This week's episode of The TouchArcade Show is an awesome one because it sees the return of The Bearded One, Jared Nelson, after his Grand European Adventure. At the top, we talk about the sights, sounds, and tastes of Mordor, Germany, Paris and other exotic places. Somehow, we find the time to talk about games later on, but when we do, we cover a lot of bases. Topics include the next iPhone, the latest video game releases, Kindle Fire, and your e-mails.

If you'd like to give this a listen, go ahead by clicking that link just below. If you'd like to save a piece of us on your hard drive (and who wouldn't) while also getting the next 'cast the second it's uploaded you, you should really grab us on iTunes and Zune.

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Here are your show notes. We'll be back this Monday with another awesome bonus episode, and of course, this coming Friday with another regularly scheduled show. Send us an e-mail while you wait, by the way: podcast@toucharcade.com.

GAMES!

Eli Note: This is the European pizza bag technology I mentioned.

A few weeks ago we brought you word that WayForward, the studio behind a brilliant A Boy And His Blob re-make as well as a new (and good) BloodRayne title, is setting its sights on the iPhone and iPad with a port of�Shantae: Risky's Revenge. Now, we have the its first trailer and we thought it'd be hip to share it with you because we're cool.

As you'll see in the trailer, Risky's Revenge is an action-y platformer. Generally, the more kinetic the game the more its mobile port suffers, but WayForward has done a miraculous job on the virtual controls � the game moves like it should and plays how it was designed to be played in the first place. Sounds strong, I know, but our preview build communicates that the studio knows what it's doing here.

We still don't have a solid release date, but the window continues to be "soon." We'll make sure fill you in whenever we know what's up.

What does a good-looking, yet buggy and monotonous game like Shadowgun [$7.99] really need? It needs extremely ambitious multiplayer, apparently. Madfinger Games has announced that it'll launch bits and pieces of the game's slated competitive online component in waves. First up: cross-platform team and regular deathmatch. Next up: more exotic, though still un-announced modes.

Love or hate the game, you have to appreciate the scope of what Madfinger is working within as it continues to try to raise the bar with Shadowgun.

What's kinda striking us as funny is that there's no ETA on this update. Generally speaking, that's a bad sign. We rarely see iOS game competitive components release after launch and if they do, they launch a long, long time after initial game release. Hold on to your butts, in other words.

[Via Pocket Gamer]

Radiangames, an indie outfit headed and directed by Volition veteran Luke Schneider, is set to release its first iPhone and iPad game, Super Crossfire, with help from Chillingo. We've got the first trailer just below this text stuff.

The game caught our all-seeing eye earlier this week and we've gone hands-on since. Its psychedelic visuals and multitudes of explode-y bits and bobs are truly hip to experience, but the actual game part isn't too shabby either. Basically, it's a ramped up take on Space Invaders that lets you alternate planes of attack: you can move your ship from the bottom of the screen to the top as you please, allowing for some interesting play.

This is actually the third game in a series that started out as an Xbox Live Indie Games joint. Radian has made several games for XBLIG, including the woefully underrated JoyJoy. In our upcoming bonus podcast, we get on the honker with Schneider and talk about XBLIG, and of course, jump into some detail about his time with AAA and his thoughts on Super Crossfire.

No word on price or release date just yet, but that'll come in time. As a side-note here, if you're really into the business or philosophical side of why an indie studio would want to get into a partnership with a publisher, check out Radiangames' post on Super Crossfire and what went down with the title since its PC debut trailer in March. It's a hip read.

Hardcore privacy advocates might want to think twice about playing EA games in the future, per a recent press release fired off the starboard bow of the U.S.S. Electronic Arts corporate battleship. What EA legends does is summarized in this hilariously buzzword-laden sentence: "The insights suite aggregates metrics, brand impact, social buzz, ad effectiveness, and ROI across all of EA's ad products and platforms." In other words, EA has came to the realization that they've got over 300 million players in their games worldwide, and will be providing marketers as much about you as they can to effectively run ad campaigns and dabble in other forms of sponsored content.

The motivation behind al this is actually fairly reasonable, even if it does feel a little creepy to know that EA is essentially analyzing you for maximum profits. With the rise in the popularity of gaming, combined with the forecast of EA increasing its audience reach by 30% this year, they think they're going to have a real shot at competing directly with advertising dollars that would have traditionally been funneled into TV ads.

