Heads up: an iPad-specific version of Riven is still on the way, and it's going to include some key improvements over the original game, CEO of Cyan Worlds Rand Miller revealed in an awesome interview with Modojo.

A couple of "small new features" will be accompanied by a cleaner UI and cleaner images, animations, and video. From the interview:

"We have spent many months fine-tuning the Riven experience for the iPad, touching almost every aspect of the game. We have reduced the compression of the original images, we've improved the movies and animations, we've cleaned up the user interface, we've improved the sound and music presentation, and we've added a few small new features.

All in all we've worked really hard at making the best iPad version of Riven we could, and still squeeze it into the 2 gigabyte size limit."

Riven [$3.99] for iPhone appeared December 2010. It's seen some updates since, including iPhone 5 compatibility. The iPad version of Riven will be playable on every iteration of iPad, and that includes first-generation devices. Miller says it should hit within the next few weeks.

Riven is the critically praised sequel to Myst. It's probably safe to say that if you enjoyed Myst or realMyst, this'll be right up your alley.

[via Modojo]

Hundreds, Semi Secret Software's minimalistic puzzle game that tasks users with tapping and growing bubbles until they hit a specific threshold, is being re-introduced by Semi Secret. The reason? Apparently, a lot of things have changed. To name a few added elements: a new mode has been created, the number of puzzles has been bumped up, the presentation has been sharpened, and "something akin to a narrative layer" has been added since its initial debut at GDC 2012.

We don't have any hard details on any of this stuff, but we're guessing all this new content is going to be solid. Semi Secret has never failed to deliver.

Hundreds is still coming to iOS. In more recent news, it will apparently even run on iPad 1 at 60FPS, so take some comfort in that if you've got an older device. Semi Secret is offering up a "soon" as to its release, so keep your head on a swivel.

Rayman Jungle Run [$2.99] is now my favorite iOS auto-runner. Granted, I wasn't the biggest fan of the genre, especially those with procedural, unending levels. Luckily, Rayman Jungle Run offers 40 distinct levels that require players to jump, hair-copter float, wall run, and punch or kick their way to the goal.

Each of these four overarching worlds tacks on an ability, and three of these worlds play out with tap-anywhere controls. However, the punch mechanic, used only in the final world, is relegated to a virtual button on the lower right.

Getting to the 40 goals is the easy part and adds up to less than an hour of pure gameplay. Getting 100 Lums per level, though, requires hours of practice. Each perfect level earns players a red gem-tooth, and five teeth unlock one crazy-hard race per chapter.

No Lums are in these Land of the Dead levels; it's all about reaching the end for the final tooth and getting the fastest time to place on the leaderboard. Speaking of leaderboards, none of the other stages are timed for online racing, which almost seems like a missed opportunity.

Other than meeting achievement goals, going for 100 Lums in stages unlocks an image gallery full of characters from Rayman Origins. This feels rather bittersweet, as seeing the characters creates nostalgia but serves to remind players what's missing from the Origins universe. How would this auto-runner incorporate bosses? I don't know, but I think the brilliant minds behind Rayman could have found an innovative way.

A few extra music tracks also wouldn't hurt, as they played randomly and grew a little stale after the first hour of playing. These tracks are probably enough for casual plays, but not for those who play over and over to perfect every level. That said, the overall lack of new assets made more sense when I realized Pix'n Love Rush creator Pastagames actually developed Rayman Jungle Run and not the original Ubisoft team.

Fanboy-like complaints aside, Rayman Jungle Run is the most thrilling, gorgeous, charming, and responsive auto-runner I've ever experienced. The stages whip and zip like a rollercoaster set at a perfect speed, which allowed me to take in each colorful character and background.

Each level, while less than a minute long, felt large. In whatever direction Rayman was running, jumping, or floating, I felt like I was exploring nearly every inch.

