We've been keeping tabs on Firemint's newest upcoming title since it was announced back in February of this year. Things were much different back then: their new game was still known as Agent Squeak, Firemint wasn't owned by EA yet, and Steve Jobs was still the CEO of Apple (ok, that one just happened, but still). Fast forward to now, and after a nearly 2 year development time, the title that is now known as SPY mouse [99�] is now available in the US App Store.

We'll be putting SPY mouse thoroughly through the ringer and bringing you a review soon, but if you like scoring free games while picking up a cup of your favorite overpriced coffee then I want to let you in on a little promotion that's going down to celebrate the launch of the game.

Beloved coffee chain and free WiFi sanctuary Starbucks has been running a new promotion called the Pick of the Week, where the cafe highlights a new book, TV show, or application and gives them away for free. Starting next Tuesday August 30th, SPY mouse will mark the first game to participate in this program. Basically, you'll just need to stop into any Starbucks in the US and score a Pick of the Week card which will allow you to redeem SPY mouse for free through iTunes. Pretty simple, right?

There is a catch, though. These Pick of the Week cards are in limited supply, and once they're gone, they're gone. Previously, Starbucks offered up the premium version of the music recognition app Shazam Encore [$5.99] as part of this promotion, and word on the street was that they were pretty hard to come by. Seeing as games are the most popular type of app in the App Store, and SPY mouse is brand spanking new, it might be kind of difficult to get your caffeine-riddled hands on one of those cards.

Don't distress, though. If heading to your local Starbucks sounds like too much of a task, or you're worried about them running out of cards, there is a simple solution. You can spend one of your hard-earned dollars and just buy the game the old-fashioned way. It is available right now, after all, and the Starbucks promotion doesn't start until next Tuesday. No matter the path you take to obtain a copy of SPY mouse, keep your eyes peeled for our full review to hit soon and as always stop into our forums to hear discussion and impressions of the game.

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News is just coming out of Cupertino that Steve Jobs has resigned as Apple's CEO per a letter to Apple's board of directors. Steve requests to stay with the company as a chairman and appoints Tim Cook as his successor. The request still needs to be approved by the board, which is all but guaranteed.

Steve's letter is short and to the point:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

After-hours trading of Apple stock has resulted in a 5% drop, and it's not unreasonable to think that the stock may continue to slide tomorrow as investors react to the news. It seems easy to assume that Steve's departure as CEO is a direct result of his health as he has battled cancer since 2009, and we wish him the best.

On the bright side, Tim Cook is more than capable to serve as CEO, although he lacks the obvious star-power that Steve Jobs had. Also, as a chairman, Jobs can still have an influence over the products and direction of the company while being freed of the day to day responsibilities of CEO. Something else to keep in mind is that Cook has more or less been at the helm of Apple since 2009, and on and off since 2004 as Steve has fought cancer. Once all the reactionary dust settles, this should be a very smooth transition.

Update: According to the Wall Street Journal, as expected, Steve Jobs will remain active in the company:

People familiar with the situation have said that Mr. Jobs continues to be active at Apple and is closely involved in the company's product strategy. Apple watchers don't expect that to change even after Mr. Cook takes over.

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I'm not sure what made developers band together and decide, "Hey, the last Thursday in August is when we're all going to release our games," but it has happened. There's a ton coming out tonight, including some big name games, some interesting looking indie titles and a lot in between. I know first hand how hard it can be to wait until 11:00 PM Eastern to roll around for those of us in North America for these games to finally be released… So how about this, since the rest of the world gets their games first, let's all do something the rest of the world can't do… Like watching horrible 80's movies such as The Wizard via Netflix streaming, or consume excessive amounts of high fructose corn syrup, or do both at the same time.

So queue up your terrible 80's flick of choice and check out this list:

4Towers Onslaught: Episodic TD, $1.99 � Forum Thread � I'm interested to see how the whole episodic side of things plays out with this title. Its initial release seems to only come with four towers (hence the name), and familiar looking graphics to fans of Geometry Wars and geoDefense.

