When Sony unveiled the NGP and talked about its PlayStation Suite initiative for the first time earlier last week, you may remember that the publisher didn't use the magical word "exclusive" when describing the PSS' connection to Android. That was a deliberate move so it could keep the communication and creative channels open � a point that SCE CEO Kaz "Ridge Racer" Hirai talked around in a roundtable discussion after the event.

"We have a completely open stance. With carriers and with hand set makers," Hirai said according to Andriasang.com. "There are a variety of OSes," he said. "But we're focusing first on Android. There's also Windows, iOS and so forth, but we don't have the resources to make it compatible with everything from the start."

This is the NGP, FYI.

We speculated that Sony could bring PSS to iOS, and while this isn't anywhere near a confirmation, we're more aware now that Sony is willing to, at least, entertain the idea of doing so. But there are a few stumbling blocks.

First, all games that go through PSS will be certified by Sony and funneled through its own closed system, presumably similar to iTunes in theory. Apple, of course, already certifies its own stuff and has its own digital delivery system. I can't see Apple being fans of having a system on top of a system, so that's block one.

Block two is that devices that will use PSS will need to be PlayStation Certified. There are a billion Android handsets out there, so this helps Sony keep the amount of SKUs it needs to certify games for down (probably way, way down). It also gives Sony a measure of control over what needs to be on a phone. I can't see Apple playing ball with this either. Can you imagine a flip iPhone or iPod Touch that has a PlayStation d-pad? Yeah, me neither.

Still, this is interesting to hear from Hirai and we'll no doubt keep our eyes on this initiative as it blossoms into a beautiful flower. A lot of you, including me, don't think PSS will ever come to the iOS, but hey, we live in a world where a lot of crazier stuff has happened. Can you believe that, like, 300 Spartans kept an entire army at bay for a couple of days? Insane!

When Sony unveiled the NGP and talked about its PlayStation Suite initiative for the first time earlier last week, you may remember that the publisher didn't use the magical word "exclusive" when describing the PSS' connection to Android. That was a deliberate move so it could keep the communication and creative channels open � a point that SCE CEO Kaz "Ridge Racer" Hirai talked around in a roundtable discussion after the event.

"We have a completely open stance. With carriers and with hand set makers," Hirai said according to Andriasang.com. "There are a variety of OSes," he said. "But we're focusing first on Android. There's also Windows, iOS and so forth, but we don't have the resources to make it compatible with everything from the start."

This is the NGP, FYI.

We speculated that Sony could bring PSS to iOS, and while this isn't anywhere near a confirmation, we're more aware now that Sony is willing to, at least, entertain the idea of doing so. But there are a few stumbling blocks.

First, all games that go through PSS will be certified by Sony and funneled through its own closed system, presumably similar to iTunes in theory. Apple, of course, already certifies its own stuff and has its own digital delivery system. I can't see Apple being fans of having a system on top of a system, so that's block one.

Block two is that devices that will use PSS will need to be PlayStation Certified. There are a billion Android handsets out there, so this helps Sony keep the amount of SKUs it needs to certify games for down (probably way, way down). It also gives Sony a measure of control over what needs to be on a phone. I can't see Apple playing ball with this either. Can you imagine a flip iPhone or iPod Touch that has a PlayStation d-pad? Yeah, me neither.

Still, this is interesting to hear from Hirai and we'll no doubt keep our eyes on this initiative as it blossoms into a beautiful flower. A lot of you, including me, don't think PSS will ever come to the iOS, but hey, we live in a world where a lot of crazier stuff has happened. Can you believe that, like, 300 Spartans kept an entire army at bay for a couple of days? Insane!

Last June at WWDC, we spent some hands-on time with the then upcoming Alien Space from indie developer Owens Rodriguez. We really enjoyed the title even in its work-in-progress state, and were looking forward to its release later in the year. Then this past October, Alien Space [99�/Lite] finally launched a bit later than Owens had anticipated and it somehow slipped under our radar, though it has been highly praised by the members in our forums (nothing gets by them).

