 'Infinity Blade 2' Review - An iOS Masterpiece

We hope you all have a safe and happy New Year, and hope you all stick with us through 2012!

After getting together to pick our official best games of 2011, we also had our writers take a look back at the last year and compile lists of their personal favorites along with their reasons why.

All of us here at TouchArcade joke about how rare a thing it is to actually sit down with an iOS game that we really enjoy and play it -- just for fun -- given the number of titles we evaluate week-to-week for our readers.

I've been writing for Touch Arcade since the beginning, but for much of this year I've been pretty heavily involved with more of the other aspects of the website: work on backend tools, HTML theming, and pieces of our coming iOS app. For the moment, I pretty much only cover the retro games and news that crosses the desk. As such, I've actually had more time (and inclination) to sit down and play some of the iOS games I like best -- for fun -- and it's been enjoyable.

This year I've definitely been spending time and having fun with more games than I've listed here, but the five titles below (since the other folks all kept it to five) are the games I've spent the most time with, of those that landed sometime this year. I am not calling these the "best" or "most significant" titles from 2011 that I've enjoyed, but they are the ones I've spent the most time with. So, without further ado...

Forget-Me-Not, $0.99 [Review] About an hour after I first discovered Forget-Me-Not, I tweeted that it was the best game I'd ever played, in my entire life. A little heat-of-the-moment excitement may have exaggerated the matter -- but not much. For a lover of both retro and modern games, like myself, Forget-Me-Not is a dream come true. It was outstanding when I first played it, and its gameplay has since evolved through updates (the latest of which brought iCade support), and it has even made its way to the desktop.

In my March review, I called Forget-Me-Not the "retrolicious lovechild of PAC-MAN and Rogue," and there's really no better way to describe the game. It sports an amazing scoring system, fantastic retro graphics, and frantic action as the game progresses. If the thought of PAC-MAN combined with dungeon crawling at all piques your interest -- hell, even if it doesn't -- you can't call yourself a Gamer (note the capital 'G') unless you have Forget-Me-Not on one of your devices.

Tiny Wings, $0.99 [Review] Designer Andreas Illiger discovered an itch that most of us carry around with us deep down in our souls, and with his February release, Tiny Wings, he has enabled us to scratch it...or try. The itch that I speak of is a deep, deep craving to land an object on a parabolic trajectory into a series of parabolic crests and troughs, perfectly. That's what Tiny Wings is all about. It requires perfect timing and immense precession, but the reward -- on every perfectly executed landing -- is something like a tiny little mind-orgasm. And it's all wrapped up in a lovely pastel paper-craft rendering. Some people find the music maddening but, to me, it sounds like possibility. This is a game not to be missed.

GoatUp, $1.99 [Review] "Climb up, tryst with amorous billy goats, eat grass, give birth." That's a brief description offered by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft regarding his ungulawesome game, GoatUp. What more could a boy want out of a retro-styled iOS title? The graphics are crude (by design), the sound sounds are all bleeps, bloops and barnyard, and the oldschool classic visual nods are quite blunt. But, GoatUp is just an insane amount of fun -- and I've personally seen non-retro-oriented folks (that is to say, "normal folks") call it incredible. Minter is a veteran game designer that has always marched to the bleat of a different drummer, and GoatUp is not evidence to the contrary. It's a platformer of the endless climber sort, inspired by several oldschool classics, including the Atari 2600 title Man Goes Down, Nebulus, and Rainbow Island. It's awesome.

Minotaur Rescue, $0.99 [Review] Look -- another Jeff Minter title! What can I say? The guy has a true knack for quickly knocking out games that deliver pure, simple gameplay that's loads of fun and highly appropriate for the mobile platform that is iOS. All of his titles have an intense retro look and feel, and I can't imagine them any other way, given that it was on home computers of the early '80s that he learned the formula to making lean games that don't lose track of the fact that gameplay is king. Minotaur Rescue puts you in control of a ship orbiting a star amid a psychedelic spacescape filled with encroaching asteroids. Game the gravity, blast the asteroids, release and grab the minotaurs, repeat. There are saucers too, and an Atari Combat mode. Actually, you'd better just watch the video -- and grab the game.

