Game Topz (gamtopz@gmail.com)

Woooooo it’s my birthday today and to celebrate we’re … talking about smart washers and dryers along with the Coronavirus wreaking havok on everything to do GDC. After that we shift gears to talk about some big news stories of the week, which seems to be primarily be driven by huge happenings in the Stardew Valley universe. It’s a good time, as usual. Don’t forget to shoot us emails with any questions, feedback, or anything else relevant or irrelevant to podcast@toucharcade.com . We read ’em all, and love decoding messages written entirely in emoji. As always, you can listen to us with the links below… And if you like what you hear, please subscribe and/or drop us a review in iTunes. Much appreciated! As a companion to this audio podcast, we also do a video version of the same show that is exclusive to Patreon which allows you to see us playing the games we’re talking about. Backers can view the most recent video episodes of the TouchArcade show by clicking here . Be sure you’re ...

The idea behind the TouchArcade Game of the Week is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn’t necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable “best" thing. Instead, it’s more just us picking out the single game out of the week’s releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one . These picks might be controversial, and that’s OK. If you disagree with what we’ve chosen, let’s try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why . Without further ado…   Aces of the Luftwaffe – Squadron You know I really have to “hand it" to HandyGames, as they are res...

Way back in 2013 after THQ went bankrupt and Gearbox Software snatched up the rights to Homeworld from them, a super vague tweet from Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford stating that they were “ thinking about " a way to bring Homeworld to mobile platforms got fans excited that we might actually see the classic real-time strategy series on our mobile devices someday. It took a lot longer than any of us might have expected, but in August of last year alongside the announcement of a Homeworld 3 , Gearbox also announced the tentatively titled Homeworld Mobile with just the briefest of teaser trailers. There were no other details announced at that time, but I think it was safe to say that the biggest question on everyones mind was how Homeworld Mobile would be monetized. Well we still don’t know the answer to that for sure, but this week Gearbox did release a brand new trailer for Homeworld Mobile which shows much more of the game in action, and it is downright beautiful. Homeworld 3...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for February 28th, 2020. Almost 20 new games hit the eShop today, so the mere act of summarizing all of them more or less took up all of my time today. I had enough time remaining to put together the new list of sales, at least. So sit back and enjoy the absolute downpour of games of varying degrees of quality while I go dunk my poor middle-aged hands in ice. Let’s go! New Releases Metro 2033 Redux ($24.99) SwitchArcade Highlight! This fancy new version of the excellent Metro 2033 is really something special. It runs incredibly well on the Switch, and if you prefer the more shooty-bang style of the sequel, you can play it that way as an optional mode. The atmosphere in this title is outstanding, showing a dark vision of a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been driven into the underground after all hell breaks loose in a nuclear holocaust. I’ll have a full review of this one next week, but I’ve been playing it ...

Last year, EA announced details for an Android only closed alpha for Plants Vs. Zombies 3 from PopCap Games and EA. Plants Vs. Zombies 3 follows Plants Vs. Zombies 2 which wasn’t a fantastic follow up to the amazing original Plants Vs. Zombies for me. Plants Vs. Zombies 3 is a portrait game and it is not playable offline. Gameplay changes have been made as well as revealed on the announcement post for the soft launch. Plants Vs. Zombies 3 also lets you grow your town and squad in game and is free to play as expected with in app purchases. Watch the trailer for the Plants Vs. Zombies 3 soft launch below: Plants Vs. Zombies 3 has returning characters and new ones and features new zombie bosses. Unlike prior games, Plants Vs. Zombies 3 has 3D graphics and features the ability to connect with friends to share items. EA’s official announcement for the soft launch mentions that the earlier games will remain in the stores and Plants Vs. Zombies 3 is not meant to replace them. E...

Square Enix brought Final Fantasy III on iPhone ($6.99) and eventually iPad ($7.99) to iOS a long time ago and it remains one of the few ports from the company to have different iPad and iPhone versions. Today, Square Enix updated the game on iOS, Android, and Steam with loads of new features and improvements. These range from modern device screen size support to quality of life improvements and extra content. Barring support for iPhone X and iPad Pro screen sizes, Final Fantasy III now has a gallery mode, a new opening cutscene, auto battle options, a faster mode, and a soundtrack player. Watch a trailer for the update below: The new gallery mode lets you view posters, promotional art, job designs, concept art, and more. This gallery also has the music player that lets you listen to the soundtrack. I’m very surprised to see this update because there are so many mobile ports from Square Enix that haven’t been fixed yet like Chrono Trigger . If you’ve been wanting to play Final ...

