If you haven’t checked your iPhone app store updates lately, you may want to give it a check soon. Tilt to Live 1.5 is finally out. What’s new?

• Game Center Leaderboards – compete with your friends on daily and weekly leaderboards
• Game Center Achievements – bragging rights
• “Retina Display” graphics – High-res graphics for those with high-res devices
• Bug fixes carrying over from Tilt to Live HD

What is that you say? Where are the new weapons or gametypes? Well, the holiday season is full of miracles. See you then.

We had a major issue in the initial release of Tilt to Live HD that prevented a lot of international users from playing the game. We’ve been working as fast as possible to resolve the issue and getting a working version out on the app store. It’s now live and should be appearing throughout the different app stores within hours.

What’s fixed

• Non-US iTunes users no longer crash on start up
• Red dots now draw on *top* of pick ups. No more sneaky dots!

Update:

We screwed up with our review alert. A fix is in the pipeline and should be up live within a few days.

Wow, I was quite pleasantly surprised at the amount of response we got when asking for beta testers. We weren’t kidding when we said “small” as we’ve only got 20 or so spots to fill, but got a lot more requests. Sadly, not everyone will be able to try out the beta :[. I’ve sent out the beta e-mails so if you haven’t received one by the end of today, sorry, maybe next time! Thanks to all that have shown their support and for lending a helping hand in making Tilt to Live even more awesome!

So we’re close to wrapping up our next big update for Tilt to Live, but we’re in need of a little help from you guys. Some of the big new features in this update:

• Game Center Leaderboards and Achievements
• Gyroscope support
• Retina Display Graphics

We’re wanting to run this game through it’s paces on a nice range of devices. Anyone with a 3G, 3GS, or iPhone/iPod 4 are welcome to request an invite. What issues we’re potentially looking for:

1. Game Center integration working (or not working) on older gen devices and being correctly disabled on 3.x iOS devices. In areas with less than ideal interenet connectivity/speed are of particular interest.
2. Gyroscope support: (iPhone 4/iPod 4G only) Does it make sense?
3. General feedback of any bugs or crashes discovered.

If you think you have the time and would like to give TTL 1.5 a test run on your device, just head over to our contact form and choose ‘Beta Request’ and fill in the info. We can’t accomodate everyone due to very limited ad-hoc space, so please only apply if you’re willing to give it an honest effort.

It’s finally out! Tilt to Live HD has hit the app store and so far the response has been phenomenal! You can download the game for free here!

Also, we’ve given out 10 free full version copies to our lucky subscribers of our newsletter. If you don’t want to miss out on a chance like that again you can always subscribe.

So the madness is over and we’ve got our stuff in line. Tilt to Live HD is set to hit the iPad App Store October 7th. Prepare for take off!

In case you woke up this morning wondering why Tilt to Live HD hasn’t hit the iPad app store yet, it’s because it has been delayed :(. And if you weren’t wondering, then we saved you the trouble, so wonder no more! We’re currently still going through the approval process, but once things are in order we’ll be sure to let everyone know the actual release date. It sucks that things took a little longer than expected, but hey, that is the way of the app store.

We’ve got a lot of neat Tilt to Live stuff  in the works (iPhone and iPad included) along with some new projects, so it’s not all doom and gloom ;).

You can consider it in the mail if you used free, 5-8 day super-saver shipping. We submitted the release build to Apple yesterday, so we’ve penciled in September 30th the official release date. So on September 30th, barring some misfortune, expect to grab Tilt to Live HD for free. Free to play Classic with 4 weapons, $3.99 to own it all.

One thing you’ll notice immediately from this screenshot is the word “Score” where “Time” should be. While we were tweaking gameplay for the upcoming Tilt to Live HD, we invented a brand new Gauntlet mode; one that takes advantage of all this glorious space. It’s the same idea: survive weaponless in a barrage of dots, axes, and nasty surprises. But it’s no longer your time that counts. It’s how you use it.

What’s different?

• Everything.
• Dots, axes, and knives will be coming from all four edges of the screen, not just the right.
• No predictable formations, only chaos!
• No lives, you wimp.
• No depleting life bar at the bottom. Orbs give you points, instead.
• Orbs are more valuable if you collect them quickly.
• You won’t be graded on how long you last, but how many points you can gather.

Be on the lookout for TtL HD later this month. Classic mode is free to try, but this new Gauntlet is only playable in the full version.

We figured it’d be fun to share what we’re both playing currently in our spare time. We play games on several platforms, but by and large I think it’s safe to say we’re both still very ‘traditional’ gamers spending most of our time on consoles or PC. As you’ll probably tell in a bit, Adam and I tend to spend our times in vastly different games/genres. I’m a multiplayer freak. He likes Mario. The end. Ok there’s more to it than that…

Mario Galaxy 2 [Wii]

I personally haven’t played Mario Galaxy 2, but from what I hear is that it’s more Mario. Which is usually a good thing. Adam’s been taking his sweet time in playing through this game and recently beat it. He’s now playing back through Mario Galaxy 1. Only Mr. Miyamoto knows why.

Solipskier [iPhone]

This game’s mechanic was really fun. My first exposure to it was on my iPhone 4. If you’re on a flash capable device you can play solipskier on Mikengreg’s site. The music is great and the sense of speed you experience in the game is awesome. The design of the game is very tight, laser focused and very polished. TA’s review was positive, but interestingly enough it stirred up some controversy in the comments thread. The all important ‘price point’ was the contentious issue for what was on offer. To me, this game was worth it. They even have a 100% free version for those to check out first, so I feel the price is right. Worth checking out!

Archetype [iPhone/iPad]

Alright, this is a weird one for me. I bought this on my iphone 4. Then I bought it on my iPad (Archetype HD). The game feels nice. I think it’s probably the best FPS experience you can get on the iphone or ipad right now. The game from a technical standpoint is nothing short of impressive. The ability to jump in and out of multiplayer matches so easily with no hassle is no small technical feat. I really wanted this game to be “it” for multiplayer experiences for me on the go. So much so that I even gave the iPad version a try. Again, TA’s review I think is spot on that it’s the best on the platform. But I think that’s just it. It’s only the best on the platform. That doesn’t say to much considering there’s only a handful of decent FPS’s on it. It’s early yet so I feel this will only get better. To get an idea of where I’m coming from you should know that I’m not a fan of FPS games on the console. I’ve made due and spent tons of time playing on the 360 because the games themselves are great. But give me keyboard and mouse any day. I actually have a lot to say on this topic from a game design perspective, but I won’t go into it right now. Just know that Archetype is good fun and definitely worth checking out.

Shot Shot Shoot [iPad]

I played this game with a friend over the past weekend. I absolutely love the design of this game. A very pure competitive game that despite it’s simplicity in it’s rules elevates to something much more complex when you add the human element. Shot Shot Shoot provided lots of enjoyment, and if you’re looking for a fun competitive iPad game then this is it.

Starcraft 2 [Mac]

My current “addiction”. I’m playing this game more than I need to be probably (just ask Adam). I was hooked on the first Starcraft over a decade ago. Games like Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War got me mildly back into RTS’s, but at the time I was very much into online team-based FPS’s. I didn’t think I’d still be playing Starcraft 2 after the first couple of weeks, but there’ something about this game that keeps me coming back. The sheer depth mixed with the almost twitch-like gameplay mechanics for controlling your armies is a great mix and something I can sink my teeth into. Warcraft 3 didn’t do it for me, but I appreciate the things they tried in that game to help push RTS’s forward. Starcraft 2 harkens back to a much “simpler” era before RPG’s and RTS’s started having children.