Jetpack Joyride, Free [Review] There are lots of side-scrolling, endless running obstacle avoidance games in the App Store. It's a genre that became popular on early feature phones with the simple, one button, "keep your flying dot from hitting the sides" game Copter, or thereabouts. Over the years, titles have come along, improving on the formula, adding in elements, and bringing with them greater appeal. But not one of them brought with them real innovation combined with perfect balancing to deliver a truly exceptional game experience, until Jetpack Joyride. This game gets it all right. There's the core gameplay mechanic, the temporary vehicular change-ups that keep things from getting dull at any point, and the slot machine at the end that brings with it the easy potential for prizes after death. Jetpack Joyride is one of the rare games that I consider perfect. I could never tire of this one.

And, so, there you have it, my 2011 list of five. Anyone out there who likes this mix, have a look at my 2010 TouchArcade Staff Favorites post from a year ago. And, Happy New Year, everybody!

After getting together to pick our official best games of 2011, we also had our writers take a look back at the last year and compile lists of their personal favorites along with their reasons why.

2011. What a year. The App Store has been online for over three years now, and it still feels like the future to me most days. Looking back on my life of gaming, it's just crazy how far we've come, and not only in terms of the quantity and quality of iOS releases. When I was begging my mother to take polaroids of me as proof that I beat NES games, the very existence of devices like iPhones and iPads would've seemed like some sort of unattainable future eternally found only in science fiction. But, here we are, almost to the point that we're taking being able to download ridiculously great games, wirelessly, from anywhere, often for a fiftieth (or less) of the price for granted. That's crazy.

My responsibilities as Editor in Chief of TouchArcade here has me cycling a silly amount of games through my iOS devices, as I make sure to at least try every game we review to make sure I agree with what we post. I usually just don't have the time to get incredibly invested in too many of these games, as serving as the gatekeeper for TouchArcade content really just doesn't allow for it. There just aren't enough hours in the day, as badly as I wish there were.

So, the games I end up playing for extended periods of time are an eclectic mix of titles that may have larger over-arching goals, but are totally conducive to quick pick up and play sessions. I'm not sure I'd call any of these games the best games of the year, but they ended up being my favorites, and the ones I spent the most time with:

Dungeon Raid, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Even though Dungeon Raid was technically released very late in 2010, it didn't hit its stride until a few updates later in 2011. No other video game (including consoles) released this year even comes close to the amount of time I've invested in Dungeon Raid. I loved Puzzle Quest, but the way Dungeon Raid boils down that formula its core essence is pure genius. Unlockable classes, random abilities, and game balance that makes any strategy viable with some work has created not only one of my favorite iOS games, but one of my favorite video games in general. I can't believe I'm saying that about a match three.

King of Dragon Pass, $9.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Since completely abandoning PC gaming at some point in the last ten years and becoming a full-fledged "Mac guy" I've missed out on so many of these obscure PC titles. At first glance, King of Dragon Pass might not seem that friendly to iOS style pick up and play gaming since it's a shockingly involved game of managing a tribe that can go on for months (assuming you're good enough, of course). Where KoDP wins me over is that it's the perfect game to load up, make a few management decisions, close the game, and come back to it later. I'm in the midst of a game that I've been playing for close to three weeks total now, and while I'm not sure I'll ever ascend to position of King of Dragon Pass itself, each game is random enough that it feels totally fresh. A universal update is coming too, which I'm beyond excited for.

NBA JAM by EA SPORTSâ„¢, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - The only series of sports games that comes with more nostalgia for me is the Mutant League games. I couldn't even guess how much of my life I've spent playing NBA Jam between the ancient console versions, the four player arcade machines, and subsequent ports and re-releases. 18 years after NBA Jam's original release, I still smile like an complete idiot as I shatter backboards, dunk on fire from a hundred feet in the air, and as the announcer exclaims, "BOOM SHAKA LAKA." The iOS port is absolutely fabulous, although I really wish it had online multiplayer. I'll keep my fingers crossed on that.

The Last Rocket, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - I'm all about games that feel like they offer a totally complete package that all meshes together in perfect harmony. It was this reason why I loved Sword & Sworcery so much, and I feel like The Last Rocket comes packed with similar magic. Too many games hinge on retro tropes, but don't go "all the way" (for lack of a better way to put it). Pixel art and/or chip tunes with modern gameplay can feel a little disjointed at times, but The Last Rocket nails the whole thing to the point that you could load it on to a NES cartridge and blast it back through some wormhole to 1985 and it'd fit in perfectly on a shelf at Funco Land. The appropriately barebones story, the graphics, the music, the gameplay… Flawlessly nostalgic.

