Last month we had a hands-on preview of the upcoming iOS version of Dead Space from EA Mobile. Since then, anticipation for the title has been growing in our forums, and EA stoked this fire even more by releasing a set of iPad screenshots a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, at the EA event where I had a chance to play Dead Space, video of the game was not allowed. This is really one of the most graphically impressive titles that I've seen on iOS, and static screenshots just do not do it justice (though they look pretty fantastic anyway).

Today, EA has finally unveiled the first official video of Dead Space for iOS. In it you can really get a good idea of just how creepy the atmosphere is in the game, as well as how horrific the enemies are that you'll be facing. Note that just like the console version, the game screen in the iOS version is practically devoid of any HUD elements, allowing you to see more of the game and feel further immersed in the action.

The story for Dead Space on iOS will bridge the gap between the original Dead Space and the upcoming Dead Space 2 on consoles. EA has officially stated that Dead Space for iOS would hit the App Store the same date as Dead Space 2 on consoles, January 25th. This latest video has gotten me even more excited for the release, and after experiencing just how well the game translates to the touch screen I really can't wait to get my hands on it again. We'll bring you any additional information should EA decide to drop any, otherwise be on the lookout for Dead Space to land in the App Store next week.

A few days ago, developer Lakoo released a new iOS MMORPG into the App Store called Empire Online [Free]. Empire Online claims to be the biggest iPhone MMORPG with over 5 million users across Asia and Australia, and it is now available to US players. It's free to download and play, with an IAP currency system. There are four races and five classes to create your character from, with a deep skill system to learn as well as thousands of different items and equipment to collect. What is cool about the equipment in Empire Online is that it affects the look of your avatar, giving you a staggering amount of personalization to set yourself apart from the rest of the players online.

Visually, Empire Online employs an overhead perspective and pixel art style reminiscent of some classic 16-bit RPGs. Combat is turn-based and can have up to 20 combatants in a single battle. You can battle in real-time against other players in single PvP matches or team battles with up to 5 players on each team. Another interesting aspect is creating your own Empire where you can recruit members and battle to take control of territories and build your own cities as you expand your Empire's reach.

What I really like about Empire Online is the touch-friendly interface and ability to customize how you want to play. There are a number of different chat systems in the game that allow you to type out messages to all players, only those in your Empire, private one-on-one chats, and more. These text messages appear at the top portion of the screen, and all other online players' avatars are shown roaming around whatever world you happen to be in. These two elements can add a lot of clutter and confusion to the action on screen, especially when you're first starting out.

Luckily you are able to filter out which types of text messages appear, or turn them off altogether, and you can turn off the other player avatars as well. Shutting both of these off allowed me to focus on the early missions in the game without any distractions, and let me get a handle on how the game played. In this way, you can basically just play Empire Online as a solo game, leveling up your character and completing missions on your own. Likely there will be certain missions that require you to have a helping hand, but for the most part there seems to be a lot of gameplay available for those who aren't keen on interacting with the outside world.

I've enjoyed my fair share of RPGs over the years, but I've never gotten into the whole MMO thing. Partly because I've seen how they can overtake my friends' lives, but also partly because they can be intimidating to a newbie. Empire Online is the first one I've tried that I actually felt I could get the hang of, and I've been having a lot of fun with it so far. While I can't really speak to whether it will be satisfying to hardcore MMO players or not, it's definitely friendly to first-time players or those who are constantly on the go. Player discussion in our forums has been positive towards the gameplay itself, but critical towards the implementation of the IAP. At any rate, it's free to download and try out, so there's no reason not to check out Empire Online if you're in the market for a new MMORPG.

I love sprawling multi-million dollar platformers as much as the next guy, but I'll take a small indie-developed project over the Super Mario Galaxies of the world any day. It boils down to execution, really. The good indie devs distill their games and bring to the fore one single, sometimes miraculous mechanic. Then, our underfunded heroes iterate and eventually offer us good games that lack the big budget fluff or unrealized stuff that sometimes worms its way into huge projects.

Yeah, yeah, you heard this all before. Welcome to mobile, Brad, you say. We see this all the time, you say. And to that I reply: hey, have you played They Need To Be Fed [.99 / HD] yet? Because even though it has problems, it could be the poster child for what we're talking about here. It's a no frills platformer with near perfect execution on a simple and entertaining mechanic. Oh, and it's made by a single guy � that's, like, eight billion less people than the core�Ratchet & Clank teams!

