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There’s so much going on in iPhone gaming right now, it’s almost as hard to keep up with that as with iPhone 3.0. Two large industry shows bookend much of the current news, iGames Summit and Game Developers Conference (GDC). With multiple awards, great discussions on the future, and a slew of upcoming product announcements, we figured we’d take a moment and round things up…

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Waaaaaay back in the early days of the iPhone, word spread that legendary creator of 3D first person shooters like Wolfenstein and Doom, John Carmack was eager to develop games for the iPhone. Well, hopefully good things come to those who wait, because Carmack has just posted news that Wolfenstein is on its way, and there’s more to come.

In a monstrous blog post, Carmack explains what took so long, the pros (graphics more capable than Nintendo DS) and cons (driver overhead is far, far worse), design notes, and programming.

Must read for anyone interested in iPhone development and id games. For those who just want to play, Wolfenstein is coming, Doom is coming, and undisclosed but hopefully uber-cool new id-goodness is coming.

So, who’s loading their chain guns?

TiPb has been following the iPhone and gaming for quite some time now. Now that the iPhone OS 3.0 announcement has come and gone, we’ve learned that there are 1000 new API’s for developers in the SDK. This will not only help developers make better games but it also shows Apple is deadly serious about making the iPhone a true competitor to Nintendo and Sony within the handheld market. What a bright future there seems to be for iPhone gamers.

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South by Southwest (SXSW) 2009 is trendy, twitter-filling, and the source of increasingly social iPhone news releases. What’s going on this year?

FaceBook connect comes to the iPhone. Sure, they may just have redesigned their home pages to basically become Twitter with invitations to apps you don’t want and events on continents you can’t attend, but behind the scenes:

You can now use Facebook Connect on your iPhone in the same way you can for a website. Simply download any application featuring Facebook Connect and log in using your Facebook account from your iPhone. Then, you’ll be able to easily find your Facebook friends. They will be able to see the same profile information as they can on the site, controlled by your privacy settings. You can also share what you’re doing with your iPhone applications with all of your Facebook friends by publishing stories back to your profile.

Pelago has launched Whrrl 2.0:

an application for the iPhone that enables people to capture and share the moments of their lives, as they happen, as a story. Through location, photos and text updates, users can easily turn everyday life experiences into lasting stories that can be remembered, organized and shared. Each user controls exactly who can view their story, ranging from public to private, and includes the option to broadcast status updates on Facebook and Twitter.

SGN Launched Agency Wars, a game tied into — you guessed it! — social networking and Facebook connect!

Agency Wars is capitalizing on the classic spy genre and offeres massively multiplayer game play so you can become the most deadly spy around.

TUAW is also live and on location at SXSW 2009, and have posted up coverage of the iPhone Gaming Panel.

Konami has released some new shots of Metal Gear Solid Touch for the iPhone and iPod touch and they look… snakey! BGR quotes:

A special ‘Advance Edition’ of Metal Gear Solid Touch containing the first 12 stages of the game is scheduled for release on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch in March of 2009. The final release will follow with eight additional stages of gameplay, and will be available to existing players via a free update on the Apple App Store.

Check out their gallery for more grim, gun-splattered goodness!

Let me start off by saying if you are a fan of side scrolling shooters or zombies, spend the money and buy this game now. Zombieville USA [iTunes Link] is my new favorite iPhone game available in all of the App Store.

As the lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse, it’s up to you to battle legions of the undead in a never ending fight for survival! How long can you hold out? Scrounge for cash and ammunition, and buy up to 15 upgradeable weapons as your inevitable doom closes in around you…

Zombieville USA has two simple objectives: shoot zombies and stay alive. Your weapons and ammo are in short supply so using them at the appropriate time is critical. As you progress thru the levels you can jump into houses that will supply you with cash and ammo as well as keep you protected from the zombies. At the end of each level you can use the cash you’ve pick up to upgrade weapons and refresh your health.

While Zombieville USA is not without some quirky bugs, the developer promises to have them addressed in it’s first update, which is due out next week. This game is on sale and can be purchased right now for only $.99! The sale ends next week when the update is released so be sure not to let this one pass you by.

