If you’re into iOS games in any respect, then you know Wednesday night is a good night. Sonic 4 Episode 2 leads the new releases this week which include a new game from PikPok & Adult Swim Games, a classic board game, and some neat little action games. You can view all of the trailers below, and the games are set to launch at 11 PM Eastern/8 PM Pacific tonight.

If you’re new, every Thursday Apple updates the featured apps in the App Store and developers release their apps on Thursday for a better chance of being featured. They start appearing on Wednesday all around the world beginning in New Zealand (links below). We have given a brief synopsis of the most interesting titles, and be sure to stay tuned for our reviews of these games starting tomorrow.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, $6.99: Sonic 4 is an all new version of Sonic, and Episode II is the sequel that improves upon the original that was released for iOS back in October of 2010. Episode II features enhanced graphics, more speed, improved touch controls, and Sonic’s trusty companion Tails.

Extinction Squad, $0.99: PikPok is working with Adult Swim Games again, following Monsters Ate My Condo. This one is a fast paced action game where various items are raining down, and you control two guys carrying a trampoline, and you need to bounce the items to safety.

Scotland Yard, $4.99: A 20 year old board game that pits you as the police trying to track down a criminal by using various modes of transportation to cross the board.

Bug Assault, $0.99: A fast paced game from Namco that is based on Bird Zapper, but with Bugs. You destroy wave after wave of bugs with electricity in a pseudo sequel featuring the same Squirrel from Bird Zapper.

Non Flying Soldiers, $0.99: Chillingo’s weekly game that lets you add various objects to help the flightless chicks make it through various obstacle courses.

Missile Monkey, $0.99

Circus Atari, Free

Boomlings, Free

A physics sandbox hasn’t been on the iPhone since one of the first jailbreak games that was available in 2007 pre-App Store. The Sandbox is a new game from Bulkypix that provides a physics sandbox allowing you to sprinkle in elements pixel by pixel and watch the reactions. You can add in water, soil, stone, fire, seeds, sand, steam oil, lava, and more, and discover new elements by combining previous ones. There’s no limits to what you can create, and all of it is shown with pixel art.

You have a complete universe you can create just by dragging your finger on screen, and sprinkling in various elements. You can make practically anything beginning with lakes, mountains, and trees, and then destroy it all with fire, oil, and lava. As you advance, you can unlock non-organic elements, and there are 30 elements overall. The game begins with specific objectives in story mode with 24 unique challenges. After eight challenges, you unlock free play mode allowing you to do whatever you want.

New elements are unlockable via mana which you can earn by completing challenges and achievements or buy with in-app purchases. The entire game is free, and you can make it all the way through with no IAP, but a single $0.99 purchase will let you breeze through. No matter how you slice it, this is the first completely open physics sandbox on iOS that lets you really do whatever you want, and there’s so much to explore. There’s also a sharing element allowing you to share any world you create, and play others’ creations.

The Sandbox (Free, iPhone) is unlike anything else in the App Store with the element combinations coupled with the pixel sprinkling. It’s a great download that anyone can enjoy with so many possibilities right at your fingertips.

Apptudes 2nd Opinion

Astronut is one really good iOS game that’s perfect for the platform with smooth touch controls, highly polished design, and a change of pace style. The game comes from Iconfactory who also makes Twitterrific, Ramp Champ, and Frenzic. Astronut originally launched in Novemeber of 2010, and since then a number of games have launched with a similar style including Captain Ludwig, Rocket Bunnies, On The Hop, Dizzypad, and Jump O’Clock.

The game has rotating planets, and you guide your astronaut from planet to planet collecting bonus star shards along the way. There’s an endless style that has been turned into a platformer with concrete finish lines across 24 levels. There are six different sectors with each one introducing new planet types to deal with including black holes, springs, and fire planets. As you advance, the challenge increases considerably with tons of enemies floating about, and all new obstacles between planets. All of the great gameplay has come to the iPad in beautiful clarity including retina quality graphics.

The neatest new feature is the ability to control the action on the iPad using an iPhone/iPod touch as the controller. It’s like playing an arcade game with the iPad screen set in front of you, and tapping the jump and boost buttons on your iPhone.

Astronut ($1.99, iPad/ Free, iPhone) is a challenging and enjoyable iOS experience, and the new iPad version offers all new incentive to play.

LostWinds was originally made for the Wii, but came to iOS last year, and now the sequel has made the transition as well. It’s a platforming adventure game that uses the wind to transport your character through expansive environments. The sequel picks up where the original left off, but you don’t need to be familiar with the first to fully enjoy the new sequel. Lost Winds2: Winter of the Melodies provides a new adventure for Toku, as now he needs to find his mom while traveling through a wintery world.

