Infiltrator is a third-person shooter and will showcase “stunning graphics and authentic weapons and powers from the Mass Effect series.” In it, players will help free prisoners from a Cerberus base and earn “rewards for collecting evidence” of Cerberus’ crimes along the way.

Every rescue and bits of intelligence gathered will increase a player’s “Galactic Readiness” rating directly through the Galaxy at War system in Mass Effect 3. Exclusive weapons will also be unlocked and can be used in the core game.

The Datapad will allow players to “stay in touch with all of the info in Mass Effect 3,” check the galaxy map for status on the war, and receive messages from game characters, according to Kotaku.

Infiltrate will be released for iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad, and as of press time a launch date and whether it is coming to Android or not isn’t known.

Kotaku has a video available to watch regarding the new announcements through the second link.

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That’s up from $26.74 billion for the same period in 2010, a 62% year-on-year increase. The staggering result is the company’s most successful lifetime to date, and netted profits of $13.06 billion.

58% of revenue was garnered outside the US. Apple predicts $32.5 billion in revenue over the next quarter.

Apple noted jumps in iPhone and iPad sales in particular. 37.04 million iPhones were sold during the three-month period, a 128% year-on-year increase The iPhone 4S was released in October, which in addition to the usual holiday sales boost, may partially account for the increase.

That said, the iPad2, released much earlier in the year, saw growth of 111% to shift 15.43 million units.

“2011 was supposed to be the year of the tablet,” CEO Tim Cook said in a post-results call with investors.

“But it was the year of the iPad, for the second year in a row.”

Apple also noted sales of 5.2 million Macs (26% increase) and 15.4 million iPods (21% decrease).

This was Apple’s first quarterly filing since the death of its co-founder and legendary leader, Steve Jobs, in October 2011, but the second since his retirement in August.

Andriasang reports that Namco Bandai will make the port available on January 19, but no pricing has been set. A roster of 19 will be available in arcade battle, time attack, survival, extra survival, practice and museum modes. The universal app is compatible with iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch and will have Game Center features. Hit the link to see some screenshots.

Soul Calibur is actually the second game in the series, after the PSOne era kick off variously titled Soul Edge and Soul Blade. It released on Dreamcast in 1999 after a successful arcade run, and also popped up on Xbox Live Arcade.

The latest entry in the series is Soul Calibur V, which releases on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on January 31. For your delight, here’s a new trailer for that version, answering the eternal question of whether the Soul Calibur V story more or less comprehensible when presented in a Japanese short.

Thanks, Joystiq, GameInformer.

Posted over on Gamasutra, the chart shows the current top 10 paid gaming apps for iPad. It is also posted below.

1. Batman Arkham City Lockdown ($5.99)
2. Angry Birds Seasons HD ($1.99)
3. Words With Friends HD ($2.99)
4. Angry Birds HD ($4.99)
5. Infinity Blade II ($6.99)
6. Where’s My Water? ($0.99)
7. Angry Birds Rio HD ($2.99)
8. Dead Space for iPad ($4.99)
9. Fruit Ninja HD ($2.99)
10. Cut the Rope HD ($1.99)

Over on the top 10 free gaming apps for the week, Mirror’s Edge hit the top spot, and a trial version of Nevosoft’s Dreamland HD came in second.

1. Mirror’s Edge for iPad
2. Dreamland HD
3. The Merry Manor HD
4. Card Ace Casino HD
5. Zombie Gunship
6. My Country
7. US Basketball HD
8. Magic Puzzles
9. Paper Toss 2.0
10. Words With Friends HD Free

Lockdown is available or other iDevices, and Mirror’s Edge was free on Friday only.

A video below, courtesy of GameTrailers, show it in action. There’s some screenshots below as well, for both iPad and iPhone.

• Apple iOS Devices: iPad 1 & 2, iPhone 4 & 4S, iPod touch 4th Generation
• Android Phones: HTC Rezound, LG Optimus 2x, Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Droid X2, Motorola Photon 4G, Samsung Galaxy R, T-Mobile G2x
• Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Dell Streak 7, LG Optimus Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Toshiba Thrive

Thanks, 1UP.

iPhone 4S

Stage picture courtesy of Engadget.

The new phone will run on Apple’s A5 dual core processor, delivering double the CPU speed of the current iPhone 4 and “up to seven times faster graphics.”

