According to my city dwelling friends, my suburban lifestyle filled with SUV's and chain restaurants often leaves me woefully unaware of things that take place outside of Costco– I admit, this is one of those situations. Tall Bike Joust [App Store], a game which apparently has been in development for five years, was released this evening and brings the sport of tall bike jousting to the iPhone and iPod touch.

When I first saw this game I thought it was yet another ragdoll punishment game with a crazy premise, but after some research (and some help from forum moderator and bike expert VeganTnT) I've come to realize it is anything but. Modern tall bikes are usually home made and built from spare parts by taking two (or more) bike frames and welding them together. After some other modifications to move the seat, handlebars, and drive train around you've got yourself a tall bike.

Bikers couldn't just stop there though. Somewhere along the way the Black Label Bike Club came up with the idea of instead of just simply riding these tall bikes, why not arm two cyclists with lances and send them barreling towards each other in attempt to score points by knocking the other rider off? And with that, tall bike jousting was born.

The sport translates as well as I imagine it possibly could to the iPhone– With each joust you and your opponent start at opposite ends of the arena, you peddle as fast as you can by dragging your right and left side of the thumbs down the sides of the screen in an alternating motion. Tilting the phone aims your lance, and as you get within striking distance tapping the screen causes your rider to strike.

After winning matches you earn attribute points to make your cyclist more powerful, and you're even awarded different items you can equip for stat boosts as well as different components that you can combine in to upgrades for your bike. Jousts take place in six different post-apolcalyptic locations, each with different environmental hazards to deal with.

For such a strange game based on such an odd sport, an awful lot of effort went in to the development process. Ryan Doyle, who holds the title of "official tall bike jousting champion of the world" did some of the illustration for the game as well as all the motion capture for the movements of the cyclists. They even use real music, featuring tracks from Matt and Kim, Japanther, and Altaer, and there's even a behind the scenes video.

Tall Bike Joust is a game that will likely have massive appeal amongst avid cyclists and people who are interested in custom bike fabrication. If you fall outside of those groups, the game might not do much for you aside from make you aware of the existence of tall bike jousting– Knowledge that could lead to spending entirely too much time watching people knock each other off tall bikes on YouTube if you're anything like me.

App Store Link: Tall Bike Joust, $2.99

Following on the coattails of Skeeball's [99¢] overwhelming success comes another classic arcade machine game from Freeverse. NBA Hotshot [99¢] is a fully NBA licensed game based on the basketball games seen in many bars, bowling alleys, and video arcades. Featuring two gameplay modes, prizes to win, and both local and online scoring via the Plus+ network, NBA Hotshot is a welcome addition to Freeverse's "Flick Sports" lineup.

The game is controlled using flicking gestures to shoot basketballs. In classic mode, you have 40 seconds to score as many points as possible. Initially your shots are worth two points a piece, but 20 seconds in round two starts, the hoop moves farther away in the machine, and each shot is then worth three points. There is also a flashing bonus ball that provides additional points when used.

The second game mode, three strikes, allows you to play until you miss three shots. Regardless of which game mode you choose, as you finish each game a bar slowly fills indicating when you get your next prize. Prizes range from different balls you can play with that feature the NBA team logos and colors, and other less useful prizes like foam fingers and popcorn.

Reactions on our forums have been mixed, but it's safe to say that if you found yourself enjoying the gameplay and controls of Skeeball, NBA Hotshot will likely be a welcome addition to the arcade game collection on your iPhone.

App Store Link: NBA Hotshot, 99¢

In late October of last year we first posted about Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Team's Pro Zombie Soccer, a game which seeks to merge the internationally popular game of soccer with the even more internationally popular pastime of killing zombies. We got our hands on the game this evening, and can safely say that Pro Zombie Soccer will likely quench the zombie slaughtering urges of all soccer fans.

In Pro Zombie Soccer, you play as Jax, a soccer fanatic who is now homeless following an embarrassing performance at the tryouts for the local super-team thanks to a wicked hang over. While digging through the trash one day he was bitten by the mysteriously zombified Julinho, the star player of the aforementioned team. Apparently transmitted through the bite, Jax inherits all of Julinho's soccer prowess.

Also, being fully aware of how zombie bites work, Jax also realizes that he doesn't have much time before he too is turned in to a zombie. So, he does the next logical thing and decides to grab the soccer ball out of Julinho's bag and murder as many zombies as possible before then.

Pro Zombie Soccer has simple single-thumb controls. You drag your thumb up and down the left side of the screen to aim your kicks, and by holding down your thumb longer before releasing it you can power up your kick– A necessary technique to take out some of the stronger zombies in game.

