This week on the TouchArcade Show, we push through viable conversations about spitting into each other's mouths to bring you the most exciting and entertaining video game news and oral reviews of the week! At the top we dig into Squids and The Dark Meadow, and then smoothly move into subjects like cat games, good-looking games with crappy mechanics, and other interesting junk that I'm sure you'll enjoy. This week's episode is a good one, folks!

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We'll be right back in your earholes this coming Monday or Tuesday with another totally rad bonus episode. And before I drop this episode's show notes all over your face, I'd love for you to seriously consider sending us an e-mail at podcast@toucharcade.com.

GAMES

Back in early September, the ever-busy Crescent Moon Games announced in our forums that they would be collaborating with Thunder Game Works (of Trenches [99�/Lite/HD] fame) to bring gamers Evertales, a side-scrolling action-brawler with impressive 3D visuals and a great sense of humor.

You play as one of three unique characters, each of which are past their brawling prime in some fashion, but are nonetheless undeterred from the task at hand which is to eliminate the evil Dark Lord of Darkness. You can get an introduction to these characters as well as a taste of the type of tongue-in-cheek humor in Evertales in the debut trailer for the game:

Evertales is currently humming along in the development process, and both Crescent Moon and Thunder Game Works are shooting for submission for Apple approval sometime this month. It will launch as a Universal app with support for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, Game Center integration, and will support iOS 5 features like iCloud game saves and AirPlay Mirroring. We'll be looking to see how the final product turns out when Evertales launches sometime in the very near future.

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.

Roughly three billion years ago, Christopher Columbus sailed across vast ocean and fell off the end of the planet. We celebrate his memory this Monday in the United States, which also means we're about to get a ton of great App Store deals. For example, Gameloft is throwing a nice little $.99 sale on a small swathe of its titles. This one is particularly interesting, as all of the games on sale usually hover above the four dollar mark.

Here's the list:

• 9MM � $6.99 ? $.99 [Universal]
• Eternal Legacy � $4.99 ? $.99
• Eternal Legacy HD � $4.99 ? $.99
• Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus � $6.99 ? $.99
• Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus HD � $6.99 ? $.99
• Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden � $6.99 ? $.99
• The Settlers HD � $6.99 ? $.99

As far as Zelda clones go, Sacred Odyssey ain't so bad. So, if you're really hankering to get in one these savings, we'd suggest you shoot for that one. Here's our review if you'd like to spend some time reading about it.

On an unrelated but also related note, check this out:

This is exactly why I like going to conventions, you find out about things that otherwise would never appear on your radar otherwise. Following my announcement that I was going to GDC Online, I got oodles of meeting requests. (Oh, hey, and if you're going and haven't contacted me yet, be sure you do that.) Anyway, along with everyone else, CrowdStar contacted me to give me a heads up on what they're doing at GDC Online next week, and I figured I'd pass word along� As it sounds like it could be a great opportunity for some iOS devs out there, since having a great idea for a game but potentially not the resources to execute that idea seems to be a fairly common theme in game development.

Long story short basically amounts to CrowdStar has raised millions of dollars, and in turn, wants to use that money to invest in upcoming free to play games. They're calling it the StarFund, and from the looks of it, you can pitch them your game idea and potentially receive an investment of upwards of $250,000. As it has been explained to me, the terms of the whole deal are fairly agreeable and vary greatly depending on how completed your game is. For instance, if you approach them with little more than a design document, their percentage is going to be higher than if you've got a nearly-completed game that just needs a kick out the door.

You don't really even need to be at GDC Online to be considered, all you need to do is fill out this form. If you are at GDC, and want to discuss the whole idea face to face with the CrowdStar guys, swing by booth 106 and say hi.

I know what you've been thinking all this time, "Fruit Ninja [99�] sure is awesome, but it'd be so much better with some kind of movie tie-in and/or cats." Well, thankfully, the powers that be decided that it was high time for an unholy union between Halfbrick and DreamWorks to bring us Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots. The good news is, as easy as it is to groan at movie tie-ins, it seems that this is actually done pretty well and extends the existing Fruit Ninja game instead of just adding the Puss in Boots logo. Aside from new blades and backgrounds to unlock, the new magic bean-powered Desperado Mode takes the existing Fruit Ninja formula with a four-tier challenge with all new slicing games.

