WOW! This week, or actually, the last two weeks have been insane. We've been pulling some crazy hours here getting everything up, and as a result, the front page of TouchArcade has been moving at about mach 3. I'm pretty sure Brad, Jared, and I all Tebowed at one point this week in hopes that the emails would stop coming.

Anyway, here's a reverse chronological recap of the stories really worth checking out over the past couple of weeks, in case you missed anything! If you've already read everything I'm linking here, congratulations, you just earned your TouchArcade holiday season merit badge.

Best iOS Games November 2011

Our ratings for games we reviewed in November are now in place, and we now present to you the ones that are on the top of the heap. Each game reviewed receives a 1-5 star rating relative to the other games from that month. Generally, a three-star or higher is considered a "good" rating.

The 'Time Ducks' Trailer Will Melt Your Brain

A couple of weeks ago, Tough Guy Studios released their first iOS game called Time Ducks [$1.99], and I'm going to be honest, I bought it based solely on the fact that it was called Time Ducks. I figured with a name like that, there was no way I could go wrong. As it turned out, Time Ducks ended up being a pretty fun and unique take on line drawing games, and it sort of sat on the back burner as something I'd been planning on writing about.

Controller Update: More on the GameBone, A Bluetooth 4.0 Revelation

iPhone controller accessories have been generating a good bit of news, here lately. More and more existing iOS titles are gaining physical control options via updates, and just last week we detailed the upcoming Gametel Bluetooth controller that will soon become a game-enhancing iOS controller option, alongside the iCade and iControlPad. The more the merrier, true, but long time readers may recall yet another controller we covered over a year ago that has been off the radar ever since. Does anyone remember the GameBone?

Microsoft Releases Official Xbox Live App

Microsoft, via Xbox Live evangelist Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, has just announced the immediate release of the company's first Xbox Live iOS app, My Xbox Live [Free]. It's a free app that basically acts as a mobile companion to some of the more important aspects of the service. You can read and send messages to anyone on your Friend's List, manage that list or invite new people onto it, edit your profile, gander at all of your hard-earned achievements, or even mess with your Avatar's apparel.

The OnLive iOS Client is Finally Arriving

At E3 back in June of this year, we got an impressive hands-on demo of the OnLive service running and playable on the iPad. In case you're not familiar, OnLive is the cloud-based gaming service that allows you to play from a fairly large selection of console and PC games by way of streaming them to an OnLive client running on your computer or a specially designed set-top box that connects to your TV. In simpler terms, it's a lot like instantly streaming movies over NetFlix, except it's video games, and you get to actually play them in real time with minimal lag if you're internet speeds are up to snuff.

Out Now: 'Batman Arkham City Lockdown', 'Mini Motor Racing', 'Six Guns', 'TXT Fighter HD', and More

Holy jeez! We're pretty used to the typical Wednesday onslaught of new releases in the App Store, but today has been a truly insane undertaking. Between Batman making a surprise drop from the shadows and into the App Store with Arkham City Lockdown, the exciting OnLive iOS client finally seeing the light of day (soon anyway), and the normal barrage of new releases we usually see every week, it's been a wild roller coaster ride of iOS craziness. To top it off, Eli is out in Finland hobnobbing with The Mighty Eagle, ensuring that Brad and I are up to our ear balls in busy work.

Dragon Shout: A Great 'Skyrim' Map App

Dragon Shout [Free] has cleared the certification hurdle and it's available now at the low, low price of $0. What it does, it does well, and it proves a point. Games as deep as Skyrim should be embracing mobile companion apps across the board. Dragon Shout is an app that not only makes Skyrim better, but down the road, it might add an entirely new layer to the experience: social.

'Chrono Trigger' Hits the App Store

Hey guys! Here's a surprise, Chrono Trigger [$9.99] just came out of nowhere. Well, not entirely out of nowhere, since Square Enix had mentioned that it was coming this month… But after the rampant delays that Final Fantasy Tactics saw, my hopes that they'd hit this release window could be best described as "cautiously optimistic."

