In case you missed the post last week, once again this is Eli Hodapp, and I'm Editor in Chief of MacRumors' iOS gaming sister site TouchArcade. We're putting together these weekly roundups of the biggest news and releases in the world of iOS gaming. If you're interested in this quick recap, there's tons more where this came from over on TouchArcade. We post daily news, reviews, and more, covering every aspect of the world of iOS gaming.
We kicked off Monday morning with a five star review of Steredenn. It's an incredible horizontal space shooter that aside from just being a really fun game does a lot of incredibly innovative things when it comes to how weapon upgrades are handled, as well as how you move your ship. For instance, these games often use a relative-touch based control scheme, and that's true here, but when the game detects your ship is obscured by your finger both a horizontal and vertical line appear on screen indicating where you are. It sounds basic, and I suppose it is, but the difference these little things make is amazing.
Watch on YouTube
While I'm a little surprised that the collective internet eye-roll surrounding the Angry Birds movie didn't cause some sort of seismic event when it was first announced, the film did incredibly well, grossing just under $350 million. (It's actually far better than you'd expect, if you haven't seen it.) So, it should be a surprise to absolutely no one that a sequel is on the way.
Due out on September 20th, 2019, The Angry Birds Movie 2 already has some interesting names signed on. It'll be directed by Thurop Van Orman and John Rice (with the latter serving as co-director), who have worked on Adventure Time and Rick and Morty. No further details surrounding the plot or direction of the film have been made public, although there's plenty of time for all sorts of tidbits to dribble out before late 2019.
We've spent a lot of time discussing the troubling trend of what a bad platform iOS when it comes to preserving gaming history, as iOS system updates (and other things) often render classic iOS titles totally broken. With iOS 11 likely dropping support for 32-bit apps and games, we're on the verge of seeing the largest purge of older iOS games yet. While Apple's response is to simply update those games to 64-bit binaries, we explore in an editorial, "just updating" is often not as simple as it sounds – particularly if the creator of a game you love is deceased.
Watch on YouTube Lightening things up a bit, we've been scratching our heads trying to figure out the unbelievable popularity of fidget spinner apps. It seems the whole draw of a fidget spinner is it's a physical toy that exists, which you actively fidget with. You'd think virtualizing this would remove most of the appeal, but judging by the iTunes charts, that isn't the case at all. After talking to various educators, we offer an alternative theory. Perhaps fidget spinner apps are becoming the next big thing because fidget spinners themselves are rapidly getting banned from classrooms, while smartphones, inexplicably, are totally allowed? Either way, if you're interested in trying the most popular one, download Ketchapp's Fidget Spinner.
Watch on YouTube Limbic released the original Zombie Gunship on the App Store ages ago, and the unbelievable success of a game where you shoot down swarms of zombies aboard an AC-130 put the studio on the map. Another Zombie Gunship game has been in development forever, in soft launch for even longer, and finally launched worldwide this week. While it shares a lot with its predecessor, Zombie Gunship Survival has much more meat on its bones with loads of things to unlock and other upgrades to work towards. The original Zombie Gunship was a ton of fun, so more of that, plus loads of improvements makes Survival even better.
Watch on YouTube The rivalry between the FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer series on mobile has been heating up for years now, but with FIFA taking an odd turn to becoming more of a card collecting game, this week's release of Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 is perfect for soccer fans looking for more action. Early impressions of the game indicate that it finally feels like iOS has the soccer simulator that it deserves with a full-featured soccer experience that is just absolutely loaded with depth. Controls are swipe based, which people seem to either love or hate, but it's totally free to try out so if you're at all interested in soccer, this is the game to get.
After a lengthy soft launch period, the cult-classic fighting game Skullgirls is finally available. Like many other mobile fighters, it is controlled using swipe gestures which has proven to work incredibly well for the genre. The mechanics of the game are super tight, and once you get used to the swiping system, you likely won't find yourself missing a controller at all. Like many free to play fighters, Skullgirls is powered by a freemium random draw gacha system to unlock new characters, which again, has become totally normal for the genre (for better or for worse).
