A few days ago developer Owlchemy Labs (comprised of the guys who made Super Ramen BROTHers [Free] in 24 hours) released a new video for Smuggle Truck, the first game under their new studio moniker.�Smuggle Truck is a 2D side-scrolling physics-based driving game where the object is to reach the finish line of each level while hanging on to as much of your cargo as possible. In this case the "cargo" is actually people who are prone to flying out of the truck bed as you go speeding over the terrain.

Development of�Smuggle Truck began back in August of last year as a quick weekend project for an entry into a game jam-style contest. The developers have spent the last two months fleshing out the game, and recently it underwent a complete graphical transformation after the two-man team of Owlchemy happened upon a collaboration opportunity with former LucasArts artist Bill Tiller, whose cartoonish style you may recognize from The Curse of Monkey Island and other LucasArts titles. Smuggle Truck looked alright before, but it looks really fantastic now with the redone art. Have a look at this early teaser trailer for the game:

One interesting aspect about Smuggle Truck is the inclusion of a level editor, which is essentially the same editor the developers have used to create the levels in the game. They have recorded a brief video showing a work in progress version of this level editor in action, in anticipation of a level creation contest they plan on holding in mid-February. Smuggle Truck won't be releasing until March, but Owlchemy will be dropping the level editor before then and anybody will be able to create levels on their computers and submit them as part of the contest. The grand prize will be a character with your likeness added into the final version of the game as one of the people in the back of the truck.

You can keep tabs on the upcoming contest by checking out the Owlchemy website or Facebook page, and the developers have been dropping new information in our forums as well. With a silly premise and great looking artwork, we'll be keeping our eye on Smuggle Truck as it nears its March release on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and the web.

Highborn is an excellent turn-based strategy game from Jet Set Games with colorful graphics, humorous characters, and engaging strategic gameplay. The game boasts a nice asynchronous online multiplayer mode using OpenFeint, but also contains a satisfying 9 level single-player campaign mode. The developers have hinted at a forthcoming Chapter 2 extension to this campaign for a while, and today Highborn [99�/Lite] and Highborn HD [$2.99/Lite] were updated to include this long-awaited addition.

Chapter 2 can be unlocked through a 99� in-app purchase (or $1.99 on iPad) and contains 8 brand new missions with new enemies, allies, and structure types. This doubles the size of the original game, if you don't take into account the tutorial level. Also included in this update is another long awaited feature, shake to undo, as well as an assortment of other nifty improvements. Units now display their available attack radius when moving, monoliths display what spells they hold and a cool-down timer in between uses, and there's now a screen following a mission that displays various statistics about your battles.

The developers also note that the 3D character models from in-game battle sequences have also been improved, though this doesn't make much of a difference if you're an owner of a Retina Display device. Highborn is not optimized for these high density screens, so most of the graphics and text have a jagged or blurry look. This is literally the only complaint I could lob at the game, and quite honestly it is totally forgivable in the face of such enjoyable gameplay. Retina Display support in the future would be icing on the cake, but the developers have stated this will most likely have to wait for the sequel.

You can check out our original review of Highborn or the thread in our forums for more information on the game, and if you already own either version make sure to grab this new update and give Chapter 2 a spin.