iPhone

Infinity Blade 2, the iOS-exclusive sequel from ChAIR Entertainment and Epic Games, will soon be getting a content update that adds a multiplayer component to the game. You won't be duking it out in Vs. fights with your friends, however; instead, you'll form or join a group called a "Mob!" and participate in a new "globally social battle mode."

This is the ClashMob feature that you've probably seen Epic mention in relation to Infinity Blade 2 before. In essence, players will gang up together and take on crazy-powerful enemies as a group, earning a variety of rewards successfully pulling off a Mob! kill. The bigger your group, the better the rewards you'll receive. In addition, the new update will also add new equipment to the game, a redesigned gem interface, and a new feature that allows players to forge three gems into one more powerful gem.

Source: Epic Games

Welcome to G4's Knuckle Up, where we bring you a byte-sized view of our five favorite mobile games every week. The mobile space is filled with incredible games that will keep you busy for minutes, hours, or even days -- we'll let you know what we're playing and why we're playing it. Here are our top five games this week:

GAME OF THE WEEK

FIBBLE: FLICK ‘N’ ROLL

iPhone | iPad

Fun fact: the same development company responsible for our Game of the Week is also responsible for creating one of the best sci-fi FPS games ever created in Crysis (and its glorious sequel). Fibble: Flick ‘n’ Roll isn’t anything like what I expected Crytek to make when I heard they were making an iOS game; however, that’s definitely not a bad thing, as Fibble is a really fun game with some very high production value.

Fibble’s an alien who’s crash landed on Earth, and it’s your job to help him navigate the house he’s landed in and find his alien friends. Each level consists of a little track for Fibble to roll through, and an environment with beautiful renders of objects corresponding to the room you’re currently in (toys, groceries, etc). Finding Fibble’s alien buddies lets you place them around each track to get to places Fibble wouldn’t be able to go by himself; for example, Byte will launch Fibble into the air if you tap the screen while Fibble is in proximity, getting him to otherwise unreachable areas.

Fibble is Crytek’s first foray into mobile gaming, but it’s a solid iOS title that brings great gameplay and gorgeous production value to your iPhone or iPad. It’s pretty crazy to see the makers of ultra slick sci-fi shooter Crysis also bring us the silly, fun world in Fibble: Flick ‘n’ Roll, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that Fibble is packed with delights you won’t want to miss.

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Ms. Splosion Man is coming to Steam, Games For Windows LIVE, Windows Phone 7, iPhone and iPad. Anything that brings Ms. Splosion Man's unique, funny, explody platforming joy to new platforms is cool by us. Twisted Pixel has teamed up with Iron Galaxy, Fire Hose and Panic Button studios to bring Ms. Splosion Man to her new homes.

“We are extremely excited to work with Twisted Pixel in bringing splosions to mobile devices,” says Iron Galaxy C.E.Bro, Dave Lang.  “Ms. Splosion Man has really deep gameplay that is born from deceptively simple controls, so it’s a great game on any platform.”

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Rockstar Games confirms that Max Payne Mobile will be heading to pretty much every iOS device imaginable in a morning press release. It's compatible with all versions of the iPad, the iPhone 3GS or newer, and the iPod Touch 4.

Android users will be getting Max Payne Mobile as well, with that version launching on April 26. Rockstar promises to release a list of supported devices soon. All versions of the game feature an HD makeover, customizable controls, and some form of Rockstar Social Club connectivity.

The Ghost Recon Network has been announced, but if you want to go deeper beneath the surface of the multiplayer service, check out the interview below with Rob Newns, Lead Designer for Ghost Recon Network. Newns will give you a complete breakdown of the service's features, including weapon customization, hot-spot maps and more. 

Apple might be working on a controller for iPhones, iPod touches and iPads, which would end one of the major problems with using those devices as gaming consoles.

The news comes from AnandTech, where writers Vivek Gowri & Anand Lal Shimpio post: 

"I know of an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to market, but whether or not it will ever see the light of day remains to be seen. As smartphones and tablets come close to equaling the performance of current game consoles, I feel like the controller problem must be addressed."

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Leisure Suit Larry is getting its own kickstarter. Replay Games now owns the rights to Larry, and is behind the push to remake the original Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. The idea is to give gamers a "return to the one true Larry."  Here's the Leisure Suit Larry kickstarter link.

Loyalty (and cash) will be rewarded with a suite of interesting items, up to having your name permanently included in the game as a secret password. That one will cost you 50k.

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An Angry Birds cartoon series is coming to "all possible platforms," further solidifying developer Rovio's plan to take over the entire universe with their disgruntled avian.

Rovio's head of animation Nick Dorra made the announcement at a media conference in Cannes, France, saying, "I am happy to say we are going to roll out a weekly animation series this year of short format content."

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An iOS version of super-hard platformer Super Meat Boy is currently in development. According to Team Meat, the iPhone game will be rebuilt from the ground up, to work with the touch-screen controls of the iOS. Presumably, the difficulty will remain.

Super Meat Boy: The Game, as the iOS version is tentatively titled, will feature new visuals, a new soundtrack, and new gameplay mechanics compared to the original release.

There's no release date available as of yet.

