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We sat down with EA at yesterday's Naughty or Nice games event in New York and had a look at a number of upcoming iOS titles, one of which should put a smile on the faces of all the real-world FPS fans out there. Coming this winter, for iOS only, is a spin-off of the imminent, big-news home console title Battlefield 3, entitled Battlefield 3 Aftershock, which we first covered back in August.

Battlefield 3 Aftershock is a single- and multi-player FPS that will feature a range of battlefield locations around globe. The early demo version I played with was set �in Iraq (only) and the additional play locations have not yet be revealed.

Single player mode, EA explained, is being built around powerful 3D visuals, great gameplay, ragdoll physics and a wave system of enemy attacks designed to provide the best mobile wargame possible � with an emphasis on mobile. The combat system is built around incoming hordes of enemies � 150 waves per map � designed to deliver relentless FPS action that can, on the go, be played just one wave at a time in 3-4 minute sessions.

There are four different character classes with heavy weapons variation (over 50 in all) and a high degree of player customization options. The multi-player game is expected to support matches with up to 10 players and character experience gained in single-player mode will translate over to multi-player, allowing for solo build-sessions between matches.

Battlefield 3 Aftershock�is controlled via two on-screen "sticks," movement on the left and aiming on the right. There is also an aim-assist button on the right that helps lock down targeting for those wanting a bit of help with the headshots. A few minutes of gameplay showed an impressive degree of detail and action on the demo iPad's screen. In this early build of the game, there's still room for some shader work, it seemed, but striking visuals are on EA's list of priorities for the final release, so I expect that will get tightened up before release. Even still, as is, it's one of the best looking iOS shooters I've seen.

Battlefield 3 Aftershock will arrive as a universal application (for iPhone and iPad) in late '11 or early '12 and will feature integration with EA's own Origin online network. You can count on a review of the title, closer in.



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Yesterday, TouchArcade attended EA's Naughty or Nice game event in New York and spent time with a number of just-announced titles on the way from Chillingo. Perhaps the most stand-0ut game of the lot is Zombie Wonderland 2, sequel to the June 2010 release Zombie Wonderland [App Store]. As in the original, the upcoming sequel puts you in the shoes of Chuck, the renowned Zombie Cleaner of the pleasant little '50s Americana town, Niceville. While, before, your task was to keep the homes of your clients as clean and as zombie-free as possible, your new order of business is a bit more complex a proposition.

Now, while we aren't allowed to get into to many details as far as the storyline goes, just yet, I can tell you that the rooms you will be defending (and cleaning) are, this time around, spread throughout time. From the local museum, which serves as a kind of time-hub, you will be traveling to medieval castles, ancient Egyptian crypts, Viking halls, and ancient Japanese dwellings � all riddled with zombies that make terrible stains when dispatched.

Some of the tasks that must be completed involve several stages set in different locations and / or times. For instance, one of your clients, Vlad the vampire, has given up drinking blood and moved over to milk. So you must travel through time to get him a glass of milk by milking a cow in a zombie-swarmed barn. Each of the temporally far-flung locales features its own mini-boss that appears and drives the zombies into attack frenzies that make the task of keeping the rooms clean and zombie-free quite a challenge.

While the original release featured four locations, four weapons, and five types of zombies, Zombie Wonderland 2 delivers 25 locations, 25 weapons, and 22 types of zombies, as well as a mega-boss zombie. Some of the weapons available are special bullets, medusa bullets, gnawers, turrets, lightning bottles, killer grass, the brain toy � even a Roomba(-like robotic vacuum). Weapons can be damaged by zombies, but can also be repaired. New weapons can be quickly bought via in-app purchases or unlocked through dedicated gameplay.

Some areas of the town's museum are visibly under construction, and serve as placeholders for additional areas that will arrive in updates, down the road.

We'll take a closer look at Zombie Wonderland 2 when it arrives sometime before Christmas, but, however we rate it, it's sure to is sure to take the crown as far as number of genres represented. This survival cleaning, time management, tower defense zombie shooter will be priced at $0.99.

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Some people want to feel like secret agents, and if you want to feel like a secret agent too, you definitely need to have a closer look at this new spy watch from Thanko.

Thanko Slim 720p DVR might look like a standard watch, but in fact, this watch has a hidden camera that is placed where number 12 should be. As for the camera, it can record 720p HD video and it can take pictures at 1600�1200 resolution. Thanko Slim 720p DVR has an impressive small camera, and in order to store all your pictures or videos, this watch comes with 4 GB of storage space. We have to mention that Thanko Slim 720p DVR also has audio jack, so you can attach a pair of headphones and enjoy in music from your watch.

Thanko Slim 720p DVR is impressive spy watch due to its small but powerful hidden camera, and it is available for purchase from Thanko's website for �7,980 ($104).

[via Ubergizmo]

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Recently we were sent the new and recently launched Huawei E586 Three MiFi mobile broadband modem for a review. For those of you who don't know exactly how this works, its essentially a simple portable device that provides its users internet access via a 3G data connection on the go. In many ways it is similar to that of 3G on your smartphone, the advantage of using a MiFi is that it enables more than one WiFi enabaled device to use the same connection at the same time.

Design

The Huawei is lightweight (90g) and no bigger in size than the palm of your hands. Its always been made to a reasonable standard with a nice matte touch with a glossy front finish.

Usability

The Huawei E586 is extremely easy to use and requires only a few steps to get started. Once you've inserted your SIM, you're ready to go. There are only two buttons on the modem, the bottom one being the on/off switch while the top one being the button for revealing WiFi network details.

Though small, the E586's display shows useful info such as how much data you've used in total, reception, remaining battery as well as how many devices are connected via WiFi.

The claimed battery life on Three's product page is 100 hours (standby), unfortunately during our testing this fell short, at approximately 80 hours.

Performance

Three claims the Huawei E586 to be the latest in tech yet with HSPA+, capable of 40% improved performance over previous MiFI modems. While the official numbers (up to 21.6 Mbps download and up to 5.76 Mbps) looked great, we felt as always highly skeptical of how likely we would achieve this. From our testing, we found both download and upload speeds highly variable and dependent on reception and whether the device was being used indoors or outdoors. As you can see in the screenshot, despite maximum reception (indoors), we could only achieve 0.97 Mbps, though this may not simply just represent a hardware issue as opposed to a combination of both hardware and network.

Whilst speeds are variable, we felt the lack of consistency meant the Huawei E586 would not be a suitable choice for those keen on watching video on iPlayer and YouTube for example, however it served well for less demanding tasks such as browsing the internet, social networking and emails.

Should I get one?
If you've not yet been to the product page on Three and checked out the various plans on offer, we would highly recommend you do. In our opinion, if you've never used a MiFi in the past and think you have the need for a device like it, we would suggest opting either for the pay as you go option or the one-month contract option as the rest do involve at least 18-month commitment and will be more expensive in the long run.

Pros

  • Portable and lightweight
  • Minimal setup required
  • Easy to use interface

Cons

  • Not always reliable, variable speeds dependent on network connection
  • Can be expensive if tariff / plan not carefully chosen
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