If you spent Labor Day weekend disconnected from the Internet, you missed out on our full coverage of everything iPhone gaming related at the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Washington. Originally started in 2004 by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, authors of the Penny Arcade web comic, it has grown substantially over the years and PAX '09 was large enough to take up the entire Washington State Convention and Trade Center while completely selling out during pre-registration.

If you're a gamer of any kind, I recommend at least looking into attending next year's PAX. No matter if you were into card games, board games, tabletop RPG's, video games, and/or other types of games, PAX had something to offer everyone. If you couldn't find someone playing what you wanted to play, an extensive "Looking For Group" system got gamers together to play even the most obscure games imaginable.

Anyway, here is what you missed of Touch Arcade PAX '09 coverage:

Blades of Fury

Gameloft gave us hands-on time with everything they have in the pipeline that is due to be released soon, and each game was equally impressive. Each preview linked below includes in-game video:

• Blades of Fury - See this Soul Calibur-like fighting game in action.
• Dungeon Hunter - A hack and slash RPG.
• Earthworm Jim - A port of a Genesis classic platformer.
• Shrek Kart - Gameloft's entry in to the kart racing genre.
• Asphalt 5 - The Burnout-inspired sequel to Asphalt 4.

I ran into Subatomic Studios on the show floor and found out that the new Fieldrunners PSPGo levels are coming to the iPhone via DLC. Each additional map is going to be 99¢.

InstantAction showed me a very early preview of Flipt, a game very similar to the puzzle platformer Shift that came out a while ago.

Following Flipt, I met with Gamevil to get a new gameplay video of Hybrid: Eternal Whisper and check out the new Baseball Superstars. Both games we now have preview versions of and will post an in-depth first look soon.

Com2Us let me try out their new game, Sniper Vs Sniper, a shooter with multiplayer elements similar to their other game, Homerun Battle 3D [App Store] (previously known as Baseball Slugger). Also, during the "Touching a New Generation: How the iPhone has Changed Portable Gaming" panel, a new RPG was revealed by Com2Us: Chronicles of Inotia 2, a network enabled RPG in which users can join guilds and compete against other.

A few other notable news items over the weekend:

• Early Screenshots of FIFA '10
• LiveFire Now Known as Eliminate
• C64 Emulator Approved
• Taito's Arkanoid Available

What was even more exciting about PAX though were the previews that we can't talk about yet both from well-known iPhone developers and publishers as well as from companies with franchises you would never expect to appear on the App Store. We'll be talking about these new games as soon as we can, but in the meantime, just rest assured that late 2009 and early 2010 is going to be amazing for iPhone gamers.

The iPhone PAX Panel hosted by Pocket Gamer's Tracy Erickson started with a medly of iPhone game clips -- everything from Sway to Doom Resurrection as well as the upcoming RPG game Chronicles of Inotia 2 by Com2Us.

Erickson then showed slides of iPhone screenshots and explained the history of the iPhone and emphasized how much the iPhone and the App Store has transformed mobile gaming. He covered the strengths of the iPhone such as its constant internet connectivity, bluetooth multiplayer capabilities, the wonders of the iPhone's unique touch interface, and, of course, the instant gratification distribution system that is the App Store. He also described the availability of in-app commerce and downloadable content (DLC) citing Star Defense and Enigmo as examples.

He proceeded to discuss the sales of all the handheld consoles, obviously showing the iPhone behind the pack in overall sales, but then showed a second chart displaying units sold relative to the launch of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple's 45 million units sold dwarfs the sales of the PSP and DS when compared to an equivalent time from their initial launch.

Games were then shown that he felt rivaled the competition's games. 1112, Above & Beyond Air Combat, GeoDefense, and Mecho Wars were examples targetting the hardcore gamers, while Flight Control, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, and DrawRace were shown as examples of great casual games.

Erickson then went on to debut EA's upcoming Spore Creatures, where you play as a land-based creature as somewhat of a sequel to Spore Origins. There are boss battles, camera support, and new creature parts that you will evolve across 20 levels in 4 different zones.

(more...)

