Just yesterday, a report surfaced regarding Big Fish Games' plans to launch a subscription-based gaming service on the iPad. For a monthly fee initially set at $4.99, the service would allow users to access a number of Big Fish-distributed games through a dedicated app.

The app had actually been available since last week, although new subscriptions had been disabled ahead of the official launch due to high demand, according to the developer. But with the Bloomberg report from yesterday and a press release from Big Fish Games this morning, the new service appeared to be up and running.

The offering did not last long, however, as Apple quickly pulled the app following the official launch. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Big Fish Games claims to be in the dark about Apple's reasons for removing the app.

[Big Fish Games founder Paul] Thelen said he was surprised by the move because Big Fish had worked with Apple for several weeks to ensure that it met the requirements for recurring monthly charges made through the App Store, a method most commonly used by magazines and newspaper publishers.

"It was officially approved," Thelen said. Apple had even seen the app's press release before it went out earlier today, he said.

Apple declined to comment to Bloomberg on the app's removal and has not yet responded to Big Fish's requests for explanation, leaving questions about whether Apple will indeed allow subscription-based gaming services on the App Store and about how to reconcile the app's removal with Big Fish Games' claims that it worked rather closely with Apple to ensure the approval of the app.

We recorded this week's The TouchArcade Show in the interest of keeping you entertained and (maybe up to date on iOS) while traveling during Thanksgiving break. At the top, we dive into Infinity Blade 2 and our coverage of it. Later, we cover Desert Bus, dabble in video game books, and discuss next-gen iPod Touches. Oh! We also get into the latest and hottest news of the week. Hit those show notes for the appropriate links.

We hope you're having a great little holiday. If you're interested in joining us, please feel free to do so via those handy-dandy links just below. Additionally, you could hop aboard the TouchArcade Show Express on iTunes and Zune. These places are the easiest way to get our material day and date, so do it already!

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GAMES

If you've been checking out our front page over this break, then you've probably seen or read about two billion different sales posts. What's up with that? Well, we've split our holiday sales coverage into as many studio-centric posts as possible for the sake of readability. But with any big holiday App Store bonanza, we've come across more than a couple of individual sales that don't jive with this kind of format.

That's what this post is all about -- the catch-all for the various independent studios out there with a notable game on sale. Here's a quick hit list:

• Baby Monkey Going Backwards On A Pig - $.99 ? Free
• Fara - $2.99 ? $.99
• Gem Dig - $1.99 - Free
• iBlast Moki 2 HD - $4.99 ? $.99
• Konundrum - $.99 ? Free
• Spirits - $2.99 ? $.99
• TITUS - politics is not a game - $1.99 - $.99
• The Train Episode 1 - $1.99 ? $.99
• The Train Episode 1 for iPad - $2.99 ? $.99
• The Train Episode 2 - $1.99 - $.99
• The Train Episode 2 for iPad - $2.99 - $.99

A couple of notable mentions here: 99 Games has put its entire catalogue on sale for $.99. G5 Entertainment, on the other hand, has five games and their iPad counterparts available at $2.99 and HauXu are offering all of its catalogue for $0.

Our deal forum is keeping on top of these and this thread in particular continually adds more and more games, so keep your eye on it.

Oh, hey, Kairosoft is getting into sales during the holidays! Starting now, and for a "limited time," two of the studio's lesser known but-still-as-awesome-as-ever simulation games are available on the App Store on the cheap. Both Pocket Academy and Hot Springs Story are seeing a drop from $3.99 to an agreeable $1.99. Money saved! Exclamation marks!

• Pocket Academy - $3.99 ? $1.99
• Hot Springs Story - $3.99 ? $1.99

Before you take the plunge, you probably want to read our respective reviews for the titles in question. While they combine the same charm and spirit of Game Dev Story, they both have angles and mechanics that may or may not appeal to you. Hot Springs Story, by the way, looks like awesome prep for the next game the studio has coming down the pipe: World Cruise Story.

Konami is getting into the Thanksgiving mood, too, though in a less bombastic fashion than most of the "big" publishers currently invested in the App Store. Starting this week, you can grab two of its better titles, Gesundheit and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, for the generous price of $.99. These two games usually sell at around $1.99 or $2.99, so there's a decent chunk of change to be saved here if you choose to buy.

