Little White Bear Studio's match-three puzzler Compression [App Store], normally $0.99, is free for today only. We took a look at Compression earlier this month and very much liked what we saw.

While the match-three space in the App Store couldn't be called anything but downright crowded, Compression manages to keep things interesting. You control blocks that drop from the top of the screen and attempt to match these blocks to the hollow pieces in order to get three of the same color in a column or row, which removes the pieces from the game board.

The twist in Compression's gameplay is in the walls, which move in closer and closer in a set pattern after every third piece is dropped into the board. A set of white dots appear on the section of the wall (either bottom, left, or right) that will compress inward next, so players can tailor their placement of blocks to best deal with the walls, which can remove blocks from the field if there is no more room for them after the board gets compressed.

In short, Compression just gets it right. The core gameplay is different enough to set it apart from the umpteen-million other match-three games on the App Store and simultaneously familiar enough that anyone can pick up the game and be relatively adept within minutes. Don't miss today's chance to grab the game for free.

App Store Link: Compression, Free (today)

Free today only, Battle Bears [App Store] is a survival shooter with a completely ridiculous premise that is totally worth downloading for the opening cut scene alone, even if you never make it farther than that.

From our review:

Imagine a world in which you are caught behind enemy lines, and your only hope is to take out an endless onslaught of pink bears whose only wish is to hug you to death. Welcome to Battle Bears.

Since we first looked at it, Battle Bears has been updated a number of times to add all kinds of new content, online scoring via OpenFeint, and other goodies such as a legion of zombie bears and the dreaded Colbear boss. The trailer for Battle Bears 1.5 shows a few of these things:

We included Battle Bears in our best games of 2009 listing, and it's still a game I recommend to people just because it is so weird. Whatever you do today, make sure you download Battle Bears, and while you're at it, tell your friends, co-workers, and neighbors to download it too.

App Store Link: Battle Bears, Free – Today only, normally 99¢.

Media who attended the Apple keynote are now being allowed some hands-on time with the iPad, and so far the first impressions make the device sound pretty awesome. Gizmodo describes the iPad as "…substantial but surprisingly light. Easy to grip. Beautiful. Rigid. Starkly designed. The glass is a little rubbery but it could be my sweaty hands. And it's fasssstttt." While Engadget confirms the speed of the CPU, they described the iPad as "…not light. It feels pretty weighty in your hand."

Joystiq provides some details on gaming with the device. The iPad features a "2X" button which scales any iPhone app to full screen, but of course this comes at a graphical cost. Much like upscaling Gameboy Advance games on the Nintendo DS, or Sony PSone classics on the PSP, games are said to look noticeably upscaled. They felt that Need for Speed: Shift actually controlled better with the larget screen, as tilting the device had less of an effect on the screen.

Also, as we expected, the sheer size of the device makes it impossible for your thumbs to obscure most of the screen as you're playing games like NOVA. According to an Apple representative at the event, iPad-optimized games will have their own section on the App Store, although the SDK allows for apps which will run equally well on both devices.

With the SDK for the iPad available today, we expect to hear quite a bit from developers. We've already heard from the people at OpenFeint who are pledging their full support to the platform, and Firemint just dropped us an email announcing an optimized version of Flight Control for the device. They are also "working on some incredibly fun and exciting games that will look amazing on iPad and take full advantage of its features, as well as working brilliantly on iPhone and iPod touch."

Jon Kromrey, GM of the Apple games divison of Namco network also dropped us a note saying how excited they are to create AAA games for the device and feel "the iPad will play a significant part of our goal to reach any player, anywhere at any time."

Photo courtesy of Joystiq

Apple's keynote is starting in a few minutes where Steve Jobs is expected to take the state at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco. What happens from there is anyone's guess, it seems the entire world is anticipating some form of Apple tablet, and so far the spy shots Engadget posted last night seem to be the most believable:

Nearly every tech blog on the planet is going to be providing some form of keynote coverage. On TouchArcade, we will be focusing on things that pertain to gaming. Stay tuned, things should start rolling soon.

Like all Apple events, Steve took the stage and wasted no time on getting knee deep in amazing sales statistics. Apple has sold over 250 million iPods since the initial launch in 2001, and since the inception of the App Store, there are now 140,000 apps and a few weeks ago they announced the 3 billionth download.

Wasting no time, Apple introduces the iPad:

So far the iPad seems to work exactly like a large, high resolution iPod touch. Or, in the words of Steve, "it’s so much more intimate than a laptop, and it’s so much more capable than a smartphone." Jobs has gone through the email, web browsing, contacts, media playing, maps and other functionality. The device itself looks amazing. All we need now is for Steve to load a game…

Here are the stats: 9.7" IPS display with great viewing angles, 0.5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds, all with Apple's world class multi-touch sensors. 16, 32, or 64GB of storage. 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and a custom chip called the "A4" which "screams" at 1Ghz. The iPad also has accelerometer, compass, speaker, microphone, dock connector, and best of all, 10 hours of battery life with a month of standby time.

