The iPhone, iPad and  iPod touch are pretty much the perfect mobile gaming platform and chances are you might be shopping for someone who just loves their iOS gaming. So what to get them? Luckily, there are lots and lots of gifts for gamers to choose from! Here are a few of my favorites, both for the hottest hardware and greatest games!

Don’t need anything for a gamer? Check out the recommendations anyway, something great might still catch your eye. If not, no worries, check out one of our other 2011 holiday gift guides!

iOS device gifts

Does you gamer in your life not have an iPhone, Pod touch or iPad yet? Not sure which one you should get? Not a problem! Start here:

• iOS device gift guide

Accessory gifts

If your gamer already has their device, there are some great accessories out there to help them take their gaming to another level.

iCade

The iCade is a magical gift for the retro gamer. The iCade arcade cabinet is an accessory for your iPad which turns it into a retro arcade machine complete with joystick, six buttons and a glowing coin slot.

More and more games are being released that work with the iCade; including the Atari’s Greatest Hits app. The iCade is designed to work with the iPad and iPad 2.

The iPad slots into the arcade cabinet and the controls are done over Bluetooth. Buying a gamer one of these should keep them happy not just over the holiday period but for the rest of their life too!

• Get iCade at ThinkGeek.com

Fling and Fling Mini

What if you are watching your favorite gamer and they are constantly struggling with their game and can’t achieve even the simplest tasks due to their finger and thumb fumblings on the shiny iPhone or iPad touchscreen? Fear not, there is a solution for that too, Ten One Design have come up with a well designed joystick for the iPad and a mini version for the iPhone and iPod touch too. Called the “Fling”, it sticks to your screen with some small suction cups and claims to offer a console type gaming experience.

As you control a game with Fling, it pushes gently back towards the center position.  This haptic feedback guides and stabilizes your gameplay, making every action more accurate. Any gamer would love to get their hands on one of these, me included!

• Get Fling and Fling mini at Amazon.com

mophie juice pack plus

It is pointless having the latest games and accessories for your iPhone if the battery on your device is not up to the task. Thankfully we have just the thing to buy for the gamer to keep their iPhone fully charged and ready to play.

The mophie juice pack is a hard shell case which fits the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Built into the case is a 2000 mAh capacity battery. mophie claims that the juice pack plus will double your iPhone’s battery life which gives you double the time to play your favorite games.

The mophie juice pack is the ideal gift for the iPhone gamer, it not only protects your iPhone but also doubles its battery life, a perfect gaming combination!

• Get mophie juice pack plus on store.tipb.com

Motorola MOTOROKR S10HD Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

It’s a classic story, they love to game, you’d dearly love some peace and quiet. Luckily, there’s a gift that can keep on giving to the both of you — stereo headphones! They get deep base and immersive sound, and the freedom of a cable-free experience, and you get blissful, well deserved silence.

While there are a ton of headphones to choose from, wire and unwired alike, the MOTOROKR looks and sounds great, and has just a touch of that futuristic feel to it.

• Get the Motorola MOTOROKR S10HD Bluetooth Stereo Headphones on store.tipb.com

App gifts

What better gift for a gamer than more great games to play? The App Store is chock full of them, and iTunes allows you to gift them straight to your special gamer. (If you’re not sure how, here’s quick guide to gifting apps)

First person shooter (FPS) games: Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation is the ultimate First Person Shooter for the iOS platform. If you want to treat the gamer in your life with a great game then this may be the one to go for. You can play a solo mission with over 13 different levels each with fantastic graphics and enemy AI.

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation also offers a highly polished online multiplayer game experience. You can battle up to twelve players in six maps with seven different modes of play. A word of warning, you can accelerate your gaming abilities in this game via in app purchase of weapons and health kits; some find this an unfair advantage!

It is also a universal binary so this particular game will look stunning on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

• $6.99 – App Store link

Also check out:

• Dead Space is a gorgeous, terrifying shooter set in the depth of space. $6.99 – App Store link
• N.O.V.A. 2 is the closest thing to HALO on the iPhone. $6.99 – App Store link
• RAGE HD comes from John Carmack and while it’s on rails, it’s also off the hook. $1.99 – App Store link
• Call of Duty: Zombies is all the undead you can empty a clip at. $4.99 App Store link

Arcade games: Real Racing 2

If the gamer on your gift hit list is into driving games then they don’t get any better than Firemint’s Real Racing 2. Real Racing 2 lets you take the wheel of 30 officially licensed cars and each has its own characteristics too. You can race against 16 other cars all at the same time.

Real Racing 2 also offers 15 locations to race in with over 40 miles of highly detailed race tracks, speedways and city center circuits. You can also choose to race in the daytime, twilight hours or evening.

If you are lucky enough to own an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 and an Apple TV (Black) you can even play wirelessly on your HDTV. Friends can join in too with split screen multiplayer and Party Play.

• $9.99 – App Store link

Also check out:

• Infinity Blade brings the Epic Unreal 3 engine to iOS. ‘Nuff said. $2.99 – App Store link]
• Street Fighter IV Volt puts the classic fighter in the palm of your hands. $0.99 – App Store link
• Extraction: Project Outbreak is a fresh take on the top-down 3D shooter. $0.99 – App Store Link
• Atari’s Greatest Hits brings the oldest of old school to your brand new advice. Free – App Store link

Casual Games: Amazing Breaker

Amazing Breaker is a game for the more casual gamer. It involves ice sculptures; you remember them, popular at high class parties but nowhere else. Anyway, the aim of the game is to destroy the ice sculptures with bombs, and try not to leave any shards of ice behind.