You can watch a promo video of it here, which includes Infinity Blade II footage.

Mike Capps came out onto the stage immediately after the announcement to confirm Infinity Blade II will only run on the phone “because it’s awesome.” Shots of Infinity Blade II are below.

Battery life was addressed in the presentation: Apple said the device would deliver 40 hours of music playback and 10 hours of video. Nothing was mentioned of gaming endurance, however.

Reception quality for the new phone is to be “even better” than the standard iPhone 4. It will come with an 8 megapixel camera capable of f2.4 and an intelligent assistant called Siri was announced for it as well, which runs off voice recognition. What to know what the weather is like? Just ask Siri and it will give you a forecast using natural language.

Want to know how many Greek restaurants are in Palo Alto? Ask Siri and it will responds with “I’ve found five Greek restaurants, and I’ve sorted them by rating.” The virtual assistant will tell you when you have meetings, can respond to messages, and even tell you whether your are attractive or not (okay we made that last bit up). But it seems like everyone at the event is amazed by this feature, so it may be something you will want to play with on more than one occasion as it can also do dictation (like many a Mad Men secretary). Therefore, if you use an app where you’d type on a keyboard, you can now dictate it by voice instead.

Siri will work out of the box, but will “get better” as it learns your voice, English (US, UK, and Australia) plus French and German will be available to in the beta to start, with more languages and services coming soon.

All in all, iPhone 4S works on 3G and Wi-Fi, has an A5 processor, AirPlay Mirroring, a new antenna system, better optics, HD video, and the lovely Siri.

It comes in the following black or white models: 16GB: $199, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399 for a two-year contract. Pre-orders start Friday, and it will arrive in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Japan October 14. In the US Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint will be the carriers, and on October 28, 22 more countries will get the phone, with 70 more countries getting it by the end of the year on over 100 carriers.

Full specs can be found over on Gamersyde.

iPhone, iPad, iPod

Earlier in the presentation, CEO Tim Cook noted that year-over-year iPhone sales are up 125 percent compared to 74 percent last year with iPhone 4 making up half of the overall iPhone market, with the smartphone taking up five percent of the overall mobile market.

“We have passed the quarter of a billion sales mark” for iOS devices he said, which broken down means that 250 million iPhones, iPods, and iPads have been sold.

Cook switched to talking about iPad, calling it the “undisputed” number one tablet in the world, and that three quarters of all tablets sold are iPads. Full-tabbed browsing is coming to the tablet with the release of iOS 5.

Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iOS Software at Apple, then took the stage to say that iOS is now the number one mobile operating system, and stands at 43 percent compared to Android’s 33 percent as of the July.

Over 500,000 apps are in the App Store, with 140,000 available specifically for iPad.

“That gives anyone who owns an iPad a better experience,” he said. “All of this together makes the App Store the number one store for mobile apps.”

So far, customers have download 18 billion apps, which is over a billion a month with Apple paying out $3 billion to developers as a result of the sales.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, announced the new iPod nano which will come in seven colors and will run you $149 for 16GB and $129 for 8GB. It’s available today.

iOS 5

Forstall mentioned the top 10 features of iOS 5, after noting that Hallmark is heading to the OS. One of these is swipe down notifications, like on Android, foregoing the use of annoying pop ups.

Other new features are Reminders, iMessage, Newsstand, and updated camera app, and a new Game Center which now boasts 67 million user accounts. The service will now allow sharing, uploading of pictures, achievements points and recommendations.

Safari updates were mentioned, a PC Free feature which allows you to activate your device without plugging it in allowing for wireless iOS updates.

Forstall stopped chatting and Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet Software and Services at Apple, took his place on the stage to talk about iCloud – which is free, apparently, as was continuously emphasized.

iOS 5 will be available October 12, with iCloud launching the same day along with a Find My Friends feature.

Lion and Shanghai

Cook said six million copies of OS X Lion have been downloaded so far, which is 80 percent more than Snow Leopard. It was also revealed that the Mac platform has grown by 23 percent since 2010, compared with 4 percent for PC, providing Mac with an install base of 60 million users worldwide.

“There are still 77 percent of people who are buying something else,” said Cook in the keynote. “What does that mean? We have an incredibly high ceiling here. We have a long way to go.”

Moving on to music, Cook said over 300 million iPods have been sold, and comparing to Sony Walkman casette players, which took 30 years to sell 220,000 units. 16 billion songs downloaded have been downloaded on iTunes.

