Gadgets and Video Games

Imagine all the epic battles of Final Fantasy XIII in the palm of your hand! In fact, using your imagination is pretty much the only thing you can do with this new App. Square Enix is proud to present an exclusive version of Final Fantasy XIII for your iPhone and iPod Touch that lets you zoom in on Lightning, Snow and the rest of the gang.

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Square Enix brings overpriced photos of Final Fantasy XIII to the iPhone

The latest issue of Japanese mag Famitsu reveals Square Enix’s Chaos Rings , which is apparently a new Japanese RPG for the iPhone and iPod Touch. 1UP ’s translation indicates that Chaos Rings features art by Final Fantasy vet Yusuke Naora, and that the plot follows five teams of two, each of whom have their own storylines. Destiny and eternal life plot lines ensue. The battle system is apparently built around solo and pair moves by the characters, the latter dealing greater damage and unlocking more combo skills.

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New Square Enix iPhone JRPG ‘Chaos Rings’ in development

Being a giant, beloved video game blog has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we’re giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products.

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The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Gamedoctors

Tarrnie Williams, formerly of Relic Entertainment, now spends his days working at EA Burnaby on EA Sports Active , which now has him wearing plastic peripherals and extolling the virtues of exercise in his role as executive producer on EA Sports Active 2.0 . He’s definitely very eager about working out, and he’s eager to shake the image of chubby dudes playing games in their parent’s basement. He wants them to be fit while they’re down there. We talked to Williams at the EA Sports Opener at GDC where he deftly dodged questions about the Xbox 360 version, and didn’t give up much information on the iPhone and iPod Touch versions, other than the fact that “they’re online enabled.” We’d sure hope so.

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Interview: EA Sports Active 2.0 executive producer Tarrnie Williams

At a pirate-themed party in San Francisco tonight (with special guests Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer!) LucasArts announced The Secret of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition , coming “this summer” on Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, PC, iPhone and iPod Touch. This isn’t simply the same “special edition” treatment applied to last year’s edition; instead, fans can expect a new control mechanism.

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The Secret of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition announced for XBLA, PSN, PC, iPhone

We want to be up front with you: We’re not entirely sure Noby Noby Boy is a “game” in the usual way we understand it. No, we’re not talking about last year’s PS3 release (though one could argue …); instead, we’re talking about today’s iPhone release. Let’s examine the evidence: The trailer, included after the break, eschews traditional marketing tactics in favor of puppets and nonsensical dialogue. The screenshots depict a series of seemingly unrelated “functions” (minigames?) including a camera app, a map app, a stretchable Boy app, and others. And our final piece of evidence, Noby Noby Boy is filed under “Productivity” in the App Store and, regardless of its status as a “game” we’re almost certain it’s not going to make us more productive at anything, short of unlocking its mysteries

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Noby Noby Boy available now for ‘iPhone, iPhone, iPod Touch!’

Did you expect any less? Did you expect that there would be a movie called Toy Story 3 and that there wouldn’t be an Avalanche Software -developed tie-in game available on Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, DS and PSP? Oh, yeah, there’s an iPhone/iPod Touch app too that should arrive with the others on June 15.

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Yes, there’s a Toy Story 3: The Game for that console

Most publishers make dramatic trailers for their games, with carefully chosen game footage augmented by thrilling cinematics. Namco Bandai did not do that for the iPhone Noby Noby Boy game. Instead, creator Keita Takahashi put on a puppet show in a conference room. Using adorable handmade puppets, Takahashi provided the clearest look yet at the mobile version, including the stretchable Boy, several minigames and a camera app in which …

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iPhone Noby Noby Boy demonstrated by puppets

Two companies have announced new iPhone releases of old games. First, Pocket Gamer reports that Cobra Command developer Revolutionary Concepts will release another Data East classic, Karate Champ , on iPhone and iPod touch. The port will feature Bluetooth and local wi-fi two-player, and will simulate the original dual-joystick interface of the arcade game. In addition, Manomio, developer of the on-again, off-again Commodore 64 emulator for iPhone, has gotten an Amiga emulator working and plans to release Amiga games as standalone apps.

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Karate Champ, Amiga games coming soon to iPhone

Apogee — it’s not dead yet! — has announced that its cult classic first-person shooter, Rise of the Triad , is on its way to the iPhone OS. The game is being ported to the platform by Mobilia Interactive, which has produced a number of previous iPhone titles as well. The port actually surfaced over the summer last year , though it’s now clear that the company has been given Apogee’s blessing to sell the app

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Apogee’s Rise of the Triad getting ludicrous on iPhone