Top Grossing 'Smurfs Village' topples 'Angry Birds' on the iPhone
"Angry Birds" Dethroned: "Smurfs' Village" Now Top-Grossing Game on iPhone

                                
            Capcom's Smurfs' Village has officially topped Angry Birds as the iPhone's top-grossing game.  Its rise to the top hasn't been without some controversy, though.Smurfs' Village is a game where you control a group of smurfs (yes, those popular miniature blue creatures made popular by the comic and the 1980s cartoon) in order to build a functional village.  You can grow crops, build houses, play mini-games and visit your friends' villages, among other activities.  If we had to compare it to another popular game, it would be FarmVille.One thing that separates it from other top-grossing games though is its price: free.  The game costs nothing to download.  But the game is indeed the iPhone's top-grossing app, so where does it make its money?The answer: in-game purchases.  One of the game's main currencies is the "smurfberry," which helps speed up activities in the game.  Instead of waiting 12 hours to grow watermelons, you can grow them instantly by using one of these berries.  Of course, the best way to get your hands on one is to purchase them.They're not cheap, either; it costs $4.99 to buy 50 berries, $11.99 to buy 150 berries and a whopping $59.99 to buy a wheelbarrow of 1,000 smurfberries.While those are some eye-popping prices for an iPhone game, that's not exactly what's causing controversy.  As Pocket Gamer speculates, a likely reason that Smurfs' Village has risen to the top is because children are making unwanted smurfberry purchases through the app.  As long as someone has used his or her username and password on the iPhone, the user doesn't have to type it in again for the next 15 minutes to make purchases.  With many children impatiently playing this game, they're likely turning to easy-to-complete in-app purchases of Smurfberries to fuel their village-building obsession.
                    
                    