Provided you don't already know about TNTBF, let's talk about what it has to offer. It's a 2D, physics-based platformer with hardly any plot to speak of and an art style that would melt any HAL Laboratories employee's heart. But despite it being filled with so much color and life, it's got a grim undertone. In TNTBF, you play as a silhouetted avatar with an endearingly misshapen head across a variety of levels in which the point is to die. Specifically, the end goal is always a squiggly monster's gullet.

No worries. The sacred gameplay loop � progress, fail, and die � is still in effect, though in a more tortured way than normal. In TNTBF, it's more like progress, fail, die… and then die again.

Fun stuff, sure, but the core mechanic is easily the most compelling thing in TNTBF. To move around and meet your doom as the game demands, you'll need to get good at moving around platforms. Each level is littered with various geometric objects, all of which the daring silhouette clings to via 360- degree gravity. So, when he jumps to, say, another platform, the game negotiates that platform's gravitational pull versus the platform he just left. If the silhouette is closer to the latter, it'll cling to that one. Progress!

Momentum factors in as well. The faster your avatar moves, the more he'll be able to bounce out of a platform's pull. This leads to some interesting platforming, made all the more interested � and dangerous � when the game starts throwing in nasty stuff like rotating platforms laced with spikes, exploding platforms, cannons that shoot bullets at last known positions, and more.

It's a breeze to shake bullets and jump around with the on-screen controls, but the jumping itself is a hair too floaty for me. Overall, the game is flat-out missing a layer of accuracy that's seems warranted for some of the more nontraditional platforming sections. Also, some of the levels expect way too much in terms of object avoidance, which kinda complicates this basic, but annoying problem.

The good news is that this isn't a punitive joint. Levels have smart checkpoints and accidental deaths are infinite. You'll just get slapped on the wrist with a restart for your buffoonery or complications with the level design.

They Need To Be Fed is indeed, a smart, simple, and endearing platformer. The core mechanic might sound a little abstract, but don't let that get in your way. In fact, just play it for free on the PC first. You see, this game used to be just a web-based project before publisher YoYo Games decided to bring it to iOS. Both versions of the game are a ton of fun, and it really comes down to whether you value portability or the ability to play it with your keyboard.

If you've somehow gone this long without being familiar with Donut Games, here's the gist: They consistently release some of the best 99� pick up and play games the App Store has to offer. All of their games are simple to play and feature a three star grading system where only a tiny bit of skill is required to earn one star, but getting all three is generally easier said than done. This gives their games a surprising amount of replay value, especially if you're the kind of person who insists on mastering every game you download.

The latest game from Donut Games is Cave Bowling [99�], and somewhat similar to the Geico commercial features cavemen bowling, or what I suppose Donut Games imagines prehistoric bowling to be like. Apparently, bowling in the caveman era involves chucking your bowling ball to hit a series of bowling pins set up on different terrain while nearby cavemen (and cavewomen) watch in amazement.

At its core, Cave Bowling is very similar to the numerous catapult games available on the App Store as your control is limited to the angle and power of your shot. If you knock down all the pins, you unlock the next level. The game is scored by collecting bonus bones scattered about the level by hitting them with a pin or the bowling ball itself, and there's additional bonus points to be made by chaining pins on to one another. Points are deducted if you hit any spectators.

As you progress further in the game, Cave Bowling turns in to an entirely different animal. New gameplay elements are introduced such as turtles which you can bounce your bowling ball off of, snakes and other critters that periodically get in the way, and movable objects which can be positioned along a track. Like other Donut Games titles, difficulty scales well as each of these new elements are introduced one at a time.

Cave Bowling is a fun physics game that comes packed with everything we've come to expect of Donut Games. My only real nitpick is I wish it came loaded with Game Center, as Donut Games' web-based scoring system leaves much to be desired. Either way, I'm having a great time with Cave Bowling, as are people in our forum. We've basically been at the point where it's safe to just blindly download anything Donut Games releases, and I'm glad to say Cave Bowling continues that tradition.

Last week a trailer for a mysterious fantasy-based game by Gameloft hit the internet, causing rampant speculation across the iPhoneiverse (If that's not a word, it should be) regarding which game it was that Gameloft was setting its sights on next. We speculated this could be Gameloft's take on Zelda, and from the looks of it, that's exactly what we're getting.

Check out the new trailer:

Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden seems to have everything a good Zelda-esque game should have: A horse to ride around, items to use to get passed various obstacles, sliding block puzzles, and massive bosses. I'm excited to give it a try as Darksiders basically proved that I will play any game with similar gameplay mechanics to completion regardless of how good or bad it is. (Or in the case of Darksiders, how much headache-indusing screen tearing it has.)

