ngmoco has released two new games, Touch Pets Dogs 2 for iPhone and Adventure Bay for iPhone and iPad.

In Adventure Bay, the goal is to build an island paradise and attract fellow adventures. You Assemble a crew and set sail, gather treasure maps, and explore uncharted islands in search of exclusive loot with friends. Adventure Bay is available for iPhone and iPad.

Here are the highlights for Adventure Bay:

• Build an island paradise from over 100 items
• Lure adventurers to your island with its many attractions
• Explore the tropics in search of loot and buried treasure
• Complete collections to unlock exclusives
• Help speed your friends along on their own quests

The sequel to Touch Pets Dogs is similar to its predecessor with the addition of new locations to play with your pup and new breeds to adopt. The idea behind Touch Pets Dogs is that you create a custom playland for your new best friend and fill it with toys and treats. You can primp your pups with soapy sponges and dress them in the latest canine fashion. Here are the highlights for Touch Pets Dogs 2:

• Play and Care for your puppy
• Decorate and personalize your own puppy playground
• Invite friends’ puppies over for playdates
• Visit friends’ houses to earn rewards for everyone
• Discover treasures hidden in your furniture

Both titles are free to download with optional in-app purchases. If you pick either of these up, let us know what you think!

[Adventure Bay for iPad - iTunes link]

[Adventure Bay for iPhone - iTunes link]

[Touch Pets Dogs 2 -iTunes link]

We City is the latest addition to ngmoco's successful We Rule and We Farm line of games for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. We City has the same flavor as We Rule and We Farm with the goal of building your city and making it as awesome as you can. There are over 100 buildings and decorations like cafes, salons, apartments, hospitals, and even hot dog stands.

As with their other games, We City is powered by the plus+ network so that you can play with your friends and speed up your progress through the game.

However, there's no Game Center support (yet?). Did ngmoco miss that memo?

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think. Is it better than We Rule and We Farm?

Screenshots after the break!

[Free - iPad iTunes link - iPhone iTunes link]

We Farm for iPad is a real-time farming game by ngmoco. If you're familiar with We Rule, We Farm is very similar except that your are building a farm instead of kingdom.

As with most ngmoco games, you must have a plus+ account to play. If you don't have one already, signing up is simple. When you first start playing We Farm, the game takes you through a little tutorial which is pretty helpful.

The goal of We Farm is to raise money and build your farm. You raise money by growing crops, raising animals, and receiving and placing orders with friends. Almost everything you do yields experience points. As you level, more items are available for purchase; higher level buildings will output more money. You will also be able to upgrade your farm as you level which gives you more space and gives you a nicer looking farmhouse. You can also turn on notifications to alert you when certain tasks are complete. However, they do not work for me. I've asked around and apparently I'm the only with this problem.

There are two currencies used in We Farm. The first is gold and is what you make doing various farm tasks and buying items. The other is Gro. This is used to instantly complete tasks like growing crops, building buildings, fulfilling an order, raising animals, and increasing your animals' happiness. You earn Gro every time you level and is also available as an in-app purchase.

My biggest complaint of We Farm is animal raising. To make your animal happy, you have to periodically "pet" it. Each pet increases the animal's happiness by 5%. The happier your animal is, the better chance he has of winning a prize at the fair. Once you win a prize, your pen/coop/pasture becomes available for your friends to place orders at. This means you make a lot more money from it. The problem is that if you have an animal that takes 2 hours to raise, you must come back every 6 minutes during that 2 hour period to get the happiness to 100%. This is an unrealistic expectation in my eyes. Of course, you can get around this by using Gro, but We Farm doesn't provide enough Gro to use it on all animals before needing to spend real money. However, the happier your animal is, the less Gro it takes to bring him to 100% happiness, so my strategy is to pet my animals as much as I can, then use grow at the end to bring it to 100%.

Another small complaint I have is that there isn't a way to quickly return to your own farm when visiting someone else's farm. I'd like to a small icon to tap in the corner of all farms that quickly takes to your farm.

