The rejection of Manomio's Commodore 64 emulator for the iPhone has generated an enormous amount of debate and discussion surrounding Apple's acceptance policies and the App Store. A closer read of the cited SDK section appears to specifically limit the execution of outside or downloadable code, which seems to make Sega's Golden Axe and Sonic fixed single-emulation games permissible. The commonly held beliefs surrounding why Apple would implement these restrictions seem to center around 1) revenue and 2) control.

Before the introduction of in-app purchasing, allowing developers to sell ROMs or other downloadable content outside of Apple's control was seen as a possible threat to Apple's revenue stream. This argument, of course, is less relevant after the release of the 3.0 firmware which permits in-app purchasing. However, as these restrictions on downloading executable code remains in place, even Sega would presumably be unable to introduce a generic "Sega Arcade" application that would allow in-app purchases of games individually.

The second reason for the restriction seems perhaps to be the more notable one. If Apple were to allow apps to download, install and run arbitrary code, they would lose control of the device experience. It could also open the door to alternative platforms such as Java or Flash, and also introduce security concerns into the device.

After having spent some time with Manomio's C64 app, however, it seems they took special efforts to follow the spirit of the rules, if not the literal interpretation.

The initial C64 app that was submitted to Apple was an emulator application that comes packaged with 5 games and Commodore Basic. The games are presented in a nicely depicted shelf which allows you to pick and choose which game you'd like to play. These features, by itself, seem like they would not run afoul of the published SDK rules.

The C64 emulator, however, also offers a "Store" to obtain other Commodore C64 titles. I suspect this is where a red flag would have been triggered. What's interesting, however, is that the titles offered in Manomio's "C64 Store" are not downloadable within the C64 app, itself. They are simply links to individual App Store apps that contain the Disk Images themselves. Those apps, of course, would also be individually approved by Apple and purchased by the end user just the same as any other application.

These standalone game bundles then install themselves into the original C64 app through published SDK APIs. Such a procedure would still preserve Apple's revenue stream and also allow individual approval of every Commodore 64 application that would be introduced into the App Store.

While a very nice system for the end user, I suspect Manomio will have to settle for a less ambitious system if they hope to make it into the App Store.

We asked Manomio if they had considered simply falling back to individual fixed-rom packs like Sega's games and they said they have, though it's likely to be their final option.

Of course, this is all speculative, as the BASIC interpreter itself could have also been the offending issue alone.

Chillingo has released this exclusive trailer video for the upcoming Touch KO boxing game for the iPhone. This ambitious project has been in the wings for some time. We interviewed one of the developers Adam Mechtley back in April.

Of interest from the interview was the attention to details in the game and use of motion-capture animation:

In terms of content, we are pushing a lot of detail. Each character is about 3500 polygons and uses actual motion-captured animation. We also have some nice gameplay features to add detail. For instance, we modulate the fighters' speeds based on their stats, so a fighter with high agility has a higher base attack speed. The fighters become tired and attack slower if they throw too many punches or the fight drags on too long, so they become more vulnerable to counter-attacks. On the other hand, you can mitigate this by training up stamina.

Here's a list of features provided by the developer:

• Customize your boxer's appearance with dozens of equipment and tattoo options
• Additional content packs coming soon!
• Quick-Play mode lets you get in a quick bout on the go
• Compete for title fights in Career Mode, rising through the ranks from amateur to champion
• Intuitive, easy-to-use controls
• Accurate scoring uses real boxing rules
• Online leaderboards and achievements
• Crushing knock-out punches
• Random opponent generator creates hundreds of possible opponents
• Play your own music from your iTunes Library

Last we heard the game was due for a June release.

iPhone developer Manomio has been secretly working on a major App Store project for the past year that has just been completed, but may never see the light of day in its current form. Readers may remember Manomio as the developer behind the iPhone version of classic game Flashback. Manomio's slogan is "In Retro We Trust" and their mission statement is to bring classic game titles to the leading handheld devices such as the iPhone.

What Manomio has done is to create a fully licensed Commodore 64 emulator for the iPhone that can play classic games and even run Commodore 64 BASIC. The full list of features are as follows:

• Full speed, Commodore 64 emulator
• SID sound emulation
• Auto-save, to continue exactly where you left off
• Realistic joystick and beautifully crafted C64 keyboard
• Portrait and Landscape play
• Vertical and Fullscreen gaming (auto rotate for iPod users)

Did I mention it was legally licensed?

Despite some initial work on the project last year, Manomio had originally decided to abandon the project for two main reasons. 1) a lack of licensing rights for the Commodore 64 and 2) the question of whether or not an emulator would be allowed in the App Store.

Manomio, however, ended up connecting with Kiloo Aps who happens to own the license for the Commodore 64 and ultimately managed to sign the proper deals with both Kiloo and Commodore Gaming.

Manomio then contacted Apple Europe in the UK and detailed what they were planning to accomplish and according to Manomio's CEO Brian Lyscarz, "Apple seemed really excited" and so he felt safe that they would sanction the final app. With that assurance in hand, Manomio proceeded to secure the necessary licensing from individual publishers and finalize work on this major project.