Welcome to G4's Knuckle Up, where we bring you a byte-sized view of our five favorite mobile games every week. The mobile space is filled with incredible games that will keep you busy for minutes, hours, or even days -- we'll let you know what we're playing and why we're playing it. Here are our top five games this week:

GAME OF THE WEEK

ANGRY BIRDS SPACE

iPhone | iPad | Android

Finally, after numerous expansions and spin-offs, we’ve got Angry Birds Space, the first true sequel to Rovio’s 800lb. gorilla Angry Birds. If you haven’t heard of it... well, you’re probably allergic to electronics and can’t read this site. So does the sequel live up to its predecessor?

In a word: Absolutely.

In a genre where I was convinced there was no more ground to cover, Rovio stopped looking for that ground and turned their gaze to the stars. Angry Birds Space, as its title suggests, takes place off-planet, and the game shines because of it. Launching your birds now also has a gravity element tied into it: fling your bird into the halo of gravity surrounding asteroids harboring those pesky pigs, and use that gravitational pull to alter the bird’s trajectory and crush those green piggies. It feels familiar, sure, but it’s also fresh, and that’s no small feat.

There are very few people out there who haven’t experienced Angry Birds at least once, and it’s safe to say most of us using a mobile device will spend some time with Angry Birds Space. If opening weekend downloads are any indication (Rovio reports over 10 million downloads in a scant three days), I think it’s safe to assume this sequel’s already rocketed into the stratosphere... and beyond.

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We received a mysterious image via email yesterday that teases a Spy Vs. Spy game. If you look at the above image, you have all the information we have, although I can tell you that the developer, Robots and Pencils, makes iOS games (including a Words with friends cheating app!), so this probably isn't the AAA Spy Vs. Spy game fans have been craving. Instead, look out for on iPhone/iPad game.

If you're not up to speed, Spy vs. Spy was a series of cartoons that were popular during the "Golden Age" of Mad magazine. The story concerned the black spy vs. the white spy, who spent their days trying to kill each other in various, esoteric ways. It's sort of rooted in Cold War hysteria, and while generally amusing, Spy vs. Spy was never quite as funny as Don Martin or "The Lighter Side Of..." 

Angry Birds in Space brings back our favorite suicide squad to take on and take out those despicable green pigs. With so many Angry Birds flying around, you might mistake this as a part of the epidemic already infesting practically every platform that carries a moving image. Put away those silly breathing masks. We take a look at this new breed of space cadets. Here’s our quick impression of the first world of Angry Birds in Space.

To tell you the truth, I’m not a big fan of Angry Birds. Tossing those feathered creatures seemed so binary, either it work or it didn’t. Angry Birds in Space, however, tosses all of that out the window - only to have that bounce off an asteroid and then crash everything into fat green pig. This new breed of bird learns what made the last one work while throwing in a whole new universe of tricks.

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Developers Jordan Mechner, Tim Sweeny, John Romero, Adam Saltsman, and Markus Persson came together recently to talk about their indie days. We all start from somewhere, either as just a dreamer in your bedroom or a tinker in the garage. These superstars of today started out much like you with a little skill and a lot of passion for video games.

Prince of Developing

Jordan Mechner, creator of the original Prince of Persia and the upcoming Karateka remake, began developing on the Apple II in 1978. Though his first game didn’t catch on, his second attempt was Karateka, which Broderbund agreed to publish. He didn’t think of himself as indie at the time, originally envisioning Karateka as a AAA title. However, he noted that now working on the remake as an independent developer, he is taking the opportunity to stay true to the spirit of the original rather than the lavish 3D reboot Sands of Time was for his Prince of Persia.

Jordan offered perhaps the most succinct description of what it means to be an indie developer. “The real objective of indie is to start making a game with no idea whether it’s ever going to get published or how that’s going to happen. It’s sort of just taking that leap of faith.”

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Welcome to G4's Knuckle Up, where we bring you a byte-sized view of our five favorite mobile games every week. The mobile space is filled with incredible games that will keep you busy for minutes, hours, or even days -- we'll let you know what we're playing and why we're playing it. Here are our top five games this week:

GAME OF THE WEEK

SKY GAMBLERS: AIR SUPREMACY

iOS

Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy was one of two games featured at the new iPad’s unveiling event, and that spotlight is well-deserved. This game is a great choice if you’re looking to show off the new iPad’s graphical capability, and it’s also a solid arcade flight game. I hesitate to call it a flight sim, because SG:AS cares not for the constraints of real life: you won’t find ultra-realistic gravity and physics in this title, but it doesn’t matter. You’ll have so much fun playing SG:AS that your brain will forgive and forget those choices almost immediately.

There are a couple low points, namely the atrocious story (or lack thereof), and the game’s seeming inability to deliver a decent tutorial. Some would argue the latter is an egregious error. Since the game isn’t a true simulator, it’s not too tough to pick up the controls fairly easily. There are also four separate types of control schemes to choose from, making it easy to get into the game at any skill level. If you have a new iPad, you must buy Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy. If you don’t, buy it because adrenaline-pumping shooters are freaking awesome, and because everyone loves a good old fashioned dogfight.

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Rovio's Angry Birds Space arrives tomorrow, March 22, 2012, and there's a newly released launch trailer to get you in the mood for the pig-killing action. The multi-platform release spans both major mobile marketplaces -- the iOS App Store and Android Market -- as well as digital storefronts on PC and Mac.

The basic concept of slingshotting a variety of birds into elaborate structures with the intention of squashing ball-shaped pigs is still very much alive and well. As the title suggests, Angry Birds Space frames the action against an entirely new environment, forcing players to operate in low-grav and zero-G environments. There are also some very new and very angry birds for you to toss, as you can see in the new trailer.

Source: YouTube