This week’s fastest gaining iPhone app was Machine Zone’s Race Or Die 2. Despite being a fairly standard mid-core, text-based RPG, the game has proven to be a big hit with players, shooting to the top of both the free and top grossing charts since its debut in early May. Our full review of the game can be found here.

On the iPad charts utility Quickoffice Pro HD breaks the iron grip of the popular games genre on the No. 1 position, landing developer Quickoffice at the top of the charts. Like Kabam’s Kingdoms of Camelot, Quickoffice Pro HD has been maintaining a top 10 position on the top grossing charts for the better part of a month. Unlike many of the top grossing iOS apps, Quickoffice Pro HD is a premium-priced paid app, costing $19.99.

This week’s top grossing iPhone apps

This week’s top grossing iPad apps

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service AppData.

The arrivial of the Japanese-developed game, which has so far been DeNA’s biggest hit in North America, sets the company up to compete on an equal footing with arch-rival GREE on iOS. In its most recent earnings call, GREE revealed its long-anticipated global mobile-social gaming platform will go live in 153 countries at the end of May.

Even without its network ready, GREE has seen some early success on iOS with its first North American-developed game Zombie Jombie. The title has been downloaded more than 1 million times and has recently surged up to the No. 17 spot on the top grossing iOS apps chart.

Both Zombie Jombie and Rage of Bahamut are card-battle games, a genre that has proven to be extremely popular and lucrative in Japan. According to industry watcher Dr. Serkan Toto, during the past year at least 50 percent of the top grossing games on both the GREE and Mobage networks have been card-battle games. While it remains to be seen if the genre will see the same success in North America, so far both games are off to solid starts.

There are now six Mobage games on iOS, four of which — Ninja Royale, Dreamtopia, Magical world of Decotower and Rage of Bahamut — are less than a month old.

The 38,400 figure is down significantly from from what Distimo reported in December, where it took an average of 45,000 downloads a day to to reach the top 25 on the free apps chart in the U.S. It’s likely the number has declined because of Apple’s crackdown on download bots, a tactic some developers used to artificially inflate their app’s position on the free app charts. The effects of Apple’s new policy have been noticeable. In March, for example, Fiksu found that download volume for the top 200 free iPhone apps in the U.S. had dropped by 30 percent, down to the lowest levels the App Store had seen since September 2011.

To get its latest numbers, Distimo monitored the U.S. App Store for the month of April. The report qualifies that the number of downloads needed can vary wildly depending on what category an app falls into. Getting an app into the top 25 of the games category will take at least 75 times the number of downloads it does to get an app into a niche category like medical or weather — a rule that applies to both the free and the paid charts. A game app required around 25,300 downloads, but niche applications like news, finance and sports apps only need to see about 1,000 downloads a day to become chart toppers.

Over the past year, we’ve heard from several developers that the paid version of an app will only see about one tenth of the downloads a free version will, an assertion that seems consistent with what we see on the paid app charts. Distimo found that overall the volume needed to hit the top 25 on the free app charts was 13 times higher than the volume needed to hit the top 25 on the paid app charts. The analytics company also reports that in April a top 25 ranked paid app would need to downloaded 3,530 times in a single day. Games were once again the most competitive category, with an app needing 2,280 paid downloads to reach the top 25.

For both free and paid games, the most competitive categories were arcade, action and puzzle, with educational, trivia and music games being the least popular overall.

The developer’s most recent round of funding was a $16 million venture round that closed on Feb. 24. In total, the company has now raised more than $51.5 million in venture capital from the likes of Storm Ventures, Translink Capital and Relay Ventures.

According to a statement provided to The Next Web by Appcelerator co-founder and CEO Jeff Haynie, the company will use the funding and its new connection to Presidio Ventures — the venture capital arm of Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation — to expand its business in Japan and the Asia Pacific region.

Last month, Appcelerator launched the latest version of its mobile app development platform, Titanium 2.0 and unveiled its new cloud service offerings. Developers who work with Appcelerator can now create native iOS, Android and web apps, while using the company’s cloud services to incorporate pre-built APIs for common cloud features like photo storage and sharing, push notifications and chat.

So far, more than 300,000 mobile developers have registered with Appcelerator and have used the company’s platform to build over 40,000 apps.

