We've got some seriously good news from GDC 2011 for our retro game-loving readers out there. A pile of Bitmap Brothers Amiga classics are on the way to iOS from two different developers.

This morning we spoke with KavCom games who demonstrated an iOS version of Z, a real-time strategy game that was originally released in 1996. The game consists of two armies of robots battling for control of a series of planets. We captured a bit gameplay video of a pre-release build on both the iPhone and iPad. The video won't mean much to those unfamiliar of the series, but should show existing fans a taste of the upcoming iOS version.

Z was highly rated and very popular game during its time. We'll have more information and screenshots about the game shortly.

And, if that's not enough…this afternoon we met with John Hare of Tower Games who developed the iOS port of the recently released Bitmap Brothers cybersports classic Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe. Among other titles (which we will detail shortly), Tower Games is planning to bring a many other Bitmap Brothers classics over to iOS, including Xenon 2 Megablast, Gods, The Chaos Engine, and Magic Pockets.

Hare was also associated with Sensible Software, creators of the Sensible Soccer series. He indicates that Tower will be bringing forth a soccer title that utilizes the Speedball 2 engine.

There is no specific timeline for these coming, at present.

This is outstanding news for both retro fans as well as iOS gamers that never had a chance to experience these landmark titles. We'll bring more news on all of this as we hear it.

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Many of you should be familiar with SuperMono Studios from their wildly popular MiniSquadron [99�/Lite] games and most recently from their RPG experience bar-laden to-do app EpicWin [$2.99]. We liked EpicWin when it was released, but that was way back in August of 2010, and you may be wondering what the two man SuperMono development team comprised of Tak Fung and Dave Ferner have been up to since then.

Well, basically they have a couple of new games in the works, but for the past 7+ months they have been carefully crafting themselves a high end engine to use for these games. There is all sorts of technical wizardry going on in this built-from-the-ground-up engine, but in terms that even a laymen like myself can understand, and in SuperMono's very own words, it "makes everything look completely rad". Have a look at the trailer for the tech demo that shows off the nifty effects of the engine:

For those who understand technical jargon, this engine uses something called deferred rendering which allows for up to twenty dynamic colored lights to be in motion at once, complete with bloom and reflection effects, and run really smoothly the entire time. In many ways, this is SuperMono's way of saying "we don't need no stinking Unreal Engine" and prove that they can do advanced graphical effects on their own.

The video of this tech demo doesn't really do it justice, and in person it's really impressive. As such, SuperMono is considering releasing this demo for free on the App Store for people to check out and toy around with. You can swipe around to change the view of the car or turn on and off the various effects, and it's actually pretty cool.

Eventually this engine will be put to use in a new racing game, which despite the street racing style of the demo will be really unlike most typical racers. Also, a MiniSquadron 2 will be coming sometime down the road, using this advanced engine for 3D graphics while retaining the same 2D gameplay. We'll have more on these SuperMono developments as work continues on them.

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Yesterday morning before the keynote I met with our friends at Firemint who were excited to discuss their upcoming game, Agent Squeak which was announced earlier this week. We mentioned the premise before, but you play as a mouse who collects cheese and must make it to his mouse hole on each level. Gameplay hinges on a really clever and fun stealth/avoidance mechanic where you control the mouse using your finger to draw his path.

Obstacles not only include a wide variety of objects that you need to avoid, but also an array of cats who want to eat you. The time I was able to spend with the game was somewhat limited, but it was really clever how Firemint combined both a stealth and avoidance mechanic with their familiar line drawing control method that was perfected in Flight Control. They weren't willing to let me shoot any video or provide any screenshots just yet, but I got a look at an early cut of an upcoming trailer that showed an amazing amount of variety later in the game.

On the subject of Real Racing 2 HD, the inevitable upcoming iPad version of Real Racing 2, Firemint assured me it was still coming and the extra development time has been spent on truly optimizing the game for the iPad hardware. Also, yesterday's announcement of the iPad 2 threw an interesting wrinkle into RR2 HD's development that Firemint explained they were already anticipating:

While we were not aware of the specs for iPad 2 before the keynote, we made some educated guesses about where we thought the hardware might head, so for many months now we have been developing a much more graphically intensive version of Real Racing 2 HD to take advantage of the anticipated performance improvements. Real Racing 2 HD has been significantly enhanced beyond what could work on existing devices, and our efforts have definitely given us a head start on iPad 2.

We're excited to see what's coming from Firemint, and I can't wait to post the inevitable Agent Squeak trailer. Will it be the next Angry Birds? It's hard to say, but it's hard to argue the fact that Firemint has had an amazing lineup of games on the App Store.

