On this week's episode of The TouchArcade Show, we fight through the appeal of talking about weird people who use library computers in 'interesting' ways in order to bring you discussion of the latest and hottest on the App Store. I think Groove Coaster takes center stage, but we also end up talking a little Angry Birds, and again, the "masocore" genre. The latter is due to Jared's inability to play fun, wholesome games. Dude likes to lose � a lot.

As usual, you can hit us up just below through all of these fancy links. Additionally, you can support the show by subscribing to us on iTunes or the Zune Marketplace and then rating us sixteen stars out of five. We're good like that.

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Here's your show notes! And prepare for another bonus podcast this coming Monday, as well as the regularly scheduled show this Friday. If you'd like to get in touch, podcast@toucharcade.com is the best way to do it, but you can also hit us up via the Twitters and the Facebooks.

GAMES

If you haven't been following general gaming news lately, Nintendo recently shocked 3DS early adopters with a significant price cut to the system in the wake of troubling hardware sales figures in their recent earnings report. Globally, both Wii and DS sales are down 50%, which wouldn't be that big of a deal if the 3DS was flying off shelves. However, in the previous quarter, Nintendo has only managed to move 710,000 3DS units, worldwide. Total, they've sold less than 1 million units in the USA, which traditionally has always been a massive market the gaming juggernaut. Taking full responsibility for the 3DS, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has taken a 50% pay cut with other executives taking similar 20-30% pay cuts.

But surely you're asking yourself, "Why is this relevant on TouchArcade," as you mentally prepare your scathing comment to this story. Well, as we discuss in this week's podcast (which will be posted shortly) we're reaching a point where comparing the portable iOS family to dedicated gaming devices is totally appropriate. The era of the App Store where games were described as "good" with the requisite suffix of "for a cell phone game" is over. This last year has been filled with incredible game release after incredible game release. Unity and similar engines are advancing at incredible rates, and through the Unreal Engine we're even starting to see games simultaneously releasing on the PC as well as iOS devices.

So let's look at what's going on with the big N. The 3DS launched with what initially seemed like a strong game lineup that was oddly devoid of first party titles, which historically have amounted to the "system sellers" of the Nintendo hardware family. In fact, the closest thing to a "system seller" to many core gamers was the port of Ocarina of Time, a 1998 Nintendo 64 game, which came months after the launch and wasn't even developed in house. Since then, the 3DS has been plagued with delays and cancellations from third party developers, instilling even further doubt in the platform.

Further yet, Nintendo has taken an incredibly puzzling stance towards indie developers, with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime flat out saying that they have no intention of doing business with "garage developers." Comparatively, Apple has fully embraced the so called "garage developer," and for $99 a year has facilitated titles like Tiny Wings [99�] and Doodle Jump [99�] that have gone on to make millions upon millions of dollars while still providing a place for high-end show pieces like Infinity Blade [$4.99] to thrive.

The era of "traditional" portable gaming as dictated by Nintendo's vision seems like it could be coming to a close if they don't begin to adapt to what the instant accessibility of both development and distribution of current mobile games has provided gamers. While the 3DS's new $170 price tag is undoubtedly cheaper than even a refurbished iPod touch, the $40 price point of 3DS games flat out feels archaic in comparison. Wired's Chris Kohler raises a point that I could not agree with more: Once you've gotten a taste of the App Store, $40 is not a price point where you'll ever say to yourself, "Eh, what the hell, I'll try it."

Furthermore, as a kid, that price point means getting games only on special occasion. Birthdays, Christmases, or even as Kohler suggests, "maybe after getting a root canal if you cry enough." Comparatively, a pair of $20 iTunes gift cards could potentially buy 40 different games. Not only that, but non-stop freebie promotions has turned turned the iPod Touch into a portable gaming system with so much content that's available for free that it's an impossible task to download and play it all.

Nintendo is even dissuading customers further from buying these full-priced 3DS titles by bolstering their eShop with a full array of NES and Gameboy Advance games which likely will all sell for less than $10. Furthermore, they even seem to be distancing themselves from 3D with Nintendo's chief game maker Shigeru Miyamoto quoted as saying that playing with 3D disabled is "a perfectly acceptable way to play the games."

