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Are you on the fence about whether or not you should pick up the cumbersomely titled Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies for your Apple-branded mobile device? First of all, fence straddling is dangerous. Get down from there! Also, there's no reason to be all wishy-washy anymore, as a free "Lite" version of the game has recently become available on the App Store.

Zombies Lite allows players to mow down three rounds of oncoming Nazombies in a single-player match, or two waves of the undead in a multiplayer match before coming to an abrupt end. That may come off as a little unsatisfying, but hey -- 'tis better to have murdered zombies and lost than to have never murdered zombies at all.

When a handful of video game outlets (including Joystiq) got invites to Apple's much-hyped January 27th media event to unveil its 'latest creation' – rumored to be a tablet of some sort – it became rather obvious that whatever this creation is, it would have something to do with gaming. If a Wall Street Journal report this morning – detailing everything from book, magazine and newspaper partnerships to a TV subscription service – is to be believed, "Apple is also working with videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc. to show off the tablet's game capabilities, according to one person familiar with the matter."

Insomuch as this rumored tablet is a big-sized iPod Touch, and insomuch as the iPod Touch is totally the 'best portable device for gaming,' games are an obvious component of this mystery device, and the iPhone-friendly devs at EA are an obvious partner for Apple. Whether this has anything to do with EA Mobile's announced support for suspected Apple Tablet-competitor, the Amazon Kindle, remains to be seen, but we've reached out to EA for comment. Knowing Apple's "loose lips" policy, we don't expect much.

[Update: "EA refuses any comment on this topic," we've been told. We'll just need to wait until next Wednesday then!]

Yes, according to Square Enix's Facebook page, the iPhone will soon be the latest platform to carry the first two installations in the long-running Final Fantasy franchise. We found this to be very exciting news -- in fact, we're a little surprised Square Enix would simply abandon the announcement in the middle of the night on Facebook, placing it reticently between pictures of our estranged family members and our daily Farmville updates. Oh, well! No harm done.

No details or a release window were provided in the announcement, but a few screens were delivered. Looks like the timeless "Fight, Magic, Defend, Item, Run" command menu has been replaced with a more efficient, illustrated touch menu. You've come a long, long way in 23 years, old friend.

[Thanks, Isaac!]

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars keeps driving around for an audience, with the excellent handheld entry in the crime sim franchise quietly releasing on iPhone last night. TouchArcade notes that in its third platform iteration, behind DS and PSP, the $10 game uses on-screen buttons similarly to Gameloft's Gangstar and retains the DS stylus minigames.

It would seem that those who can get around the button-less interface are in for a full GTA experience that costs less than a dime bag.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars ($9.99):

Last week, Alex Schwartz of GTProductions had a brilliant little idea: Take game design ideas from readers and then develop said ideas into a full iPhone game within a single day. After fishing for ideas based on "absurdity," the company settled on Super Ramen Bros, which features two packages of ramen trying to escape the grim fate of being scanned at the supermarket and subsequently consumed (probably by college students). Twenty-four coding and designing hours later, and the team had a fully crafted game, thanks to plenty of help from the community.

The game is set for submission to Apple for approval this week. See a video of Super Ramen Bros in action after the break. Granted, it's not the most complex or beautiful game out there, but it's quite an achievement given the incredibly short development schedule. It's also much better than our twenty-four hour game design attempt, Ball in a Cup. Turns out that one is almost impossible if you don't have any string lying around.

If you haven't yet played Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, you're missing out on one of the most enjoyable and highest rated iPhone games of 2009. The good news is that now is the perfect time to get stuck in its web of delight. The game's developer, Tiger Style, has just released a free Director's Cut update for the game that adds 10 new levels, 24 new achievements, new music and a level select feature.

If you're unconvinced by our word alone (scandal!) check out Spider: Hornet Smash, a just-released freebie that focuses on Spider's hornet tackling maneuver. The free game provides a good introduction to the mechanics of Spider, so you can see if the main game's worth your gaming dollar. Spoiler alert: It is.

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor ($2.99):
Spider: Hornet Smash (Free):

For those of you who haven't already tired of our slavish devotion to lesser-known FMV shooters, we have some great news: The helicopter action of Cobra Command has finally made its way to the App Store. Now you could just buy it for $4.99 and be a better person for owning this odd little anomaly of a game, but since you're special and dear to us we'd like to just give it to you for free.

We've already given five away to our beloved Facebook fans (just one example of why you should already be our fan), but head over and join up right now and there should be a fresh batch of codes waiting just for you.

A new iPhone application entering the crowded marketplace allows all Xbox Live addicts the ability to connect to their account and do pretty much everything you can think of. Bad news: it isn't free. The $1.99 app, called 360 Live, lets you sign into your account, browse and respond to friend requests, check messages and even creep your friend's Gamercard on the go.

But, before you slap your $2 on the table, we'd recommend you wait for Microsoft to respond to the app's list price. In August 2008, Microsoft mandated that all Xbox Live-related applications be free. So, it may just be a matter of time before the 360 Live app drops to the easy-to-swallow price of free.

Gameloft announced today it's planning on releasing games for the second generation of Android phones and reiterated its support for the current generation of devices using Google's mobile platform. The affirmation comes a mere weekend after the mega mobile publisher's finance director, Alexander de Rochefort, stated the company planned to "significantly cut" its development for Android devices.

