In this week's bonus edition of The TouchArcade show, we sit down and have a chat with CEO of Cedar Hill Games, Tobyn Manthorpe. We've covered his studio's latest game, Emissary of War, pretty well so far, so I'll spare the pitch in this post, however, I will say that we spend a good deal of time talking about the streamlining process which went into it. We also discuss his background at BioWare and how his experience informs Cedar Hill, Emissary of War, and his studio in general.

If you'd like to give this a listen, you can stream it or download it just below. You could also subscribe to our podcast feed and get these episodes without having to click a single thing! Its like "One Click" check-out minus the click, what a deal!

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
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Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-Bonus-007.mp3, 20MB

Music for this episode is from Overclocked Remix. Specifically, we picked two up-tempto re-mixes of traditional RPG tracks:

• Baldur's Gate 'Child of The Murder God'
• Neverwinter Nights 'Kara-Turian Nights'

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If you'd like to get hold of us, feel free to drop us an e-mail at podcast@toucharcade.com or hit us up via the Twitter and the Facebook. We'll be back later this week for another regular show. I wonder what cat game Jared will pick up next?

Words With Friends [$1.99 / Free] is headed to Facebook. Social giant Zynga Games announced the platform flip this afternoon with a delightful teaser image. Normally, I'd be a little annoyed by the lack of information, but really, what is there to say? Words with Friends is an extremely simple riff on the Scrabble formula with basic visual do-dads and mechanics that we've been enjoying for quite a while on iOS.

I'd imagine the reason we don't have many details here is tied into the fact that nothing meaningful has been changed, aside from the addition of new Facebook-y social elements.

Let's talk about those for a second. PC Mag is reporting that users will be able to sync their iOS and Android games to this particular version. Also, you'll be able to, somehow, post about your current game on your foes' walls. Cool!

Zynga is heavily invested in Facebook, and as you know, the With Friends creator NewToy was grabbed by the mega publisher earlier last year. It only makes sense that we're seeing its games (under a new name) on this specific platform, too.

Spiderweb Software, the studio behind the fiendishly old-school isometric, turn-based dungeon crawler Avadon: The Black Fortress [$9.99], have announced a new game that looks like a pretty faithful follow-up to that aforementioned title.

The new game is called Avernum: Escape From the Pit, and it's being billed as the "first chapter" in an RPG saga. This one in particular will span around eighty different towns and dungeons filled with, of course, unique races, magic, mystery, foes, and artifacts to discover.

One of the coolest things we know about the title so far is that it'll support plot branching of some sort. Spiderweb says that there are three distinct "game-winning quests" in which you will either be given the opportunity to escape, seek safety, or get revenge.

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It appears as if the Mac version of the game is the lead sku. So, Avernum for Mac will see a release much later this year, while the iPad port will see Q1 2012 release shortly after. I guess the best part about waiting, though, it that it'll give you enough time to travel Avadon again. Game is, like, mad huge and complex. Also, a bit dry, but hey, this is a niche title.

Ragnarok Online is getting a mobile companion in the states, too. Creator Gravity Interactive just announced an oh-so creatively title called Ragnarok Violet. In brief, it's an offline, iOS-specific version of the MMO that features a lot of the sights, sounds, and monsters that compose the ridiculously popular free-to-play game's universe. This announcement is coming on the heels of two offline Maple Story releases, which have performed extremely well.

Specifically on the familiarity front, Gravity cites that Porings, Spores, and Marins will compose the base monster cast. It also name-drops Empty Bottles, Honey, colored herbs, and standard knight fare as the loot. As you play, you'll also pick up monster cards, which can be used to modify your dude and make him stronger.

Violet appears to be a fairly faithful port of�feature phone game with the same name,�if this is all ringing a bell, that's why. The best we can tell is that it debuted at some point in 2008 or so. We've also seen indications that a US iOS version has been floating around seedier circles for a bit, too.

Anyway, Ragnarok Violet will appear on the App Store this coming Friday, August 5 (which seems wrong to us; most games hit on Thursday). It'll launch for free, but if you want some hot drops quick and dirty-like, you'll probably want to pony up the cash in its in-game store. As standard with these stores, it'll allow you to buy weapons, armor, and items. What? You didn't see that coming?

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Speaking of seeing stuff coming, we'll probably see many more Ragnarok Online releases on mobile platforms moving forward. As of right now, there are eight out in the wild, and most of them can talk to the proper game in a rudimentary fashion, which is something this one will not even attempt to do. I always wonder how much more successful these F2P games could be if they actually could meaningfully touch base with the community and the proper game.

On a totally different note, it'll be interesting to see these Korean-centric apps as a whole chart in the future. According to Bloomberg, the Korean government just tossed out the government rating requirement for mobile games, which in return, also potentially means Apple and Google will open up their app stores in the region. Talk about hurdles.