Ever since Toy Bot Diaries, IUGO has been one our favorite iPhone gaming companies.

Their games come with a very unique style and quirkiness that is refreshing to find in the App Store. While you may not love every game [App Store] they produce, at least you know you are in for something original.

Freeballin'

At GDC, we met with IUGO to get more information on their upcoming titles. Their newest title called Freeballin' brings IUGO's flare to the pinball genre. Pinball gaming on the iPhone has been a relatively sparsely populated category, but one that's been dominated by rather traditional pinball titles. IUGO's Freeballin' brings a bit more zany twist to the genre.

Freeballin' comes with four different unique tables including: Tiki Trouble, Monsteropolis, Dreams and Nightmares, and Neometric. All tables offer an interactive environment with different feels. Tables even include hidden sub-tables and boss levels.

While the game includes more traditional modes such as Score Attack and Time Attack in which high scores are the goal, Freeballin' also introduces an Adventure mode which challenges you to table-specific missions.

Each mission requires you to perform a specific task, such as hitting specific objects within the level. As a result, these tasks require you to have good control of your ball, and provide pinballers more tangible goals than just racking up points.

As you complete missions, you collect tokens which can be used to purchase power ups in the game. These include an extra orb (ball), orb saver (bumper between your paddles), or extra bumpers.

The game is presented in landscape mode with a vertically scrolling view. This gameplay video shows two of the tables in Adventure mode:

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Freeballin' has been submitted to the App Store and should become available in the next week or so.

IUGO also was able to mention two other upcoming games, but no screenshots or materials are available yet for these games. In brief:

Star Hogs

This will be a turn-based strategy game that will offer Wi-Fi multiplayer for up to 4 players. The game is in deep development and puts you in command of a rover around a mining rock. You battle the other rovers with turn based commands. As you earn points, you can upgrade weapons and armor on your individual rover. This game is expected in April.

A.D.D.

A WarioWare-like collection of about 50 very short mini games that are played in quick succession. The average session per game is said to be about 5 seconds. Individual games will focus on very specific tasks which may revolve around touch or tilt controls. This game should be available in May.

iPhone developer Chillingo has announced from GDC that they are currently working with Atman Software to bring a port of the Mac/PC action based 3D side-scroller on rails called io to the iPhone and iPod touch.

The Nautilus-114, a rather expensive interstellar research spacecraft now lies marooned in the orbit of Jupiter's moon, io. The status of the crew is unknown. In io your mission is to bring the Nautilus-114 spaceship back home. However, the spaceship is infested with many robotic minions that will block your every move. In order to accomplish your mission, you have to play evasively, avoid detection and carry out your objectives.

“This side scroller on rails shooter is a great pick up and play shooter – great iPhone based touch-screen game play with great story line and stunning 3D visuals to match. ” says Chris Byatte, co-Founder and Managing Director for Chillingo.

The work of a single developer over the course of five years, the unusual and subdued io has received positive reviews on its original platforms.

Considering the budget io had, it’s absolutely gorgeous. Not only does the game mix bright colors with moody lighting - something most blockbusters can’t get right - but it looks downright impressive.

See a gameplay video of the Mac/PC original:

Stay tuned for more details as they emerge and a full review once the game goes live in the App Store.

At GDC, Touch Arcade met with India-based 99Games, an iPhone-focused division of Robosoft, the 10-year-old Mac publisher responsible for a large number of big-name conversions, including Lego Star Wars, Fable: The Lost Chapters, and Sid Meyer's Pirates.  They shared with us details of their upcoming iPhone updates and new releases.

WordsWorth

The company revealed that their popular word puzzle game WordsWorth [App Store] (which was on the App Store's Top 100 list for 3-4 weeks) will soon be getting a notable update that includes Facebook Connect functionality, which will allow friends to keep track of each others' scores and progress.  What's more, the company will be releasing a Flash-based version of the game that ties to the Facebook Connect functionality in the new iPhone version.

