Last month Minecraft developer Mojang let their legions of fans know that they'd be changing the current direction of their mobile version of the game, Minecraft - Pocket Edition [$6.99/Lite], into something more akin to its PC counterpart. You see, Pocket Edition launched in the App Store in mid-November after a brief stint as an Xperia Play exclusive, but was missing a couple of core components that are key to the Minecraft experience – namely mining and crafting – which is why we didn't exactly love it in our review.

Mojang has again updated their blog with the latest status of what direction the Minecraft - Pocket Edition project is heading. They admit that they mistakenly thought gamers would want something closer to Minecraft Creative while on the go, so that's sort of how Pocket Edition was designed from the start. Because of that, now that they want to go back and add in things like enemies, survival, and crafting it's going to take some pretty hefty rejiggering of the entire game.

And the beginnings of this rejiggering will be what's in the forthcoming update which Mojang plans to have submitted by February 8th. There will be some pretty heavy behind-the-scenes type stuff in the update which will allow for a smoother transition when survival mode is added in the future. Crafting is also coming, but since it requires a pretty extensive interface overhaul, it's still a ways out. Survival mode will most likely be hitting pretty soon this year, and the update lays the groundwork for that.

But just because this update is filled with a lot of boring technical foundation which you cannot see, there are still a few minor new content additions to look forward to. There will be some "neat looking animals" and some new blocks, as well as doors and fences. That's right, doors and fences! The best part of this update though is that with the behind-the-scenes grunt work out of the way then new content should be easier to create and updates should start coming much faster going forward.

We'll definitely be keeping our eye on how Minecraft - Pocket Edition evolves, and while you wait for the update that's coming next month you can hit up our forums for discussion of the game.

If the golden days of Lucasarts adventure titles such as Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle and Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders recall fond memories, there's a good chance you're destined to love any and everything about Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World [Free / HD]. After all, who didn't get a perverse joy out of wandering aimlessly and trying to figure out puzzles that were so odd that using basic logic on them meant you would never advance?

Those types of puzzles make their appearances here, but so does a lot of solid gameplay. Kaptain Brawe opens up with an intro to the title character, a big goofy dude who somehow managed to get hired as a space officer despite the fact he's clearly not the brightest bulb in the room. Already, we have a recipe for some laughs -- that's what adventure game fans are used to. You'll start out solo, but eventually meet new characters like Row Boat (a robot of few words) and Luna (a bit of a mystery all around) who you can swap between at different points in the game, offering a bit of new perspective.

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Civilization Revolution for the iPhone [$6.99] and iPad [$12.99], one of our favorite simulation games on the entire platform, has just received iCloud support in a massive update that sees some notable tweaks across the two games.

Starting now, you can upload and sync your saves between iPad and iPhone, which allows you to rock out in the same conflict regardless of iDevice on-hand. Also, 2K Games has dropped in achievement support and added to the game's visuals. New resource and unit icons compliment all new environmental animations including moving water and animated seagulls and fish. Seems small, but you'll be surprised when you boot it up.

Civilization Revolution for iPhone, by the way, has also just received "Create Your Own Scenario" challenges, which brings it up to date with the iPad version. This mode in particular is the most entertaining and rich one that Civ Rev has to offer, so definitely give it a look. You'll be saying, "Oh, god, it's 2AM" in no time.

When Call of Duty: Zombies hit the iOS app store way back when we praised it for what was, at the time, a great adaptation of the console secondary game mode. Now, over two years later, the zombies have finally returned with Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies [$6.99], the first true sequel to iOS CoD Zombies (strange psuedo-sequel notwithstanding). While Black Ops Zombies does succeed in providing improved visuals and extra variety in the addition of the excellent Dead-Ops mode, a frustrating selection of controls, spotty multiplayer, and a very limited map selection on the onset may make some fans hesitant to purchase now.

For the uninitiated, Black Ops Zombies is a first person shooter zombie survival game based off of the survival mode found on some console versions of Call of Duty. Zombies is map-based, with each map typically featuring numerous rooms and weapons that must be unlocked in order to provide the player with better weapons and defense. There are some small secondary objectives, but the primary goal of each play through is to simply survive as long as you can. Zombies come at you in waves, and you earn money for each one you take down, giving you the currency needed to unlock everything. There are also power-ups, such as extra ammo or double currency, which can randomly drop from the slain undead.