With previously successful hardware platform sales down 50%, their new flagship portable struggling to gain any significant marketshare and Nintendo executives taking pay cuts, it's safe to say that Nintendo is in dire straits. As Kotaku's Stephen Totilo puts it, "the 3DS era may not be over, but the era of untouchable Nintendo handhelds is now a thing of the past." Despite all this, Nintendo's Iwata has reiterated that Nintendo has no plans to sell its games to other non-Nintendo platforms.

Sega said the same thing.

I'm not sure anyone (including Nintendo) truly can predict the fate of the 3DS and Nintendo's future portable hardware, but it seems like this is the time for Nintendo to react to the App Store instead of dismissing it at every opportunity. As the lines between smartphones and "dedicated" gaming handhelds blur to near non-existence, Nintendo is going to need to take drastic measures. The 3DS price drop seems to be the first, and as a life-long Nintendo fan I can't wait to see what they do next.

Arnold and Jared's obsession over the last six months saw another update this afternoon. If you haven't heard of Disc Drivin [Free / $1.99 / HD] yet, you should really check out our review. It's a really slick asynchronous online multiplayer racing game. Think of it as shuffleboard meets Mario Kart meets Words With Friends.

Anyway, Disc Drivin 1.7 is here, which brings a number of new tracks and obstacles that we detailed a few days ago:

This newest update adds another 3 brand new tracks, for a total of 18, as well as a new track element called the Flipper. You can see the overhead design of each of the tracks in the icons below:

As for the Flipper, pictured at the top of this post, you'll come across this obstacle placed in various parts of the ground in each of the 3 new tracks. When you slide over it, it propels you forwards and upwards, catapult style. This can either be a very good thing or a very bad thing, mostly depending on where you end up finally landing. The faster you're going when you hit the Flipper, the farther you'll get launched, so there should be some good strategic uses of the new object if utilized correctly.

So what are you waiting for? You can play the game for free, and the update is now live. Go start some games on the new tracks and let us know what you think of them.

We've recently discovered that Square Enix's highly anticipated turn based strategy RPG, Final Fantasy Tactcs: The War of the Lions has made it through the Apple approval process. Following the development of Tactics has been an incredible ride. Starting with its announcement at E3, the game has been subject to numerous setbacks. Originally slated for September 15th, then spring, then June or July, before one final setback until it was revealed that the game was finally submitted to Apple.

Now, being approved still doesn't mean the game is released yet. Square Enix likely has a future release date set for the game which I'd feel more than comfortable betting is this coming Thursday. The wait is almost over, and barring any unforeseen circumstances North Americans should be knee-deep in Final Fantasy Tactics on 11:00 PM Eastern this Wednesday night, with App Store regions to the east of us getting their hands on the game slightly earlier.

In light of this recent news, if you're looking to party with others who couldn't be more excited about FFT, stop by the thread in our upcoming games forum.

Emotional Robots' Warm Gun will pull your eyeballs out of your head at first glance. It's got a unique look: it's a sci-fi, class-based FPS set in a post-apocalyptic second coming of the wild, wild west. Think Red Dead Redemption meets Borderlands, except the Borderlands part is just icing on the grit-and-sand cake. The game first hit our radar earlier this year when it was announced for an iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch release alongside its PC launch. At the time of that report, we didn't have a release. And while we still don't have an exact one, we do have a window now: August, so says a studio rep.

We've also since seen the first footage of the iOS version, too. Just the other day, actually, the studio dropped a pretty stellar teaser trailer of the game running natively on the platforms. And if you can't already tell, yeah, this is an Unreal Engine 3 joint.

To hear Emotional Robots explain it, the decision to port the game had a lot to do growth and popularity as a studio and for the game. Emotional Robots took the opportunity that Epic has given developers with UDK as a challenge and as a way to "break into the industry and get gamers familiar with Warm Gun." At the end of the day, it believes its created not just one, but two unique experiences for PC and for mobile respectively.