• Gesundheit - $1.99 - $.99
• Gesundheit for iPad - $2.99 - $1.99
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 - $2.99 - $.99

Why aren't more games going on the cheap, you ask? We were pondering the same query until we browsed the publisher's catalogue this morning. Turns out that the lion's share of its games are being offered at $.99 nowadays. You can't really go down from there -- unless you want to start competing on the free charts ... with games that aren't ad supported and have a couple or fewer free-to-play hooks.

Another App Store heavy hitter, The Dark Meadow, is the focus of a big old-fashioned sale. Starting just a while ago Phosphor Games's imaginative, cruel, and dark action game is available at $.99. After consulting with a math wiz, we've confirmed that you'll save some big time money in 'Store if you buy, as the game usually sits at $5.99.

We dug The Dark Meadow when it debuted this year and are equally digging Phosphor Games desire to keep rolling in new content. Since October, the game has seen three updates of varying sizes and intensity, each tightening up and adding to the core game. We'd love to see more, and we're guessing that we probably will in the future.

I've seen a few strange hybrids in my day. Many of them have been described in sentences that end with "... meets Angry Birds," but I'm not complaining. Some of the most interesting games on the App Store have taken unusual inspirations and combined them. Still, I'm not sure what inspired developer Phil Hassey to create a version of Galcon [$1.99 / Lite], his 2008 galactic strategy game, that replaces the planets and ships with chickens and nests. A joke that went a bit too far, maybe?

But while Chickon [Free] may have started as a joke, it has ended up as an interesting alternative to Galcon. It isn't a game for big Galcon fans -- you'll probably find it far too simple if you've already spent time with its older sibling -- but for folks who like freemium games, barnyard animals and a bit of light strategy, it's not a bad choice.

Here's the premise: Chickontopia has been taken over by robot chickens. They've captured all the roosters and locked them away, and they've built factories to replicate themselves. You, a humble chicken, are the only one that can stop them.

It's a stretch, but it's also a start. Where Galcon has you skip from map to map taking over a corner of the galaxy at a time, Chickon places its battles in an overarching strategy game. To free a section of the world you need to destroy its factory. To do that, you need four roosters to help you. You rescue them by attacking their cages while carrying at least 5 chicken feed. You earn chicken feed by battling robot chickens on a Galcon-esque map.

So you grind your way to success, defeating nest after nest. Battles are quick and easy. Your chicken builds up eggs, and you can take over other nests by tapping on them to send your chicks their way. The enemy does the same. It can be difficult to tell exactly how effective your force is, since Chickon does away with visible numbers, but it's rarely all that relevant. Once you claim all the enemy's nests, you win the match, earning one chicken feed and possibly some power-ups.

The power-ups are another new addition, and they add grinding, strategy, and an opportunity for IAP. For the ordinary battles, you won't generally need them. My biggest complaint about the game is that the difficulty curve is far too subtle. It's pretty much go in and win for way too long. Freeing roosters is a bit tougher -- the enemy starts with more nests -- and destroying factories can be extremely difficult. That's where the power-ups come in. You can use them to steal nests, destroy enemy units, build up your supply, speed up your troops, and even nuke everything in sight. You can pull them out freely in a pinch, but they're limited in quantity.

You can earn more by fighting more robots, and there are plenty of robots to fight. Some battles might earn you none, others just a few, and some will give you piles of power-ups. If you just can't get enough, you can also purchase Chickbux to buy more. Use them well and you can blast through otherwise punishing fights.

It's an interesting system, and as far as grinds go it's a fun one. But Chickon loses out by abandoning Galcon's multiplayer features. Since it's so microtransaction-based I imagine multiplayer could be a frustratingly imbalanced experience, but the single-player content isn't compelling enough keep most players interested for all that long. It's a dilemma that might not be solvable, and it makes me wonder if Chickon was ready to leave the nest at all. Overly-generic art and sound effects don't help that impression.

Still, at the price it's worth a look, especially if Galcon's epic-scale space battles struck you as a bit too pretentious. Chickon is an oddball game with a lot of oddball character, and if it feels too much like a cash-in at times it's still not without intriguing features. It's a game you can play for 30 seconds and feel like you've made tangible progress, and that's not something to take lightly. With a little more love, Chickon could have been something truly interesting -- instead, we'll have to settle for often grindy, and occasionally fun. Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts in our discussion thread.