Snabbit’s gameplay is very simple. The titular snake-like creature flies through space automatically, either diagonally up and right or up and left. Tapping either side of the screen (or simply clicking the mouse button on Mac) causes Snabbit to change direction. The basic goal of each level is to reach the finish line, but unlocking later levels is dependent on collecting stars scattered through the maze-like scenery. Up to three stars may be collected on each level, and they are often hidden in awkward to reach places. Unlike its inspiration Snake, Snabbit does not immediately die upon crashing into a wall — he simply loses a chunk of his body, with the player only failing the level if they lose all of Snabbit’s segments.

Snabbit features social play through both Game Center and Facebook. Players may compete against friends in a special competitive “Survival With Friends” mode in which they are challenged to simply last as long as possible in an endless, randomly-generated level that gradually increases in speed. They may also brag about their scores on individual levels via Facebook.

Perhaps the most interesting use of Facebook connectivity, however, is the developers “The One Percent” competition. By logging in to Facebook, players gain the ability to access a level editor with which they can construct and publish their own challenges. These may then be downloaded by other players who own the game, and on August 4, 2012, TapCat will enter into an agreement to permanently share 1% of the game’s revenue with the player who created the level with the most unique device hits. Levels may be shared between the iOS and Mac versions of the game as they are attached to a player’s Facebook account. This means that someone who owns both the iOS and Mac versions can begin designing a level on their computer and later finish it off using the touchscreen of their iOS device, or vice-versa. Players may also easily access levels created by their friends.

The iOS version of Snabbit is available in both free and paid versions. The free version gives access to two of the game’s “worlds” and the level editor. Purchasing the paid version — which is sold separately rather than as an in-app purchase — unlocks the third world, the ability to play levels created by friends and the competitive Survival With Friends mode.

Snabbit is a good mobile game. It’s simple and quick to play, addictive and competitive. The addition of the revenue-sharing competition to the mix may encourage more players to try the game, though it remains to be seen whether or not the game will enjoy the level of success its developers are hoping for. With a low price for the paid version and no in-app purchases in either edition at this time, the game may struggle to monetize in the long term if it is unable to build a substantial audience.

Snabbit’s free iOS version is currently not listed in any App Store leaderboards, but you will be able to check its AppData page shortly to see a detailed breakdown of its performance. The paid version is currently ranked at No. 372 in Top Paid Apps, No. 178 in Top Paid iPad Apps, No. 165 in Top Paid Games and No. 94 in Top Paid iPad Games. Follow the game’s progress with AppData, our tracking service for iOS and social games and developers.

The iPad charts saw no change at the top this week as Rovio’s Angry Birds Space continued to hold the No. 1 spot, but Gameloft’s brand new, No. 10-ranked N.O.V.A. 3 – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance had a very strong debut. Upon its release on May 10 the title was able to reach the top 10 of the paid app charts in 69 countries. The $6.99 game includes both a single-player storyline mode and six different 12-player multiplayer modes.

This week’s top paid iPhone apps

This week’s top paid iPad apps

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service AppData.

AppStori is very similar to Kickstarter in the financial sense — developers set a funding goal and a deadline for their campaigns, and potential donors are only charged if the campaign is successful. Developers can also entice potential donors by offering a tiered rewards system, another feature borrowed from Kickstarter’s model.

Where the platform looks to set itself apart is collaboration. According to AppStori co-founder Arie Abecassis, this is what makes the service a better choice for mobile developers than “all-purpose” funding platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

“We started AppStori to address a need in the market that we felt was being underserved, namely to bring app developers and consumers together much earlier in the creation process,” he explains. Developers who list their apps with AppStori can post “Want Ads” with their campaigns, giving them an outlet to hire help, draft volunteer beta testers and gather feedback from a community that will have both a personal and a financial interest in their app.

“The relationships that app developers and entrepreneurs build during the creation process don’t disappear at the end of the funding cycle, or when the app hits the market,” says Abecassis. “The AppStori platform is designed from the ground up for mobile app enablement and discovery.”

Developers wishing to use AppStori’s service are prohibited from listing projects with references to pornography, gambling, firearms or what the company calls “other generally accepted sin stocks.” The company also pre-screens all projects before they’re approved to ensure only legitimate campaigns make it onto the AppStori site. At the end of April the Kickstarter campaign for the PC game Mythic was cancelled after it was discovered the project was a scam.

If a campaign is successful, the AppStori keeps seven percent of the money raised. This sum does not include the additional 2 to 3 percent cut Amazon Payments collects for its part of the service, meaning overall the service is slightly more expensive that its competitors.

