2D Boy's iOS version of World of Goo has hit a major milestone - more than 1 million downloads in just over 13 months. Developer 2D Boy says that sales have been steady on both iOS and Android devices, with numbers being pushed even higher thanks to the HD Universal edition available for the iPad.

Epic Games and ChAIR Entertainment announced that Infinity Blade I and II has earned the company more than $30 million in just one year since the introduction of the original game on iOS devices.

Those who use jailbroken iPhones and enjoy pirating software are in for a rude awakening as Apple uses the DMCA to take out a frequently used service - Apptrackr. According to Apptrackr developer "Dissident," Apple has sent what he calls "huge takedown notices" to cut off access to pirated apps found through the software. Apptrackr has decided to move the physical location of its servers outside the United States to get around Apple's legal maneuvers and is also employing a form of redirection to avoid "direct" links to infringing content.

Calling it a "socially responsible adventure," MindJolt SGN announced the release of Fluff Friends Rescue. The iOS game, which was developed with the help of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), challenges players to rescue pets, nurse them back to health, run their own animal shelter and contribute to The HSUS.

According to iOS game developer Black Powder Media, Atari is removing games from the App Store (with the help of Apple, of course) that resemble anything from its extensive back catalog of classic games. The company developed a game called Vector Tanks 3, which bears a slight resemblance to Battlezone. Atari has also threatened legal action against iOS developers who are developing games that it deems are rip-offs of its owned IPs.

Mojang business developer Daniel Kaplan recently told Gamasutra that he did not know what version 1.0 of the mobile versions of Minecraft - Minecraft Pocket Edition for Sony's Xperia Play and iOS - would look like.

"Oh, wow, I really don’t know, said Kaplan. "I can't answer that."

In a press release issued this morning video game retailer GameStop trumpeted the success of its iPod, iPhone and iPad buy-back / trade-in program. The company claims that in the months since it began accepting trades on iOS devices, it has seen "strong consumer enthusiasm for the program." GameStop customers trading in an iPod Touch get up to $180 in cash or in-store credit, up to $300 for an iPhone, and up to $400 for an iPad.

Microsoft has released its My Xbox Live App on Apple's App Store. The free app lets Xbox Live users access their profiles on the go much like the Xbox Live hub on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. The app features the Metro UI style that Microsoft has deployed across all its current products, including the recent Xbox Live dashboard update and Windows Phone 7. The app also links to a browser-based demo of the Windows Phone 7 OS.

OnLive brings its cloud-based gaming services to smartphones and tablets with a new app for iOS and Android. The app allows those that subscribe to the service to stream playable PC games to smartphones and tablets. Some companies, such as Rockstar Games are even working with OnLive to tailor the experience; the company is creating a specific touch screen interface for L.A. Noire as part of a collection of 25 games with reconfigured controls ready for the launch.

Ever since Trevor Eckhart uncovered the true nature of Carrier IQ, a program that monitors everything that's going on on a smartphone it is installed on, it has been dominating headlines. Consumers are obviously concerned about their privacy - particularly if they happened to be a customer of a company that used the software like Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. While the company that makes the software insists the software is not malicious, several parties have decided to sue them for allegedly violating federal wiretap laws.

While Apple managed to get a number of preliminary injunctions against Samsung in other countries in their ongoing battle of trademark disputes related to iOS devices, it looks like the US courts aren't playing ball. US District Judge Judy Koh has denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction that would have barred Samsung from selling its Galaxy brand tablets and smartphones on Friday. While thing could go Apple's way eventually after a full trial, the decision allows Samsung to continue to sell its Android-based devices without interference from the courts or Apple.

The ESRB and the CTIA detailed a new ratings systems for mobile games this week - backed by such companies as AT&T, Microsoft, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless. Two companies that were curiously absent from that list hold the lion's share of the market when it comes to platforms: Apple and Google.

EPIX, the premium entertainment service that is a joint venture of Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM, will soon be on some pretty familiar devices. The premium programming is already available on a number of platforms including Android and the iPhone. Emil Rensing, Chief Digital Officer for the company, says that the service will be available next month on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Apple's iPad.

Marketing firm BlueKai has compiled the profile of the typical iPad buyer, listing three traits that land in the "highly likely to buy" category. The data shows that the typical iPad buyer owns a pet, is male, and is a frequent purchaser and player of video games. Health care professionals, international travelers, apartment dwellers and organic food fans also scored high on the list. The firm also found that vitamin takers, domestic business travelers, married couples and college graduates had common attributes of iPad owners.

Train2Game and Epic Games announced the winners of the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, the 48-hour event that was held November 4-6 at the University of Bedfordshire, England. More than 100 game developers showed up for the event and created 10 playable games for the iOS platform using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK). The final Game Jam winners will receive a commercial Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS. The winner will be crowned at Make Something Unreal Live, to take place at the Gadget Show Live in Birmingham, UK from April 11-15, 2012.

