An update recently propagated across the App Store for the classic jumping game Doodle Jump [99�] in honor of the upcoming holiday of Halloween. If you're looking for something to get you in the spirit of Halloween, this new update should do the trick. The Doodler has undergone the terrible transformation to the Frankendoodler, and all of the monsters now are Halloween themed.

Something to be aware of is that this update is a bit of a double edged sword. While the new theme is pretty cool, to stay under the 20MB over the air download limit, Lima Sky nuked last year's Halloween theme. This one seems to be tons better, but if you're partial to the previous ghost theme you might want to back up your Doodle Jump.ipa somewhere to revert back or just flat out skip this update.

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The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital posted some interesting details today regarding a potential acquisition of Chillingo by the hand of gaming giant EA. Neither company needs any kind of introduction around here, and it's really amazing to see all these huge multi-million dollar deals flying around lately over iPhone games. Price estimates of the purchase range from $80 million to $200 million, and there apparently are a number of companies interested in Chillingo ranging from DeNA, Activision, Gameloft, and oddly enough, even Microsoft's gaming unit.

We're waiting for comment from both Chillingo and EA.

Update: Reuters is reporting the sale price to be $20 million, but the full details have yet to be made public.

Update 2: We just heard from Chris Byatte, General Manager (former President) of Chillingo and got a brief comment on the buyout. In his words, "The acquisition will allow us to marry our expertise in identifying and cultivating the ideas of independent developers with the publishing power and reach of EA mobile. It is going to be BIG!"

We expect to get more details soon, as both Chillingo and EA seem to be inundated with requests currently. An official press release explaining the acquisition can't be too far off.

[via All Things Digital]

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If you're lucky enough to live in New Zealand, these games are already all available. Otherwise, as the world turns and it slowly becomes Thursday in your neck of the woods, all of these games should appear for download on the App Store. For those of us who get our games from the US App Store, this means 11:00 PM EST tonight, or earlier if you're east of us.

Reckless Racing, $2.99 [Forum Thread] � We've had our hands all over Reckless Racing when it was previously known as Deliverace. The project got picked up by EA Mobile, and has seen several substantial improvements including multiple gameplay modes and even online multiplayer. Reckless Racing HD [$4.99] is also coming to the iPad, if you prefer your racin' on the big screen.

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Angry Birds Halloween, 99� [Forum Thread] � Rovio Mobile is apparently abandoning Chillingo with this self-published Halloween themed version of Angry Birds. 45 levels are included along with a new story of the golden egg of terror, and there's plenty of pumpkins to smash. Much like the original Angry Birds an iPad version is available in a separate download as Angry Birds Halloween HD [$1.99].

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Samurai II: Vengeance, $2.99 [Forum Thread] � This universal ultra-gory hack and slash is also being released tonight, and with how great the original looked, I really can't wait to see this game in action on the iPad. They're even promising 60 FPS frame rates at Retina Display resolutions on newer devices.

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Other games being released tonight include Gameloft's Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus HD [$9.99] and a sequel to Namco's Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima [$4.99 / Lite] cleverly titled More Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima [$4.99]. Keep an eye out for more coverage and reviews on these games later this evening. <!-- PHP 5.x -->