Steve hands the presentation over to Scott Forstall, SVT of iPhone software. According to him, “We built the iPad to run virtually every one of these apps unmodified right out of the box. We can do that in two ways — do it with pixel for pixel accuracy in a black box, or we can pixel-double and run them in full-screen. This is really cool.”

Scott goes on to show ESPN's Snowcross, both full screen and scaled to iPhone resolution:

The new SDK for developing applications for the iPad will be available today.

Two weeks ago Apple started inviting developers to get a sneak peek at the iPad, the first of which was Gameloft. Nova running on the iPad:

After showing apps for the New York Times, and a painting app called Brushes, Apple invited EA's Travis Boatman on stage to demonstrate Need For Speed Shift which is controlled either via touch or tilt, much like the iPhone version:

The iPad will have 3G data connectivity, pricing is as follows:

iPads will be available within 60 days, and pricing is as follows:

Detailed information on the iPad is now available on the Apple web site: http://www.apple.com/ipad/.

Photos by Gizmodo and gdgt.

Early last week we reported that the C64 for iPhone emulator [App Store] would soon be getting global leaderboards and achievements for in-library games via the OpenFeint network. These features were rolled out yesterday as part of the v1.4 update.

The final list of these updates is as follows:

• Jupiter Lander: leaderboards and achievements
• Lemans: leaderboards and achievements
• Arctic Shipwreck: leaderboards
• Uridium: leaderboards
• Nebulus: leaderboards
• Paradroid: leaderboards and achievements when you own the 999 droid
• NOTE: High scores are recorded only when trainer is OFF

As the in-app games themselves were changed to facilitate these enhancements, they must be "purchased" again from within the application before the global network features can be utilized (at no additional cost to the user). The developer also indicates that the emulator environment received certain performance enhancements that allow iPhone 3GS and 3G iPod touch units to run all games at a solid 50fps for smoother gameplay.

Manomio indicates that the upcoming v1.5 update will be focused on usability and playability; controls and the UI will get some work. Details on these will be forthcoming on the developer's blog.

Another very interesting bit of news comes from forum reader killy billy who spotted seven new games listed in the C64 in-app shop yesterday but, as yet, unavailable for purchase. The list of games he saw follows.

• International Karate
• Microprose Soccer
• Jumpman
• Druid
• Wizball
• Trailblazer
• Elite

We grabbed the update and took at look at the app's game shop, but the indicated games were not listed, presumably pulled until available for actual purchase. Let's hope they reappear with full global network integreation — and soon. What a superb list of titles it seems Manomio has in store for us. All are highly playable, but Archer MacLean's International Karate, a C64 favorite, and David Braben and Ian Bell's seminal space trader Elite, considered the best game ever written by many critics, are particularly welcome.

We'll let readers know when these games appear for purchase within the app and will pass on further news and information surrounding this great emulator as we get it.

App Store Link: C64 for iPhone, $4.99

IGF announced the finalists for their 2010 mobile games competition. Last year's winners were dominated by iPhone games.

This year's finalists again are dominated by iPhone entries and include:

Best Mobile Game Design

• MiniSquadron (iPhone)
• Glow Artisan (DSi)
• Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (iPhone)

Achievement In Art

• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (iPhone) – unreleased
• Guerrilla Bob (iPhone)
• Zombie Pizza (iPhone)

Technical Achievement

• Stair Dismount (iPhone)
• SCVNGR (iPhone)
• Tumbledrop (iPhone)

Audio Achievement

• Lilt Line (iPhone)
• MuBlip (iPhone) – unreleased
• Zombie Pizza (iPhone)

Best iPhone Game

• Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (iPhone)
• Drop 7 (iPhone)
• Hook Champ (iPhone)

Results are announced on February 8th and will be showcased at GDC 2010 in March.

Firemint has informed TouchArcade that Flight Control has hit over 2 million in sales over the past 10 months with an average daily sales of 6000. Peak sales were over 30,000/day in late March and reached over 20,000 on Christmas Day 2009.

We listed Flight Control as one of the best games of 2009 in our year roundup.

We spoke with Firemint's Alexandra Peters who reminded us that the game started as a "holiday project" last year. Firemint's CEO Rob Murray came up with the idea for Flight Control after having read multiple times that air traffic control was an incredibly stressful job but one that people absolutely loved. Peters told us, "The combination struck him as really compelling and he started prototyping. By that time we had come back from holidays, and Rob brought the game in to the studio. "

Rob Murray writes, “Flight Control has been an incredible success for us, and we owe that to the way people around the world have embraced it. Flight Control and Real Racing made 2009 a huge year for us, and we’re looking forward to revealing some brand new games for 2010 very soon.”

