If you have been playing games on your Iphone, you may have been pleasantly surprised at all the new and interesting games that are available there, games that are not available elsewhere…or are they? Here is a list of the top paid game as of 1/2/2011.

You can see the circled numbers which indicate games who borrowed game mechanics from Flash games. These games not only borrowed mechanics, they are almost exactly like their web counterparts…albeit with different graphics and a few cursory changes here and there.

Angry Birds vs Crush the Castle

Trenches vs Warfare 1917

Doodle Jump vs Jumping Monkey

Stick Stunt Biker vs Line Rider

Of the top 10 best selling games on the Appstore, half have their lineage drawn directly from Flash games. Why?

The Appstore copying Flash game ideas is somewhat like the movie industry taking ideas from comics. It is the a symptom of an industry that is running out of new and fresh ideas and is desperately trying to find ways to get the next hit. It is the businessman that decides to take a well worn but still fun idea and refreshes it for the appstore, not the game designer. The games are still fun, they are very well produced and in most cases look much better than their flash ancestors. I am detracting nothing from them at all, and in fact they are doing very well… but I long to play the Requiem for a Dreams, Inceptions, Junos, and Little Miss Sunshines of the Appstore world.

p.s – But spare me the arthouse student film versions of games. Are games art? I don’t care, I just want them to be fun.