iPhone developer ngmoco has released its hotly-tipped iPhone first-person shooter (FPS) game Eliminate - but only in one country.

The game has been approved by Apple for worldwide release, but at the weekend went live in the Canadian App Store only.

Why? The company is treating Canada as a final beta test for the game, and specifically the ability of its servers to stand up to a pounding from thousands of gamers. Assuming they do, the game will then be released globally.

Plenty of other developers will be watching how it performs when it is. Eliminate is one of the first games to take advantage of Apple's recent changes in its rules around in-app payments.

The game is free to download and play in its entirety. However, ngmoco will make money by selling in-game energy packs to players. While microtransaction-based models have been successful on Facebook, Eliminate is one of the first games to really push them on iPhone.

ngmoco's Touch Pets iPhone game is getting a similar Canadian beta release this week too.