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We put incredibly powerful devices in our pockets and on our laps daily, but rarely do we see games that utterly embrace this like Infinity Blade has. It's a showcase piece; a technically and visually gifted game that consistently delivers eye-popping stuff.

Infinity Blade 2 [$6.99] is a step a step or two beyond what was accomplished in the original, adding in layers and layers of next-level environmental and character texture detail on top of a ton of fantastic ambient touches -- sharper shadows, stronger lighting, and a glut of atmospheric effects bolster what's already a visual delight, especially on iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

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There's hype building publicity stunts, then there's hype building publicity stunts. Pre-release excitement for Chair's upcoming Infinity Blade 2 is already at an all time high, which apparently has left Chair's PR department scratching their collective heads to come up with what else they could do to promote a game that's already on cruise control for greatness.

I'm guessing this eureka moment coincided with late night fitness-centric infomercials, resulting in a promotion that's so silly we couldn't help but post about it. Anyway, Chair has partnered up with musclebound bro Nate Green who is known for The Hero Handbook, a free fitness-oriented self-help eBook. Nate (who can be seen above working out at the local playground) put together a list of exercises which should help prepare even the weakest of hands for Infinity Blade 2.

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Needing no introduction for any iOS Action fans, the Gangstar series has been Gameloft’s answer for folks looking for the city sandbox experience popular on gaming consoles. While we enjoyed the previous two Gangstar titles, there were outstanding issues in both games that prevented each from becoming a truly ‘must-own’ title. With Gangstar Rio: City of Saints [$6.99], Gameloft looks to up the ante in all aspects from the new location to cleaner graphics to even a new character advancement system. While Rio falters in its voice overs and the overarching story, everything else makes this the best Gangstar yet.

Gangstar Rio continues the tried and true gameplay of previous titles that closely mimics the gameplay of sandbox games like the Grand Theft Auto series. All the elements from previous games – from the mission based main story, to the large amount of collectibles, to even the side jobs attached to various vehicles – make a return. However, Gangstar Rio improves on its predecessors by making everything just a little bit better. For example, the Rio de Janeiro locale seems to be bigger and is a lot more unique compared to the previous locations. The entire world just feels more alive than previous titles. In addition, the developers have improved the controls by adding a few new options and tightening the existing schemes. However, I was extremely disappointed in the lack of cloud saving/syncing as that should be an essential requirement for lengthy games such as this (moreso since Rio is a universal title).

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Chair's Infinity Blade [$2.99] hit the App Store late last year and was met with nearly flawless critical reception. We couldn't help but give it five stars in our review, saying "It doesn't get much more 'must-have' than this." We then went on to name-drop Infinity Blade all over our Best iPhone Games category, listing it highly in every buyer's guide, and every other opportunity we could think of to tell people to download it.

At the iPhone 4S press event, Chair announced Infinity Blade 2, and I'm not sure it's possible for another iOS title (aside from a potential Infinity Blade 3) to have this much pre-launch hype. It's well deserved, too. The original was fantastic, and really, all Chair would have needed to do is phone in a sequel with new monsters, new equipment, and maybe even a new setting and we all would have been happy. Instead, what they've done, it take nearly every element of the original and turned it up to eleven.

One of the few criticisms people had of Infinity Blade was the oddly cyclical nature of the game, which wasn't held up by any more than a vague shell of a story involving your entire bloodline serving the single purpose of throwing themselves at the God King. Penny Arcade nailed it in a comic, and Infinity Blade was a much better experience if you didn't focus on just how silly it was that you decided to take up the sword after your father, grand father, great grandfather, great great grandfather and however many "greats" you needed to add to get back to the original knight who foolishly decided to make this your family's purpose.

Infinity Blade 2 feels like it has an actual story, and this time it's told through actual voiceovers. It picks up where the first left off, and you've got the God King's Infinity Blade in your hands, and are off to find "The Worker of Secrets" now that every deathless in the world is interested in taking the Infinity Blade from you. The initial hook involves searching for Saydhi, an information dealer. Thankfully, Saydhi seems to love duels, and offers up prizes for winning. I won't spoil more than that (and this hardly counts as spoilers since it all transpires in the first cut scene) but the way things branch out from there is substantially more interesting than the original even though you'll be doing a similar series of loops through the game.

Combat, the main draw of Infinity Blade seems to be greatly improved. Chair must have either tweaked the combat animations themselves, how the swipe input is handled, or both as it feels like you have an even more direct control link to your character. This shines even further in the new combat options which become available, allowing you to trade your shield to either dual wield or carry a massive two handed weapon.

The three fighting styles feel substantially different, and help greatly in making the game feel not quite as repetitive. With two weapons in hand, you attack much faster and blocking with your shield is replaced with being able to duck. Two handed weapons are much slower, and your defensive abilities are swapped with blocking using the actual weapon itself. It's really cool how it all works out.

The item store is back, and just like the first game you'll be trading your gold for gear at regular intervals. A new gem system allows for higher levels of customization though, and it won't take long before your equipped set of gear has all sorts of slots that you can socket gems into which can do basic things like boost stats all the way up to imbuing your items with various magical properties. If coming across gold in battles is a problem, Infinity Blade 2 offers a similar IAP purchase system to buy more gold if you want. Although, like the original, there's really no reason to and buying gold to get the best items seems to just remove any drive to actually play the game since equipment upgrades play such a big role.

Outside of fights, the gameplay is nearly identical with a world you can explore in an on-rails fashion, panning the camera around and tapping to move to the next location. Hidden items are back, encouraging you to stop to look around on every screen so you don't miss anything. You'll want to, too, because Infinity Blade 2 looks gorgeous. While you might be rewarded with items for doing it, you'll also be taking in the scenery just to marvel at the graphics your iPhone is capable of pumping out.

The rest of the game can easily be summed up with, "It's Infinity Blade, but more." There are more enemy types to fight, more visual effects, more flexibility, more customization, and they managed to do all this while removing how repetitive the original felt after blasting through the game a few times. It's everything I wanted in a sequel, and I can't wait for it to be released.

Infinity Blade 2 will be available on December 1st as a universal app for $6.99. We'll have a full review then, so stay tuned.

I had expected to hear my geriatric iPhone 3GS to croon its swan song when I loaded up Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] for the first time. It didn't. To my surprise, Mojang's inaugural iOS title actually got along swimmingly with my hardware. Was it a sign of good things to come? Perhaps. Deeply pleased with this turn of events, I went ahead and generated my first world.

And that's when the disappointments started rolling through the door. To be fair, I don't blame Mojang. If anything, they've done a rather masterful job at porting their world-famous IP onto the platform. Nonetheless, there's only so much you can do around technical constraints. Regardless of how you slice, the truth of the matter is that Minecraft just doesn't work here (not yet, anyway). To paraphrase the Genie from Disney's Aladdin, phenomenal cosmic power and itty-bitty living spaces do not mix.

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Jurassic Park: The Game 1 HD [$6.99] is a mixed bag. On one hand, it's a technically messy and poorly optimized iPad 2 exclusive. It stutters and drops frames so consistently that it becomes nearly impossible to enjoy, no less play. And even when you're willing to forgive this fairly fundamental flaw, the roller-coaster-y placement of its sluggish and mundane puzzles has a habit of obliterating the tension it succeeds in building. But on the other hand, this is a Telltale production. The characters, which are newcomers to the universe, are handled with care and written as if they were, actually, people; the story is laced with excitement and drama conveyed with a palpable reverence for the source material; and when the game is actually clicking, the tension and the pull of its beats are enormous.

The story takes place in Jurassic Park sans electrical fences -- basically, right after Dr. Hammond, Malcolm and the rest of the crew bail on Isla Nublar and its new occupying force, dinosaurs. You'll be following a new cast of characters, including a well-equipped ... contractor lady sent in to assist Nedry with his capture of the dinosaur embryos, a veterinarian, and the vet's daughter, who obviously has some issues with her family life.

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As a huge Jurassic Park fan, I only need to hear about three notes of the theme song before I instinctively get… Well, probably more excited than a nearly-30-year-old should get over dinosaurs. We've heard more than a few rumblings of Telltale's plans to release the Jurassic Park-themed adventure game on the App Store, and it's finally here along with a brand new trailer that goes over all of its iPad 2 exclusiveness.

Jurassic Park: The Game 1 HD [$6.99] (say that three times fast) is the first installment in the series, and takes place during the events of the second half of the first Jurassic Park movie. I've always thought the Jurassic Park universe was fantastic, and am beyond stoked that I'll be able to delve into a new adventure on my iPad 2. It's unfortunate that Telltale has dropped iPad support, but if you've played any of their recent games on the device it'll be more than clear why they did it.

We'll have a review for the game as soon as we can sit down and spend some time with it, but in the meantime, if you don't feel like waiting feel free to mash the download link below.

Fantasy Flight Games is a company that's known for creating very complicated tabletop games from geek-friendly properties, like A Song of Ice and Fire, Battlestar Galactica, The Lord of the Rings, and the works of H.P. Lovecraft. One of their most popular offerings is Arkham Horror, a game with approximately 700 cards, tokens and markers to keep track of and a play time of up to four hours. Earlier this year, the company released Elder Sign, a game that takes the Lovecraftian horror of Arkham Horror and distills it down to about half the time and only 200 pieces or so.

I love these games, but there's really no such thing as a quick game of, well, any of them. Between set up, tear down and the inevitable time taken to teach new players and reference forgotten rules, you're looking at a full evening's entertainment. So imagine my delight playing Elder Sign: Omens [$3.99 / HD], the first of Fantasy Flight's more mature games to arrive on the App Store. It's quick to play, can be learned (mostly) as you go, and can be played solo or hotseat with friends. What's not to like?

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First there was Modern Combat: Sandstorm [$4.99 / HD] which we described as one of the most impressive gaming experiences on the App Store at that time.  Next came MC2: Black Pegasus [$6.99 / HD /  Free], which we called " A new standard in online multiplayer". Now, Gameloft has released their much anticipated third installment, MC3: Fallen Nation [$6.99], which although not revolutionary, is easily one of the best first-person shooters available for iOS devices.

This release is named "Fallen Nation" because America is under attack. The enemies are KPR (Korea, Pakistan and Russia), who have declared war on America and invaded US cities, reportedly destroying Chicago. Anyone familiar with the earlier games will find more of the same non-stop action in this military shooter, but Gameloft have extended their previous efforts to ensure this latest release is the best in the series.

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There's not much to say about the Hector series -- rushing headlong to its conclusion in Beyond Reasonable Doom [$4.99 /$6.99] -- that hasn't been said before. We've noted its sharp writing; its high production values; and, most importantly, the way it continually tweaks and revises the traditional adventure genre.

Straandlooper have achieved this by making each episode in the series structurally unique. Ep1 gave Hector three discrete objectives to complete while Ep2 led him through a long and meandering investigation. Episode 3, though, is very clear cut in its goals: Hector most stop a terrorist from using biochemical weapons on the Clappers Wreake fair.

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A pre-existing game might be one of the best to show off your soon-to-be brand new iPhone 4S’ power, if Firemint’s Real Racing 2 is in your collection. Real Racing 2 [$4.99] and Real Racing 2 HD [$6.99] are set to receive a free and new update that’ll add an extra layer of graphical goodness on top of their pre-existing sizzle, all in the service of harnessing the A5 chip. New dynamic shadows and lighting, increased polygon counts, reflections, and exposure effects are all being added in the game’s latest update, which should hit pretty soon.

And that’s not all -- iOS 5 is coming and so are a handful of features to Real Racing 2 that revolve around Airplay support. With the update, you’ll be able to wirelessly stream the game’s content to your TV. Also, if you’ve got friends with the game and an iPhone 4S or an iPad 2, you’ll be able to play with them in split-screen. “Party Play” mode will allow up to 4 players to compete on the same screen, provided the host has Apple’s new hotnesses.

Firemint isn’t known for missing a hardware launch, so we didn’t expect any less. Still, this seems like an absolutely spectacular deal for current and new owners of the game. Real Racing 2 was great to begin with, and now it’ll look even sharper than ever.