It was also revealed that Apple’s new Shanghai store had 100,000 visitors its opening weekend, where as when the first L.A. store opened, it took a month to accrue that many visitors. Cook said there are now 357 Apple stores in 11 countries, and many more are coming to “raise the bar at retail.”

Namco game announced for iOS 5

Apple’s press event hadn’t even started when Namco’s Rise of Glory was announced as one of the first iOS 5 games to hit alongside the new iPhone. Joystiq got hands on time with the game today, and it’s a “WWI-based dogfighter,” according to the site. Originally set for a September release, it will now hit when the new iPhone does. A video is posted below.

The event takes place on Tuesday, October 4 at 10am PST at the Apple campus in Cupertino, with CEO Tim Cook hosting.

Apple’s invitation shows four iOS app icons along with the heading: “Let’s talk iPhone.”

The firm is expected to touch upon iOS 5 features, and there’s been talk for ages it is to announce iPhone 5 at the event along with a white iPod Touch.

While nothing is set in stone at the moment as far as announcements go, the firm is also expected to announce Sprint as an iPhone 5 carrier as well – sometime or another.

Again, nothing concrete here, but we were told by a Sprint representative a couple weeks ago that the firm would be getting the smartphone sometime after November 1.

We’ll all know more once October 4 rolls around.

Thanks, Ars Technica.

9 to 5 Mac is citing several sources, and claims the scheme was announced at Gamestop’s annual managerial event in Las Vegas last week.

This week, Gamestop apparently began accepting iDevices a trade in for store credit, but hasn’t offered this stock for sale.

Although the retail chain is yet to make an official statement, Joystiq has received reports that employees have confirmed outlets will begin selling used iDevices within a few weeks, although pricing has not been decided.

Gamespot reports the game has a working title of Snoopy, and will release in northern autumn.

Details are scant, but the game is in development at Capcom Mobile’s micro-transaction focused Beeline division.

The studio has three more announced titles on the go – Smurfs’ Grabber, Dream Park, and Monster Pet Shop, all due before the end of the year – and is expect to reveal another four shortly.

Capcom Mobile has seen notable success with Smurfs’ Village.

Yesterday, Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere revealed he and Rooney would be gracing the FIFA 12 cover in UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and the Middle East.

This will be the first time Rooney will appear on the US cover of the game as well, and today’s announcement is the first of a series as the complete FIFA 12 player lineup is unveiled leading to the game’s launch.

Rooney will be joined on the cover of FIFA 12 in North America by two additional players, and other stars will be revealed for other countries around the world.

Rooney and Real Madrid’s Kaká, will be joined by Philippe Mexès in France, Gerard Piqué in Spain, Giampaolo Pazzini in Italy, and Mats Hummels in Germany.

Other players include: Giampaolo Pazzini -Itay, Xabi Alonso – Spain, Tim Cahill -Australia, Valentin Stocker – Switzerland, Vasili Berezutski – Russia, and Balázs Dzsudzsák – Hungary.

“This is an iconic group of players who all passionately play our game, and we are excited to have them speak to fans around the world about their own personal experiences playing the best sports game on the planet,” said Matt Bilbey, VP and GM of soccer, EA Sports.

“With all the accolades FIFA Soccer 12 has received so far we are confident we have the most authentic and highest quality game we have ever created, and these superstars will play an integral role in sharing their excitement for its highly anticipated launch.”

FIFA Soccer 12 launches on on September 27 in North America and September 30 worldwide in 18 languages and 51 countries for PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Origin, Wii, PS2, 3DS, PSP, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

9.25 million iPads were sold. Apple also noted a 142 percent growth in iPhone sales with 20.34 million sold.

“We sold every iPad we could make,” Apple’s chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said during its earnings call, as reported by VentureBeat.

“Sales of the iPad 2 have absolutely been a frenzy,” chief operating officer Tim Cook echoed.

Cook said Apple had managed to step up supply to meet demand in some territories.

Sales of iPods dropped off 20 percent to 7.54 million. Mac sales were also down by 14 percent to 3.95 million, although rumours of new MacBook Air models and tomorrow’s release of OS-X Lion could be responsible for that.

Cook also commented that iPad sales could be biting into the Mac market.