This evening at PAX I met with Don Lim, general manager at Com2Us America. First off, if you were wondering why Baseball Slugger is now known as Homerun Battle 3D [App Store], Lim cited issues trademarking the original name because of how broad the title was, and explained that a few people felt they were being mislead due to the game's name and thinking they were getting a full baseball game instead of a home run derby. If you aren't familiar with the game, it's has easily become one of our favorites.

Another interesting thing is the success that Homerun Battle 3D has seen since its release. Originally, their servers were only capable of handling around 200 concurrent players. Currently, they're seeing 500-1500 players online worldwide 24 hours a day. The online play for Homerun Battle 3D was really perfectly executed and the stand-out feature for the game.

Riding on the multiplayer-enabled coat-tails of Homerun Battle 3D, Com2Us's latest game is going to have the same instant multiplayer matching and worldwide ranking. Sniper Vs Sniper in its single player form has you scouting for enemies with binoculars, then switching to your sniper rifle and aiming with the accelerometer to take them out. (The binoculars give you a much wider view than the sniper scope.)

I wasn't able to try multiplayer, because I was playing one of the only copies of the game in the wild, so there obviously wasn't anyone to be matched up with. But, I got some in-depth descriptions of what to expect of the online component of the game.

There are two multiplayer modes, the first is "Alliance Attack" where players play together shooting enemies from a nearby building. At the end of the match, scores are added and whoever has the most kills wins. The second game style, which seemed much more interesting was the "1v1 Match". In this game mode, each player starts at a random location on opposite facing buildings. They must scan the opposing building with their binoculars to find their opponent and shoot them before they get shot.

It's not that simple though, as firing your rifle gives away your location. Just because your opponent finds you first doesn't mean they will win. They could only wound you, but their muzzle flash will reveal their location. If you quickly aim and return fire with a head shot, you will win.

Here is a video of the game, I've attempted to correct the color in iMovie, but it still has a blue tint to it not seen in the actual game largely due to terrible lighting conditions and a uncooperative screen protector on the demo phone:

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Sniper Vs. Sniper is still in development and is coming soon. When we get our own preview copies and are able to give multiplayer a spin we will post another (and much more high quality) video demonstrating how it works.

Across from Subatomic Studios I ran in to Sam from InstantAction. He showed me an early development version of a game his company is working on called Flipt. The game plays a lot like Shift, a platform puzzle game where you can shift the game world back and forth from black and white to change the platforms you're running along.

Where Shift had a button to invoke this change, everything in Flipt is controlled via the accelerometer. Both Shift and Flipt are hard games to describe, so check out this video I took of the game on the PAX floor. Thanks to the terrible lighting and being bumped around by the crowd, the video quality isn't the best:

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Flipt is still in development, and a lot of the animations and sound are just placeholders. Regardless, it looks pretty cool and we look forward to seeing more of the game in the future.

Wandering around the PAX floor today sniffing out iPhone news I came across Ash from Subatomic Studios showing off Fieldrunners [App Store] while handing out swag to anyone walking by. It's no secret that Fieldrunners is going to be a premiere title for the PSPGo's equivalent to the App Store. The game is obviously getting tweaked for the PSP, but the two new levels not found in the iPhone version of the game will be coming sometime this holiday season via downloadable content (DLC) at 99¢ per map.

If you haven't seen the two new maps, check out this trailer for the PSP version. Frostbite is the winter themed one, and Skyway is the air field map.

Another interesting point of the discussion may be of interest to other iPhone developers, according to Subatomic Studios, porting the game to the PSP Go was an easier transition than they initially expected. At the $250 price point it's hard to say what kind of a customer base will be available for Sony's App Store, but any competition to get Apple to streamline how things work on their own App Store is a good thing for everyone.

Subatomic Studios also has some new games in the works, although they were reluctant to talk about them. They said we could expect some announcements next year.

Ever since I saw Gameloft's Asphalt 5 at the WWDC keynote, I've been wondering how it stacks up with the existing iPhone racers, especially with competition like Need For Speed and Real Racing.

Asphalt 5 is a neat racing game, although it is obvious that it was inspired by Burnout games. Everything from the gratuitous boost system to slow motion crashes and even takedown of rival racers are in game.

The accelerometer controls steering, acceleration is automatic, and there's an on-screen button for both braking and boosting. Racing games always seem to work great with these controls on the iPhone, and Asphalt 5 is no different. I was able to burn around the track, boosting at every opportunity, while slamming in to other cars with ease. The game provides a good sensation of speed, and a soundtrack that fits well.

