The Rumour Mine: Dragon Age 2 and Captain America on iPhone, low-res Final Fantasy Tactics inbound

It's tough developing iPhone and iPod touch games.

Every year a new handset comes out that changes the standards by which your game is judged. Supporting the high resolution iPhone 4 display has to be difficult if you've been hard at work on a game for months assuming that your graphics were nice and shiny running on an iPhone 3GS.

No doubt Square Enix and other developers feel a little challenged when it's expected that games support new features on devices that just came out.

I want a crisp, clean-looking Final Fantasy Tactics, but I also understand that making a PlayStation game look like a high-resolution mobile wonder is a lot of work that will only delay the game's release.

After all, will the shinier graphics make the gameplay any better? Probably not, because at the end of the day it's about how fun it is to play, not how good it looks.

Dragon Age 2 next in line for console-to-iPhone conversion

I briefly mentioned in a previous edition of the Rumour Mine that EA Mobile is developing an iPhone and iPod touch companion game to console role-playing sequel Dragon Age 2. More details have come in and it appears that the game will be heartier than previous reported.

Special content in the console versions will be available to you if you play the iPhone and iPod touch game, yet the latter is to be a fully-featured title in its own right - not throwaway fare like Mass Effect Galaxy. Quite the contrary, Dragon Age 2 will be a full isometric perspective role-playing game along the lines of Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter.

The story is expected to draw on the sequel, but will be a sidestory featured exclusively on iPhone and iPod touch. No word on what characters may or may not appear from the console games.

A release date is likely to be set around the launch of the console versions next spring, though given the trend of EA Mobile tie-ins appearing six months after console release it could be summer 2011.

Final Fantasy Tactics will not support high-resolution graphics for iPhone 4

Bad news if you're the proud owner of an iPhone 4 or fourth-generation iPod touch and eager for tactical role-playing game Final Fantasy Tactics: the game appears unlikely to support the high-resolution display of either device when it becomes available some time later this year.

It's not surprising given the rather underwhelming screenshot of the game released in September. Square Enix received a lashing for the low-resolution, intensely blurry shot. That doesn't bode well at all for playing the game on iPhone 4 or the newest iPod touch and it also casts doubt about the visual quality when played on older devices, too.

The disappointing screenshot points to underwhelming graphics on iPhone 3GS and older iPod touchs, though nothing will be certain until Square Enix releases more screenshots or decides to publicly rebut these concerns.

SEGA working on iPhone version of Captain America: Super Soldier

Another round of superhero movies are being prepped for summer 2011 including Captain America, which SEGA is translating into subtitled game Super Soldier. It's coming to consoles and Nintendo DS, but what hasn't been discussed is the secret iPhone and iPod touch version.

As part of the company's effort to revitalise its mobile development chops, SEGA is working on a version of the game specifically designed for iPhone and iPod touch.

The goal is to offer a quick-hit third-person action game that condenses the plot of the console version with special mini-games thrown in to distinguish it as uniquely iPhone.

There's an idea floating about concerning the use of the accelerometer for flinging the Captain's shield, though how that would jive with virtual movement and attack controls is unclear.

I'd personally be fine with virtual controls if the gameplay itself was fun and of high quality - I care less about using the accelerometer and more about whether the game is actually fun.

Captain America: Super Soldier should be out around the time the movie hits theatres next summer.