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Contre Jour, 99� / Universal HD � Forum Thread � This game shares some similar ideas with Bumpy Road in that you play it by interacting with the environment instead of directly controlling your character. We saw it at E3 and were totally impressed. Contre Jour is just dripping with visual style, and seems to be an excellent example of how crazy iOS game pricing is as I'd totally pick this up for 800 Microsoft Points without thinking twice on XBLA. C'est la vie.

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Demolition Master HD, $1.99 / HD � Forum Thread � This game looks an awful lot like IUGO's Implode!, but in 3D. I had a ton of fun with Implode! and I'm excited to see if Demolition Master utilizes 3D in an interesting way to add an additional dynamic to these types of puzzles.

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Dust Those Bunnies!, 99� / HD � Forum Thread � The sweeping-centric gameplay mechanic of Dust Those Bunnies does seem a little on the simple side, but I'm really digging the film grain old school black and white art style of the game. Hopefully there's more to it than just eye candy.

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Dragon Fantasy, $2.99 � Forum Thread � We peeped this game back at E3, and really liked what we saw. Basically, it's a modern day take on retro RPG's complete with huge pixels, ridiculous plot line, and tons of monsters to battle. Check out the above video which explains what it's all about.

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Edge Extended, 99� � Forum Thread � The original Edge is still one of my personal favorites, and I'm stoked beyond believe that a pseudo-sequel is (almost) here. It's universal, comes with 44 new levels, 23 new music tracks, and new gameplay mechanics. What's not to love about that?

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HECTOR: Ep2 � Senseless Acts of Justice, $4.99 / HD � Forum Thread � I'm incredibly happy that Telltale scooped up the Hector series to make sure additional episodes see the light of day. If you like raunchy point and click adventure games, it's hard to find better (modern) ones than this… Although just be prepared for some ridiculously obscure solutions to puzzles.

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Infinity Field, 99� / HD � Forum Thread � We really liked this game when it launched on the iPad way back when, and as of tonight it's finally available for the smaller screen of the iPhone and iPod touch. If you're crazy about fast-paced Geometry Wars-style dual stick shooters, this is a solid purchase.

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Minigame Paradise, 99� � Forum Thread � Com2uS seems to be carving a nice niche for themselves in the App Store releasing these insane mega-Korean compilations of mini games between both Minigame Paradise and the previously-released Puzzle Family. The difference with this one is that all the mini games are accessible without needing to buy any IAP currency, which seemed to be the main complaint with Puzzle Family.

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Monster Mouth DDS, Free � Forum Thread � This game seems to have the same kind of gameplay found in the various "pretend you're a medical professional with a basic tool set that seems to do everything" games, but entirely focused around dentistry. If only getting a cavity filled was as simple as this game makes it seem.

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NOM 5, Free � Forum Thread � I've got no idea what you do in Gamevil's latest game, but judging by the above trailer, I can't wait to try it. It's got a serious Captain N (anyone remember that?) vibe to it combined with the art style from that ancient Nintendo DS game Rub Rabbits, and hey, it's free.

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Peggle HD, $2.99 � Forum Thread � What's better than Peggle? Re-buying Peggle for every platform you own. I think this will be my fourth purchase of Peggle since its initial Steam release and I couldn't be happier to keep giving PopCap my money because Peggle is fantastic.

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(Video from Xbox version!)

Quarrel Deluxe, $4.99 / Lite � Forum Thread � This word-battler was tons of fun on the Xbox, and I'm thinking it'll be just as good on iOS devices. Mulitple game modes provide tons of replay value, and there's even both Game Center and Twitter integration to brag about your best words.

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Radballs, $2.99 � Forum Thread � We're not normally too excited about matching games these days, since it seems like everything has been done in one way or another… But, Radballs…. The Radballs trailer is seriously the Citizen Kane of iOS game trailers.

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Ramses II, $2.99 / HD � Forum Thread � This is the perfect kind of board game to bring to iOS devices. The physical version of Ramses II has tons of easy to lose pieces of plastic, which are now all consolidated into a single app. For more details on the game, check out the exhaustive listing over on Board Game Geek.

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Restaurant City Gourmet Edition, Free � Forum Thread � EA's latest foray into the world of free to play puts you in charge of operating your own restaurant. Hey, at least it isn't another farming game, right?