It all came to a head last week, however, when Manomio confidently submitted C64 for iPhone along with 3 individual gamepacks (officially licensed) to use along with the emulator. All seemed fine until Manomio received the dreaded App Store rejection email:

Thank you for submitting C64 1.0 to the App Store. We've reviewed C64 1.0 and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it violates the iPhone SDK Agreement; "3.3.2 An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."

As originally feared, Apple had rejected their app based on the SDK clause specifically prohibiting interpreted or executable code.

Even aside from Apple Europe's early assurance, Lyscarz pointed out to us that there are a number of apps in the App Store that do exactly the same thing from CHIP-8 emulators, programmable calculators and, of course, Frotz, a Z-machine interpreter. In fact, Sega's Golden Axe and Sonic iPhone games are nothing more than emulators packaged with the original game ROMs. Lyscarz is understandably frustrated with the process after having spent so much of his company's time and money into the project. Lyscarz continues to hope that C64 might still be approved in one form or another.

Here's a video of the game in action. Not all the games shown would be included in the initial launch, but Manomio hopes to eventually obtain licensing for these games as well.

And we'll provide a hands on evaluation shortly.

ReactGames let us know that they had submitted Archon Classic to the App Store. Archon Classic is an official licensed game based on the original Archon from 1983.

This version (1.0) plays really well, which we’re really excited about! The combat is fast and fun, the characters are more evenly matched and the Phoenix KICKS BUTT! The Easy setting is VERY easy so everyone can get used to the controls on the iPhone (if you’re not yet) and win a few battles fairly easily. The Hard setting is pretty challenging, even for the veteran player. There is a ranking system that works nicely and in subsequent versions, we’ll be able to upload to a server for global scores and global rankings…it keeps track of your total game time, fastest combat time, how many pieces you’re won/loss, etc. In combat, you can control the characters by using the Dpad (which works excellent) or the Accelerometer.

They've also posted this first gameplay video from the iPhone version. The video starts off with scenes from the original 1983 version and then later shows the iPhone gameplay:

If you haven't played Archon before, it plays like chess but the characters actually do battle to determine who wins each square.

Ngmoco has posted a new gameplay video from the upcoming Rolando 2. The walkthrough is narrated by Simon Oliver of Hand Circus, the independent developer behind the Rolando series.

We finally met Simon and had some hands on time with Rolando 2 at WWDC.

The game's control mechanics are identical to those in the original Rolando, but in addition to the new "2.5D" display mechanic, much has been added to the game. The Rolandos take on various new abilities this time around, such as eating chili peppers and inflating like a balloon, floating about under accelerometer control, as well as climbing walls with the aid of a gripping set of spikes. Bombs growing on vines can be tapped loose and rolled into place to shatter obstacles. Vehicles have been added to the mix, as well — in a certain level we played, the Rolando had to hop into a mine cart in order to traverse part of the level.

The new video shows of the first level and some of the puzzle elements found in the new game.

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The game is due this summer.

One of the development teams we met with at WWDC was Super Happy Fun Fun who has been in the mobile business for 6 years. Since September, however, they've been especially focusing on iPhone titles. They work both independently and also with Tilt n Twist to develop titles.

Snowboarding TnT

The first Tilt n Twist / Super Happy Fun Fun title Snowboarding TnT [$1.99] was just released tonight. We recorded a quick video of the game at WWDC:

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The game offers 6 different levels with 30 different tricks that can be invoked using the accelerometer. Power ups including speed, trick multiplier and time bonuses. Snowboarding games on the iPhone have been poorly represented thus far. We haven't had much time to spend on this title, though some first forum impressions on an iPhone 3G were a bit disappointing.

App Store Link: Snowboarding TnT, $1.99

Big Buck Hunter Pro

Another game that Super Happy Fun Fun will be releasing later this year is an iPhone port of the very popular Big Buck Hunter Pro arcade game. The arcade version allowed you to (obviously) shoot bucks while avoiding does to see how well you would fare. A unique aspect to the Arcade game included the use of online accounts to coordinate tournaments. The iPhone version of the game will incorporate these networked games using the same login ids. The game is expected in Q3 2009.

Dark Castle

Finally, in our conversation with Super Happy Fun Fun CEO Mark Stephen Pierce, we discovered that he was one of the original developers for the Mac classic Dark Castle. Additionally, through a series of events, his company has managed to regain the rights to the title.

As a result, Pierce indicated that they do have plans to bring Dark Castle to the iPhone and is tentatively scheduled for 2010.

This morning I met with Aurelien Kebeci, CEO of the French development group Agharta Studio to see their upcoming game, Rogue Planet. Previously known for 1112 [App Store], Kebeci blew me away with what he had to show me.

Rogue Planet is a turn based strategy game that consists of 15 campaign missions, as well as 15 additional maps for free play and multiplayer. In the initial release, multiplayer will be limited to local WiFi, but with 3.0 right around the corner, Bluetooth local multiplayer as well as asynchronous online multiplayer with push notifications will be available as a free update.

