You love game sales, I love game sales, everyone in the whole flippin' world loves game sales. This one is a doozie. A ton of indie developers got together to do a promotion called Because We May. What's the story behind all this? Well, per the Because We May site:

We believe that developers should have the freedom to price their games how they like, without interference from the online stores that sell the games. Why? Because it allows us to promote our games more freely, as we are doing here! We rely on the ability to promote our games for our livelihood and control over pricing is an important tool for this purpose.

Seems like a good enough reason for a sale to me. Normally in these types of posts, we'll include a few of the games that are on sale to highlight what you're in for… But this time there are just so many that you're much better off just mashing this link and going to town. It features previous TouchArcade game of the year winners such as Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor [$0.99 / $0.99 (HD)] and Sword & Sworcery [$0.99 / $2.99 ] as well as runner-ups like Anomaly Warzone Earth [$0.99 / $1.99 ] and tons more.

So seriously…

…And just go to town. Every single game on this list is good, and they've even got little widgets indicating which ones have been nominated for awards as well as which have a Metacritic score of over 75. Awesome, right? Oh, and if you're interested in games for other platforms, the Because We May promotion has tons of those too.

What games from this promotion are your must-haves? Let us know in the comments!

This week has been pretty awesome for me so far, so it'd only make sense that we're getting some awesome games out of the ol' App Store games spigot this evening. I'm chomping at the bit so hard for Defender Chronicles II that I… I don't know, whatever happens to you when you chomp on a bit too hard. The first game was great and I'm expecting big things from the sequel.

Anyway, like all Wednesdays, all of these games should be available at 11:00 PM Eastern. If you follow us on Twitter, I usually blast out a tweet around that time reminding everyone too.

Air Mail, $4.99 - Forum Thread - Judging by the trailer, this game looks bananas. (B.A.N.A.N.A.S. for you Gwen Stefani fans out there.) I seem to love everything that involves a biplane, the graphics look great, and hopefully the story of the game is as cool as the trailer makes it sound.

Bee Leader, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This game might just have the best trailer I've seen in quite a while. The way they built the text into the actual gameplay? That's super clever. iOS developers, take note!

Defender Chronicles II, $2.99 - Forum Thread - We had our pepperoni-greased hands all over this game not too long ago. The original was great, and I'm fairly confident this game is going to soak up the rest of my week.

Extreme Skater, 99¢ / HD - Forum Thread - The latest game from the guys at Miniclip. I had a chance to spend some time with it at GDC, and it's a fun twist on something that vaguely resembles an auto-runner with a skateboard mechanic and levels.

Golf Squared, 99¢ / HD - Forum Thread - These sort of 2D golf games always seem to be a ton of fun on the iPhone, so it's not that big of a leap to assume that Golf Squared will be good too.

Iniesta Vs Casillas, Free - Forum Thread - Download this free soccer shootout game and never stop scoring goals against Madrid. Like, ever.

Sakura Slash, Free - Forum Thread - A free game from Gamevil that seems vaguely similar to Fruit Ninja with a samurai-style twist.

Shoot the Zombirds, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A slick looking shooter with an oddly off-season Halloween-style theme?

Sky Gnomes: Battles, Free - Forum Thread - We're huge fans of Sky Gnomes proper, and this turn-based standalone racing game seems pretty rad as well.

Slingshot Racing - Forum Thread - Remember Rocket Jockey? Well, take that similar mechanic and apply it to a racing game. Sounds good to me.

Subway Surfers, Free - Forum Thread - This looks to be a Temple Run-style endless runner, but set on some subway tracks. That seems… Really dangerous!

Tiny Plane, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Remember what I said earlier about biplanes? Yeah, that applies here too. Looks great.

Virtua Tennis Challenge, $4.99 - Forum Thread - A Virtual Tennis game for iOS devices with gesture controls? Ree-hee-hee-healy. I'm so in.

There was quite a debate in the TouchArcade command center today regarding whether or not we were even going to post this, as our community seems to simultaneously hate it when we post about clones, but absolutely loves talking about them. So, we're going ahead with this along with the caveat that we're trying to get in touch with all parties involved to get to the bottom of things. With that out of the way, let's back things up a bit.

