It’s now even harder to avoid playing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars as Rockstar has announced that a version of the game for the iPhone will be joining the PSP version when it is released this autumn.

Rockstar president Sam Houser believes that the game is a “perfect match” for the iPhone;

“Chinatown Wars is a perfect match for the iPhone and iPod touch. We are very excited to bring this incredibly ambitious version of Liberty City, with this level of detail and immersive gameplay on Apple’s new gaming platforms,” (Source)

The best thing about this announcement is that the iPhone version won’t have to sacrifice the touch screen controls like the PSP version had to, so hopefully this version will be mostly similar to the DS version. I do have some reservations about how you will control Huang Lee (the main character), as some previous iPhone ports have used an on-screen d-pad which can often be a bit frustrating to use.

There are no screenshots yet (unlike the PSP version) but I expect it won’t be too long until we see some.

Rockstar is also bringing Beaterator to the iPhone (originally announced for PSN and PSP), a music mixer that has been developed in collaboration with Timbaland. Let’s hope that people will use earphones when creating their own tunes on the bus or train.

Both games will be out in autumn, with a firm release date to come at a later date.

I stopped playing World of Warcraft a few years back - mainly because it was taking up way too much of my life - but if I had still been playing it and I owned an iPhone then the official ‘World of Warcraft Mobile Armory’ application would be a must have.

Since this new application has officially been designed by Blizzard you no longer need to rely on third-party applications, which are sometimes unreliable, to keep track of your WoW characters while on the move. The free application has all the functionality of the web-based armory, but with the added bonus that you can do it away from your computer.

A few of the features include the ability to check your current equipment set-up, those of other players, guild databases and information on every item in the game. There’s also a spec calculator to help you plan out your character, a calendar that keeps track of upcoming raid events and an achievement tracker. It’s also under 10mb, so you can easily download it away from your computer with 3G.

So, for you WoW obsessive’s this new application means you’ll never have to be all that far away from the ‘delights’ of Azeroth. I’m not actually sure if that’s a good thing or not…

(Image source: Kotaku)

I first mentioned that Metal Gear Solid would be making the jump to the iPhone back in December, but now we have a trailer and some further information to go along with that.

Metal Gear Solid Touch is basically a retelling of the story from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, but from a different perspective.  From the looks of it though it’s a little more than an on-rails shooting gallery, as you’ll play the game from over Solid Snake’s shoulder and use your fingers to do all the work. You can move the reticule by sliding your finger across the screen, tap to shoot and zoom in and out by pinching the screen; which should be familiar to all iPhone owners.

Advancing through the game will also, wait for it, unlock wallpapers for use on your iPhone!!! Sounds exciting, huh? Whatever, it will still sell by the truckload…wait…truckload? The game is download only so maybe that’s the wrong word to use here, but screw it.

There’s no release date or pricing structure yet, but we should know that pretty soon.

An earlier rumour that the next Metal Gear game would be for the iPhone has been confirmed by Konami. The game will - fittingly for the iPhone - be called Metal Gear Solid Touch.

Returning to the universe of Metal Gear Solid 4 the game will consist of 8 stages with the promise that more will be added at a later stage. The game will also take full advantage of the iPhone’s touch screen, employing the zoom-in text method for controlling the sniping function. Bonus points earned through the game will also allow you to unlock stuff such as iPhone wallpapers. It’s slated for a worldwide release in spring 2009.

Konami also revealed three more of their franchises that will be making the jump to iPhone; Silent Hill, DDR and Frogger.

With Konami on board the iPhone has gained yet more respect as a valuable new gaming platform. It has also given me yet another reason to try and save up the money to buy one.

Before I forget, you will be able to download Metal Gear Solid sackboys for LittleBigPlanet from December 18th (the dates have since been removed from the Hong Kong Playstation site, so we’ll just have to wait and see if this date still stands). These should put your mind off the next game for at least a week or two, plus they’re incredibly awesome.

The iPhone is fast becoming a surprisingly good platform for gamers. Plus, there’s that added bonus of, erm, it being a phone…and a web browser, and a music player, and a…

Ok, you get the point, the iPhone is pretty damn cool. Well, it is if you can afford it anyway.

The LA Times brings word that developers have created nearly 1,700 games for the iPhone since the App Store launched back in June. Although only 25% of iPhone users have downloaded a game it’s still pretty good for a mobile phone, and it should be with the iPhone’s decent graphic capabilities and touch screen. Although there’s a lot of neat little apps you can get for the iPhone the games category is by far the biggest, so you’re not exactly spoiled for choice.

