Newest 'True Skate' Update Greatly Improves Skating in Transitions, Includes Other Tweaks and Fixes

My official most-played-iPhone-game True Skate [$1.99] just received a minor, though significant update. Backing up, True Skate is Jet Car Stunts [$1.99 / Free] developer True Axis' attempt to create a skateboarding simulation built for the touchscreen, and they absolutely nailed it. We loved the game in our review from back in October, and since that time True Skate game has been updated frequently with new features and customization options, and even a huge new skatepark to play around in.

More parks are planned for later this year, but today's True Skate update includes two enhancements that actually change the fundamentals in the game. One is the ability to tilt a gyroscope-equipped device prior to doing an ollie, which will then shift which way your ollie ends up in the air depending on which direction you tilt. It's a small change, but it helps a lot when trying to line up your board to hit a rail or ledge for a grind or slide trick.

The second and more significant change in this update relates to skating transition, a spot that True Skate has had difficulty getting right in the past. Previously, when skating transitions you'd have to stick to the larger stuff that had actual vertical surface in order to keep your board in the air and land back down in the transition. Otherwise you'd just launch yourself out of the bowl or quarter pipe and it acted more like a jump ramp.

With the updated version, you can actually flick your device towards you right before doing a trick in transition and it will ensure you stay hovered in the air above that transition, so you can land right back down in it. This totally improves skating transition in True Skate, and I have to say it feels awesome to bust a big trick in a bowl and be able to land back down and keep going. I'm not typically a huge fan of having to flick or move my device in any way, but here it feels completely natural and works incredibly well. Hats off to True Axis for finding an elegant solution to this tricky problem.

As I mentioned, True Axis has more goodies planned for True Skate in the future, but for right now they're going hard and heavy on Jet Car Stunts 2 and as much as I love True Skate I have to say I'm more than happy for them to devote the time to that much-anticipated sequel. However, I'm also quite pleased they were able to push out this latest update and how just a couple of minor tweaks have really improved the overall experience. It's also worth mentioning that this update improves performance on older devices, and you can now slow down by touching the ground with your finger if you feel like you're going too fast at any time.

If you're into skating or skating games and have yet to check out True Skate then you should get on that, and join in on the discussion in our forums too.

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TA Plays: 'Slender Rising' - A Scary First-Person Slender Game

Earlier this afternoon, Jared and I turned off our lights and tried to enjoy a round or six of Slender Rising [$2.99 / Free]. It's a first-person horror game that plays pretty similarly to Epic Citadel [Free] -- except for the part where some tall, faceless dude appears to attack you. Presented across several spooky environments, Slender Rising tasks users with finding notes left by ... someone and avoiding the Slenderman in the process.

It's hard to tell who owns this property or, really, who even had the idea to do a game like this first, so we don't comment much on that in the video. What is kinda clear is that this is the Slender game fans have really responded to, and for good reason: it's not a bad video game.

Slender Rising has seen a lot of updates since its initial debut, so hey, maybe now's the time to check it out again if you weren't so happy with the initial launch. If you're already happy with and at an MLG-level with Rising, have fun laughing at two idiots trying to play.

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Plasma Pig Is Lost In Space And Needs Your Help Getting Home

Help a purple pig get back to Earth in this physics-based puzzle game.

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First Trailer for Ron Gilbert's Match-3 RPG 'Scurvy Scallywags' Released

Back in March, renowned game designer Ron Gilbert left Double Fine Productions in order to branch out and do his own thing. Following that, Gilbert revealed that he was working on a new iPhone game called Scurvy Scallywags in The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty. Seriously, that's the name. It almost seemed like a joke at the time, but Scurvy Scallywags was actually a real thing – a match-3 style game with RPG trappings.

Looking to differentiate itself from the glut of matching games on the App Store, Scurvy Scallywags uses an interesting mechanic where after a match is made the game board collapses in the direction of the match to fill in gaps, rather than just dropping all the blocks downwards like most matching games. Seems like a small change but a potentially significant one, and you can tell that Scurvy Scallywags has a ton of personality in its first official trailer.

Gilbert is not alone on Scurvy Scallywags, either. He has partnered up with Clayton Kauzlaric, the designer of the 2003 Xbox title Voodoo Vince. Gilbert and Kauzlaric have teamed up in the past too, for the 2010 action-RPG DeathSpank and more recently for the quirky and enjoyable iPad game The Big Big Castle! [$0.99 (HD)] last July. Can a proven developer power couple like Gilbert and Kauzlaric reinvigorate a tired genre like match-3? I hope so, and I'm looking forward to finding out when Scurvy Scallywags launches sometime in the near future.

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Major 'Battle of the Bulge' Update Adds New Scenarios, Generals

Veteran designer John Butterfield's Batle of the Bulge [$9.99 (HD)] is one of the best historical wargames we've played. Designed from the ground up for the iPad, it feels perfectly suited to that device - so much so that one of its few flaws is that it isn't quite as perfect a fit on the iPad Mini's smaller screen. With it's Avalon Hill-esque gameplay, appealing and unintrusive winter campaign styling, and inspired mix of original and sampled period music, the main thing we wanted in our review of it was more.

Shenandoah Studio delivers in a new update that includes three additional scenarios (two free, one IAP) and two new AI generals. They're so confident that the new AIs, modeled on Omar Bradley and Hasso Von Manteuffel, are going to your socks off that each one is a $1.99 IAP. I was initially skeptical of that decision, but having played against each one, I have to say that Von Manteuffel is, as advertized, a tricky bastard. He stole a draw from me in what should have been a clear win for the Allies. When I played Axis against Omar Bradley in the shortest scenario, "Race to the Meuse," I won easily, but I noticed that he'd done a good job of flanking me: if I'd been playing the full Battle of the Bulge scenario, I would have been in a lot of trouble going forward.

The scenarios are more straightforward: "Bitter End" appeals to those with no patience for victory points and conditional wins by playing out to the, ahem, bitter end of the engagement. That's a feature many players had been clamoring for. There's also added replayability with "Luck of the Draw" which deviates from history by shuffling starting unit placement and reinforcements. Both "Bitter End" and "Luck of the Draw" are free, and are more oriented to players who want some of the options commonly found in strategy videogames.

For the grognards, there's "The Endgame," featuring the siege of Bastogne, which some of you may know from Band of Brothers, and famous for Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe's laconic response to a demand that he surrender: "NUTS!" If you've ever wanted to stand with the 101st Airborne at Bastogne, or if want to see if you can break McAuliffe for his impudence, "The Endgame" will let you fulfill that fantasy for $3.99.

The pricing scheme here is clever: Shenandoah has made the content that will appease those who wanted more "bang for their buck" free, while offering more exotic goodies to the hardcore at a premium. In a move worthy of Von Manteuffel, you have to go to the "purchase" screen to get "Luck of the Draw" (for free), thus ensuring that nearly every player will see the premium IAP. The update is also well-timed, bridging the gap between the winter release of Battle of the Bulge and forthcoming El Alamein, which should be giving us a chance to wage war in the desert sometime this summer.

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Discover New Music From Your Friends And Share It With Legato

You will always find something new to listen to with Legato.

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The Vudu Player For iOS Goes Offline, But For A Very Good Reason

The Vudu Player for iOS device now supports video downloads for offline use.

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