The TouchArcade Show – An iPhone Games Podcast

Eli's off globe-trotting again, so Jared and Carter take the reins on this week's podcast. They discuss the controversial decision by Apple to make Choice of Games release all their future gamebooks in a hub app [Free]. They lament the age of games shutting down, as Yo-Kai Watch: Wibble Wobble [Free] joins the long list of titles to see a shutdown later this year. Carter and Jared get hyped for Teeny Titans: Go Figure, before discussing Never Stop Sneakin' [$2.99] and Nitrome's Colorblind - An Eye For An Eye [Free], along with what you're missing if you're not watching the TouchArcade crew and their Fortnite [Free] squad adventures. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-349.mp3, 65MB

Ahhhhh it's good to be home, at least for a couple days. On this week's episode, we do a GDC debrief, focusing majorly on what an incredible time Train Jam and the ... super busy and simultaneously scary time we had at GDC in San Francisco. From there, we hit on a few of our favorite games we saw at GDC but this GDC was fairly amazing as there was no clear answer for "What's the best thing you saw at GDC?" Everything was fantastic. If you missed any of our GDC coverage, be sure to check all that out here. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-348.mp3, 66MB

While Eli and Jared crank out the GDC content, Carter's hosting the podcast once again, with long-time TA contributor Eric Ford co-hosting this week. With the release of PUBG Mobile [Free] and Fortnite mania sweeping the country, Carter and Eric talk about the two games and discuss their experiences: and which one they think is better. Also, will Fortnite's financial success show a new way forward for free-to-play monetization? After that, Carter and Eric answer a couple of submitted questions on how to stop playing a game you spend too much time playing, and whether the Nintendo Switch can avoid falling into the trap of shovelware and race-to-the-bottom prices that affected the App Store. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-347.mp3, 70MB

Eli and Jared are currently aboard Train Jam on their way out to GDC, but fret not: instead of a classic episode, Carter and Shaun are here to discuss this week's big games and news. Fortnite obviously takes up a lot of the discussion, as it is a potentially groundbreaking mobile release. We also discuss the upcoming beta for dinosaur survival game ARK: Survival Evolved, another similarly-surprising mobile port from console/PC. Shaun gets to discuss something a bit more familiar to him as we talk about Fighting Fantasy Classics [Free], and the ridiculous sale for Darkest Dungeon: Tablet Edition [$4.99 (HD)] over on iPad, before wrapping things up with some Armello [Free] discussion. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-346.mp3, 70MB

Eli was returning from basking in the presence of Gaben, so it's the Jared Nelson and Carter Dotson show again this week on The TouchArcade Show. They discuss a bunch of this week's news stories, including the bombshell that Fortnite's coming to mobile. Then, they discuss a few of this week's new releases: The Sims Mobile [appprice url="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-sims-mobile/id1144258115?mt=8"}, Read Only Memories: Type-M [Free], and Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear [$9.99]. Eli Note: Sorry for posting this a little late, I got home super under the weather last night! 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-345.mp3, 82MB

This show kicks off with a whole bunch of chat about Jared's new pupper, from there we shift gears to briefly discussing our GDC plans. After that, we hit up the big news stories of the week which include Sega's absurdly obvious realization with Sega Forever, drama surrounding the Chrono Trigger update, and a bunch of other stuff. It was an oddly busy week. As far as games are concerned, we hit on Part Time UFO [$3.99], Peak Rider Snowboarding [Free], and Lichtspeer [$1.99]. We're planning on recording early next week due to some secret plans so we'll hit more on the other games that came out this week then! 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-344.mp3, 69MB

We recorded a bit early in the day today because Jared is getting a puppy! A PUPPY! Anyway, aside from dog chat we hit on the big news stories of the week including but not limited to discussing whether or not playing games counts as gambling, a favorite topic amongst the internet these days. When we switch gears to talking about games, we hit on Glitch Dash [Free], Alto's Odyssey [$4.99], Rogue Hearts [$0.99], Birdy Trip [Free], and Dunk Line [Free]. It's a good time, I promise. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-343.mp3, 60MB

This week's episode is a little shorter than normal because I've just been going wild with GDC preparations. I want to announce all of our plans for the event next week which is... soaking up a stupid amount of my time. We still hit up some of the biggest news stories of the week including Supercell's giant cash haul, MFi controllers, and more. On the new games front, we briefly discuss Death Squared [$2.99] and Florence [$2.99]. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-342.mp3, 40MB

Eli's on the road this week, so we got Carter Dotson to make his return to the show, guest-hosting along with Jared. They discuss several of the news stories that hit this week, including the news about Rules of Survival [Free]'s download success, the new PUBG mobile games in China, the Sid Meier's Civilization VI [Free (HD)] sale, and the news that Mario Kart Tour will be free-to-start on mobile. Along with that, the gang discusses three of the most notable releases of the week: Dandara [$14.99] and its ambitious multi-platform release strategy, Dig Dog - Treasure Hunter [$2.99] and its unique hands-free development, and of course, the shrunken-down Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition [Free]. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-341.mp3, 44MB

A big part of the news discussion this week surrounds the surprising announcement that a Mario Kart game is coming to mobile. Is it going to be a full-blown racing game like Angry Birds Go [Free], or something closer to CSR Racing [Free] where all you really do is equip your karts with minimal interaction? We could see it going either way, and who even knows if it'll launch in time, so we've got at least a year of speculating ahead of us! As far as games that are out now are concerned, we hit on Run Gun Sports [Free], Unicycle Hero [Free], A Hollow Doorway [Free], Magic Golf [Free], Pako 2 [$1.99], and Disc Drivin' 2 [Free]. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-340.mp3, 70MB

This week's episode is a bit of a catch-up show since we recorded so early in the week last week and have a bunch of news stories we wanted to discuss. The shutdown of Miitomo and a bunch of other really cool upcoming things like Disc Drivin' 2 are all in there. As far as games are concerned that you can actually download now are concerned, we hit on Super Fancy Pants Adventure [$4.99], The Room: Old Sins [$4.99], and Thumper: Pocket Edition [$4.99]. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-339.mp3, 75MB

So this week I'm at the Hearthstone Championship Tour to see who wins this year's tournament. (I'm pulling for DocPwn!) We recorded an episode that's about a ... around 2/3 of an episode thinking I'd be able to add some Blizzard interview content in there but scheduling didn't really work out. Instead, we chat about some of the more relevant news stories of the week and just generally have a great time podcastin' for about 45 minutes! Also, I'm continuing to tweak our recording process, so audio levels should be even better this week (I hope). 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-339.mp3, 43MB This week's episode of The TouchArcade Show is sponsored by… Dash or Defend, Free - Dash or Defend is a new real-time strategy game in a fantasy setting with a unique twist on the traditional tower defense genre where you can play as the defender or attacker. When playing to attack (Dash), you send out your minions and deploy offensive spells against the base. When you Defend, you place different tower types and use defensive spells to stop the minions from reaching your base. Victories allow you to unlock new towers, minions, and spells so you can develop new strategies for both sides. And you can battle against online opponents in fast 5-minute games. Dash or Defend is now available for free on the App Store!

I tried a totally new recording and audio mixing process this time around which I think normalized the podcast track way better than what I was doing before. In theory, our audio levels should be pretty even now (or at least they seem that way to me). Beyond that, this week we get into talking about our experience at the HiRez Expo in Atlanta Georgia, which is where we were last week. We move on to discussing some games including Qriket [Free], Let Them Come [$1.99], Kraino [Free], Double Dragon IV [Free], and HeliHopper [Free]. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-337.mp3, 70MB This week's episode of The TouchArcade Show is sponsored by… Quizcover, Free - Diversity has come to trivia games! Quizcover is a new app for your iPhone or iPad. It features not one, not two, but THREE kinds of trivia questions. That's three different ways in which Quizcover presents its questions and three ways for you to enter your answers. Play with your friends, with random opponents, or by yourself. Boosters will give you colorful hints, remove items, or provide parts of the answer. It's ad-free but you can choose to view ads for rewards. Discover Quizcover, the FREE trivia game with three question types, on the App Store today.

This has been a truly incredible year for iOS gaming. We started with a list of hundreds of fantastic titles, whittled that down to a Top 100 Best Games list, and then started the day off with a short list of eight games in consideration for TouchArcade Game of the Year: Splitter Critters [$2.99], Data Wing [Free], Gorogoa [$4.99], GRID Autosport [$9.99], Cat Quest [$4.99], Reigns: Her Majesty [$2.99], Death Road to Canada [$12.99], and Arena of Valor [Free]. On this week's episode of the podcast, we walk through all of these games and what made them so special before eventually hashing out what was going to win what. Normally, we reserve the video version of the podcast for TouchArcade Patreon backers, but since this is a special event that only comes around once a year, we figured that we'd just put the video up for everyone to see. If you're at all curious about these additional titles, or the reasoning that went into what games won and why, definitely check this out or listen to our Podcast on iTunes: Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel   GAME OF THE YEAR: DEATH ROAD TO CANADA I'm not sure what kind of witchcraft is enchanting both Rocketcat Games and Madgarden, but it seems like the monkey's paw wish they made years ago is still paying off with their ability to flawlessly release game that push every single one of our buttons. Back in 2014 we awarded Rocketcat Game of the Year for Wayward Souls [$6.99], and this year we are happy to announce that our 2017 Game of the Year is Death Road to Canada. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel We absolutely loved the game in our review back when it was released earlier this year. It was the game to beat, and while many games came close, nothing dethroned Death Road to Canada. The roguelike gameplay of completely random games and the absurd events that would transpire made trading tells from your time on the Death Road just as fun as playing the game itself. Additionally, a barrage of updates has pulled us right back into Death Road to Canada multiple times throughout the year. The game was among the most popular titles on our forums as well.   RUNNER UP: CAT QUEST Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel One thing we really loved about our 2016 Game of the Year, Crashlands [$6.99], is how it took a fairly complicated genre and made it unbelievably approachable. The Gentlebros' Cat Quest [$4.99] is dripping with similar magic, and is both a super lightweight RPG you can just play for a few minutes at a time which also features loads of depth if you're looking to explore it. Great touch controls, a ultra cute art style, and perfectly paired music all come together in one of the top must-play experiences of the year. (And our forums also agree!)   HONORABLE MENTION: SPLITTER CRITTERS Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel With our top two picks being pretty deep in the gamer-y games category, we also wanted to give a special nod to the best iOS puzzler of the year, Splitter Critters [$2.99]. When we first saw this at PAX it was obvious that Splitter Critters was either going to win tons of awards or it'd just be totally under the radar. Thankfully, they ended up winning all sorts of things including an Apple Design Award. As we explain in our review, gameplay involves making tears (or splitting) in the game world to then rearrange those pieces of the level into a way that allows your Lemming-like little blue aliens to reach their space ship. The base game was amazing, and then they updated it to support ARKit, turning one of the best puzzlers of the year into the best AR experience we've seen yet. Folks on our forums also really dig it. For more end of the year coverage of the best games of 2017, be sure to check out our top 100 best iOS games list, as well as these personal top tens that we've been drizzling out over the week: Jared's 10 Best Games of 2017 - [...]

We pushed off recording of last week's episode to today because we were working so late into the day to publish our top 100 games list. So, we got back after the holiday weekend to randomly discuss some of our favorites from the list. iOS game releases over the year are only getting better, and I feel like we say this every year, but it was super difficult to trim this down to only 100 games. Wilder yet, is the list is only games released this year, we could've easily thrown together another 100 of games that came out in the past and have been flawlessly maintained with updates since. 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 logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer. iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show Stitcher: The TouchArcade Show via Stitcher Radio for Podcasts [Free] RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-335.mp3, 68MB