The game was originally launched for the Wii, but feels so at home on iOS with the smooth touch controls. You simply drag your finger to control the wind, and there are also vortexes and cyclones available by pinching. As you advance, you garner a new power allowing you to switch between Winter and Summer. The switching of seasons allows for all new puzzle mechanics building upon what was already included in the original. You get to use the wind to blow fire into blockades, help you fly further with leaves, and use various objects in the environment to your advantage.

The game provides a deluxe map with multiple environments to explore allowing for a very lengthy adventure for iOS. The best aspect is that once you begin, you’ll want to keep going through the new worlds and advance the storyline. Each world is also exceptionally well crafted for a very beautiful 2.5 world with 2D movement in the foreground and 3D backgrounds. The game is bursting with engaging content, and the new seasons really provide a whole new experience as compared to the original.

Lost Winds2: Winter of the Melodies ($3.99, Universal) improves upon the original, and provides a great iOS experience. It’s such a unique game that fits touch perfectly, and there are just so many different aspects to enjoy. Lost Winds2 is a should buy that provides a very compelling adventure and hours of entertainment.

Tim Cook has definitely been busy in recent months, and has been out and about quite a bit. Yesterday, Apple’s CEO met with Speaker of the House John Boehner, though it’s unclear what was discussed. Apple is currently the most successful company in the U.S., and Boehner could be looking for some tips and insight as Obama did when he invited Steve Jobs and other Silicon Valley leaders to a dinner a couple of years back.

Tim Cook could also have been pitching Boehner about corporate tax rates, and a tax holiday. Currently, Apple keeps $74 billion of its $110 billion in reserves in offshore accounts, and a tax holiday could allow them to bring those earnings back home at a lower tax rate. Boehner could have also inquired about how Apple could bring manufacturing jobs back, and not find so many tax loop holes. Finally, Boehner may have simply been considering whether or not he should get an iPad, and wanted to ask Cook directly. There could even be a push for iPads throughout the house of representatives with Boehner’s lead. Most likely though, we will never know, but it stands to reason that it’s something to do with taxes and jobs.

The Apple rumors seem to be piling up lately, and big fish are jumping in on the action. This morning, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has begun placing orders for screens “measuring at least 4 inches diagonally”. Apple is ordering from LG, Sharp, and Japan Display (a new display business from Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba) for the next generation iPhone screen. WSJ goes over how this would be the first change to iPhone screen size since it’s introduction in 2007, but fails to mention the screen change effect on aspect ratio, ppi, and the meaning for the entire app eco system.

Reuters published its own report a little later, and provides very similar claims. They state that Apple has begun placing orders for screens that are 4” diagonally, and one source specifically states 4” exactly, as compared to WSJ saying at least 4”. Reuters also reiterates that screen orders have begun with LG, Sharp, and Japan Display. It’s interesting that two different reports from well respected news outlets publish within hours, and have very similar information.

A 4” iPhone may indeed be in the works, and this dual report could be the first indicator of the actual device Apple will release later this year. These reports also differ from the earlier claims of a 4″ iPhone where only the height is increased, as pictured above. Both of today’s reports are talking about a 4″ diagonal screen which would require a bigger overall device.

Today’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch apps for free daily include a new Trials game, deluxe pedometer, movie storybook, and web browser note taker. A number of apps drop from paid to free on a daily basis, and we pick the top four everyday, as many of the others aren’t worth your time even for free. Everyday we try to pick apps that are worth spending money on, but are now free to download, and here they are.

MotoHeroz ($0.99, iPhone) [Review]: The game is all about driving a motorcycle through a complex 2D course that is filled with switching directions, loops, and various obstacles to cut up your speed. RedLynx is the maker of the original Trials HD, and they have made some good games on iOS including DrawRace, 1000 Heroz, Monster Truck Nitro. MotoHeroz is their latest effort, and it delivers the classic Trials style with ATVs.
MotoHeroz HD ($2.99 -> Free): The iPad version.

Pedometer PRO Step Counter powered by runtastic ($3.99 -> Free, iPhone): A digital pedometer for your iPhone that works no matter where you place your iPhone. The app then counts each step, and goes in-depth with various statistics about your steps each day. The are graphics and charts showing steps, distances, speed, calories, frequency, and more that can all be stored online too.

Kung Fu Panda 2 Storybook ($2.99 -> Free, Universal): A storybook to follow along with last year’s animated sequel. The authentic voices are included, and so are actual scenes from the movie. There’s a create a scene function with different backgrounds, and plenty of stickers to place.

Knowtes ($2.99 -> Free): The app combines a notepad and web browser letting you take notes as you surf the net. Knowtes also includes an offline reading list, translator, and drawing tool to take all types of notes.

It’s a big news day for Macs, as they seem to be the prohibitive favorite for hardware updates at WWDC. We know WWDC will have plenty of discussion about software including iOS 6 and Mountain Lion, but Mac hardware hasn’t had a special event since October 2010. There’s been plenty of reports about the MacBook Pro update including a thinner chassis, retina display, Nvidia graphics, and USB 3.0.

