There's a lot of enthusiasm around Kairosoft right now and rightly so. The studio has just released another banger in the form of Pocket Academy [$3.99 /�Lite], a cutesy school simulation game that puts you in the shoes of administrator, planner, and coordinator. Prior, it wooed us all with two other simulation games, Game Dev Story [$3.99 /Lite]and Hot Springs Story [$3.99 /�Lite]. Because of the language barrier, we don't get to talk to the studio as much as we'd like, which is why we're just as surprised as you when a new game hits the US App Store.

Those surprise drops and relative quiet periods of non-Kairosoft news might be at an end � Kairosoft is starting to talk to the US audience as a whole. The studio has set up a Facebook page and it's currently doing its best to keep fans interested by letting slip some neat bits of news.

For example, the studio plans to release and translate its games in order from oldest to newest, with the exception of Pocket Academy. In Japan, this was a numbered follow-up to the original, but the studio deemed it too close to its source material to warrant release of that original in the West. Also, it looks like the next game set to hit the US will be Department Store Story, which looks like a Tiny Tower [Free] meets Game Dev Story kind of simulation game.

There's a few more choice factoids buried within the page, but as you'll see, some things are… being lost in translation � a common problem in dealing with Kairosoft that we discussed in-depth on our podcast the other week.

Check out the page if you'd like. Also, check out those Game Dev Story 2 (for PC) screens! My heart is about to thump out of its chest in hot anticipation of the iOS version.

[Image via Kairospot.net]

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Firemint has been teasing their upcoming line-drawing-centric cheese-stealing stealth game Agent Squeak for quite some time now. The vague release date of "2011" has since transformed into the slightly less vague "summer 2011" and the game has a new name. SPY mouse is going to be Firemint's third "big game", and has been in development for two years

Give the teaser trailer a look:

I've seen the game a few different stages of its development at various conventions, and regardless what they're calling it, I think people will love it. The real question is, will it be the next Flight Control?

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Secret Sauce's QuBIT [$0.99] is a great game I'm glad to have discovered. The development team is an offshoot of Ideaworks Game Studio, best known for quietly bringing other companies' intellectual property to the small screen with games like Call of Duty: Zombies [$4.99] . Given how well this, their first foray into original games, works, I'm already eager to see what they'll bring us next.

That's not to say QuBIT is flawless. I've seen high-score racers that have slicker graphics and fewer problems. But this one does three things very well: it expertly combines racing with color-matching elements, it offers up a high-score chase that's worth mastering, and it brings in a pounding electronic soundtrack that makes the whole package feel more compelling than it has any right to feel.� Let's just say my interest is piqued.

You control a mining robot sent to collect obscurium, brightly colored crystal deposits that form on an alien world. These can be collected by smashing headfirst into them while you go on your merry way, but you can't just collect everything you see. You're expected to collect the ones that match the colors of your QuBs, the colored blocks that orbit the robot. If your QuBs are red and yellow, you need to collect a red crystal and a yellow crystal, triggering a combo and allowing you to move on. Anything else will interrupt your combo and weaken your robot. As you smash through crystals, the wave meter fills up, and when it reaches the top, you'll get a new, harder set of QuBs to match. Fail to make a combo for too long, and your robot runs out of energy and is unceremoniously extracted.

Because the entire game is built around these QuB combos, you'll find a lot of room to improve from your early forays into obscurium collection. Early on, you might be satisfying just reaching a certain wave before losing your robot. From there, you can try to complete all the waves, and then to get perfect combos in every bonus section. You can go even deeper to master boost timing and the use of plasma rails. Your successes don't only show up on the Game Center leaderboard, they're also quite visceral � you move faster as you do better, and the music builds up to stronger beats. Make sure your headphones are plugged in for this one.

There are three control methods to choose from: tilt, directional buttons and a left or right slider. Tilt is the default, and surprisingly it's also the most comfortable control method. Usually I'm not a fan of tilt controls for racers, but it works here. And frankly, the other controls aren't great. The directional buttons feel oddly stilted, and the sliders are too touchy � even at lower sensitivities. There's also no Retina support, and the game is currently only playable on iOS 4.3 or higher. Thankfully, an update has been submitted to drop that requirement down to 4.2.6, and Secret Sauce is working to build in support for second-gen devices.

QuBIT doesn't come loaded with game modes, and it would be nice to see more added in the future. That said, there's something to be said for a game that does one thing and does it well. The competition for high scores is intense, both on the leaderboards and in our forums. There are also achievements to earn. But while I'll sometimes return to a game just to watch my score rise or to see those achievement pop-ups, QuBIT makes me want to improve my skills � and it leaves me feeling well rewarded when I do.

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Cavorite [$1.99] �by�Cascadia Games is another entry in the puzzle-platformer section of the App Store, only this time, the game takes place on the moon. The story goes like this: Back in�1898, a funky substance named 'Cavorite' was discovered, which could shield against gravity. The professor who discovered it built a spaceship, sprayed it with cavorite and ventured into space, to become the first man on the moon. �Unfortunately, a bunch of green bug-eyed aliens, known as 'Selenites', emerged from underground. They abducted the professor and dragged his spaceship into caverns below the lunar surface.��Luckily, the professor has escaped, but he now must repair his spacecraft, to escape the moon.�The game is inspired by the H.G.Wells novel�The First Men in the Moon, written in 1901. How's that for retro?

As a platform game, Cavorite has plenty of stationary and moving platforms and conveyer belts to jump between, lava and spike-pits to avoid,�lazer beams to block or deactivate, doors to unlock and assorted alien enemies to jump or defeat.�There's three varieties of alien to watch out for: 'Guard Selenites' are aggressive and carry spears, 'thieving Selenites' are�kleptomaniacs�who steal your ships parts if they reach them first, while 'pusher Selenites' move any crates in their path, which may either help or hinder. My favorites are the deadly moon-beetles, which crawl around platforms and inflict instant death if touched. �The enemies can be killed by crushing with crates which turns them into green goop, forcing them into spikes or pushing them into molten lava.

While the title is solid as a platform game, It's the puzzle-solving and level-design where this game really shines.�There are crates which must be pushed, dropped or even flown into position, to complete each level. �The professor is armed with a cavorite gun which causes objects or enemies to float. �You can spray cavorite on an object to make it rise, perhaps to activate a button above or to drop on an alien's head once the effects of cavorite wear off. You can also make a crate float, then grab hold of it, to be pulled into the air. Once air-bound, you can maneuver the floating crate (and yourself) left or right. This is a useful way to reach higher platforms, to transport crates to other parts of the screen, to activate buttons or to block lazer beams. The puzzles make you stop and think, as you often need to plan your strategy for completing the level. Things are moving around on the screen, so sometimes you need to act quickly before your exit is blocked or a thieving alien steals a part required to repair your ship.

Cavorite delivers plenty of gameplay in three chapters (63 levels). Each chapter features a different pixel-art landscape and it's own boss battle.�Gold or silver stars are awarded for each level, based on time taken. If you get stuck, a level can be skipped after a few unsuccessful attempts.�There's even Game Center achievements and an online leader-board for fastest game-completion times� �Screenshot grabbing and tweeting are built in. The developer knows all the puzzles and can beat his own game in�24 minutes and 9 seconds, which is an insane time for hard core gamers to beat. For most of us, the game will provide hours of gameplay, which is probably why the music got stuck in my head, in a good way.

The App Store is a smorgasbord of awesome games, so it's easy to jump from title to title, having a wee taste of each. But a nibble of Cavorite isn't enough, for the puzzles are enticing, without being too difficult, so you'll want to keep playing until you escape the moon. The well-designed puzzles and ability to float objects, all within a physics-based platforming game, with retro pixel-art and a nod to H.G Wells, is a winning combination.

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