I'm clicking rewind on our post-GDC 2011 coverage in order to… cover some stuff we weren't quite able to at GDC 2011! Here's the deal: During our partying at GDC, we kept running into Paul from Tag Games. On top of being able to hold his brew like a champ, the dude can design games with the best. He took the time to chat with us about Car Jack Streets 2, and as I hinted just a second ago, it's sounding mighty good.

To rewind a little further, Car Jack 2 appears to be a faithful follow-up to the original Car Jack Streets [$3.99]. It's like Grand Theft Auto, if the name didn't ring a bell. To quote from our original review of Car Jack Streets:

Randal's [the protagonist] money-making options are many and fall on both sides of the law. While, as one might expect, money can be earned by jacking cars for chop shops, helping with bank robberies, delivering "merchandise," and knocking off or protecting thugs, there are also legit ways to bring in the cash, such as driving taxis and buses and delivering pizza. A pizza pays a bit less than a hit, however…

As you'll notice from the forum post, CJS 2 has an unusual art style, also, if you've been following the App Store, you already know that it's hitting AFTER Rockstar put out a full and really good Grand Theft Auto game for the iOS. So, what's the ace up Paul's sleeve? Word on the street is that Car Jack Streets 2 is free-to-play with oodles of social features.

We'll let you know when we know more stuff about the game. But, hey, just wanted to put it in your mind. Looks like a winner, and we're really curious to see what can be done when you combine social gaming with a genre that typically always been single player.

While I personally am more than a little tired of modern trends in first person shooters, there seems to be a pool of millions of people who can't get enough of 'em. If you're looking for another modern military themed first person shooter, you're going to be in for a treat on March 17th when Gameloft's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard hits the App Store.

There have been a ton of games based on the Tom Clancy universe released in the past 13 years since the launch of the initial Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. Rainbow Six games are typically squad based, and take place in tight urban environments. Shadow Vanguard seems to fit right in line with that per the above trailer, and boasts a few cool features. You'll be able to play the 11 included missions online in a co-op mode with 3 players, and there's even 10 player multiplayer.

Judging by the trailer, this isn't one of the upcoming Unreal Engine games we've heard about, but it's hard to not get excited about online co-op in a first person shooter running on a phone. That feels like the future.

We still have a ton more GDC content in queue after being inundated with more meetings than we even had time to write about last week, but I just figured I'd throw this out there now: I'll be heading to PAX East this weekend in Boston, MA which is being held at the Boston Convention Center this year. PAX is put on by the guys from Penny Arcade, and historically has been wildly hit or miss when it comes to iOS gaming news. A surprising amount of people at GDC mentioned that they were also making the trek out to Boston, so this PAX East might be fairly busy.

If you'd like to meet up with me while I'm out there to show off your iOS projects, book an appointment with me via Tungle. I've heard good things about using this service from friends of mine at GDC, so we'll see how it all pans out. If you're having issues with that, feel free to send me an IM via AOL Instant Messenger. My screen name is ioburn [Status: ]. If you don't have an AIM account, signing up is easy and only takes a second. Alternatively, AIM is even connected to Facebook and Google Talk, if you would rather use that. Of course you can always email at tips@toucharcade.com just make sure to include "PAX East 2011" in the subject somewhere for the sake of inbox sanity.

Look forward to seeing everyone there! Also, feel free to get in touch with me if you're local (or reasonably local) to Boston regardless of whether or not you're attending PAX East. I'm more than willing to meet outside of the convention to see cool, new, and/or exciting iOS games.

When talking about tired genres, people tend to first turn to tower defense and match 3, then to falling brick games (Tetris), followed by anything with the words "stick" and "doodle". RoboSockets [99�], being somewhere in the gray area between match 3 and falling brick (but staying far away from the stick/doodle realm) would generally not be my cup of tea, but after a few levels I found myself playing. And playing… still playing.

The goal of RoboSockets, setting the story aside for a bit, is to connect robots to one another in groups of five or more. Each robot that falls has 0-4 hands, with each hand pointing in a different cardinal direction. By placing the robots next to each other, assuming they have hands that are linking, they latch on to each other to create robot chains. Once you've linked 5+ robots together, they poof away in a cloud of dust, simultaneously adding to your robit-link fulfillment that you need to pass the level.

It all seems easy in a Tetris sense, but the pieces that fall in RoboSockets fall as-is. No rotation, no flipping; all you can do with the robots is move them right, left, and quickly down. Like any good block drop game made after 1985, RoboSockets also arms you with an arsenal of side abilities (such as the wonderful ability to clear off the random bot with no arms) and does a good job of dropping random objects onto the playing field. The mix of randomized objects is pretty good too, tossing you such objects as a column busting mega drill and, my personal favorite, a little bot that pushes the blocks next to it to the side (and off the screen).

What really separates RoboSockets from the majority of the block drop/ match 3 (5?) pool is that it really does a good job of pushing out a nice presentation. There is a simple story of a planet of robots trying to repair their deactivated land, but the pervasive robot theme (complete with hydraulic crushers that smash away the pause/loading screens) really works. The graphics are also fairly nice, though not fantastically amazing, with fun looking robots and detailed backgrounds and animations in every level. I would've liked to have seen some high quality (or any) cutscenes to flush out the story further, but the simple level explanations drive the game along just fine.

While not for everyone, RoboSockets is definitely one of the more interesting falling block games that I've seen in a while. Its strong mix of innovative gameplay and robot presentation really work for the genre… a genre that is typically synonymous with being quite drab. If you are a fan of the genre, or are just looking for a quick game to pass the time during your morning commute, I definitely recommend snagging RoboSockets.