I've since spent a good amount of time with Alien Space, and can confirm that it is an incredibly solid dual-stick shooter. It features a 30 level campaign, a Survival mode, a suite of upgradeable weaponry, and incredibly intelligent enemy AI which makes for some frantic space battling. The real standout feature though is the absolutely spot-on controls that rival any of the other top dual-stick shooters in the App Store in terms of responsiveness. All of these factors combine in Alien Space to make for a great gaming experience.

At Macworld this year, I once again met up with Owens to discuss his current project which is an alternate version of Alien Space. This upcoming separate game will be a retro re-skin of sorts to the original game, though with at least one brand new game mode in addition to the Campaign and Survival modes.

Owens told me that he was a huge fan of the original Asteroids back in the day, and wasn't completely satisfied with the role that asteroids played in Alien Space. As such, the main focus for this new mode is to somehow base the gameplay more heavily around the asteroids that are floating around the galaxy. Additional modes, weapons, or enemies are also a possibility for the new game, though nothing is set in stone currently.

Here's a short video of the new retro-themed Alien Space. It's still in progress, so the explosions and some of the weapon effects haven't received the retro treatment yet, but it should give you an idea of the direction the game is going:

Owens is shooting to have this new Alien Space in the App Store by mid-to-late March, barring any sort of hang ups. If you haven't yet checked out the original game, it's currently on sale for 99� and there is a lite version to try as well. We'll take a look at this new version of Alien Space with the old-looking style when it launches this March.

Last June at WWDC, we spent some hands-on time with the then upcoming Alien Space from indie developer Owens Rodriguez. We really enjoyed the title even in its work-in-progress state, and were looking forward to its release later in the year. Then this past October, Alien Space [99�/Lite] finally launched a bit later than Owens had anticipated and it somehow slipped under our radar, though it has been highly praised by the members in our forums (nothing gets by them).

I've since spent a good amount of time with Alien Space, and can confirm that it is an incredibly solid dual-stick shooter. It features a 30 level campaign, a Survival mode, a suite of upgradeable weaponry, and incredibly intelligent enemy AI which makes for some frantic space battling. The real standout feature though is the absolutely spot-on controls that rival any of the other top dual-stick shooters in the App Store in terms of responsiveness. All of these factors combine in Alien Space to make for a great gaming experience.

At Macworld this year, I once again met up with Owens to discuss his current project which is an alternate version of Alien Space. This upcoming separate game will be a retro re-skin of sorts to the original game, though with at least one brand new game mode in addition to the Campaign and Survival modes.

Owens told me that he was a huge fan of the original Asteroids back in the day, and wasn't completely satisfied with the role that asteroids played in Alien Space. As such, the main focus for this new mode is to somehow base the gameplay more heavily around the asteroids that are floating around the galaxy. Additional modes, weapons, or enemies are also a possibility for the new game, though nothing is set in stone currently.

Here's a short video of the new retro-themed Alien Space. It's still in progress, so the explosions and some of the weapon effects haven't received the retro treatment yet, but it should give you an idea of the direction the game is going:

Owens is shooting to have this new Alien Space in the App Store by mid-to-late March, barring any sort of hang ups. If you haven't yet checked out the original game, it's currently on sale for 99� and there is a lite version to try as well. We'll take a look at this new version of Alien Space with the old-looking style when it launches this March.

Another game I checked out at Macworld this year is the upcoming Look Again from developer Smappsoft, who have previously brought Chinese 13 Card Poker [$4.99] to the App Store, along with various other non-game apps. Look Again is actually a very clever idea for a game. The basic premise is that there are 12 designs bordering the screen and one image made up of 3 overlapped designs in the middle. The goal is to choose which of the 3 outside designs comprise the main image.

It's a simple idea but one I haven't seen used before. This video explains the gameplay in Look Again really well:

Smappsoft is hoping to have Look Again available within the next month. The core gameplay is complete, and they are just tweaking things like difficulty and the final amount of levels. Initially they are expecting to have at least 100 levels, and can change around the difficulty by having the center image comprised from 2-5 images or having the outer row of images do things like rotate, flip, and disappear. Game Center will be integrated as well for tracking achievements and high scores.

We'll take a closer look at Look Again when it becomes available sometime in the next month or so.