Pretty much everything involving the release cycle of Apple Arcade games has been anything but typical. The vast bulk of the service’s offerings had all been at least announced in name well before the service even launched, and in the weeks following Apple Arcade’s official launch back in September it seems like any new games that get added to the service are ones that have been previously announced or ones that nobody has ever heard of before. However, developer Hipster Whale has probably what you could call the most “normal" release cycle of an Apple Arcade game yet. They announced their new game for the service, Crossy Road Castle , back in October of last year, several weeks after Apple Arcade was already live. But we really didn’t know when the game would be launching. Even stranger was that just a couple of weeks ago, Hipster Whale released a new teaser trailer for Crossy Road Castle , which you can see below. The new teaser’s release led a lot of people to believe that...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for February 27th, 2020. Ol’ Shaun’s day job was a bit busier than usual today, so we’re going to go right to today’s new releases and round things out with the latest list of sales. No time for in-depth coverage of the news, but there’s a new Shovel Knight puzzle game coming this fall, Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia releases worldwide on June 25th, Brawlhalla is getting a Tomb Raider crossover event, The Wonderful 101 Remastered launches on May 19th, and Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is coming to North America on March 31st. Phew, now let’s get to those new releases! New Releases Wanderlust Travel Stories ($14.99) SwitchArcade Highlight! I’m going to give this game a pass for it seemingly pretending to be inventing a new genre when it’s really a choice-based narrative adventure. It gets that pass because it’s quite well-written and very enjoyable on the whole. Five strangers who have been traveling to a variety of...

Dead by Daylight Mobile from Behaviour Interactive and NetEase has been in soft launch for a while on iOS. Today, Behaviour Interactive just announced that the mobile 4v1 asynchronous multiplayer horror experience based on the popular PC and console game Dead by Daylight is heading to the Americas, Europe, and more this Spring. Dead by Daylight Mobile lets you play as a killer or try and survive. The mobile release will include the same gameplay and modes in the main game. The team promises support for a long time as well. Pre-registrations are now live for both the iOS and Android versions of Dead by Daylight Mobile . On Android, pre-registrations are now live on Google Play . For iOS, pre-registrations are live on the official website . Pre-registration tiers unlock cosmetics and Iridescent Shards. The Asian release will be published by NetEase Games and this version will follow a different timeline because of localisation processes. Check out the official website for Dead by Da...

Last year, Bedtime Digital Games released Figment: Journey Into the Mind (Free) on iOS after it debuted on PC and consoles. Figment: Journey Into the Mind is super charming and can be tried for free on iOS with an unlock in app purchase for the full game. We featured it as our Game of the Week when it launched. The adventure game with a big focus on music and humor. A little while ago, the company announced Figment: Creed Valley . Figment: Creed Valley is an encore to Figment with a self contained story. Watch the first teaser trailer for it below: Figment: Creed Valley has two sides of the world on display with a state changing mechanic, new singing nightmares with original themes, and more. Dusty and Piper need to travel to Creed Valley to take on their greatest foe yet. Figment: Creed Valley is set for release on PC and consoles this Fall. As of now, an iOS release has been confirimed but it is uncertain if the iOS version releases at the same time as other platforms. Yo...

After a long wait, iOS users finally got the big Stardew Valley ($7.99) 1.4 content update this week after it hit Android . This was a major update to the game adding tons of new stuff including a new end game, fish ponds, events, new music (enough for a new digital album release), and a lot more. Today, Eric Barone (ConcernedApe) announced that another free content update is in development for the game. This announcement arrives with the fourth anniversary of the game. There are no detail for the actual contents but given how large the 1.4 update was, I’m sure every Stardew Valley player is very excited. While not being handled directly by Eric, hopefully Stardew Valley on iOS and Android can get multiplayer in the future. Hopefully we get some details on what to expect in the update in the near future. If you’ve not gotten Stardew Valley on iOS yet, read our review of it. We even featured it as our Game of the Week . If you don’t already own it, you can buy it on the App S...

Each and every day new mobile games are hitting the App Store, and so each week we put together a big old list of all the best new releases of the past seven days. Back in the day the App Store would showcase the same games for a week, and then refresh those features each Thursday. Because of that developers got into the habit of releasing their games throughout Wednesday or very early Thursday in order to hopefully get one of those coveted features spots. Nowadays the App Store refreshes constantly, so the need for everyone to release all on the same day has diminished. Still, we’ve kept our weekly Wednesday night format as for years that’s the time people knew to check TouchArcade for the list of new games. And so without further ado please check out the full list of this week’s new games below, and let us know in the comments section which games you’ll be picking up!   Aces of the Luftwaffe Squadron ($6.99) iTunes Description The Squadron has reached your mobile device! D...