It makes sense too, as it's not very hard to find someone in the advertising industry who is more than happy to tell you how the way lots of people are shifting how they're entertained (as opposed to, say, sitting in front of the TV watching network programming for hours on end) is rapidly changing. As far as what information of yours EA will have access to and will be able to offer advertisers, we'll have to wait to find out, it seems until EA Legend is premiered at the Advertising Week convention next week in New York City.

Here's a brief public service announcement of sorts to those of you out there who are still rocking the click wheel iPod and regularly use it to play games� At some point last night they vanished from iTunes entirely. If you haven't already, now is a fantastic time to back up your existing library of click wheel games, as it's really not clear if you'll ever be able to download them again. A free Dropbox account would work perfectly for this, or really any other cloud storage service that you can just upload your games to and forget about.

Reading further into this move by Apple, it seems reasonable to think that this might be the end of the iconic click wheel line of iPods. MacRumors notes that there haven't even been any new releases in the click wheel iPod game library since 2009. The click wheel iPod wasn't updated in last year's iPod event either, casting even further doubt onto the fate of the device. With Apple pushing so hard into cloud-based services and the shocking array of media streaming apps available for iOS devices, it seems reasonable to think that the company feels there's no longer a place for the non-iOS large-capacity traditional iPod.

Seriously though, back up those games.

You might remember back last month when CAVE announced that their excellent manic shooter Espgaluda II [$11.99/Lite] would be gracing the larger screen of the iPad in the near future. We even caught a quick glimpse of the title in action during their UStream broadcast, though it didn't offer much insight due to some dodgy camerawork. Well today CAVE has sent along a brand new trailer for what will be known as Espgaluda II HD, along with some other interesting new details.

First off, and probably not coming as a shock to those familiar with CAVE's work, Espgaluda II HD will only be compatible with the iPad 2, and won't support the original iPad. The extra horsepower and especially the extra RAM afforded by the iPad 2 is a necessity in pushing the crazy amount of bullet and explosion sprites that are a hallmark of CAVE games.

The next bit of info we've learned is that the title's special "iPhone Mode" created specifically for the iOS release of Espgaluda II will be getting a brand new BGM soundtrack and will be rebranded "Smartphone Mode", likely due to the game's intended release on additional platforms like Android. This mode change will be part of the new HD version of the game and will come as a free update to the regular versions as well, along with the new music.

Finally, and the part that I found most interesting, is that CAVE is planning on spinning off both the retooled Smartphone Mode as well as the original Arcade Mode into their own separate games. You'll get the full versions of each mode from the original Espgaluda II game, just in individual app form. These spinoffs will be available in iPad 2 HD flavors as well as smaller versions for 3rd generation iPhone and iPod touch devices and higher.

I think this is a neat idea since CAVE games are on the higher end of the App Store pricing spectrum, though quite worth the price of admission as evidenced by our review of Espgaluda II. These spinoff games featuring just a single mode each should come in at a cheaper price than the full experience, giving a broader spectrum of players the chance to get in on the action.

But therein lies the problem, we don't actually know any pricing information for these spinoff games or for Espgaluda II HD, and a release date doesn't get any more specific than a Fall 2011 window. CAVE promises to drop this information on us soon over on their Cave World website, so we'll keep a set of eyeballs planted in that direction and bring you those additional details as soon as they're divulged.

Commander Pixman [99�] from One Minute Games is a retro platformer. In fact, it's so retro that the graphics are intentionally pixelated, the landscape is formed by a simple yellow line and the background is an old-school scrolling star-field. Graphically, this is platforming cut down to it's most basic form. And I'm totally enjoying it.

Commander Andrew "Pixman" Blazkowicz has crashed and must escape from an alien base by reaching the end of each level. If we do this fast enough, we'll be awarded three stars. And if we kill all the enemies on a level, we'll receive a red badge. Both of these goals can be completed in one attempt, or during separate runs. This allows a rapid enemy-avoiding run-through and a separate unhurried enemy-hunt, squeezing more playability from each level.

There's a healthy 80 levels in total (65 plus 15 extra bonus levels). Each level is small and the goal is to complete them quickly, with some levels completed within a few seconds. This isn't a large platform game which takes ages to explore like Emberwind [99�/HD], instead it's a rapid sprint, more like Mos Speedrun [$1.99/Lite], but here you're armed with a weapon. This is a game where you'll die every few seconds and then try again. You can quite easily die and restart 10 times in a minute, but that's all part of this game. Just reaching the end of the level, is enough to unlock the next level.

To unlock the bonus levels you can complete objectives to prove you're not a rookie. For example, completing level 20 unlocks the first bonus level and reveals the next objective: to earn an enemy-killing badge on level 22 within 13 seconds. Although having seen how hard the bonus levels can be, unlocking them is the easy part!

