Top Emerging Android Apps: Baseball, Football, & Free-to-Play Games Rise Throughout the Android Top Charts

The top Android lists are filled with several older apps today as we've highlighted not only the new (or newly updated) but older, more interesting apps that have found themselves with recent growth. Of the day's games, many are those that have been successful on iOS platforms, be they iPhone or iPad. Primarily, the three top charts consist of games, with most of them being free-to-play. Following games were sports, then utility applications. New Titles Within Top Paid Android Apps List MLB.com At Bat 11 -- The top paid Android apps list starts out today at #6 with the September 2nd-updated app, MLB.com At Bat 11. Updated to allow for ballpark check-ins, through Foursquare, for live games, the application is an official Major League Baseball app that allows users to follow their favorite teams during the regular season. The app, at $6.99, also grants users access to their MLB.TV subscriptions for out-of-market games, highlights, scoreboards, and radio broadcasts. At Bat 11 is credited to MLB Advanced Media, a digital arm of Major League Baseball itself. Reckless Getaway -- The #20 paid app today for Android is one that was also a top paid iOS app in the past. Reckless Getaway is a driving game in which players have just robbed a bank and must now out run the police. Driving down a multi-lane highway, users must weave in and out of traffic to make their escape through 16 different levels. Last updated September 1st, the number of installs for the $2.99 game have begun to see decline in the past few days. Its developer is noted as Polarbit, a small, six-year-old company out of Sweden whose focus is primarily on 3D mobile games. Need for Speed Shift -- Moving into a realm of more familiar developers comes international core games developer and publisher Electronic Arts. EA hosts the #24 app, Need for Speed Shift. An older game (last updated August 19th), the racing title, that lets users race 20 high performance cars around the world, is one that has also been featured as a top iOS title. Costing $2.99, downloads for the game have spiked recently. More likely than not, the sudden growth may be due to Labor Day sales that the larger game companies hosted (at least on iOS) for most of their mobile games. Such is likely, as the number of downloads have begun dropping since Monday. WidgetLocker Lockscreen -- Moving away from games, an older application of the utility variety meanders its way onto the top charts at #26. WidgetLocker Lockscreen is a $1.99 customization app, that has grown in the past few days, and allows its users to customize their Android lock screen. Among the possible customization options includes slider styles, slider actions, and adjusting what widgets and/or buttons are shown on the lock screen. Last updated May 24th, WidgetLocker is created by TeslaCoil Software, a relatively enigmatic Android developer whose other utility apps include TeslaLED Flashlight, QuickS SHd, and HomeSmack. X Construction -- The final top paid app highlight of the day comes in at #34. X Construction is another older title that has found its way up the top charts. Costing $1.41, the app is a physics-style puzzle game in which players must construct a bridge using given materials (e.g. steal beams, ropes, etc.) that can support the weight of a train passing over it. X Construction is an older game, having only been last updated June 8th. That said, the update did add three new levels, and since then the download traffic has been relatively steady. The developer of the game is noted as "CrossConstruct," whose only noted Android title is X Construction. New Titles Within Top Free Android Apps List Bunny Shooter -- Bunny Shooter is a new Android app, with its last update noted to be August 26th. Having grown rapidly, in terms of installations, in recent days, the #18 title is a simple physics game in which players fire a bow and arrow, and attempt to kill all bunnies on the level; be they by collapsing objects, hanging anvils, rolling balls, or just hitting them directly. Once again, this game's rise mirrors that of its iOS counterpart. Bunny Shooter is developed by a Latin American mobile games company by the name of Best, Cool & Fun Games. Founded in 2009, the company boasts 27 million users across its games, worldwide. Tango Voice & Video Calls -- In at #29 is the application Tango Voice & Video Calls from mobile video communications company Tango. Another older app (last updated July 8th), Tango finds its way in into the top free apps list by providing users a means to make free video calls over 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi. The app can make free calls between both Android and iOS devices; even internationally, should the recipient be a Tango member. Currently, Tango states that it has tens of millions of members across 190 countries and states to have raised $47 million in venture capital. Pimple Popper -- Moving back into games, the top free Android charts get a little bit gross with the app, Pimple Popper. Ranked at #30, the game is a bizarre title in which players must locate pimples on a virtual face and carefully pop them without making a complete mess. Despite the premise of the game, it has been growing well in the past few weeks, and was last updated September 8th with several bug and crash fixes. Its development is credited to a company called Room Candy Games, a casual games