As you slay zombies, a bar on the top left corner of the screen slowly fills up. Once full, you can tap an, on-screen button that illuminates to select one of three available power-ups: A lightning ball which seems to move much faster, a ball which cuts through multiple zombies instead of bouncing off them, and last but certainly not least, kicking your ball in to a satellite which fires a massive laser killing everything.

These power-ups can be seen in the following gameplay video:

Pro Zombie Soccer is still in development, but even this limited demo was a ton of fun. The animations are incredibly detailed, the game premise is ridiculous, and the gameplay itself is simple yet incredibly rewarding when you manage to unleash a massive satellite strike seconds before being overwhelmed by an entire screen full of zombies.

For more information on the game, check out the developer's web site or the thread on our forums.

Sonic is coming to the App Store soon to compete with other Sega characters in four Olympic events. The only two we're able to discuss in this preview are curling and snowboard cross, although it doesn't take much imagination to guess what the other two events might be.

Curling is a team game where two teams of four players take turns sliding polished stones down a stretch of ice towards a target. Two sweepers walk in front of the stone sweeping the ice to change its direction and speed. It seems that curling has gained a curious amount of popularity in recent winter games, but if you haven't heard of it before I recommend reading the Wikipedia entry, as it downright crazy how complicated such a seemingly simple game can be.

The curling game is controlled by drawing on the screen to determine the direction and strength of your throw, and then swiping back and forth to sweep. The second event is snowboard cross, which is a short and simple snowboarding race with four characters racing at once. Snowboard cross is controlled with tilt controls, and you need to tilt to steer and land properly off of jumps.

Both games can be seen in our gameplay video:

Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is coming in early 2010.

For those looking for more of a old school arcade version of soccer than offered by FIFA, The Game Creators has recently released Goals! in both Pro and Lite versions. The game has drawn comparisons to a popular 90s soccer game Sensible Soccer and has been getting favorable reviews in our forums.

Goals! is a top down arcade soccer game that uses an on screen joystick and virtual buttons to control the action. The game has been discounted to $0.99 in the days since it's release and also offers a Lite version to try yourself.

The Pro version was originally released at $4.99 and has since dropped to $0.99.

You can see the action in this gameplay video:

App Store Links: Goals! Pro, $0.99, Goals!, Free

NaturalMotion's Backbreaker Football [App Store] is part physics engine tech demo and part arcade sports game combined together to create a tilt-controlled pick up and play experience that is extremely enjoyable despite being so simple.

The gameplay of Backbreaker is structured in to a series of challenges where you run down a football field juking, spinning, and sprinting past defenders attempting to tackle you. You run by tilting your device forward, and the direction you run is controlled by tilting left or right similar to how you would control a racing game.

The different levels start simple, initially only asking you to evade a few defenders on a wide open field. Backbreaker quickly adds a twist with the inclusion of red lines on the field that you must run between without getting tackled. Step across one of these lines and you have to start the whole level over.

In our review we even drew comparisons to the legendary and beloved Doodle Jump. Some of the complaints lodged against the original on our forums regarded the difficulty level and the amount of challenges in the game. NaturalMotion responded by releasing the 1.1 update which features a new challenge mode with 10 additional waves of defenders as well as both pro and hardcore difficulty modes. (And even an unlockable Backbreaker helmet.)

I had a great time with the original, and the update only serves to improve the game even more. Unlocking the higher difficulty levels involves playing through the normal difficulty, so if you have deleted the game from your phone since its release you will need to make your way past the standard set of challenges again to ramp up the difficulty.

App Store Link: Backbreaker Football, 99¢

Gameloft has released their much anticipated skateboarding game Skater Nation into the App Store this evening. We already had some brief hands on time with the game last week and really enjoyed what we saw of it.

Skater Nation is an open-world skateboarding game which really puts the other skateboarding titles available on the platform to shame when it comes to overall depth and complexity. Obviously inspired by the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series of games, Skater Nation runs inside of a game engine that was described as a "sibling" to the one used in Gangstar to have a completely open city with multiple environments with absolutely no loading time as you travel from place to place.

The city consists of ten highly skater-friendly locales that range from indoor factories to an outdoor skate park, and even a street that was inspired by Lombard Street in San Francisco and two main game modes, you can either freely skate around the city, or progress through a career mode.

Unlockable equipment includes 10 skateboard decks, 10 trucks, and 10 wheel sets, each of which enhance your skater's stats. The game is controlled using a virtual joystick and two buttons which handle all the different moves your skater is capable of. Skater Nation also has a nice replay mode where you can rewind the last 3-4 minutes of gameplay to save replays of cool tricks, jumps, or combos you were able to pull off. These replays can then be uploaded to YouTube.

