apps posts

The New York Times has replaced its limited "Editor's Choice" iPad app with a new version that provides the newspaper's full content, pending the user's (free) registration. The app will be free for users until "early 2011."

Unlike Editor's Choice, the new version (simply called NYTimes for iPad) includes articles from every section of the publication. You can navigate each via a pop-up list. Select any one to read the related articles.

You'll notice that a banner pops up prompting you to register. The process is as simple as entering a username and a password, and will push you out of the app and into Safari to finish the process. Once complete, you must click a ink in a confirmation email. The next time you launch the app, the banners will be gone.

I spent a short amount of time testing it this morning, and found it to hang up quite a bit when selecting an article to read from the grid. Other than that, it was what I expected. The UI will be familiar to anyone who used the Editor's Choice app.

Whiel access to the full content will be free for 2010, that will change next year when the paper's new paywall will go up. Those who pay or subscribe to the paper will enjoy full access, while others will have limited access. The website paywall is intended to allow infrequent visitors free reading access to the Times' content.

It was reported that Steve Jobs himself disliked the initial NYT iPad app because the content was limited. Now that that problem has been eliminated, and rumors of App Store subscriptions circulate, we'll see what's to come of the Times on the iPad.

Capcom has announced that in early November an App Store near you will be graced with Capcom Arcade, featuring at launch arcade classics Street Fighter II, 1942, Commando, and Ghouls 'n' Ghosts. IGN has a positive writeup of a preview it played, saying that the touch-based controls worked fine but it was disappointed by the lack of online play or leaderboards. Capcom is promising these features in updates down the line, as well as an additional game every month.

Personally I find Ghouls 'n' Ghosts horrendously difficult with a proper joystick, let alone a touch interface. Still though, our own Mike Schramm was impressed by iPhone version of Street Fighter 4, and the games will offer the option of adjusted (read: easier) difficulty levels for iPhone play to reduce the number of expensive devices thrown against walls because of the first boss in GnG.

Anyway, touch screen controls aren't the clever bit. The clever bit is how you'll be paying for this slice of retro goodness. The app itself will be free, and come with a few tokens you can use to play the games a few times for free. If you run out, you can buy more tokens, or just wait because you'll get a few free ones each day. Eventually Capcom hopes you'll tire of the drip-feeding and pay out for unlimited play of one or more of the games, although exactly how much you'll be paying for this privilege it isn't letting on yet.