Fees aside, crowd-sourced funding platforms have become immensely profitable and lucrative over the past few months, but so far iOS devs have had mixed results on the platform. Last week developers Camouflaj and Logan saw a successful conclusion for the campaign for their “AAA iOS” game République, raising over $555,000. Conversely, independent studio SiXiTS wasn’t able to meet the goal for its mobile game Robota: Vengeance. Despite a strong start the campaign maxed out at just over $25,000, well short of the developer’s $100,000 goal.

Earlier today Nimblebit co-founder Ian Marsh tweeted two in-progress pictures of the game’s menu, asking users if they found smaller buttons easier on the eyes.

It’s not the first time Nimblebit has solicited player feedback for the game. Earlier in the month Marsh asked his Twitter followers to submit their ideas for Pocket Planes BitBook posts — the private and often silly thoughts the game’s characters “post” to a fictional social network.  According to Nimblebit’s other co-founder David Marsh, the tweet resulted in a flood of suggestions, approximately 20 or 30 of which have been added to Pocket Planes so far.

“It’s important for us to share things from the development process because the feedback we get is constructive, and getting good reactions from people helps motivate us to push towards the finish line,” Marsh tells us.

While having users weigh in and contribute to a game as its in-progress isn’t common, it appears to be paying off for Nimblebit. So far the company’s free-to-play hits Pocket Frogs and Tiny Tower have earned enough to recoup their development costs more than 100 times over. Tiny Tower also boasts an impressive conversion rate — in a previous interview the company revealed about five percent of Tiny Tower users pay, and the game sees an average revenue per paying user of $10.

According to Marsh, Pocket Planes has been in beta testing for just over a month and the game is tentatively scheduled for a June release.

The app has already been removed from the Google Play store. It is likely Facebook did not acquire the company or its technology because of its recent acquisition of Instagram. As the social network plans to keep Instagram as a standalone app, the opportunity for Lightbox was diminishing. According to the Google Play store, Lightbox had between 1 million and 5 million installs. Instagram has between 10 million and 50 million.

What Facebook gains is a team that’s focused on mobile and Android specifically. Facebook is seeking to building out its mobile offerings and determine the best way to monetize the rapidly growing user base that accesses the social network from mobile devices. In addition to its $1-billion Instagram purchase, the company also picked up ambient mobile location app Glancee and mobile loyalty startup Tagtile this year.

Continue reading on Inside Facebook.

In each of the game’s levels, the objective is the same: prevent the zombies from reaching the “safe house” location. Zombies generally approach from several routes at once, forcing the player to survey their surroundings carefully in order to prioritize their targets. A “perimeter alarm” sounds if zombies get too close to the safe house, allowing the player to quickly respond to threats.

Controls are kept very simple. Tapping on the screen zooms in on that location, regardless of whether the player is using a sniper rifle or a more short-range weapon. Sliding a finger across the screen allows the view to be panned around for precise aiming, and a fire button in the corner of the screen attacks. Up to three weapons may be taken into battle at once and switched between by tapping in the corner of the screen. Sniper rifles have a long range and high power, but fire slowly. Rifles fire rapidly but only have a limited range.

The game monetizes through its in-game shop, where various weapons and “buff” items may be purchased for either soft or hard currency. There do not appear to be any weapons that are “premium only” — purchasing with hard currency simply allows players to acquire them more quickly if they are willing to pay the money to use them.

Call of Mini: Sniper features simple but effective social features via Game Center. A selection of Achievements provide players with challenges to complete, while leaderboard support encourages friendly competition among friends. Players are ranked according to their best scores on the stage — though given at the time of writing the top score is apparently 100,000,039 kills on a single level it’s rather likely some less scrupulous players have been cheating.

Call of Mini: Sniper is a straightforward game that doesn’t try to pretend it’s more than it is. It’s quite simply a good quality zombie survival game with simple controls, attractive stylized visuals and an addictive quality to its gameplay. All this — and the fact that the game is free-to-play — have contributed to it enjoying a healthy degree of success in the App Store charts recently, with the game rising as high as No. 29 in Top Free Apps and No. 16 in Top Free Games in mid-April. Following a decline in popularity in early May, the game is enjoying a resurgence of popularity thanks to a recent update which added a new level and a selection of new rocket launcher weapons for players to use.

Call of Mini: Sniper is currently No. 165 in Top Free Apps and No. 34 in Top Free iPad Apps. In the Games genre, the title is ranked at No. 62 in the top iPhone games chart and No. 16 in the top iPad games chart.

Follow Call of Mini: Sniper’s progress with AppData, our tracking service for social games and developers.