Chess Pro

99Games' Chess Pro [App Store] will also be receiving a major update adding online gameplay functionality to the title.  The new version will allow gamers to engage in multiple (asynchronous) online games at once and will also include a chat system.  Facebook Connect will also be rolled in and another new feature will allow players wanting to learn from their game sessions to able to play back the moves of a chess game after it has ended.

The update to Chess Pro will be available in the next couple of weeks.

Aqua Jigsaw

Simple Jigsaw puzzle game Aqua Jigsaw [App Store] will soon be receiving an update that enhances the game's visuals by adding fluid water animation effects, similar to those in Koi Pond [App Store].

New Titles

Wordulous is one of several new titles in the works at 99Games.  It's a Text Twist-like word making game that displays a series of six jumbled letters to the player and challenges them to use them to form words.  A 180-second countdown timer paces the action.  The more words formed within the time limit, the higher the score, and any word greater than 4 letters in length adds seconds to the timer.

The game will feature local and online leaderboards, cut-scene characters that offer encouragement along the way, and localization in six languages (English, French Italian, Spanish, German, and Russian).  Wordulous will debut in late April at a limited-time introductory price of $.99.

While details were few, the company is also working on two licensed titles that will appear in the App Store later this year.  One is a hidden-object game and the other is a conversion of a PC title similar to the popular Pocket God [App Store].  Stay tuned for more info on these as it becomes available.

Yesterday, Touch Arcade spent some time at ngmoco's headquarters having a look at a few of their upcoming games.  In our last post we gave a hands-on look at the company's upcoming 3D tower defense game Star Defense. 

Ngmoco producers Stephanie Morgan and Chris Plummer also gave us the chance to have a look at their upcoming virtual pet title Touch Pet Dogs as well as first-person shooter LiveFire. Like some of our readers, we weren't exactly sure what to make of Touch Pet Dogs from the pre-release information, but we found it to be a surprisingly deep and polished experience.

Touch Pet Dogs

Touch Pet Dogs, created by Andrew Stern, the man behind Virtual Babyz, Dogz and Catz, is a virtual pet simulation that delivers perhaps the most "realistic" and involving experiences of any such title we've seen to date.  As the company describes it,

In Touch Pets Dogs, players adopt, nurture and play with their virtual puppies through one-on-one touch screen interaction or on play dates with other players’ dogs from around the world. The ambitious Touch Pets social network, embedded within the game, allows owners and dogs alike to build relationships with other players and their Touch Pets. Puppies’ social lives continue to evolve whether their owners are logged into the game or not, and the results are broadcast for the world to see on the Touch Pets social network dog feed.

The game starts off at a virtual pet shop where the player can choose a puppy of his or her liking.  The virtual puppy comes home from the pet shop knowing how to do very little.  It's just eat, sleep, and...well...poop, at first.  It's up to the new owner to teach the puppy how to chase a ball, catch a boomerang, and do other tricks like walking on two feet.  This is done by simply playing with the dog with various doggie toys (moving them around the screen with a finger) as well as using doggie treats in conjunction with training gestures for more complex tricks.

Aside from playing in the house and yard, there are five career tracks (or missions) that the virtual puppie can engage in: crime fighting, rescue operations, fashion diva, politician, and scientist.  Each of these missions have associated venues, and success in each is awarded by relevant doggie items, such as police hats, jackets, and the like.  The missions are actually more about successfully conducting warm-up play sessions and having learned the appropriate skills (chasing, catching, etc..) rather than performing the actual mission which simply returns a simple "success" or "failure" when attempted.

The game features a social networking side that's somewhat akin to a Twitter feed.  Whenever doggie makes a notable accomplishment, such as completing a mission successfuly, that accomplishment (and associated image) is posted to a global feed and can be seen by anyone online.  Players wanting to keep tabs on each others' accomplishments can share in a friend feed.  Another aspect of the game's social networking capabilities is the ability to engage in play dates with others' pets.  Some dogs may not enjoy each others' company...and some may fall in love.