“We believe that some people chose to buy an iPad over a Mac in the quarter,” he admitted.

“But we believe that even more people chose to bought an iPad over a Windows PC.”

The company pulled in revenue of $28.57 billion, and scored its highest quarterly net profit of all time with $7.31 billion.

It’s a huge increase year-on-year, from revenue of $15.70 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion in quarter three 2010.

Oppenheimer said the company reached a quarterly cash flow of $11.1 billion, a 131 precent increase year-on-year.

“Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25 billion,” he predicted.

The store offers over 425,000 apps, and over 100,000 of those have been created for iPad alone. Apple has paid developers over $2.5 billion to date.

Granted, some of these apps aren’t gaming-related, but there are tons of games available in the store, one of which is Infinity Blade from Chair and Epic, which seems to have done rather well.

“iPad provides us with an unparalleled mobile device for creating gorgeous, immersive games,” said Epic VP and co-founder Mark Rein in the press release. “Infinity Blade has been a runaway hit with customers around the world and we couldn’t be more excited about our success on iOS devices.”

Apps are available in 20 categories, including games, business, news, education, sports, health, reference and travel.

Hardcore fans of Japanese shooters will rejoice to learn that Deathsmiles – previously only released in Japanese arcades and as a rare Xbox 360 game – will be coming to the iPhone in just over a week.

July 7 is the new release date for this over-the-top horizontal shooter from developer Cave.

Cave will also be holding a 30-minute Ustream event where they will be unveiling the iPhone version and showing off some of the new content available in the iPhone edition.

The event will be translated into English as well.

The pricing structure for the game was also released. During the first four days Deathsmiles will cost £2.99/$4.99 afterward it will revert to £5.49/$8.99.

The classic Mega Drive game will run you $2.99/€2.39/£1.79/AU$ 3.99.

Streets of Rage 2 allows players to fight the evil crime boss Mr. X in a series of “down-and-dirty, street-level battles, with a complex plot and fast gameplay.”

It also includes multiplayer capability via Bluetooth and the original Japanese version of Bare Knuckle II.

The firm also said that Golden Axe 2 and 3, plus Streets of Rage 3 are hitting the App Store this spring.

Pricing for the iPhone version will be $2.99, a pretty reasonable amount for such a great game.

However, for the first 24 hours after it goes on sale, World of Goo will be priced at just 99 cents. Also, if you bought the previously-released iPad version, you get the iPhone port for free.

Now the bad news, for some of you at least; the iPhone version of World of Goo will require a iPhone 3GS or an iPhone 4 to play, so those of you still using older iPhones are out of luck.

The game will only work with a third gen iPod Touch or higher.

Thanks, Joystiq

Doodle Jump developer Lima Sky has decided to stop issuing “trademark warnings” to App Store developers who use “doodle” in the title of their games.

According to Igor Pusenjak, president and co-founder of Lima Sky, he was just overreacting and his warnings a bit “overreaching”.

“Although my lawyer has advised me not to respond to the attacks on Lima Sky and Doodle Jump since our notice, I must,” he told Pocketgamer.biz. “First, I’ve instructed my lawyer to contact Apple today to withdraw the notice. That notice was sent out largely to protect our Doodle Jump trademark from threats of being canceled by Bryan Duke’s big-house law firm.

“One of their arguments for threatening to cancel our registered Doodle Jump trademark was that we did not prevent other games from using the word ‘Doodle’. The notice overreached in asking Apple to remove the games and named some games that probably should not have been singled out.

“We never intended to have those games removed from the App Store, only to insist that infringing elements from those games be changed. And we have made this clear to every developer who has contacted us — you don’t need to take your game down, but you need to change the infringing elements.

“So, if the name of your game is so close to Doodle Jump that people think Lima Sky created it, we are asking you to change that. If you copied characters from Doodle Jump, we are asking you to change those.”

Back in June, Doodle Jump has already sold five million units of the iPhone/iPad game.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Sidhe, which developed the very popular Shatter for PSN, has said it plans to eventually wean itself  off third-party publishers by focusing more on the downloadable space in 2011.

Speaking in an interview with Joystiq, the firm’s co-founder Mario Wynands said Sidhe plans to become more independent, especially “given where retail in general is going”.

“[We want to] run the studio on the basis of royalties and download revenue alone, as opposed to being somewhat reliant on third-party publishers,” he said. “We are, I guess, reacting to the market, in line with the strategy we’ve had in place for a number of years now, which is ultimately weaning ourselves off work for hire.