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Speedway GP 2011, $2.99 / Lite � Forum Thread � I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole Speedway phenomenon. Apparently they race without brakes on their bikes? That seems like an absolutely horrible idea, but, hey, now you can play the official iOS game.

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Sprinkle: Water splashing fire fighting fun!, 99� � Forum Thread � Alright, this game looks awesome. Using a hose-spraying mechanic that somehow really reminds me of some of the water-centric puzzle elements in Super Mario Sunshine you need to put out fires and save the day. The water looks really good, and I can't wait to give this one a try.

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SPY Mouse, 99� � Forum Thread � After what seems like an eternity, SPY Mouse is finally upon us. Firemint takes the line drawing gameplay they mastered in Flight Control and applies it to a character-driven stealth-centric adventure where you need to steal cheese from cats. Trust me, it's awesome.

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Treemaker, 99� � Forum Thread � Swinging around and planting trees seems to be the name of the game here, and really, I've always got room on my phone for another physics game� Especially when it's got an art style as cool looking at this one.

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IGN recently got their hands on Gameloft's upcoming modern military shooter Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation and aside from a new gameplay trailer, also have tons of details on the game itself. First off, you really need to watch this:

It seems Modern Combat 3 will fall in line with the other entries in the series and feature online multiplayer, this time with 12 players and six different game modes spread over six maps. They've also told IGN there will be "frequent updates," so it will be interesting to see if Modern Combat 3 sees better post-launch support than previous iterations.

Single player sounds like it's basically what you'd expect: 13 levels of fast-paced military-centric combat with voiceovers and battle locations ranging from Los Angeles to Russia. Controls sound like they'll be similar to other Gameloft first person shooters. What I'm curious of is whether this is a Unity or an Unreal Engine game, not that it really matters either way, but we haven't seen much yet from Gameloft's announcement of their future utilization of Unreal Engine 3.

[via IGN]

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A big, fat content-rich update is coming to Crescent Moon's Deadlock this Thursday and it's accompanying a price raise on the (once) free-to-play game. Starting tomorrow, it'll cost a buck-a-roo, but it'll also boast the following: two new maps, a total of seven new guns, a latency meter for custom matches, host region information, and a host of bug fixes. This will mark the first time the game has cost anything since its debut earlier this summer.

We've covered most of this update in a previous post. The two new maps are the imaginatively titled bangers "Jungle" and "Desert Compound." And the new guns are the 44 Magnum, the Sawed-Off Shotgun, the Stery Aug A3, the HK-417, the MK-14, and a personal favorite of mine, the MG3.

We're told that new players of the game will receive "four unlock points" to put towards what they want after purchasing the title, which is an OK offering based on the model switch mid-stride. Obviously, if Deadlock barely even piqued your interest, now would be the best time to download since it's still $0.

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If you have an older iPhone or iPod Touch, or hey, just a little cramped on space because you have an entire folder crammed with fart apps, you probably don't want to update Chaos Rings [$12.99 / HD] or its kinda-sequel, Chaos Rings Omega [$11.99 / HD]. For whatever reason, Square Enix has added Japanese voices to both games, and in the process have (at least) doubled the file sizes of both.

The newly updated version of Chaos Rings has gone from 273MB to 698MB, while the follow-up skyrocketed to 778MB from 379MB on the iPhone. The iPad versions see similar file increases. Refreshingly, this information is freely available in the respective applications' descriptions. It's nice when a company is up front about moves like this, but also kind of sad since we didn't expect to hear stuff like this from them in the first place.

If you're worried about space or whatever, there are a couple of things you can do. First, you could just not download the updates since they don't add anything of significant value to the game part of either. Or, if you want to give these a spin but want to revert later, you could save the old .IPA files of the originals for safe-keeping. Your choice, but we thought you'd like to know before clicking "update."

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If you heard some thumping this morning, relax. It was just me kneeing my desk over this bit of news: Amanita Design's iOS port of its beautiful point-and-click adventure game, Machinarium, will only run on the iPad 2. The studio explained the move on its blog, stating that it "needs quite a lot of memory and fast CPU, so it works well only on [the] iPad 2." That sounds reasonable enough, I suppose.

Amanita then apologized to original iPad owners after stating that there are "no compromises" in the iPad 2 version of the game. Capable Android tablets and the RIM Playbook are still slated to receive their own versions of the title.

In some lighter news, Machinarium has been submitted to Apple certification and "should be" available for download this coming September 8. Have fun, iPad 2 users. Tell us how it goes. Wait, don't � I'll cry. I'm sensitive about this.

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If you don't mind soiling your hands by participating in a marketing scheme, you could win a chance to play Spy Mouse before the rest of the world does. Firemint and EA have kicked off a 'contest' for the long-awaited title, offering copies of Spy Mouse, Dead Space [$6.99 / HD], Real Racing 2 [$4.99 / HD], and The Sims 3 [$.99] as door prizes for discovering the answers to clues posted to this page once a day until August 26.

If you answer the clue correctly, you'll be entered into a pool to win any of those games. If you so choose to tweet the fact that you've solved the clue on the appropriate page, you'll apparently "double" your chance of winning. Also, for every 100 Facebook "Likes" the game's page drums up, another winner will be picked for that day. The competition page is located here, while the clue page is�here.

TUAW suggests that you use a side-Twitter account to do all of this, and that strikes us as sound advice. Unless, of course, your followers really want to know about Spy Mouse. Chances are, though, they're more concerned with what you ate this morning and how your commute went. Just saying.

[Via TUAW]

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Back in January we reported that retro revival studio DotEmu signed a deal with noted Japanese development / publishing house Jaleco LTD to bring 17 arcade conversions to iOS. Since then we've seen the release of Avenging Spirit [link], Earth Defense Force [link], 64th Street: A Detective Story [link] and P-47: The Phantom Fighter [link] from the Jaleco collection.

Retro gamers will be pleased to hear we've just gotten word from DotEmu that the fifth Jaleco title is just two weeks away.

Originally released to the arcade in 1990, Rod Land is a colorful platformer that challenges you to help a fairy rescue her mother who has been trapped in a tower by an evil force that's building a mobile fortress with which to wreak havoc upon the land. Gameplay involves clearing each screen of baddies using your magic wand (or rod), collecting bonus items along the way for points. Your wand captures an enemy in a magic field that merely stuns them if released, or can be used to destroy them by bashing them to and fro against the ground, resulting in a power-up that can be used against other enemies. A level is complete when all enemies have been wiped out, but you'll want to collect every bonus item along the way, in order to get the max three-star rating for any level.

See a video of the arcade version of Rod Land in action:

I had no prior experience with Rod Land, and so upon hearing DotEmu's announcement, I grabbed the Amiga port to see what it was all about. An hour or so later, I sat the joystick down, pretty anxious for the iOS version to arrive � this game really is a whole lot of fun.

DotEmu's release will be a universal app (for iPhone and iPad) and will be localized in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. DotEmu CEO Xavier Liard informed me that Rod Land is the studio's most polished and well-implemented Jaleco release yet. The iOS version runs the arcade original under modified emulation and features positionable virtual D-pad controls.

I've just received a pre-launch build of the iOS game and will post a closer look when the title goes live in the App Store on September 6th.

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Following their successful co-release of Zen Wars [99�] a couple weeks back, Liv Games put their noses to the grindstone to finish up a humongous update that's been over 3 months in the making for their previous iOS title Legendary Wars [99�/Lite/HD]. We certainly enjoyed Legendary Wars in our original review, but the game has been updated fairly regularly since its release in January and now includes all sorts of nifty new features like Retina Display support, Game Center, a native iPad version, and tons of gameplay tweaks and enhancements.

This latest update for Legendary Wars stands to be the biggest one yet. Liv Games has revealed that they recently passed the one million downloads mark for Legendary Wars, and all the hard work they've been pouring into this massive update is really a way to say thanks to the many fans of the game for their great support.

The biggest new feature in the forthcoming update is a brand new Arena Mode. Here, you'll be able to pit your stable of heroes against many different monsters and new types of challenges. The catch is that you can only spawn each hero one at a time, and rather than mine for gems you'll need to collect them from defeated monsters. It sounds like a whole lot of strategy will be needed in Arena Mode in regards to who and when you choose to summon certain heroes and how you manage your stock of gems. You can see screens from Arena Mode for both the iPhone and iPad versions of Legendary Wars.