What impressed us most about Touch Pets Dogs is the artificial intelligence driving the virtual pets.  The learning process is convincing and the dogs really do seem to have their own personality.  Anyone relating to the genre will have little trouble forming an emotional bond with the onscreen canine.

We captured a gameplay video of Plummer playing the latest build, walking us through some of the game's features.

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LiveFire

We also had a chance to play more than a few rounds of LiveFire deathmatch. 

The demo builds on the 2G iPod touch showed an impressively high framerate with very smooth 3D animation in the 3-person game we played. 

While we played over the studio's WiFi networks, Plummer tells us that gameplay over the 3G networks is just as responsive, thanks to the heavy customizations ngmoco has made to the Quake 3 engine upon which the game is based.

The game's controls are modeled closely after those of Dropship; left and right thumbs control movement and view angle, not at a fixed point onscreen, but outward from an origina tap anywhere on the left and right sides of the screen.  It works well and feels comfortable. The game will focus on versions of online deathmatch play rather than single-player modes.

I think most telling is the fact that, even with this early build, we got lost in playing the game against each other -- well after the demo portion of our meeting with ngmoco was over.

We don't have an exact release date on either title, but Touch Pets Dogs is expected in the spring.

At GDC, TouchArcade met with Marc Ecko Entertainment who is publishing the Dexter iPhone game that is due out this summer.

This high profile game has received a lot of attention ever since its original announcement back in July and generated even more buzz after some high quality screenshots were released. While there had been some doubters about the possibility of such high quality renders on the iPhone, after seeing the game ourselves, we have to admit the graphics quality of the 3D rendering engine is remarkable.

The game engine was developed by Icarus Studios and is a port of their MMO engine. This engine is said to be rendering the full 3d environment with 30,000 polygons at 30 frames per second on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. The high definition video embedded below offers a peek at the game.

Meanwhile, the game itself seems to remain very true to the brand and television series with close tie-ins to the first season of the show. The game revolves around the main character Dexter who is a serial killer governed by a strict moral code. For every action you take, it may adversely or positively affect your "Mask" level, which must be maintained or you'll be exposed. If you are entirely unmasked, the game ends.

Dexter plays as a 3rd or 1st person perspective adventure game in a fully 3d environment. Both "joystick" and tilt/button controls are offered and appear to provide a solid control system to the game. Also key to the gameplay is the collection evidence in different storylines to capture more victims. Stealth also plays a major role in the game and you find yourself sneaking behind obstacles in order to avoid detection while stalking your prey.

Once Dexter gets his victim back to his lair, you must try to force them to confess to their own crimes before killing them. The tools available to you include a cleaver, knife and bone saw, each with their own unique iPhone accelerometer gestures to use them.

This video shows several of the environments and control systems:

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Overall, we were very impressed with what we saw. There is typically a bit of a stigma against these officially licensed games, but Marc Ecko Entertainment appears to be delivering a very high quality game in both iPhone experience as well as loyalty to the television show itself.

The game will be delivered in 4 episodes with the first out this summer. The first episode will deliver 8-10 hours of gameplay. All four episodes will be delivered by September, when the next season of Dexter begins. If you are interested in a further walkthrough of the game, another YouTube video looks at additional features of the game.

Touch Arcade visited the offices of ngmoco today for a hands-on preview of the company's upcoming 3D tower defense game Star Defense.  Stephanie Morgan, the game's producer, walked us through the features of this upcoming title and gave us a chance to try our luck at their fresh, new spin on the tower defense proposition.

Star Defense is a path-based tower defense game set across various planets in a far away starsystem.  A footpath meanders its way around each planet, ending at a valuable mineral resource facility.  Hovering above the start of each path is the spacecraft of the sinister, invading aliens, which beams wave after wave of creatures onto the path where they slowly advance towards the mineral resource.  The player's task is to defend the resource by placing various defense towers along the path, rotating and zooming the planet in and out as needed (swipe, spread, pinch) to find the ideal placement.  40 waves of aliens destroyed unlocks the next planet, 60 waves destroyed wins an achievement, and 80 waves destroyed is a perfect win of a planet.  But if 10 aliens manage to withstand your defenses and reach the mineral resource, it's game over.