Another game I checked out at Macworld this year is the upcoming Look Again from developer Smappsoft, who have previously brought Chinese 13 Card Poker [$4.99] to the App Store, along with various other non-game apps. Look Again is actually a very clever idea for a game. The basic premise is that there are 12 designs bordering the screen and one image made up of 3 overlapped designs in the middle. The goal is to choose which of the 3 outside designs comprise the main image.

It's a simple idea but one I haven't seen used before. This video explains the gameplay in Look Again really well:

Smappsoft is hoping to have Look Again available within the next month. The core gameplay is complete, and they are just tweaking things like difficulty and the final amount of levels. Initially they are expecting to have at least 100 levels, and can change around the difficulty by having the center image comprised from 2-5 images or having the outer row of images do things like rotate, flip, and disappear. Game Center will be integrated as well for tracking achievements and high scores.

We'll take a closer look at Look Again when it becomes available sometime in the next month or so.

Last Thursday at Macworld 2011 I stopped by the booth for XMG Studio and had a chance to check out their latest game that should be releasing very soon. XMG is responsible for some incredibly popular titles on the App Store, like Drag Racer [$2.99/Free/HD], Little Metal Ball [$2.99/Free/HD], Cannon Cadets [99�/Free], and most recently Inspector Gadget's MAD Dash [99�/HD].

Their upcoming title is called Cows Vs. Aliens, and after spending some time playing it I think it has the potential to be another popular addition to their library. Cows Vs. Aliens is a casual title built on a super simple game mechanic. Waves of cows will spawn from the bottom of the screen, and it's your goal to herd them into the barn entrance at the top of the screen. Aliens will begin to show up in the herd, and you must scoot them off to the sides of the screen before they have a chance to get in your barn, in which case it's game over.

What makes Cows Vs. Aliens so fun to play is the interesting controls. Touching the screen creates a circular barrier of sorts, and you'll use your two thumbs to pinch and push the herd towards the barn. You can even use up to 5 points of multitouch on the iPhone (up to 11 on the iPad) to try and utilize different strategies for better results. The waves increase in size as you progress, with both more cows and more aliens providing a greater challenge as the game goes on.

Cows Vs. Aliens is one of those games that is really easy for anyone to play, but offers a real challenge when going for higher scores. Game Center integration with leaderboards and achievements adds to that allure. Cows Vs. Aliens should be submitted in the next few days, if not already, so be on the lookout for it soon. XMG also has roughly 6 new titles slated for the rest of the year, including some that utilize interesting licensed IP, so we'll be bringing you more information on these upcoming titles as it becomes available.

Last Thursday at Macworld 2011 I stopped by the booth for XMG Studio and had a chance to check out their latest game that should be releasing very soon. XMG is responsible for some incredibly popular titles on the App Store, like Drag Racer [$2.99/Free/HD], Little Metal Ball [$2.99/Free/HD], Cannon Cadets [99�/Free], and most recently Inspector Gadget's MAD Dash [99�/HD].

Their upcoming title is called Cows Vs. Aliens, and after spending some time playing it I think it has the potential to be another popular addition to their library. Cows Vs. Aliens is a casual title built on a super simple game mechanic. Waves of cows will spawn from the bottom of the screen, and it's your goal to herd them into the barn entrance at the top of the screen. Aliens will begin to show up in the herd, and you must scoot them off to the sides of the screen before they have a chance to get in your barn, in which case it's game over.

What makes Cows Vs. Aliens so fun to play is the interesting controls. Touching the screen creates a circular barrier of sorts, and you'll use your two thumbs to pinch and push the herd towards the barn. You can even use up to 5 points of multitouch on the iPhone (up to 11 on the iPad) to try and utilize different strategies for better results. The waves increase in size as you progress, with both more cows and more aliens providing a greater challenge as the game goes on.

Cows Vs. Aliens is one of those games that is really easy for anyone to play, but offers a real challenge when going for higher scores. Game Center integration with leaderboards and achievements adds to that allure. Cows Vs. Aliens should be submitted in the next few days, if not already, so be on the lookout for it soon. XMG also has roughly 6 new titles slated for the rest of the year, including some that utilize interesting licensed IP, so we'll be bringing you more information on these upcoming titles as it becomes available.

