:: VERY NICEThis 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."
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.
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.
:: YOU WIN :: Read Review »[img id="icon175x175.png"]We've got a new champion, Street Fighter IV!
By way of a price drop to $0.99, Capcom has taken over the much coveted number one overall app spot. Last I heard, this could mean $60,000 in sales per day or more. Angry Birds has fallen to number 2 currently. The first time in a while it's been out of the top spot.
How long can Street Fighter IV hold on to the number one spot? What do you think, will Angry Birds attack and get it back? Will Tetris slide its way past both to number 1? We'll keep an eye on it.
The App Hall of Fame is an independent initiative launched by 148Apps that includes selection committee members from over 50 web and print publications. Our goal is to create an authoritative archive the very best mobile apps. To be eligible, applications must be available for download from for at least 6 months. Applications are nominated and voted on by the selection committee with the twelve applications that get the most votes being inducted into the hall of fame.
We are proud to announce the new inductees to the App Hall of Fame:
Correction: We made a mistake with the inductions this month. There was an issue with the voting where a previous inductee (Homerun Battle 3D) was included on the ballot. It has been replaced with the next highest in the voting, and our new inductee Momento.
[img id="icon100x100.png"][img id="icon100x100.png"][img id="icon100x100.png"][img id="icon100x100.png"]
STREET FIGHTER IV from CAPCOM
Brushes - iPhone Edition from Steve Sprang
Labyrinth from Codify AB
Momento (Diary/Journal) by d3i Ltd
[img id="icon100x100.png"][img id="icon100x100.png"][img id="icon100x100.png"][img id="icon100x100.png"]
Dragon Dictation from Nuance Communications
MLB.com At Bat 2010 from MLB.com
Things from Cultured Code GmbH & Co. KG
Diner Dash from PlayFirst, Inc.
Luckily for us, developers use any excuse to put their apps on sale if they think there will be a higher than average number of people looking at the App Store. Such is the case now with the impending release of the iPhone 4 on Verizon and also with Valentine's Day rapidly approaching.
So we have a bunch of developers putting their apps and games on sale, and we get to benefit from that! Take a look below at the cream of the sale crop. There's no real defined end point for this sale, so grab them now as they could go up anytime.
Update: 2/12 10:00am, Update: 2/11 4:00pm - A few more interesting ones picked up.
Update: 2/10 1:00pm - Imangi, Snappy Touch, and DK Publications get in the giving mood and make some their apps free for a while. Grab them all, they are all great.
Update: 2/10 12:00pm - Navigon gets generous with their great GPS apps. Reducing the price by 50% for North America!
Update: 2/10 10:00am - Namco, Sega, and Disney go $0.99 crazy with a load of their games. It must be catching.
Update: 2/9, 2:00pm - Capcom jumps in as well with a whole slew of their games going for $0.99 including the just released Devil May Cry 4 Refrain.
Update: 2/8, 10:00am - And Gameloft joins in the party as well. Putting 14 of their games on sale for $0.99 until February 14th!
Update: 2/7, 2:30pm - EA is at it again. They have put the majority of their iPhone/iPod touch and a few of their iPad games on sale. We've added the best of them below. The descriptions say they are on sale for 48 hours only, I think it might be a bit longer than that, but grab them now if you missed the sale last time.
Update: 2/5, 3:00pm - Added a dozen or so more. Many football related apps on sale for the big game on Sunday (no, not Liverpool v. Chelsea).
[appsale: 415942619,0.99,?]
[appsale: 414917272,0.99,?]
[appsale: 414386092,0.99,?]
[appsale: 413423472,0.99,?]
[appsale: 413313931,0.99,?]
[appsale: 410229362,0.99,?]
[appsale: 409981427,0.99,?]
[appsale: 409361324,0.99,?]
[appsale: 409223431,FREE,?]
Hit the jump for a bunch more apps and games on sale!
