Cipher Prime, the Philadelphia-based developer of the award winning, multi-platform title Auditorium [Free], is getting set to release their newest rhythm-based music game exclusively (for now) on the iPad. Called Pulse, the gameplay will have you tapping and sometimes sliding a series of dots in time with a circle that pulses from the center of the screen in rhythm with the music. It's certainly not easy to explain, so it might be best to check out this gameplay video from IndieGameMag:

Pulse is looking like an interesting new entry in the rhythm-based music game genre. I think one of the strong points will be that the gameplay seems to have been built around the included songs in the game, with a range of genres covered from electronica to heavy metal to chip-tunes. Cipher Prime has also stated that Pulse would only be possible on a device with a large multitouch screen, hence the game only currently coming to the iPad, but they haven't entirely ruled out an Android version sometime in the future either. No word yet on if an iPhone or iPod touch version could be possible.

According to the Cipher Prime blog, Pulse is already approved by Apple and will be releasing this Thursday. We'll take a closer look at the game then.

Sometimes promotions never end. At least, that's the case with Pocket Legends. In April, developer Space Time Studios kicked off an anniversary celebration that dished out free access to six areas for the generous asking price of $0. Now, the studio is announcing that those areas will remain free FOREVER � or until we all die in 2012, one or the other.

That's a deal, but you have to wonder how Space Time plans to make money while a large swathe of its instance-based content is free. That's where this comes in: the studio has just announced a brand new "premium" area called the "Sandstone Caves."

It's made for players around level 20 to 25 and includes what you want: a new town, a new series of quests, new enemies, new bosses, and new weapons, armor and items.

The price? 10 in-game Platinums, which should help satisfy the need for Space Time to fill its coffers. The lowest amount of Platinums that you can buy at the moment is 30 for $4.95, which is likely the catch here.

It's also possible to earn free in-game cash in exchange for taking part in one of those now-infamous marketing loops. "Yes, you can still get free Platinum with Tapjoy in both Apple and Android devices," a representative told us.

Just for reference, the areas that are set to remain free are Balefort Castle, Fathom Crypts, The Lost Expedition, The Ancient Swamps, Balefort Sewers, and last but not least, The Alien Oasis Trilogy.

Pocket Legends is one of the deepest, most well designed mobile MMOs on the market to date. As we've previously noted, we reviewed the game last year, but a lot has changed since then, so you'd probably be better off reading the official "Quick Start" guide to get a good sense of what Pocket Legends is about. Oh, and if you're in the market for a more in-depth look at Sandstone Caves, these two articles wouldn't be a bad start.

One of the big draws of Media Molecule's Little Big Planet is its whimsical art direction, which marries burlap characters to a vibrant, textured world. This happens to be almost the same look that Robots vs. Wizards is shooting for with Paper Monsters, a similar kind of 2.5D platformer set for release on the iPod Touch and iPhone.

Over on our forums, game developer Robots vs. Wizards is giving our community several first looks of different pieces of the now-in-production game. On 4/7, we got a great look at one of the "baddies," a troll-like dude.

One of more information updates came on 4/18. In that update, the team revealed that players would be able to "switch" between level layers and be able to get behind or in front of certain pieces of the game's papercraft geometry. Also, there'll be "portals," which can transport you to entirely new areas, similar to a pipe in a Super Mario Bros game.

At its core, Paper Monsters looks to be a traditional kind of platformer, and that means that you'll be able to harness the abilities of power-ups. The only one we know about so far is one that can turn your little box dude (pictured above) into a fire-breathing dragon.

We're not sure when Paper Monsters is due out or at what price. Heck, we're not even sure how deep this offering is. But if the art direction and apparent care to the 3D models is any indication, this is definitely a game to look out for in the coming months. Art usually speaks to production quality.

I should note that we've also reached out about the release information. When we hear back, we'll let you know.

Soccer simulation games are a huge deal on mobile devices. You can't give baseball sims the same kind of pat on the back, but perhaps we'll be able proclaim something similar in the near future: Out of the Park Baseball is poised to make its debut on the smaller Apple handhelds later this month, bringing with it it's own brand of MLB management.

For a little context here, Out of the Park Baseball is a text-heavy baseball manager. It made its first appearance on PC back in 1999. Since then, it's seen a handful of iterations, each increasingly gaining more popularity and critical awareness. The games are good, so of course there's going to be a mobile port.

This specific version somewhat obviously drops the cursor interface in favor of touch. In the build I've checked out, the response and integration is great, but do keep in mind that OOTP 2011 is not a game where you actually play baseball: it's a straight-up simulation, so the extent to which you can utilize touch is limited to just menus. In fact, the entire game is really just a series of dynamic menus, perfect for any stat-hungry sports fan.

But, hey, the touch works. And even better, the game scales well to touch devices.

OOTP 2011 lets you take any MLB team with its current roster and take it through a career mode. As the GM, you'll be allowed to trade players, set up line-ups and rotations, and all the rest that comes with the territory, including developing minor league players.

The game also has a fictional league and a historical league career option. What is has to offer on the latter is neutered at the moment, but from what we understand, in-app purchase will be a key driver in bringing new historical teams and rosters to the game.