Amazing Breaker is a highly addictive puzzle game with over 80 levels to keep you busy. Designed for the Retina display, it offers high resolution graphics, easy to learn game play and Game Center achievements. The bombs you use to destroy the ice sculptures come in many different flavors too with Spike Bombs, Ghost Bombs, Helicopter Bombs and even Split Bombs. The game is a lot of fun and once you start it, you will struggle to put it down. A great gift for the gamer in your life!

• $0.99 – App Store link]

Also check out:

• Catan is a great version of a great strategy game. $4.99 – App Store link
• Words with Friends isn’t Scrabble but it is an all out, all online spelling war. $0.99 – App Store link
• Carcassone is a beautiful rendition of the medieval strategy game. $9.99 – App Store link
• Poker by Zynga let’s you get your Texus Hold’em on your iPhone. Free – App Store link

More great games for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Every day, TiPb covers the best new games and best new game updates, so if you’re looking for more great game gift ideas, check out our gaming section! Likewise, the iTunes App Store has a games section with lots of great choices.

• TiPb Games
• iTunes App Store games

And if you’re still not sure what to get, consider an iTunes Gift Card, that way the special gamer in your life can pick their very own gift!

• Get iTunes Gift Cards

Your picks?

Remember, you’re part of Team TiPb too, so if you’ve already picked the perfect gift for your iPhone or iPad gamer, or have the perfect idea for one, let us know in comments!

iOS 5 brings a lot of great new features to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad but more than that — it lets developers bring us even better apps and games! Whether it’s a great old app that’s been updated with amazing new functionality, or a brand new app that never would have been possible before, they now get access to everything from Documents in the Cloud to AirPlay Mirroring to Twitter integration to Newsstand, to persistent location and more.

There will no doubt be a flood of them soon but for right now, right this minute, here are a list of our favorites, the ones we think are the best — TiPb’s Top 5 apps that support awesome new iOS 5 features!

iWork Numbers, Pages, and Keynote (Documents in the Cloud)

Apple’s iWork productivity suite includes the Numbers spreadsheet, the Pages word processor, and the Keynote presentation maker. While not as powerful as Microsoft’s ubiquitous Office suite, for smaller jobs they can make for even more beautiful, better laid out documents. And now, Documents in the Cloud. It only makes sense that Apple is right out of the gate with iCloud support for their own apps, and that the support is pretty good. Any Numbers, Pages, or Keynote document that you start on your iPhone or iPad is stored up on iCloud and pushed back down to all your other devices, including — eventually — the iWork apps on the Mac.

There’s no file system, no file management. The idea is for you to simply open your apps and find your documents there waiting for you, up to date and ready for more. If editing on all your iOS and OS X devices is important for you, iWork is now a powerful, easy way to do it.

Note: iWork apps are universal, so you only have to buy once to use on all your iOS devices, including iPhone and iPad. However, each app needs to be bought separately, and the Mac versions need to be bought separately as well.

• Numbers – $9.99 App Store link
• Pages – $9.99 – [App Store link](mt=8 http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=xhXvKggNk&subid=&offerid=146261.1&type=10&tmpid=3909&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fpages%2Fid361309726%3Fmt%3D8)
• Keynote – $9.99 App Store link

Magazine and newspaper apps (Newsstand)

While many people seem to hate even the presence of Newsstand on their home screens, it actually manages to very neatly solve several problems previously associated with subscription media like magazines and newspapers. It’s really just a custom folder, and magazines and newspapers are still served up as apps, but Newsstand keeps them all in one place, updates automagically when new issues “come out”, and takes you to a subscription section of the App Store so you don’t have to wade through games and novelty apps to find your periodicals.

Those magazine and newspaper apps had to update for iOS 5 to support Newsstand, but many already have and many more will update shortly. If subscriptions are your thing, Newsstand, if not perfect, is certainly better.

Note: Some apps are universal, many aren’t. Check for the + symbol on a case-by-case basis.

• Variable – App Store link

Real Racing 2 and Real Racing 2 HD (AirPlay Mirroring)

FireMint is always at the cutting edge of iOS gaming and iOS 5 is no different. They’ve already updated Real Racing 2 for iPhone and Real Racing 2 HD for iPad to support the new AirPlay Mirroring feature. It lets you stream your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 interface — including any app or game — through an Apple TV to a big screen HDTV. FireMint takes it to a whole new level — they offer full on Party Play. What that means is you and up to 4 people total can each use an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 to race, multiplayer style, on the big screen. Not only is that a whole lot of fun — it’s a shot across the bow of every console in the casual gaming space.

Hopefully soon we’ll see all sorts of board games, shooters, and other great titles support to feature. Until then we’ll be busy playing Real Racing 2.

Note: It’s not a universal binary, so you’ll have to buy it separately for iPhone and iPad if you want it on both, but right now it’s on 40% sale so it’s as close to a no brainer as you can get.

• $2.99 on sale – iPhone App Store
• $3.99 on sale – iPad App Store

iQuick Tweet (Twitter Integration)

iOS 5 has built-in Twitter integration so you can rapidly tweet a photo, YouTube video, etc. iQuick Tweet smartly took that rapidity and made it the focus of a dedicated app. You launch, you type a Twitter status, you hit send, you’re done. It’s just that simple and it’s just that fast.