On future titles, Peters recently hinted on our forums that we'd see more than one new Firemint title soon, though she admits that Flight Control and Real Racing are going to be a tough act to follow. Peters explains, "You might recall that the launch of Real Racing was delayed because Rob decided it needed some more work, and we're continuing on with that same obsession with getting our games right. We've thrown out heaps of prototypes that just weren't fun enough, but we've got a few games in various stages of production now that we think are winners. We're looking forward to announcing our roadmap soon, with some details of our lineup for this year."

App Store Link: Flight Control, $0.99

At this April's 360 iDev conference in San Jose, California, TouchArcade will be sponsoring the overnight Game Jam — an event which locks sleep deprived iPhone developers in a room overnight to see what they can come up with. This time, though, there will be refreshments!

We followed the action closely at last year's event which was organized by Noel Llopis. Last year's event ultimately did result in two shipping games: Hippo High Dive by Imangi and Gravity Sling. It also featured a fiddle performance by Galcon creator Phil Hassey.

Now, we're not sure we'll see the next Doodle Jump come out of the event, but anything's possible. It should be an intense and fun event for small indie developers to bond while consuming junk food and Red Bull and posting on the TouchArcade forums. So really not much different than the average day for most, but all the while trying to come up with the next great game.

360 iDev takes place between April 11-14, 2010 in San Jose, California and is for iPhone developers. Speakers include geoDefense's David Whatley and many more.

App Store Links: Hippo High Dive, Free (Temporarily) – Gravity Sling, Free (+ DLC)

The Apple rumor mill has been going absolutely wild with speculation lately on what could be in store for us at Apple's event on the 27th where some form of Apple tablet is expected to be revealed. From a gaming perspective, there have been several hints that App Store gamers could be in for a treat, with the Wallstreet Journal reporting that Apple has been working with EA to show off the gaming capabilities of the rumored tablet device.

Considering the mysterious delay in the release of Mirror's Edge, a game we got a preview of last month, with this recent news it may not be that far fetched to expect to see it as part of a demonstration of the tablet's array of games. Other developers have also been asked by Apple to produce versions of their games that are resolution independent, allowing them to seamlessly scale up to the presumably higher resolution display.

To make things even more interesting, Kotaku and several other general gaming sites have also been invited to the event, along with representatives from quite a few popular iPhone game studios. Of course trying to discern what Apple is up to by reading between the lines of rumors and event invitations is open to all forms of interpretation, but it seems the stars are aligning to a serious gaming announcement on the 27th.

We will have live keynote coverage of the event, and if the Apple tablet does turn out to be a gaming device, you can expect to see reviews of any noteworthy tablet games to supplement our existing iPod touch and iPhone game focus.

It's no secret that the iPhone is a highly attractive target platform for developers, not only because of the excellent app distribution model that Apple has put in place with the App Store, but also because of the quality and accessibility of its freely-available development tools. They are great tools, indeed, but we wouldn't go as far as to say you could get a game out the door in a single day, or anything. Well, at least…we wouldn't have, until developers Alex Schwartz (who brought us Spring Fling) and Yilmaz Kiymaz (who brought us Rocket Monkey) did just that.

Schwartz and Kiymaz decided to try and develop a full-featured iPhone game, including all of the art, animation, music, sound effects, and everything, all within a single day — 24 hours. And before the starting pistol fired, the duo opened up the design to the iPhone gaming community.

The design will be based around one word: 'Absurdity'
You're the designer. Go.

After amassing ideas from the community, the timer started and the code began to flow. The team live-blogged the entire process in a thread in our own forums (which they've since summarized on their own blog).

And did they succeed in their mission? Well, despite delivering the game one entire minute late (we'll cut the guys some slack…), we'd definitely call the effort an impressive success. With the help of the online Touch Arcade community for ideas (forum member Sailor Jensen provided the winning concept) and a few developers from the Boston indie community for assistance with art and music (Matt Board, Beth Beinke, Steve Trenkamp), Super Ramen BROTHers quickly sprang to life, and is now available as a free App Store download [link].

And what's this hastily wrought title all about? Well, you control both of the Ramen brothers as they flee down the cashier's conveyor belt in an effort to avoid that laser scanning thing and, ultimately, two cups of boiling, stovetop death. In their flight, down the three-lane conveyor belt, they must jump or dodge (tap or drag) other grocery items, as every collision jolts the Ramen packs back one notch closer to doom. Soy sauce packets picked up along the way help the Ramen brothers edge back forward towards freedom. AGON community integration provides leaderboard tracking — an impressive touch for a one-day app.

See the devs' video for a look at the gameplay.

Super Ramen BROTHers is certainly not the best iPhone game we've ever played. But then, that wasn't really the point. Hats off to all involved in showing that it doesn't necessarily take a year of your life to get an iPhone game to the App Store. Surely their efforts here will inspire a number of would-be iPhone developers to give it a shake. What's more, the game is actually pretty fun to play. Give it a try.

App Store Link: Super Ramen BROTHers, Free