Check out the trailer to get a look at the new modes:

Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots will be available on October 20th for 99� on the iPhone or $1.99 on the iPad. The movie itself will be in theaters on October 28th.

As a kid, I was a claw machine master. I came home with more stuffed animals than I knew what to do with, and I used to love impressing my elementary school friends by making it rain with ill-conceived toys like bootleg Space Jam plushes. So when the opportunity to review Fugazo's new game, Rocket Claw [99�], came up, I jumped at the chance. Finally, a chance to impress my friends with my claw abilities once more!

OK, so it's not a true claw machine game. Rather, you're a little smiley-faced robot named C.L.A.W.D. (Clamping Long-Arm Winch Device, if you must know) out in space with, you guessed it, a rocket claw. This claw can grab, destroy, and deflect objects. The catch is, you can only do one thing at a time; once you deploy the claw to, say, deflect a comet, you can't send out the claw again until it comes back. So while you attempt to save wayward astronauts and their space dogs, you're going to be thwarted at every opportunity by asteroids, aliens, comets, giant hunks of debris, and black holes.

Like most good games, it seems pretty simple at first. You tap items to retrieve, destroy or deflect them. The more you play you start to understand what types of shots will maximize your score�destroying two asteroids in one shot, for example, or deflecting a comet into the path of oncoming enemies�and that's when the game starts becoming fun and challenging. There are also powerups that float into claw range that give you various advantages. Some, such as score multipliers, are cumulative and last for the duration of the game, enabling you to score some serious points. Others are temporary and range from completely awesome to totally useless, such as Repulsor (which deflects all nearby objects away from you, except every time I grab it I've already taken out all the enemies!) and Crystalizer, which turns all nearby objects into shiny purple crystals which work as in-game currency.

Wait, what's that? In-game currency? Yep, it's true. You cumulatively collect purple crystals over the course of your games, which are used to buy powerups pre-game such as extra lives, a faster or more powerful claw, or a defense drone that helps take out enemies.�These cost between 10 and 30 crystals a piece, and you have to buy them before every game. So if you wanted a Defense Drone, well, you'd better be prepared to spend 30 crystals before every game. Considering my games averaged around three minutes, you'd better be sure you're getting your crystal's worth in that time. The problem is that you just don't get a good return on your investment. While buying powerups might make the game easier, it doesn't really help you earn more crystals. After playing for about half an hour, I'd racked up a mere 66 crystals, which got used up pretty quickly as I tried out the various powerups.

I know what you're thinking. Hey girl, maybe you should just suck it up. Powerups are optional. No one cares about your lack of crystals. Oh, but you see, crystals are not only used for powerups. No, they are required currency for unlocking basic game modes. So when you pay your 99� for the app, you're essentially paying for one game mode (Unlimited) and the other two (Survival and Time Attack) are unlockable by paying 250 crystals each. 250! With as long as it takes to earn even a few crystals in Rocket Claw, only hardcore players are going to make the amount required in any kind of reasonable timeframe. But don't worry, because Fugazo's got you covered. You can simply buy your 250 crystals for another 99�, or by enabling ads for their other games (which is irreversible, as far as I can tell, and only works once�once your 250 crystals are spent, you're stuck with ads forever with no additional benefits).

If you don't mind the blatant push for in-app purchases, you might be able to enjoy this game for what it is; a well-made tapping game. For me, though, paying for an app and then being limited by what I can do in that app is unacceptable. When one of the selling points of the game in the App Store is "3 fun modes," I expect to have three fun modes available to me. If I had bought all of the content I expected to come with my app purchase, I would have spent almost five bucks. �And maybe I am a bit of a drama queen, but the constant push for purchases more or less ruined the experience for me. When a game tries to force me to choose between grinding for hours or spending money in-game, I am going to choose "find a new app" every time.

