We’ve finally made it to that time of year again when we venture out to family gatherings and celebrate… whatever it is that you and yours celebrate. So, it’s perfect timing that a bunch of really quality games have been released this week. What better way to get your mind of the approach of cheek pinches from your grandmas/aunts and whoever feels the compunction than to imagine them as a T-Rex nibbling at your face?

Today Gameloft announced it has sold 330 million downloadable games to date. It is the company behind mobile games such as Oregon Trail, Hero of Sparta and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. Gameloft also led to the creation of WiiWare, DSiWare, XBLA and PSN games.

In lieu of digging through most of garbage apps that make up the App Store landfill (I kid, I kid) this week, I decided it would be better to spend my time offering suggestions of gaming apps you’d actually want to try.

Sure, some of these apps are the obvious mentions and there definitely are more than just these ten games that make up the rare good gaming app pile but I didn’t want you kiddies to overdose on too much of a good thing.

Staying true to the App Store Update, I have included iTunes links to each game, as well as big pretty pictures.

Enough ranting however, here’s what you should be downloading:

The last time I played Oregon Trail was in high school during a typing class I was forced to take for English. The bet was to see who could finish first and friends at the time all fell causality to the world’s diseases, the big killer being the Measles.

Now, here I am in 2009 playing the classic game on my iPhone in a newly visualized manner. The folks of Gameloft had the brilliant idea of resurrecting the nostalgic game only with the modern twist of eye popping visuals and the heavily debated plague of what is referred to as: mini-games…

Last week, Gameloft’s iPhone and iPod Touch revision of the classic game pretty much everyone who went to school in the ’90s played around with in the computer labs, The Oregon Trail, was released to the anticipating public (if you have been looking for it, its under Educational in the App Store).

I gave it a spin last night and after 32 days (in game) arrived at my family’s first major destination, Fort Kearny, 298 miles into our journey without a single soul perishing and in good health is quite the achievement in these times…

The Educational Games Research Blog recently took the time to compile a list of the ten most influential educational games of the 80′s,a wonderful list that honors a slew of games that many gamers likely grew up playing. I know for a fact that I’ve played and enjoyed at least half of the games on the list.

The list contains both popular and forgotten favorites. Some of the most notable of the ten cited are The Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, SimCity…

Gameloft is teaming up with The Learning Company to remake and release Oregon Trail on cell phones. The game has had some new mini-games added to it, the graphics have been updated, music has been remixed and new npcs have been added. The game starts at $4 for some phones, but can be more expensive for others, and availability can be determined by texting “WAGON” to “82174.”

It seems like it has all of the classic Oregon Trail touches. There’s hunting, fording rivers, naming party members, choosing a career. Now the river fording is a mini-game like hunting, along with fishing, rafting and wagon repair. Also the wagon troop will encounter unsavory characters and hitchhikers and side missions have been added to the main trail traveling.

Online publication SiliconUser has released an article on MECC, an old designer of Apple II Edutainment games. Many young adults who were children in the ’80s will remember some of the games they made: The Oregon Trail, Lemonade Stand, Number Munchers and Dinopark Tycoon, among many others. Oregon Trail is known by some to be one of the best edutainment games ever made.

MECC was formed by the state of Minnesota to create educational software. Its first version of The Oregon Trail, known simply as…