The entire game is rendered using extremely detailed 2D sprites on a 3D background, and the presentation is absolutely gorgeous. The isometric 3D view reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics and each unit has its own set of sounds which gives the game a very lively feel as vehicles' engines start when you activate them and soldiers speak to you.

Each of the two factions have 10 different units to wage war with, and cover the standard array of what you would expect in a turn based strategy game. One intriguing mechanic is the importance of defending and destroying bridges. Tanks and other heavy units cannot cross rivers without a bridge, and the engineer unit can both blow them up and repair them.

Capturing buildings works a little different too, unlike Advance Wars, buildings must be destroyed first, then you send any foot soldier inside to instantly capturing it, which also consumes the unit. Rogue Planet also has all the multitouch view controls you'd expect in an iPhone game, complete with rotation of the game field.

The video I shot includes a demonstration of the view controls, how the story is delivered in the campaign, a few turns of gameplay, a demonstration of free mode, and some other surprises. Make sure you notice how fast the game loads.

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The game in its current state is a work in progress, Kebeci said they have about two weeks of development left on the 1.0 release that they're going to spend adding sounds in the cinematic battle scenes, localizing to English countries, add some additional animations when your turn is over, and a few more unit actions such as repairing and refueling.

To celebrate this exclusive announcement, Agharta Studio has put their earlier game, 1112 episode 1, on sale for $1.99 (down from $7.99) [App Store]. 1112, an episodic adventure game, has been very popular in Europe, and comes packed with the same high quality hand drawn art and original musical score that we're going to be seeing in Rogue Planet.

If all goes as planned, Rogue Planet will be submitted to the App Store inside of two weeks.

Ngmoco has released a trailer for their upcoming first person shooter formerly known as LiveFire. The new name for the game appears to be "KillTest" based on the trailer video.

The video first appeared on GameTrailers.com and has since been mirrored onto YouTube (embedded below). Eli recently had hands on time with the ambitious deathmatch shooter:

The controls for LiveFire are so intuitive I had already figured out how everything worked before they even started explaining it to me. They call it a "touch anywhere" control scheme, where the right half of the screen regardless of where you're touching controls your aiming and the left half controls your movement. Since they're working with a limited set of input methods, firing is handled automatically. If you get someone in your crosshairs, you automatically start shooting.

Firing can also be triggered manually be tapping on the reticle.

The trailer video shows off the new look, maps and weapons of the game and emphasizes the ability to play over 3G or Wi-Fi.

The game is due for release this summer.

Today at WWDC, Touch Arcade met with Henry Ho and Dave Vallejo of Flying Dino to preview their upcoming multiplayer 3D mech battle game iMech.

iMech is a 3D, over-the-shoulder style combat game that puts the player in control of one of three different mech vehicles to engage in online battles of up to eight players per game, across five different maps.  At the players' disposal are five different weapons: machine gun, laser, flame thrower, missiles, and mines.  Each player's mech features shields and a jetpack boost feature (to make quick jumps through the environment) that share energy — so boost sparingly.

Control is handled via dual on-screen sticks with a tap to switch out weapons.  The game offers an in-game chat feature where users tap to select a positive, negative, or neutral comment, with a second tap to select from a short-list of quips from each category.

We engaged in a three-way online match, running through Flying Dino's local laptop server and were impressed with what we saw.  (When the game goes live, there will be an East coast and a West coast server to handle community matches.)  Gameplay was intense, with very nice effects and a smooth framerate, even on the original iPod touch.

Right now iMech is online multiplayer only, but a future update should bring a single-player Campaign mode as well as a Survival / Skirmish mode for quick, intense matches.

See our gameplay video of the multiplayer action.

3D mech battlers were huge a decade ago.  Anyone who enjoys that sort of steel on steel crush should have a great time with this one.  iMech should be submitted to the App Store towards the end of next week and will retail for $2.99.

Last night we had the opportunity to spend a brief amount of hands-on time with the upcoming Doom Resurrection. The iPhone game was developed by Escalation Studios in conjunction with id Software's John Carmack and has been a secret project for the past 6 months.

The gameplay itself is best described as an "on rails" experience where the player is moved through the levels automatically while aiming their targeting reticule with the accelerometer and tapping a button to fire. The game also offers a dodging button to avoid enemy fire as well.

The game is set in an impressive 3D environment and across 8 brand new levels. Like with their PC titles, the Doom Resurrection engine is pushing the boundaries of what has been thought possible on the iPhone. Gameplay time is estimated at 4-6 hours.

While some are going to pass early judgement due to the "on rails" aspect of the game, we think that's premature as both Eli and I had a lot of fun with our time with the game. The tilt controls to target felt good. The game would auto calibrate to your natural position when the game started. Almost needless to say, the graphics and sound were very well done and immersive (the game borrows the assets from Doom 3 which cost millions to make). Dodging with a button and aiming with the accelerometer provided a good amount of Doom feel even though your forward movements were scripted.

Escalation Studio's Tom Mustaine told us that a lot of work went into finding the right gameplay mechanic and that before they came across this latest incarnation, they were ready to scrap the entire project if it wasn't going to be fun enough to play.

Mustaine has a long history in game development and has been involved a laundry list of projects including several using the Doom and Quake engines.