For the past couple days we have been anxiously anticipating that imminent release of Ravensword: The Fallen King, the thread on our forums has been going crazy, and we even had Ravensword developers Russ Menapace and Josh Presseisen on our last podcast to talk about the game.

I suppose I should start with the good news first, in that I've been playing the 1.0 release of Ravensword most of this week, and the game is absolutely amazing. Similar to recent Elder Scrolls games like Morrowind or Oblivion, Ravensword is an open world roleplaying game with both a main quest line to follow and a considerable amount of side-quests. The developers have quoted anywhere between 6-8 hours of gameplay to complete the initial quest, and from what I've seen so far, that seems fairly accurate without even taking side-quests into account.

The Ravensword game world is surprisingly detailed for an iPhone game, and performs remarkably well for a game that is built in Unity instead of its own optimized engine. Along the way you will equip your character with all kinds of different magical items and slay hordes of enemies as the main quest line slowly reveals your character's mysterious identity. Utilizing familiar touch screen controls, navigating the world of Ravensword is as effortless as playing games like Gameloft's Modern Combat: Sandstorm [$4.99 / Free], which is often used as an example of highly refined touchscreen controls.

Now for the bad news. Not long ago we got word from the developers that Ravensword had been rejected along with a considerable number of other games built using the Unity engine. Unfortunately it seems that Ravensword like many other Unity games have found themselves caught in the crossfire between Apple, Storm8, and API calls which exist inside of all Unity games.

Storm8, developers of iMobsters and Vampires Live were recently accused of harvesting players phone numbers using private API's and uploading them to their servers– A gross violation of the iPhone developer SDK agreement. The Unity engine currently uses the two private API calls that Storm8 allegedly exploited to steal user data, _NSGetEnviron and exc_server. Mantas Puida of Unity Technologies explains these two API's utilized by the Unity engine serve the following functions:

_NSGetEnviron is used by Mono runtime to provide implementation of .NET core API method: Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable().

exc_server is also used by Mono runtime to provide graceful NULL reference exception handling.

According to a thread on the unity forums, a considerable number of games are being rejected for this– even games without any kind of network functionality to transmit any kind of personal data.

On the brighter side of things, Unity has already been updated to fix these problems and a new build of Ravensword which includes the latest Unity engine has already been resubmitted to Apple for approval. Sadly, this does put Ravensword and all the other rejected Unity games at the back of the approval queue, but as I mentioned earlier– Ravensword seems it will be well worth the wait.

Traplight games recently posted a trailer for their upcoming side scrolling game called Superhero.

In short the game is all about fast life as a world saving SuperHero looking for fame. Hectic side-scrolling action, protecting cities by smashing and bashing your way thru a lot of different enemies and gaining fame by highfiving fans and using your special powers! Game features survival gamemode, 15 level campaign, cool sountrack and detailed graphics with randomized cities varying from smaller towns to metropolis.

The developer's website shows some of the detailed backstory to the game. Meanwhile the trailer video also carries a lot of character and shows some of the fast-paced action.

The game incorporates both tilt or touch controls and special powers for the superhero character include Freeze, Bomb, Lightning and a Boost ability. The best part? You can load up on these abilities by high-fiving fans as well as collecting powerups.

The game is still in development and should arrive later this year.

Gameloft has posted the first gameplay video of their upcoming Avatar game based on the upcoming James Cameron movie by the same name. The premise of the movie surrounds the use of "Avatars" (human/alien hybrids that can be controlled via a mental link) to evacuate peaceful aliens from their mineral-rich forests.

According to an earlier preview by IGN, the game does not follow the plot of the movie but instead tells an earlier story about the Avatar program.

You get to control one of the Na'vi resistance fighters. As a Na'vi armed with a staff, I jumped and twirled through the Pandora jungle. The Na'vi are not only strong but graceful, capable of gliding movement that lets them get the drop on not only human soldiers, but the unfriendly creatures that call Pandora home. Attacking is handled with on-screen virtual buttons. Movement is assigned to a virtual stick, which feels much like the virtual controls seen in other Gameloft action games like Assassin's Creed and Gangstar.

The controls and engine appear reminiscent of other 3D iPhone games from Gameloft.

SGN has announced their upcoming game Skies of Glory which is due out later this year. This followup title to their popular F.A.S.T. game will take advantage of Apple's new rules that allow free applications to sell in-app purchases, so like Eliminate Pro, Skies of Glory will be free to download and play but add-ons will be sold in the game itself.

Skies of Glory is an aerial combat game much like F.A.S.T. but set in World War II with various terrains including mountains, deserts, and sea which are said to showcase the classic views of WWII air combat. The game will support both local Wi-Fi battles as well as online battles around the world. Features include:

• Battle up to three human opponents around the world or up to seven locally over Wifi connection
• 10 Campaign Missions to complete.
• Skirmish Mode which included single player Teams, Free For All and Capture the Flag.
• 100 missions to perform in Training exercises.
• Bluetooth locally with your friend

Of course, in app purchases allow for buying planes and equipment with further campaigns and content to be available over time. Here are the first set of screenshots:

If there's one thing we seem to be suckers for here, it's futuristic combat racing.

I guess we've been spoiled by the Wipeouts (or F-Zeros) on previous platforms, but something about it seems so darn compelling. The latest announcement comes in the from of Speed Forge Extreme which promises a full featured game with impressive graphics and specific support for the iPhone 3GS:

• 16 maps
• 6 vehicles
• realistic physics
• beautiful graphics
• special feature for iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 3G – full screen motion blur
• weapons, shields, booster etc.