It’s hard to find good help, which is why you’ve partnered with an evil corporation to use zombies as free labor to build your café empire.
Makes perfect sense to me! Anyway, as the manager of your new Zombie Cafe, you're responsible for catering to your customers' every whim and milking them for their money. It seems to be based on restaurant sims like Diner Dash, but with zombie-themed additions. Zombie-themed fare has replaced normal diner dishes, so for example, you'll be getting a "handburger and flies" instead of a normal burger. And if you're short on staff, you can even inject your customers with a toxin to turn them into more zombie minions. (What was that about evil corporations again?) However, by the same token, if you work a zombie too hard it may decide to munch on your customers, which is hardly good for business. Additionally, you can send your zombie minions to attack your competition, stealing toxin and recipes from other cafes.
These combined undead twists add up to a humorous almost-parody of a rather repetitive genre. If Diner Dash and its clones feel just too vanilla for you, a helping of brainy humor might be just what you need. Plus, it's nice to see a zombie game that adds more than just a "skin." Too often zombies replace humans just because they look more menacing, but these undead waiters actually do change the gameplay.
While Capcom hasn't released a gameplay trailer, check out the video below for a revolting teaser clip:
Should you wish to try your hand at zombie-restaurant-management, Zombie Cafe is lurking in the App Store for the low, low price of free.
Dante and Nero have spent a long time slaying demons and battling evil on consoles, but now the ghoul-hunting duo is poised to make their grand debut on the iPhone. Capcom has confirmed that iOS will be getting its very own edition of Devil May Cry 4, subtitled Refrain.
The game will consist of 10 levels and Nero's movement and attacks are controlled via an onscreen virtual joystick and three attack buttons on the lower right hand side of the screen.While this opens the door to a number of quick and hopefully effortless combos we'll have to reserve judgment until we play the game ourselves to see how well it works. The DMC series has long been predicated on careful timing and fluid combos, so we hope the same precision and attention to detail has been built into this version.
In addition to the story mode Capcom has confirmed that later updates will include Dante as a playable character as well as new challenge levels for the truly hardcore. Hopefully these extra stages will satisfy fans who thrive on DMC's sometimes insane difficulty level where one wrong move means certain death. Hopefully the story mode will be a bit more forgiving for the rest of us. At any rate the game goes on sale later this month for $6.99 with updates to follow soon thereafter. Good luck out there everyone and happy hunting!
[via SlidetoPlay]
:: AVERAGEPoor Mr. Bill, he just can't catch a break. Next week, when most of us sit down to a gigantic meal and lots of football, he'll be bouncing off turkeys and trying to avoid scarecrows set up by Sluggo with the express purpose of killing him. That's right, Mr. Bill is getting a Thanksgiving update and his pain is your pleasure.
I've personally got quite a soft spot for Mr. Bill, both because I loved the SNL skits and because it was the first app I ever reviewed for 148. Oh memories, sometimes you're all I have in this world! The game is the perfect mix of simple yet addictive, and it's a great app for those times when you've got a few minutes to kill and want to play a quality game without launching into more in-depth fare.
The new update is free and available right now. If you've already got the app installed on your device then the new "Thanks, but No Thanksgiving" stages will be ready and waiting for you as soon as you install the new data. Now, instead of talking to relatives you only see once a year you'll actually have something fun to do after you eat and before you take the traditional Thanksgiving nap.
[via TouchArcade]
:: YOU WIN :: Read Review »Owners of the iOS edition of Street Fighter IV are in for a treat, as an upcoming update of the game will add Sagat to the ever-growing list of fighters on the roster. This comes after Capcom already added Zangief, Cammy, E. Honda and C. Viper, so the app version of the title is slowly adding nearly all the characters from the console editions of the game. At any rate, fear the Tiger Uppercut!