Apple's "App Store Rewind 2011" Features 'Tiny Tower' and 'Dead Space for iPad' as Games of the Year

If you're new to iOS devices, or haven't been following the scene as closely as you should have been over the last year, Apple's year end feature App Store Rewind 2011 has an incredible amount of must-have games and apps that, in my opinion, you can basically just blindly download as they did a great job of picking out the cream of the crop.

'WildChords' is One of the Coolest Things I've Seen the iPad Do

Earlier today I got a live demo of Ovelin's WildChords [Free], an edutainment musical game that never really had much reason to be on my radar. But using nothing more than an iPad, any kind of guitar, and some technical wizardry on their end, WildChords can teach you how to play the guitar.

'Batman Arkham City Lockdown' Review - The Dark Knight Tries His Hand at 'Infinity Blade'

Earlier this week, Warner Bros. and Mortal Kombat developer NeatherRealm Studios surprised everybody by dropping Batman Arkham City Lockdown [$5.99], an iOS spinoff of the critically acclaimed console series, into the App Store.

Remember 'Star Command'? Well It's Still Coming, Here Are Some New Screens

Easily one of my most anticipated games this year, and I'm sure many of yours out there as well, is Warballoon Games' Star Command.

'Kinectimals' Review - Making Connections

Kinectimals on Kinect is an experiential game that does a solid job of luring its users into forming an emotional bond with its assortment of on-screen, rascally pets.

Out Now: 'Bug Princess', 'Ice Rage', 'Marathon 2', 'Sonic CD', 'Trenches II' and TONS More

If you've been sitting on a massive emergency food supply waiting for the right occasion to open the first gallon sized can of preserved potato chunks, this might be it.

'Sonic CD' Review - Absolutely Incredible and Redefines Expectations of iOS Ports

The only way I can start this review is with a little history lesson, both for people who aren't familiar with Sonic CD, as well as those of you who might not have been reading TouchArcade since the summer of 2009. Let's start at the beginning, so everyone can truly appreciate just how wonderful the very existence of this game is.

'Grand Theft Auto III' Review - Ten Years Later, Still a Great Game

Prior to Grand Theft Auto III I'd say I had fun messing around in Grand Theft Auto games, but never really enjoyed myself. The top-down view felt incredibly claustrophobic, and, at least for me, made getting immersed into the game world incredibly difficult. I don't think it's hyperbole at all to say that GTA 3 changed everything.

Carcassonne' Update Adds Expansion, Baby Mode

Remember when we wrote about the fact that Carcassonne [$9.99] will receive expansion support in the future? It has that right now.

'Mad Dog McCree' Coming To iPhone Next Week

American Laser Games's so-awful-it-ends-up-being-good FMV shooter, Mad Dog McCree, is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch this December 20, according to caretaker Digital Leisure. This is a port of the original arcade release of the game, so don't expect anything too fancy, however the team is noting that it has converted the game's silly footage for phones and even added an "all new casual mode" for those without hardcore gunslinging skills.

'Bug Princess' Review - Unsurprisingly, CAVE's Latest Bullet Hell Shooter is Another Winner

In April of last year, iOS gamers scored big when longtime Japanese developer CAVE decided to task their mobile division with bringing some of their classic shooter titles to the Apple App Store. All of these games – Espgaluda II, Dodonpachi Resurrection, and Deathsmiles – received critical acclaim from media and gamers alike, and set the benchmark for what we should expect from our bullet hell shmups on the App Store.

I told you it has been a crazy couple of weeks! I only cherry picked the really good stuff that we posted for this list too! Now, it's time for a beer and a weekend away from my inbox…!

Prior to Grand Theft Auto III I'd say I had fun messing around in Grand Theft Auto games, but never really enjoyed myself. The top-down view felt incredibly claustrophobic, and, at least for me, made getting immersed into the game world incredibly difficult. I don't think it's hyperbole at all to say that GTA 3 changed everything.

Originally released in 2001 as a Playstation 2 exclusive, Grand Theft Auto III featured a full 3D game engine for the first time in the game series. At least for me, this transformed a silly and entirely too controversial set of video games into a living and breathing universe. It's debatable how well the game has aged in ten years, but in 2001, after the initial cut scene rolls and you're driving through the beginnings of Liberty City, there was no way your jaw wasn't on the floor.