Battleheart, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Without a doubt my favorite iPad game of the year. Battleheart is one of the few games that seems to really just click on the iPad, as the touch interface allows you to control four characters at once to have these surprisingly intense battle sequences that feel like you're micromanaging an entire party of players in an MMORPG. I really wish there was more to it, as I feel the end-game is a little lacking, but I've had a silly amount of fun over the year just re-starting the game over and over to level up a new party, relying on a vastly different class composition each time. I've really really got my fingers crossed for sequel treatment, similar to what Zombieville USA saw, as more than anything else Battleheart feels like the foundation for a game that could be beyond incredible.

If you're feeling like reading some legal tea leaves this afternoon, put the kettle on and try this on for size: We just got news that Peter Hirschberg's Vector Tanks and Vector Tanks Extreme have been pulled from the App Store due to their resemblance to Atari's Battlezone. According to the recent Kickstarter update for the planned-but-currently-unfunded Vector Tanks 3, "Tank games, asteroid shooters, and so on have all been pulled."

There's a number of ways you could read into this, largely depending on which way your dowsing rod is pointing. Atari could be planning on releasing their own version of either a direct port or modern re-imagination of Battlezone, and are sweeping the App Store of "clones" (I'm using that word very loosely, mind you.) to make room. Alternatively, it's entirely possible that Atari has a whole department of lawyers whose sole purpose is to protect their IP by any means necessary, and the Vector Tanks series were just casualties of of a legal war.

I could really go either way on that one, as Atari is all about milking their old IP, but they've also become a company that seems to consist of little more than retro branding and lawyers. Either way, it's just sad to see Vector Tanks and Extreme caught in the crossfire, as I never saw those games as "rip-offs" or "clones" of Battlezone, rather, just very tasteful fan-made homages.

If you haven't already, it's a good idea to backup the .ipa files for both Vector Tanks and Vector Tanks Extreme, as it's unclear if they'll ever be back on the App Store.

After getting together to pick our official best games of 2011, we also had our writers take a look back at the last year and compile lists of their personal favorites along with their reasons why.

Among the many things that changed around here this year at TouchArcade was massively ramping up our writing staff with freelancers from quite literally all over the world. We now have writers in four of the seven continents, checking out games and writing reviews around the clock. Maybe in 2012 we'll pick up some people to review games in Africa and Asia, but I'm really not sure how we're going to swing Antarctica.

Our content output is through the roof compared to previous years, which has allowed us to broaden our focus to include games that we normally would have passed on just because of not having the bandwidth to review anything but the absolute best games. I think it's made TouchArcade a much more varied, and better daily read, along with giving a bunch more games some exposure. 2012 should be even better, as ramping up even further along with releasing the TouchArcade app!

Anyway, Eric, Nissa, and Troy were our most active freelance writers in 2012, so I asked them to join the party in compiling lists of their top five games. Check it out:

Eric

Avadon: The Black Fortress HD, $4.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - I've been a big fan of Spiderweb Software since the days of playing Exile on my Performa, so I was intrigued when I first heard that they would be releasing a classic style, isometric RPG. Avadon does not disappoint as it not only succeeded in taking me back to the glory days of 1990s-era Mac RPGs but it also made the entire genre accessible to a whole new generation of gamers. All I can say is that after this fulfilling nostalgic experience, I'm hungry for more.

Jetpack Joyride, Free - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Jetpack Joyride has the honor of being the first endless runner to successfully capture me in its grasp for a very long time. Its
presentation, style, and approachable gameplay are top notch making the game appealing to even the most reluctant of gamers. Most importantly, it has that rare quality of making each run feel new and unique - something that so many other similar games try to achieve and fail.

Dungeon Raid, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - I'm not the biggest fan of match three games. Yet, out of all the games on my list, Dungeon Raid has probably gotten the most hours played than any other. Maybe it had something to do with the way its RPG elements meshed seamlessly with the standard match three gameplay. Or maybe it was the huge amount of unlockable classes, spells, and equipment making each play through different. Regardless, Dungeon Raid has continued to be my de facto option for quick gaming sessions on the go. If you're one of the few that haven't played this by now, hurry up and grab it.

Battleheart, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Battleheart gets a lot of elements right, but in my opinion it's really all about two things: versatility and multitasking. With so many different classes, equipment, and spells, I spent a lot of time playing this real time strategy action-RPG simply to discover various combinations and styles of play that worked. Add in the fact that the game successfully implemented a control scheme that had you simultaneously control four different characters, each with their own abilities and class roles, and it's not hard to see why Battleheart is one of the better strategy games of the year.

