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.

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?

• Thumbnail images for save states
• Add roms to list on start screen instead of needing to go through the load menu every time
• Simple touch controls
• Screen for save and load states redesigned
• Non-fullscreen mode added back in
• Doesn’t crash anymore when you get a call/different apps window pops up
• Option to not display the frames per second

The new load screen for KIDD GBC

Our friend shinobiwan23 has uploaded another video which demonstrates how to load roms and configure control settings.  The touch controls need some improvement, but at least they are working.  It would be interesting to use motion controls for old school GameBoy games similar to the Wii.  Sound is still not available, but should come in a future release.  Help support the development of KIDD GBC by purchasing the application from the Android Market for only $2.00.

Speaking of updates, the developer of Doom for Android is also working on touch controls and now has sound working.  If you like Doom, help contribute to porting Quake by donating to our Bounty.

Download KIDD GBC.

[Image via deviantART]

Just a few days ago shinowan23 showed us Kidd GBC and now he is back with DroidGear.  This app is a Sega Game Gear emulator for Android.  Like the other released emulators, the performace is lacking and no sound is included.  Hopefully we will see improvements as the developers learn to take advantage of the hardware accelleration.  If you want to check out DroidGear, make sure you have OI File Manager installed to load the roms.

DroidGear is a port of JavaGear which is a java emulator for other cell phones.  Phones with half the speed of the G1 can run the emulator at playable speeds so keep an eye on DroidGear after it is optimized.  Now where is my Quake port?  We know this phone can do more.  Someone remind Google to flip the switch.

Shinobiwan23 brings us a look at the new version of Kidd GBC from TeraGadges.  There have been other Gameboy Color emulators on the Android Market, but the performance was so bad they were unplayable.  You can see from the video, that the framerates have been improved in this recent version.  Unfortunately, sound is not included.  Kidd GBC currently sells for $2.00 in the market.  Hopefully, we will continue to see new versions that improve performance.

Be sure to check out Shinobiwan23′s YouTube channel for other Android videos and leave him some feedback.