I don't believe collecting all 3,600 Lums in one play without dying is reasonable replayability, but I will happily pay for more levels to explore. Sadly, the title screen lacks a DLC button to hint of any forthcoming content.

For people who've never experienced Rayman or those who have strayed from the series, this is an excellent (re)introduction. For those who've played Origins, this may feel a bit mechanically and aesthetically familiar. In the case of Rayman Jungle Run, familiarity isn't a bad thing, especially when it stems from creator Michel Ancel.

Neat: Rovio Mobile's next game based in the Angry Birds universe doesn't star the Angry Birds. Instead, it puts the pigs front and center, and in a playable role.

Earlier this morning, Rovio announced Bad Piggies, a game that will turn "the franchise on its head." The studio is being needlessly vague with the game's actual mechanic, but it is promising "all-new, never-before-seen gameplay," whatever that means.

Bad Piggies is slated to hit soon -- like, September 27 soon across iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, as well as Android devices and Mac. Following the launch, the game will appear on Windows Phone and PC. Bad Piggies shower curtains, rugs, underwear, and cat toys are sure to follow.

We've got a trailer above, if you're interested.

Square Enix's latest iOS release is out, hot, and confusing the crap out of people. Final Fantasy Dimensions [Free] is a free download, but unlocking the full game will cost you more than Final Fantasy Tactics [$15.99] and Chrono Trigger [$9.99] combined. This is Dimensions' English-language debut, but it's not an iOS original. Oh, and you can get the free part now, but you can't buy it yet due to some strange App Store SNAFU where Dimension's in-game store shows no available chapters for purchase.

Phew!

So, what is Dimensions, really? It's an update of a chapter game released in Japan as Final Fantasy Legends over late 2010 and 2011, so it's still basically a new game. It's also distinctly 16-bit in style, and uses a job system similar to that in Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy Tactics, so it's old-school. It's full of NES and SNES era Final Fantasy references, including the "crystal theme" scales and the blue screen of introduction. If you've ever wished that there were more pre-VII Final Fantasy games, you're the target audience.

I currently have a piece of Final Fantasy VI fan art (by the incomparable Zac Gorman) as my wallpaper, so I can't claim to be unbiased.

The Prologue of Dimensions clearly isn't intended to sell you on the game's system: the job system doesn't unlock on this side of the paywall, and the combat ramps up just enough to make you pay attention without ever becoming a real challenge. It also won't sell you on the originality of the story or characters - both are more comfortably familiar than refreshing, with a plot that begins like a benign mashup of Final Fantasies I and IV, and the characters like the childhood friends of Chrono Trigger, though less immediately distinctive.

Instead, the game is going to pitch itself to you on it's nostalgia value, its implementation in iOS, and the sense that things are really going to pick up from here.

The nostalgia value is the most subjective. I found it pleasantly familiar, but others will find it dull or cloying.

The implementation is superb, and it may have helped that this game was originally designed for mobile gaming. There are three different control schemes: fixed virtual controls, a slide-to-move mechanic similar to the much-maligned default controls of Cthulhu Saves the World [$1.99], and the game's default controls, a "best of both" interface that pops up a d-pad wherever you touch which can then be used as a virtual controller or the compass rose (center point) for swipe-to-move. The d-pad is a bit large, and cannot be resized or made invisible, but otherwise should accommodate nearly every gamer's preferences.

Menus are also multi-control, including the combat menus, where you can touch the monster you want to attack or select the box with it's name on the right hand side of the screen. Contextually appropriate controls, like a "target all" button, pop up when appropriate, and tapping them a second time toggles them back off. To equip different characters, you can go into their equip menu then back to the main menu, or you can speed things up by tapping on other characters' portraits or cycling though your ranks by tapping the left or right sides of the item information window (tiny arrows cue you in to this option, but the sensitive area itself is generous).

