Best Of FingerGaming: From Raptor Copter To Hour Of Heroes

[Every week, Gamasutra sums up sister iPhone site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's nascent -- and increasingly exciting -- portable games platform, as written by editor Matt Burris and guest editor Eric Caoili.] This week's notable items in the iPhone gaming space include Flashbang Studios' Raptor Copter, Gameloft's Brothers in Arms port, and the top ten most popular iPhone games for 2008. Here are the top stories: Flashbang Announces Raptor Copter, !Rebolt! "Following up its wonderfully titled browser/dinosaur-based games, Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Jetpack Brontosaur, Flashbang Studios pulled the curtain on Raptor Copter, a game in which players pilot what looks like a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, picking up errant raptors, dropping raptors off at packing centers, and transporting crates of raptors." Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes in App Store "After revealing the game just two weeks ago, Gameloft has released Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes. Players use a virtual directional pad to move around their character, swiping the touchscreen to look around and aim (alternate controls are provided). Elements like ducking for cover and jumping over obstacles are handled automatically by the game." Apple Releases Top Ten Lists, Promo Codes "With 2008 soon coming to a close, Apple has released top ten lists for the App Store’s most downloaded games and applications, free and paid, since the iPhone and iPod Touch store launched in July." Dr. Awesome in App Store "ngmoco released its puzzle/surgery game Dr. Awesome, Microsurgeon M.D. As with arcade classic Qix — or its iPhone clone Bix — players section off the playing field, trapping bacteria and viruses." Metismo Releases Vektrax Source Code "Developer Metismo released its source code for 3D shoot’em-up Vektrax to current and new licensees of its Java-based mobile middleware Bedrock. The studio believes that the fully commented code will help demonstrate to licensees how they can develop a 3D title in Java and deploy it to a native application on a range of target platform." Sega Updates, Marks Down Super Monkey Ball "Sega Mobile announced an update for Super Monkey Ball, adding a “Tilt Meter” that gives players a visual cue as to how balanced their on-screen monkey is when rolling through the game’s courses. Though Super Monkey Ball has been a huge success on the iPhone, with over 500,000 downloads as of November and a spot on the App Store’s top ten most popular paid games list, many have complained about the game’s overly sensitive controls." Space Tripper Coming 2009 "While developer PomPom Games already has Astro Tripper — a remake of its own PC/Mac game Space Tripper — coming to Europe’s PlayStation Network service next week, the studio also plans to bring the original Space Tripper to iPhone next year, too."