Ford is sponsoring what it calls the "largest Words with Friends" game ever to promote its all-new Ford Escape. The public gaming event will take place tomorrow at 11:00pm - Wednesday at 12:00am at Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave or on the company's Facebook page via a livestream.

It's bad enough when a fellow developer steals one idea from someone else, but how bad is it when they steal three and combine them? That's exactly what the makers of the iOS game Cut the Birds did. Taking the cuddly characters from Angry Birds, the slashing action of Fruit Ninja and the unique title of Cut The Rope, developer SolverLabs LLC managed to get the game on Apple's App Store

Apple announced today that its latest phone, the iPhone 4S, has broken sales records, with its latest offering enjoying 4 million in sales in its first weekend at retail. Apple started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, and Japan on October 7. On the first day of pre-orders, over 1 million customers reserved the device for its October 14 delivery date. The iPhone 4S launched on Friday.

According to a new report called "Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing US Digital Media Consumption Habits," Apple's iPad held 97.2 percent of all tablet internet traffic in the US in August 2011.

Apple is reporting that over a million pre-orders have been taken for its latest iPhone model, the new iPhone 4S. The company claims that these pre-orders came in the 24-hour-period after the company announced the new phone last week. The pre-orders came from its online store as well as third-party service providers that will offer the phone when it is released.

Hungry Shark developer Future Games of London says that smaller iOS developers are being pushed out of the Apple App Store charts by larger publishers who are buying their way to the top of the list. Future Games MD Ian Harper claims that media companies are using a method called "Cost Per Install" to quickly drive downloads, improve rankings and increase visibility by hitting the top of the charts.

In these trying financial times it's nice to see a developer care about the little guy. Spiderweb Software is one of those development studios. The one-man operation run by the outspoken Jeff Vogel has cut prices across the board for its entire catalog of role-playing games for Mac, iPad, and Windows by 20 percent. In addition, for the month of October Spiderweb has slashed an additional 10 percent off of all of its games.

The third largest wireless carrier in the United States is betting on the iPhone 5 in a big way. Sprint Nextel Corp. will pay Apple a whopping $20 billion dollars to give its customers access to iPhone 5, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company's top executive told Sprint's board that he expects to lose money on the deal until sometime in 2014.

A fake Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for iOS has managed to piss off a lot of consumers and many are wondering how Apple allowed a game that has been in the App Store system for nearly six weeks to get past its approval process. The bogus game app claims to be an official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game and is the work of a Vietnamese developer known as Dang Van Phuong. The license for the popular franchise is currently held by Nickelodeon, who are working on a brand new animated property to be released in 2013.

According to research from Strategy Analytics released earlier this week, the iPad captured 80 percent share of tablet shipments in North America during the second quarter of 2011. The research firm claims that Apple has a tight grip on the American tablet market that companies like Amazon will find hard to break.

A new research report from media and technology market research firm Interpret suggest that the iPad is the new wild frontier of gaming, with well over half of device owners spending their time playing games. That percentage includes two different demographics - hardcore gamers and non-gamers, according to the small amount of data the company released publicly from the $250 report.

As we reported last week, GameStop has launched an iOS device trade-in program that allows consumers to trade in their old iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mini, Shuffle, or Nano devices for in-store credit. GameStop is not saying how much they'll pay for each system, but they are saying what condition it has to be in order for consumers to sell it to them. The company said that it will not accept iOS devices in with the following issues:

- iPod, iPhone or iPad devices with dents, severe scratches or personal engravings on the casing.

According to a Bloomberg report, Sprint will offer the iPhone next month with unlimited data service plans, according to people "familiar with the matter." The country's third-largest carrier (behind AT&T and Verizon) will begin selling the next version of the iPhone, iPhone 5 in mid-October. If the sources cited are correct, Sprint would be the only company in the country to offer iPhone with an unlimited data service for a flat fee. Naturally this would certainly help them draw customers from AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Have a crappy iPhone lying about? Well apparently you can resell it to GameStop. The world’s largest video game retailer will start buying Apple's iOS devices from customers, according to a report from 9to5Macs. According to a screen grab from the site, GameStop is saying that it buys iOS devices for store credit:

Two iPhone games produced in 12 working days during UK event Gamer Camp: Nano are now available on the Apple App Store. The games were built during a month-long game developer training course at Birmingham City University. The game are free to download. The two games, They Came From the Deep and Aliens vs. Humans, were created by thirteen trainee artists and programmers working together in teams. The one month course is a scaled down version of the full 12-month long Masters version of the course, Gamer Camp: Pro, which starts in September.