I was really excited when Capcom announced at E3 this year that their wildly successful Street Fighter IV [$4.99] for iPhone would be getting a follow up title called Street Fighter IV Volt [99¢]. I’ve been a huge Street Fighter fan for the majority of my life, and the original iPhone version is easily my favorite fighter in the App Store. It was a pretty big deal when it first released back in March of last year, not only because it was such a huge IP but also because it proved that a traditional fighting game could be done well with virtual controls. Capcom fed a steady stream of updates to Street Fighter IV over the past year which have added new characters and features to the game, keeping it on top of the iOS fighting heap.

Now with Street Fighter IV Volt, Capcom has extended the long standing Street Fighter tradition of releasing an incremental update as a new game. What you’re getting with Volt is essentially everything that was already in the first Street Fighter IV, right down to mostly identical graphics and sounds, plus a few additional features and 3 new characters – Cody, Balrog and Vega. These minor enhancements are nice, but the big selling point of Volt is the inclusion of online competitive multiplayer over WiFi, which was easily the most requested feature of the first game.

By default you are set up to accept any online challenges that might be out there. This means that if you’re running through the arcade mode you might suddenly get interrupted with a challenge from a random player online who’s searching for a match. This ensures that there should always be a pretty large pool of players to match up with when you feel like throwing down online, and it also gives it that old-school arcade feeling of having a complete stranger walk up to your arcade cabinet unexpectedly and issue a challenge. Of course, it would be hard to even make it through arcade mode with constantly being interrupted with matches, so thankfully you can easily switch the auto-acceptance on and off at will.

As for the actual experience of competing online in Street Fighter IV Volt, so far it leaves a lot to be desired. Random matches are easy enough to find even in this early stage of the game’s release, but they are usually plagued with lag and are prone to randomly disconnecting. Sometimes the online works near flawlessly, and when it does it’s absolutely brilliant. But more often than not you’ll be subjected to jittery animations and momentary freezes that can really disrupt the flow of a game.

Even with the lag matches can still end up being a ton of fun, but it’s hard realistically gauge either players’ actual skill level when playing under those conditions. I’m hoping things will smooth out as more players pick up the game and jump online, but currently it’s hard to consider it anything more than just a novelty rather than a serious competitive online experience.

One pretty interesting new aspect to Street Fighter IV Volt is something called Wandering Warrior. This mode has you creating an avatar for your multiplayer profile which can be leveled up and upgraded in an almost RPG-like fashion. Then, while you’re facing an opponent in an online or local multiplayer match, your avatar will square up against your opponent’s avatar and they’ll duke it out as well. Special points are earned during multiplayer matches which can be put towards upgrading your avatar and unlocking new icons and badges which grant new abilities and enhancements. It’s a pretty cool little meta game that’s a fun side distraction to throwing down against people in multiplayer.

Despite its spotty online performance and content that is heavily recycled from the first game, Street Fighter IV Volt improves on what was already a successful formula and is the definitive version to own on the App Store. If you aren’t very interested in its online multiplayer or the 3 new characters, then you may be fine just skipping Volt and sticking with the original for getting your quick Street Fighter fixes on the go.

The one wrinkle to this advice is the fact that Capcom is currently running an introductory sale for Street Fighter IV Volt. It launched for just 99¢, and the price will increase by a dollar each day for the next several days before hitting its regular price of $6.99. Even if you already own the first game and the new features don’t totally interest you, I’d still suggest picking up Volt if you can snag for just a dollar or two. It may be a bit harder to justify the upgrade when it hits full price, however.

Street Fighter IV Volt is mostly just more of the same, but that’s not such a bad thing since the original release was so good. The highly anticipated online multiplayer isn’t quite up to par technically, but it can still provide some pretty entertaining moments. Hopefully the online performance can be improved over time, as there is plenty of potential for one of the best multiplayer experiences on the App Store.

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.

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.

We’re shedding paper like a second skin in favor of digital versions of the same content, but in the gaming arena there’s still a place for collectible cards. BANDAI is the latest creator intent on pairing “AR cards” with a digital game. At the 2011 Tokyo Toy Fair the studio is showing off a sharp marriage of the two that looks to stir anime enthusiasts.