The graphics are great, but as to which game has the "best" graphics between the big racing games on the platform seems to hinge more on personal preference than anything else. Asphalt 5, Real Racing and Need for Speed all look equally good in their own styles.

The following gameplay video was recorded with the game being played on a 2nd Generation iPod Touch:

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Asphalt 5 is coming soon and will support local multiplayer via both bluetooth and WiFi in its initial release along with multiple cars and tracks to unlock.

Update: Gameloft let us know that the intro cut scene has been changed for the final release, so we removed it from our video.

I admit when I first heard about Shrek Kart I groaned a little, as everything that has anything to do with the Shrek franchise in recent years has been decidedly mediocre. I found myself quite surprised to find that Shrek Kart may actually be a turning point for the Shrekniverse, although few things can undo those terrible sequels to the original (and fairly decent) movie.

Gameloft's Shrek Kart for the iPhone is very well executed, and like most other kart racers, clearly inspired by Mario Kart. In motion, the game looks almost the same, right down to the menu interface, power up blocks, and even the tracks are vaguely familiar. The power ups have been changed around, but all serve the same basic purpose from power ups found in the Mario Kart series.

Since we'll likely never see a Mario Kart game on the iPhone, I'm perfectly fine with this. Like most iPhone racers, the game is controlled using the accelerometer and the controls work just as well as you would expect. Other functions like braking and using power ups appear as on-screen buttons.

Four game modes are included: quick race allows you to just load up the game and play a track, tournament has you playing a series of tracks for points, challenge mode offers several timed challenges like picking up a number of power up blocks as quickly as possible, and last, but certainly not least is arena mode.

Arena mode works similar to Mario Kart's battle mode, except instead of using three balloons for your health, you have two scores: Thumbs ups and thumbs downs. You get a thumbs down when you get taken out by someone else's weaponry, and you get a thumbs up when you take someone else out. I strangely almost prefer this to Mario Kart battle mode, because you will never just be sitting there waiting for the game to finish in multiplayer. Regardless of how bad you're doing, you can at least keep playing.

Speaking of multiplayer, Shrek Kart will be released with local bluetooth and WiFi multiplayer. The following gameplay video showing a race and an arena match was recorded on a 2nd generation iPod Touch:

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Shrek Kart is by far the best Shrek game I've played, but that's not saying a whole lot -- but it's also a fairly competitive iPhone version of Mario Kart. While it lacks the internet multiplayer of Krazy Karts, Shrek Kart, oddly enough, seems to have a lot more character.

Gameloft's port of Earthworm Jim is, well, Earthworm Jim. If you're unfamiliar with the game, it originally appeared on the Sega Genesis in 1994, and since then saw ports on numerous platforms soon to be including the XBOX 360 via XBOX Live Arcade, the PS3 via PlayStation Network, and the Wii via WiiWare.

The story begins with a high tech super suit falling from space and landing directly on top of an earthworm named Jim. The suit somehow mutates him in to a larger earthworm capable of controlling its various functions. Jim overhears the villains of the game discussing devious plans regarding Princess What's Her Name (Yes, that's really her name) and Jim decides to to go on an adventure to save the princess from killer golfish, evil cats, and queens with slugs for butts. The game was a hit and was even the basis for a short lived cartoon series on the WB.

An on-screen D-Pad (or joystick, configurable via an options screen) controls your movement, and buttons handle jumping, slapping your earthwormy self like a whip, and firing your gun. The controls work, but based on our brief time with the game, it seems to provide a mere shadow of the experience on the original Sega Genesis with the 6 button controller and nearly perfect D-Pad.

The first level felt more difficult than it should have been, and in the version I played (which likely is still under development) the buttons for Jim's various actions seemed a little too close together to accurately mash with my thumb. Also disappointing was that in the levels where Jim flies his pocket rocket there is no accelerometer support.

You can get an idea of what I'm talking about in this video running on a 2nd generation iPod Touch:

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Of course, as with all the games we tried today, we didn't have enough time to fully evaluate the game, and we'll certainly spend more time with it when it's officially launched.