One guy, Neil Young, even quit his job at EA to set up a company that develops games for the iPhone. He was using the iPhone so much more than he had with other mobile phones that the saw a “…dramatically new market opportunity for gaming on a unique mobile device”.

Of course, 1,700 games doesn’t mean they’re all good - but there’s always  a few diamonds in the rough!

IPhone users love their video games - LA Times (Via Kotaku)

EA has a habit of churning out updates of the same series year after year (see The Sims or the FIFA franchises) and the Need for Speed series is no exception as it’s now on it’s twelfth installment. I don’t have a problem with EA milking a franchise as long as they actually put out a decent game, and the Need for Speed series has had some pretty decent installments. For example, although racing games aren’t my absolute favourite genre (my brother, however, loves them) Need for Speed: Most Wanted was an absolute blast to play. However, you also get the less than stellar installments, such as Need for Speed: Pro Street (although zooming around a track in a Bugatti Veyron is pretty damn cool) but I suppose you can’t win them all. Fortunately the upcoming Need for Speed: Undercover looks to right the wrongs of Pro Street (even the developers admit Pro Street was average), leaving the track and returning to the streets.

The above video doesn’t show much gameplay wise but it gives you some sense of the story. You’ll be playing the part of an undercover cop infiltrating the underground racing club, which reminds me a bit of The Fast and the Furious. While the storyline probably won’t win any awards it still beats driving around the same track over and over again (this may be ok for other pro racing games but were talking about souped up street cars that are more at home screaming around city streets). Being the undercover cop and all you’ll be returning to race the streets while trying to avoid the police (as they don’t you’re undercover, so doing all that damage to their cars is suddenly all ok!), but it won’t be the same as always. One new feature is the highway battle, which see’s you driving down the long highway connecting the three in-game city areas and battling with an opponent. While this is nothing more than a fancy race in spirit there’s also a lot of traffic to avoid at high speeds, which sounds a little like the Burnout series (another game that recently went free form).  Oh, and there’s also the traditional zooming to the chop shop while being chased by every cop in the state. All this returns to the open world which made Most Wanted so fun.

While you may think it sounds like more of the same it’s still good to see EA returning the game to its roots and will probably be a refreshing and welcomed return to those disappointed by Pro Street.  I know my brother will probably be playing it anyway, that’s if he can tear himself away from FIFA 09.

With typical EA style it’s set for release on pretty much everything that plays video games on November 21st.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is one of my games to buy in September. Thankfully, for those unwilling to splash the cash to buy the game on release Lucas Arts has gone and released a demo on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. I had a play through the Xbox 360 demo and here are my impressions.

I’ve always been looking forward to a Star Wars game which effectively makes use of the force powers that mark both the Star Wars films and the Expanded Universe (such as the novels). In previous Star Wars games it never really seemed like you controlled the most powerful force in the universe, but I’ll put this one down to the lack of technology rather than the shortcomings of the developers. In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed you have all the power of the force at your hands, and we all know that it’s far more fun using the force on the dark side. The demo is pretty short but extremely sweet, and it gives you enough time to get to grips with the new spectacular ways of using the force while easily leaving you wanting more.

After a short cinematic featuring the great Darth Vader himself - and where you learn that Starkiller’s (the character you play) father, a Jedi, was killed and Vader took him as his apprentice - you’re thrown straight into an Imperial shipyard with the task of hunting down a Jedi and killing everyone abroad (including Imperials). The first few corridors let you get to grips with your force powers (although there is a short tutorial as well). They’re packed full of droids and crates that you can throw around to your leisure using the force grip. To use your force grip you select your target (Starkiller auto targets when you look at something) and press the right trigger. Once it’s up in the air you can control it by moving the right and left sticks up and down to move the object up and down or forward and back. You can throw the object by pointing the left stick in the direction you want to throw and hitting the left trigger. There’s an especially cool moment in this first area where you can pick up an object with your force grip and throw it through a window, sucking everything in the immediate area out into space before the bulkhead shield slams down.