“We’re still doing retail products, but trying to do retail products where we are being more selective about partners, more selective about what projects we take on, and continuing to transition the amount of resources that we have working on the work-for-hire side, increasingly to the download space.”

To Sidhe, the download space consists of Android, iDevices, tablets, Steam, PSN and XBLA.

Wynands said new project announcements made by the firm and its partners over the next few months will emphasize how the developer is “approaching things in a smarter way” than it has in the past.”

Following the completion of Blood Drive for Activision, which was released in November, the studio plans to forgo renewing or taking on new vendor contracts so as to focus on its own development titles as well as finishing up Rugby Challenge – a game featuring rugby legend Jonah Lomu and slated for release in Q3 2011 for PC and consoles.

Zarksoft Games, which is comprised of developers which worked on the Unreal, Diablo and Star Trek franchises, has announced Empire of the Eclipse, which is being hailed as the first online, real-time strategy MMO for iDevices.

ZarkSoft has build an engine for the game which can support up to 1,500 players per game instance across 90K sectors of space, and will forgo microtransactions in order to maintain a “fair and competitive play experience for all.”

“As long time fans of games like Civilization and Master of Orion, we’ve worked diligently to make a game that lives up to the standards set by those milestone titles,” said company president Lee Dotson. “Empire of the Eclipse also brings accessibility and massively multiplayer capabilities to mobile devices.”

Key features include:

• Massively Multiplayer: Fight, trade, scheme and vie for universal domination with up to 1500 other players per game.
• Epic Universe: Games can range in size from 2,500 to 90,000 sectors. Explore, conquer and exploit hundreds of thousands of planets.
• Explore: Fog of war and dynamically generated universes require exploration and reconnaissance, key components of the empire building experience.
• Streamlined Interface: Jump to any controlled planet or fleet from anywhere in the galaxy with just a few touches.
• Diplomacy: Enact a state of Peace, War or Embargo with other players. A rich array of interpersonal player dynamics awaits.
• Many Ways to Win: Win by the application of brute force or economic superiority. Transcend the stars or collect ancient alien artifacts. Whether warmonger, diplomat or explorer, there are always ways to win.
• Skill Trees: Utilize a diverse and flexible selection of 40 skills to uniquely tailor and individualize an interstellar empire.
• Player Communication: Robust in-game mail and chat systems feature private channels and item attachments to better facilitate trade and covert operations.
• Retina Display: Stunning visuals are tailor-made to support both Retina and traditional iPhone displays.
• Universal: A single account may login from any i-device you or anyone else owns.
• Fair Play: Players cannot purchase their way to victory. Robust server side gameplay ensures a fair and competitive play experience for all.

Set in a distant future, Empire of the Eclipse has players establish and “interstellar empire”  using diplomacy, “economic acumen and conquest to thrive”.

Empire of the Eclipse will be available Q1 2011 for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Thanks, Joystiq.

If you are thinking about purchasing Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit on iPad, check out the screens posted below the break.

The game is also available for iPod Touch and iPhone and will run you $4.99.

Racing on the go, ya know.

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Revolution Software has announced it’s to release a remastered edition of Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch before Christmas.

BSII sees main character George Stobbart attempting to rescue girlfriend Nicole Collard whilst uncovering a conspiracy revolving around a solar eclipse.

The original title launched in 1997 for PC and PlayStation, but the new iOS version will also have “fully animated facial expressions, enhanced graphics throughout” as well as “high quality music” composed by Barrington Pheloung, plus a “context-sensitive hint system, and diary.”

Broken Sword 2 iOS will also get a digital interactive comic from Dave Gibbons, co-creator of Watchmen, and a cloud saving feature which uses Dropbox, allowing users to play the game over multiple iDevices.

Full GameCenter support will be implemented as well.

“The original Broken Sword went to #1 in the App store, was BAFTA-nominated and received the most fantastic reviews, both from reviewers and the game’s audience on the App store – as well as appealing to fans of the series, the game reached a whole new audience,” said Revolution MD and Broken Sword creator, Charles Cecil.

“Publishing through the App Store has offered extraordinary opportunities. As well as allowing us to communicate directly with our audience, we are now in the position where we can re-work our original games while simultaneously writing new adventure titles. It is an extraordinary time for the games industry and for independent developers in particular.”

