We've been looking forward to Emotional Robots debut iOS release Warm Gun since we first caught wind of it way back in January of this year. Then this past July, the anticipation was kicked up a big ol' notch with the release of a proper trailer showcasing Warm Gun running on iOS hardware, and it was an impressive sight.

While the release of that trailer optimistically labeled August as the intended release window, that month promptly came and went with no sign of the game. Emotional Robots did however keep their promise of submitting the game before summer's end, getting it sent off to Apple on September 22nd. Since then we've been waiting to hear of the game's approval and a proper release date, and now we finally have that.

A representative from Emotional Robots has stated in our forums that Warm Gun has been approved by Apple and is scheduled for release next Tuesday, October 11th to coincide with the release of iOS 5. But that's not all, as there will actually be two versions of the game launching next week. There will of course be Warm Gun proper, which will focus on the online multiplayer aspect of the game and will initially ship with 5 maps and 4 player classes, with more of each planned for future updates. Here's another look at the Warm Gun iOS trailer to refresh your memory:

In addition to the full Warm Gun game that will be selling for $4.99, there is also a spinoff of sorts called Warm Gun: Carnival of Bullets. This standalone game will launch for free alongside the full Warm Gun game and will feature some offline single player things to do like mini-games, shooting galleries, and other surprises.

Carnival of Bullets will essentially function as a lite version of the game, allowing you to see how the game looks and how the controls handle before you plunk down the dough on the real thing. But, given its unique environment of an abandoned carnival and a healthy list of different things to do, Carnival of Bullets should be a pretty compelling offering in its own right, especially for free. You can check out the trailer for Warm Gun: Carnival of Bullets right here:

So there you have it, now you have the low-down on all things Warm Gun related. It feels like it's been an incredibly long journey from when we first heard of Warm Gun until it's impending release next week. Back in January, it was still somewhat new for developers to be using the Unreal Engine in their games, and just that fact alone made a game noteworthy. Since that time, there have been plenty of Unreal games released (not all of them good, mind you) and the Unity engine has really stepped in and shown that it's more than capable of showcasing jaw-dropping graphics on par or better than what we've seen with Unreal.

Just releasing a game with shiny graphics no longer cuts the mustard, as everyone is quite aware that iOS devices are capable of some truly impressive visuals. No, nowadays your game needs substance beyond just eye candy, and we'll be eager to see how Warm Gun measures up to this task when it hits next Tuesday.