This was one of the most interesting and exciting weeks for iOS gaming in recent memory...if you're a specific type of gamer. There's not much on offer this week for the average casual gamer (except the future money tree Snoopy's Street Fair) but if you're a hardcore gamer this is the week for you. There's some juicy drama coming to the tablet gaming space with GameStop beginning to stock Android tablets, and Rockstar has said some other Grand Theft Auto games could make it to iOS in the future.

GameStop Begins Pilot Program for Android Tablets, Selling 3 Models

The iPad 2 has non-chalantly shrugged off about six dozens tablet competitors since it launched, but this may be the biggest threat it has yet faced. iPad gaming is hugely popular, and Android/GameStop wants a piece of that pie. To that end, the retailer will begin rolling out three models of Android tablets to 200 GameStop locations. Presumeably to help sell tablets, but also to hype some games as well. The tablets (7-inch Acer Iconia Tab, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, and 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab) will even come "customized by GameStop" and pre-loaded with games. They will also be bundled with GameStop's own Bluetooth controller.

Other GTA Ports Could Come to iOS

A few weeks back, some huge news dropped on the iOS gaming world. The single most influential game of the decade, GTAIII, will be getting a re-release on iOS. What's potentially even more exciting is that GTAIII's two sequels may be getting released as well. GTA's Vice City and San Andreas could potentially come to iOS, Rockstar said this week. Those games are more technically advanced, but they're built on the same graphical engine meaning the iPhone 4S can potentially run them. Whether or not they actually will be released is another matter. A matter we presume hinges on how well GTAIII actually sells.

Ubisoft Acquires RedLynx

You may not recognize the name RedLynx, but their games are extremely high quality and we're pretty excited about them being under the Ubisoft corporate umbrella. Sometimes corporate mergers can be horrible for a developer, sapping them of their creative talent, and turning them into corporate drones. But more often than not, the developer retains most of their spirit while gaining access to the immense resources of a multi-billion dollar corporation like Ubisoft. We can't wait to see what the relationship begets. RedLynx is most well-known for the 2 million-selling Trials HD on Xbox Live Arcade, as well as the very popular iOS game Draw Race.

Angry Birds Hits Half a Billion Downloads

We're not going to drag this story out. The title says it all. Five-hundred million downloads. People need to start playing other games already!

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Upcoming iOS Games You Should Keep an Eye On

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  Frozen Synapse

  Frozen Synapse is a little-known but much-beloved indie PC and Mac game from developer Mode7. It's become a smash hit in the past few months as journalists and hardcore gamers have been singing the game's praises to anybody who will listen. It's a deceptively simple concept, and its old-school vector graphics belie a complex strategy game fit for a Navy SEAL.

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  The game features battles between two teams of soldiers (each soldier is a different class with different weapons). The game is paused every five seconds, and players are tasked with giving each soldier orders for the next five seconds. The battle then plays out before you. It's a pure strategy game with your tactics being pitted against your opponent's. You have to anticipate their movements and try to trap them in order to survive.

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  Assassin’s Creed Recollection

  A few weeks ago we featured a game about a stunt hamster, but it's still not as weird as Assassin's Creed Recollection. It's an iOS game based on the historical game series Assassin's Creed, but it eschews the series' usual gameplay (running, jumping, climbing, stabbing) in favor of a political card battling game.

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  It's not completely removed from its parent series though. The card game will apparently still feature characters and locations from the games. The Assassin's Creed series has had a good run on iOS and we hope this continues that. The last entry was a multiplayer game that ended up being a prototype for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood's console multiplayer mode. Hopefully this is a prelude to something grander as well.

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  Snoopy's Street Fair

  Capcom made a veritable boat-load of money with it's other free-to-play iOS casual game Smurfs' Village. Customers lined up en masse to drop mega-dollars on smurfberries. Now Capcom is trying to make lightning strike twice in the same market with their latest creation, Snoopy's Street Fair.

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  Details are still light, but we wanted to cover this game simply because it's likely to be just as big of a cash-printing machine as its forebear, Smurf's Village. If you're a casual gamer who was alive in the 70s or 80s, then Snoopy's Street Fair is basically a dream come true.

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