Mega Mall Story, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - You really can't go wrong with any Kairosoft game, but Mega Mall Story was by far my favorite release from them this year. Taking a more concrete approach than some of the other 'Story' games, Mega Mall had more short and long term goals littered throughout the game while still giving you enough leeway to build mostly anything however you wanted. I also loved the wonderful pacing that the game set; providing countless rewards and incentives to continue playing while making them just rare enough that they continued to be meaningful throughout the playtime. Also, how could you not love building your own tower?

Nissa

Async Corp., $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - This is the one game that can cheer me up in nearly any situation. It has smiling blocks, bright colors, and cheerful music, which is pretty much the perfect recipe for a good mood. Add the constant positive reinforcement you get for being a productive worker and there's just no way to be down when playing this game - unless you think about what happened to the team who made it. But layoffs aside, Async Corp is by far my favorite matching game. I appreciate the variety of modes it has on offer, but what really gets me is that it's just so relentlessly cheerful.

Wind-up Knight, Free - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - At some point in the past year or two, I went from hating difficult platformers to craving them. Wind-up Knight is the cream of the crop of that genre. It's gorgeous, runs smoothly and is unfailingly punishing. But it's never unfair, and that's why I love it. That, and the terribly clever storytelling conceit that's tucked away in its loading screens.

Mighty Fin, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - I'm a huge sucker for endless-whatever games. Runners, climbers, cave fliers, you name it and I can probably name five I adore. Mighty Fin topped the pack this year with something like nineteen endless levels to obsess over, and an equal number of more traditional arcade levels. It also has an adorable protagonist, high production values and dozens of unlockable costumes.The one thing that really makes it stand out from the crowd, though, is that it's updated regularly and still manages to stay entirely IAP free.

Elder Sign: Omens, $3.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - This one goes out to all my fellow tabletop nerds. In its tabletop form, Elder Sign is one of those overly complex card and dice games that I hate to love - they're just so messy. On iPhone, the experience is streamlined and still tons of fun. I've rolled a lot of dice in my time, and Elder Sign makes it a particularly compelling activity. It's a little bit RPG, a little bit board game, and a whole lot of Elder Gods devouring your face. I hope this is a sign of more great things coming to iOS from Fantasy Flight.

Poker Pals, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - As Words With Friends becomes increasingly bloated, I've moved away from it as my asynchronous game of choice. Poker Pals has taken its place. It's not an incredibly deep game, but it is super accessible, so I can play with just about anyone I know. Seriously, if you've somehow managed to avoid learning how to form poker hands, it's a skill you can pick up in under a minute. The game's progression system is also pretty cool. But when you get right down to the heart of it, what I really adore about Poker Pals is that it (almost) fulfills my long-standing wish to play Sword & Poker online with friends.That game gave me a serious love of poker puzzling, and Poker Pals brings it right back.

Troy

jAggy Race, $1.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - This fantastic game gave me so much pleasure - I know this because I happily re-played the same tracks hundreds of times, searching for the optimum routes. I loved memorizing each crazy track and searching for new gravity-defying jumps, or short-cuts to shave a second off my times. It was especially fun to compete with the skilled TouchArcade forum members, who dominated the jAggy Race leaderboards, because each time someone else achieved a top score, I knew my own strategy needed some adjustments. The blend of fast-paced cart-racing, memorization and strategy made jAggy Race a personal favorite.

Dungeon Raid, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Dungeon Raid is one of my favorite games to play on the smaller iPod screen, which is unusual as I generally prefer playing match-3 games on the iPad. Initially I loved it's simple appearance, the way it's so responsive to rapid swipes, the excellent sound effects and it's ability to reverse out of the lines you're drawing (which is handled better than any other line-drawing game I've seen). But mostly, it's the deepness of the RPG elements which gave it a longer lasting appeal and for that reason it's staying on my iPod.

Vetica, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - I love innovative games which are relatively unknown, because it gives me a smug satisfaction, as if I've discovered something that other people have missed. Vetica is one of my favorite shmups of the year, mostly because it creatively constructs animated enemies using the helevetica font (which I totally dig), but also because it's also entertaining to play, not just a gimmick. It's hard enough to be challenging, without being too difficult to complete.