A few details:

• 7 planets available in the launch version (5 spherical, 2 cubic)
• 5 different tower types inflicting various types of damage: electrical, physical, fire, and reduced speed
• 10 types of invaders
• Limit of 30 towers placed on a given planet
• 3 levels of difficulty

We spent considerable time with the game and found it to be very playable with natural controls and great responsiveness.  The planetary graphics and accompanying galactic backdrops are impressive and the overall play mechanic feels very solid. Make no mistake, tower defense fans are in for something special.

Ngmoco was kind enough to allow us to capture footage of Star Defense gameplay during our visit.  Note that the developer build we were playing was basically a "God mode" build, with all towers enabled, cash levels set to maximum, etc. and so the gameplay shown does not represent the balance or typical play strategy of the upcoming release version.  This video simply serves the purpose of demonstrating the game's features.

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Morgan indicates that the game is currently undergoing subtle game balance tweaks and is close to release status.  Star Defense will hit the App Store sometime in April.

As you can tell from our coverage, GDC 2009 has been in full swing and TouchArcade has been meeting with developers and bringing you the latest news in iPhone and iPod Touch gaming. And we still have a number of meetings scheduled today and tomorrow.

IUGO has organized an iPhone Dev Union party with a large representation from our own forums. Freeverse, Firemint, TouchArcade, FuelGames, and IUGO will be sponsoring drinks at the gathering.

Blake has posted a flickr set of ongoing images from GDC 2009 which will also be updated with photos from tonight's event.

The iPhone Dev Union party is at the San Francisco Marriott Lobby Bar at 8 p.m. (more details here). Our twitters: arnoldkim, blakespot.

Touch Arcade had the chance to sit down with Freeverse at GDC and discuss two notable upcoming iPhone titles.  The publisher demonstrated the Paramout / Freeverse title  Top Gun and Flick NBA Basketball, an official NBA license.

Top Gun

Top Gun, based on the 1986 movie, is a 3D aerial racing shooter in which the player takes the role of an Navy training recruit in the Top Gun flying ace program.  In the game, movie main characters Maverick and Iceman are instructors who lead the trainee through various flying scenarios, offering cutscene advice in a manner similar to the company's Days of Thunder.

The player uses accelerometer-based controls to pilot both an F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter and a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber through various training scenarios. The game features a number of flight environments, including desert canyons, the aircraft carrier USS Kittyhawk, cityscapes, and island chains--10 different environments in all.  And, while training is the mission at hand in all of these settings, as fate would have it, enemy migs have a tendency to intrude, and must be dealt with.

Features:

• New texture format yielding increase in iPhone 3D performance
• Normal mapping allowing for realistic and flexible lightsourcing / shadows
• Time of day changes -- real time lighting (shadow / sunlight / etc)
• Ten environments including canyon settings, USS Kittyhawk (carrier), cityscapes, island chains, southwest terrains, etc.
• Lock onto four enemies at a time
• Weapons: vulcan cannon, sidewinder missiles
• Ground-based anti-aircraft turrets
• 50 frames per second gameplay on 2G iPod touch

We spent some time with the title and found the game to be very impressive.  The 3D animation is glass smooth and the accelerometer controls are highly responsive and feel "just right."  Anyone who enjoys a quality non-simulation flying game is in for a treat.

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Top Gun will be making it's App Store debut "very soon."

Flick NBA Basketball

An upcoming title of a different sort is the company's Flick NBA Basketball.  Not a full-court basketball title, Flick NBA Basketball is basically an iPhone adaptation of the All Star Challenge.  The player takes the role of a big name NBA player--the strongest player from every team is represented in realistic 3D models--and takes on various skill challenges such as the 3-point challenge, half-court long shot, ball spin, and horse (draw your moves on the court and watch it all played out in 3D).