It'll be interesting seeing how the iOS counterparts play, as a keyboard and mouse is arguably the ideal way to play a FPS.�In an e-mail chat, the studio addressed my concerns to some degree, stating that the controls on iOS devices are definitely a key point of interest and it's creating multiple schemes for players to get comfortable with.

"We are constantly updating and tweaking the controls and will be offering multiple control schemes," executive producer Zach Lehman said. " We realize that using touch screen to control a FPS is limited in some ways, so we are trying to cover as many bases as possible by doing extensive testing and offering customization where we can." He also mentioned that users will have a hand in the future of the controls � as I was reminded several times, it wants feedback from enthusiasts.

The fact that Warm Gun iOS will be a port of a promising, technically-cool property that was once scheduled to hit a standard platform doesn't come as the same kind of surprise as it used to. We see this�happening�a lot as mobile devices in general are increasingly becoming more legitimate platforms in 'traditional' video game makers' eyes. Lord knows they've demanded the market share for awhile.

"Warm Gun's level of graphics combined with the freedom given by an FPS that isn't 'on rails' is still rather unique to the market," Lehman told us when we asked what differentiated the title from others. "In the past, we've had a lot of comments regarding our art style (and it being compared to games like Borderlands or Red Dead Redemption). While we recognize the similarities in atmosphere, that's pretty much where it ends."

"Warm Gun offers a fast paced, gun-slinging experience with 12 unique weapons, 4 unique characters and 5 very different maps. We will also have achievements and honors that you can flaunt in front of your friends after you dominate them in a match."

No word on price yet, but we'll pay whatever for the promise of Warm Gun.

There's no way to avoid this: Gesundheit! ($0.99 / HD) is gross. It's a game about sneezing, and snot features heavily. But it's not a game defined by disgust. The gross-out factor stuck with me for the first level or two, and after that I only noticed how whimsical and well-formed it is.

You play a wee green pig whose allergies keep him apart from his fellows. But when monsters invade, it turns out his biggest weakness is also his biggest strength. The monsters just love to eat the one weapon at his disposal: his snot. Blech.

To save his city and his piggy friends, he'll need to use that advantage to lure the monsters into traps without getting eaten himself. If the pig is seen by the monsters they'll come straight for him, but they can always be distracted with a big, juicy sneeze. This means piggy needs to engage in guerrilla warfare, hiding behind buildings and bushes and leading monsters to their deaths. I love these stealth elements. When you know you'll have to leave the shadows, you'll have to strategize � make sure there's a snot-ball in just the right place to lure the monsters away, and then dart behind a building before they're done with it.

The puzzles are varied, and most can be approached in different ways. Throughout the game, you'll encounter several environmental features that you can use to get more out of your sneezes. Certain flowers give you super-powered snot balls, and grasses let you use your sneezes like a grappling hook. Sneezing across a teleporter has interesting results. And some of the monsters provide special challenges, requiring you to quietly rethink your strategy. All the puzzles are thoughtful affairs, though they occasionally require you to think on your feet as a monster chases you down.

Complicating the matter is the presence of three StarFruit in each level. The stars are crushed if monsters run over them, and you can destroy them with your snot ball. You can only collect them before all the monsters have been lured to their deaths, so they increase the challenge by quite a bit. You'll need to collect them all if you want to master the Game Center achievements, and you need to earn a certain number in each main area to progress to the next. This balances out the fact that you can skip levels freely, a decision that should make this game much friendlier for the younger crowd.

The controls are fantastic and simple. You move around by tapping where you want piggy to go. To sneeze, you pull back like a slingshot and aim. The game gives you an aim guide to work with, so you'll never be fighting the controls. I ran into a few pathing issues while walking long distances, but they were never more than tiny frustrations.

