Ever thought about placing your iPhone 4 in a wooden stand? You should. It’s classy, retro and adds a natural feeling to that cold glass and aluminum made in Cupertino. Or maybe you simply haven’t managed to find a decent stand made of wood until today. Well, this one’s good.

The ICONICSTAND, realized by Korean designer Kenny Cho and made with “eco-friendly birch wood”, features an ingenious shape that allows it to hold the iPhone both in portrait and landscape mode. You can adjust the position to fit your viewing angle and there’s even room for the charging cable. There are various models and shapes available on the official website.

Added to my Christmas list. [via FSM]

N.O.V.A. (Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance) by Gameloft is one of the most popular first-person shooters for the iPhone and iPad, featured by Apple at the tablet’s announcement in January. The first N.O.V.A., released on the iPhone last year, quickly jumped the charts of the App Store thanks to its stunning graphics, good gameplay and large maps.

The second iteration of the FPS – N.O.V.A. 2 – is coming out on December 16th and it looks like it will be a lot better.

N.O.V.A. 2 will feature a new multiplayer mode in 10 new maps with 10 players simultaneously. No word yet if this has been achieved through Game Center or not. The game will of course come with new weapons and improved AI for enemies, but as far as gameplay goes Gameloft has added the possibility to drive vehicles during missions. Reminds me of Halo. Graphics have been optimized for the Retina Display and previous N.O.V.A. customers will get access to “extra bonuses”.

We can’t wait to get our hands on this new version, which hopefully will be released as a universal app for iPhone and iPad this time. In the meantime, check out the new trailer featuring in-game footage below. Read more

For all those of you who were hoping to get your hands on a mobile version of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of Lions (announced in June) before Christmas – I’m sorry, folks. The game’s not coming this year, as reported by TouchArcade. It will be released, according to a note appeared on Square Enix official Facebook page, in Spring 2011.

The iPhone version of FFT was first unveiled at this year’s E3 and scheduled for a September 15th release. Square Enix then claimed they never thought to release the game in September, and told the press FFT was still “TBD”. Various delays aside, it looks like SE has been busy improving the new game menu graphics, designing new controls specifically for the iPhone.  The new screenshots look better than the old ones, and here’s to hoping that Square Enix is taking the extra time to make the entire game better, perhaps with new features, quests and enemies. An additional storyline for iPhone users would be great, for instance.

Still, these delays with brief press releases always make me worry. Because you know what else is coming in Spring 2011? The white iPhone 4. Read more

Speaking of Angry Birds: can you imagine if iOS’ most successful game was created 20 years and made available on the Game Boy or SNES instead? Frankly, I cannot – but these mockups posted over at Penney Design can give you an idea of what it might have looked like.

While the graphics are cool – and nostalgic – I don’t think Angry Birds’ current control scheme would be easy to port on handhelds without multi-touch. Angry Birds was built around the iPhone, and eventually released on Android devices. How would you control the slingshot on a Game Boy? With the D-Pad?

Game controls debate aside, Angry Birds in 8-bit looks great. I think the world would have been a better place with the birds & pigs in 1992. [via]