We continue to be impressed by just how substantially Capcom has supported the iOS version of Street Figher IV in the months since its release. The parade of new characters has kept our interest level in the game quite high, and the constant addition of extra content and tweaking of modes makes the game hard to put down even after you think you've done it all. The strategy employed by Capcom shows us that they're really taking mobile gaming seriously, and could easily emerge as one of the top studios in the mobile games space. We're already extremely excited to see what they have in mind for other major franchises on iOS, because if past performance is any indication we're in for a real treat. In the meantime, begin familiarizing yourself with Sagat's moveset so that when the update launches you can pit him in a match against Ryu and get some sweet revenge for that scar across Sagat's chest.
[via TouchArcade]
Capcom has today announced their new game Li'l Pirates, scheduled to plunder iOS devices later this month. The game is billed as a sort of action/exploration/RPG hybrid which will allow players to take control of a ship and crew, and their plunder and pillage their way to bigger and better ships as well as earning a name as the biggest scalawag on the Seven Seas. Capcom is promising over 100 ship and character upgrades to be available at launch as DLC, and that number is sure to swell while the game is on the market.
At first glance the game sounds a lot like Sid Meier's Pirates, so we'll have to wait until we get our hands on the final build to see if the title can live up to that lofty standard. If nothing else, pirate games are basically always instantly appealing just because pirates are pretty great.
Capcom also mentioned plans to launch Zombie Cafe in November as well as an as-yet-unnamed children’s entertainment property in November. According to the description:
"In Zombie Café the player partners with an evil corporation to use zombies as free labor to build their café empire. To thrive, players must prepare food, direct their zombie staff and manage supplies. If the competition gets too fierce they can always direct their zombie workers to attack a neighboring café and steal their secret recipes"
Both Li'l Pirates and Zombie Cafe will be free to play but will offer paid extra content to make the game easier or more "complete." Publishers have been flirting with the idea of free base games with paid DLC for a while now, so we'll have to wait and see what Capcom's take on the idea looks like.
[via GDN]
Dark Void Zero:
Dark Void on the consoles may have bombed on the review charts, but the iPhone version is an utterly different story. 8-bit visuals, achievements, online leaderboards, and so much more make this side scrolling shooter a highly addictive game. Capcom, being the devilishly nice company they are, is even feeling a bit generous and letting you get it for a lousy $0.99 this weekend.
Mega Man II:
The Blue Bomber is back and better than ever. Enjoy the original NES game without having to do any funny stuff with ROMs and emulators. Enjoy all 14 levels and 8 bosses in this side scrolling shooter. Even better, this game is rocking a sweet sale right now. Capcom, we thank you for giving us a reason to skip out on chores this weekend.
Gangstar: Miami Vindication:
Gameloft is back at it with another edition of Gangstar. Hit the streets of Miami for over 75 missions of enemy sniping, car stealing, escorting, and car chasing entertainment. Of course, a criminal needs a sleek way of getting around town. Boost cars, motorcycles, boats, and helicopters to give those walking legs a break. Crime has never looked so good, or consumed so much time on the iPhone.
iA Writer:
Sometimes you just need a distraction free writing zone. No noise, no auto correcting of grammar or words, not even toolbars bars stand in your way with this app. iA Writer will give you a distraction free writing area. Once that draft is completed, look at how long it will take to read with the included reading time feature. Sometimes you just need a minimalistic writing space to get your thoughts out. iA Writer is that place of writing Zen.
Numbers:
Numbers is not a new app by any means. What is new about it is a patch that now makes this app worth your money. Exporting to Excel files is FINALLY available after a long waiting period. All the complaining can finally be put to rest over this issue. If you need a good-looking, yet powerful, spreadsheet editor, this is worth your coin.
:: AN IMPROVEMENT :: AN IMPROVEMENT :: Read Review »
So when it was announced that the game was getting a newly revamped sequel on the iPhone, I was understandably skeptical about whether it would even be approachable by the casual gaming masses. However, a press release for the game hopes to set you mind at ease over those concerns.
Read more Ghosts’N Goblins sequel coming to iPhone on The Portable Gamer