The game description mentions there's "over 20 hazards, monsters and utilities". This includes mines with delayed detonation, gravity lifts, trampolines, spikes, crushers, automatic turrets and teleportation portals. There's dissolving platforms and keys for locked areas. With simple graphics there's a risk of the levels appearing repetitive, but pleasingly, they feel well designed and varied, with enough difficulty to be quite challenging without being impossible.

To progress in this game you need quick reflexes and precision movements, as the enemies are often patrolling within a confined area leaving you just a tiny window of opportunity � a mere split second � to land in exactly the right place. So, the inevitable question is: "What are the controls like?"

Well, there's virtual buttons for moving left or right, jumping and shooting. The left, right and shooting parts work fine, but the floaty jet-pack jumping takes some getting used to. If you watch really carefully, Pixman's jumps seem to be slow at the start, then speed up -� and that teeny, tiny, nanosecond of delay at the start means the enemy often runs into you, whereas you might have expected to jump free. The jumping is such an important part of this fast-paced game that it needs to be perfect …and it almost is, it just takes some time to become accustomed.

After completing a level, you can watch your previous attempts all clambering simultaneously across the level in a mass-replay. It displays up to 40 simultaneous previous-attempts on a recent iOS device, or 10 on an older device for performance reasons. This ensures the game can run on older devices. After watching the trailer, some people may mistakenly assume you control multiple characters in the game-play, like Grim Joggers [$1.99/Free], but that's not the case. You control one commander at a time and trust me, that's challenging enough.

The mass replay feature is interesting to watch, because one-by-one each little green Commander drops off at the point they died, until eventually just one makes it to the finish zone. This feature would be improved if the last attempt was shown in another color, so you can assess your latest performance against other attempts. And since the movements have all been recorded, it would be nice in the future to have the option of a ghost of your best time to compete against.

With its emphasis on speed and times, this game is crying out for Game Center leaderboards and achievements, but unfortunately these aren't provided yet. However, the developer plans to integrate Game Center in one of the first updates and is also working on a content update that provides 20 harder(!) levels. The game does track some statistics already, such as your best time for each level and totals for time spent playing, stars collected, deaths and number of enemies killed.

Commander Pixman is a good game for hardcore platform gamers. It's fast-moving and challenging, with simplistic retro graphics and some heavier than usual background music. It's not for the death-adverse, as you'll die frequently and it requires skill, impeccable timing and perseverance as it's not easy to gain three stars for each level. If you can handle that, then it's also extremely satisfying to finally beat a level. Who knew eight seconds could leave you feeling so proud?

A cute panda, a match three puzzler, and a summery theme with cute�accouterments�such as picnic baskets and watermelons � where can Panda Picnic (Free) go wrong? I mean, if you literally think about the idea of pandas out on a picnic together, you immediately start smiling. Or at least I do. I'm assuming the picnic basket is full of bamboo, though � not my idea of a scrumptious lunch. Maybe I'll hang with the humans after all.

Enough about food: Let's talk about how Panda Picnic works.�If you have ever played the notoriously popular Words With Friends, at least one pat of the format here will look familiar, and that's the part where you play with online friends. Panda Picnic has one flaw right out of the gate, in my opinion, and that is that is does not have a single player mode to allow you to practice on your own. Your options are to start a game with a Facebook friend, a random opponent, or a local friend.

There is nothing wrong with any of these options as long as the other player actually takes their turn, which can take ages if said person has gotten distracted from their phone and is dicking around updating their profile or whatever else it is we spend years on the internet doing. With a game as popular as Words With Friends, the waiting is not as bad, but with Panda Picnic, your best bet is to have at least three or four games going at a time. At least that way, you have more chances of actually making a move.

Speaking of making moves, here's how it all works. Each level opens with a slot machine in the bottom of your screen, and the puzzle with the panda curating it for you up top. You'll take a spin, get a series of different fruits, and decide if those are the ones you want for your next turn. If you have some coins accumulated, you may be able to spin again (these can be won or purchased in microtransactions). If not, you may be stuck with what you got. You'll notch each of these in a little slingshot and hurl them up to the top of the board, Bust-A-Move style. There's a little tally on the right side of the screen that shows off �how many of each fruit you still need to completely clear the board too, which I mostly just forgot was there in the first place.

