This week’s roundup of must-have iOS games includes the second episode in a series of five Back to the Future games from Telltale – with a brand new story for Marty and Doc.

We’ve also got Real Racing 2 HD – which has just been updated to feature dual-screen gaming, allowing you to connect your iPad to your HDTV and enjoy the ultimate racing game at 1080p.

Final Fantasy III also makes our list of favorites. This 90s classic has been around on the iPhone for a few weeks, but it now features new and improved 3D visuals and story sequences exclusive to the iPad.

Find out more about the games above and check out the rest of this week’s must-have’s – including Bunny the Zombie Slayer and NBA Jam – after the break!

High resolution artwork discovered in the latest build of Mac OS X Lion has generated rumors that Apple could be planning to bring a Retina display to the Mac. Preview 2 of Lion, which was released in late March, features icons in sizes up to 1024×1024, and a desktop background at a resolution of 3200×3200.

The new Lion wallpaper was discovered at the beginning of April by OSXDaily, and was noted for its ultra-high resolution which no Apple display has ever supported. The new icons – which are double the size of the current 512×512 Mac OS X icons – were discovered over the weekend by MacMagazine.com.br.

Considering there is currently no need for icons or wallpapers of this size, these discoveries would suggest Apple is working on bringing a better display to the Mac. MacRumors notes that Apple has built-in Support for HiDPI display modes in Lion:

Taking cues from iOS, Apple has reportedly built in support for what it calls “HiDPI display modes”. These HiDPI modes allow developers to supply 2x-enlarged images to support double-high resolution displays. Like the iPhone 4’s Retina Display, this means that user interface elements will remain the same size, but everything will be twice the resolution and therefore twice as detailed.

While a Retina display Mac would be pretty neat, I would much prefer one in my iPad first.

This week’s selection of must-have iOS apps features a brand new social news experience called News.me. Created by Bit.ly, with backing from The New York Times, this app shows you not just what your friends are sharing, but also what they’re reading.

Sony’s new Crackle application offers a library of over 100 great movies and TV shows, such as The Da Vinci Code, Ghostbusters, Seinfield and Spider-Man – all of which are completely free to watch.

RockMelt also makes this week’s must-haves – a web browser that seamlessly integrates social networking and syncs with RockMelt on your computer.

Find out more about the applications above, and check out the rest of week’s must-haves – including Seamless, Photosynth and FindOne – after the break!

We close out another week with hardware. First up are several iMacs from the Apple Store, starting at $1,019 for a 3.06GHz Intel Core i3 machine with 22-inch display. Next is a stand from Sharper Image for your iPod or iPhone. The stand includes a 1600mAh battery and is compatible with all iPhones and iPod touch models up to the 2nd generation. Finally, another group of discounted iPads, including a 16GB 3G model for just $329.

Along the way, we also check out several cases for your iPad, as well as a dock for your iPod or iPhone. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Apple has a great recycling program, but they are not the only company to offer such a program. Both RadioShack and Best Buy offer their own recycling programs. I thought it might be nice to share some information about these alternative programs with you on Earth Day.

The reason I’m mentioning this is due to the fact that I often hear from readers that aren’t close to an Apple Store. They often tell me that they may not even have a store in their city or state. Ouch.

Country living might be restful, but I’m glad that I live in a big city since Houston has six Apple Stores accessible to everyone living in Houston or the surrounding areas. Fortunately, some of you without such good access to Apple Stores just might have access to a RadioShack or a Best Buy. So let’s take a look at what they have to offer.

To celebrate the Easter weekend, EA mobile has launched its ‘Sweet 99¢ Deals’ sale with up to 86% off some of its most recent and most successful titles – such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, Fifa 2011, and Dead Space.

Here’s the full list of games included in the sale – all of which are now just 99¢:

iPhone/iPod touch

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12
• Dead Space
• Max & the Magic Marker
• NBA Jam
• Fight Night Champion
• Battlefield Bad Company 2
• Tetris
• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
• The Sims 3
• The Sims 3 Ambition
• Scrabble
• Fifa 2011
• Madden NFL 11
• Monopoly
• Risk
• NCAA Football
• Need for Speed Shift
• The Game of Life

iPad

• Scrabble
• Dead Space
• Max & the Magic Marker
• Reckless Racing
• Risk
• Madden NFL 11

News.me is a social news experience from bit.ly unlike any other currently in the App Store. Not only does it provide you with a list of content your friends are sharing like applications such as Flipboard and Zite, but it also allows you to view the content they are reading. It claims to offer a “seamless interface for immersive reading” that uses “science to find the most relevant content in every user’s stream.”

The News.me iPad app just hit the App Store, but made news before its release thanks to its backing from the New York Times, and the publishers and websites that are also on board; such as AOL, Forbes, Gawker, Business Insider, Gigaom, Mashable, Venturebeat and the Associated Press.

Whether it’s Facebook, AIM, or Yahoo, everyone is signed up to a service that provides them with instant messaging. Besides a phone call, it’s one of the quickest ways to have a conversation with our fellow man, and because it’s completely free, it’s also one of the most popular.

To make the most out of instant messaging on your iOS device, you’ll need a decent application. We’ve put together a list of the best apps currently available; check them out after the break!

Not that I would know first hand, but there’s this wonderful sense of serendipity that occurs at the eureka moment of invention. Imagine the sensation Jonny Ive must have felt when he invented the Smart Cover for iPad 2: I imagine the moment of serendipity came when he stripped naked and lifted the lid to the Japanese style on-campus communal bath that he shared with Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller and suddenly paused and said to himself, “You know, this bath lid would make a great tablet stand.” And as absurd as that sounds, it’s true… a Japanese folding bath lid does make a wonderful tablet stand!

Somehow, I doubt copycat creators get that same sense of serendipity when they just rip something off. Take Aviiq’s Quick Stand, a laptop stand for your MacBook that “borrows” inspiration from Apple’s Smart Cover, except without any of the magnets or functionality that afford the “smart.”

Not that they’re charging any less for it: the Aviiq Quick Stand will run you $40. As Wired’s resident gadget blogger and secret gerontophile Charlie Sorrel notes, that’s an awful lot of money to spend on something to prop your computer up a couple inches when any old piece of junk would do.

The iCade by ThinkGeek is an iPad accessory that turns your device into the ultimate retro games machine. It looks just like a tabletop arcade cabinet straight out of the 80s, and boasts a joystick with an 8-button control pad.

The iCade began as an April Fools’ Day spoof back in 2010 that became an incredibly popular story. ThinkGeek obviously saw how successful the device could be thanks to all the hype, and got to work on making the dream a reality. Now the iCade is available to pre-order.

They have worked closely with Atari to make the iCade fully compatible with Atari’s Greatest Hits – the recently released iOS app that features a library of classic arcade titles such as Asteroids, Missile Command and Pong. The control API will also be released soon, and will allow other developers to create games that are compatible with the iCade accessory.

You can pre-order the iCade from ThinkGeek now for $99.99, with shipping due to start on May 20th. Unfortunately it’s only available to residents of the U.S.

[via AppAdvice]