Gameloft's statement today in no way negates Rochefort's words, as the latest release is just some yammering about the second generation devices allowing the development of high definition games, but the timing and its lack of substance is suspect. The executive previously noted Gameloft sold "400 times" as many games on iPhone as on the Android. Of course, if Google's platform develops a more significant install base, we're sure Gameloft will be happy to invest more and take everyone's money equally.

The unsinkable publisher Gameloft recently revealed that it is planning to "significantly cut" its development on Google's Android platform. Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort added that "many others" in the industry have scaled back Android development as well. The reason, according to Rochefort, is the organization -- or rather lack lack of organization -- of its application store, the Android Market. Rochefort stated that the Android Market "is not as neatly done" as Apple's App Store. Rochefort noted that Google hasn't really gotten many Android users to buy products, saying, "On Android nobody is making significant revenue."

To put things in perspective, Rochefort said that Gameloft has sold 400 times as many games on the iPhone as on the Android platform. Of course, it's worth noting that Apple's iPhone has a significantly larger market share than Android. According to a recent Gartner report released in August, the iPhone accounted for nearly 14 percent of the smartphone market, while Android phones accounted for less than 2 percent. With more and more carriers offering Android phones -- notably the recent release of the Droid on Verizon -- the Android market is likely to expand in the coming months. It will be interesting to see how the mobile market changes -- and whether Gameloft and others change their tune -- a year from now.

[Via Washington Post]

We've been pretty skeptical of OnLive's many futuristic promises. From streaming every game ever to anything with a decent internet connection, to being able to end world hunger (okay, we made up that second one), it's kind of an enormous leap to be taking from our current standards. In an effort to keep us on our toes, the company just this week announced that not only can the service stream games to households, but also to cell phones. "Today, at a Wedbush financial conference in New York I showed OnLive running simultaneously on two iPhones, a TV, and a computer," said CEO Steve Perlman.

"It's important to understand that a cell phone is a very different beast than TV, PC or Mac ... currently, games on OnLive are tuned for TVs and computers, so initially, it's the Community and Social elements of OnLive that we're most excited about on mobile devices." OTOY has already proven that mobile gaming of this level can exist, but we're still not convinced anyone wants to play the full console/PC version of games on their phone. Impressive? Sure. Functional? That has yet to be seen.

Having been rejected, accepted and subsequently removed, developer Manomio has finally gotten its iPhone Commodore 64 emulator back on Apple's App Store. The emulator had originally been rejected by Apple, thanks to its inclusion of a BASIC interpreter. Access to the interpreter was later removed, and the app was accepted, only to be later removed after some users figured out how to hack it and access the interpreter.

Now, with further revised code, the emulator has reappeared on the App Store. In addition to the revised code, Casualgaming.biz reports that the application has received a boost in performance as well as three new games, International Basketball, International Baseball, and International Tennis. These new titles join the other bundled games, Dragons Den, Le Mans, Arctic Shipwreck, Jack Attack and Jupiter Lander.

C64 ($4.99):

EA's John Riccitiello has a bit of advice for the anxious investors, analysts, and fanboys who eagerly await the monthly NPD numbers: "There's an entire other world of download, online, all the things that are going on that doesn't really show up in the surveys and I think that's the future." NPD figures only track retail sales, a market that has been challenged by the downturn in the global economy. Games like Madden 10 may sell fewer copies than previous versions, but that doesn't mean investors should jump ship.

"Online games that you download, games you would get by way of iPhone for example, that totally digital business is up so strong that it's actually offsetting the challenge we see at retail," Riccitiello tells FOX Business. Offerings like Madden 10 on iPhone, the upcoming Madden NFL Arcade, and Madden 10 DLC should go far in helping the company's bottom line. "The retail business is down," Riccitiello admits, but "the combination [of both retail and digital] is up."

Riccitiello's belief that digital is the future of the industry echoes earlier sentiments from EA Sports boss Peter Moore, who called the retail model "a burning platform." See Riccitiello's full interview with FOX after the break.

[Via Edge]

Only a day after iPhone developer Smells Like Donkey complained of an 80 percent piracy rate of its game Tap Fu, another developer has made an even more alarming claim. According to Fishlabs, its latest release, Rally Master Pro 3D, achieved an astonishing 95 percent piracy rate in its first day of release. Fishlabs' Michael Schade told Mobile Entertainment News that the 95 percent piracy rate corresponds to "many thousands." When discussing whether the recently implemented in-app purchasing feature would help curb piracy, Schade was skeptical, saying, "I doubt that." He added, "We will see in the future how well in-app purchases fight piracy."

An electronic device isn't a game machine these days until it passes the crucial "Does it run Doom" test. John Carmack has been hard at work on Doom Classic, an official port of id Software's groundbreaking FPS for iPhone, and now he reports that it's been submitted to Apple for approval, only four months after Carmack said it would be ready. Soon – provided Apple gives the okay to a tour of Hell – we'll be swiping and tilting our way to a symphony of exploding barrels.

Doom Classic should support wi-fi multiplayer upon its release, with Bluetooth to follow if it's not already implemented. At least, that's what Carmack said earlier this year.