Watch on YouTube Prison Architect has been incredibly popular on Steam, and this week the mobile port hit the App Store. It's iPad only, like many PC to mobile ports, and puts players in charge of designing and managing their own prisons. Featuring surprising levels of complexity, Prison Architect has an array of scenarios to complete which really serve as a tutorial of sorts for the full-featured sandbox mode. One strange thing is how you pay for the game: It's free to download and try, then you can buy individual scenarios for $2.99 a piece, the sandbox mode for $4.99, or unlock everything for $14.99. It feels like they give too much away for free, but for the curious consumer I suppose that's a good thing.
In the past, Capcom has released Street Fighter games on mobile, with the first one hitting the App Store all the way back in 2010. Aside from compatibility updates here and there, the games have largely sat dormant and over the years have only felt increasingly more outdated. This week, in true Capcom fashion, the iterative sequel Street Fighter IV Championship Edition was announced. Aside from 25 playable characters, Championship Edition will have full MFi controller support, WiFi multiplayer, and loads of other updates and refinements over the original Street Fighter mobile games. Championship Edition will be released "this summer," and you can pre-register for the game here to get notified when it does.
Watch on YouTube Last, but not least, with the holiday weekend upon us, an absurd amount of iOS games are on sale. The whole Infinity Blade series can be had for a buck a piece, along with many, many other classic, premium iOS games. Head over to our listing to see everything worth considering downloading, along with reviews of the vast majority of games that are on sale.
That's it for this week! For even more iOS gaming news, head over to TouchArcade – otherwise stay tuned for next week's roundup!
Game preservation is a bit odd... often, fans care a lot more about the game being preserved than the creator does.
That's definitely true, but I think it's for a good reason. Growing up, all of my first gaming experiences were on an Apple II. I have intense nostalgia for ancient Interplay games and a ton of other titles that are either incredibly basic or otherwise just bad games by today's standards. Regardless, it's totally possible for me to track down a working Apple II, and all those games (or just run them in an emulator). There's practically nothing stopping me from revisiting all those memories I have from my childhood.
While it makes the skin of "real gamers" crawl, for better or for worse the iPhone is today's equivalent of the Apple II. Instead of going down to your Grandpa's basement who was wealthy enough to afford a computer and let you fiddle with it, you're just handed your parents' iPhone. Kids today are forming those same nostalgic memories for mobile games, and it sort of bothers me to think that my kid could have similar strong nostalgia for random mobile games (like your Egg Drop), only to have those memories be impossible to revisit because of DRM, iOS updates, etc.
Is it a huge deal? I guess not really, but not being able to share the experience of "Here, let me blow off this old NES cart" sort of sucks.
In case you missed the post last week, once again this is Eli Hodapp, and I'm Editor in Chief of MacRumors' iOS gaming sister site TouchArcade. We're putting together these weekly roundups of the biggest news and releases in the world of iOS gaming.
Thank you for this, the once-a-week format is nice, I don't always pay attention to games, it's useful to get a quick recap from someone who does. I think it's a nice addition to MacRumors.
Apple's long-rumored smart home hub will have an iMac G4-style design and a host of unique features, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
The smart home hub is said to feature a square 6-inch display, with variants that can be placed on a countertop or mounted on a wall. It features a single FaceTime camera on the front, with microphones and speakers in its connected base. Gurman described the...
Apple plans to introduce a series of new smart home products on Tuesday, October 13, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Apple reportedly plans to debut its long-awaited smart home hub device, a new HomePod mini, and a new Apple TV on the date. The new HomePod mini and Apple TV are set to retain their existing designs, but tout faster chips to support Siri AI. The new HomePod mini will...
Friday September 25, 2026 8:16 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris has uncovered an image file from Apple for an unreleased Apple TV 4K, suggesting that a new model will finally be released soon. The image is specifically for an "Apple TV 4K (4th generation)" model.
Apple TV 4K (4th generation) image (on a gradient)
The image reveals that the Apple TV will have the same external design as the current model, with all of its...
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
Top Rated Comments
While it makes the skin of "real gamers" crawl, for better or for worse the iPhone is today's equivalent of the Apple II. Instead of going down to your Grandpa's basement who was wealthy enough to afford a computer and let you fiddle with it, you're just handed your parents' iPhone. Kids today are forming those same nostalgic memories for mobile games, and it sort of bothers me to think that my kid could have similar strong nostalgia for random mobile games (like your Egg Drop), only to have those memories be impossible to revisit because of DRM, iOS updates, etc.
Is it a huge deal? I guess not really, but not being able to share the experience of "Here, let me blow off this old NES cart" sort of sucks.