The hand-drawn art is beautiful in action, and the music is lovely, happy stuff. The details show a great deal of care � shadows move with the device's gyroscope, animations are adorable across the board, even the menu and maps have been created with obvious love. The interface isn't quite as good. You can't move between worlds without taking a slow walk across the map, and you can't quit out of a level without skipping it. There's no detriment to doing so, but it's still not ideal. I also had a couple achievements unlock at strange times, but that might have just been a one-off bug. There's already a patch in the works to add OpenFeint support and fix a few frustrations, so Gesundheit! should be an even smoother experience soon.

With 40 levels to play, each with StarFruit to collect and ranks to earn, you'll get hours of fun out of Gesundheit!. It's a real charmer, and our forum users agree. Grab the HD if you can � this game deserves the big screen � but don't miss it either way. It may not be completely revolutionary, but it's the sort of experience that shows off the wonderful things people can create for this platform as the tech, and the studios, mature.

Today, CAVE sent over some details for the first major update to their latest iOS bullet-hell shooter Deathsmiles [$11.99/Lite]. In case you missed it, we reviewed Deathsmiles earlier this month and found it to be quite the bee's knees. Really, my biggest negative about the game wasn't even something that was the fault of the game itself. By nature, controlling your character causes you to block part of the screen with your thumb or finger, and with enemies approaching from either side of the screen, this can create some problems.

There are 3 screen size options already which do a good job of alleviating this issue for some folks, but CAVE is trying to take it a step further with this update. You'll now be able to push the screen to the right or left, giving a much wider border edge for placing your digit to control the game. You can see an example of this in the screen below to the left.

Another new feature coming in this update, seen in the above right screen, will be the ability to unlock different costumes for the main character of the iPhone mode, Tiara. These costumes will become available by completing specific tasks in the game. Pretty much sounds like another form of achievements, but with a tangible reward for completing them. CAVE hints that some of the costumes will look familiar to fans of their other games, so it will be interesting to see just what that means.

Speaking of CAVE's other games, one of the coolest new features in the update is the addition of new weapons based off of their previous titles Guwange and Dodonpachi Resurrection [$11.99/Lite]. These new weapons will be available as paid downloadable content, which based on a screen from their press release look to be about $2.99 apiece. The pricing has yet to be confirmed, though, so we might just have to wait and see.

Other items in this impending update include a brand new BGM track that is only unlockable using a special trick. CAVE can be devious with their secrets, and for this one they only offer up the hint: "Flash flash? Tap tap!". There is also a new mini-game being added that has you earn jigsaw puzzle pieces by completing armor sets (not including DLC items), and then putting the pieces together to form an illustration by one of the game's artists. Finally, they've added new items that will increase the drop rate in the game, which right now is fairly infrequent, which should make collecting items quite a bit easier.

There really is a number of cool new things getting tossed into this upcoming Deathsmiles update. The plan is to release the update a week from tomorrow, on August 6th, but you can get an early preview if you check out CAVE's UStream channel on August 5th at 11am GMT. They also note that they might give away a few tricks during the stream, like how to unlock the hidden BGM, and tease that another surprise announcement could go down too. Whether you're waking up at the crack of dawn (in the US anyway) to check out the live stream or not, be on the lookout for the new Deathsmiles update hitting next weekend.

Sega is throwing down a random Summer Sale for a selection of their titles over the next 48 hours. The star of this sale is obviously Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Sega's take on the Mario Kart formula. We absolutely loved the game in our review, and it's a great deal for its sale price of $1.99.�The Super Monkey Ball games are also a nice pickup if you don't have them already, especially the iPad version which was at one time $15 if you can believe it. Then Sega's mobile Football Manager game gets its first price cut ever, dropping by 50%. Finally, if you're a fan of Sega's Genesis emulators, they have a couple of those for a buck as well.

• Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, $4.99 ? $1.99 (Universal)

• Super Monkey Ball, $2.99 ? 99�

• Super Monkey Ball 2, $2.99 ? 99�

• Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition for iPad, $4.99 ? 99�

• Football Manager Handheld 2011, $9.99 ? $4.99 (Universal)

• Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, $1.99 ? 99�

• Virtua Fighter 2, $1.99 ? 99�

Remember to stay up to date with the roller coaster ride that is App Store pricing by setting up an account with AppShopper.com where you can set up a wish list for games you have an eye on and receive email alerts when price drops or updates happen. You can also accomplish this on the go with the free and universal iOS app for AppShopper [Free] with push notifications. Finally, we have an entire forum area set up just to highlight the various sales or freebies going on, oftentimes spotted by our forum members before anywhere else on the internet.