The Bard's Tale originally began as a trilogy of hardcore dungeon crawling RPGs released in the mid-80s for desktop computers and gaming consoles. In 2004, InXile Entertainment created a new The Bard's Tale for Playstation 2, Xbox, and PC. This game was related to the original series in name only, and featured 3D action-adventure gameplay rather than first-person dungeon crawling.

The Bard's Tale didn't take itself too seriously, and poked fun at all sorts of RPG and fantasy clichés, many of which were present in the original games in the series. For its humor and storytelling, The Bard's Tale is a fondly remembered adventure from the previous console generation.

And, we've now learned that this adventure is making its way to the iOS platform. The Bard's Tale on iOS will feature all of the content of the 2004 release, as well as iOS exclusive leaderboards and achievements. It will also have an in-app purchase system that will let you deck out your character with some sweet gear, but everything available here will also be available to earn through normal gameplay. The IAP is just for the impatient folk.

We're eager to get our hands on The Bard's Tale to see just how well the game translates to the touch screen platform. It's currently submitted to Apple, so if all goes well it will be launching soon. We'll let you know once we get a firm launch date or pricing info for The Bard's Tale on iOS.

Saving Yello [99�] from Tactile Entertainment and published by Dreamfab is a new physics-based puzzler about a pet goldfish named 'Yello'.� Poor Yello has been plucked from his bowl and dumped on the floor by his young 7-year old owner who doesn't appreciate that fish are actually water-based creatures. Yello needs your help to return to his fishbowl, within a limited number of turns, but along the way he wants to destroy some of his owners toys as revenge. Since its release, this quality game has immediately shot into the top-40 on the US App Store.

You can fling Yello across the level, back towards his bowl, by stretching his tail to determine the trajectory and power, then releasing.� If you pull his tail back far enough, his little tongue pokes out, he gasps and his eyes go bloodshot from being stretched. Assuming you aim successfully, Yello eventually plops back into his glass bowl and swims around happily (and you score a star and the next level is unlocked).� If you don't reach the bowl within the allocated turns, or send� Yello into an out-of-bounds area, the level is over and the poor fish starts crying.

But, getting Yello back in the bowl is only part of the challenge. If you want to earn the other two stars for the level, you'll need to destroy his owner's toys by crashing into them, to achieve the displayed score thresholds. If you destroy three-of-a-kind items, such as three teddy bears or cars, you'll receive bonus points for a "toy-combo". Destroying five items in one turn increases the score multiplier. Once you score enough points to earn three stars � and importantly, still reach the fish-bowl � Yello celebrates by jumping up and down in his bowl, happily saying "Wheeeee!"

Saving Yello is definitely going for the "cute fish" factor, giving Yello a variety of animated expressions.� If you throw him directly at a wall, just before impact he says "uh-oh!" in a cute little voice. And people lap that stuff up, just like the happily soaring bird in Tiny Wings [99�]. But, just because he's cute doesn't stop this game from roughing him up. The unlucky fish is dropped on the floor, set on fire, encased in ice, exploded by dynamite, impaled with pins and blasted by bombs. Metal objects land on him with a heavy CLANG! And some levels feature: fish hooks!

This may sound like fish torture, but these items actually help Yello.� He can burn wooden obstacles when he's on fire or freeze and shatter metallic barriers whilst frozen. He can grab dynamite in his mouth as he flies through the air, which explodes when he lands (charring his face black). The fire, ice and explosions can all trigger chain reactions, toppling or destroying entire structures for increased points.

Being impaled with pins helps him stick to walls, and when obstacles fall on his head you can tap to clear them away for extra points. And Yello is such a hard-core fish that he jumps onto fish-hooks and uses them to swing to higher platforms.� Can you beat that, Nemo!?

There's currently 40 levels provided within three settings (Play room, living room and kitchen), with more levels promised soon. Each setting is unlocked by gaining enough stars from prior levels. In-App Purchases are available to unlock all levels but this is not necessary. There's supposed to be leaderboards for each setting and overall, plus achievements in Game Center / OpenFeint, but Game Center� wasn't working in the initial release. Strangely, there's also more achievements listed in OpenFeint than in Game Center.� The developers advise a fix has been submitted to Apple.