We’re not sure on the name of the game because modern Internet translation software is notoriously fickle with brands, but the pictures from the event do enough talking. In this particular title, BANDAI is harnessing the back-facing camera of the iPhone to connect with cards from the popular mangas “One Piece” and “Kamen Rider.”

Once the pairing is complete between multiple cards and one phone, users can then battle digital versions of these cards via an application. There’s also a ‘mission’ element to the design as well, though it appears as if a demonstration of that was absent from the event.

A separate source tells us that the “first” series of these games will be available by the end of next month in Japan. We’re also advised that these cards can be used with other games and on other devices and are quite popular in the region.

Of course, this isn’t a new thing -- cards and games have been talking to each other since cameras started being introduced to handhelds and consoles, but it’s neat to see this kind of technology being used with iOS devices.

The Nintendo 3DS recently launched with a set of AR Cards that are host to a swathe of different mini-games. Because of the lack of quality 3-D experiences on the handheld, the cards are the de facto demonstration pieces for the two-screen device’s technology.

[Via HobbyMedia.it]

When EA released Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 [99¢/HD] last December, it struck me as kind of a strange release. It wasn’t a direct port of the original arcade game, though it did retain the original music and sound effects. Instead it was a brand new version of that game completely redone with 3D graphics, and it also came with a healthy cut in the roster and number of arenas. The move to 3D visuals was puzzling as it somewhat alienated the fans of the original game, but at the same time they looked pretty sweet. The character models were kind of blocky, but the new 3D backgrounds looked absolutely fantastic, especially at high resolution on the Retina Display.

So looking past the dramatic visual change, whether you loved it or hated it, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was actually a competent little fighter on the iPhone, and I wound up liking it quite a bit in our review. The virtual buttons worked about as well as you could expect them to in a fighting game, despite some instances of inconsistent responsiveness. An iPad version was released a couple of months later, and came with an interesting (but not very practical) same-device multiplayer mode and more detailed graphics. Personally, I also found the game easier to play on the iPad with the larger screen.

The major issue I had with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on iOS was that for some reason the developers only included roughly half of the original fighters, and only 10 of the arenas. I can deal with new graphics and less than ideal controls, but at least give me the complete experience when I’m trying to get my Mortal Kombat nostalgia fix while waiting for the bus. Thankfully, today EA has released a major update to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 that does just that. You can now choose from the full roster of more than 20 characters from the original game, and the 6 arena backgrounds that were missing in the initial release are included too. I’m also happy to report that the weird occasional control lag that I mentioned in the review of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 seems to have disappeared as well, though there’s no mention of this in the update description.

Check out the paltry selection of fighters in the pre-update screen on the left, compared to the full roster of the arcade game post-update on the right:

With my two major complaints now taken care of, the lack of characters and the wonky controls, I’m now having even more fun with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on iOS. It’s not perfect, and it's not quite up to par with Street Fighter IV [$1.99] as far as touch screen fighters go, but as a huge fan of the series I love having a version to carry around in my pocket at all times. If you’re also a Mortal Kombat fan then you should easily get a dollar’s worth of enjoyment out of the game. The iPad version is slightly superior in my opinion, but it also comes in at five times the price. Update: iPad version has now dropped to 99¢.

Even though it took a while, I’m glad EA came through with an update for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 that completes the game, and I would really love to see other entries in the series brought to iOS in similar fashion.

Perfection is a strong word, but Capcom isn’t shying from using it when describing Street Fighter 4: Volt, a fleshed out iPod Touch and iPhone sequel to the original Street Fighter 4 [$4.99]. Volt will feature a cast of 18 characters, and will see the addition of Wi-Fi competitive play, which was something its predecessor lacked. It’ll also, according to Capcom, offer “perfected” action with a control feature set reminiscent of the original game.

Of those 18 characters, four will be new to iPhone and iPod Touch series: Balrog, Vega, and Cody will make their debut alongside a “mystery character.” If I were a betting man, I’d bet that this mystery dude is one of the four new cast members of Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition -- Yun, Yang, Evil Ryu, or Oni.

