This Week at 148Apps: February 6-13
This week, the App Hall of Fame announced the twelve applications to be featured for the month of February, including Street Figher IV, currently #1 on the App Store (more on this later). The list is voted for by way of a specially created, independent committee, which seeks out the best applications out there and available to download now. You can see this month's list, as well as all the other's since its inception last October, right here.
The App Hall of Fame is an initiative launched by 148Apps, whereby an independent committee collectively votes for twelve applications to be featured in the Hall of Fame each month. The committee is comprised of over forty members from app-related sites across the globe.
"We’ve got a new champion" writes Jeff Scott, Founder of 148Apps, in relation to Street Fighter IV's phenomenal sales. "Capcom has taken over the much coveted number one overall app spot [from Angry Birds]" - though for how long it is anyone's guess. The position is certainly a feat and an achievement, with the number one spot potentially requiring over $60 000 worth of sales. Per day. The game was awarded 4.5 stars by 148Apps last year, with reviewer Jason Fanguy writing "it is money well spent. I highly recommend this game to any/all lovers of the Street Fighter franchise or anyone who enjoys a quality 2-D fighter."
STREET FIGHTER IV
$4.99
In other news, Japanese corporation Namco, creator of the best-selling arcade game in human history, Pac-Man, has announced that its popular racing title Ridge Racer will drive its way into the iPad App Store sometime this month, to compliment its iPhone counterpart released last year. "The interesting thing about Ridge Racer Accelerated for the iPad is that it will be released as a freemium app" writes Carter Dotson, referring to an application type whereby users pay to unlock new features as they go along. "It will be free to download, include 3 cars, one course, with Time Attack and Game Center ranking modes available for free, and will cost $9.99 in-app to unlock the full app."
If you're after something a bit sooner, or rather available now, earlier this week the Editor's Choice badge was awarded to Pocket Universe HD, the iPad-exclusive version of one of the most impressive space applications currently available. When Kyle Flanigan reviewed the application earlier this week, he was blown away by its precision and performance. "Pocket Universe HD is a ‘wow’ application. You don’t just have the whole earth in your hands, but the known universe." It costs $3.99.
Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy for iPad
FREE!
And with a number of applications offering Valentine's Day discounts, developers are also marking down the price of their applications due to Verizon's launch of the iPhone 4. Jeff Scott has been keeping track of all the latest price drops, available here. "There’s no real defined end point for this sale, so grab them now as they could go up anytime." Remember, you can keep track of all price drops through 148Apps' own Twitter and RSS feeds, which do all the hard work for you.
In case you missed it, Apple updated the iPad App Store application to include a much more efficient and customizable Search, and Episode 71 of The Portable Podcast is available to download now, featuring guest speaker Blake Grundman. The final word for this week is by way of a competition available to all our readers: until February 20, you have a daily chance to win a Verizon-designed Speck iPhone 4 case.
That's all for this week - thanks for reading and have a great week.