If you want to read timelines, search through @mentions, explore profiles, check trends, or do a lot of other stuff besides tweeting, there’s an embarrassment of full fledged Twitter clients on iOS, but if all you want to do is blast off a message, iQuick Tweet has you covered.

• $0.99 – iPhone App Store link

foursquare (Location)

For iOS 5 users, foursquare now offers the new Radar feature, with ability to alert you when your friends are near and doing something fun — even if your iPhone is in your pocket. This awesome — or terrifying — new feature means you don’t have to have your iPhone out and foursquare open all the time, in constant fear you might miss out on what’s happening around you. While it’s not as granular as Apple’s new Find my Friends app, if your goal is to know where the cool stuff is happening, foursquare Rader is a lot more powerful.

• Free – iPhone App Store

Bonus: Instapaper (Brightness and Dictionary)

Favored as the best way to devour web articles by geeks everywhere, Instapaper proves that it’s not just the big, flashy iOS 5 features that can make a difference — the little ones matter too. Support for the built-in dictionary and native brightness controls means downloading the app is faster, and reading your saved articles is more comfortable than ever. (The UI has also received an excellent overhaul.)

Note: Instapaper is a universal app so you can buy it once and use it on all your iOS devices.

• $4.99 – App Store link

Addenda: Jailbreak apps

A lot of Jailbreak apps and tweaks are also being updated to support iOS 5. If Jailbreak is where your heart lies, keep your browser locked on TiPb.com/Jailbreak for all the updates.

Your favorite new iOS 5 apps?

iOS 5 is only a week old and we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what iOS 5 apps and games will bring to our iPhones and iPads. Did we miss any of your favorites? Did we leave any of the best new apps and updates out? Is there anything else that should have made our top 5 list?

If so, speak up and let us know in the comments!

What’s your name? Robert Murray

What’s your company’s name? Firemint

Where are you located? Richmond, Victoria, Australia, not too far from Melbourne proper.

What’s your website address? www.firemint.com

What’s your Twitter ID? @firemint

What apps do you make? Firemint’s two big IPs are Flight Control and Real Racing. Both games are available on iPhone and iPad, and we developed a sequel to Real Racing, Real Racing 2, which was released in December 2010.

Our most recent title is Real Racing 2 HD, optimized for iPad 2. Not long ago we put out an update that adds 1080p dual screen support, so you can sit on the couch and play while the action is displayed on your TV. At the same time, your device shows your lap times, position and speed. It’s quite a sight to behold, and an entirely new way to experience the game.

Agent Squeek is our next massive title, due out this year on iOS. It features a suave cheese-loving mouse who’s lively imagination casts him in the role of a secret agent.

How long have you been a developer? Firemint has been around since 1999, though it began trading under the name nDimensional Software. Firemint really started growing as an independent game developer in 2003.

How long have you been an iOS developer? Our first original game was Flight Control in May 2009, however, we started work on Real Racing in May 2008.

Do you develop for any other platform in addition to iOS? If so, which one(s)? In the past, we’ve developed for a range of platforms including the N-Gage and Gameboy Advance. While Firemint’s focus in recent times has been iOS, we’ve released Flight Control on a variety of hardware – Nintendo DS, Windows, Mac OS X, Android, Windows Phone 7 and PlayStation 3.

What iOS device(s) do you personally use? I use an iPhone 3GS for phone calls, SMS, and browsing and gaming on the run. I use an iPad when I am at home or in meetings for gaming, browsing and email.

What’s your favorite thing about developing for iOS? It’s great having a unified set of platforms to develop for, as well as a robust publishing process that gives us a lot of control over how our games are released.

What do you do when you’re not coding iOS apps? Thinking about new ones! I should mention that I really don’t have time to do hands-on coding, the last time I did was when I made the first version of Flight Control, and I had to do that on my holidays. However I’m still very much involved in design and production and I still look forward to finding some time in the future to pull out the keyboard and some Red Bull.

What should we look for from you next? Agent Squeek! We’re looking to release it this year on iOS, and we’re extremely excited about it. The depth really sneaks up on you, it’ll definitely take a lot of people by surprise… a bit like Squeek himself!

Thanks Rob!

The always cutting edge folks at Firemint let us know that they’re once again pushing the envelop of iOS and iPad 2 performance, this time by providing 1080p, full screen video out to TV for Real Racing 2 HD.

• A first for iOS!
• Full screen, gorgeous 1080p visuals
• No black borders
• No scaling – full HD
• Silky smooth 30 frames per second
• Dual-screen racing – real time telemetry on your iPad 2
• Drive from the comfort of your couch!

The update is coming soon. Video after the break, let us know what you think!

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Smurfs’ Village: Now with Valentine’s Day theme and items and new minigame. [Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

• Real Racing: Real Racing, Real Racing 2, and Real Racing HD have received significant price drops until Valentines Day! [Real Racing, $1.99 - iTunes link] [Real Racing 2, $4.99 - iTunes link] [Real Racing HD, $4.99 - iTunes link]

• Angry Birds: Update with 15 new levels, new golden egg, and secret Super Bowl level. [Angry Birds, $0.99 - iTunes link] [Angry Birds HD, $4.99 - iTunes link]

• Epicurious: Now share recipes you love on Facebook, Twitter, Instapaper, Tumblr, and more. [Free - iTunes link]

• Devil May Cry 4 refrain: Is a new game with the same great console action flare, currently on limited-time sale! [$1.99 - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

The folks from Firemint have reduced the price on all titles from their hit Real Racing Series and have them on sale until Monday 14th February.