While the 1.0 title will focus on shooting, Freeverse indicates that future updates will expand the title in various ways.

Flick NBA Basketball will be available in time for (or during) the playoffs, which begin April 19.

Another developer we met at GDC was Alexander Kral of Javaground, Inc.. JavaGround had been a mobile developer since 2001, but is now introducing their first original iPhone game in the coming weeks and offered us this exclusive preview.

UniWar is a turn-based strategy game that resembles Advance Wars. You command and build an army on a grid-map with the goal of controling all the bases and destroying your enemies. New units may be purchased with money that you've accumulated. As you learn the advantages of the terrain and your units, you can improve you gameplay to defeat your opponents.

The most interesting part of this game, however, is its implementation of multiplayer. The game offers an asynchronous online multiplayer option which allows you to play against people across the world at your leisure. (This is a similar system to Newtoy's Chess with Friends [App Store]). In Uniwar, you can join up to 20 different games to play in parallel. When you make a move in one of your matches, it is sent up to the server and is transmitted to your opponent the next time they launch their game. This type of turn-based system frees you to play the game at your leisure.

Aside from online multiplayer, you can also play against the computer, against a friend on the same device or play a campaign mode with 20 missions.

Different maps support different configurations and a different number of players. Team play allows 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3, and 4 vs 4 configurations.

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UniWar is expected to be submitted to Apple later this week and should become available shortly after that. Pricing has not yet been announced.

As a developer's conference, GDC also attracts a number of game researchers such as Blair MacIntyre who is an Associate Professor at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech.

We met with Mr. MacIntyre about his research into Augmented Reality and how it might apply to the iPhone. The demos and possibilities he introduced were truly remarkable.

Augmented Reality is described as a combination of real-world and computer-generated data, where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time.

He and his graduate students have put together some proof of concept demos on the iPhone which could pave the way to future gaming concepts.

This embedded video demonstrates a Augmented Reality Virtual Pet application on a current generation iPhone. The iPhone overlays an animated image of a dog on realtime video input from the iPhone's camera. The result is a pet that appears to reside in the real world in front of you. MacIntyre then shows off a far more sophisticated Zombie shooter (what else?) using non-iPhone NVIDIA reference design platform.

The Zombie-shooter demo serves to show the more impressive possibilities of the technology. In the game, tapping on the screen shoots the zombies in your crosshairs. Moving the camera around and in/out changes your view and if you stay still too long, the zombies start throwing limbs at you.

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MacIntyre reports that his research has found that those playing these Augmented Reality games with others were more social and interactive as compared to those playing more traditional games against each other.

More extensive demonstrations of the above concepts are provided in these videos: Augmented Virtual Reality Pet on iPhone, Augmented Reality Zombies on Tegra.

Some of MacIntyre's students plan on taking these concepts and executing a true iPhone game based on the technology, especially if the rumors of a more powerful iPhone with advanced video processing capabilities are true. The next generation iPhone is rumored to be released as early as this summer.

At GDC, Touch Arcade had the opportunity to sit down with Yichel Chan and Kathy de Leon of mobile development house Glu, makers of Bonsai Blast [App Store], to discuss a number of the company's forthcoming iPhone game titles.

Glu's upcoming games offer a very diverse collection of genres so there will likely be something of interest for everyone.

Build-A-Lot

Originally a PC game, Build-A-Lot is a light simulation in which the player buys and sells land, develops blueprints, builds and expands houses, and creates a functioning community that--hopefully--makes the player a wealthy tycoon.

The game features a career mode, in which certain set goals per level must be met to move forward (though catastrophies and such can happen mid-level that must be dealt with), and a story mode in which the only goal is to make a certain amount of money.  The iPhone version of Build-A-Lot is an improvement over the PC original, adding enhanced graphics and various new gameplay elements.