The teaser trailer revealed during E3 shows a lot of the in-game action, but it doesn’t do a great job at expressing that the touch controls can be customized, just like they can be in Street Fighter 4. Neat!

Looking good, right? No word on price, but Capcom has confirmed that launch will be soon -- the game should be available on the App Store this July.

In 2009, Total NonStop Action (TNA) Wrestling was released. Surprisingly, it was a turn-based strategic wrestling game, with RPG elements, enabling your wrestler to "level-up". That game later disappeared from the App Store, with players in the thread suggesting their license expired. Now, another TNA Wrestling game has been released by Bight Interactiveand Namco Bandai.

TNA Wrestling iMPACT [$4.99] opens with bright lights and an electric guitar soundtrack, which introduces the entertainment spectacle that is modern wrestling. It's a good introduction, and perfectly sets the scene for just how over the top this kind of wrestling is.

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Retro revival studio DotEmu has just sent word that they have kicked off a 48-hour sale on five of their iPhone titles. From today until the 28th the following titles will be available for just $0.99.

64th Street -- $1.99 → $0.99

64th Street: A Detective Story is a Double Dragon-style beat 'em up arcade fighter that was originally released back in 1991. The iOS version of 64th Street is wrapped in an emulator, providing the original graphics and an authentic game experience as compared to the arcade release, but with customizations that make it appropriate for the iOS platform.

Avenging Spirit -- $2.99 → $0.99

During a walk with his girlfriend, a boy is ambushed by agents of a mysterious crime organization and is shot to death. Now, as a wandering spirit with the ability to possess most others, he is summoned by his girlfriend's father to save her from these criminals

The game is a run-and-jump platformer that sets itself apart due to its "possess anyone" mechanic. You start out as a Casper-cute ghost and make your initial possession. Then, when you die, your ghost pops out and you can take control of most any character onscreen. Your fighting abilities depend upon who you've possessed, so it mixes the game up nicely.

Earth Defense Force -- $1.99 → $0.99

Earth Defense Force is a classic horizontal shoot ‘em up that made an appearance in both arcades and on the SNES in the early 90's.

The alien Azyma Empire, threatens to destroy the Earth with the Orbital Buster, a large computerized space satellite. The Earth's only hope lies in the recently developed XA-1 spaceships held under the organization known as E.D.F: Earth Defense Force. You are the pilot in command!

This iOS version features two game modes: Arcade and Freeplay, and also boasts support for both D-pad and touch controls. Online leaderboards are also a part of the package, as well as Game Center integration.

Golvellius -- $1.99 → $0.99

Golvellius: Valley of Doom is a 1987 RPG that was originally released for the Japanese MSX home computer system and later brought to the Sega Master System.

The iPhone version of the game was ported by DotEmu with iPhone UI modifications as well as an intelligent save system.

Nicky Boom 2 -- $2.99 → $0.99

Nicky Boom 2 is a retro platform game that combines adventure, puzzle and 90's graphics.

We've been tracking Elite's retro game releases through its ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [App Store] and associated apps for some time now. This weekend, Elite released another emulated classic that many gamers on both sides of the pond will recall fondly: Barbarian from Palace Software.

Barbarian (distributed in the U.S. by Epyx as Death Sword), originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1987, is a hack and slash fighter that places you, the barbarian, in a series of fighting pits on a mission to slash your way through warrior after warrior and ultimately defeat the evil wizard Drax and rescue the ample Princess Mariana. It's all in the spirit of Conan. The game was noted for its realistic character animation (despite its simplistic graphics), considerable gore, and pleasant dose of wit. More than all of these, perhaps, it was noted for its racy box cover art featuring a bikini-clad Maria Whittaker, who had recently made an appearance as a topless Page Three girl in The Sun, and some dude. The outcry was dramatic.

