Tag: Top 10 »

With the ever-increasing power of iOS devices and the ever-present desire of license holders to make money, there’s no time like the present to think about bringing some older (and even some newer) games and franchises over to mobile. There’s also no time like the present to compile a list of 10 games and franchises that would be a great fit for mobile, but are still mysteriously absent. And that’s exactly what we did!

Below is our take on what we think would work well on iPhones, iPads, and iPods, ranked by how inherently “mobile” they might be. Why did we choose what we chose? Well because they’re great games, for one thing. That, and because their inherent nature would make them incredibly easy to interact with using a touch screen, make use of an accelerometer or gyroscope, or otherwise put iOS hardware to interesting use. Of course if there’s another game or franchise that you think would be a particularly good fit, leave a comment and let us know!

Back when I first reviewed Rage of Bahamut, I knew that I really liked it. I just had no idea how many other people would be every bit as enamored with it. Turns out a whole lot of people think it’s awesome, because the free-to-play CCG with the ingenious approach to duplicates has hit Number One. Number One on Google Play and the App Store grossing charts.

It’s a well-deserved honor as far as I’m concerned. The browser-based card game gone portable for mobile platforms offers a wealth of cards to gather (700+) and almost constant special events to keep the community engrossed and involved. Holy Wars have just wrapped up (my Order ranked in the mid-3000’s, which isn’t too bad), leaving lots of players with a bounty of rare cards. And of course, those that aren’t rare can be used to upgrade those that are.

Reaching the top spot in the App Store as well as keeping said spot for six consecutive weeks on Google Play is no simple feat. It implies that a lot of people are playing. And if that many people are having such a grand old time collecting, trading, and evolving some gorgeous (and powerful) cards on their mobile devices, it stands to reason that it just might be a game worth checking out. And if someone were to check it out, I wouldn’t take offense if they were to use my referral code (lhs90348) at the end of the tutorial to get some extra cash and a special rare card. Just a thought.

As the world awaits the 10 billionth app download and the subsequent $10k iTunes gift card prize to follow, Apple has released lists ranking 40 of the most successful apps of all time. Each list comes from a specific section of the App Store: Free iPhone/iPod Touch, Paid iPhone/iPod Touch, Free iPad and Paid iPad.

Each list stands as a microcosm of purchases, rash decisions and cultural oddities. We still can't get over the fact that the 7th most successful paid application for the iPad is a fart generator. A fart generator. What does that say about the majority of people that on the device? What does it say about me?

Also ranking among the surprising facets is the spread between Angry Birds and Doodle Jump. Doodle Jump is the most successful paid iPhone and iPod Touch app of all time, while Angry Birds stands in the fourth position between Pocket God and Tap Tap Revenge 3. We'll attribute that to the amount of time that's passed since each app's release. Doodle Jump saw birth on the iOS in April of 2009. Angry Birds? December of 2009.

The lists!

Paid iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

1. Doodle Jump
2. Tap Tap Revenge 3
3. Pocket God
4. Angry Birds
5. Tap Tap Revenge 2.6
6. Bejeweled 2 + Blitz
7. Traffic Rush
8. Tap Tap Revenge Classic
9. AppBox Pro Alarm
10. Flight Control

Free iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

1. Facebook
2. Pandora
3. Google Mobile App
4. Shazam
5. Movies by Flixster
6. The Weather Channel
7. Google Earth
8. Bump
9. Skype
10. Paper Toss

Paid iPad Apps

1. SoundHound
2. StickWars
3. FlightTrack
4. Backbreaker Football
5. Calorie Tracker
6. BlocksClassic
7. iFart Mobile
8. GoodReader for iPad
9. Cro-Mag Rally
10. Ambiance

Free iPad Apps

1. Pandora
2. Google Mobile App
3. Movies by Flixster
4. Google Earth
5. Yelp
6. Fandango Movies
7. Remote
8. iBooks
9. Bible
10. Solitaire

What about iBooks? iBooks is actually a suggested download. Users are physically prompt by a notification with the option to download iBooks. Everyone is. So why is it only ranked 9th? It just seems odd.

Application developers will likely take two things away from these rankings: a sense of pride (or disappointment) and the urgency of competition. Sure, Apple likely used these lists as an opportunity to add another layer of exposure for their marketplace, but a potentially unintended side effect could actually be a spurred sense of competition amongst developers.

Angry Birds beaten by Doodle Jump, you say? I bet Rovio and Lima Sky are working hard because of this new spotlight.

[via TechCrunch]

If you happen to be curious which recently released iPhone apps and games earned top marks from critics then look no further than this month's breakdown of top rated games from Quality Index. Taking aggregate review scores from well-known outlets such as TiPb, Slide to Play and 148Apps (that's us, yo), QI has ranked the top ten apps and games in two handy-dandy charts. Here's the breakdown of the titles and their overall scores.

Top Ten Games

1. Sentinel 3: Homeworld -9.4
2. Stick Golf - 9.4
3. Galaxy on Fire 2 - 8.8
4. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 - 8.8
5. Wispin - 8.8
6. Stackster - 8.8
7. Bam Bam Dash - 8.8
8. Mushihimesama Bug Panic - 8.7
9. Monster Feed - 8.7
10. Infection Zone - 8.7

Top Ten Apps

1. MobileMonet - 9.7
2. Mario Batali Cooks! - 9.6
3. Disneyland Paris - 9.6
4. Tapatalk Forum App - 9.5
5. Calvetica Calendar - 9.5
6. Instagram - 9.4
7. ColorBlast! - 9.4
8. John Henry - 9.2
9. Stats for Halo Reach - 9.1
10. Audiogalaxy Mobile - 9.1

Given your own knowledge of the market and particular tastes how closely do your top ten lists from the past month match up with that of the professionals? Do we get to keep our jobs for another month or is it time to throw the bums out and let some folks who actually know what they're talking about?

Looking down the list I don't see any apps which I personally downloaded this past month, but looking at the scores now I'm definitely interested in Sentinel 3 and Stick Golf. I'm also not surprised to see LEGO Harry Potter did so well considering the fact that the LEGO game franchise is generally well-received by critics on top of being utterly adorable.

We'll be back with another batch of numbers when the December results go live, but in the meantime feel free to argue and debate these scores and generally carry on loud and angry conversations. This is the Internet after all; that's what it was made for. Well, one of the main things, anyway.