Early impressions are being collected in our forums.

App Store Link: Skater Nation, $6.99

Zombie games and the App Store seem to go together like peas and carrots. I'm not sure what the allure of zombies is, but I'm not one to argue about slaying legions of undead. Developers Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team (Yes, that's their real name) have been working on a sports zombie apocalypse hybrid for quite some time now, and finally seeing it in motion with this gameplay video is truly something to behold.

Details are vague right now, but the developers have provided us this list of things to expect in Pro Zombie Soccer:

• One of the most surreal and funny stories to ever grace a videogame.
• Lots of different zombies for your zombie killing pleasure, all of them with different hit points.
• A powerful blockbuster-type soundtrack and sound design.
• And of course: a nice combo system; different levels; Zombie Odyssey Mode for the hardcore gamers; character skill upgrading system.

If you've watched the video and think there are some strong similarities to the art and animations in Plants Vs. Zombies, it's because Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team is comprised of an international team of seasoned game industry veterans with titles under their belt such as Worms, Vin Diesel's Wheelman, the EyeToy Play series, and Plants Vs. Zombies itself.

Two new lite versions of games we can't say enough good things about appeared on the App Store recently. If you haven't already bought either of these games, I really recommend giving the free versions a spin

Baseball Superstars 2010 Free – Baseball Superstars 2010, $5.99

With a nearly flawless 4.5 star rating here on Touch Arcade, Baseball Superstars 2010 took everything that was good about Baseball Superstars 2009 and made it better. If you like baseball games or roleplaying games, Baseball Superstars 2010 can potentially consume your gaming life as you find yourself batting through just one more season before going to bed to make your super batter even more powerful.

And of course, like most Gamevil games, there's even a completely off the wall commercial for the game that is totally worth a watch just to see an angel and some type of demon having some kind of epic baseball battle.

Hook Champ Lite – Hook Champ, $2.99

Hook Champ may very well be my favorite game that has been released lately. Fantastic pixel art graphics combined with physics-based gameplay that somehow always keeps me coming back for more (even after falling in to lava for the 100th time) would be enough to interest me in this game, but there's also a whole in-game store with all kinds of both useful and useless character upgrades.

You swing through caves, evade an oddly hungry ghost, and plunder relics along the way. As if Hook Champ wasn't awesome enough, your performance in every level is seamlessly tracked online, and after you beat the game you can go back and try to make it to the top of the score boards in your favorite levels.

At EA's Naughty or Nice press event this afternoon in the heart of New York City we were able to get our hands on NBA Live, the first fully licensed complete 5 on 5 basketball game available for the iPhone. My time with the game was somewhat limited, but I walked away impressed with what EA Mobile was able to squeeze out of the device.

As we mentioned in our earlier post with the bundle of screenshots EA released, NBA Live is a remarkably full featured game. All 30 NBA teams with complete player rosters are in game, along with each team's respective stadium. All of the team and player stat tracking is in place very similar to Madden 10, and there's even different season modes that you can either play or simulate all the way to the NBA finals.

Like most sports games (or other games with lots of action), the screenshots barely do NBA Live justice. Watching the game in motion with ten players on the court complete with shoes squeaking and the crowd either cheering or jeering really impressed me.

If you've ever played a basketball video game before, the controls will come naturally. A virtual analog stick controls your movement and a set of two buttons handle different functions whether you're on offense or defense. When you have the ball, one button passes while another shoots, dunks, and does other trick shots depending on how long you press the button and which way you flick your thumb afterward. When the opposing team has the ball, these buttons handle cycling through players and blocking.

A button in the top right corner momentarily pauses the game and allows you to issue commands to the rest of your teammates to support you through various plays whether you want to pick and roll or set yourself up for a three pointer. Free throws are executed via tilting. You tilt the phone back toward you, then flip it forward. How straight you were able to flick the phone backwards and forward controls your accuracy.

The free throw tilt mechanic felt a little gimmicky, but penalties seemed rare enough that shooting free throws likely won't be a main part of the game. One thing that really piqued my interest during my discussions today with EA was the inclusion of unlockable NBA legends. Buried deep inside of the game are NBA greats like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and others.

The following gameplay video is from EA's latest build of NBA Live, it's still a work in progress, so try not to pass final judgment on the game based on what you see here:

Overall NBA Live is working up to be a very promising title for basketball fans. EA was reluctant to give a firm date on when they expect to have the game ready for release, but were hopeful that it will be in gamers' hands later this fall.