Build-A-Lot will be priced at $4.99.

Cooking Star

Cooking Star is a food management game that is a collection of eight different mini-games, each one payable across five different levels of difficulty. 

Some examples are Tofu, where the player must properly slice a cube of tofu being dropped into a cooking pot into tiny pieces using finger gestures and Kabob, which involves cooking (and not burning) a series of kabobs on a grill by tapping to select, flipping (the iPhone) to rotate, and shaking to add salt.

Additional mini-games will be made available in future updates.

Wacky Worlds Mini Golf

Expected to debut in July, Wacky Worlds Mini Golf is a zany golf game set in a most bizarre world.

While lining up shots and putting true are the name of the game, things are made interesting by moles, gophers, ladybugs, and the like wandering the course and popping out of holes. This colorful title features non-traditional controls (line up a shot, set the desired swing strength, move the camera to achieve a preferred vantage, and tap to swing) and four (bizarre) worlds, each featuring 10 holes.

No price has been determined for Mini Golf.

Cops and Robbers

Forthcoming Cops and Robbers is a (foot) racing / acrobatic game in which you and your roommate are strapped for cash and can't pay the rent.  The solution?  Turning to a life of crime.

The game involves running through a series of city levels that have a Crash Bandicoot feel and involve parkour-like moves while collecting diamonds to pay the landlord. 

The game features a very interesting twist on the "ghost" re-play mechanic.  Once you've completed a level as one of the robbers, you can then replay it as a cop chasing your robber ghost. So you must best your previous time in order to "catch" yourself.  After that, you're back to a robber being chased your cop ghost.  A very clever mechanic that ensures replayability.

Cops and Robbers will retail for $4.99.

This video shows a bit of the gameplay, but due to the loud ambient noise we simply muted the audio. The final game, of course, has appropriate sound effects:

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Glyder

Glyder, set for an early April release, is a flying exploration game in which the player is wearing a set of wings and most fly freely about various environments collecting floating  gems.  Achievements--50 in all--are unlocked for performing various feats such as visiting every area of a given world, achieving maximum possible velocity in a power-dive, and taking mini-trips.

There are no enemies and there's no way to die in Glyder.  It's just about the gliding.

Glyder will be priced at $1.99.

This video shows a bit of the gameplay, but due to the loud ambient noise we simply muted the audio. The final game, of course, has appropriate sound effects:

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Chillingo announced two new upcoming titles at GDC today. One is a new 3D boxing title, while the other is a classic favorite.

Touch KO

This Fight Night inspired game is written by two U.S. based game designers Adam and Matt Mechtley.

Touch KO gives the gamer a chance to advance through a boxing career, starting from humble beginnings in a run-down gym, all the way to the glamorous grand arena for the title fight. The game allows for full 3D customization of the virtual fighter including facial and body, clothing and even tattoos. It features innovative game play making use of the unique multi-touch and accelerometer capabilities of the device.

The launch timing of the game is described as "imminent". We will be able to spend some time with this title later this week.

Boulder Dash

Chillingo has also managed to sign a deal to co-publish Boulder Dash for the iPhone alongside First Star Software, Inc. The iPhone version of the game will include all 80 levels of the original classic and 4 additional bonus levels.

Now celebrating its 25th year anniversary, this world-renowned tricky puzzle and dexterity game first made its debut in the early 80s across several personal computer platforms, including Atari, Commodore 64 and DOS. It is one of the few gaming titles to be ported from a personal computer game to a coin-operated arcade game, four different times in fact, and still enjoys a large loyal fan base today. The hit game’s principle remains: players have to collect sparkling diamonds whilst avoiding numerous traps and enemies, all the while watching out for falling boulders, in a race against time.

We were big fans of this early title and have been hoping for a suitable iPhone version. Some clones have come and gone but the control mechanism has always been at issue.