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Grand Theft Auto III [$4.99] hit the App Store mere moments ago, and after getting the game downloaded and installed on our iPads, we'll have a full review first thing tomorrow morning. Initial impressions are remarkably positive, although at this writing we've only played it so far on our collective iPad 2's. But, it's Grand Theft Auto III on iOS devices. The controls are about what you'd expect, virtual buttons everywhere, but they seem entirely workable once you get your head wrapped around where everything is.

Check out the forum thread where impressions have been rolling all evening, and stay tuned tomorrow for our full look into the world of Grand Theft Auto III!

The only way I can start this review is with a little history lesson, both for people who aren't familiar with Sonic CD, as well as those of you who might not have been reading TouchArcade since the summer of 2009. Let's start at the beginning, so everyone can truly appreciate just how wonderful the very existence of this game is.

Sonic CD, or Sonic the Hedgehog CD was originally released in late 1993 for the Sega CD, Sega's CD-ROM accessory for the Genesis console. Sega CD had actually come out earlier that year, and many gamers (myself included) couldn't wait to get their hands on one as the promise of full motion video powered gaming seemed incredible. Unfortunately, both due to the many technical limitations of the system, as well as the games themselves just not being very good, the Sega CD never really took off quite how I imagined Sega wanted it to. (There's actually a bunch of reasons I could also get into, but I digress.)

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If you've been sitting on a massive emergency food supply waiting for the right occasion to open the first gallon sized can of preserved potato chunks, this might be it. With the holiday season almost upon us and the iTunes freeze quickly approaching, it seems like everyone who has a game to release decided to pull the lever today instead of waiting until next week. The iTunes Connect freeze takes place this year from December 22nd all the way through December 29th, so while there won't be any games released that week, we have another potential week of release madness ahead of us.

Regardless, there is absolutely no shortage of games to choose from tonight. If everything goes as it usually does, these games should all be available in the USA at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're in a region east of North America.

Here's what's on our radar:

Blobster Christmas, 99¢ - Forum Thread - If you've found yourself thinking, "You know, I really liked Blobster but I wish it was more festive," Chillingo totally has your back. We liked the original in our review, and if you did too, give this a spin.

Blockwick, Free - Forum Thread - If sliding puzzles are your cup of tea, Blockwick is the newest kid on the block. (See what I did there?) Anyway, I really dig puzzle games like this which are free with an initial level pack with additional levels available via IAP, so you only ever need to pay if you both enjoy the game and have cleared the free content.

Bloons 2, 99¢ - Forum Thread - The guys from Digital Goldfish are the masters of bringing popular Flash games to iOS, and Bloons 2 is their latest port. You can play it online for free with ads, or spend a buck and have it forever on your iPhone. Not too shabby.

Bug Princess, $4.99 - Forum Thread - It's a CAVE shooter, it's $4.99, and it's universal. What else do you need to know?

Derby Days, Free - Forum Thread - Another free to play farming game from Com2uS, except the gimmick of this one seems to centralize around breeding and racing horses.

FiTS by Reiner Knizia, $3.99 - Forum Thread - The latest from puzzle master Reiner Knizia! Be sure to check out all his other games too.

Frontline Commando, Free - Forum Thread - This third person shooter looks like it could be promising, but it all depends on how Glu implemented their free to play model. I hope there are no $500 guns.

Ice Rage, 99¢ - Forum Thread - An ice hockey game from Mountain Sheep, the dudes behind both Minigore and Death Rally with Enviro-Bear as a playable character? Take my money.

iDamaged, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Looking to shoot tons of stuff with a giant mech? Give iDamaged a look.

Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World, Free / HD - Forum Thread - This adventure game unravels the great Space Age conspiracy. It's also free, with a single $9.99 unlock, assuming you like the taste they give you.

Mad Tracks, Free - Forum Thread - The above video is actually from the Wii version of the game, but judging by screenshots, the iOS version might even look better than that. Hopefully the free to play mechanic is OK.

Marathon 2: Durandal, Free - Forum Thread - I'd explain what this game is all about, but Jared already did all that and more today. Check it out!

Monkey Island Tales 2, $4.99 - Forum Thread - After recent Telltale releases, cautious optimism is the name of the game here.

Monkey Quest: Thunderbow, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This physics-powered game seems to provide a minor variation on Angry Birds style gameplay with monkeys, zombies, scorpions, and mummies. What a mix!

Puppy Panic, 99¢ - Title - An endless runner of sorts featuring a variety of playable puppies? Whatever, I'm in.

Puzzle Quest 2 Freemium, Free - Forum Thread - Oh hey, it's Puzzle Quest 2 with a free to play spin… Ugh.

Real Football 2012, Free - Forum Thread - Gameloft's yearly installment of their soccer series, only this time, freemium.

Save The Furries!, $2.99 / HD - Forum Thread - 60 levels are included in this physics-based puzzler where Bulky Pix puts you to the task of making sure no harm comes to the Furries. My question is, what have the furries done for me?

Sin or Win, $1.99 - Forum Thread - Brad was all over this game last week, be sure to give his preview coverage a look.

Snoticles, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Another physics puzzler! This time from Adult Swim, one of the few outfits on the App Store that you can blindly buy games from knowing they'll be great.

Sonic CD, $1.99 - Forum Thread - I've always considered Sonic CD to be the best of the series, and this port is so good it makes me want to cry. Seriously, so much love went into this that it's incredible, it even features both US and Japanese soundtracks. Download. This. Now.

SubTub, 99¢ - Forum Thread - The iTunes text for this game has left me with practically no clue what you actually do in this game, but I'm always oddly drawn to games with mega-bright art styles like this one.

Tongue Tied!, $1.99 - Forum Thread - One of my favorite things about the App Store is the ridiculous lengths developers need to go to in order to come up with game premises that haven't been done before. A physics games where two dogs have their tongues tied together. That's it, pack it up, I've seen it all.

Trenches II, $1.99 / HD - Forum Thread - The sequel to Trenches is finally here! Trenches was ridiculously popular, and it seems like this is a great sequel.

Toy Shot, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This catapult-style game from Gamevil actually looks sort of neat, I dig the Lego art style.

Venture Towns, $3.99 - Forum Thread - Hey! It's the latest Kairosoft game. Expect some hardcore simulation action, this time managing an entire town.

Wind Up Robots, $1.99 - Forum Thread - 7 unique robots to send into the fray, 12 enemies, and tons of hats you can buy. I like hats.

Now here's something I was never expecting. As part of the EA Daily Deals program this holiday season, Flight Control [Free] and Flight Control HD [Free] have had their prices slashed to zero dollars.

Flight Control is about as classic as games get for iOS. It not only has won a pile full of awards since it was released, it's single handedly responsible for popularizing the whole "line drawing" and "chaos management" family of games. Everyone needs to download it while it's free, which from the looks of it, is today only.

Last month, CAVE announced plans to bring Bug Princess to iOS. Details were vague aside from a teaser video and a "winter 2011" release data. Well, this afternoon CAVE let the proverbial cat out of the bag and revealed that it'll be available on the 15th as a universal app for $4.99.

My favorite part of the trailer is about half way in when they show the side by side gameplay of the different difficulty levels. I've never really been good enough at CAVE games to advance past the easy modes. Thinking that it's possible for someone to rock out in "hell" mode sort of makes my head explode.

Bug Princess is just the latest of the plethora of games that are scheduled to be released on the 15th. Strap in, next week is going to be insane.

Earlier today I got a live demo of Ovelin's WildChords [Free], an edutainment musical game that never really had much reason to be on my radar. But using nothing more than an iPad, any kind of guitar, and some technical wizardry on their end, WildChords can teach you how to play the guitar. There are a number of fairly exhaustive overview videos on YouTube, and something like this is really better to just see in action, so check this out:

The crazy thing about WildChords, is that it really works exactly like it shows in the video. Watching someone play a guitar in front of the iPad, along to a game, that is able to recognize what chords you're playing and slowly ramp up to teach you actual songs flat out feels like a mixture of magic and something you'd see in a sci-fi movie. Better yet, it's totally free to try. You can download the app and get access to all of the early lessons, which will give you a great idea of just how well it works. It's worth repeating that you seriously don't need anything but an iPad, and a guitar. There's no wires, accessories, or anything else.

After you complete the free content, additional lessons are purchased for $2.99 a pop via in-app purchase, and they have plans to roll out all sorts of additional IAP packages. The music recognition technology they're using apparently has the potential to be stupidly exact with future possibilities of detecting whether you're strumming with an upstroke or a downstroke, as well as all sorts of other nuances that flew right over my non-musical head.

I think there's tons of potential in these kind of real-world musical instrument games. Imagine if instead of spending a cumulative week of your life playing Guitar Hero you invested your time in WildChords. You'd know how to actually play an instrument instead of just being especially proficient on pressing buttons. The cost savings are incredible too, as even if you bought every piece of IAP in WildChords, you'd likely still have spent less money than a single guitar lesson.

If you don't have an iPad, or a guitar, but just want to see more of WildChords in action, check out the Ovelin YouTube channel. If you do have an iPad and a guitar, you really need to download WildChords.

If you're new to iOS devices, or haven't been following the scene as closely as you should have been over the last year, Apple's year end feature App Store Rewind 2011 has an incredible amount of must-have games and apps that, in my opinion, you can basically just blindly download as they did a great job of picking out the cream of the crop.

Apple's iPhone game of the year is NimbleBit's Tiny Tower [Free], a great free to play little tower building simulator that we loved in our review. If you haven't tried it yet, you really should. Runners up to iPhone game of the year include Tiny Wings [99¢], which shockingly enough we also thought was great. Illusion Labs' Touchgrind BMX [$4.99] also made the cut, and, believe it or not, we positively reviewed it as well.

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It's hard to come up with an IP I have more fond memories of than the MechWarrior family. Anyone remember the actual BattleTech Centers? After spending a few hours in one of those, you basically become a MechWarrior fan for life. Anyway, MechWarrior: Tactical Command was announced mere moments ago, and is the first MechWarrior title designed for iOS. It's apparently even been in development since 2009, and it utilizes touch controls to facilitate a real time tactics system of battling. Check out the trailer:

Over 30 mech options will be included, along with an advanced weapon system and all sorts of missions to complete. Details aside from that are vague right now, but we expect more information to start dribbling out next year as the game gets closer to release.

[via MTV Multiplayer]

Hey guys! Here's a surprise, Chrono Trigger [$9.99] just came out of nowhere. Well, not entirely out of nowhere, since Square Enix had mentioned that it was coming this month… But after the rampant delays that Final Fantasy Tactics saw, my hopes that they'd hit this release window could be best described as "cautiously optimistic."

My first impressions are fairly positive so far with this port, mostly because Square has re-rendered all of the text and game UI to actually be legible, unlike Final Fantasy Tactics! We'll offer a more thorough review in the not too distant future, but in the meantime you can swing by the thread to check out forum user impressions as well.

You know, I've got to hand it to EA. They're really really good at making money. The latest cash cow they've set loose on the App Store pasture is the updated version of Tetris [99¢] which as we mentioned last night isn't an update to the existing Tetris. Instead, it's a new app that everyone will need to purchase, even owners of the original Tetris if they want access to the (admittedly really cool) new features.

Aside from a massive visual overhaul, Tetris now comes with a "one touch" control mode which greatly simplifies playing the game on iOS devices. When a new piece appears, you're given all the locations that you could drop said piece, and instead of steering the piece into place yourself you just tap where you want it to land. It works great, and effectively puts an end to those annoying moments that every single Tetris player has experienced where you drop a piece one block off from where you wanted it, ruining your perfect line-clearing setup.

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The week of PR shenanigans is still going strong, the latest of which involving a late-day surprise release of EA's new iteration of Tetris [99¢] which we mentioned seeing at EA's recent winter preview event. Here's what The Bearded One had to say about it:

Basically everybody on the planet knows the falling blocks puzzle game Tetris, and we’ve had an iOS version of the game almost since the very beginning of the App Store. While that is a fun and totally decent version of the game, the touch screen controls left a bit to be desired. That’s where the new One-Touch mode comes in. Here, when blocks appear at the top of the screen you’re given an assortment of spots to automatically place the block at the bottom of the screen, represented by outlines of the block’s shape.

This seemed like a weird idea to me at first, but after actually playing this mode I was a believer. It’s such a simple change but it dramatically changes how you would typically play Tetris, almost transforming it into a different game and bypassing any imprecise control issues from the touch screen. There’s regular Marathon mode as well as a progressive level-based Rush mode in addition to One-Touch, so this version of Tetris should appeal to purists as well as those looking for a fresh take on the classic gameplay.

Unfortunately, it seems that this new version of Tetris has replaced the old version of Tetris on the App Store. So, this will be a new purchase for everyone instead of an update, and you might as well back up the old Tetris .ipa somewhere in case you ever want to re-sync it to your device.

The week of weird PR shenanigans continues with Ubisoft's surprise release of Assassin’s Creed Recollection [$2.99]. We've been posting about the few details that Ubisoft has been leaking out, specifically how the game boasts things like "deep tactical gameplay" and "challenging political battles."

Now that the game is finally released, we'll get to see just how challenging these political battles are. Hopefully my opponent doesn't use the "reveal 13 year long affair" ability. We're downloading the game now and hope to have a review up shortly!

Well this has been a crazy day. Infinity Blade 2 madness all over the place, a surprise Call of Duty announcement, Where's My Water went free with Facebook hijinx, and a ton of other stuff I never expected when I rolled out of bed this morning. I figured things would be slow, since Chair essentially claimed today as their day at the last keynote. But NO!

So, this is less of a "coming tonight" and more of an "out now." I have a feeling things are only going to get crazier as we get close to the iTunes freeze in late December.

The Bard's Tale, $5.99 - Forum Thread - Embarrassingly enough, the first time I heard about this comedic RPG was when new hit that it was coming to iOS. I was then shamelessly ridiculed for not having played it when it was first released on other platforms. That seems appropriate.

BigBot Smash, 99¢ - Forum Thread - I'm not really sure what to say about this game, since the graphics seem pretty lo-fi but I love the premise of just playing as a giant upgradable robot blowing stuff up.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, $6.99 - Forum Thread - Surprise! It's a pseudo-sequel to Call of Duty: Zombies! Online multiplayer is the name of the game here, and we've got a great thread if you're looking for someone to play with.

Catball Eats It All, Free - Forum Thread - This incredibly descriptive title basically says it all. I'm sure you'll hear more about this game on Jared's Kitty Korner.

Egg Punch, Free - Forum Thread - I'm liking the looks of this not-quite-mini-golf egg-rolling game. The premise is a bit of a stretch, but I'm such a sucker for cel shaded graphics.

Green Farm 2, Free - Forum Thread - What's better than a Gameloft clone of Farmville? How about a sequel?

Horror Vacui 2, $1.99 - Forum Thread - I'm totally unfamiliar with Horror Vacui, but it's by the creator of The Last Rocket, which I absolutely loved… So I'm excited to try this!

Infinity Blade 2, $6.99 - Forum Thread - Read our review, and download this game. Now.

Last War, Free - Forum Thread - I'm not sure what to think of this as it looks a lot like those old Mafia Wars games, but it's from… Gamevil?

McGyro, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A, err, gyroscope controlled shooting gallery game published by Chillingo.

Mr.Oops!!, 99¢ - Forum Thread - We're massive fans of Ponos, and I have a dedicated folder on my phone to all the "Mr." games. Tonight, I add another.

Sparky vs Glutters, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Clickgamer pulled out all the stops to compete with Infinity Blade 2 this week with this Zuma-style marble shooting game.

Zen Pinball, Free - Forum Thread - An awesome pinball game with one free table and others available via IAP.