All in all, I enjoy playing We Farm. However, you must like time management games to have fun with this one. I have been impressed with the performance of the app; it runs smoothly, I've never received a memory error (a common problem with We Rule), nor has it ever crashed. So if you're a fan of these types of games, check out We Farm - it's free!

Screenshots after the break!

[Free - iTunes link]

Pros

• Good performance
• Fun
• Easy to tailor around how much you want to play

Cons

• Can't quickly return to your farm when visiting someone else's farm.
• Animal petting requirement for a ribbon is unreasonable
• Push notifications not working (for me)

Ngmoco has just brought out the ultimate game/tech-demo (to show your friends) for the iPhone 4 -- Eliminate GunRange. It's a virtual gun range game where you use real weapons to shoot targets. The concept is not entirely engrossing as there are plenty of other top-notch shooting games out there (ngmoco's own Eliminate comes to mind). What makes this game fun and special is that it is the first game to take full use of the new iPhone 4 gyroscope. How does it work? Continue reading to find out!

The game starts out simple enough; you are presented with a single weapon, an M60. There are numerous other weapons to choose from, but you have to score well to unlock additional weapons with credits. After you select your weapon, you then can begin the " Challenges" for your selected weapon. When the level begins you have a pre- determined set of targets to destroy. That is where the fun begins.

The enjoyment factor of GunRange does not stem from the fact that you are destroying targets, it comes form the amazing control offered by the iPhone 4 gyroscope. It literally "feels" like you are holding the weapon in your hands and where ever you aim your iPhone, the cursor hovers over the target. This level of control is unprecedented in previous iPhone efforts till now. It is simply a tease of what is to come.

What could be hum-drum central, ngmoco has attempted to make levels as interesting as possible, however there are only three ranges. For example, the first level is a basic shooting range. As you progress you being to shoot targets outside in a different locale. What makes the level and challenge enticing is that targets appear "off screen" and you have to use the gyroscope to quickly turn left and right. Speaking of turning left and right, you don't have to rotate your whole body like Steve Jobs did in his WWDC 2010 keynote. Rather, I was able to successfully turn by simply lowering one side or the other to turn. This is also effective in racing games too, I have found.

For $.99 this is an easy pick up title. Will it keep you engaged for months to come, unlikely. But is it fun and cool to show off? Definitely.

[$0.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Awesome use of the iPhone 4 gyroscope Graphics are sharp and look good on the retina display
• Multiple guns and shooting ranges

Cons

• A bit repetitive
• Only three gun ranges, more variety would have been nice

Ngmoco has redefined the relationship between iPhone/iPod touch developer and customer with their "freemium" model where the apps are free but you can pay in-app to get more, faster, and now they're bringing that same model to the iPad. Check out GodFinger, We Rule, Charadium, Flick Fishing, NBA Hotshots, Warpgate, and CastleCraft after the break!

GodFinger puts the power of a god in players’ hands. Commanding the fate of a planet and its inhabitants, players must create “followers,” whose worship will help fledgling gods earn gold, grow stronger and learn new abilities. Gods can demonstrate their powers by moving mountains, flooding the land, and striking down the planet’s denizens to be as benevolent or as malevolent as they wish. The larger screen size brings more of the planet to life and multiplies interaction with followers and the environment.

We Rule lets players command whimsical kingdoms full of castles, farms and loyal citizens. Rulers must oversee crop harvests, collect taxes and trade with neighboring realms via the social connectivity of the Plus+ Network. Wise kings will also act as city planners and landscapers, and build, grow and craft their own social microcosms. We Rule for iPad expands the kingdom view and puts more power at the fingertips of the player with picture in picture functions for drag and drop functionality.

Charadium is a fast and furious multiplayer game that invites family, friends and players from all over the world to match wits in the ultimate draw-and-guess showdown. In Charadium, players are tasked with bringing words to life through drawings. One player draws a charade with their fingers, while the others must guess the word before the timer runs out. With language support for English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Russian speakers, Charadium can test gamers around the world.