Johann Sebastian Joust is a no-graphics game designed for the PlayStation Move controller by Die Gute Fabrik. The game seems to be a staple at any indie game developer party, and features Bach's Brandenburg concertos as the soundtrack. The idea of the game is to jostle the PlayStation Move controllers of the other players to get them out. The threshold of how much the controller can be jostled is adjusted in time with the music, and it's a ton of fun to watch people playing. It's a very difficult game to explain, so, watch this trailer:

Today, ustwo released an eerily similar game called Papa Quash [ Free ]. I suppose we should cut right to the chase here, so, assuming you've watched the above video, imagine that… But with dub step:

The rabbit hole goes much deeper here than your typical tale of game cloning. According to ustwo marketing director Steve Bittan, the concept of the game was actually cooked up by Sam Pepper, a YouTube pseudo-celebrity whose original claim to fame was appearing on the TV series Big Brother.

Allegedly, Pepper contacted the guys at Die Gute Fabrik who gave him to go ahead with the game and wished him luck. Die Gute Fabrik fired back via Twitter by saying, "Just to be clear, we have never and would never approve, give permission, or encourage anyone to clone of any of our games." Where things get interesting in all this is that Mills, the ustwo co-founder and self-proclaimed Chief Wonka, has been very vocal in the past regarding cloning. In the past, he's told PocketGamer:

"Making games, entertainment, a new design, a product should always be about unearthing something that makes you proud no matter what happens on the financial side... Fakes and copycats quite simply have to absolutely f**k off to another paradigm."

Bittan, speaking with Edge continues:

"This is a quick, short-term project, in and out of the door very quick. Obviously the concept is quite similar. We don't want to be dragged into it too much - it's not anything to do with our app division.

We don't copy - everyone is influenced by certain things. It's like saying Sega is copying Mario or something. Whale Trail people said was similar to Tiny Wings, but we went back to the drawing board with that. If people think we're happy to clone people they're very much mistaken."

We'll see how it all shakes out once more people start talking. We've yet to hear back from ustwo ourselves, and Die Gut Fabrik is preparing a statement on the matter. Now, I'm going to go sigh a lot.

Details are still vague as they could possibly be regarding the upcoming Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalker 2013 coming to the iPad, but a new video just hit YouTube this afternoon that shows off some of the new cards included in the 2013 release. Give it a look:

It's probably safe to assume that this is video of the PC (or console) version of the game, so it'll be interesting to see how many of the various visual effects transfer over to the iPad. Either way, we'll find out when the game finally hits sometime this summer. I can't wait.

The TouchArcade App [ Free ] has been out for a couple weeks now, and it seems like everyone is really digging it. Currently we're working on a quick 1.1 update which will address some tweaks, fixes, and suggestions that have been posted in our forums. After that, it's full-steam ahead on releasing a universal update. Spoilers: I've already got a beta version of it on my iPad, and it's going to be really nice.

But anyway, one of the best features you might not be using in the TouchArcade app is setting up watch lists to stay on top of upcoming games we've posted about. Flipping the little binoculars switch on these games will add them to your watch list, and you'll be notified when we post additional articles on them as well as when they're actually released. Going back through historical stories to fill up your watch list is a bit of a hassle, so here's a list of games I'm looking forward to that you could think about adding.

All you've got to do is tap each link, and then flip the binocular toggle on top:

Audiosuft Air - The Audiosurf series of games were a huge hit on the PC, and it seems like a natural fit on the iPhone. It's currently scheduled to be released sometime this year.

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition - If you listen to the podcast, you'll know we're always going on about how much we want old school RPGs on our iPads, and there's few finer old school RPGs than Baldur's Gate- Especially a totally touch-centric port.

Bladeslinger - A "western-themed Infinity Blade" as it's known around my house. The game has been delayed like crazy, but last we heard is still supposed to be released this month.

Defender Chronicles II - The original Defender Chronicles was a huge hit in our community, so naturally, folks are incredibly excited about the upcoming sequel. (Including me, I can't wait.)

Drifter - Space trading games and me go together like peas and carrots. Drifter is looking really promising.

Galactic Keep - I feel like Gilded Skull Games has been teasing us with this game for eternity, and last we heard, it's still coming. I'm still loving the art style and dice-centric gameplay ideas.

Infinity Blade Dungeons - It's the new Infinity Blade, there's no way this game won't be huge, especially with the recent release of Diablo III and Dungeons' dungeon crawling gameplay.

Linux Tycoon - There have been tons of "tycoon" style games released over the years, but none are as delightfully nerdy as Linux Tycoon. Last we heard, it's coming very soon.

Penny Arcade On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode Three - Sadly, I don't hold out much hope for the first two episodes, but I'm more than happy for the third installment to be hitting iOS devices.

Pocket Heroes - Dungeons and Dragons combined with Words With Friends style asynchronous multiplayer? That "Take My Money" meme is totally appropriate here.

RealMyst - I'm still blown away that this exists. 20-ish years ago, my computer could barely play the pre-rendered version of Myst. Soon we'll be playing it rendered in real time on our phones.