With Dimensions' large party cap (5) and all the ability and equipment swapping the jobs system will require, this should really make quick-changes a breeze. If you get tired of the default chiptunes, you can select other tracks (though this is part of the IAP) or adjust the game's music volume (controllable separately from sound effects) and put on your favorite playlist. The game's sped-up autobattle mode makes hash of weak enemies, and turns off at a tap if you get into trouble.

The effort put into the UI, and the plot twist at the end of the Prologue (spoiler: the world gets split into light and dark parallel worlds, and you'll control a party in each one) suggest that Dimensions quickly expands from a tightly-constrained and simple retro title into something much larger and more interesting, with a large cast, lots of combinations of equipment and abilities, and maybe even a different take on the "light v.s. dark" stories of the early Final Fantasy titles.

I just wish I was more invested in the characters at this point. With the lack of available of launch day IAP unlocks, Dimension's pay structure could backfire on Square. The first part of the game is free, but with the strongest elements of gameplay (and, hopefully story) hidden behind the broken paywall, some players will have moved on by time the patch comes out.

After the patch is out, we'll review the rest of the game.

Who didn't see this one coming: more Cut the Rope [$.99 / Lite / HD] toys, games, and, for the first time, physical board games are coming. Earlier this afternoon, ZeptoLab revealed three merchandising agreements that'll put Om Nom in almost every corner of our physical homes. Here's to hoping he uses a litter box.

With Mattel and Hasbro, Zepto has licensed the brand to see the release of board games, both physical and digital, apparently. Mattel specifically will be releasing a Cut The Rope board game that allows kids to take a Cut The Rope toy and interact with the iPad app via its "Active Touch" technology. We've seen this before with a Disney title, and it looks cool for what it is.

Toy company Jakk's Pacific and apparel company Li & Fung round out the announced partnerships. The former will see the release of one of those Plug-and-Play consoles, except with Cut the Rope. The latter will see the release of sleepy and lounge-y time clothing this fall.

If this all sounds crazy, by the way, stop by a Wal-Mart and try not to see Angry Birds stuff. It's impossible. You can't even buy a candy bar without bumping into one of its numerous plush toys or ... whatever.

[via Joystiq]

With it being extremely doubtful that Apple will ever roll out any kind of official game controller for use with iPhone and iPad, it's up to third-party creators and wizards to fill in the gap. 60beat is the latest we've seen to throw a hat into the ring, and its product, the GamePad, seems like a cool accessory.

In a nutshell, the $50 GamePad is a slick-looking, PlayStation-style kind of controller that connects, unlike many third-party controllers, to the headphone jack. No bluetooth black magic -- just seemingly straight-up plug-and-play connectivity.

It features of total of ten buttons, two joysticks, a d-pad, and ships with an audio splitter and a luxuriously long four foot cable. We haven't had any hands-on with one quite yet -- it's in the mail -- but creator 60beat has uploaded a video of the thing in action. Take a look:

Looks cool, right? The biggest hurdle for the GamePad -- other than being a good and meaningful product, of course -- will be grabbing the attention of the iOS development community. It apparently requires some game-side tweaks to work properly, so 60beat and its friends will have to collaborate. As of this moment, only two games support the device: Bugdom 2 [$2.99] and Aftermath [$1.99].

The official web site for the device says we'll hear a lot more about games support in February 2012. Expect more from us on the device in the future, too.

Microsoft, via Xbox Live evangelist Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, has just announced the immediate release of the company's first Xbox Live iOS app, My Xbox Live [Free]. It's a free app that basically acts as a mobile companion to some of the more important aspects of the service. You can read and send messages to anyone on your Friend's List, manage that list or invite new people onto it, edit your profile, gander at all of your hard-earned achievements, or even mess with your Avatar's apparel.

Our time with My Xbox Live has been pretty limited so far, but we're pretty pleased with its presentation and how silky smooth the menu-to-menu navigation is on our iPhone 4S. What's especially tickling us is how it plays all those wonderful little dashboard sounds we've come to love, too.

If you're into the idea of having a mobile version of your Live dashboard in your pocket, this is probably something you need to check out. The zero dollar thing makes that pretty easy to do. Also, it's Universal.

My new favorite thing on iOS is Rebuild [$2.99]. It's a fantastic strategy game that has the capability of ruining your life like only a Civilization can, but it also has this great touch that makes it exceedingly accessible and much more interactive. Its biggest flaw is the fact that it can only be played on iPad 2. Awesomely, that's going to change pretty soon.

In an e-mail exchange with us, Northway Games confirmed that iPad support is on the way in an update that has already been submitted to Apple. This update will also pack in Game Center support, which presumably will add achievements, too. Explaining why the game wasn't release for both platforms at once, Northway said that its technology simply wasn't playing nice with the original iPad. It is now!

If you're interested on checking this out on smaller iOS devices like the iPhone or iPod Touch, the wait might be a while. Northway is open to the platform, but a port isn't in the works just yet.

That Infinity Blade 2 [$6.99] fix? It's out. Earlier last week, droves of users with fourth gen iPod Touches and first generation iPads were reporting nasty crash issues with Epic and Chair's stellar follow-up. Epic was quick to say, "Hey, we're going to fix this thing" and it appears as though the duo has with version 1.01., if reports from our message board are a good indication.

Unfortunately, there's still some rare bugs out there that this update hasn't squashed. Some of our readers are still having problems with frame rate and game transitions in a post-patch environment, while others are still reporting a dreadful-sounding save file glitch that consistently resets progress when the game is restarted. We're all pretty confident that, again, Epic and Chair are really interested in hammering out an update for these things in short order, but we're checking in to make sure.

Regardless, if you or a loved one is having any of these issues (or another), feel free to check out the game's message board thread. There's a couple of solutions in there that seem to be working out for those having problems.

UPDATE: Chair shot us this statement about the upcoming update:

"We are working to resolve an issue impacting some users who are running Infinity Blade 2 on iPad 1 and iPod touch 4 devices. We have already released one update to address some of the issues and another is on the way. We will continue working through this until its resolved."

You'd think from the buzz that the gamification of daily life was a new thing. That we need expensive devices and fancy apps to build rewards into the tasks and chores that otherwise fail to motivate us. But as anyone who's spent time bagging groceries knows, you can turn anything into a game if you try. Bagging groceries is like Tetris -- and your goal is to fit everything into place just perfectly that the bag is full, the eggs are unbroken, and you can still lift the thing into your car.

Bag It! [$0.99 / Universal HD] puts those life skills to good use. Turns out bagging groceries is actually so much fun. Seriously. This little gem almost slipped by us, but I'm sure glad it didn't. In Bag It! you're tasked with bagging up a friendly collection of grocery items, like Sir Eggward and Sunshine the juice carton. Like their real counterparts, they have weight to them, and fragility. A carton of eggs is easily crushed, a watermelon less easily so.

(more...)

Yesterday in Unexpected and Weird News, Ubisoft announced plans for an Assassin's Creed board game for the iPad. According to a press release Kotaku obtained, Assassin's Creed Recollection is a real-time strategy "political battle" board game that combines characters and locations from Assassin's Creed 2 and its sequel AC: Brotherhood. Ubisoft says it'll pack in an 8-10 hour campaign, as well as multiplayer upon its release this holiday.

You definitely aren't alone if you're confused by this move or wondering what exactly this thing is. All we have to go on at the moment aside from the vague press release boilerplate are images of the game's cards. My gut tells me that this will be a simple line-up and battle kind of game, like the one featured INSIDE of id's FPS Rage. Could be totally wrong, though.

What a weird announcement and idea, right? Also, wouldn't it be weird if Ubisoft just stopped here with these board game tie-ins? Then again, I don't make the big money decisions at these publishers who want iOS tie-ins or cross-overs.