The highly anticipated space exploration game Warpgate offers a vast universe of over 35 star-systems to explore in 172 different starships with over 100 main quests. Groundbreaking graphics, fluid controls and endless non-quest missions mean there is no limit to the adventure. Perfect for the Apple iPad's large, detailed screen and intuitive touch controls, Warpgate promises to be an amazingly immersive experience.

CastleCraft, Freeverse's first massively multiplayer online game, is a city building strategy title in which players wage war against hundreds of others for realm domination. Players will follow three different quest lines, form alliances and train up to 16 different types of military, resource and technology units. With the ability to battle against friends and other players worldwide, chat in realtime and watch their gorgeous city expand under intricate day-night cycles with dynamic particle effects, CastleCraft is an unrivaled, must-have title.

Flick Fishing HD, from studio Strange Flavour, is the wildly popular fishing game with real flick-motion casting. The iPad version boasts an all-new iPad-specific casting method, more than nine beautiful locations and tons of varying fish to reel in. Freeverse's Flick Fishing HD ships with all In App Purchases unlocked, including the new Fishing Pro pack and MegaGuide to reveal all hidden quests and tricks for landing the biggest fish!

NBA Hotshot HD, the officially licensed arcade-style hoop-sinking game, will be available for players to rack up points and earn awards in two modes of play: time-racing and high score earning. The iPad version includes more basketballs to unlock, a WNBA themed machine and a more engrossing, higher definition 3D environment.

When you get your iPad and your big screen game on, let us know what you think!

Live from GDC 2010, Rene talks with Jason Oberfest, VP of Social Applications at ngmoco about GodFinger for iPhone. Currently available in Canada [Free - iTunes link] with internationally release to follow soon, we get a sneak peak at playing deity to our own digital, mobile planet.

Video and a ton of screen shots after the break. Let us know what you think.

YouTube link

Once again, a new ngmoco's game has hit the Canadian App Store first -- this time it's kingdom-builder We Rule [Free with in-app purchases - iTunes link]. Hey, there's no Hulu or Google Voice in Canada, so fair's fair!

[It should be hitting the US and other App Stores shortly though, so don't fret!]

Like all recent ngmoco games, We Rule leverages the social gaming element via their Plus+ network, and has in-app purchases for "Mojo" which basically speed up things like growing crops and building homes, so you can pay if you don't want to wait. In this case, Mojo can run from $0.99 to for 1 to $49.00 for 800. You don't have to buy it, you just have to be patient if you don't.

It seems like you do have to log in to play, however, which is handy since you can keep one game going over multiple devices (like your iPhone and iPod touch, as long as they're logged in to the same Plus+ account), but if you don't care about that and just want to launch and play on your own, it's a step you can't skip.

No doubt ngmoco is doing what they do best here, taking a popular category of game and making it their own -- and making it excellent for the iPhone OS platform. If you're a fan of these types of farming, kingdom building games, you'll likely be a big fan of We Rule.

Again, Canadian only for now, though @ngmoco is giving away codes to allow early US access on Twitter. If you download it -- or score a code -- let us know what you think!

Ton'o pictures and a video... after the break!

ngmoco, maker of such free-to-play (with in-app purchases) game hits like Touch Pets and Eliminate has just raised a cool $25 million in funding and bought long time Mac and iPhone developer Freeverse of Skee-Ball and Flick Fishing fame. Techcrunch spoke to ngmoco CEO, Neil Young who said it was all about scale and acceleration:

He expects ngmoco to put out about about 20 new games this year, and the newly-acquired Freeverse team to nearly match that.

In addition to rolling out wave after wave of new iPhone games, Young also plans to open up an SDK to ngmoco’s Plus+ system so that other developers can more easily tap into it.

We just look forward to Eliminate-ing some Skee-Ball'ers in crossover action! But the question we have for you is this -- do you like the free-to-play with in-app purchases model? (i.e. you get the game for free but can buy food or energy or power-ups or whatever inside the game). And how do you feel about all of ngmoco -- and now all of Freeverse's games going that way?