Star Command - Kairosoft-style simulation combined with a gloriously Star-Trek-y setting. They've also released the best trailer I've seen recently, which is embedded above.

The Other Brothers - An adventure game with platforming elements and some really awesome pixel art. We can't wait.

WarGames - I'm a massive fan of Dungeon Raid [$2.99 / Free ] and WarGames is designed with vaguely similar gameplay in mind. Oh, and it's dripping with WarGames style from the actual movie.

Joystiq just posted a brand new gameplay video of the upcoming Infinity Blade Dungeons. If Diablo III has you itchin' for some similar dungeon crawling action on the iPad, you'll want to watch this video right now:

Also in the video is a curious looking blacksmithing mini game, and if you watch what seems to be a boss fight of some kind towards the end you'll notice what looks like a gesture-based attack to throw your weapon around. Unfortunately, no other details are available just yet, but I've got a good feeling about this. Something tells me if videos like this are dribbling out, we might be closer to a release than we may realize. (Or, at least, that's what I want to believe.)

Update: IGN has a brief hands-on and some screenshots:

[Via Joystiq]

Chillingo's Feed Me Oil [Free / Free (HD)] hit the App Store around a year ago, and our review shows, we had a great time with it. In essence, the game is a physics puzzler only this time around, the physics gimmick you're forced to harness hinges on fluid dynamics.

Every level features two things: A spigot where oil shoots from, and an area (usually designed as a mouth of a strange creature) where you've got to get the oil to. Completing each level involves getting the oil from the spigot to the goal area utilizing widgets you can drag into the game area. For instance, oil flows off simple platforms, it can be curved by magnets, and even blown in a different direction by fans.

Feed Me Oil was shockingly popular when it first hit last summer, so there's a decent chance you already have it. If this is the first you've heard of it though, make sure you don't miss this freebie.

Hey, it's Wednesday again which means precisely one thing to iOS gamers: A landslide of newly released video games are almost here. The star of the show this week definitely seems to be the second episode of Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Or, at least, that's what I'm most excited to sink my proverbial teeth into.

Like all previous weeks, these games are released in New Zealand first, then a few hours later they hit Asian markets. A while later, they spread across Europe before finally being released in the USA at 11:00 PM Eastern. At that point, all of these links should automagically start working.

Here's what we know is coming, and since we're posting this earlier in the day than we usually do, if anything else appears we'll just update this post:

Boomlings, Free - Forum Thread - A neat-looking matching game that seems to hinge on clearing massive amounts of blocks at a time. Hopefully the free to play mechanic isn't too obnoxious.

Bug Assault, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A bug squashing and zapping game from Namco. The boss fights look like they could be interesting.

Circus Atari, Free - Forum Thread - If you've been wondering what in the world Atari has been up to, well, here is your answer.

Empire of the Eclipse, Free - Forum Thread - A strategic space MMO that seems like this game has been in development for eternity, and finally it's here. False alarm, more waiting.

Extinction Squad, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A trampoline bouncing game where you travel around the world saving endangered animals that are jumping to their deaths. We got a quick look at this at GDC, and it was amazing.

Keitai Guardian, $6.99 - Forum Thread - A …female-centric choose your own adventure social game? I'm so confused.

Master of Maya, Free - Forum Thread - As we get closer and closer to the end of 2012, something tells me we're going to see a lot of Mayan-centric games. The iTunes text (and screenshots, for that matter) gives no indication of how the game is played, but, Mayan, and Free.

Missile Monkey, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Play as a monkey that drops missiles in this game which has the most literal title of all the games released this week.

Non Flying Soldiers, 99¢ - Forum Thread - An interesting looking puzzle game from Chillingo where you play the role of commander trying to get birds through various obstacle courses.

Scotland Yard, $4.99 - Forum Thread - An iOS port of a nearly 30 year old board game. The above video is for the physical version (obviously), but they do a great job of walking through all the mechanics. The iOS game even has multiplayer with voice chat.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, $6.99 - Forum Thread - After years of waiting, finally the second installment of the Sonic 4 series is here. We'll have a review up when it hits the US App Store tonight.

It's a Thursday on the App Store which is as just as good of a reason as any to set your games' prices to free if you're an iOS developer, or, at least, so it would seem. It sort of goes without saying, but due to the volatile nature of pricing on the App Store, you better grab these games now if you're interested in them. Few things are more annoying in the world of iOS gaming than missing a killer freebie.