Perfect Cell, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - I'm a sucker for platform games in general, but Perfect Cell was particularly fun because it added a line-drawing mechanic for rapid dashes. I never tired of decapitating multiple guards in a murderous high-speed dash, or taking them down by knocking their legs out. The ability to split in two (or three) for stealth ambushes or for puzzle-solving was a neat feature. Technically it came out at the very end of December 2010, but I'm listing it here because it came out just after our annual round-up last year… and because it's awesome.

Tiny Wings, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Tiny Wings is a cute and lovable gaming experience that manages to be both soothing and challenging at the same time. I loved the way it was packaged to perfection with a likable soaring bird, unique procedural graphics for the islands, perfect one-touch controls and a totally chilled out sound-track. I usually spot areas for improvement within most games, but Tiny Wings ticked all of my boxes and made me smile each time the bird chirped. It also felt like a special success story because it came from an indie developer (ie: I was willingly caught up in the buzz of popularity it generated).

Yes, I realize we included Dungeon Raid twice in these lists. The game is that good.

I adore tower defense titles, but they tend to be just a bit samey. More than most genres, they rely on a number of standard elements that are rarely done without. Kingdom Rush [$2.99] isn't a mold-breaking game. There are towers, yes, and upgrades and creeps. There is a set path, there are levels. Sometimes the creeps fly. Sometimes there are bosses. You really ought to know all this by now.

Despite the familiarity of its formula, though, Kingdom Rush is absolutely fabulous. With good-natured charm, with clarity of purpose, and with a touch of clever design, this game makes a place for itself in its crowded genre. It's no wonder Ironhide Games Studio's original Flash version is so very popular (a Flash version you can play right here, minus the premium content included in the iOS port).

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If you've been listening to our show, you already know that Rocketcat Games has plans to release a free-to-play RPG based in its Mage Gauntlet [$2.99] universe. Earlier this morning, Rocketcat dropped another first-look at a class for that game on its Facebook page. It even threw out some information on what it's shooting for with the title.

"The Spellsword is essentially the same as Lexi from Mage Gauntlet. Anti-magic dash move, finds randomized single-use spells, while also being very strong in melee. However, he has low health compared to almost every other character."

"Despite the similarity to Mage Gauntlet mechanics, we'll be taking a lot of time to improve things with the Spellsword. The heart system will be replaced with a health bar system, allowing for things like armor that actually reduces damage.

We're also looking into altering the equipment a bit. Some ideas include making some of the swords change what your charge-attack does, the spell-critical robes being replaced with new effects, and the spell trinkets adding secondary effects to the specific spell."

In brief, Rocketcat's Next Game will be a randomly generated dungeon crawler that jives with the spirit of Mage Gauntlet. Players will have different classes to choose from, and other classes to unlock via an in-game gem currency system. Since it's free-to-play and all, those gems will be also be available as optional IAP downloads.

Rocketcat seems pretty serious about sharing stuff for this title on its Facebook, so go give that a follow if you're into what it's doing next.

We’re certainly no strangers to Glu’s action-oriented freemium model and, whether you love it or hate it, Frontline Commando [Free] looks to follow a very similar format. Sporting great visuals, tons of content and a decent control system, this third-person cover shooter certainly has some positives going for it. However, its freemium system, along with a lack of gameplay variety, may be enough for some to simply pass on it.

Like a lot of other war-themed shooters, Frontline Commando places you in the role of a soldier stranded in the middle of a battle zone with the goal of single-handedly taking down all the enemy forces out to get you. You’ll complete this daunting task through various missions with objectives that include Elimination (kill all the baddies), Survival (kill all the baddies until time runs out) and Rescue (kill everyone but the civilians).

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You guys, I had the Worst Christmas Ever this year. No, it’s not because I didn’t get an iPad 2 – I mean, it’s pretty much a job requirement for me to be set in that department – so my (ex-) friends and (former) loved ones are off the hook for that. No, what I can’t get over is the fact that Santa did not leave me a puppy this year. Seriously, I blew up Twitter for weeks with links to dog videos and pet adoption websites and no one picked up on the hints? Collective friends and family, you are dead to me.

Luckily, RagTag Studio's Puppy Panic [$.99] is here to numb my pain. A cute, well-made endless runner, Puppy Panic helped take my mind off of the callousness of those most dear to me by presenting me with a stable of eight (nine, if you count the secret one) puppies for me to race and play with. Each puppy has special abilities unique to their breed that help it in various ways throughout the game’s two modes. When you start with the Beagle, for example, you can double-jump really high, and when you get the Eskimo, you can bark and clear all the obstacles from your path.