Update: per comment below, Eliminate Pro and Touch Pets Pro are only available in Canada for now whole ngmoco tests their servers. Wide release to follow soon!

First-person shooter Elminate Pro [Free - iTunes link] and virtual pet sim Touch Pets Dogs [Free - iTunes link] for iPhone and iPod touch, first shown off by ngmoco at WWDC 2009, have begun making their way into iTunes App Stores around the world (we've confirmed them in Canada, other countries should be getting them soon as well).

Both games utilize the plus+ network for community gaming, with Eliminate looking to bring the classic Golden Eye/Halo style gameplay to Apple's platform, and Touch Pets Dogs, the Nintendogs virtual pooch model. (Sadly, no, there's doesn't seem to be a way to cross over within the two games yet, and hunt the mean soldiers with doggy cuteness -- or vice versa).

The price for both being zero, we're guessing Apple's new policy of "free games can charge for in-app purchases" is having an immediate an obvious effect. Demo without risk, and if you love one or both, they'll figure out levels or gear or powerups or accessories you can buy to enjoy to love them even more.

Touch Pets Dogs video after the break, and if you try them out, let us know what you think!

[Thanks Alexander for the tip!]

Ngmoco sent us word of new teasers for Eliminate, the first-person iPhone (and iPod touch) shooter they showed off on Apple's Keynote stage for iPhone 3.0. Now, I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the teaser concept. Rather than build interest, I find they just cause me to tune out after a while. Literally, too much of a good thing.

However, Eliminate really is looking to be a good thing, if not a great thing, so I'm posting the one video so far that makes us really, really want them to get this game out. See, to me the fun in Golden Eye and Halo was never the game. It was hunting down and picking off my friends. Now, if they can ever get live streaming audio to work in real time with the game, and I can hear my friends complain that "it's not fair" their "controller doesn't work" and "stop killing me the moment I re-spawn" (okay, those are all actually things I say to them. Shhh!) it would be perfect. But given that it will push challenges and let you play over 3G and WiFi, and using ngmoco's plus+ network, it could just be dang near perfect.

Now I just have to make sure Chad and Jeremy never get my gamer code...

Rolando 2 Quest for the Golden Orchid [$9.99 - iTunes link], available now for the iPhone (and iPod touch) shows that Ngmoco not only takes great gaming concepts and beautifully renders them on the iPhone, but that they can make those great concepts and renders even better.

New gameplay includes a 3D stylized world, driving, swimming, and flying, and -- now the Rolandos can fight back!

The first Rolando game won TiPb's Editor's Choice Award last time around, how does the new one stack up? If you give it a try, let us know!

Ngmoco takes classic gaming concepts and genres, re-interprets them for the iPhone, and then makes them look better than anyone can believe an iPhone game can look. Star Defense, a galaxy-spanning take on tower defense, is no exception.

Shown off yesterday during the WWDC 2009 keynote, not only does Star Defense let you travel from planet to planet, touch, spin, and zoom your way around, deploy your firepower, and try to keep ahead of the deadly hoards of S'rath out to harshen your tower's mellow, but it lets you challenge your friends over Facebook or Twitter for extra fun.

Star Defense is available now [$5.99 - iTunes link]

When iPhone 3.0 launches on June 17, Star Defense will use in-app purchases for expansion packs. For $2.99, for example, you can buy another galaxy of planets. A Plus Network will also allow for network play, leader-boards, and other online gaming features.

I had a chance to try the pre-release version out during the media tournament, and even though I didn't fare to well in the rankings, I had skads of fun.