• Real Racing – $4.99/£2.99 $1.99/£1.19
• Real Racing 2 – $9.99/£5.99 $4.99/£2.99
• Real Racing HD (iPad) – $9.99/£5.99 $4.99/£2.99

Rockstar Games have also slashed the price of their hit iOS title GTA Chinatown Wars, in celebration of Chinese New Year, until Sunday 6th February (11:59pm ET)

• GTA Chinatown Wars – $9.99/£5.99$4.99/£2.99
• GTA Chinatown Wars HD (iPad) – $9.99/£5.99$4.99/£2.99

Go enjoy some great titles while their on sale, before they go back up in price! Which games will you be buying?

Real Racing 2 for iPhone and iPod touch, the much anticipated sequel to Firemint’s hugely popular, ADA-winning race game, will be hitting the iTunes App Store on December 16 with 30 licensed cars, a 16 car grid, and online races. The full feature list includes:

• 30 officially licensed cars
• 16 car grid against AI, and 16 player online racing – an iOS first
• Career mode with well over 10 hours gameplay and a range of event types
• Earn in-game currency to buy and sell cars, and buy upgrades
• 5 game modes: Career Mode, Quick Race, Time Trial, Local Multiplayer (8 players), Online Multiplayer (16 players)
• 15 locations with 40 miles of highly detailed race track
• Vehicle damage
• Online Save Game
• Game Center and Cloudcell integration, multiple profiles
• Wide range of control options
• HUD with minimap that can be turned on or off
• 5 camera angles including fully 3D cockpit view, and TV style replays
• Powered by Firemint’s exclusive Mint3D™ engine

It’ll be priced at $9.99. Video after the break!

Firemint’s Real Racing is an ADA award winning game for the iOS platform, and they’ve just sent TiPb word that soon, using Apple’s new Game Center, it’s going to be offering 4-way multiplayer.

The wait is almost over! We’re very happy to announce that one of the most requested features in Real Racing is coming soon: online multiplayer! We are currently working on an update that will let you race in real-time, online via Apple Game Center, with support for up to four players.

If you can’t wait for the multiplayer update to come out, there’s a way to get in early:

Even better, we have just kicked off our Firemint Beta Program. We’re inviting our existing player community to apply, and be among the first to experience all the adrenaline fuelled racing action they’ve come to love… online! Stay tuned for more news soon.

Real Racing is currently on offer at only $2.99/£1.79 so go and get it and you’ll get these multiplayer functions as a free update!

[iTunes link - Firemint.com Beta Program]

This is an official entry by JorjLim in TiPb’s next top blogger contest. Think you have what it takes to join Team TiPb? Bring it!

We’ve been keeping our eye out as more iOS4 app updates keep hitting the App Store filled with multitasking, state saving, Retina Display-ing goodness. So pull out your iPhone or get on iTunes and check for updates. Here are some more we’ve seen roll out since our last post.

Hit the jump to see what new ones we’ve found!

Twitter for iPhone

This is a big one for most people as it’s by far one of the most popular Twitter clients for iPhone.  Now that it’s become the official client and is available for free, it’s become that much more popular.  Twitter for iPhone hasn’t disappointed and rolled out an update that not only supports fast app switching, but resolution support for the new retina display, as well as some bug fixes.

Real Racing by Firemint

Games are what most users are really looking forward to with the new display.  Looks like some developers are really starting to take advantage of the new display. Real Racing seems to have redesigned their graphics to take advantage of the iPhone 4’s display.  If you’re in the market for a great racing game, this just may be for you.

Here’s what’s included in the update –

• New graphics for showing off the retina display with high resolution textures, more detailed car interiors, improved track graphics, beautifully updated menus and exceptionally smooth graphical performance on iPhone 4
• More responsive and accurate controls on iPhone 4, with three-axis gyro support in addition to the accelerometer
• Smoother graphics on iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3 with iOS4 anti-aliasing
• Support for iOS4 multitasking on compatible devices
• Bux Fixes

Flight Control by Firemint

Looks like Firemint is really on a roll and updating most of their game selection for iOS4.  Most of the updates seem to be in line with those for Real Racing.  Enhanced graphics, fast app switching, anti-aliasing, and gyro support.  If you’ve never played Flight Control, it’s an incredibly addicting game.  If you already have it, go grab the update!

Plants vs Zombies

This is one of my favorite games of all time.  If you haven’t picked it up, I highly suggest it.  Those of you who currently have it, it’s been updated to support fast app switching in iOS4.  Apart from that, I don’t believe the update includes support for the retina display.  I’m hoping we’ll see that in a future update.

Trapster

There aren’t very many free navigation apps in the App Store.  If you aren’t in the market to spend a lot and want a decent one, Trapster may be for you. It also comes with speed trap alerts.  And it comes with support for background navigation.  What more could you ask for?