First screens are below.

THQ Wireless and ngmoco has announced Star Wars Imperial Academy exclusively for iPhone and iPod Touch.

Now available on the App Store, Star Wars Imperial Academy is a multiplayer game where players need to prove they are “elite stormtrooper material as they compete against other Imperial Academy recruits in intense four-player death-match battles that take place across the Star Wars galaxy”.

Players will have to “master close-quarters blaster combat, long-range sniping and explosive armaments” in classic Star Wars settings like Hoth, Cloud City, Tatooine and more.

According to the App Store, the game is free.To find out more, head on over there have have a look.

EA Mobile and Harmonix announced today Rock Band: Reloaded and Rock Band: Reloaded HD are now available on the App Store.

The iPad-exclusive HD version and the version for iPhone and iPod Touch contain a setlist of songs from artists such as: Nirvana, Billy Idol, No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails and Vampire Weekend.

More than 20 songs are available as of today with new tracks launching throughout the holidays.

Reloaded also has a “5th Way to Play” by allowing users to sing directly into their iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad utilizing vocal recognition features.

Here’s the blurb on that:

New vocal recognition features introduce players to a unique way to play by singing directly into their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to earn points. Players can showcase their inner rock star by picking from a setlist of songs that include “Hella Good” by No Doubt, “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down, “Your Decision” by Alice in Chains, “White Wedding” by Billy Idol, “In Bloom” by Nirvana, “A-Punk” by Vampire Weekend and many more. In addition to the songs included with the initial purchase, free* tracks are available in the Music Store along with Premium Packs by The All American Rejects, Third Eye Blind, Blink-182 and other top-selling artists available through In App Purchase.

Reloaded also features a multiplayer mode where players can “challenge friends live in a head-to-head split-screen environment” a “Big Drums” layout and custom playlists in Quick Play and quick replay using an “Encore” feature.

It also has an Expert mode, and Facebook functionality allowing players to access the News Center where they can find out when new songs launch, “follow friends’ exploits” and “directly challenge their friends’ accomplishments with a simple touch of the screen”.

Reloaded and Reloaded HD will run you $4.99/£2.99 and $9.99/£5.99, respectively.

The current setlist is below along with a video of the game.

• Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down
• Your Decision – Alice in Chains
• So What’Cha Want – Beastie Boys
• White Wedding – Billy Idol
• Bodies – Drowning Pool
• Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran
• Call Me When You’re Sober – Evanescence
• Peace Sells – Megadeth
• The Perfect Drug – NIN
• In Bloom – Nirvana
• Hella Good – No Doubt
• Heartbreaker – Pat Benatar
• Remedy – Seether
• Rockn’ Me – Steve Miller Band
• A-Punk – Vampire Weekend

John Carmack believes digital distribution is the “wave of the future” and everybody knows eventually this will be the way to purchase game titles.

Speaking with The Telegraph regarding RAGE HD on the App Store, Carmack also said he liked how obstacle free releasing titles through Apple’s storefront was for publishers.

“You know, I really, really like the App Store platform as far as being able to remove obstacles to getting your product out,” he said. “You don’t have to cut deals with publishers. It’s almost completely egalitarian on there. It’s great to see all the small teams that wind up making these breakout hit games for the Apple devices. The fact is; on this platform, we can go ahead deal with fifteen-a-day feedback on there and directly interact with the consumers, make changes and get things out”.

While he is a big supporter of everything digital, Carmack admits packaged goods are still “critical” for consoles at this point in the market.

“It is the wave of the future for everything,” he said. “Everybody knows that eventually [everything]will be digital distribution like this – it’s only a question of time. Clearly, packaged goods sales are still critical on the big platforms at this stage, but that’s all going to go away sooner or later.

“This is the model of the future.”

Last week, Carmack said RAGE HD would eventually get a Game Center patched in, but no new missions or weapons would be released in future updates.

The console and PC versions of RAGE are slated for next year.

It looks as if owners of Angry Birds Halloween will be able to get the Christmas update of the game for free.

This is according to Finnish radio station YleX’s website, which also has three screenshots of the game posted.

The new update is expected to be released before December 1.

Rovio has said it has submitted an update to Apple, and Game Center has been included. There are also “several new birds on the drawing board”.

Thanks, Pocket Gamer.