A couple of weeks ago, we got an early peek at the latest update for Simogo's Bumpy Road [$2.99], and today that update is now live in the App Store. Bumpy Road launched in May and we were quite taken with it in our review. Its unique gameplay mechanic of manipulating the elevation of the ground to control your car as it putted through the game set it apart from anything else on the App Store, and its charming music and visuals made it an endearing experience.

Bumpy Road received a meaty update last month, adding two new variations to their timed Sunday Trip mode as well as new level segments, gizmos, and other features. Today's update gives some love to the other type of gameplay mode in the game, Evergreen Ride. This is the main endless mode, and it has been renamed Evergreen Ride Spring to make way for the new Evergreen Ride Autumn. The new Autumn mode features a new visual setting with 220 new level segments as well as 3 new types of moving platforms. You can see all of this in the trailer for The Autumn Years update:

Other additions in this update include new music for the Evergreen Ride Autumn mode and a new Game Center leaderboard and several new achievements. Bumpy Road was really something special when it launched, and these past 2 content updates are basically just icing on the cake, continuing to keep the game fresh. I'm not sure what's coming up next for Bumpy Road, but we'll be sure to keep an eye out for any new update plans from Simogo. In the meantime check out the thread in our forums for Bumpy Road and be sure to update your game to check out the new Autumn Years content.

When Silver Tree Media's Cordy [Free] was released for Android a couple months ago, it got some good buzz based on its visuals alone. Now it's finally on iOS, coming in two flavors via in-app purchase: a universal HD version for $4.99 or a standard SD version for $1.99. Cordy is a 2.5D platformer with a lot of charm, and even if the gameplay doesn't offer up too many new ideas, the artistic design alone is well worth taking a look at.

While a quick glance at Cordy is going to bring to mind two console games, Little Big Planet and iomillo, the gameplay is far more rooted in the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog. You control Cordy with left, right and jump buttons as you attempt to gather a set number of batteries to complete a stage. The physics of Cordy's jump are a bit off, feeling both floaty and uncontrollable at the same, so it's a good thing the game doesn't try to incorporate any precision sections and instead lets you just hop around clumsily.

You'll also eventually get an additional button that serves as an all-purpose context sensitive control. Here you'll be moving blocks, swinging across caverns and controlling other tricks. The free version of the game comes with only four levels, but you'll unlock a total of 27 with the in-app purchase. There are also plenty of other egregiously priced IAP's, including color options and various hats.

The levels are diversified based more on the gameplay gimmick of each section than a visual style. Between the four different worlds, each comes packed with a different trick up its sleeve. For the most part, it's a series of retro styled activities � move a box here to get there, jump on a spring to get there, put an object in a thing to unlock a thing. That's not a bad thing, but if you're looking for innovation and environmental diversity, Cordy's not interested in either.

What it does do well is combine the speed-sensitive gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog and light puzzle elements into one. Since Cordy's running gains momentum, you'll find yourself cruising up and down little hills to time a jump at the right moment to get the most distance. The same goes for the springboard sections, which feel like they're pulled straight out of the blue hedgehog's playbook. As far as puzzling is concerned, the game keeps it lightweight and exploration based. You have to find all of the batteries to finish the level and to do so you'll need to dig into the environment to root them all out. In this instance, it would be nice to have some type of map or objective system in place. It's rare you'll need to backtrack because you miss one, but it does happen and can cause occasionally force you to restart a level.

For the collectable freaks, there is a three-star system in place based on several different goals for each level. There's a star earned each for completing a level in time, one for collecting a set of gears, and one just for finishing the level. You can go back to get each star any time you want, which is basically required as it's next to impossible to get all three in a single run.