TomTom

I’ve read in several places that users were having issues with TomTom after upgrading to iOS4.  TomTom has issued an update to not only fix compatibility issues but adding some great features to support iOS4. So if you upgraded to iOS4, make sure you update so you can continue using TomTom.  GPS apps are probably going to improve ten-fold with the release of iOS4.  Here’s a list of new and improved TomTom features –

• Seamless navigation while calling (3GS and iPhone 4 only)
• Newly updated maps
• Background navigation instructions
• Route Sharing (share route details with contacts via e-mail)
• Departure Reminders (add them to your calendar)
• Eco Routes (more fuel efficient routes)
• Car Symbols (personalize car symbols on your driving screen)

Slacker Personal Radio

[iTunes link]

Slacker is right now releasing version 2.1 which supports multitasking for listening to Slacker Radio in the background and offers convenient controls for accessing the app while performing other device functions. Slacker Radio 2.1 for iOS 4 offers:

• Support for multitasking
• Convenient background play controls
• Music library featuring millions of songs
• No monthly listening limits
• Over 120 professionally programmed genre stations
• Create custom stations based on artists or songs
• Fine tune stations on-the-fly to play more of the music you like
• View artist biographies and photos
• View album art and reviews
• Pause and skip songs
• Rate songs as favorites
• Ban the songs and artists you don’t like

If you’re a Slacker Radio Plus subscriber:

• Cache stations to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch**
• Enjoy Slacker radio stations even without a wireless network
• Unlimited song skipping
• Ad-free listening
• Complete song lyrics†
• Unlimited song requests for creating stations
• “Peek Ahead” artist and album preview

That’s what we’ve found so far, but if you find any you think deserve a post-up let us know in the comments or send us a tip!

This year’s WWDC 2010 Apple Design Awards were a decidedly iPhone and iPad-centric affair, yet the winners still manage to run an amazing gamut from fun to foodie, creative to informative. Without further ado, here are the ADA.

• Doodle Jump [iTunes]
• Financial Times [iTunes]
• Brushes for iPhone [iTunes
• TabToolkit for iPad [iTunes]
• Articles [iTunes]
• 20 Minute Meals [iTunes]
• Star Walk for iPad [iTunes]
• Real Racing [iTunes]
• Flight Control HD [iTunes]
• Pinball HD [iTunes]

Congratulations to all the winners, all the nominees, and all the developers and apps that were submitted. Now what do you think, any surprises?

[Ars]

Real Racing HD [$9.99- iTunes Link] is a blast to play on the iPad. I have enjoyed the iPhone iteration for some time and I was really looking forward to the iPad version. Thankfully the game is still a blast to play, looks good and has a few new features to keep you interested in this version.

First of the changes is the resolution. The graphics and frame rate are really smooth. The immersive feel of the in- car view is fantastic. This game does have a different feel now on the larger screen and I like it. You can now add your own skin to your car via the Camera Role. This is a great way to customize the cars in the game if you get bored with what is available. Firemint even has a website with skins to download. To install a skin, just save to the Camera Role or use an existing image. You can then apply the picture to a car, giving it a new look.

The other new feature with this version of Real Racing is the ability to save/ load ghost car data. In Time Trial mode you can save your race after you finish. You are then added to the leaderboards. You can view or race against others in your bracket . You can’t at this time race against higher ranked players. Firemint says they are listening to feedback and may implement this in a future update.

For a first effort out of the gate, I really am enjoying Real Racing HD and I am looking forward to see how the development will improve on this already awesome game. Gallery and video after the break!

YouTube link

What with the leaks and every pre-review worth its salt using Real Racing to show off some iPad gaming, it’s hardly a secret that Firemint is going all in on Apple’s new platform, and they’re bringing Flight Control along for the ride — in 3D!

Real Racing HD [$9.99 - iTunes link] is just what you’d expect, accelerometer driven, OpenGL fueled racing on that big 1024×768 iPad screen and it looks glorious. All the graphics have been upscaled and you can skin cars with images from Photo Album for even more fun. You can also export, edit, and even get skins from Firemint.com. There’s Ghost Racing so you can go up against pre-recorded or downloaded performances — your best race or a top online driver, and they’ll show up in Online League races as well. And everything is there from the iPhone version as well, including 48 cars, 12 tracks, 5 game modes, and more racing awesome than you can shake an iPad at (or more appropriately, with).

Flight Control HD [$4.99 - iTunes link] for the iPad scares us a little — we had enough problems trying to land planes on the smaller iPhone screen — but luckily there’s more too it than just increased adrenalin. Multiplayer abounds, with versus and co-op, and you can play against someone else on another iPad, or an iPhone or iPod touch (nice!). Of course the airports are bigger, and the graphics have been ramped up, and there’s a new “Snow” airfield with variable wind (8 airfields in total). There’s also a “quirky” 3D view airfield that requires 3D glasses (not included, but awesome in concept). In nut shell, there’s just more of everything that made the original Flight Control so compelling.

We can’t wait to get our hands on either of them. Apple, why are you making us wait!

Videos and screenshots after the break!

YouTube link

YouTube link

Happy New Year and welcome to the iPhone blog’s 2009 TiPb Editor’s Choice Awards for the very best (in our opinion!) iPhone and iPod touch apps and accessories released in the last year!

Smartphone of the Year: iPhone 3GS (by default)

We’re not really doing Smartphone of the Year since, unlike our sibling sites, Apple has so far seen fit to only release one new iPhone each year. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t think the iPhone 3GS isn’t terrific. It is. Even if we consider the smartphone space as a whole, even if we put it up against the best Android, BlackBerry, Nokia, Palm, and Windows have to offer, while it might get bested — even eclipsed — in certain specs or feature sets, there’s still nothing that brings it all together in so appealing a mainstream package as the iPhone 3GS.

From its butter-smooth interface now with “s as in speed” to its singular build quality to its incredible ecosystem to its 120,000 apps for anything and everything, even if we did do this category — which we’re not — the iPhone 3GS would still be our pick for Smartphone of the Year. So there.

