Infinity Blade 2 hits the App Store: This is your killer game to brag about the power of Apple’s A5 chip

Infinity Blade is to the iPad what the Halo series is to the Xbox 360 (or the Gran Turismo franchise to the PlayStation 3). That is, a killer game – a title so compelling that not only does it showcases what’s possible on a platform, but is also so impressive that folks go out and buy the hardware just to be able to play that particular game. A killer title for iPad gamers has to be Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade.

Classed as the first iOS game to run on the Unreal Engine, Infinity Blade went on to become the fastest-grossing app in the history of iOS, selling $1.6 million in four days. Three major updates later, Chair Entertainment launches Infinity Blade 2, a sequel to the elegiac action masterpiece. Here’s the blurb:

Journey into the world of the Deathless tyrants and their legion of Titans. Build skills and upgrade characters… all while delving deeper into this mysterious, timeless adventure.

Expect forty new locations (up from ten in the original title), many new hit points, weapons and spells, plus a bunch of other nuances and nice-to-haves. Chair is already thinking post-launch, teasing an update with the Clash Mobs feature where a bunch of other players attack a monster with millions of hit points. In case you were wondering, IGN gave Infinity Blade 2 a 10. A cornerstone of the sequel is, of course, graphics.

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The game features console-quality lighting effects.

The game runs fine on the original iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. However, you’ll want to enjoy it on your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S due to optimizations that really push the envelope of what’s possible on Apple’s A5 chip, especially in the lighting and shading department. Make no mistake, this is one game that you’ll want to show off to your Android-toting friends.

More information is available at the official site. The game hit the New Zealand App Store this morning. You should expect it in the U.S. store around 11pm Eastern time tonight at this URL, priced at $9.99 (a 941MB universal binary download). To celebrate the launch of Infinity Blade 2, Chair slashed the original Infinity Blade to just six bucks for a limited time. Release notes and more clips after the break, including Donald Mustard (creative director), Adam Ford (artistic director) and Geremy Mustard (technical director) talking the visuals.

More videos below:

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Joypad streams iOS games from iPad to Apple TV, uses iPhone as controller

A new app called Joypad allows users to play iOS games on their Apple TV. Granted, you will need an iPad and iPhone to get this to work, but as seen in the video above it works really well. After you download the Joystick app on your iPhone it will connect to the iPad via Bluetooth.

Once the connection has been made you can then push the game from your iPad to the Apple TV with Airplay. In effect you’ll be using your iPhone as a controller and your iPad as “console”. As of now the catalog of games is relatively small, but with the Joypad SDK any developer can add this capability into their apps. (via The Next Web)

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Fan backlash over adverts injected in Angry Birds HD

Last night, an update to Angry Birds HD dropped on iPad with fifteen new levels, a new golden egg and a “feature” that has immediately angered loyal fans – adverts. No, not the unobtrusive types of an AdMob or AdSense variety seen in some apps. In Angry Birds HD, a “news section” – a nicer word for advertisements – hits gamers in the face upon reaching the pause screen.

It pitches the official merchandise, forcing gamers to wait for the promotional animation to finish, thus hindering their ability to restart the level and resume the game as quickly as possible. The move backfired as agitated fans began posting despicable comments in iTunes reviews. Here’s what one avid fan wrote:

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Play the embassy mission of upcoming Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard in this interactive trailer

Mobile games developer Gameloft is launching Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard for the iPhone tomorrow and to mark the occasion they’ve put together a pretty awesome interactive trailer that lets you play the embassy level by clicking on the hotspots to choose between several possible directions. It’s kinda cool, reminds me of those laserdisc games from the 80s, such as Dragon’s Lair, which has been ported to both the iPhone and iPad. Note that the above clip works on PCs and Macs, but those watching the trailer on their iDevice won’t be able to interact with it. The official site has more information about this promising looking release.

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