You might remember us posting the trailer for Bonsai Slice (Free), a slicing game that, rather than having you use your finger to make slicing gestures on the touchscreen, had you swiping your iOS device itself through the air to slice objects within a set time limit. It was a bit gimmicky, but a very cool gimmick, as it used the gyroscope to its full potential and had you literally playing in the real space all around your body. The one odd thing about Bonsai Slice was that it was iPad-only. Motion controlled games typically fare better on the smaller iOS devices, especially one that has you using your device to emulate a sword. I mean, I have pretty big hands, but I’m not really that great about palming a full-sized iPad.

Today that problem is rectified with a new update which makes Bonsai Slice Universal. And, just as I’d imagined, the game is a whole lot more fun for me using the iPhone. In addition to Universal support, there’s also some new items for you to slice away at.

The other big news coming with this update is that Bonsai Slice is now free. The game just released three weeks ago for $2.99, and in an App Store climate where I’m constantly trying to convince people to support paid games this just seems like another example of rewarding people to wait for a sale. I mean, being a paid game and iPad-only severely limited the potential customer base initially, so I at least would have liked to see how Bonsai Slice would have fared at three bucks with this Universal update opening it up to a wider audience. Even though it’s a bit shallow and relies heavily on its sword-slicing gimmick, I still think it was worth three bucks just for the novelty alone. C’est la vie, I guess.

At any rate, if you were waiting to pick up Bonsai Slice–whether due to not having an iPad or being hesitant to spend the money on it–now is the time to check it out for yourself, for free.