Sacred Odyssey is landing on the App Store next month, likely launching at Gameloft's typical price point of somewhere between $4.99 and $6.99. In the meantime, we've got a thread for the game in our upcoming games forum if you're looking for even more speculation about the game.

Have I ever told you that I love the Seahawks? I do because if it weren't for Marshawn Lynch's thunder thighs and ridiculous stiff arm, the New Orleans Saints would have had another chance at the Superbowl.

I bring this up because first off the Saints beat out my Colts last year and that still bothers me like an eternal pimple on an otherwise spotless forehead and secondly there's a new version of Madden 11 [$4.99 / HD / Lite] on the App Store, a free version that lets you play out the first quarter of a Colts vs. Saints exhibition match-up. That's not�the Superbowl, but it's just close enough for me.

Now, if you're going to download this I humbly request that you put up as many points on the Saints as humanly possible. Honestly, it's only proper that you give the virtual Colts their chance at the Lombardi trophy. The Saints stole that thing, man. Stole it!

In all seriousness, you need to download this free app if you don't already own Madden 11 iOS proper. We liked Madden 11 quite a bit in our review, and thought the new automatic play picking system was a great addition. If you like the free version, cool, the main game is for you. If not, well, you probably want to stay away.

A few days ago developer Owlchemy Labs (comprised of the guys who made Super Ramen BROTHers [Free] in 24 hours) released a new video for Smuggle Truck, the first game under their new studio moniker.�Smuggle Truck is a 2D side-scrolling physics-based driving game where the object is to reach the finish line of each level while hanging on to as much of your cargo as possible. In this case the "cargo" is actually people who are prone to flying out of the truck bed as you go speeding over the terrain.

Development of�Smuggle Truck began back in August of last year as a quick weekend project for an entry into a game jam-style contest. The developers have spent the last two months fleshing out the game, and recently it underwent a complete graphical transformation after the two-man team of Owlchemy happened upon a collaboration opportunity with former LucasArts artist Bill Tiller, whose cartoonish style you may recognize from The Curse of Monkey Island and other LucasArts titles. Smuggle Truck looked alright before, but it looks really fantastic now with the redone art. Have a look at this early teaser trailer for the game:

One interesting aspect about Smuggle Truck is the inclusion of a level editor, which is essentially the same editor the developers have used to create the levels in the game. They have recorded a brief video showing a work in progress version of this level editor in action, in anticipation of a level creation contest they plan on holding in mid-February. Smuggle Truck won't be releasing until March, but Owlchemy will be dropping the level editor before then and anybody will be able to create levels on their computers and submit them as part of the contest. The grand prize will be a character with your likeness added into the final version of the game as one of the people in the back of the truck.

You can keep tabs on the upcoming contest by checking out the Owlchemy website or Facebook page, and the developers have been dropping new information in our forums as well. With a silly premise and great looking artwork, we'll be keeping our eye on Smuggle Truck as it nears its March release on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and the web.

Highborn is an excellent turn-based strategy game from Jet Set Games with colorful graphics, humorous characters, and engaging strategic gameplay. The game boasts a nice asynchronous online multiplayer mode using OpenFeint, but also contains a satisfying 9 level single-player campaign mode. The developers have hinted at a forthcoming Chapter 2 extension to this campaign for a while, and today Highborn [99�/Lite] and Highborn HD [$2.99/Lite] were updated to include this long-awaited addition.

Chapter 2 can be unlocked through a 99� in-app purchase (or $1.99 on iPad) and contains 8 brand new missions with new enemies, allies, and structure types. This doubles the size of the original game, if you don't take into account the tutorial level. Also included in this update is another long awaited feature, shake to undo, as well as an assortment of other nifty improvements. Units now display their available attack radius when moving, monoliths display what spells they hold and a cool-down timer in between uses, and there's now a screen following a mission that displays various statistics about your battles.

The developers also note that the 3D character models from in-game battle sequences have also been improved, though this doesn't make much of a difference if you're an owner of a Retina Display device. Highborn is not optimized for these high density screens, so most of the graphics and text have a jagged or blurry look. This is literally the only complaint I could lob at the game, and quite honestly it is totally forgivable in the face of such enjoyable gameplay. Retina Display support in the future would be icing on the cake, but the developers have stated this will most likely have to wait for the sequel.

You can check out our original review of Highborn or the thread in our forums for more information on the game, and if you already own either version make sure to grab this new update and give Chapter 2 a spin.