Now, two new reports have surfaced regarding the iMac and MacBook Air. It seems that Apple may be ready to update their entire Mac line with retina displays. According to ABC News’ Joanna Stern when discussing the rumored MacBook Pro update,

“The laptop will see the introduction of the “Mac Retina Display,” which is said to have a very high resolution. ABC News has similarly heard from its own sources that both the next MacBook Pro and the iMac would be getting very, very high resolution displays. Apple refreshed its new iPad with a Retina Display in March.”

To continue the trend, 9to5Mac reports that the MacBook Air will also be receiving the retina display upgrade. It will be a tough balancing act for Apple as they try to provide the same great battery life for the Air with the new processor, GPU, and retina display all within the thin form factor. The MacBook Air and iMac could be coming at WWDC or later, and it’s not clear at this point.

All in all, the entire Mac line with screens could be getting retina updates, and it’s worth noting that the PPI will be lower since you sit further away from a Mac than you do the iPhone or iPad.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that the iPad is only about consumption and not creation. With apps like iStopMotion you can create animated stop motion movies in a straightforward and simple way. At first glance, it looks tough to understand just what you need to change to create the animated effect. Then you start using the app, and realize just how intuitive the entire process is. You simply set-up your scene, make slight adjustments to the central objects, snap an image, and repeat.

The entire process is made as streamlined as possible, and all of a sudden you have a plethora of frames. You can instantly playback your progress at any time, and it’s amazing to see how consecutive slight adjustments create the animated effect. The results are absolutely superb, and there’s a beautiful interface to see your timeline. One of the best aspects is the camera overlay allowing you to see the live camera and previous frame on the same screen to make precise adjustments.

The possibilities are endless with this app, and you can get going with just a few toys sitting around. It’s amazing to see them come to life, and it’s such an engaging experience as you manage each frame. The app makes it so easy to create a stop motion animated video that it’s tough to stop snapping frames. You can enjoy this app for a long time, and share all of your various creations. There’s also a remote camera app allowing you to edit on the iPad, and use your iPhone camera for the images. The set-up is a breeze with just a few taps, and it allows for the images to be of higher quality.

iStopMotion for iPad ($9.99, iPad) is an excellent addition to your iPad that provides so much fun and lets you create such neat animated videos. The only limit is your own creativity, and you’ll just end up wanting to spend so much time with this app. iStopMotion is a must buy that improves the value of the iPad, and makes the creative process so much fun.

It’s been long rumored and speculated that Apple will release their own Maps app as part of iOS 6. Rather than questioning the speculation, we’re going to go on the belief that it will indeed happen. In that case, it brings up a big question mark about the future of Google and Apple. Google’s main ties to iOS right now are search, Maps, and YouTube but there’s the obvious conflict between Google and Apple regarding Android original similarities to iOS. Apple has been seemingly working at making everything for iOS in house, and one side benefit for them is not relying on other companies, particularly Google.

With the introduction of Siri, there are quite a few queries you can ask to Siri instead of using Google search. The product is still in beta, but as Apple improved it, Siri will likely replace more and more Google search queries. Google Maps have been a standard since the first iPhone, and yet haven’t changed much at all since then. It has been reported that Apple has scaled back support for new Google services since Apple designs the iOS Maps and Youtube apps, and only uses the Google backend. For instance, Google has offered up navigation to Maps and movie rentals to Youtube, and Apple has simply ignored the upgrade, and has refused to add in those features.

Google Maps is still the most used navigation app by iOS users, but Apple’s own Maps app could completely cut Google out of the mix. This could be problematic for Google in the long run simply because they don’t make that much from Android. According to the case filing from their patent dispute with Oracle, Google makes a majority of its revenue from desktop web ads. Their mobile revenue is comparatively smaller, and only 20% of that mobile revenue comes from Android. The other 80% comes from iOS, and Apple is strategically removing Google’s hooks into iOS.

Apple’s Maps would be the most used navigation app since it would be pre loaded on every iOS device, but that’s not the whole story. Google Maps API is also available to all third party developers, and almost every location based app you use connects to the stock Google Maps. Apple would update the APIs for their own Maps, and third party developers would likely follow suit since they care about the greatest number of users. Google is tied into so many different apps because of Google Maps API, and Apple could put an end to that too.

Google has been completely happy with the current arrangements of the Android and iOS market share since they connect considerably to both sets of users. It has been win- win for Google up to this point, but as Apple weans them off iOS, they will need Android to actually produce revenue from their marketshare. Apple is conducting a war on Google, and are focusing on strategic battleground moves that focus on the bottom line more than anything else. We shall see how Google responds, but they can’t like where this is headed with losing impact on iOS, and tons of third party apps.