This week seems like it was totally dominated by all things Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. The story of this game first kicked off over a year ago when Nintendo teased both Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem.
They were originally slated for a fall 2016 release, and, well, we have since seen how that turned out. In late January, Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing had been delayed until its next fiscal year. We suspected it'd make an appearance at the Apple keynote in September, but everything was quiet in the world of Animal Crossing until the Nintendo presentation this week which concluded with the soft launch only a few hours later.
The above video is me playing the first "session" of the game, which goes through the entirety of the game's tutorial as well as getting pretty close to running out of things to do for the day. That took a little under two hours of playing, so at least on the surface it seems like Pocket Camp gives quite a bit of content away for free. We published a more in depth first impressions / review but the basic gist is Pocket Camp is exactly what you'd expect: A slimmed down version of Animal Crossing that runs on your iPhone.
Stranger Things season two is now on Netflix, giving everyone something to absolutely binge out on this weekend... And it seems that for whatever reason, Minecraft is also hopping onboard the Stranger Things hype train. (Or is it the other way around?) Either way, there's a new Stranger Things skin pack in Minecraft which potentially contains spoilers as there are skins for both season one and season two characters. It's pretty impressive how much these skin packs change the feel of the game, so, if that's a thing you're into... add Stranger Things skins to your collection right now.
Watch on YouTube
If you haven't heard of Paladins: Champions of the Realm, it should probably be on your radar. Basically, it's a free to play Overwatch-like title that has system requirements which are shockingly low for a modern game. It's been a hit in the PC world, and Hi-Rez just soft launched Paladins Strike, which is a mobile MOBA that uses Paladins characters and the universe to create an experience that's way more fitting on touch devices. With Arena of Valor on the horizon, and many other good mobile MOBAS already out, I'm curious to see where this one will find a home on the App Store when it's finally released.
Last, but not least, is an upcoming game from Annapurna Interactive titled Florence. There aren't a whole lot of details just yet, but the tagline is "an interactive story about love and life." It's being made by Mountains, which is a new indie studio that has Monument Valley alum Ken Wong as the creative director. Annapurna releases awesome things and Ken is an ultra-talented guy, so we're expecting big things. There's no release date yet beyond 2018, so hopefully it comes earlier in the year instead of later in the year.
That's it for this week's big stories in the world of iOS gaming, and as always, if you're into these sorts of things and want an absolute overflow of information in the mobile gaming scene be sure to visit TouchArcade.
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.