For fans of classic PC gaming, the name Bounder's World [99� / HD] may sound familiar. Indeed, the tilt-controlled game is an updated version of Bounder, a Commodore 64 game released in 1985 that had you control a tennis ball as it navigated a multitude of levels. The premise remains intact in Bounder's World, but everything from the 2.5D viewpoint and graphics (and the humanization of the tennis ball) to the accelerometer-based controls are certainly a change. While I can't affirmatively state that Bounder's World manages to keep the essence of its spiritual predecessor intact, I can say that it's certainly a solid tilt-based action title with a few shortcomings.

Bounder's World has a simple premise: control your cute tennis ball-person through a variety of levels by bouncing him from rooftop to rooftop avoiding any gaping holes and spaces between buildings (which lead to your perilous death). Levels are divided into three separate worlds with different tile sets and, although the levels get progressively more difficult as you advance (obviously), there's very little actual change to the core mission structure.

One thing that Bounder's World doesn't do a good job of explaining is the different mission types that you can play. Each mission can be divided into four different categories: star collection (the most prevalent), building destroying (hop on as many buildings as possible, but each collapses after you land on it), minimum bounces (you have a limited number of bounces � the less you take the better), and target hitting (similar to star collection but requires more precision). Of course, if objective-based gameplay isn't your thing, you can always just try and get through each level which allows you to unlock the subsequent mission.

Bounder's World is exclusively controlled via tilt. Like most games with a similar control scheme, the overall gameplay experience is very hit or miss depending on individual circumstances. Assuming you're in an ideal tilt environment, Bounder's World does offer a decent control scheme. As with most tilt games, you never really have full control of your tennis ball buddy's movement, but its 'bounce' is consistent and methodical, meaning that with enough patience and practice it does become relatively easy to time your jumps. Sure, you're going to lose a bunch of lives throughout the course of playing the game, but that just goes with the territory for tilt-based games. I was surprised that there didn't appear to be any sort of calibration tool, as it would have been nice to adjust my tilt controls based on my current position (rather than being forced to use their neutral position every time I want to play).

When it comes to content, Bounder's World certainly does not disappoint. There are a total of 144 levels in the game, with some only available after mastering the other standard missions. In addition, each level has a robust ranking system, as well as hidden coins and targets that offer the highest scores for those skillful enough to reach them. Game Center support, as well as local Bluetooth multiplayer completes the list of available options.� As mentioned above, variety is somewhat lacking from level to level, but that's somewhat understandable as Bounder's World focuses more on difficulty and actual gameplay instead.

In the end, Bounder's World is a worthy addition to the tilt-controlled action genre. There aren't any particularly innovative aspects to it, but the gameplay works and there's certainly enough content to keep you coming back. And besides, that anthropomorphic tennis ball is pretty damn cute.

Steph Thirion's Eliss [Free] is a brilliant game. It launched in the App Store way back in March of 2009, when the App Store was still relatively new and trying to establish its identity in the world of handheld gaming. Eliss promptly went on to earn recognition and awards for its innovative design and outstanding use of multi-touch. Back in 2009, Eliss was a shining example of the type of game that would only be possible on something like an iOS device, which we duly noted in our review.

While Eliss is an older game, it's no less engaging today than it was when it first launched. It's seen several price drops during its lifespan, and has been available for the bargain price of 99� more than once before. However, for the next several days, Steph Thirion has made Eliss free for the first time ever. The circumstances for the sale are a bit unfortunate, though, as it's meant as a tribute to the untimely passing of Steve Jobs. The first line of text in the Eliss App Store description reads:

Eliss could not have existed without you. You changed my life deeply. Thank you Steve.

It's been a sad couple of days for Apple fans everywhere, but it's been really inspiring to see just how many lives Steve Jobs has touched during his time on Earth. And of course, Eliss is a fantastic game, and should definitely be downloaded by everybody during its free promotion. We're also looking forward to Steph's follow up iOS title Faraway, which has been in development for more than a year and a half but last time we checked should be arriving sometime this Fall.