Here's a trailer from the Android version of Cordy which looks just about identical to the iOS game:

It's the visuals of Cordy that are going to turn the most heads though. Since the world isn't populated with many enemies, the game spends most of its time on the look. Each level can work in a variety of ways, either sticking to a simple, two-dimensional plane, or by flipping you around in a somewhat 3D fashion. It'll even toss you across different planes by the end of it. It sticks to the same�palette�throughout, and although it looks great, it might be nice to have something other than green grass to run on. That said, there are two different versions of the game and the main difference between the HD and the SD is the draw distance. Play on an iPad in HD and you can see far off into the distance, with fully animated clouds and balloons and the like. Play in SD and you'll get a drab, static background.

Cordy doesn't bring a whole lot of innovation to the table, but, even with some slightly off physics, it's a game that makes a lasting visual impression first and plays well-enough second. The 27 levels will take a bit of time to get through and if you're interested in going back and getting all the stars you'll have plenty to do here. If you appreciate the exploration elements of a platformer and aren't concerned too much with combat, Cordy will be a great experience.

Let's turn the clocks back to about a month ago where OnLive CEO Steve Perlman revealed vague details of a new wireless technology that he believed was going to change everything. The claims being made were fantastic, in that they've not only broken a key law of wireless technology that dictates the maximum amount of data that can be transferred wirelessly, but they've exceeded it, many times over. Also, Perlman claimed that this was all possible with equipment that is less complex than current wireless gear, with both higher range and significantly lower latency.

Obviously the implications this could have on iOS gaming could be massive, as even the latency reduction alone could potentially completely change the face of mobile multiplayer gaming as developers are no longer forced to utilize net code to deal with the comparatively high latency of existing wireless networks. Honestly, it all sounded a little too good to be true, but remember: We all said the same thing about OnLive.

A white paper was released today which reveals some of the details of how this all works. It starts off very easy to follow, and includes some great explanations of why current wireless technology has the limitations it has. Specifically, detailing why you can't watch YouTube at a sports game and why your wireless network is so terrible in your New York City apartment building.

Illustration showing WiFi networks overlapping, causing a performance drain for all connected devices.

Following the cursory background into the how's and why's of current technology, the white paper dives into what makes DIDO, or "distributed input distributed output" different. It's more of an overview, as apparently the complete answer for how it all works involves "very long, involving immensely complex mathematics, very carefully designed software and hardware, and new data communications and modulation techniques."

Like most technological problems these days, the current "problem" of wireless technology is solved by implementing the cloud. The magic of the DIDO network all takes place in the DIDO datacenter where previously mentioned complex mathematics are all computed to tread the whole DIDO network as one entity, utilizing a (potentially) vast array of DIDO access points to precisely send very specific waveforms to certain access points to result in all users being to take advantage of the full wireless spectrum.

Illustration of DIDO's ability to allow every device utilize 100% of the available data rate.

If you're at all interested, I highly encourage checking out the white paper where everything is explained so succinctly that there's not much use in me paraphrasing it here. One thing that is worth mentioning is that they've stressed that this technology has been developed specifically to be a mass-market product that was built from the ground up to be both practical and inexpensive to roll out, as well as capable of scaling to any size.

As the white paper puts it, "We believe DIDO wireless will completely transform the world." I'd love to see that happen.

We've got some screens of Crescent Moon's Siegecraft, a hot-looking fixed-weapon castle defense game set to hit the iPad and iPhone later this September.

Siegecraft is all about putting you in control of various kinds of turrets against several different types of hordes: catapults, ballistas, rams, siege towers, and trebuchets will be your weapons against boats, vikings, vikings in boats, knights, and other 'races' who wish to take the object or place you're protecting in Siegecraft's instance-based levels. One of the most remarkable things about the title is its visual appeal, which is why we want to show it to you.

The camera perspective might be pretty tight, but know that this is a 3D rendered game and it leans on a robust physics engine, which should make for some additional fun if it proves to be solid in final release form.