Earlier this afternoon, I started a career with my beloved Boston Red Sox. And in an effort to rekindle some of yesteryear's magic, I traded Tampa Bay for Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez (still on the list in our build). Things aren't going so well, but you know what? That's cool. Damon is back in Beantown; and that's all that matters.

I'll be excited to see a full build of the game, though I'd imagine what I'm seeing now is about as polished as the game will get. If that's indeed the case, simulation fans that dig the MLB really shouldn't miss out on OOTP � it's a sharp game with a snappy and native-feeling interface, full of the kind of complexity you'd expect.

As an aside here, please add Nomar to the FA list? I know he's retired and stuff, but …

There have been tons of crazy Kinect hacks since Microsoft released the accessory for the Xbox 360. In fact, there are so many it's difficult to choose which to use as an example, so instead, check out this list from GameFront if you want to see a good rundown. If you include tech blogs in your daily reads online, you've no doubt noticed that these Kinect hacks are popping up both more often and with even cooler functionality. Today's example is the first one I've seen that includes an iPhone. Sure, it's just a prototype, but it's cool to see it in action:

Basically, Singapore-based developer Rockmoon built a tech demo of sorts in Unity that takes two people to play. One flies the ship using Kinect-based motion controls, and the other handles the guns with a dual-stick setup running on an iPhone. Who knows what (if anything) will come of this project aside from a video on YouTube, but it's still neat to see.

As an aside, is anyone else amused by the fact that all of these Kinect hackers have come up with all this amazing stuff while all Microsoft has figured out is how to release an array of dancing games? That being said, Dance Central is a favorite in my household…

[via Joystiq]

Lately we've been seeing some great puzzle games hit the App Store, and Burn it All [99�] is no exception. Published by Bulkypix and released as a universal app, Burn it All greatly expands on the rope burning formula of Burn the Rope [$1.99 / Lite / HD] with a great new mechanic for actually lighting the ropes themselves that makes the game play totally different even though they may look similar in screenshots.

The object of the game is to ignite the ends of ropes by dragging a flaming lava rock to each end and watch them burn down before the timer runs out. The gameplay is loads fun and revolves around figuring out which ropes to burn in what order, which becomes increasingly difficult as the game progresses.

In between lighting a rope on fire your lava rock will automatically return to the volcano to briefly recharge and ignite to be used again. Initially I assumed this to be a fault of the games controls but I quickly realized that it's an important component that the developers obviously wanted to leave in. This gameplay mechanic of making you wait in between recharges is what adds another level of both excitement and frustration to the game, and because you're being timed your first inclination would be to go as fast as you can. But move too soon and you'll quickly find yourself way off your mark, wait too long and you'll be wasting valuable seconds, timing is everything.

As you progress through the levels, new ropes and obstacles are introduced from slow burning ropes, to moving bats, and wooden objects all of which you'll need ignite. Also each world gives you a new lava rock to control with different abilities. Some of the later puzzles can get very complex, between a maze of ropes and water droplets waiting to extinguish your flame. Each level is constructed incredibly well, and the overall difficulty ramps up very nicely. With Game Center and Open Feint achievements there's some great replay value for those perfectionists out there looking to get that 100% completion.

There's currently 4 worlds with 25 levels each, with updates planned for more in the future. Burn it all is a solid puzzle game that plays wonderfully, even though its premise might not be all that original. Burn it All is an easy recommendation, especially if you liked Burn the Rope. Similarly, if you download and enjoy Burn it All, you'll ned to give Burn the Rope a try.

Grim Joggers [$1.99] from 10tons Ltd is an interesting endless running game that was released back in January. It featured many of the common traits of the genre, like jumping pits and avoiding hazards, but also put a wrinkle in the gameplay by having you control multiple characters at once. During play your crew would slowly die off as they inevitably ran into traps, but your score multiplier increased based on the number of your survivors while passing set distance markers. This ensured that you were always striving to keep as many joggers alive as possible, and combined with the task of managing all of the characters at the same time it made for some hectic fun.

We really liked Grim Joggers when we reviewed it in January, and the game was subsequently updated once in February and again in March, each time adding a new playable level among other features. Now a free version of Grim Joggers is available called Grim Joggers Freestyle [Free]. More than simply a generic lite version, Grim Joggers Freestyle is actually a competent little package on its own.

The full version of Grim Joggers features 5 different themes to play in, each with their own unique visuals, enemies, dangers, and Game Center leaderboards. Grim Joggers Freestyle is a single mode that features a new environment with a mixture of elements from all 5 of those themes, along with its own leaderboard and set of achievements. This means you'll be running into life ending dangers like man-eating plants, polar bears, artillery shells, and aliens all in the same level.

Grim Joggers Freestyle is free to download and contains ads in-between games, but these can be instantly skipped so aren't too much of a nuisance. The mashed up style of gameplay is worth checking out even if you own the original Grim Joggers, and I'd love to see this mode updated into the paid version of the game someday. If you haven't yet given Grim Joggers a try, then Grim Joggers Freestyle is a great taste of what you'd be getting more of in the full version, and is definitely worth giving a download.