(Credit: CNET)

Several great new games were released this week for iOS that are perfect for keeping you busy during downtime over the long Labor Day weekend.

A couple of days ago, I wrote about Spy Mouse, Firemint's latest game that has you play as Agent Squeak, the mouse who stealthily steals cheese across tons of cleverly made levels. I highly recommend that you grab that game in addition to this collection, but I found three more that will satisfy just about every gamer's personal taste.

This week's collection of iOS apps are all hot new games from different genres. The first lets you draw your path around a racetrack; the second lets you use a jetpack to go for distance; and the third is a beautifully made hack-and-slash RPG.

During the race, you can see the faint line you drew as your car navigates the track.

DrawRace2 (99 cents) is the sequel to DrawRace, an unconventional but very fun take on racing games for the iPhone. In DrawRace games, you don't actually drive a car around a track. Instead, you draw the pat... [Read more]

The new Frogger Decades for iOS.

It's hard to believe, but Frogger has been hopping around the gaming business for 30 years now, and to commemorate the event, Konami has released a new installment of the franchise in Apple's App Store.

Dubbed Frogger Decades, the title gives gamers the familiar Frogger experience, requiring them to get across an area by maneuvering around obstacles and finding safe haven as they move to the other side. According to the description of the title in the App Store, the game offers classic D-pad controls for the nostalgic among us, as well as touch controls for those who want to experience the title in a new way.

Frogger first launched as an arcade game in 1981. The game, while quite simple, caught on with people around the globe who tried to get frogs across a road or river packed with obstacles. Over the years, as Frogger's popularity grew, several new versions of the title were made available, including Frogger II, Frogger 3D, and others.

But Frogger Decades is not the first title in the franchise to be made available on iOS; Konami already offered Frogger in the App Store. That title costs 99 cents.

Those hoping to get their hands on Frogger Decades can download it now to their iPhone or iPad. The game costs $1.99.

Google chief executive Larry Page continued shedding marginal operations from the Web giant today, shuttering 10 different businesses, including everything from social search to desktop software to Web security.

Google's Alan Eustace

In announcing the news, Google Senior Vice President Alan Eustace called it a "fall spring-cleaning." Since taking over as chief executive in January, Page has moved to streamline Google's operations, pulling back from niche businesses in order to focus on the biggest bets. Eustace wrote that the new cuts reflect that strategy.

"This will make things much simpler for our users, improving the overall Google experience," Eustace wrote. "It will also mean we can devote more resources to high-impact products."

And Eustace said that all of the employees working on the closing businesses will be moved to other Google posts.

Some of the businesses that are closing came from acquisitions, including Aardvark, the social search engine that Google acquired in 2010 for a reported $50 million, and Google Web Security, which was part of the ... [Read more]

Need some games to keep you busy during this holiday weekend? From now through Labor Day (September 5), Gameloft is giving away a handful of Android games and discounting all others to 99 cents.

The giveaway requires a bit of hoop-jumping. For starters, you need to follow @GameloftAndroid on Twitter or like GameloftAndroid on Facebook.

Then, at some random time today, tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday, the company will make one Android game available free of charge via a special link (posted exclusively on Facebook and Twitter)--but only for 2 hours.

The promotion kicked off yesterday with N.O.V.A. HD, which normally sells for $4.99. It was offered free from 2 to 4 p.m. PT. Today's deal has yet to be announced.

Keep in mind that not all games are compatible with all Android devices. For example, as reported on Gameloft's Twitter feed, N.O.V.A. doesn't work with the Droid 3, and the Droid 2 and Droid X versions were cited as having "build issues."

Still, free is free, and if you don't mind giving Gameloft a little social-network love, you can score four freebies between n... [Read more]