There are two ways you can look at Gameloft's Earthworm Jim: It seems to be a great port of the game, runs as well as you could expect, and is the closest thing you're going to have to playing the original in your pocket unless you feel like hauling around a Sega Nomad and the Genesis cartridge. On the other hand, it seems likely to share some of the annoyances of other virtual D-Pad platformers, and while it's certainly playable, the game does feel like it was designed for a real D-Pad (which, of course, it was).

Like most Gameloft games, it's easy to find games to compare Dungeon Hunter to. It definitely has a strong scent of Diablo to it, but the graphics seem straight out of the Microsoft PC game, Dungeon Siege. Regardless of what comparisons you make, Dungeon Hunter seems like a solid hack and slash that I could see myself spending a embarrassing amount of time playing.

On-screen controls once again are utilized, with a virtual D-Pad controlling movement and a series of buttons that handle your attacks and magic. Three classes are included that each have slightly different strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. Dungeon Hunter plays a lot like Pixel Mines' Underworlds, in 3D, and could potentially have quite a bit of replay value as you play through the game as a knight, then a rogue, and finally as a mage. Also, along the way you will collect different fairies that assist you on your adventures, each providing a different offensive and/or defensive bonuses.

I was able to spend about 15 minutes playing Dungeon Hunter, which obviously is nowhere near the amount of time needed to even begin to sink your teeth into an RPG.

The story starts with the full motion video trailer we posted earlier, and your character waking up in his tomb. Where do you go from there? I'm not entirely sure, but it involves slaying countless evil minions, stuffing your pockets with gold, and customizing your character with the impressive equipment and skill system of which I was only barely able to experience the tip of the iceberg.

The following video is being played on a 2nd generation iPod Touch showing the first few minutes of the game:

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Following that, you eventually exit the tomb, make your way to a nearby village, receive a quest, and head back down for more hacking, slashing, and most importantly, loot collecting. Gameloft has proven themselves as extremely capable of taking a game concept, adapting it to the iPhone, and making it work. I can't yet say if Dungeon Hunter is going to have the same timeless charm of the Diablo series (which I played for years) but I love what I've seen so far, and can't wait to play more.

The first title of the day is Gameloft's Blades of Fury, a game quite obviously inspired by Soul Calibur. Like most Gameloft games, while the concept isn't original, the gameplay is solid.

Blades of Fury has on-screen controls with a virtual D-Pad and array of buttons that cover two different kinds of attacks, blocking, and a special move usable when your power bar fills up. In my brief time with the game, I found the controls to be adequate to beat the first few opponents, although I could definitely see the lack of tactile feedback that comes from a real gamepad or arcade stick becoming an issue as the difficulty in the game ramps up.

The single player story mode is just as silly as most fighting games, told through a few sentences between matches. Since no one that I know plays fighting games for intense plot and character development, I wouldn't think this would be an issue for too many people. Also included is a standard arcade mode where you quickly just fight another opponent along with a survival and practice mode.

The graphics of the game are absolutely amazing. The test unit shown in the following gameplay video is a 2nd generation iPod Touch. As you can see, the framerate is great, the visuals are top notch, and Blades of Fury will easily join the ranks of games you will find yourself saying "This is running on my phone?" while playing.

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I didn't have enough time with Blades of Fury to form much of an opinion on the game, but what I've seen so far has been fun to play and impressive to watch. I can't wait to see how it runs on my iPhone 3GS.

Blades of Fury is due to be released sometime this month.

I arrived in beautiful Seattle this morning, and after a somewhat expected rental car fiasco I've since spent my time wandering the floor, meeting with video game companies, and overall being completely immersed in PAX.

The really cool thing about PAX that seems significantly different from other events I've been to is that while there may be a lot of gaming conventions, PAX definitely feels like a gamer convention. The floor is flooded in people dressed in costumes playing soon to be released games. The hallways are packed with people playing various handhelds and I've spotted a silly amount of iDevices in use. Every table is littered with gamers surrounding board games, dice being tossed in Dungeons & Dragons games, and others playing card games like Magic: The Gathering.

We're not sure how much iPhone-specific content there will be, but the first flood of content coming soon is courtesy of Gameloft. If you're an iPhone developer at PAX, feel free to contact us. We will also be attending GDC Austin later this month.