Yes, Capcom Mobile and Discovery Communications have teamed up to bring Cash Cab to the iPhone. Players take a simulated taxi ride, answering increasingly difficult questions on their way to their destination, with three strikes getting you kicked out of the backseat, hopefully in a nice neighborhood. The game features pictures of the actual show's host, comedian turned cab driver Ben Bailey, heightening the sensation of playing a game set inside a taxi.

Seriously, this show has been running for four years now, and has won an Emmy award, and despite my scorn, whenever I catch a glimpse of it while sifting through my channels I have to sit and watch, and god help me if there's a marathon on. I can't explain it. Maybe I'm waiting for someone to get knifed.

Cash Cab is now on sale in the iTunes App Store for $4.99.

Here's how this is going to work. We have two XL Stan Bush t-shirts and five signed copies of Stan's CD In This Life, which of course contains "The Touch". In order to win, you'll have to answer a series of five questions involving the original 1986 Transformers animated movie which the song first appeared in. The first three folks who deliver all five correct answers to KotakuContest[AT]gmail[DOT] com will be taking home a signed CD, while the first two who go the extra mile and provide the answer I am looking for to question five get a shirt as well.

And now, the questions!

1. In what year does Transformers the Movie take place?
2. In the original movie script, how was Ultra Magnus destroyed on the planet Junkion?
3. What is the Universal greeting?
4. Oooo, someone said a bad word. Who was it, and what was the word? No, dammit doesn't count.
5. Who killed Optimus Prime? There are two acceptable answers to this question, one more acceptable than the other.

Please note that the contest is only open to Kotaku readers in North America. Anyone giving away answers in the comments section will be banned and possibly set on fire.

UPDATE: All winners have been notified! Check your emails to see if you are getting a little somethin' somethin'.

For the record, the answers were:

1. 2005, or four years ago.
2. In the original script, as well as in the comic book adaptation, the Sweeps wrapped energy ropes around his arms and legs and torn him apart. In the movie, they cut that part, simply blasting him to pieces. We accepted torn limb from limb, but not simply "killed by".
3. Bah Weep Grahna Weep Ninny Bong, or some spelling of that.
4. Spike, not Bumblebee, shouted "Oh shit!" While early VHS versions of the movie cut this scene out, later added it back, with the 25th Anniversary edition actually having a chapter named after the line.
5. Megatron may have killed him damage-wise, but everybody knows that little jerkoff Hot Rod was the only reason Megs got the upper hand.

The site shows that there are currently 6,165 games available in the App Store. Of those 1,485 are free and the rest are for purchase.

Mobclix also has an interesting breakdown of categories within iGames, with puzzle titles making up more than 23 percent of the mix, and arcade in a distant second with 13 percent of the titles. It is heartening to see that educational and kids games tie board and strategy in the mix.

App Store [via 1Up]

PuzzleQuest: Chapter 1 - Battle of Gruulkar sells for a mighty $10 and is described as the first chapter in the trilogy of the Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords for the Apple portables.

Each chapter will include the ability to store characters, spells and high scores so you can carry your character from chapter to chapter. This first 68 meg or so download is said to include about 20 hours of gameplay culminating in a battle with Gruulkar, leader of the Orcs.

What the game's description is not clear about is whether this is a new story or if we're getting the same game, only doled out in three $10 chunks. That would sort of suck if it were true.

[Thanks Veselov ]

The top searches this holiday season on Google Product Search include four video game-related pieces of hardware... and Uggs. So strange.

Topping ths list of millions of recent search queries conducted on Google Product Search in the U.S. is, you guessed it, the Wii. Number two is the Wii Fit, followed by the Xbox 360 in the number four spot and the Nintendo DS in the number five.

The full top ten includes lots of 'i's and one Ugg, while the Video Games and Toys category is dominated by video games.

All Categories
1. nintendo wii
2. wii fit
3. ipod touch
4. xbox 360
5. nintendo ds
6. ipod nano
7. uggs
8. nikon d90
9. zune
10. digital picture frame

Video Games and Toys
1. bakugan
2. guitar hero world tour
3. webkinz
4. gears of war 2
5. call of duty world at war
6. rock band 2
7. elmo live
8. wii music
9. fallout 3
10. littlebigplanet

By the way, if you're planning to run out to a story to pick up some Bakugan for this holiday, good luck with that. When we tried every store was totally sold out.

Google Holiday Shopping

The new iPod Touch 2G runs at 532MHz as opposed to the 412MHz of earlier models - including the iPhone 3G (the G's mean something different, don't worry about it) and Handheld Games suspect there may be undocumented differences in the GPU speeds as well.

After some experimentation, the four iterations of the device are ranked as follows:

1. iPod Touch 2nd Generation
2. iPhone 3G
3. iPhone (original)
4. iPod Touch 1st Generation

This YouTube clip is meant to illustrate the difference in app loading speeds between the four models, although it would probably have been more visually effective if he has hit the icon on each at the exact same moment.

As it it, though, this is a bit like watching Rick Wakeman playing loads of keyboards at once.

2nd Generation iPod Touch Faster than iPhone [Touch Arcade]

The four other players are all computer controller, but do a fairly good job of keeping things interesting. To play you just tap on countries to move your armies about or invade other bordering countries.

The game is fairly simple, so simple that over time it can get a bit repetitive, but it's free. Also, according to developer Sillysoft Games, there appears to be a paid version, Lux Touch Dlx, in the works. Let's just hope it offers up online play, pass-the-device play and some amped up graphics.

Oh, for the love of god, include a save feature next time around. If my bid to conquer the planet is defeated by a PR call one more time I'm going to kill someone.

What we still don't know is if this is a Japan-only device or one headed for world release, something I suspect we'll find out with the upcoming Nintendo press conferences. Either way it seems that Nintendo is dipping it's toe into the waters currently inhabited by the Playstation Portable and iPhone. For years Sony and Nintendo have both argued, on some level, that the PSP and DS don't really compete because the machines approach gaming in such different ways. Now it seems that if this new media DS gets off the ground, that won't be as true.

But with the PSP gaining ground in Japan (Reuters reports that PSP's unit sales exceeded the DS's in five consecutive months through July) can the DS directly compete with it when it comes to those expanded features? And what about the iPhone and Touch and its growing gaming support? Does Nintendo stand a chance in the realm of gaming and media devices?

We believe that multi-touch will be everywhere in a few years, already seeing it now with Jeff Han's Perceptive Pixel, Microsoft's Surface, and the iPhone. When the multi-touch platform develops further and end in the hands of more consumers, they would want to play games on it. Oculusia is one exciting example of how these can be designed and implemented.

In case creating the game wasn't enough of an achievement, Thomas notes that they also built the table itself. Damn fine work gentlemen!

Bomberman Land (WII, PSP)
Bomberman brings hot bombing action to the Wii and PSP.

Bomberman Land Touch! 2 (DS)
The follow up to the popular Bomberman Land Touch for the DS.

Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice (PSP)
Fight gang warfare in Capital City.

The Sims: Castaway Stories (PC)
It's like the Sims version of LOST except you actually know what's going on.