Being a title running in Elite's ZX Spectrum emulator, Barbarian: ZX Spectrum is, of course, the ZX Spectrum version of the game. Unfortunately, this was not one of the strongest ports. Due to limitations of the Speccy's hardware, the actual play area and the characters within are rendered in monochrome. The detail is there, but the presentation feels pretty sparse. Another negative in this emulated iOS release is the control scheme. Despite Elite's "iDaptive" control system, where button (or key) layout can be custom arranged, the types of wildly varying moves that you need to pull off in rapid succession to excel in this game are not particularly conducive to touchscreen-style D-pad play. Happily, the customizable controls let you move the D-pad out of the way of your character in landscape mode, but that doesn't help with the feel of the controls.

Barbarian for the C64 and other platforms of old featured both a single player campaign mode (the quest to rescue Mariana) and a two-player challenge mode. It's worth noting that the version presented here offers only a single player mode.

See a video of the game as played on the ZX Spectrum.

Barbarian: ZX Spectrum is a stand-alone title with versions for both the iPhone [link] and iPad [link], and will be appearing as part of a new download pack for Elite's ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [link] on Friday, when the number of available games in the collection will reach 108.

As a fan of what I knew as Death Sword on the Apple II back in the day, I was happy to see Barbarian arrive on iOS, even if it's come in a non-native fashion. I'd wager that the happy customers here are going to be other oldschool gamers who have fond memories of gut kicks and decapitation as Palace delivered them. Those unacquainted will probably find this one wanting.

Revolutionary Concepts is running a sale on its iOS port of the classic '80s laserdisc title Road Blaster. Road Blaster for iPhone [App Store], normally $1.99, and Road Blaster HD for iPad [App Store], normally $3.99, are both available for $0.99 for one week only.

Road Blaster follows a campy story of revenge (not totally unlike many action movies from the '80s) where you are out to get justice against an evil biker gang who murdered your wife. You'll hop into your modified sports car and go after these heartless thugs across 9 different levels, with the option of three difficulty settings. Operate your vehicle using a virtual steering wheel or the brand new tilt controls.

The iOS version features remastered FMV sequences that are optimized for Retina displays (on iPhone), a choice of two different redrawn in-game dashboard consoles, a new soundtrack and plenty of new sound effects, and numerous optimizations over the original.

Today also marks the return of the studio's Karate Champ FREE [iPhone, iPad] to the App Store, which gives a nice taste of the full iOS conversion of the classic '80s arcade fighter.

Before you get good and unsober later tonight, EA would like you to take a spin in a tricked out Need For Speed Undercover car. Or kick a soccer ball. Or punch a dude in the face. Or piece together a tower of multi-colored blocks. That’s right, another holiday sale is in full effect on the App Store. EA has slashed the prices of a bunch of its stable in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, the the latest holiday-related excuse to have a sale.

A lot of games are on sale, so I’ve assembled a little list below. And, as usual, there’s no mention of when or if this sale will end.

• FIFA 11 -- $2.99
• Madden NFL 11 -- $2.99
• Mirror's Edge -- $.99
• MMA By EA Sports -- $.99
• Monopoly -- $.99
• Need for Speed SHIFT -- $2.99
• Need For Speed Undercover -- $.99
• Scrabble -- $.99
• Tetris -- $.99
• The Sims 3 -- $2.99

Scrabble for a dollar? Yeah, I’ll take that.

While we were out in San Francisco at GDC 2011, I had a chance to sit down with Xavier Liard of DotEmu to catch up on the latest from their studio. Part of the news gathered in that meeting we passed along last week in our story covering the upcoming arrival of Another World for iOS -- DotEmu is the developer on that project. But there's more to tell from this retro revival studio.

The third release in DotEmu's Jaleco arcade series, an iPhone port of 64th Street: A Detective Story [link], has recently gone live in the App Store. The game is a Double Dragon-style beat 'em up arcade fighter that was originally released back in 1991. The iOS version of 64th Street is wrapped in an emulator, providing the original graphics and an authentic game experience as compared to the arcade release, but with customizations that make it appropriate for the iOS platform.

The next title slated for release as part of the Jaleco series is P47: The Freedom Fighter, an arcade side shooter released in 1988 that also saw release on the Amiga, C64 and various other platforms. The coming iOS version of P47 is delivered via emulation of the original arcade version.