The controls are very accurate, and I do like that there is a chat feature in case you want to actually speak to the person you're playing, although I never used it myself. The sounds are fun, and my only small complaint was the panda does this thing where he flicks his tongue in and out of his mouth like a snake and looks a little drug-addled. But hey, his problems have nothing to do with the gameplay, so you really don't have to worry too much about him.

Panda Picnic is pretty cute, and I admit I did enjoy the gameplay. Ultimately, however, I would wander away from it because it took so long for people to make moves. Playing with a local friend was more satisfying for me, as the gameplay could actually flow and I didn't have to do so much waiting. If you're on the lookout for a free puzzler you can play online with at anytime though, you may find the arcade twist to the gameplay hits that sweet spot you were hoping for.

We were shot some unexpected, but welcome news from the folks at�Double Fine this afternoon. The studio � which is probably most known for Brutal Legend but let's not talk about that because ugh � has launched its first iOS application: the Psychonauts Vault Viewer [Free]. Milestone!

As its name implies, it's a companion app loaded with every slide from the game's vault. The added bonus that the app adds is commentary from Double Fine's Tim Schafer and Scott Campbell. In addition to learning a thing or two about the game, you'll probably get a few laughs. Also, it's free and universal.

Here's a small taste of Tim and Scott in just one of the slides:

TIM: "Now, he's way up in the air. Is there an artistic term for that? Can you tell?"

SCOTT: "Uh, air-spective."

TIM: "And what is the dad doing? Is he unapproving? Is he saying, 'why are you throwing my baby in the air?' "

SCOTT: "He's probably like, 'I don't understand the fun in this.' "

TIM:"And you snuck in a little cleavage, too, which is your way… sneaky."

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In other Psychonauts news, Double Fine has also launched a Steam update for the title, adding in cloud saves and achievements and a small tweak said to make the its brutal Meat Circus level "slightly less punishing." A Mac version of Psychonauts [$9.99] is also now live on the Mac App Store and Steam. Play this game, people! It's great!

Back in the depths of 2008, we had our hearts broken by I Love Katamari. The controls were problematic, there were performance issues, it was Katamari, but it was a mess. Now Namco is taking another shot at winning our love with Katamari Amore [Free].

Full disclosure: I'm a Katamari fan from way back. I got in on the ground floor with Katamari Damacy on PS2 and I've played every console release since. Over the years the formula has become a little stale, the craziness has started to feel a little forced, but I'm still a person who loves to roll things up. Sushi, cats, Ultraman, I'm not picky. So it's with a heavy heart that I tell you that Katamari Amore is a loveless thing.

Yes, yes, it's Katamari! On iOS! But that's not enough. The framerate gets choppy at times, especially on my 3GS. The controls are improved over the last outing, now offering one virtual pad, two virtual pads or tilt. The two-stick method is essentially the same as the console controls, if a bit stiff. The method for switching controls is awkward and confusing, but whatever. Technically this game is pretty much fine. It's just completely and utterly joyless.

The level design is the worst offender. One of the joys of the Katamari series is exploration. Strange scenarios can be found if you pay attention. You might find bears corralling humans at a campfire, or a hidden shrine to sashimi. It doesn't often make sense, but it rewards curiosity. In Katamari Amore, you'll find whatever random items are needed to make you bigger, strewn appropriately to allow you to progress. The most interesting thing I found in my travels was a space dog with an astronaut, and I guess the game thought it was interesting too because I got an achievement for rolling it up.

And that's emblematic of the whole problem with Katamari Amore. Nothing is there just for fun. To clear most of the Story Mode levels you'll need to roll up nearly every item available. This turns the game from a frantic size race to a tedious exercise in hunting down the one item you need to get just big enough to get the next batch of items. It's a bare-minimum philosophy that permeates everything � the King of All Cosmos's dialogue, the levels, the items and the entertainment value.

We mentioned that this game would have a special Pac-Man themed level, and it does. But don't get too excited. It's basically one level of the classic game, but with terrible controls and an obnoxious camera angle. There are better ways to play Pac-Man.

If none of this concerns you and you just want to get your Katamari on, here's what you need to know. The game is free to download, and contains one level of Time Attack mode. With an in-app purchase of $3.99, you can unlock all six currently available levels. Each has a Story Mode (in which the King asks you to roll up a specific item that always happens to be the largest item in the level), time attack, an exact size challenge and eternal mode. There are more packs on their way, but there's a reasonable amount of content here to start with.

It's not that Katamari Amore is completely terrible. There are a few technical speedbumps, but it's competent on the whole. Some of our forum users have decried the graphics, but simple art is a series staple. And it's a functional game, with plenty to do. It's just that it could be so much more.