One weakness of the game is the dynamic camera work, which automatically frames the camera around the fishes position. The game lets you pan or zoom-out to see the whole level, which is great, but after a second, the camera disregards the users preference and automatically re-centers back on the fish. This forces you to aim blindly or from memory of what's off-screen. More of the level is shown when you pull Yello's tail, however the ability to see the whole level while playing� (and a more accessible restart button) would really enhance the gameplay.

Saving Yello successfully wraps quality graphics and sound, interesting gameplay, varied power-ups, decent game physics and a cute fish into this entertaining fish-flinging game. This can be played casually, simply reaching the fish-bowl to open the next level, or you can 3-star the levels for more of a challenge. What's next? Well, having survived three rooms in the house, the developers are still deciding which hazardous settings to drop Yello in next. That fish needs a new owner!

Com2uS and I have a love-hate thing going on. I love many of their games but I absolutely loath their aggressive marketing tactics. Nothing in the world is going to convince me to give you an unwarranted 5-star review. No, not even a small pile of virtual currency. As you might have already guessed, Homerun Battle 2 [$4.99] is the latest in the long line of Com2uS games that I despise myself for enjoying.

Distilled into its most basic form, Homerun Battle 2, much like its predecessor, is a batting simulation. A 'casual' sports game, if you will. The goal here is to hit as many home runs as is humanly possible. Sometimes. Depending on which game mode you've selected, you might occasionally be called upon to hit a number of fouls in rapid succession instead. It varies. If you're experiencing vague feelings of deja vu, I don't blame you. Com2uS is clearly a firm believer in the old adage, 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it' and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Instead of venturing away from a beloved formula, they've added more to the fix. But, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

To recap for those who have yet to play the original, Homerun Battle 2 boasts of tight, simplistic controls. Aiming is conducted with the phone's accelerometer while the actual swing is executed with a mere tap of the finger. As is the case with real life sports, timing and accuracy are essential to success here.

Simple as the core mechanics might sound, they're also one of the reasons as to why Homerun Battle 2 is such a bloody entertaining experience. While it doesn't require extensive amounts of thought, it demands just enough skill to keep you interested. On top of that, it's also easy to get lulled into the rhythm of the game, to become caught up in developing the longest chain of home runs possible, to score pole hits - it's like meditation, except with caps and large virtual sticks.

Nonetheless, that pales in comparison to the multiplayer segment of Homerun Battle 2. While there are several different modes to play, I'm personally infatuated with the mission mode. Essentially, it's four people from across the world striving to be the first to meet the goal (hit four fouls in a row, be the first to reach 2000 points and so on) in each mission. There are no penalties associated to coming in second (or even last), just fewer rewards. While each fast-paced mission seldom lasts longer than a minute, you're probably going to find yourself losing a good chunk of time to the system. Fair warning, though, much like in the first game, winning seems impossible without a suitable arsenal of equipment, a fact that may rub certain players the wrong way.

Like the original, Homerun Battle 2 has a customization system for you to play with. It's a little more comprehensive compared to what is found in its predecessor; you'll finally get the opportunity to play a wasp-waisted babe in this one. Unfortunately, the prices in the in-game store are tantamount to highway robbery. I mean, you could theoretically spend the next week farming golden balls but it feels ridiculous to demand five thousand of those for a new hat. I understand that Com2uS is trying to turn a profit here but this borders on extortion. What if I don't want to buy your virtual currency? What then? I'll spend my hard-earned money on frivolous virtual items when I feel like it, thank you very much!

I can't help it. I'm a little bitter. I don't like the idea of a game trying to bribe me. I also don't like the idea of it attempting to strong arm me into an undesired purchase either. Homerun Battle 2 has all the elements that made the original such a hit and more. It's fun, it's easy to learn and it'd keep you occupied for a considerable amount of time. Unfortunately, it also exemplifies everything that I dislike about this type of pay model. Get this one if you're hankering for more of the same, or if you're looking for a polished take on the whole 'casual sports' thing. Just don't come with the need to be number one unless you're ready to pay for it.