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In the crowded genre of endless games, developers need to do more than ever to distinguish themselves. Some attempt to do it via heightened visuals and presentation while others do it by modifying core gameplay elements to try and differentiate themselves from the pack. Stay Alive [$0.99] falls more in the latter category, with the endless arcade shooter making some changes to what is otherwise a standard leaderboard oriented endless game. While these changes are interesting (and possibly controversial), Stay Alive doesn’t particularly separate itself from the pack as much as it may like.

Stay Alive has you piloting a starship through a perpetual asteroid field littered with enemy ships taking pot shots at you. In addition to avoiding all these hazards for as long as possible, your goal is also to pick up as many floating orbs as possible, which are currency for the upgrade store. Also littered throughout the playing field are power-ups that range from more ammo to a temporary laser weapon that lets you destroy everything in sight. OpenFeint leaderboard support (Game Center is not supported currently) keeps track of total kills across all games, as well as the longest distance traveled during one run. As is the case with most endless games, the primary goal is to beat your (and your friends) leaderboard scores.

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With the holiday season upon us and the iTunes freeze halting any new games or updates from popping up, there's been a severe lack of hard hitting iOS news to post about this week. So, with that in mind, we're going to do what any self respecting website would do during a dry spell – post a cute cat video from YouTube. Everybody knows that cats are the dominating force of the internet, but in this instance, there is actually some relevance to what we do here at TouchArcade.

As pointed out by Halbrick on their Twitter, some crazy cat owner has gone and taught their furry feline friend how to play Fruit Ninja. A cat owner after my own heart, really. Check it out:

So here's the thing: I actually think this cat might be better than I am at Fruit Ninja. I mean, sure, I've achieved higher scores than kitty has, but you can see how his (or her?) technique is nearly flawless, and it's only a matter of time before my score is overtaken. Halfbrick also points out that their Fruit Ninja movie spinoff Fruit Ninja Puss'n Boots stars a cat, and this may possibly be the real life incarnation of that. Did Halfbrick go out of their way to train a cat to play Fruit Ninja in an elaborate scheme to start a viral video marketing campaign? Nah, probably not, but I'm nonetheless happy to be able to share in the cute cat video goodness.

Hey, remember Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1? It came out over a year ago, we liked it a lot in our review, and couldn't wait for additional episodes to come. Maybe I got spoiled by Telltale's release schedule, but I was sort of expecting Sega to rapid fire release additional episodes of the game. Well, it turns out we won't be playing the second installment until sometime next year. But, hey, it'll have Tails!

Check out this brief interview with Gamespot and the reveal trailer:

Cool, right? I'm a little worried about the engine change, as that seems like something that's a little strange to do between installments of an episodic game. It sounds cool though.

Here's a small shout-out for our American iPad-owning but not iCade-owning audience: Bed Bath & Beyond, which seems like a strange place to buy an iCade to begin with, is apparently liquidating their inventory at $49.99 a pop. You can head on over to their site and order one, or check to see if any stores have them in stock locally. In the Chicago area, it seems like almost every nearby location has them, but your milage will vary.

We've already extensively reviewed the iCade in the past, and maintain a pretty awesome list of iCade-supported games to check out as well. If you were lucky enough to snag iMAME before it disappeared, consider that iMAME comes with full iCade support, making it pretty awesome. (Alternatively, you could always jailbreak and install imame4all if you missed iMAME.)

It doesn't seem like Bed Bath & Beyond ships outside of the USA, so our friends from abroad lose out on this deal. You likely have universal healthcare though, so I'd still argue you're winning overall even without $50 iCades.

It's always great to see companies with so much history (like Taito, in this case) bringing some of it to the App store. According to Famitsu [Translated], Taito will be bringing Rayforce to the App Store, and it'll be hitting at some point this winter. (Or, before March 20th, for those of you playing along at home.)

Rayforce is a vertical shooter which I'd guess not many North Americans have much experience with. It originally hit in the early 90's, with a new name for seemingly every region it was released in, you might remember it as Galactic Attack or Gunlock. Or, you might not remember it at all, since outside of Japanese and European arcades it was only ever available as a Sega Saturn game until PC ports started materializing much later.

[Andriasang via Joystiq]