Your force grip comes into better play when you’re faced with a group of soldiers, be them rebel or imperial.  In the demo you usually approach them from a distance, such as in one of the TIE Fighter (which, incidentally, you can pick up and throw with the force grip) hangers, so you have ample time to grab something with your force grip. For instance, you can grab an explosive barrel and launch it into a group of soldiers, the resulting explosion killing some of the group while knocking the others to the ground. If you’re brave enough you can approach and take them out with a lightsabre (see next paragraph) but I much prefer grabbing hold of one with the force grip and tossing him across the room, possibly into a set of explosive barrels. When floating a guy through the air there’s neat little touches such as him grabbing hold to a handhold on the ground, or grabbing old of a comrade as he floats past so they both go flying around. You can also use the force push that will send anyone in the way flying, and as Starkiller increases in level this is one of the moves that will get more powerful. In the demo you can also use the force push to rip through heavy bulkhead doors, while the force grip allows you to bend support struts into the oncoming path of TIE Fighters. The force grip controls can take some getting used to, especially in the heat of battle where it’s easy to target the wrong thing. Also, you have to be quick as a laser bolt can make you drop whatever you have in your invisible grasp.

Starkiller is a pretty athletic guy and has a set of fluid movements in his arsenal. You can jump fairly high, especially combined with the double jump, and slam down with the lightsabre - which is perfect for landing in the centre of a group. You can also execute the force push in mid-air, which also lets you extend the blast downwards. You can combine lightsabre attacks with the force grip, such as dragging a person towards you with the force grip, slashing them with the lightsabre and sending them flying with your lightsabre still impaled in them. Your lightsabre then returns to you, spinning through the air like a boomerang. If all else fails you can just hit ‘y’ and execute a lightning bolt - which has the ability to take down a few guys if they’re standing close together.

The end of the demo - which comes far too early in my opinion - see’s you fighting an AT-ST Walker. Large enemies like these are where the double jump comes in handy as you can jump up and slash at it in the air - which comes in handy for avoiding the laser fire. While you’re on the ground you can avoid the rapid laser fire from the walker (and the storm troopers around it) by using the dash skill. When you get the walker down to a certain level of health a QTE (Quick Time Event) will activate, which means you have to press the button that pops up on screen with perfect timing. If you do this correctly Starkiller will slash the walker in two from the bottom up, which ends the demo.

Flinging storm troopers around is pretty fun, but it’s hard to see how this can get you through the entire game. If Lucas Arts manages to put out a decent storyline and also manages to expand on the innovative force powers seen in the demo then Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be a pretty wild ride. From the variety of settings and moves seen in the media released so far it just may turn out to be one of the finest Star Wars games yet, and a very action packed one at that.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is released for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, N-Gage and the iPhone on September 19 (UK).

With August nearly out of the way (for which I will be forever thankful for) it’s time to take a look at some of the games that will be hitting the shelves in September. Autumn is always a great time for games and this years end-of-year line-up is no exception.

Spore.

Release Date: September 5th (UK)
Platforms: PC, Mac

Spore is by far the game I’ve been looking forward to the most over the past few years. While I’ve been keeping up with every little bit of news about Spore events this month have took my mind of things so it was, to my utter surprise, that I realised we’re less than two weeks away from the game that will destroy my life.

If you’re not familiar with Spore (where have you been?) it allows you to control the evolution of a creature of your own design from cell stage through to civilisation and space stages. You can customise your creatures to your hearts extent, along with buildings and vehicles. Plus, your universe will be populated by the creations of other players across the world.

You can view the over two million creations already created by players here, and you can have your own shot at it before the full release with the free version of the Spore creature creator available here. While you’re at it take a quick look at my own creations.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Release Date: September 5th (UK)
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 2, Playstation 3

As you can see from the video above it’s pretty much all ‘BOOM BOOM BOOM’ in a sandbox arena. There’s nothing wrong with this though, nothing at all. It’s pure incredible fun and that’s what video games were originally invented for. While it does have a plot who really cares when you can nuke the hell out of something?

Unfortunately it comes out on the same day as Spore and my pockets aren’t exactly crammed with cash at the moment. I guess I’ll just have to wait a little while long to blind myself with the sheer awesomeness of the explosions.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Release Date: September 19th (UK)
Platforms: Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, N-Gage, PSP, iPhone

What can be better than flinging a Tie Fighter into a Storm Trooper? When it looks as good as this it’s apparently not much.

You’ll play the part of Darth Vader’s apprentice tasked with destroying the last of the Jedi. You’ll soon become more powerful than even Vader himself and your actions will determine which ending you get. The story fits pretty nicely into the Star Wars universe so you’ll want to get it if you’re a hardcore fan. For the rest of those who aren’t hardcore fans but still like a bit of Star Wars then you’ll probably love the amazing physics effects that occur when using the force. These effects are helped along by the Euphoria engine - the same engine that controlled the physics effects in Grand Theft Auto IV.

A lot of Star Wars games are pretty poor, but this one just may change that trend.