Other new goodies to look forward to are several new monster types, a new Spell Book with 5 upgradeable magic spells that will give you the power to cast epic full-screen attacks, a new Monster difficulty level for those looking for a challenge beyond Legendary difficulty, and a new Miner upgrade that will start you with gems right off the bat so you can start building up your army of heroes without waiting. Also, a new Healer unit joins the cast and will have an interesting mind control ability that will allow you to take control of enemy monsters.

Coincidentally, controlling monsters is also a big part of Liv Games' upcoming new title, Monster Wars, which they're looking to have out this fall. There aren't many details on Monster Wars just yet, but through the end of this month Liv Games is hosting an art contest on their website where you have the chance to get your own character into the new game. Be sure to check that out and we'll definitely have more information on Monster Wars in the not-too-distant future.

As for the Legendary Wars update, it's already been submitted to Apple for review and Liv Games is hoping to have it release by the end of this week. Be sure to keep your eyes out for it and don't forget to stop by our forums for some more Legendary Wars discussion.

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The Secret of Chateau de Moreau [$4.99 / Lite] by 4:33 Creative Lab is an entertaining adventure game, which is quite similar to Phoenix Wright [$4.99] / Review], which has heaps of fans here on TouchArcade. Both of these games are interactive story-telling adventures, where you make decisions which determine the outcome. If you love Phoenix Wright, or murder mysteries, you'll probably enjoy this game as much as we do.

You play as Antoine, the step-son of the wealthy Count Moreau, who has died under suspicious circumstances and now you're the main suspect. Antoine must investigate the crime, solving puzzles along the way, to prove his own innocence. The story is captivating, almost like reading a book, except you're an active participant in the drama.

This is a "who dun it?" murder mystery, with back-story and a decent cast of suspects. I've met 14 characters so far, including family members, a maid, a nanny, an engineer, a house guest…and yes, there's a butler.� Maybe he did it? Maybe he didn't? Perhaps I did it? That's what makes this game so much fun.

There's three different types of gameplay. Sometimes you walk your character around a floor-map of the Chateau, searching rooms for objects, using objects or presenting them to people. During your investigations you'll uncover topics of interest, which are recorded as clues. Once a clue is revealed, you can question the various characters about it and use objects to resolve that clue.

The second type of play is when you present your evidence, at the appropriate times, to solve the mystery. It's this part of the game which is most like Phoenix Wright. If you don't respond to the situation correctly, you might fail to prove your innocence. You're given five candles (lives), which extinguish each time you make a mistake. There's 40 alternate endings, which are presented in this game like achievements. So, in addition to completing the story, you can also try to reveal the other 39 endings.

The third type of gameplay involves puzzles to solve, such as opening an object, entering a code, or putting things in the right position. The developers advise there are over 100 puzzles, so I'll take their word on that.

If you haven't seen Phoenix Wright you may be unfamiliar with how this story is presented. Basically, static images of locations and characters are presented in cartoon format, sometimes with slight animations or flickers, along with subtitles for speech (white text) or thoughts (blue text). Meanwhile,� sound effects and music help create atmosphere. At times, you're forced to tap through several lines of dialog and my only criticism is that this is a bit boring if you're repeating a section, which may put some players off seeking all 40 endings. There's also the occasional line of strangely structured "foreign English" but generally the story-telling is fairly decent.

The controls vary, depending on your position within the game. When dialog or thoughts are presented, you tap to progress. Questioning involves selecting a question from a list. When you're walking around the floor-map, you tap a point to walk there, or tap the "Open Door" button. To search a room, you tap on specific items within the room. And there's buttons to access your inventory, clues, question someone, present an object or switch to move mode, to explore.

During the game, you discover time potions (which rewind time, to let you do things differently) and 'Water of Blessing' (which reveals any hidden mysteries while searching a specific room). These two items can also be purchased as In-App Purchases (IAP), but that's not really necessary.

The Secret of Chateau de Moreau is a really well-designed, nicely-paced game, which captures your attention quickly and makes you want to play detective, searching for clues and solving puzzles, right up to the dramatic reveal at the end. If you love Phoenix Wright, this purchase is an absolute no-brainer � just do it. And if you're not sure, take the lite�version for a quick spin, but do it quickly, before someone else gets murdered!

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