First Star Software seems confident in their iPhone port, however, and state that they have re-engineered Boulder Dash for the iPhone and iPod Touch to make use of "multi-touch; ‘pinch’ zoom; the ability to switch between portrait and landscape modes on the fly". The game is expected to be released in early Q2 2009.

At GDC, we had the pleasure of speaking with mobile game company Gamevil. This Korean-based gaming company has been around since 2000 and has focused only on mobile platforms since 2004.

Their first iPhone game was Baseball Superstars [$4.99, Lite], a well received sports game in an under-represented category on the iPhone.

Gamevil has been continuing to offer regular updates to the game and told us that they have been following our forums very closely to address concerns and criticisms. The latest Baseball Superstars update is due on April 1st and includes enhancements in the sprite graphics and eases up on the difficulty level of the game. New features include:

• Overall graphic upgrade
• Day/Night time backgrounds (depending on your local time)
• G-Points needed to unlock special characters have been significantly reduced.
• Coca Cola logo has been inserted in the background. (Coca Cola – Gamevil alliance)

Zenonia

Gamevil also revealed that they are bringing their Zenonia aciton-RPG to the iPhone. Zenonia is a successful existing Korean mobile title that has already sold over 600,000 copies. The game appears to be a very deep RPG with many nice details including day/night changes, slower movement when carrying many items, as well as the usual leveling up system, and skill upgrades.

Some features listed by the developer include:

Zenonia will offer over 40 hours of gameplay. We managed to get an early copy of the game which is still in development. The game is mostly complete, however, with the exception of language-localization.

Controls use a relatively standard virtual D-Pad for movement and an attack/action button. Additional attacks and skills can be mapped to other virtual buttons along the bottom of the screen.

We recorded this gameplay video showing basic attacking, leveling up and skills upgrades:

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Zenonia will likely be released in the next couple of months.

Though there have been some discrepant reports, Macworld and Pocketgamer are reporting that EA is bringing a number of premium titles to the App Store this year.

The list provided include a number of EA's sports titles including:

• FIFA Soccer
• Madden NFL
• NBA Live
• SSX

Hasbro licenses:

• Connect Four
• Battleship
• Risk
• Clue

And other titles:

• Spore Creatures
• Mystery Mania
• American Idol
• Command & Conquer
• Monopoly - the original version
• Wolfenstein RPG

Of course, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Need for Speed are still in the works.  No details about the various titles were given.

We had a chance to sit down with developers from Belgian software house Fishing Cactus at GDC to have a look at the latest build of their upcoming gravity-based maze game Equilibrio.

Set in a colorful world the challenge may look simple but Equilibrio tests not only your reflexes but the old gray matter and is in perfect synergy with your iPhone device.

The basic concept of getting your ball to the exit pod to finish the level is turned upside down, literally, as you use your iPhone to tilt the world in either direction. Players carefully, skillfully move the spinning ball through corridors, along ledges to complete levels that are fraught with dangers. Move the ball too fast and it can shatter, leaving you to pick up the pieces and restart the level. Go too slow and the ‘equilibrio’ of the ball will not be powerful enough to spring to the desired spot!

The game features balls made of various different materials, such as rubber, glass, steel, stone, and paper, that each have their own gameplay characteristics.  Across the game's 60 levels, new elements and traps are constantly being introduced, from cannons and trampolines to deadly spikes and acid pools.

Features:

• Six types of balls
• Trophy system, like Xbox Live Arcade
• Three play modes: Random level challenge, Replay ghost challenge, Conquest
• Play against the clock, pick up stars for points
• Outperforming "par" for a level unlocks achievements
• 60 levels
• Possible integration of Facebook Connect in a future release

Have a look at our brief video of the gameplay. The first level shows a "paper" ball which is affected by fans on the field. Tilting left/right provides you with direction of movement and spikes must be avoided.

The developers indicate that Equilibrio will be submitted to the App Store during GDC and should be available for download at a price of $4.99 in the next few weeks.  We'll be taking a closer look when the game goes live.