developer for Android, iOS, and web browsers. Thus far, Pimple Popper is the only app on Android for Room Candy Games. ESPN Fantasy Football 2011 -- As with many of this week's top iOS charts, football appears on Android as well as the new NFL season kicks off. In at #37 is ESPN Fantasy Football 2011. The game, from the ESPN sports network itself, is a mobile version of the popular online fantasy sports game. With it, players can manage their teams on the fly, add and drop players, make trades, view live scoring and stats, and even receive push notifications for things such as injuries. With the coming of football season, the number of installs have increased dramatically over the past week or so. The last update for ESPN Fantasy Football 2011 was September 2, though only bug fixes are noted. Talking Tom Cat Free -- Outfit7 is a well known name in the mobile space. A maker of several popular talking animal apps (with millions of downloads), the company recently suffered the loss of its CEO Andrej Nabergoj. Nevertheless, the company is still going strong with the new free version of Talking Tom Cat 2 Free. With its last update September 3rd, this free title features the character of Tom who players can interact with in humorous ways, be they talking to Tom, poking him, petting him, or torturing him with his unruly neighbor, Ben the dog. Additionally, interactions can be recorded and shared via social feeds. Having seen significant download growth lately, the number of installs does appear to be tapering off. New Titles Within Top Grossing Android Apps List Contract Killer -- The top grossing Android list starts off with another familiar app and company. Sitting at #22 is the game of Contract Killer from publicly traded studio, Glu Mobile. The game is a free-to-play app (monetizing through in-app purchases) in which players take on the role of a sniper and attempt to assassinate key targets. The game has always been popular on Android and iOS, but is once again seeing new growth. Part of that growth is derived from an August 24th update which optimized the game for Xperia Play users. Additionally, it is worth noting that while Glu predicted some slower revenue growth for iOS back in May, many of its titles are still remaining strong in the top grossing Android charts. Coin Dozer -- We visit another older title this week with Coin Dozer. Ranked at #26 this simple title is a mobile version of old analog arcade games in which players would drop coins into a machine and hope that the moving wall would catch it and push the rest of the coins and/or prizes over a lip where players could claim them. Simple though the game may be, it has seen nothing but install growth in the past month despite the fact that its last update was July 26th. Once again, this is a free-to-play application. It is developed by Game Circus who is a Dallas, Texas based freemium game maker whose designs are all about accessibility to all potential audiences. Nightclub Story -- When it comes to social-mobile games, the one of the first companies to come to mind is California-based TeamLava, the social games arm of Storm8. While several of TeamLava's "Story" games have been featured in top grossing charts (for both iOS and Android) before, this is time it is Nightclub Story's turn. Having been out on iOS for some time, the app is new to Android, with its last noted update having been August 27th. Monetizing through in-app purchases, the social game allows players to build and manage their own personalized nightclub, working with friends along the way. Moreover, like other Story games, the app is noted to be updated weekly with new items for players to decorate with. Currently, the game is ranked at #31. Bug Village -- Glu Mobile makes a second appearance within the top grossing list with Bug Village at #33. A freemium game monetizing through in-app purchases, players build and manage a village suitable for ants and bees. For most of the past month, the games installation numbers have been at a plateau, but since an August 26th update, have spiked drastically. In the update, Glu added in several new expansions for village space, a new type of village bug (the beetle), the ability to add Facebook friends, better daily rewards, and a new set of missions unlocking Japanese decor. Bug Village is also a past top free iOS title. Vampires Live -- The last highlight for the top grossing Android apps list is yet another social game. Vampires Live is a social role-playing game that has steadily worked its way into the top 50 over the past month. Players start off as a lowly vampire and, working with friends and allies, complete quests and battle opponents in order to reach the top echelons of the vampire underworld. As an added bonus, players can battle against zombie players from a sister title, Zombies Live. Developed by Storm8 (who could be seeking to raise another $300 million in funding -- which would give it a $1 billion valuation), Vampires Live also recently found itself within the top grossing iOS charts as well. Like most of the highlighted games today, Vampires Live is a free-to-play title that monetizes through in-app purchases. It is ranked at #35 and was last updated April 22nd.

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Top Emerging Android Apps: Baseball, Football, & Free-to-Play Games Rise Throughout the Android Top Charts

New Titles Within Top Paid Android Apps List

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack