(update).
Viewers who haven't recently suffered a stroke will recall WoSblog's recent review of the promising but flawed sort-of Amiga remake Qwak. Well, it's much better now.
Alert viewers will of course remember the WoSblog piece from a couple of weeks back in which I detailed how to set yourself up a US App Store account in order to get hold of stuff that isn't available here.
Today there's another example of why having multinational accounts is a good thing. The just-released PES 2010 in the UK: £5.99. Price in the USA: £1.19. You'll have to ask Konami why.
The punchily-titled You Cruise by Mazda MX-5 is a great little racing game that reminds me a bit of the early Colin McRae Rally titles on the Playstation.
It's pretty limited (no other cars, just time trials on eight tracks with online leaderboards), but that's okay because it's free, and what it does it does really well. The odd thing, though, is the fact that it has better controls than any other traditional-style racing game in the App Store.
Three for the price of none here. Now THAT'S cheap.
Left to right: Championship Checkers, Reversi Twist, Master Of Gomoku.
Here's a cutie.
Skullpogo is a perfect example of how to make a good iPod game. It's short, shallow(ish) and sweet, it's designed for the characteristics of the format, and it's endlessly replayable. And today, it's free.
Anyone who's been reading WoS or WoSblog for any amount of time will probably already have noticed that I have very little time for videogames that want to tell stories.
There are plenty of fields of culture available already for people who want to be told stories. Books, films, comics, TV, theatre and even music are all ideally suited to story-telling, and frequently do a brilliant job of it. You wouldn't hire a footballer to come round and do your plumbing, so why would you look to videogames for storytelling?
This one guzzled an entire battery charge this morning.
Basically Canabalt meets Hook Champ, Hellkid: Hook & Jump is a really nicely put-together stab at the "running man" genre.
Even less-alert viewers should recall the recent appearance of Google Pac-Man in celebration of the pizza-prompted pill-popper's 30th birthday, when for a couple of days the search engine's title banner was replaced by a fully-playable version of the game.
The page is now "permanently" online here, but those of us with no faith in corporations to preserve gaming history have been looking for a working offline version (simply saving the web page doesn't work).
As WoSblog iPod Week and Amiga Nostalgia Weekend draw to a simultaneous close, we've got a little treat to finish on.
Alert viewers will know that one of my favourite games from the Amiga era, and perhaps Team 17's one genuine original classic, was Jamie Woodhouse's lovely little Bubble Bobble-inspired platformer Qwak. Actually born on the BBC Micro, Qwak has gone through several very different forms in its life, and last week its latest incarnation appeared in the App Store.
It might be trying to look like Grand Theft Auto or Car Jack Streets, but Crime Spree (currently on limited-time free promo) is actually Rally-X.
In keeping with its theme, this is a straight respray of Namco's classic maze-chaser, fast-paced and tricky with responsive swipe controls, and it'll cost you less money than the smallest measurable unit of money in existence. Speaking as a neutral observer who'd never tell you what to do, you should get it right now.
WoSland – now at wosland.podgamer.com