Aside from the look and tech, though, the game does have another edge: race-based play. In its initial form, you'll be able to play as Knights, Vikings and Samurai across their own unique campaigns. Down the line in updates, Crescent Moon is planning to expand on this with Orcs, legions of the Undead, Egyptians, Romans, and men from Sparta.

Looks cool enough and, surely, the race thing will give it the edge it needs to feel like a new thing amongst the throngs of other fixed-turret games out there. We'll keep following it as it worms its way through Crescent's innards.

With a name like Emissary of War, Cedar Hills Games' RPG has to laced with all the sober-serious conceits and tropes of a traditional Western RPG, right? Wrong. As I continue playing a near, if not already, feature-complete build, I can't stop myself from thinking about how badly I whiffed in our announcement post. It's a Western RPG that's informed by other party-based, isometric RPGs, sure, but it's also one that trades in ye' old sober serious tone and goals for something different. Also, it's thrown out a lot of traditional mechanics so it can do something entirely novel on this platform: tell you a digestible, snappy story.

From a purely mechanical perspective, this is an isometric hack-and-slash. You point and touch to move the barbarian Ghent around his environment and you click on an enemy to kill it. It's pretty simple stuff. Each area operates like an arena with a finite amount of fantasy villains to maim. It's a cast that includes Mer-people, rock-spiders, ghouls and ghosts, and mercenaries.

After you take out everything, you're allowed to proceed into a new area. If you look closely enough, you'll also notice that hidden areas unlocked, too. These will provide you with some extra goodies to use in the game and lead to some of the more challenging fights you'll have.

Ghent is accompanied by an old friend, Hassock the alchemist. He functions as a foil of sorts to the raw brawn of Ghent, but he's also a handy design element: he'll heal you as you fight, as well as add ranged support to battles. You don't directly control him, but you can queue up his actions in the corner of the screen if you don't agree with what the AI has in store.

This frees up you to focus on the action, which is typical hack-and-slash fare: you click on a dude and you swing until it explodes and rains crimson and coins. You don't earn experience points or pick up loot. Instead, you'll earn gold coins which can be exchanged for weapons in a hunk of UI that also includes ability upgrades which you can unlock by collecting Runes. I realize this might turn a lot of you off, but a streamlined upgrade path is a cool and functional way to cut out the standard RPG fat and really get to what really matters to Cedar Hill Games: Ghent and Hassock and their part of the unfolding story.

The duo, before and after battle, have scripted, but also real-time conversations. Most of the time, chats break down to the two simply reinforcing the notion that they're in this for the long haul together, but they'll also talk about the next objective or the one they've just accomplished. Bigger, more produced 'movies' compliment this stuff.

I'll be vague since I don't want to kill the story for you. Ghent and Hassock are, as the namesake of the game says, emissaries setting up alliances. Their unusual brand of bartering has made for a lot of solid partnerships across the realm, but suddenly, all of it is being undone. The quest revolves around figuring out who is doing this, and of course, why.

One thing that really caught me off guard is the tone. It's light. Hassock is a bumbling, but brilliant dude who is prone to tripping over his shoes. Ghent is heroic, but dim. You'll see these two ham it up a lot, even when the situational circumstances turn quite dire.

The writing as a whole isn't going to put Valve or BioWare or whatever out of work. But it's some of the sharpest stuff we've seen so far in this genre on this specific platform. Also, Cedar Hill Games isn't trying to stretch the story over 50+ hours. This is a four-to-five hour romp, which means its story flows in a much more natural, less fluff-ridden way.

As for the lack of the traditional loot-grind driver, I was initially surprised that Emissary of War has retained my interest over the course of several hours, but the upgrades come quick enough to feel like you're actually being substantially rewarded for fighting, so it operates in much the same fashion. Also, the story works well enough to keep you plodding along.

I certainly haven't seen the entire game, so I'll definitely be checking it out a little later this August when the game is slated to hit. You can hear Cedar Hill Games' CEO Tobbyn Manthorhpe on our podcast this coming Monday if you want his perspective on the title.

Needless to say, we'll be keeping our eyes on this one.