Mobile developer Handcircus recently gave us a heads-up on a title they have in development for the iPhone and iPod touch known as Rolando.  A physics-based platform / puzzler, Rolando was designed from the ground up as an iPhone game and makes full use of the iPhone’s multitouch interface.

As the YouTube video shows, Rolando looks to be a clever and promising title that has “iPhone” written all over it.  We can’t wait to see this one arrive at the App Store.

Learn more about Handcircus and the work that went into creating Rolando at the company’s blog.

Gameloft, one of the few development houses creating games for the classic iPod, stated earlier this year that they have 15 iPhone games in development for sale through the iTunes App Store.

Update: It appears the information was released prematurely, and Gameloft has asked us to take down the information, but needless to say, we can expect some Gameloft games through the App Store in the near future.

It’s not a particularly new jailbreak iPhone game, but it’s the one that’s been driving me crazy (in the good way) on my daily commute of late.  The title I speak of is Block Puzzle from Soneso.

Block Puzzle is, as one might expect, a puzzle game in which the player must slide a large red block through the exit by sliding it and other blocks of various colors and sizes around the playfield. There are 10 levels, each with a different combination of block sizes.  A gameplay timer effects the score, and as incentive to get times as low as possible, the game is tied to an online, web-based hi-score page allowing players around the world to see how they rank.  A nice touch.

It sounds like a rather basic game–and it is, but somehow it seems to just “get it right.” If you’ve got a jailbroken iPhone, you won’t want to miss it.

Block Puzzle and Soneso’s other iPhone games and apps can be acquired through their Installer.app repository: http://www.soneso.com/iphone.

We’re all anxiously awaiting the launch of the iTunes App Store in early July.  That said, there’re plenty of great jailbreak iPhone games out there.  The one I’ve been most enjoying of late is Passionfools‘ title CubicMan (video link).  A remake of the Flash game Bloxorz, CubicMan presents the user with an isometric game grid and the challenge of manipulating a rectangular object in such a way as to stand it up on a designated grid square, thereby moving to the next level.

The game is great fun and makes good use of the iPhone’s accelerometer for screen orientation and multitouch display for pinch-and-zoom playfield manipulation.

CubicMan can be had via Installer.app from the ModMyiFone repository for users of a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch.  We hope to see this available through the iTunes App Store at launch.

iPhone developer Binary Square has released gameplay videos of two native iPhone game titles currently under development: Space Out and Spinblox.

Space Out, “a tribute to old school arcade games,” is basically Space Invaders meets Arkanoid.  The game presents a Space Invaders-style monochrome game screen, but rather than controlling a movable turrett, the player is in control of a sliding paddle with which he/she must destroy the advancing alien horde by deflecting a bouncing ball.  Like Arkanoid, power-ups fall from certain enemies when destroyed with the ball.

Spinblox is a colorful puzzle game in which the player swipes his or her finger over two adjacent blox in order to spin them.  The goal is to line up three or more of the same color blox in order to create a set.  All sets are removed with each wave, every few seconds.

Binary Square CEO Dan Bliss indicates that both titles will be sold through the iTunes App Store.  There are no details on pricing at this time.

Bridger Maxwell of Fiery Ferret has posted a video demo of his upcoming puzzle game Lumen for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The objective of the game is to manipulate a colored laser beam to pass through specific checkpoints in the puzzle. This is accomplished by adding a set of mirrors and color filters to the level to achieve the desired goal. A $10 shareware version of the game is already available for the Mac and PC.

The game pulls from an online database of 1200 user-created levels that range from Easy to Hard. Levels are also saved locally on your iPhone in case you want to play but are not internet-connected.

Maxwell hopes to release the game at the time of the iTunes App Store launch and will be pricing the game at $5.

A Youtube video provides a walkthrough of the basic gameplay:

We previously covered Demiforce’s unique puzzle game called Trism. Trism fully utilizes both the iPhone’s touchscreen and accelerometer to allow users to line up game pieces. When a three-way color match is made, the matching triangles disappear and other triangles fall in the direction of gravity to fill the void. The first Youtube video showed some early gameplay. Demiforce has posted a new video today demonstrating a few key features of the game:

The features listed include:

• 3 Game Modes: Classic, Timed, Puzzle
• 22 different achievements to find
• Online scoring. See how you compare to others around the world.
• Free demo to be available
• $4.99 Price

Demiforce is aggressively pricing their first game at only $4.99, and hopes to release it as soon as the iTunes App Store opens.

Last month we covered a web-based 3D Rubik’s Cube game for the iPhone and iPod touch.  If you have a jailbroken device and enjoyed that title, you will want to have a look at iCube.

iCube is a “native” iPhone app that can be installed via Installer.app (just addhttp://repo.ispazio.net to your sources list and the game will show up in the Games category).  Being a native app, users will find it to be more responsive than the aforementioned Rubik’s Cube game.  Depending on preference settings, iCube can be played with cubes anywhere from 2×2x2 to 5×5x5 blocks in size.  There is also a race-against-the-clock mode to add a bit of urgency to the gameplay.

[ via Phones Reviews ]

Simiotica, a Ukrainian iPhone development group, has announced the release of their iPhone and iPod touch game aMaze! via Installer.app.  aMaze! is an accelerometer-based adaptation of the classic game Labyrinth, similar to Labyrinth for the iPhone which we covered earlier this month.

Like the classic wood and steel Labyrinth, aMaze! challenges the player to maneuver a playfield filled with holes and other obstacles in order to reach a set goal location.  Some levels require the player to pick up bonus stars along the way, adding variation to the standard Labyrinth formula.  The game features over 70 levels, most of which can be completed in under 90 seconds, making it a rather ideal pick-up / put-down time killer.

Simiotica CMO Alex Dubov indicates that, while an Installer.app title right now, aMaze! will appear in the iTunes App Store when it goes online.

Large multi-touch screen, OpenGL ES and OpenAL support, built-in accelerometers make iPhone most powerful mobile gaming device on the market. We have developed aMaze to meet expectation of the iPhone owners for games with innovative gameplay not yet possible with other devices. While awaiting the launch of the official App Store, we make it available through the Installer.App to let iPhone entusiasts enjoy it as early as possible

A 10 level demo version of aMaze! can be downloaded for free, while 70 additional levels can be unlocked for a $9 USD registration fee.

Developers from WIT Entertainment and Decane have come together to bring several new games to the iPhone platform under an as-yet-undecided brand name.

From the WIT Entertainment folks comes a 3D air hockey game called Balls of Steel for the iPhone.  The title is based on the Unity game engine, and is set to debut at the launch of the iTunes App Store in June.

According to the developer,

Balls of Steel is an air hockey like game where the aim is to shoot steel balls on the puck to direct him into the opponents goal. Different computer difficulty levels are available combined with superb graphics and sound fx.

This title seems particularly well suited to control by way of the iPhone’s integrated accelerometer.  Let’s hope that the development team takes full use of this feature.

Decane is readying Bubble Space,

…an ultra addictive bubble popper game with five different games modes, internet high scores and real physics. Aim is to click two or more balls of the same color that touch each other to let them explode. For each explosion new balls fall down into the container until it’s full. Simple game concept, but highly addictive to play.

The team reports that the games are, at present, fully developed and tested and will be ready as iPhone apps once the Unity game engine’s iPhone export feature arrives.  There is currently no information regarding the pricing of these titles.  Stay tuned for more on these titles.