Last Thursday at Macworld 2011 I stopped by the booth for XMG Studio and had a chance to check out their latest game that should be releasing very soon. XMG is responsible for some incredibly popular titles on the App Store, like Drag Racer [$2.99/Free/HD], Little Metal Ball [$2.99/Free/HD], Cannon Cadets [99�/Free], and most recently Inspector Gadget's MAD Dash [99�/HD].

Their upcoming title is called Cows Vs. Aliens, and after spending some time playing it I think it has the potential to be another popular addition to their library. Cows Vs. Aliens is a casual title built on a super simple game mechanic. Waves of cows will spawn from the bottom of the screen, and it's your goal to herd them into the barn entrance at the top of the screen. Aliens will begin to show up in the herd, and you must scoot them off to the sides of the screen before they have a chance to get in your barn, in which case it's game over.

What makes Cows Vs. Aliens so fun to play is the interesting controls. Touching the screen creates a circular barrier of sorts, and you'll use your two thumbs to pinch and push the herd towards the barn. You can even use up to 5 points of multitouch on the iPhone (up to 11 on the iPad) to try and utilize different strategies for better results. The waves increase in size as you progress, with both more cows and more aliens providing a greater challenge as the game goes on.

Cows Vs. Aliens is one of those games that is really easy for anyone to play, but offers a real challenge when going for higher scores. Game Center integration with leaderboards and achievements adds to that allure. Cows Vs. Aliens should be submitted in the next few days, if not already, so be on the lookout for it soon. XMG also has roughly 6 new titles slated for the rest of the year, including some that utilize interesting licensed IP, so we'll be bringing you more information on these upcoming titles as it becomes available.

It was back in October that we began following the saga of Sarien.net, a retro Sierra adventure game portal setup by developer Martin Kool. In April 2009 his website began offering entirely web-based remakes of classic Sierra adventures, built entirely with HTML, CSS, and Javascript (though the project really began back in 2001 with a Sierra-inspired graphical chat client). Last year, Kool began creating versions of these web-based games with an interface and graphical treatment appropriate for the iPad and mobile Safari. The first iPad release to go online was Space Quest, which we previewed in November, followed by King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry, earlier this month. These games were basically reverse engineered, ground-up remakes and were not licensed by Sierra. And, as such, last week's news of Sarien.net receiving a cease & desist letter from Sierra and closing its doors was sad, but not highly surprising.

It seems the Sarien.net story is not over, however. Kool has just revealed in a lengthy blog post that includes a fully history of the project that, in an unexpected turn of events, Activision has contacted him with a proposal offering limited official authorization to publish a subset of his remakes online.

Activision proposed to officially authorize Sarien.net to publish the first game of any series in its multiplayer HTML5 form. As it may generate interest in also playing the games' successors, Sarien.net will provide a link to Steam and other services that offer the full game collections. To me that sounds beyond "fair enough", and very reasonable. Also, as Activision may (or may not) choose to provide official releases of these games through the AppStore, they requested that all iPad versions of the games be removed.

Now even though it is based upon the same HTML5 technology I also find this request understandable, as I would probably have done the same if I were Activision. Then again, if I co-owned Activision instead of Q42, there might've been a World of Space Quest and worldwide free beers on Fridays, but right now this really is a huge step forward and allows games like Space Quest, Police Quest and King's Quest to be played by many people during work hours � err, I mean, in a browser.

And, so it seems that that Sarien.net and some of its web-based Sierra adventures will live on, though iPad gamers will not be enjoying the excellent custom treatment that they may be accustomed to � unless Sierra launches their own iOS versions of said classics. (Incidentally, the jury is still out on what will ultimately become of Leisure Suit Larry, as it seems Activision sold it to CodeMasters at some point in the past.)

Kool indicates that his first order of business is to restore Sarien.net to what it was (but with the approved list of games), with a redesign and additional functionality to follow. While it's less than we'd hope for as far as iPad adventurers are concerned, this is certainly good news for the gaming community in general. And we offer a "hats off" to Activision for their consideration to Sarien.net regarding these classics.