So again, if you are a side scrolling shooter fan or just love zombies and have a fantasy you are Bruce Campbell kicking some zombie butt in Evil Dead 2… minus the chainsaw, this is your game.

Wait, there is a chainsaw… “Groovy…“

Confession: I bought the Watchmen comics as they came out. I remember my jaw dropping as I finished issue 11, and the interminable wait for issue 12 to come out. That, along with Dark Knight Returns informed a lot of my early thinking about deconstruction, dialog, and dramatic endings (yes, back then the actually considered and built to endings!). I’m a huge fan of writer Alan Moore (Wikipedia link) in general (Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, and too much more to name.) And while the derivatives of those works, including the movie adaptions thus far, are the palest of imitations, and while Moore himself has begged, pleaded, and finally insisted his name be removed from any and all adaptions, the geek in me is still mind-blown to see the video above (and that’s as close to a Harry Knowles intro I’ll ever write).

G4 has the inside:

By using its patent-pending CloudMMO technology running on Amazon’s Cloud, Last Legion were able to create a persistent world for the iPhone in the Watchmen universe. Players can roam the city streets, chat with total strangers, battle with people on the other side of the country, and ride the subway to another part of the city to continue their crusade against crime, all in real-time. Watch what happened when developers from Last Legion Games brought Watchmen: Justice is Coming to our office recently, and hit the Read More link for the full press release.

So, who’s interested in not only Watching the Watchmen — but living in their world?

(Via TUAW)

Over the past two weeks, the App Store has seen its fair share of good quality games creating some waves among gamers, Aqua Moto Racing (iTunes link) being one of these games.

Aqua Moto Racing offers racing with an unprecedented sense of speed on the platform. With state of the art handling and graphics this game truly puts your Jet Ski riding skills to the ultimate test. Race in the beautifully rendered American locations; Emerald Bay, Everglades and Long Beach Port. Start off with participating in a Championship for beginners. Perform stunts and keep a tight line around the buoys to power your boost. Collect medals in the Time Trial mode by beating set target times. Register a profile and compare your race results with friends all over the world. Race against Aqua Moto Racing Lite World Records through Ghost Play.

I know most of you are probably thinking we have more than enough less than stellar racing games available in the App Store. Hopefully Aqua Moto Racing is a good sign of things to come. Where most of the other racing games have failed, this gem of a game succeeds. With good graphics, great control, virtually no slow down, no crashing, etc… This game is a keeper for $2.99.

Pinch Media, who provide metrics/analytics for iPhone users recently gave a presentation on “AppStore Secrets” that highlighted what they’re seeing in terms of free vs. ad supported vs. paid, and usage patterns over time. They try to provide developers with some useful number crunching on how and when to determine if their application is “sticky” and modulate price and ad support, but they also show some things that are interesting from the user perspective:

1. We don’t use free apps that much. Sure, we download them by the gigabyte-full, but after a few tries, it’s buh-bye. If we pay for it, we probably need/want it more, and hence use it more.
2. We keep using games longer than any other type of app.

Things rings true for me. Of all the apps I’ve downloaded (and they’ve been many, free and paid), about the only ones I use consistently are casual games and communication clients (IM, Twitter, etc.) The rest of the time, I’m using built-in apps like Safari, Email, iPod, etc. And even among those “sticky” apps, when I’ve had my fill of one game, I move on to another. When a new Twitter or IM client comes out, I switch to it (and sometimes switch back and forth).

What about you? Do you stop using free apps faster than paid? And what apps do you keep using?

(Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

Apple really, really thinks the iPod touch is the funnest ever, and just so they’re sure we know it as well, they’ve released a second 2nd gen iPod touch gaming music video TV commercial.

TUAW’s commenters pointed out Apple has even gone to the trouble of setting up a special App Store gaming page just for the games shown in the Franz Ferdinand covered commercial.

Will these commercials help sell iPod’s to more gamers? Take a bite out of the upcoming Nintendo DSi pie? Or, like with the iPhone, is focusing on apps taking away from the core purpose of the devices (media + internet)?