Every week, the iTunes staff keeps a running log of the top of the charts for iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad both in free and paid categories. Find out what's sitting on top!

Top Paid Apps:

• Angry Birds
• Fruit Ninja HD
• Cut the Rope
• Osmos
• Zombie Smash

• Simply Solitaire
• Fruit Ninja HD Lite
• Can Knockdown
• Hungry Shark Part 1
• Uno HD Free

In case you haven't logged into iTunes lately, you may want to as Apple editors have begun the annual 'iTunes Rewind' series. The series features a look back at the apps that scored big during the past year. Included in this year's offerings are categories including "Quick Fix Games", "Hardcore Games", "Retro Revival Games", "Zombies" and "Multiplayer Games".

Here are a few of the notable entries:

• Quick Fix Games: Cut The Rope, Fruit Ninja, Robot Unicorn Attack
• Hardcore Games: Plants vs Zombies, Dark Nebula Episode 1, Archetype
• Retro Revival Games: Monkey Island 2 Special Edition, Super Mega Worm, Pix'n Love Rush
• Zombies: Zombie Escape, Pro Zombie Soccer, Zombie Shock
• Multiplayer Games: Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus, Guitar Hero, We Farm

As of Tuesday, RAGE is sitting at the top of the iTunes paid apps heap with Angry Birds tumbling to fourth place behind Scrabble and Trucks & Skulls. The top five free apps list is topped by Paper Toss HD. Check out these two lists!

Top 5 Paid Game Apps:

• RAGE
• Scrabble HD
• Trucks & Skulls
• Angry Birds
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Top 5 Free Apps

• Paper Toss HD
• Smurf's Village
• Tap Reef HD
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown

Be sure to head to iTunes to check out some of these games! You won't be sorry.

Padworx has announced that a new interactive version of A Christmas Carol will be headed to iTunes soon. The new iteration comes with the full approval of the Dickens estate. To celebrate the announcement of the upcoming release, devs have produced a terrific trailer showing off the artwork and innovative nature of the app. You will definitely want to score this one for the holiday season!

Readers will not only witness Ebenezer Scrooge’s heart-warming transformation through 130 pages of lovingly abridged text, but for the first time they will become part of the story through revolutionary interaction. Turn the key in Scrooge’s door and watch as the door knocker changes into the deceased Jacob Marley, or try your hand at cleaning pages of the grime of industrial-era London. Whether you’re traveling through time and space with Scrooge and the spirits of Christmases Past, Present, and Future, or powering up and manipulating an assortment of wonderful steam and gas-powered inventions, PadWorx A Christmas Carol’s steampunk-style animation, illustrations, original score and sound effects will captivate readers through the story’s unforgettable images and lessons of darkness, despair, joy and life.

The design and execution of PadWorx’s A Christmas Carol is so innovative that it has been endorsed by the Dickens family. “Reading A Christmas Carol has become a holiday tradition for many and we’re delighted to see PadWorx’s interactive version give families an entirely new way to experience the cherished story and perhaps even introduce the well-known classic to a younger generation,” said Mark Charles Dickens on behalf of the Dickens family.

Check out the official site for Padworx version of A Christmas Carol.

Gameloft announced last week that its catalog of games was on sale including blockbuster titles like N.O.V.A, Brothers In Arms 2 and Assassin's Creed. Not content to rest on its laurels, Gameloft has added even more 99¢ titles to an already impressive list.

• The Oregon Trail
  
• Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
  
• Rayman 2: The Great Escape
  
• The Settlers
  
• Driver
  

Apple has introduced a new page entitled "The Best Games You've Never Played". The list features some of the finest games that have gotten buried in the avalanche of apps that arrive on iTunes on a daily basis.

Check out a few of the titles:

• Squareball
• iBlast Moki
• Pix'n'Love Rush
• Orbital
• Robot Unicorn Attack
• Sword and Poker

One of the terrific things about iTunes and about those who make games for our entertainment, is the wide, no gigantic, number of new games available on a weekly basis. How spoiled we've become by the sheer number of nifty ways to waste time and escape.

With that in mind, here are this week's Top 5 gaming iPhone/iPod Touch apps in a variety of categories:

Top 5 Paid Gaming Apps:

1. Words With Friends
   
2. Angry Birds
   
3. Need for Speed Shift
   
4. Sim City
   
5. DoodleJump
   

1. Rollercoaster Extreme
   
2. Farmville
   
3. Chop Chop Tennis
   
4. Godfinger
   
5. Racing Live
   

1. XL Trophy Lite
   
2. Glow Hockey 2 HD
   
3. Warlords HD
   
4. Blood & Honor
   
5. Castlecraft
   

Today Paul Isenor  looks at Firemint's VW branded version of the super cool Real Racing iPod touch game, Real Racing GTI. This game was released in the Fall of 2009, so it's not the newest hot hatch game around, but it is still one of the best racers available for iPhone and iPod touch.

Read on...