Back in July, we reported that WiiWare hit LostWinds was making its way to the iPhone and iPad later this year. With a mere two and a bit weeks until the end of the year, we’ve just received more interesting news about it – specifically a gameplay video and rough idea of when it’s set for release.

Touted as a Holiday Season release, LostWinds promises innovative platform-adventuring fun that sets to embrace touch screen controls in a similar way in that the Wii version embraced motion controls.

Players wield the impressive elemental based powers of Enril the Wind Spirit, from subtle breezes to fearsome tornados. All this forms some thrilling puzzles and exploration while guiding young Toku whose mission is to release a curse placed upon the world.

LostWinds was a critical hit for the Wii and understandably so. It’s certainly one to watch for iOS owners in the near future.

Console-centric Frontier Developments have made Kinectimals for the Xbox 360, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit game for PS2 and Xbox, and two LostWinds games for the Wii. Boss David Braben told Eurogamer that LostWinds, an enchanting little platformer for the Wii download service, is slated to come to the iPhone and iPad (as well as Android) later this year.

On the Wii platform, players use the motion controllers to flick, spin, and remove obstacles for Toku, the star of the piece. The whimsical visual design and emotional soundtrack make LostWinds on the Wii a go-to title in this household. It seems a no-brainer to translate the controls to a touch screen:

“It works very well with the Wii controller motions,” Braben told Eurogamer, “but it also works on a touch interface in a very similar fashion.” He continued on to say that plans are to port both LostWinds games to the mobile platforms, “to start.”

[via PocketGamer]