It’s Thursday again, and in iOS Land this means there’s a ton of new games to play on your iPhone and iPad. Firing up the App Store on Thursday resembles the feeling of opening your christmas presents. And although we are prepared for great releases, the amount of great games this Thursday is just plain crazy. Check out what games you shouldn’t miss this week:

Hector: Ep2 continues the tale of detective inspector Hector. It’s a modern point-and-click adventure game with a lot of (dirty)humor in it. It’s supposed to be twice as long as Hector: Ep1, which is currently on sale until September 1st for $0.99! So be sure to pick up Episode 1 in time and if you dig it, there’s the brand new Hector: Ep2 waiting for you on the App Store.

Contre Jour, Chillingo’s latest iOS game looks to me as if World of Goo and Bumpy Road had a baby. It’s a physics based puzzle game that involves both manipulating the environment like you do in Bumpy Road while taking the “gooiness” of the main character, called Petite, into account. It sure looks like a hell of a puzzle game with a lot of style to it. The HD version comes as Universal App.

Sprinkle: Water splashing fire fighter fun! (that really is the title) looks like a great physics based puzzler in which you need to use a water cannon to fight fires by moving obstacles, spinning wheels and figuring out even more of those physics based interactions in order to clear the levels. The water simulation looks outstanding!

Spy Mouse is developed by Firemint, the developers behind the Real Racing series and Flight Control. Need I say any more?! Spy Mouse’s gameplay is somewhat similar to Flight Control, in the sense that once again you need to draw a safe path to master the game. This time around, you’ll need to guide a pretty sneaky mouse through 72 levels and make sure it won’t get eaten by any of the various cats.

EDGE Extended is, well, an extended version of the game EDGE. And it improves on quite a few aspects of the original puzzle game. EDGE Extended introduces a brand new 3D graphics engine and comes with 44 new levels, 23 unique tunes and new gameplay mechanics. That should be more than reason enough to revisit this puzzle game with the distinct main character: A square block. (The trailer above shows the original EDGE)

Peggle is now also available as an iPad optimized HD version. The developers at PopCap are undoubtedly the masters of incredibly polished and addictive casual titles. And if you happen to be into those kind of games, there’s basically no way around Peggle. It comes with 55 levels and offers plenty of replay value with its different game modes. It’s currently on a special release sale for 40% off.

Demolition Master is a game of destruction. And we all know how much fun destroying things can be. Across 70 levels you’ll get the chance to destroy whatever comes in your way with what the devs call “Realstic Feeling Of Destruction”. All of it in 3D and for both iPhone and iPad.

Infinity Field is an awesome dual-stick arcade shooter. I had a serious addiction to the iPad version of Infinity Field which is now called Infinity Field HD. The game comes with various single player and multiplayer modes and looks beautiful. If arcady action games are your thing, this one’s for you!

Alright folks, I’ve got some good and some bad news. Let’s start with the good one: The outstanding point-and-click adventure Machinarium was submitted to the App Store a few days ago and is set to be released on September 8th, assuming it passes Apple’s testing. In case you’re not familiar with Machinarium, let me tell you that it’s a challenging old-school adventure with an incredibly unique atmosphere. The game was well-received by both critics and gamers alike when it was originally released back in 2009. If you’re browser supports Flash, you should definitely check out the free browser based demo of Machinarium to get an idea what it’s all about.

On to the bad news: In the same blog post that announces Machinarium’s release on September 8th, developer Amanita Design states that “the game needs quite a lot of memory and fast CPU so it works well only on iPad 2.”. Now, I’m not 100 percent certain what to make out of that sentence. Does it mean that Machinarium will be restricted to iPad 2 hardware? Or will it also run on a first gen iPad, although with a few hiccups? I’m trying to clarify this statement at the moment and will post an update if I can find out more.

Gameloft’s first person shooter series is coming back soon and it looks like it will rock your iPhone and iPad even harder than the previous Modern Combat games. IGN had some hands-on time with Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation and it seems they enjoyed it quite a bit.

The USA are under attack by an alliance of North Korean, Pakistani and Russian troops, short KPR. Numerous American cities are under assault and some, like Chicago, are even under the control of KPR forces. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation features a globe-spanning single player campaign with 13 levels. Your efforts to fight back the KPR troops start in Los Angeles and will take you to Alaska, Pakistan and North Korea over the course of the campaign.

Like the previous Modern Combat games you’ll also get the chance to show off your FPS skills in a competitive online multiplayer mode. Gameloft confirmed there will be 12 player multipayer on a total of 6 maps with 6 different game modes. And just like almost any online FPS nowadays, you’re going to level-up you’re character by earning experience as you play online on Gameloft Live. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation will be out later this fall.

| Source IGN

Machine Gun Jetpack is dead, long live Jetpack Joyride! The devs over at Halfbrick Studios, creators of Fruit Ninja, decided to rename their upcoming iPhone and iPad game to Jetpack Joyride. The decision was made because the game evolved so much during its development, that the old title was just not accurate anymore. For example, unlike in its early stages of development, you are not limited to equip a machine gun jetpack but several more unique types of jetpacks. There’s the steam jetpack, the rainbow jetpack or a bubble jetpack, just to name a few. Check out the video above for more details and insights from the dudes of Halfbrick Studios.

However, the best news of the day regarding Jetpack Joyride is definitely the release information. Not only will it already be available on the App Store on September 1st, but it will also be released as Universal App and cost as little as $0.99. Frantic jetpack action on both iPhone and iPad for not even a buck? Well, count me in!

Good news for all you Angry Birds maniacs and addicts (and haters, so you know, you have more stuff to hate on)! Rovio has just released an update to Angry Birds Season [$0.99|$1.99|Free] that will unleash the Mighty Eagle on your iPhone and iPad. This basically means you’ll get a ton of replay value with the download of just a few megabytes. Talking about a sweet deal, right?

In case you’re wondering what the Mighty Eagle is: In short, you could call it a new, secondary game mode for each and every level. You can activate the Mighty Eagle with the push of a button in each level, after which your slingshot is loaded with tasty sardines. And wherever you mange to shoot those sardines to, the Mighty Eagle will drop out of the skies and pretty much destroy everything on his way to the sardines. Now, once activated, the game will automatically change into Eagle Highscore mode. This means you won’t get any stars, but a calculated ratio of destruction. 100% destruction will earn you a feather for that specific level. Therefore, the Mighty Eagle not only offers a new way to play Angry Birds, but also plenty of motivation to play through every level you’ve already solved. And like I said, the update is free, so what are you waiting for? Go shoot some sardines!