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Army of Darkness Defense � For fans of this cult classic B-movie starring Bruce Campbell, you may remember the epic battle where main character Ash and company must fend off legions of undead enemies from penetrating their castle fortress. If you're familiar with this scene, it's basically the perfect setting for a castle defense style game, and that's exactly what Backflip Studios is creating.

The video game version of Army of Darkness doesn't stray too far from your typical castle defense experience, but what really sets it apart from similar games is the excellent use of the Army of Darkness license. Ash quips dozens of his famous one-liners as you're fighting, and the weaponry includes the boomstick (aka shotgun) and his attachable chainsaw hand. The art style is great, and the developers working on the game are all huge fans of the movie ensuring that it will have an authentic feel.

Army of Darkness Defense is currently slated for an April release, and we'll have more from the game in the coming weeks.

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Boss Battles � The appropriately named Boss Battles is an interesting take on the vertical scrolling shooter where the focus is on battling a series of bosses. You'll blast through a short sequence of cannon fodder, asteroids in the level I was shown, collecting gems before reaching the boss encounter. The final game will have roughly 8 very distinct kinds of bosses, but each one will come with alternate versions which become harder as you keep playing and can be replayed multiple times.

The ship itself in Boss Battles also comes equipped with an interesting set of offensive weaponry. There are 4 base weapons like missiles and lasers, each of which can be upgraded independently using collected gems. Then there are 4 different kinds of secondary weapon choices, like a spread shot or homing abilities. The game controls really well and the action is frantic as you dodge a mess of bullets and asteroids before taking on each boss.

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Paper Toss World Tour HD Free � One of the most popular games in the entire App Store has been Paper Toss, and Backflip has released a free ad-supported version of their internationally flavored iPad version of this game called Paper Toss World Tour HD Free [Free]. You'll now be able to toss crumpled paper balls into wastebaskets at exotic locations around the world for free with the option of disabling ads via in-app purchase.

One very interesting idea Backflip has for their Paper Toss franchise which should be coming this Summer is incorporating a more social aspect into the gameplay. They are working on players being able to have their own customized environments, each with their own sets of challenges that the player decides. So for example, I may create a room where the basket is really far away, and add a brutal amount of wind to deal with. My friends can then take a crack at my environment and shoot for a high score, which I can then try to top on my own. It's a clever idea that has a lot of potential, and Backflip has a ton of ideas to make this mode both social and fun.

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Finally, there was a very brief mention that Backflip is currently working on Ragdoll Blaster 3. There wasn't a playable demo or even any art assets for this currently, but they have told me a bit about the direction they want to take it. There will be different types of characters which will have various effects on the gameplay, like a flaming character which will be able to burn items in a level in order for you to complete it first. Also, there won't be as much of a steampunk-inspired style this time, and they're looking to broaden the overall look of the game as well as the scope of the levels. As a big fan of the Ragdoll Blaster series, I'm definitely looking forward to more information on this as well as the rest of Backflip's lineup for this year. <!-- PHP 5.x -->

We've just gotten some exciting, breaking news sent to us from a friend and iPhone developer attending the GDC Classic Game Postmortem � Out of this World / Another World, being delivered by long-time developer Éric Chahi.

Chahi's classic filled-vector cinematic platformer Out of this World (Another World in the UK) is coming to the iPad.

Chahi indicated that the game is currently under development and did not provide a timeline to the audience. We'll bring more details on this as we get them and will take a close look as soon as we get our hands on this epic title.

[ Thanks Keith ]

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We met with The Binary Mill developers this week at GDC and discovered they had a very cool looking racing game that's in the works. The Binary Mill were the developers behind the bullet-hell shooter Assault Squadron.

Mini Moto Racing puts you in the driver's seat of a top view of one of 4 different vehicles, each with different handling characteristics. The different vehicles include Sports, Hatch, Big-Rig, and Pick Up. The sports car hugs the road, while the hatch allows you to drift. Individual characteristics are upgradable including grip, top-speed, acceleration, and nitro, with specific models favoring one characteristic or another.

The game comes with both single-player campaign mode as well as individual races and four player local multi-player. Campaign mode consists of 5 different cups with 4-6 races that you need to complete with bronze or better in order to advance. Every race gives you an opportunity to earn money and other upgrades on each track, so you can feel like you're making some progress even if you don't win every time.

The most striking thing about the game when you first see it is the beautiful graphics and almost toy-like car feel to the game. The game is rendered in 3D with a dynamic camera. This also allows them to do cool things like nighttime courses and changes in camera angles and views as you accelerate down the track.

Be sure to watch the video. The game comes with 4 different customizable controls that should appease most players. The game should be coming out in the next month or two, so we'll keep tabs on it and take a closer look when it's done.

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