Most of the things Namco has left out aren't the things that would push the limits of the platform � they're the humor and the spirit of the series. iOS games can be made with love and joy, they can be funny and charming. Those are things the Katamari series has had in spades, and it's a shame they're missing here.

Metro Games' Pixel Ranger [$.99] is a deliciously offbeat vertical shooter that executes on its old-school SCUMM-like art direction and its jokey It Came From Outer Space vibe well, but it's an otherwise forgettable game on a mechanical level. A crippling jump mechanic that feels out of place, a horrific control scheme, and poor checkpointing hamstring the action and combine for a storm of constant frustration. Pixel Ranger looks good, is hilarious when it intends to be, and it has a lot of potential, but it falls flat in the face of its issues.

Like most of its breed, Pixel Ranger combines tons of overhead enemy archetypes and power-ups into an increasingly feverish orgy of upwards-based shooting and pixelated vomit. Its angle is that shooting should be methodical: ammunition is a finite resource and in order to get more, you'll need to take out enemies and gather up what they spill onto the ground.

Bullets pass through enemies and ammunition counts stack from level to level, which puts the emphasis of the action on multi-kills. Pixel Ranger does a good job incentivizing the multi-kills specifically with rewards, but power-ups in particular provide the heaviest relief and the most tactical opportunities. They're pretty powerful in general � a great touch.

The balance being struck between the ammunition and kill count goes haywire when you're asked to start running around and handling ground-based opponents. Basic side-to-side movement is tilt-based while shooting and jumping are handled with touches to the screen. When the action gets hot, you'll need to jump, tilt, and shoot at the same time, meaning you need Twister two fingers on the screen and tilt your phone to and fro simultaneously. It's hard to do with any sort of panache and often impossible depending on where you are when ground enemies emerge.

Jumping in particular just feels like an afterthought. It doesn't jive with the core action, and in the worst cases, just gets in the way of it. When you have to stop and consider jumps over environmental or enemy obstacles, you take your eyes off of the prize.

The lack of checkpointing stacks on the finger frustration. If Pixel Ranger wants to punish you for not having the finger dexterity and muscle memory of a Rubik's Cube enthusiast, fine, but the price of not being god-like is a total restart of an entire chapter. The pixel count you have in a previous level carries over to the next, so it's easy to see why you can't just "reload" a level, but this fact doesn't negate the pain of having to start over.

The glaringly awesome part of Pixel Ranger, which at times override whatever bitterness I feel when I think about the game as a whole, is its art and sound direction. It reminds me of zoomed out Version 1 Maniac Mansion. The cowboy avatar has that blockiness and feature set of Mansion's characters and the color selection utilized in the intro scene had me re-calling some weird, totally unrelated experiences. The cutesy "aliens stole my lady and I'm also a cowboy" contrivance somehow works and brings a flavor that informs everything in the title thematically well, including even the (hilarious) power-ups.

Excluding the wonky jumping mechanic, I like all of the ideas in Pixel Ranger. Its look and style, its enemies, its attrition-based vertical shooting, and its power-ups are strong parts of a whole that, unfortunately, doesn't feel cohesive. This is the kind of game that sort of flat-lines itself over the haul and that's unfortunate. Granted, it's not terrible, but it's not a great game, either. We suggest that if you're into its style and methodology, to go ahead and give it a try, but just be weary that it has its share of faults.

If you're not familiar with Johnny Two Shoes, you really should be. They're responsible for Plunderland [$2.99], which we thought was absolutely fantastic in our review. It's a super clever physics-based pirate game that, while being a little old by App Store standards, has aged wonderfully. It's even universal, which only serves to sweeten the deal further. Anyway, they revealed their next game earlier today. Take a look at the trailer:

Details are vague at this point, but I've managed to juice some information out of the looser of the Johnny Two Shoes brothers. Prevail is a game about the small planet where your character lives. It's on this world where you've got a happy, beautiful, and technology-free existence. Well, some jerk aliens (I added the "jerk" part myself, they could be nice, who knows.) abduct you and you begin to slowly realize that there is so much more to the universe than your tiny existence of building and farming. It's at this point where the game shifts to a more exploration-centric experience where you're discovering new planets, species, and need to decide what to do with them.

All of these things and more will be revealed in future trailers, along with additional "secret" features of the game. I loved Plunderland, and according to Johnny Two Shoes, "We want to make Plunderland look like sh*t." If they manage to do that, we're going to have one hell of a game on our hands.