Think you can out score me? (Yeah, I do too...)

ngmoco has gone and set up a little media tournament, taking place on Twitter, with their hawt new game, StarDefense. Suiting up on TiPb's behalf is yours truly, and you can follow my progress, and everyone's progress, through the elimination rounds via @ngmoco or individually:

• Rene Ritchie/the iPhone Blog (@reneritchie)
• Chris Foreman/Ars Technica (@foresmac)
• Brandon Boyer/Boing Boing (@brandonnn)
• Bryan Barletta/148Apps (@BryanNO)
• Eli Hodapp/Touch Arcade (@hodapp)
• Tracy Erickson/Pocket Gamer (@TracyErickson)
• John Davidson/What They Play (@jwdavidson)
• Victor Lucas/Electric Playground (@Victor_Lucas)
• N'gai Croal/Hit Detection (@ncroal)
• Patrick Kelpek/G4TV.com (@eXxy)
• Levi Buchanan/IGN

Best of luck and... bring it on!

ngmoco just sent over their latest trailer for StarDefense, coming in May for the iPhone and iPod touch, and we've uploaded it to YouTube and embedded it above for all to enjoy.

In Star Defense, players take control of the captain's chair and travel to a series of planets invaded by alien S’rath forces. Twisting and spinning complete 3-D planets, players must examine the terrain to plan tower defenses, selecting from a broad range of turrets that unleash everything from burning hot plasma to high voltage decimation. With seven planets, five upgradable tower types and three difficulty levels available at launch, Star Defense will challenge players of all skill sets, from sci-fi fans to tower defense champions.

If this really combines the skills of ngmoco with the addictive qualities of tower defense, we're already predicting a massive slowdown in postings here as we play review this baby for hours on end.

Screenshots after the break!

Hero of Sparta by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

While this app came out some time ago, I have been meaning to write a review for this app, but I always end up getting distracted playing the game, then running out of time. So finally I have distanced myself from my iPhone to bring you this review.

This is easily one of the most addicting games I have come across. ngmoco:), the developer of this game has undoubtedly created a unique gem of a game.

The point of Rolando is to roll the Rolandos (characters) around the screen and move them from one point to another while avoiding deadly monsters, fire pits, etc. In order to get them through you might find that you have to push things around, climb across boulder, drop bombs, build bridges, etc. The easiest way to describe the app is to say that it is a cross between Touch Physics for the iPhone and the old Lemmings game.

Controls:

The game utilizes the accelerometers to maneuver the Rolandos on the screen – you tilt in the direction you want to move,. You can also make your Rolando jump by swiping your finger from the bottom to the top of the screen. When selecting your Rolando, you can tap on one of them to select it or draw a box around several Rolandos to select multiple ones. While tilting the iPhone in a certain direction controls the Rolandos, you might also find yourself using your fingers to pull back catapult, flip switches, dropping bombs, drawing bridges and other awesome little things.

Layout:

The game begins with a segmented screen- 9boxes that are black and then “unlocked” when you beat certain levels, within this main screen you can basically just play around with the different Rolando characters. I thought this was a neat little touch as its not really part of the game, but great way to get the user involved in the game – before the game. After tapping on the menu item to begin the game, you will be taken to a “story-book” map that basically lists the levels along you way to the Rolando City. You select the level you wish by tapping on a white circle and then again when the white balloon appears. The map is separated into 4 quadrant, or to say, 4 worlds. Each one having its own theme. Within the levels themselves you have to get the Rolando(s) from point A to point B winding your way around beast trap doors and catapults. While all levels require that you exit through the magic door at the end, you might also find that you must save the sleeping-prince-Rolando, in which, he is bigger than the other Rolandos and also uncontrollable, making the level quite difficult to an extent, but very addicting.

In the game screen, in the top left-hand corner, your are given a time limit and given extra points if you complete the level in the allotted amount of time, if not, then you don't get any extra points. Underneath the times is a counter #/# meaning, the first number is how many Rolandos you have gotten through the door and the second number is how many you must get though the level to complete it. If you tap on either of these icons a menu will appear to allow you to restart the level, continue, or quit.

If you decide to quit, don't worry, your game will be saved (iSave). Some levels have “checkpoint-balloons” so that you begin from the point of the balloon in case you are to die. If you push the home key in the middle of a game (without dying) you will resume from that position.

Sound:

There is music playing in the background and in games I tend to reduce the music over the sound effects to reduce noise confusion, in doing that, I enjoyed the music within the game and did not feel that it ever annoyed me. There are multiple sound effects that each animation gives off in the game and makes the game all the more interactive. The Rolandos themselves will “talk” to you via text bubbles and making a unique sound (reminiscing of the old Nintendo 64).

