What are the best games for Android? With the current version of the Market, it can often be difficult to find them. The only option you have is to sort by popularity. This is a problem because the games are ranked by downloads and not active installs. The other issue with sorting by popularity is that the stats are compiled for all time. This prevents newer titles from receiving the attention they deserve.
In an effort to further the advancement of games on the Android platform, we will begin to publish weekly Top 10 lists. Instead of ranking games by number of downloads, we will list them in order of active installs. This should provide a better picture of what’s hot and highlight new games each week as they hit the Market.
Since this is the first week, the format is likely to change. Currently, we will be posting the title, ranking, price, previous ranking, developer, and reviews if we have one posted. If there is additional information(dev Twitter links?) you guys would like to see, let me know. Post any other suggestions or criticism in the comments below.
So without further delay, here is our first edition of the Top 10 Paid Android games for the week ending May 10, 2009.
| Rank | Previous | Game | Price | Developer | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (…) | Jewellust | $2.95 | Smartpix Games | Coming Soon |
| 2 | (…) | Abduction! World Attack | $2.00 | Phil Symonds | Coming Soon |
| 3 | (…) | Retro Defense | $4.99 | Larva Labs | Yes |
| 4 | (…) | Baseball Superstars 2009 | $5.95 | GAMEVIL Inc. | Coming Soon |
| 5 | (…) | Air Hockey | $1.00 | JJCgames | Coming Soon |
| 6 | (…) | Midnight Pool 2 | $1.99 | Gameloft | Coming Soon |
| 7 | (…) | Kidd GBC | $2.00 | TeraGadgets | Yes |
| 8 | (…) | Guitar Hero World Tour | $4.99 | Hands-On Mobile | Coming Soon |
| 9 | (…) | Battle For Mars | $4.99 | Larva Labs | Yes |
| 10 | (…) | Buka | $2.27 | Hexage | Coming Soon |
Summary
Looking at the list, you will find a mix of developers. Two games in the top five, Abduction and Air Hockey, were developed by a 1 man team. This demonstrates how a great idea with the right execution can pay off. It will be interesting as time goes on to see if the smaller devs can continue to break the Top 10.
It is also interesting to note the success of Air Hockey. This dev worked really hard to get the community to review his game and he was rewarded. Without all the reviews across the web and on YouTube, his game might have fallen to the bottom of the list and never got the attention it deserved.
In the coming weeks as we build a backlog of Top 10s, we will begin to see movement among the games. Will a new title like Buka move up the chart? How will Guitar Hero World Tour perform with the new lower $4.99 price? Can Jewellust hold its top position?
All Market data is taken from aTrackDog. Think of it as the Neilsen Ratings but for Android. For more information on how aTrackDog works, see our previous article. If you would like to participate, install aTrackDog and “vote” for your favorite game.
p.s. if you would like to contribute a review for any of the top 10 games, we would glady post it
Android games are starting to show progress. Which are the best?