The trailer is provided here:

No word on an exact release date.

In an apparent move to band against Tim Langdell's over aggressive defense of the trademark "EDGE", a number of indie developers have made announcements today that their games will incorporate the EDGE name.

• FEZ becomes FEDGE
• Sequel to Eliss – EDGELISS
• Closure becomes Closure on the EDGE of Reality
• LEDGE Dismount from Secret Exit
• Edgeward McEdgington
• CritterCredge
• Canabedge

The move seems to be in response to another takedown target of Tim Langdell's which was detailed this week.

Killer Edge Racing from PuzzleKings is the latest game to be targeted by IP hunter Timothy Langdell, who has complained to Apple that the casual title is infringing his Edge trade mark.

Additionally, it appears that Langdell has now applied to register a trade mark for "Killer Edge Racing" in a bid to prevent PuzzleKings from using the name, despite the fact that the game has been around for five years.

Langdell's actions had previously caused Mobiegame's EDGE to be removed from the App Store for a number of months.

Update: Additional titles added to list above.

After the arrival of Don Bluth's Space Ace in the App Store, fans of these classic laser disc games were hoping that Dragon's Lair would also make its way to the iPhone.

We're not sure how long this notice has been in place, but TouchArcade reader trystero spotted an announcement by Digital Leisure that they will be bringing Dragon's Lair to the iPhone due to popular demand.

The "Fall" timeframe makes us think this notice has been in place for some time, but we're still hopeful the game will arrive sooner than later.

Gameloft has released footage of their upcoming skateboarding game Skater Nation in their first ever video podcast which details many of their games. It also includes brief clips of unreleased games including Skater Nation, Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain, Castle Frenzy and Rogue Planet.

Relavent details from their upcoming Skater Nation game include:

• Fully 3D
• Nonlinear City Environment
• 8 Skaters
• Upload tricks and replays to YouTube

We started the embedded video at the relevant part for Skater Nation, and you can keep watching to see the remainder of the titles listed. The video can be watched in its entirety by rewinding to the beginning or watching at Gameloft's blog. They promise more details on NOVA and Avatar games in their December podcast.

DotEmu, who brought the retro titles Nicky Boom, Krypton Egg, and Golvellius to the App Store, has just given Touch Arcade an exclusive heads up on their latest IP acquisition. And for shooter fans, this is pretty much the best news you could hear: The renowned shooter classic R-Type is coming to the iPhone and iPod touch. The studio informs us that development is currently under way and the title should hit the App Store sometime in the next few months.

"We are very pleased to work on R-Type and to start our collaboration with Irem Software Engineering Inc. Our main goal is to make the best touch version possible of this great game to seduce both fans and new players. This is really a great game and we are eager to release it!" said Xavier Liard, CEO of DotEmu.

For those somehow unfamiliar with R-Type, a bit of history. R-Type is a side-scrolling shooter released to the arcade by Japanese publisher Irem in 1987. The game is set in the 22nd century and places the player in control of the R-9a "Arrowhead" fighter craft with the goal of defending humanity against the bio-mechanical alien life form known as the "Bydo." Battle is waged in and among a complex series of levels, some machine-like and metallic, some biological in nature.

( screenshot of arcade version )

R-Type is widely considered to be one of the best shooters ever made and is known for its viciously designed levels and extreme difficulty. (IGN ranked it 7th in their list of the 10 most difficult games to beat.) The game has been ported to a great many platforms, including the Xbox Live Arcade and the Wii Virtual Console, and has spawned many sequels as well as imitators.

( screenshot of arcade version )

The arrival of a classic of this magnitude — one that stands so notably apart in its genre — is wonderful news for iPhone gamers.  DotEmu is a French development and publishing house dedicated to bringing classic 80's / 90's games to modern platforms. See our interview with DotEmu CEO Xavier Liard, from last year, for a close look at the company's history and vision for iPhone game development.

See the following video of the arcade version of the game for a look at the action.

DotEmu has not released any iPhone-specific screenshots or demo videos, but they did reveal that the game will feature D-pad, touch, and tilt controls and that they are focused on getting those controls implemented in a perfectly playable fashion. They have also indicated that they are eager to dig into the issue of iControlPad support and, barring something unforeseen, plan to have support implemented either in the initial release or in an update.

We will share any further news and assets surrounding R-Type for the iPhone as we get them.  Stay tuned.

Auditorium is an abstract Flash puzzle game which shares a lot of gameplay elements with the various games on the App Store that utilize the gravity of objects to change the path of other objects on screen. Instead of guiding rockets or spacemen around the screen as in G [$1.99] or Gravity Sling [Free], in Auditorium you have to guide a flow of light particles in to the audio containers on the game board.

Each level has a different set of movable pieces that all have different effects on the flow of these particles, from simply controlling its direction, speed, or even attracting or repelling the flow. The early levels start in grayscale, but quickly make way to vibrant colors and different audio containers that can hold each the various particle colors.

The game itself is so unique that it's extremely difficult to describe. Thankfully, there is a free demo that only requires Flash to play available at PlayAuditorium.com along with a whole slew of videos on YouTube showing how to solve the various levels in game such as this one below:

According to EA Mobile's Facebook page, Auditorium is coming "Fall/Winter 2009" and will have 25 levels played through 5 acts.