[Via Kotaku]

Another mini-cabinet peripheral for the iPad is coming, and the studio responsible for some of the sickest arcade games in the universe is behind the wheel of the project. Earlier this week, Taito unveiled a short promotional video for the InvaderCade. It’s basically the iCade, except with seven less buttons, a charging dock, and branded Space Invaders arcade machine art. Who knew there was room for two of these peripherals, no less three, eh?

To get a tad bit more specific, the InvaderCade sports a ball-top joystick and a singular button. It’s a bulky 25 x 23 x 25 cm and requires external power, but it boasts a charging dock, speakers, and a headphone jack —- three features the iCade doesn’t have. For those of you keeping score, the Atari arcade peripheral has a total of four buttons, no external power, and, somehow, manages to look way sillier than its competition.

Game Set Watch notes that this isn’t slated for the West just yet, but it hits in Japan in a matter of weeks -- October 11th is the target release date and it’ll cost around $200. I hope it comes with a few games and a backscratcher at that price.

[Via TUAW, Game Set Watch]

9 to 5 Mac is reporting that GameStop, the US-based video game retailer famed for its glut of “used” goods, is set to begin carrying the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad in all of its storefronts soon. The company has been testing the tablet and other iDevice waters in at least 20 stores since earlier this summer, while its online arm has been been advertising trade-ins of used iOS devices -- including old scroll-wheel iPods -- for a good clip, so this decision isn't totally out of left field. Company president Tony Bartel has also stated in the past that a nationwide roll-out of the initiative was set to happen in 2011.

9 to 5 was hearing these tidings from various sources coming from the company’s recent function in Las Vegas, Nevada where this announcement was supposedly made. No information regarding timing, trade-in values, or how it’ll handle the sell of used iPhones -- which you know, are phones -- has slipped out, unfortunately. (more...)

The wait for Tales of Monkey Island HD episodes is over. In one of the craziest App Store maneuvers I’ve ever seen, Telltale Games pushed out the remaining four episodes of the five-episode arc in a single afternoon. Each title is available at an agreeable $6.99, which a few dollars shy of what they continue to cost on other downloadable services.

In the interest of drumming up interest, Telltale has also slashed the price of the first game to $0 for a limited time. It’s a good game at a great price, and like the rest of the titles in the series, it’s faithful to the vision of Monkey Island while also still exhibiting its own charm and takes on the universe.

I've been there and back again with the series, so allow me to give you a little look at each app:

Monkey Island Tales 1 HD, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Talk about opening with a bang. Within the first minutes of the Tales series, Guybrush defeats his arch-nemesis the evil pirate LeChuck. Unfortunately, in the process, Guybrush loses his wife, his ship, and... unleashes a deadly pox into the world. Most of this episode centers on Guybrush getting a ship in order to find Elaine.

Monkey Island Tales 2 HD, $2.99 - Things don't easier even though a few minor goals were met in the previous episode. In this adventure specifically, Guybrush re-unites with his wife and meets the Mer-people in his search for La Esponja Grande, which is otherwise known as the cure for the misanthropic pox infesting the world.

Monkey Island Tales 3 HD, $2.99 - You'd roast me if I revealed the setting for this episode, but I do want to note that it's something COMPLETELY different than the previous episodes. In this place, Guybrush meets two new characters to the series, one of which becomes a key driver in the rest of the story arc.

Monkey Island Tales 4 HD, $2.99 - Guybrush goes on trial in the place where it all started. How does he defend himself against the accusations thrown at him? If only it was as simple as "Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!"

Monkey Island Tales 5 HD, $2.99 - Now, the task is to save the world against a threat. How Monkey Island of Telltale. Oh, and if it wasn't plain, this is indeed the last episode of the series. But what a conclusion, let me tell you.

As a whole, this is a fantastic series. Sure, there are spots where the story drags and, yeah, there are definitely some horrible puzzles, but this series is easily some of Telltale Games sharpest work. The writing in particular is impressive. If you dig the first episode -- don't forget, it's free -- definitely start diving into the rest of these. They're worth your time.