A big update for id games’ Rage: Mutant Bash TV (available in SD and HD versions for $0.99 and $1.99; the latter being for iPhone 4 and iPad) has appeared on iTunes overnight. As John Carmack noted in our recent interview with him, it adds a number of new features that arguably should have been there from day one — namely Game Center achievements and scoreboards. As the game is fundamentally an on-rails shooter with a strong score attack aesthetic, social leaderboards will certainly make for a more compelling experience.
That’s not all the update contains, however. The previously unofficial TV out support has been upgraded to a supported feature, allowing you to cable your iOS device to a bigger screen. A new “museum mode” removes the monsters and lets you play through the levels at your own pace, presumably so you can show your friends the graphics whilst exclaiming “it’s on a phone!!” A mirror mode flips the game left-to-right so you can eek out a little more fresh gameplay out of the three rather short levels.
Most intriguing, however, is the addition of gyroscope controls if you have an iPhone 4. As with the recent Star Wars: Falcon Gunner, this adds an aiming mode based on moving your iPhone around as if it were a window onto the game space. This offers a new and potentially compelling way to control iOS shooters, not to mention a definitely compelling way to look stupid if you play it in public.
With Rage vying with Epic’s Infinity Blade in the iTunes charts, it’s just like the late 90s Quake-versus-Unreal competition all over again… except this time they are both getting crushed by Electronic Arts.
Rage v1.11 update adds Game Center, gyroscope controls and TV support originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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