iOS News

A pretty good week for new releases this week with something for everyone on almost all platforms. As always this is not an exhaustive list and release dates may change at short notice.

This week's new releases are severely lacking especially for the 2 main consoles, but Limbo comes to iOS on Wednesday so that kind of makes up for the big release short comings. The popular indie game is accompanied by some minor, small releases but hey, it's July.

Since its release in 2010, Playdead's award-winning platformer Limbo has sold over three million copies, an impressive number for any studio's first official title. Yesterday, the Dutch developers dropped a bit of surprise on the gaming world, announcing that their monochromatic side-scroller will release on iOS on July 3rd.

As somebody who is at least reasonably intelligent, there's a good chance that you wouldn't allow your children access to your credit card in a toy shop. You probably wouldn't give them a thousand dollars to hold either. Apparently, though, if you have over your phone, fail to use the included parental controls and your kid spends way too much on doughnuts, smurf berries and skins, it is the manufacturer of the phone that is at fault.

Well, that didn't take long. After announcing an iOS version of their award-winning strategy title earlier this spring, Firaxis Games wasted no time optimizing XCOM: Enemy Unknown for the touch screen: on Monday they announced the game would hit the App Store this Thursday for $19.99. That's right, the full XCOM experience (save for DLC, though Firaxis could always release this later as an in-app purchase) will launch for $10-20 cheaper than most retailers currently sell the console/PC version.

Stop the press! The biggest news of the gaming day - and it's been a day filled with gaming news - is that the next update to the iOS includes the ability to use third party controllers with the system. Announced yesterday, very few details have been shared, but the very news will be enough to open up a whole new world of mobile gaming, and it might even make a few old favourites even more of a pleasure to play.

Yesterday, Square Enix made a bit of a surprising announcement: the next Deus Ex game was almost ready for release, and would launch in July on... mobile phones and tablets?

PopCap have announced a follow-up to their hugely successful tower defence title Plants Vs Zombies, subtitled "It's About Time." Filled to the brim with Back to the Future references and unveiling a few new plant types, the trailer is the hilarious good fun that made PopCap's games so popular in the first place. Plants Vs Zombies 2 will have you defending your lawn across time and space, although how much of an affect that will have on actual gameplay won't be seen until the game releases next month.

Anuman Interactive have released their first trailer for the next entry in the fan-favourite Dracula adventure series, as well as a set of images. The Shadow of the Dragon begins when a painting that should have been destroyed in a shipwreck turns up in Budapest. The player is tasked with finding out what has happened. It will be released for PC, Mac, iOS and Android in Summer of this year.

Digital Chocolate, the company behind Kings and Warlords(the producer of which we interviewed at the beginning of this month), launched a new game this week. Blackjack! Buzz, with its slightly quicker edge, is a more social game than the Blackjack you know and love. Taking a cue from the likes of Draw Something, Blackjack! Buzz pairs you against strangers who you must out-score. The higher the cards in your hand are worth, the higher your score when you decide to…