Competition of the Year: Palm Pre and webOS

Make no mistake, the Droid, the BlackBerry Bolds and Tour and Storms, the Nokia N900, the Windows Phone HTC HD2 — each brought it in their own way (hey, it’s why we do the Smartphone Round Robin), but each mostly brought it with hardware specs like 480p displays, or services like free navigation. They made good things better.

Palm brought it with a whole new OS, one that combined amazing visualization for multitasking with brilliant notification handling, and sidestepped the developer divide by using web technology as their SDK. If the iPhone woke up a complacent smartphone industry, Palm made sure they stayed awake another year. Sure the hardware could have been harder core and there was that whole iTunes sync brouhaha, but that combined with the “years in the desert” to go from PalmOS to webOS, made Palm even more of a comeback story, and who doesn’t root for Rocky? That’s why the Palm Pre is our competitor of the year!

Apple Innovation of the Year: $99 iPhone 3G

Last year Innovation of the Year was easy: the App Store. Now, two-billion downloads, well over 100,000 apps, and almost universal imitation not just from the Android Market, but now from BlackBerry App World, Microsoft Windows Marketplace for Mobile, Nokia Ovi Store, Palm webOS App Catalog, and who knows what else, it’s still far and away the market leader, if the idea itself has long passed being led. Not that Apple didn’t try in 2009, with the iPhone 3.0 Sneak Preview Event the undoubtedly innovative in-app purchases (including free apps no longer needing to stay free) and accessory access via the dock and Bluetooth. Push notification tops the candidates list as well. It isn’t he full-on multitasking some still demand, but it covers 90% of the functionality at 20% of the battery drain (ahem) and hey, even some multitasking smartphones don’t handle push notification yet.

But no, we’re going with something more important even if less interesting. The $99 iPhone 3G. Sure, it’s last year’s model, but it’s got the latest iPhone OS 3.x on it and most importantly it redefined — and disrupted — what was considered a budget smartphone and forced every other platform and player to lower prices and reconsider the — frankly crappy — handsets they offered for cheap. Up front cost shouldn’t mean much to people on contract for $2000+ over two years but it does. Getting under $100 was huge for Apple. And for consumers, who’s previous budget choices were the likes of Palm Centro, BlackBerry Pearl, or WinMo… whatever, it was huger still. That makes the $99 iPhone 3G our Apple Innovation of the Year.

App Store App Innovation of the Year: Augmented Reality

Last year Google Mobile snuck in some private-API wizardry (later made all nice and legal by iPhone 3.0) to make voice search so good we thought we were in Star Trek. This year Apple announced accessory access and all sorts of new API’s and developers certainly didn’t disappoint. Some of the most amazing new iPhone Apps weren’t new to mobile, however. RedLaser reads barcodes and finds competitive prices amazingly well, but Android had that first. Likewise Qik is finally streaming live, but geeks were doing that from the N95 a couple years ago. Still, with everything from the latest Apple Remote to Zipcar, it’s harder then ever to single one app out.

So we’re singling out a category — Augmented Reality. Take a live camera view, add location services and — one day, visual recognition — and layer data on top of it. Hold your iPhone camera up to a restaurant and the menu pops up for you to read. Point it west and see the tweets of the physically closest people you follow. Point it at your friend and get a reminder you owe him $5. We’re not sure if it’s just trendy concept or will really, truly prove functional one day, but just like Google Mobile made us think of Star Trek, this combines several cutting edge technologies in such a way that it makes us think of a dozen sci-fi heads-up displays and gorramit if we don’t want that future today.

UI Gem of the Year: Tweetie 2 “Pull Down to Refresh”

Too small to be the overall innovation of the year, this category is for the tiny little tweaks that never the less make all the difference. Lots of developers continued to make drop-dead gorgeous iPhone apps in 2009, including Tapbots’ latest Pastebot, Twitterrific 2‘s ability to hide so much functionality behind so sensible a layout, and Facebook 3.0 finally showed how to do massive social networking right on a local app, and Apple even rolled out new Voice Recorder and Compass app interfaces. It was something much simpler, however, much more insidious that got inside TiPb’s user experience this year.

Yeah, it’s totally Tweetie 2‘s terrific “pull down to refresh”. Apple built the wonderful, tactile feeling elasticity of the “rubber band” effect into iPhone 1.x but never did much with it. Developer Atebits took it and made it a simple, intuitive way to request new data from an internet server — in this case update your Twitter timeline. That many of us now try to use it to reload a page in Safari, or get new messages in Mail, or refresh anything and anything that feels like it should refresh when we pull down shows just how simple and intuitive it is. Sometimes it’s not the big once-and-a-while’s that make the difference, it’s the little use-it-all-the-times.

Camera App of the Year: ReelDirector

iPhone 3GS brought a much improved camera and video recording, amazingly improved photo software, and even trim-able video recording. A lot of apps took advantage, both of the old gear and the new. Leanna covered five fantastic ones earlier, and since then a couple have even come around to offering video for the iPhone 3G.

But if video is the new still, ReelDirector ups the ante from Apple’s trim to full-on (for a mobile) video editing. From titles to transitions, soundtracks to Ken Burns effects, it may not be Final Cut Pro but it’s definitely a fun first cut.

Productivity App of the Year: Documents to Go Premium

Over two and half years in and some are still foolish enough to call the iPhone a toy. Unless, of course, they mean the iPhone can make even productivity work more fun than it has any right to be.

Documents to Go, which updated their flagship app to Premium and added PowerPoint editing and Gmail attachment support at almost the last minute gets our vote. Even though Apple still hasn’t provided a universal document repository, or file picker (the way the picture picker works for images), Documents to Go continues to push the boundaries of what an Office-style app can do on the iPhone.

Social App of the Year: Twitter Clients

If Facebook had gotten push notifications, if Skype had actually gotten 3G access, this category might be even harder to decide than it already is. Likewise notification enabled IM clients such as BeeJive that now has group chat is a social powerhouse.

But those iPhone twitter clients just. won’t. stop. We already mentioned Tweetie 2 and Twitterrific 2, but there’s also Birdfeed, and both Twitbit and SimplyTweet made it into our staff picks of the year. And yeah, TweetDeck is on the iPhone now as well. In addition to the general-purpose clients, we have apps like Birdhouse that excel at writing and Reportage that make reading manageable. Heck, even Twitter’s own WebApp got a great makeover.

Twitter exploded in 2009, and the quality of iPhone Twitter apps exploded right along with it. They’re all so good, again we can’t pick just one, so we’re naming them all the social networking apps of the year!

Navigation App of the Year: Navigon Mobile Navigator

Another of app category made possible by iPhone 3.0 is turn-by-turn GPS navigation, and it didn’t take long for top of the line, premium-priced market leaders like TomTom to come on board (and with car kits!), and subscription services like the TeleNav-powered AT&T Navigator have come on board, but low-cost, crowd-sourced alternatives have also flourished. And even with the 800lbs gorilla of the newly announced Google Maps Navigation staring them down all searchy and free, they’ve continued to update and innovate.

Navigon’s MobileNavigator has been helping push the pace of those updates and that innovation. Whether it’s text to speech or live-traffic, this maps-on-board solution took iPhone 3.0′s APIs and didn’t run — it drove.

Action Game of the Year: N.O.V.A

If there was a theme to iPhone and iPod touch gaming in 2009 it was the maturing of the platform that brought both big franchises and games very much akin to the big franchises. There are literally too many to list (though Jeremy started and Chad focused in on FPS‘ a while back).

But N.O.V.A brought “Halo” to the iPhone. Maybe we should have found something more original, more uniquely dependent on the iPhone’s specific technologies. But N.O.V.A brought “Halo” to the iPhone.

Racing Game of the Year: Real Racing

Given the accelerometer, racing games are just such a natural fit for the iPhone and iPod touch that it’s no wonder there are so many great racing games for the platform (Chad’s picked out a top 5 already!) And with iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3 level horsepower and OpenGL 2.0 no doubt there’s even better ahead (hey, we’ve seen a glimpse of it already).

For now, however, Real Racing is where it’s at. Our 2009 Grand Prix winner is also a racing game of the year.

Puzzle Game of the Year: Ramp Champ

A lot of great puzzle games have hit the iPhone, from Peggle to Stoneloops to Bejeweled 2 and Tetris, to well almost every great puzzle game that could come to the platform. In 2008, however, Trism showed you could do an iPhone-proper puzzler and do it incredibly well.

Ramp Champ took a flick at it in 2009, with gorgeous graphics, one of the best implementations of in-app purchases to date, and arguably too much challenge for its (or rather its players) own good. There maybe puzzle games with bigger brands, more levels, and perhaps even better physics, but when we think about what we love most about iPhone software — indie developers, attention to detail, love of UI — Ramp Champ lands squarely in the bullseye.

Jailbreak App of the Year: ProSwitcher

Even post-iPhone 3.0, Jailbreak continued to fill gaps in functionality like theming, BT keyboards, lockscreen widgets, notification management, and — of course — unlocking the iPhone 3GS. If Apple won’t do it, it’s been proven time and time again the Jailbreak community will.

ProSwitcher did the same, but looked especially great doing it. Take a Jailbroken iPhone, add Backgrounder to get your multitask on, and then manage the whole thing with Safari Pages-style — and yes, webOS cards-style UI candy.

Bluetooth Headset of the Year: Blueant Q1

Apple raised the stakes in 2009 by adding iPhone 3.0 support for A2DP stereo Bluetooth — sort of. Apple forgot to add all the proper control protocols, so you can’t skip tracks, but boy can you still rock out. Now iPhone and iPod touch users can enjoy music (and adjusting volume), and excellent products like the Motorola S9-HD and the Jabra Cruiser speakerphone.

And if that wasn’t enough, our pick for BT headset of the year, the Blueant Q1 got an update — really, how often to BT headsets get firmware update?! — to enable A2DP. It’s a premium product, just like the iPhone, but with voice control, and support for two phones (for you dual wielders), it’s also a fantastic one.

Case of the Year: Otterbox Defender

Apple can’t win. They change the design of the iPhone 3G and people with iPhone 2G cases complain their old accessories don’t fit. They keep the iPhone 3GS in the same duds, and people complain it’s boring. But at least the case makers could concentrate on better rather than different, and better they have. From the soft-stylings of the iSkin solo to the gloss of the Case-mate Barely There Chrome and the utility of the Golla bag, there’s definitely a “case for that”.

And if we’re talking case, and we’re talking protection, the Hummer of cases, the battle-armor of protection, is the OtterBox Defender. It’s not for those who just want a sticker or a skin, a splash of color or the smell of fine leather — it’s for those who want their iPhone survive. And it’s our case of the year.

EPIC FAIL of the Year: Capricious App Store Rejections

No doubt the App Store is such a smash hit that even Apple was unprepared for the tsunami of submissions they’re now facing. The numbers are staggering, but not as staggering as the growth rate. But choosing to be a gatekeeper comes with it the responsibility of being a good gatekeeper. It’s Apple’s store and they can fill it’s virtual shelves with what they want, but when the developers who make the apps those shelves are being filled with lose faith — when they no longer trust Apple’s rules, or realize there are no consistent rules being enforced, even if Apple and mainstream users don’t lose out, the platform does. Sure, they’ve made some small improvements inside iTunes connect and with the RSS feed, but they’re slow to the point of being arduous.

Some developers have been frustrated enough to leave the iPhone. A few returned only because the competitions’ development environment, install base, and user experience wasn’t competitive enough… yet. But that “yet” could change at any moment. And if the best and brightest developers are making the best and brightest apps for Android rather than the iPhone, that’s not a loss to Apple’s bottom line, it’s a loss to their heart.

That’s why rejected App Store apps, specifically the capricious, opaque way in which they’re continuing to be rejected, is our epic FAIL of the year.

Story of the Year: iTablet

We’ve mentioned most of the other big stories already — the still amazing Jailbreak journey, the still disappointing App Store rejections. And then there was the leave of absence, and triumphant return of Steve Jobs.

But iTablet/iStlate was the story that wouldn’t quit, however, and the rumors, speculation, and rampant geek want built and built throughout 2009. We’re not even sure actually announcing the device (which may just happen in 2010) could have been a bigger story — anticipation is just that powerful. Whether (more likely when) it ultimate comes out, Apple’s mysterious, mythical, magical, maybe iTablet is our story of the year.

Bring on 2010!

Well, that’s it — TiPb’s Editor Awards for 2009 gone and done! What will we see in 2010? Who knows, but we’re excited to find out!

Did you agree with any of our picks? Disagree? What would YOU have given the nod to? Feel strongly about it? Tell us — or tell us off — in the comments! (And we’ll have our next Readers’ Choice Awards coming up later in 2010 so you can put your apps where your opinions are as well!)

Happy New Year

–The iPhone blog team

Firemint has put up the above video tech demo of their Real Racing game running optimized for an iPhone 3GS and…. wow.

“Since the game uses a high fidelity physics engine, adding cars is a good test for pushing the hardware. We started our tech demo with 8 cars on the track, then 10, 12, 16 and 20, and the 3GS still didn’t break a sweat,” wrote Firemint’s Alexandra Peters. “We finally stopped when we got to 40 cars on the track at the same time, still with no perceptible drop in frame rate. We think the results are mind blowing.”

No plans to release an iPhone 3GS version yet but again, that’s a switch that some developer will no doubt throw at some point.

[Via Macworld via Firemint]

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they’re fair game.

So who’s on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad’s Pick: Real Racing.

This game is absolutely phenomenal! If you like racing simulators (al-la Gran Turismo style), this is the game for you. You have a few modes of play and two car views: in-car and behind the car. The car physics and graphics are spot on. This game is well worth the admission price. [$9.99 - iTunes link]

Chris’ Pick: Lemonade Tycoon

This was a game that I purchased for the PC a while back, and it has made it’s way to the iPhone. A classic business simulation, it’s a fun, quick, easy to learn game, and can be used to distract yourself for a short time if needed.

James’ Pick: Paper Toss

Who among us hasn’t balled up a piece of paper and tried to throw it in a nearby trash receptical? Paper Toss is a game that emulates just that…and since no trees are harmed it is eco-friendly! With varying degrees of distance and wind (fan) resistance, you can try and land as many paper balls in a row as you can. [Free - iTunes link]

Jeremy’s Pick: Push Notification

Need I say more?

[Ed: It's coming this Wednesday in iPhone 3.0, enjoy!]

Leanna’s Pick: Expositor

Last week I purchased a Nikon D90 and one of the first things I did was search for an app to assist me in my photography. Of the three I downloaded, Expositor was the quickest and easiest way to calculate the settings needed for a particular situation. It has a simple slide-rule interface so you can easily choose the ISO, F-stop, or shutter speed you want and visually see how it affects the other settings. You can also fine tune your exposure by increments of 1/3 stops. If you’re looking for an exposure calculator, I recommend giving Expositor a try. [$1.99 - iTunes link]

Matt’s Pick: TwitterBox

TwitterBox seems to be my second most used Twitter app at the moment. If you are one of those people that follows A TON of people, but still actually wants read you family, friends, news or other Twitter accounts? Then this might be an app to consider. TwitterBox allows you to sort the people (an searches) you are following into categories (known as Boxes in-app). It is a quick and and intuitive application that also includes all the standard features of Twitter. As a plus it also has Auto-updating. [$1.99 - iTunes link]

[Ed: You can also use it -- or any Twitter client -- to help Matt upgrade his iPhone 2G to an iPhone 3G S!]

Rene’s Pick: iPhone 3.0

Yeah, it’s not coming out until Wednesday, but like Jeremy’s pick above, it’s just too good to ignore. System-wide cut, copy, and paste, and Spotlight search are just the tip of the iceberg. (Just don’t enable shake-to-shuffle and then try dancing to your iPhone music — you won’t get through a song!)

For iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G owners, you’re pretty much getting a refreshing new iPhone experience — for free — again. Jailbreakers may want to hold off, but for everyone else — enjoy! [Free - Available via iTunes this Wednesday!]

Your Pick?

You’re part of team TiPb too, so what’s your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us — and everyone — know in the comments!