'Tis the season for Halloween-themed updates, and you betcha' that Phosphor Games decided to celebrate the spookiest of days with a free update to its horror game, The Dark Meadow [$2.99]. The biggest game-changing tweak we've seen is the increased level cap, which has been bumped to 50 from its previous high of 40. This update also packs in optimization for the iPhone 4S, a few more save slots, some notable bug fixes, a new game+ mode, and lowered creature spawning inside the level "Montclair Hospital."

Oh! And the game is now cheaper. Until October 31, you'll be able to grab it at $2.99 instead of its premium-ish price of $5.99. That's quite a savings for a game we liked a lot. You can read our criticisms and praise in our full review right here.

Just for fun, here's a, uh… decidedly uncreepy shot of the game. Chew on this:

The price change is live now, and the update is going live in the "very near future," so keep an eye out for it.

Our main man at Kode 80, Ben Hopkins, launched a huge update to 1-Bit Ninja [$1.99] yesterday, adding in the ability to save video and export your game replays from your photo roll. Making this sweeter, the game now also supports an unlockable "follow-cam" that should add to the dramatic flair of whatever you choose to unleash on the Internet. This update comes as a free download to a platformer built around the pride of a perfect run and the thrill of accomplishing ridiculous feats of skill and memorization.

Another thing to mention about this update? 1-Bit Ninja now has Game Center support. You'll be able to earn some achievements, as well as see your times on an in-game leaderboard. Neat!

We're pretty big fans of 1-Bit Ninja, so we're stoked to see a new iteration. On an unrelated note, we spoke with Kode 80's Hopkins earlier this September on The TouchArcade Show and got a good sense that things like this update were coming down the pipe. He also spoke to an HD version for the iPad, which we sincerely hope is still something he's interested in.

Hey, have you recently found yourself wondering what Phil Hassey, the creator of the award winning multiplayer strategy game Galcon [$1.99/Lite], has planned for his next game? Well, if you have, then I've got some news for you. Unfortunately, it isn't the highly detailed kind of�news, but today Phil has sent over some teaser information for his upcoming game Chickon. So, what do we know about Chickon? So far we know it involves chickens, and it's from the maker of Galcon. Chickens + Galcon = Chickon. You may be able to see where this is going.

According to Phil, the game will involve chickens battling robots in order to save roosters who are dressed up as...pimps? Yep, rooster pimps. It sounds like this game is not trying to take itself seriously at all, and he describes that it's a game he made over this past summer just as a silly distraction. Silly or not, Galcon had some serious gameplay chops, so if Chickon is following in the same vein then it could end up being a surprisingly engaging affair. Go ahead and check out the first teaser trailer for the game, which doesn't actually show any gameplay or even anything from a video game at all, but it does feature a guy in a chicken suit, which is always fine by me:

Aside from the odd live-action guy in a chicken suit video, Chickon also has its own landing page on the Galcon website. There isn't exactly any more information there either, but it's probably a good place to keep your eyes on to see any new developments. Chickon is aiming to launch in the next few weeks according to Mr. Hassey, that is, as long as everything goes nice with Apple approval and all that. We'll try to sniff out some more details on Chickon before its release, and in the meantime, if you're looking for some good strategic gameplay to pass the time, then definitely make sure you own a copy of Galcon or the iPad equivalent Galcon Fusion [$1.99]. They're truly excellent.

Galaxy Pirate Adventure [$4.99] is one of those games that seems to have doubled down on an impressive graphics system while not giving as much attention to the rest of the gameplay. Rest assured, if you're running Galaxy Pirate on an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S, you will be impressed with how this game looks. However, if you're expecting a title with an actual story or a novel battle system, you will most likely be disappointed.

Billed as a Space RPG, Galaxy Pirate Adventure follows the son of the Galaxy Pirate King as he sets out on his own adventure. In order to succeed, you'll have to build up a convoy of ships, which in itself will require cash and parts. The meat of Galaxy Pirate involves taking on missions that fall in one of three general categories: Smuggling, which has you taking commodities to other systems, Pirating, which pits you against other ships with the reward being raw materials, and Mercenary, which is similar to pirating, but you're rewarding with cash instead of materials.

Once you get past the introduction, the vast majority of your time will be spent undertaking these side missions time and time again in order to build up the materials needed to build and outfit better ships. Galaxy Pirate is grind-intensive, but so are a lot of games in this genre.

The first thing you'll notice about Galaxy Pirate Adventure is its visuals. The graphics are absolutely vivid and incredible � especially on an iPhone 4S or iPad 2. This extends to the ship models, starport design, and the overall world. My only complaint is that the visuals really make me wish that there was more interaction with the world.

If you're thinking that Galaxy Pirate is going to be a free-roaming space game like Galaxy on Fire 2, prepare for disappointment. Despite the similarities in visuals, you actually have very limited control over your ships. All travel between planets is done on auto-pilot, with the only player interaction being on the star map. There's also not much control during battles either, as the only options you have are to move towards or away from your enemies (entirely 2D movement). It's almost a shame to have such a beautiful world in front of you and not be able to truly explore it. However, Galaxy Pirate seems to focus more on battles and economy and less on piloting and exploration.

Speaking of battles, Galaxy Pirate Adventure employs a somewhat simplistic rock-paper-scissors battle system. When you encounter enemies, you have a choice of attacking, defending, or recharging your batteries. Attacking and defending drains your batteries, while charging leaves you open for counterattack (but is necessary for long battles). The goal of each battle becomes charging when you're out of weapon range, defending when you're attacked, and launching your weapons all other times.

The battle system certainly gets the job done, but it's a far cry from what some might expect with a space game. I just didn't find enough variety; once you figure out the basic strategies, every battle plays out the same way with the tougher ones simply being a lesson in patience more than anything else.

Galaxy Pirate Adventure does do a great job offering the player variety as far as being able to outfit your individual ships. You can upgrade everything from shields, to weapons, to even your ship's firing range, all offering different advantages. At the onset, your ships will not have a lot of weapon and equipment slots, but as you upgrade to bigger and better vessels you'll be able to customize even further.

Despite the wide amount of customization, I did have some trouble in the early goings with the general lack of information about the ships, weapons, and parts. Thankfully, you can access a simplified help menu that does help with basic stats, but other than that, there's really not much information to help you.

When released, the worst offense that Galaxy Pirate Adventure committed was with its English localization. Simply put, the translation was extremely subpar � to the point where sometimes you had no idea what the hell is going on. Thankfully, the recently released update fixed a lot of the localization errors. Unfortunately, even though a lot of the simple grammatical issues have been fixed, the story is still left bland and uninteresting. Sure, having a mediocre story doesn't immediately spell doom for a game, but when Galaxy Pirate classifies itself as a role playing game, the story should be a big part of the experience.

Without a legitimate story, all you're left with in Galaxy Pirate Adventure are pretty graphics, and a simplistic battle system that is heavy on grinding in order to get any meaningful progression. Once you get passed the slow opening, Galaxy Pirate does pick up in terms of �progression, but I imagine that some prospective gamers will lose patience before it gets to that point. I'm sure that there are plenty of folks out there that will be willing to look past all the issues in order to enjoy those gorgeous visuals on a portable device. However, for me, I was expecting something with a little more depth.