Get your downloading finger ready:

Beyond Ynth, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - An absolutely fantastic puzzle game where you play as a little ladybug doing your best to survive each level, often by rotating curiously sectioned off boxes. Do not miss this game while it's free. If you want to give it a go on your iPad, there's Beyond Ynth HD [ $2.99 (HD)], too.

Braveheart, $0.99 - [Forum Thread] - You probably have a lot of games on your iPhone, but how many of those games have you searching for the Holy Grail? (Not many, I'd guess.) You'll hack and slash your way through all sorts of normal monsters, boss monsters, and other monsters. If you're looking for the iPad version, Braveheart HD [ $1.99 (HD)] is what you seek.

Escape The Ape, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - This jumping game puts you to the task of drawing lines to create trampolines for JoJo the monkey to bounce on. While it looks simple, gameplay is deceptively deep especially when you start reaching higher altitudes and need to work harder to collect power ups.

Fish Tycoon, $0.99 - [Forum Thread] - I'm including this game in the list because these dumb Tycoon games are responsible for soaking up countless hours of my time, going all the way back to my Palm Treo 650 days. Or, before that, now that I think about it. …And now, fair reader, I place this curse upon you.

Highway Rider, Free - [Forum Thread] - Have you ever been sitting in traffic when some dude on a motorcycle recklessly lane splits you at what seems like a million miles an hour? Well, in Highway Rider, you can be that jerk. The point system even encourages it, in fact.

Swordigo, $1.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - A side scrolling action RPG that is just fantastic. Imagine if you took something like Zelda II and released it in 2012, that'd be Swordigo. Download it. Play it. Love it. Trust me.

Towers N' Trolls, Free - [Forum Thread] - I love tower defense games, you love tower defense games, and this is a tower defense game. It's a pretty good one too, so if you haven't scratched that whole laying out towers and murdering creeps itch in a while, here's your chance.

Trigonon, Free - [Forum Thread] - The gimmick of this puzzle game is that it takes place in the factory of your mind. Your thoughts are represented by steel spheres, and you've got to get them out. Seems reasonable, and looks cool.

Vermes on Mars, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - An interesting shooter where you control a small squad of robots (which are all upgradeable). You position them, and tap to target. It takes place on Mars, and your enemies are worms. The control scheme is worth giving this game a try.

I think we can all agree that the biggest release this week was the TouchArcade app [ Free ], and if you're reading this story because the app made your phone buzz, isn't the future a wonderful place? Also, if you somehow haven't downloaded our app yet, get on that, it's amazing, and will only get better once it eventually goes universal.

Anyway, there are a bunch of games coming out tonight, and this week works like every other week on the App Store. Everything in this list should be available for download in the US App Store at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're lucky enough to utilize an Asian or European flavor of the App Store.

Acme Planetary Defense, 99¢ / HD - Forum Thread - This looks like a game similar to Missile Defense, only with asteroids, upgradeable weapons out the wazoo, and a 360 degree perspective.

Battleship Free - Forum Thread - To celebrate the impending launch of the Battleship movie (I still can't believe such a thing exists) EA is releasing a free version of the game.

Casino by Zeziz, Free - Forum Thread - An effort from the United States Playing Card Company to take their physical playing empire to the virtual world with the requisite social spin.

ChickenBreak, 99¢ - Forum Thread - It looks like this is some sort of chicken-themed endless runner, and I'm really diggin' the video, even though it doesn't actually have any gameplay.

Exponential Invasion, $2.99 - Forum Thread - The subtitle of "The Game of Mathematic Warfare" says it all. I dig these clever math-centric puzzle games.

FastBall 3, $1.99 - Forum Thread - The FastBall series has millions of fans, and the third installment will surely be a hit. If you haven't played one yet, it's basically a platformer starring a red ball, with lots of obstacles.

Jake Escapes, $2.99 - Forum Thread - I hope this game is as fun as it looks, you climb buildings using a clever swipe control method. I'm intrigued.

LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias, $3.99 - Forum Thread - Did you enjoy the original LostWinds [ $3.99 ]? Well, here's the sequel, dive right in.

Monster Shooter: The Lost Levels, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Alright, so there are a million dual stick shooters on the App Store, we know. This one looks really cool though.

N.O.V.A. 3, $6.99 - Forum Thread - The third installment of the N.O.V.A. series. We'll have a full review up the second it hits the App Store tonight.

Penny Time, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This game is produced by an actual Australian skateboard company, and I like absolutely everything I see in the trailer. Everything.

Pinch Peeps, 99¢ - Forum Thread - An incredibly cute looking game of pinching bombs. The screenshots even promise it being easy to learn, but difficult to master!

Punch Hero, Free - Forum Thread - A free boxing game from Gamevil that looks a lot like Punch Out? Where do I sign up?

Red Bull X-Fighters 2012, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A freestyle motorcross game from Red Bull that, as you can see from the above screenshot, seems to filter tons of jumps and fireworks.

This Could Hurt, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A puzzle-centric platformer that is vaguely similar to Rinth Island, but more action-oriented, per people on our forums!

Does the name Remedy ring a bell? They're the Finnish developers behind Alan Wake and Max Payne, but before all that, they released a top-down combat-centric MS-DOS Racer called Death Rally. (Oh, and, Max Payne [ $2.99 ] is also now available on the App Store, check out our review.) Anyway, a little over a year ago the greatly enhanced iOS remake of Death Rally hit the App Store.

To create the game, Remedy partnered up with Mountain Sheep, who is likely best known around these parts for Minigore [$0.99 / $1.99 (HD)]. Minigore saw tons of updates, so, I'm not sure anyone was surprised when Death Rally got similar treatment. Since its initial release and our original review, they've added all sorts of unlockables, character tie-ins (such as a guest appearance from the one and only Duke Nukem) and even full online multiplayer.

Yes, the game has been free before, and one could argue that it's only "free" with air quotes as there's a variety of optional IAP to be had. Regardless, if you missed the last Death Rally promotion, be sure to hop on this one. Even if all you do is tool around in a few single player races, it's still totally worth the download.

Today marks the next big step in TouchArcade history, as with the help of Flexbits and Bartelme Design the official TouchArcade App [ Free ] is now available for download on the App Store. We dug deep into all the features of the app last month, so give that a once over while you're waiting for the app to download.

We've put a ton of effort into the development of this app, and aside from providing an incredibly iPhone-friendly version of all the content TouchArcade has to offer, you'll be able to see a list of the hottest games updated in real time. This list really aids in game discovery, as unlike the Apple featuring process where you'll see a new crop of games every week, our hot games list is in constant flux and will include new games, old games with recent updates, games with price drops, and tons of other relevant titles.

So give it a download and let us know what you think, and what you'd like to see changed or tweaked in future versions. Also, while this initial launch currently is not universal, we've got plans for that on the horizon and the universal version looks incredible on the iPad.

Also, if you run into any specific issues and want some help or run into some bugs that you'd like to see squashed, please don't hesitate to send an email to support@toucharcade.com!

Nearly a month ago we got into all the nitty gritty details of what the upcoming TouchArcade app was going to do. Our initial plan involved launching the following Monday, but some unfortunate events put that in limbo. We've since gathered our forces, and are completely prepared for a Tuesday launch of the app.

We'll be pulling the lever manually early Tuesday morning, so keep an eye on the site and/or our Twitter to know the second it's available. I've been using the app daily for quite a while now. I love it, our beta testers have loved it, and I can't wait to get it into everyone's respective hands.

Strap in for Tuesday! Oh, and here is the iTunes link, if you want to bookmark it to obsessively mash over the weekend like hitting the refresh button on a package you're tracking even though you know it won't arrive for a few days.

The Binary Mill's Mini Motor Racing [Free / Free / Free (HD) / Free (HD)] was initially released late last year, and we liked it quite a bit in our review. It's a slick little top-down arcade racer with some great visuals, an excellent soundtrack, and tons of content to play through.

In our review, we mentioned how much we hoped that the multiplayer mode, which initially was local only, eventually went online. Well, this recent update adds not only complete online multiplayer via Game Center, but also an entire new championship to race in. New cars have been added, a few tracks have been "remastered," and there's a number of other tweaks they threw in as well.

If you already own Mini Motor Racing, make sure you snag this update. If you were waiting on online multiplayer, well, it's here, so get on it.

I'd argue that the only genre more saturated on the App Store than match-3's has got to be casino style games. Whether you're talking slot machines, card games, and other variations, there's a bazillion of them. Well, the guys behind the United States Playing Card Company think they've got a compelling addition to the field, and that's through their expertise of being the guys behind basically every brand of playing cards. Aviator, Bee, Bicycle, Tally-Ho, Congress, KEM, and PokerPeek are all their products, and the company has been around since 1867, so they definitely have some momentum behind them.

Anyway, the United States Playing Card Company have teamed up with the marketing firm Digi117 who themselves are behind widely recognizable brands like Morton, O'Reilly, and even Carfax. They're partnering to form a company called Zeniz to throw their hat into the social gaming arena.

Who knows what will come of this, but if nothing else it'll be interesting to see how the giant of physical playing cards transitions to the virtual space. Casino by Zeniz is on schedule to launch next week, so we won't have to wait too long to watch this play out.