Another item worth mentioning from DotEmu is the v2.0 update to their iPhone port of the MSX / Sega Master System RPG Golvellius - The Valley of Doom [link]. New in this release are a redone interface, adjustments to the control system, Game Center intregration bringing around 30 achievements, as well as optimizations to the code for smoother gameplay.

After spending hours in line today, I managed to get my greasy sausage fingers on a brand new iPad 2. I'll be doing a first impressions post shortly, but the insane differences between Infinity Blade [$5.99] running on the original iPad when compared to the iPad 2 seemed too substantial to not immediately write about. Some things to look for in these screen shots include how smooth the edges are on the iPad 2, as well as how high resolution the textures are in comparison. We have this kind of image quality, while everything runs at a much higher frame rate.

The best way to view these comparisons is to click on one to load up the light box image viewer, then click through the screenshots one by one, going back and forth to compare them. The differences are obvious.

iPad 2 on left, iPad on right:

If this is what the iPad 2 can do with existing games that got a quick update to take advantage of the new horsepower, I can't wait to see what games are going to look like that are built from the ground up for the device.

Blanket statements are usually reserved for the uninformed, but I can safely say that I haven't liked a single boxing game in the App Store up to this point. Some of them have admirable qualities, but the vast majority either make me long for Super Punch Out or Fight Night on the PS3. It turns out that all I was waiting for was EA's masterful Fight Night Champion [$4.99].

What makes Fight Night Champion so satisfying is that it never strays too far from its console roots, but at the same time does a great job embracing the touch screen technology for combat and the accelerometer for movement. Like the console, the control system in Fight Night Champion works by splitting the control system into quadrants. Where on the console you pop the stick up to do a high jab, here you just have to tap the upper half of the screen. The same goes for the low right hook, where all you have to do is swipe from right to left on the lower half of the screen. Every punch, grab, and hold, from the simple bob-and-weave to each boxers signature punch is done via easy to follow gesture controls, and once you get a round or two in you'll be ready to punch with the big boys.

In addition to the slick fighting, Fight Night Champion comes loaded with 20 boxing legends, from Mohammed Ali to Manny Pacquiao, and also lets you create your own boxing fantasy in the Legacy Mode. I don't know about you, but taking down the amateur hour fighters in record speed with my ripped heavyweight doppelganger sporting American flag shoes ranks right up there with fried PBJ's and Thin Mint cookies. Hop on a multiplayer match over bluetooth or local WiFi and you'll find yourself in iOS gaming bliss… which I guess would taste something like an A1 Thick 'n Hearty Burger.

As killer as the game is though, there's always room for improvement. My first complaint (and this seems to be echoed frequently in the forum) is that the parrying system is unnecessarily hard. I've nailed a few counters in my play, but my fights tend to become brawls with very little blocking (not that I play any different on the console version). I would also love to see the Legacy Mode flushed out a bit with some interactive training sessions and maybe a cutscene or two, or perhaps a pre-fight Rocky montage to really pump me up.

The bottom line is that if you are a boxing fan, and especially a Fight Night fan, Fight Night Champion is a must have app. The controls are outstanding, the boxer selection will please any boxing fan, and the ability to create your own boxer and start your own career is gold. If you ever find me in a restaurant or airport and want to take me on in a bluetooth match, you're on. As Drago would say, "I must break you."

While we're barely able to keep up with GDC insanity, the massive announcement of the iPad 2 and all the other craziness taking place this week Chair decided to go releasing a major update to their Unreal Engine-powered sword fighter Infinity Blade [$2.99]. The update, dubbed "The Deathless Kings" adds an entirely new dungeon, new enemies, as well as six new arenas which apparently double the size of the game.

Hardcore players will be able to start a new game+, which removes the level cap, allows for re-mastering of items, and unlocks brand new items in the store. In all, 30 new items have been added to the game and new achievements have been added to farm as well. Of course, there have been various tweaks made to the game to make it even better too.

We absolutely loved Infinity Blade in our review, and recommend anyone with an iPad or recent iOS device pick it up while it's on sale. This massive update just further sweetens the deal.