Overall:

I found this game extremely addicting. It is one of those games, if you just happen to have a couple of minutes to kill, then you can play this game then save your progress and continue later or if you have a bunch of time to kill, then by all means, play longer. I have played about halfway through the game and have found it very enjoyable and one of the best games I have purchased. I go though so many apps that I barely have time to complete each game before I move onto the next, but this one just has me coming back no matter what my time limit is.

Replay-ability I am not quite sure of. Once I complete the game, I am not sure I'll go back to play the levels again. However in having that timer, you can go back and attempt to complete the level with that time slot. If you are one of those people that like to get every little point, then the replay ability is high, otherwise, it going to be low.

This is probably the only game I haven't found anything negative to say about it and that in itself is outstanding.

One of the other games that ngmoco:) has made, Topple, I found in that game, that the blocks facial expressions reacted to each other and I found that so cool, and Rolando is no exception. Rolando is sure to please any puzzle-lover or adventure-game lover of any type! At $9.99, this game is a must and easily one of the best.

If you happen to find yourself near the “credits” button, under the options menu, you might want to take a look at it. It's probably the most creative and well-done credit sequence I have seen i an iPhone app.

Pros:

• Unique game play
• Characters faces interact with each other
• Addicting game play
• A combo of Touch Physics & Lemmings = addictive

Cons:

• I can't really think of any.

Forum Review Rating

[Rolando is available from the iTunes App Store]

Looking for a cool retro-arcade action title from what is shaping up to be a leading game developer/publisher on the iPhone? Than look no further than Dropship ($1.99) [iTunes Link] from ngmoco:). 

Premise:

You control a "dropship". You save humans. You pick up cargo and delivery it safely. You do this in a time limit. 

More after the break!

Controls:

Gameplay:

You manueover your dropship to collect humans. They appear and yellow have names pulled from your address book. Ensign Bohn, Admiral Ritchie, etc., populate those who you must save! You also must pick up a green package on each level. The challenge is this; you destory the onslaught of turrets, tanks an missiles while you pick up humans, but once you touch the package, you have a timer and all of the enemies on the level reappear! To be fair, once you destroy an enemy it leaves blue dots. These dots not only replenish your energy, but they also add to your score. 

There are a couple types of gameplay; campaign and free-play. Campaign mode unlocks a new level after time you complete one, and free-play I think of more as a challenge mode. You go from level to level, but when you die, you start over. 

One other cool feature; downloadable levels! That's right! There are three now (two of them are holiday themed) and more are coming.

I really enjoy this game! It is old school with fun controls and is excellent for some pick up and play action or for an hour or two.

Rating: 

No, Tap Tap Revenge isn't the more evil, Dark Side, Sith'ier version of the famed iPhone game that multi-touch tapped its way into jailbroken hearts everywhere, it's just the new branding adopted by the new owners, Tapulous. Nate True, as famous for TTR as he was in the jailbreak community in general, stays on as developer, and has even added in double-tapper, two-player mode for good measure.

Coming soon to the App Store (we hope!)

Keep reading for Ngmoco and Rolando, after the break!

Speaking of developers, former EA Blueprint head Neil Young has left the uber-house after 11 years to start up his own joint, Ngmoco, which will focus on everyone's favorite new revolutionary handset, the iPhone. Why the iPhone? In addition to shifting mobile focus beyond just making phone calls, and reinventing the business model with App Store, Young says:

The iPhone, from a performance standpoint, is pretty close to a PSP, but unlike the PSP, it's got a touchscreen, accelerometers, a camera, it's location-aware, it's got all of your media on it, it's awake with you, it's always on, and it's always connected to the network. So if you think about the types of games and entertainment experiences that you can build on a platform like that, it's got to get pretty exciting pretty quickly.

Wow. He gets it...

... And so does Simon Oliver, who takes what's unique about the iPhone's control potential, mixes it up with a highly stylized look, and gives us the puzzling physics of Rolando: