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PopCap Games announced the launch of Bejeweled Twist Mobile, a faithful adaptation of the highly acclaimed PC game — now the deepest, most attractive puzzle game to hit the wireless market. The game is available now on a wide array of handsets from major North American and European wireless carriers.

PopCap’s fourth in-house title for mobile, Bejeweled Twist puts a completely new spin on the top-selling puzzle franchise of the 21st century. Since its launch on the PC late last year, and over the past month as an exclusive release on Verizon Wireless phones, Bejeweled Twist has been a top-seller at retail and on wireless.

“We’re excited to launch what we believe will be the mobile game of 2009 – an amazingly accurate translation that offers truly deep and fun gameplay with tremendous visual appeal,” noted Andrew Stein, director of mobile business development at PopCap. “Bejeweled Twist is a milestone title in the mobile games category: novice players can pick it up and enjoy it immediately, while avid gamers will appreciate the depth of strategy, challenge and the overall flexibility in its gameplay.”

Bejeweled Twist features a revolutionary new style of play and the highest production values of any casual game ever created — removing the barriers of traditional match-3 games. Instead of swapping adjacent jewels to make a set, players rotate an entire 2×2 block of gems clockwise in an effort to create a line of three or more gems of the same type. Additionally, in Bejeweled Twist, players don’t have to make a match with every move – instead they can freely rotate gems anywhere on the board, allowing far greater liberty of movement and vastly increased strategic freedom to plan combinations, cascades and chains.

Beyond the completely different method of moving gems, Bejeweled Twist provides a wealth of new power-ups and obstacles. New gem types include Flame, Lightning and Fruit gems that produce fiery explosions and other powerful effects; and new obstacles such as Bomb and Locked gems as well as Coal will challenge players as never before. In addition, four game modes (Classic, Blitz, Challenge and Zen) offer vastly different ways to experience Bejeweled Twist. The game will also offer touch support on compatible phones.

Casual Games Leader’s Take on the “Zombie Survival” Genre Pits You and Your Front Yard Against Legions of Lovably Laughable Undead

PopCap Games today announced the immediate availability of Plants vs. Zombies^™, a humorous action-strategy game suitable for all ages. Conceived and designed by George Fan, senior game designer at PopCap’s San Francisco studio and the creator of Insaniquarium^™, Plants vs. Zombies pits you against legions of invading zombies bent on overwhelming your lawn and making their way to your front door. To defeat the hordes of living dead trespassing on your lawn, you must purchase and plant a wide range of lovable mutant flowers, vines, trees and other foliage that has zombie-combating powers and abilities. Plants vs. Zombies carries a retail price of US$19.95 and is available online for PC and Mac at www.popcap.com as well as other leading game portals including RealArcade, MSN Games, STEAM, Wild Games and Yahoo! Games.

“We love zombie games as much as everyone else, but unlike other undead offerings we wanted to create a zombie game that would appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers alike,” explained George Fan, senior game designer at PopCap. “It’s been great to see both casual and hardcore gamers in our beta test group get totally absorbed in the game, clicking intensely as the zombies chomp on their front yards.”

Featuring five different modes of play, Plants vs. Zombies presents you with a front lawn and encroaching zombies striving to reach your front door and defeat you. Choose from an ever-increasing assortment of specialized, zombie-battling plants to slow down, confuse, weaken and ultimately destroy the vegetation-munching undead before they can traverse your yard and reach your front door. Thoughtful selection of plants, judicious use of resources and clever planting/placement decisions are key to overcoming more than two dozen different kinds of zombies, each with its own combination of “skills” and behaviors. Additional obstacles and challenges in later levels include the setting of the sun, a creeping fog that obscures part of your view – even a swimming pool that takes up much of your lawn.

Features of Plants vs. Zombies include:

·         Five different modes of play: Adventure, Survival, Puzzle, Zen Garden and Mini-Game Challenges

·         50 levels in the main Adventure mode and more than 50 more in the other game modes, with limitless replayability

·         More than four dozen plants, from cherry bombs and peashooters to melon-pults, wall-nuts and sunflowers

·         Dozens of different zombie types, including back-from-the-dead miners, businessmen, football players, even a zombie bobsled team!

·         Suburban almanac tracks your progress and provides vital stats on plant and zombie types

·         Crazy Dave’s trunk-o’-the-car shop where you can purchase special “power plants” and other zombie-exterminating tools as well as potted versions for your Zen Garden

·         New fluid animation technology for prettier plants and zippier zombies

·         14 original musical pieces that dynamically adjust to the intensity of the game in real time

·         So frighteningly fun you’ll soil your plants!

PopCap Games has announced results of a new survey that shows 57 percent of AT&T wireless customers who were polled play mobile games on their wireless devices. The survey, conducted by Information Solutions Group among more than 1,100 AT&T wireless customers, underscores the growing popularity of mobile gaming.

Why are wireless consumers turning to mobile gaming? Mobile gaming serves as a distraction and a source of stress relief for on-the-go consumers.

· More than 50 percent of mobile gamers polled said they gamed as a distraction from daily life issues, while 40 percent said they gamed for relaxation and stress relief.

· Fifty percent of mobile gamers polled say they play mobile games during work hours, while one in seven mobile gamers say they most often play games on their phone during work when they need a short break.
Nearly 60 percent of mobile gamers in the survey indicated they play games on their wireless device at least once a month, and 40 percent said they played weekly or more often.

· 91 percent of mobile gaming sessions are 30 minutes or less; 62 percent are less than 15 minutes.

· Over three quarters (78 percent) of mobile gamers have been playing games on their phone for more than a year, and 55 percent of those say they’ve been playing for 3+ years.

· On average, nearly a quarter (22.2 percent) of mobile gamers’ total game playing time occurs on their mobile phones.

Mobile gaming is poised for growth in 2009. One-third of mobile gamers surveyed said they were “somewhat or very likely” to purchase a game for their cell phone in 2009.

· Just over a quarter (26 percent) said they’ve paid for a mobile game. (Across all mobile phone owners, including those who have never played a game on their phone, this equates to 15 percent having purchased a game.) More than three quarters (76 percent) of mobile gamers said they have played free games that came pre-installed on their phone, and a third (33 percent) indicated they have downloaded one or more free games to their phone.

· The top factors influencing participants’ decisions to buy a mobile game were “game is in a genre I like” (61 percent), “price of the game is reasonable” (52 percent) and “played demo version and liked it” (50 percent).

· Survey respondents who have purchased one or more mobile games have purchased an average of 7.2 mobile games; 26 percent said they’d purchased four or more games in the past year, with those newer to mobile gaming being more likely to purchase games for the phone.

· Among respondents who indicated they would not be buying a mobile game in 2009, the top three reasons for that decision were: “happy with free games” (24 percent), “none of the games interest me enough to buy” (15 percent), and “lack of time to play” (14 percent).

“Adoption of mobile games continues to grow, but conversion rate (free to paid players) remains low,” observed Michael Cai, vice president of video games research at Interpret LLC, a leading media research and analysis firm. “Business model diversification is one way to address this conundrum. In addition, more innovative games, like Peggle, and fewer clones and knock-offs, are among the keys to unlocking the potential of the mobile gaming market.”

What games are played most? According to the survey:
· Tetris® (20 percent) and Bejeweled® (18 percent) were most frequently named as “games you enjoy playing on your cell phone,” with Solitaire a close third (17 percent).

· The most popular genres of mobile games are Puzzle (66 percent) and Card/Casino (51 percent), with Board games (15 percent) and Action/Adventure (11 percent) a distant third and fourth.

· When asked to name the most compelling characteristics that “motivate mobile game players to play the same game numerous times on their cell phone,” respondents cited “relaxing game play” (62 percent) and “addictiveness” (30 percent) as the top two influencers.
Mobile gamers in the survey are fairly evenly split by gender, with 51 percent of males and 49 percent of females saying they game.

· Men tend to play mobile games somewhat more frequently than women; 44 percent of male respondents said they play once a week or more often, compared to 35 percent of female respondents.

· But women play for longer stretches of time. Forty-one percent of women surveyed say their average mobile gaming session was 15 minutes or more, compared to 35 percent of men.

Supplemental Survey Results
Additional data regarding how and why people play games on their mobile phones can be found at: www.infosolutionsgroup.com/popcapmobile09

Survey Methodology
This international research was conducted by Information Solutions Group (ISG; www.infosolutionsgroup.com) exclusively for PopCap Games. The results are based on online surveys completed by 1,163 respondents randomly selected between February 12 and March 6, 2009. The audience consisted of North American customers of AT&T’s mobile phone services; 337 were men and 322 were women. In theory, in 19 cases out of 20, the results will differ by no more than 3.8 percentage points from what would have been obtained by seeking out and polling all AT&T mobile phone customers age 18 and over. Smaller subgroups reflect larger margins of sampling error. Other sources of error, such as variations in the order of questions or the wording within the questionnaire, may also contribute to different results.

PopCap Games announced this week’s launch of its hugely popular game Peggle on the Xbox LIVE Arcade (XBLA) online service of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console. Featured as XBLA’s “Game of the Week,” Peggle will be available for download in all Xbox LIVE regions this Wednesday, March 11 for 800 Microsoft points. Peggle for Xbox LIVE Arcade delivers a number of new and exclusive features to the Xbox 360 gamer, including the first-ever online multiplayer Peggle experience with Peg Party mode, where up to four players can compete simultaneously over Xbox LIVE. The game also features local and Xbox LIVE 2-player Duel mode, downloadable content support, achievements, rich online leaderboards, HD graphics, and more.

“Peggle has become a cult gaming phenomenon, crossing over and becoming as big a hit with hard core gamers as it has with casual players. This makes XBLA the perfect platform for the game,” stated Greg Canessa, VP of video game platforms at PopCap. “With the XBLA version, we’re delivering even more features that appeal to the diehard enthusiast with an incredible multiplayer experience and community elements that take Peggle to new heights. When you combine the multiplayer experience we’ve created with some of the online features and downloadable content support, PopCap is providing an all-new way to play Peggle competitively with room for expansion and future growth. I know about 200 people at PopCap who can’t wait to see how they stack up against the rest of the Peggle universe!”

Peggle has been optimized for the XBLA platform, works flawlessly with the Xbox controllers, and looks dazzling in high definition. Among the game’s features are:

• A deep single-player experience, featuring 55 levels of ball-bouncing madness, 10 unlockable Peggle Masters, 75 Challenge mode levels, Quick Play Mode and more
• Two different multiplayer modes, letting the gamer experience Peggle competitively online for the first time ever (TrueSkill^TM ranked or player match)
o 2-player Duel Mode, playable locally or over Xbox LIVE
o 4-player Peg Party Mode, playable over Xbox LIVE
• Rich online leaderboards, spanning single player and multiplayer modes
• View instant replays of the highest scoring shots to learn a thing or two from true Peggle masters
• 12 Xbox LIVE Achievements
• Downloadable content support
• 720p HD graphics and surround sound
• Brand new animated backdrops set the mood for your favorite character
• Compelling trial experience featuring Adventure, Quick Play and Challenge Modes, allowing players to try out 3 of the 10 available Peggle Masters

Top Fan Submissions from U.S. and UK To Be Incorporated Into Future Peggle Installment; Prizes Include Trips to Seattle, Retail Spending Sprees, iPhones, Xbox 360s and More

PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced a first-of-its kind Peggle Art Contest, with the top submissions being immortalized in a future installment of the cult classic casual video game. The contest, which opens today and runs through June 3, 2009, is one element of Peggle Fever, a months-long celebration of all things Peggle. Peggle Fever will include other contests and sweepstakes while celebrating the arrival of new adaptations of Peggle for Nintendo DS (arriving today in the U.S.), Apple’s iPhone, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and XBLA service, and more.

Available to residents of the 50 United States (and District of Columbia) and the United Kingdom, the Peggle Art Contest will award more than $8,000 in prizes, including trips for the top submitters to visit PopCap’s Seattle headquarters, spending sprees at Best Buy, limited edition Peggle merchandise, and iPhones and Xbox 360s with Peggle pre-installed. Entries can involve any aspect of the game’s artistic elements, from background scenes to drawn or written descriptions of new Peggle Masters and power-ups, to level designs (peg layouts). Full details of the contest, including entry forms and rules, can be found at www.popcap.com/promos/peggleart. Entries can be submitted electronically or by mail.

“We get a lot of fan mail from Peggle devotees, including lots of suggestions for background art, new Peggle characters and power-ups, and level designs, and thought an art contest would be a fun way to foster and tap into that creativity and enthusiasm for the game,” said Sukhbir Sidhu, co-creator of Peggle and studio director at PopCap. “We’re excited to see what the rabid Peggle community comes up with in the way of ideas!”

Digital contest submissions must be no larger than 5 megabytes in size and analog submissions must arrive on a sheet of paper or other material no larger than 8.5 inches by 11 inches and be no thicker than 4 inches. Nearly any type of ink or paint can be used, from finger-paints or colored pencils to ballpoint pens and magic markers. Judging will be conducted by members of PopCap’s art department and development studio, who will weigh creativity and feasibility of submissions along with artistic talent. No copyrighted or trademarked imagery – other than visual elements found in the Peggle games themselves – will be accepted. A sampling of submissions from each week of the contest may be posted to the contest microsite and prizes will be awarded to the top two dozen entries (twelve per age group). Both “adult” (age 18 and over) and “youth” (13 to 17) categories are available, with twelve winners being named from each age group.

Leader in Casual Games Strengthens Internal Console Development Team with Makers of Top-Selling Video Games

PopCap Games, Inc., the leading developer and publisher of casual video games, today announced the acquisition of Gastronaut Studios, the premier independent game development studio known for its Xbox and Xbox 360 titles. Gastronaut is the maker of several titles for the Xbox LIVE Arcade service, best known for the award-winning smash hit title Small Arms, one of the top-selling titles on XBLA, and for their work as developers of PopCap’s Feeding Frenzy 2 for XBLA and the upcoming adaptation of Peggle for XBLA.

Under the terms of the deal, PopCap has acquired the company’s assets and employees, who will join PopCap’s internal development team to begin work on several undisclosed projects. PopCap will also retain exclusive license to Gastronaut’s tools and technologies. The Gastronaut founders will retain exclusive rights to their original properties, including Small Arms as well as their upcoming action puzzle title Gel.

“The Gastronaut Studios acquisition signals PopCap’s continued commitment to internal development of top quality games for a range of platforms,” noted David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. “Given the success of Gastronaut’s top-selling Small Arms franchise in particular, there’s little doubt that PopCap has significantly increased its development capabilities and creative firepower. The team at Gastronaut has been a great partner of ours, and we’re delighted to have them join us here at PopCap. ”

“This acquisition is the perfect union as Gastronaut, much like PopCap, is dedicated to making accessible and addictively fun games for a wide range of consumers,” stated Jacob Van Wingen, Gastronaut co-founder. “We’ve enjoyed a fantastic working relationship with PopCap on their XBLA titles and we’re thrilled to be joining their team to create exciting titles that players of all stripes will love.”

Bejeweled Twist (PC version)

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Minimum/Recommended Specs:
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Processor: 1.2GHz (minimum)
Memory (RAM): 256MB (minimum); 512+MB (recommended)
Free Hard Drive Space: 250MB
DirectX Version: 8 (minimum); 9.0c+ (recommended)
Sound: DirectX-compatible
Video: DirectX-compatible; 32MB (minimum), 64+MB (recommended)
Color Quality: 16-bit or 32-bit color mode (256 colors may not work)
Controls: Keyboard and mouse
Internet: Internet connection is required to register/unlock game trials – including those delivered via CD-ROM

I have to admit. I love Bejeweled Deluxe. I used to play it on my PC, now I play it on my phone. I love that I can play a game for hours or just a few min to pass the time. I got ahold of Bejeweled Twist, and once again I’m happy to be playing a Bejeweled game on my PC.

Bejeweled Twist is still a “match 3″ game, but it’s now much more interesting. You have a circular cursor, which you move around the board, rotating a block of 4 gems in a counter-clockwise motion. I had a bit of a tough time getting used to it, but after about 5 min of playing, it brought a lot more to the game.

You have to rotate and match 3 (or 4 or 5) gems to get them to disappear and drop some new ones on the board. It’s great when you can make a match of 3 gems, and subsequently make more matches when your original set disappears. You can get some great chains going; many are completely unexpected when they happen.

If you can manage to get 4 gems matched, you get left with a flame jewel that clears out more gems around it, and if you manage 5 matched, you get s spectacular blast that eliminates entire rows of gems in a “plus” pattern of horizontal and vertical rows.

Along with the special jewels, you can get bomb, locked, and coal gems. These can get tough, as a bomb counts down each rotation until it gets eliminated in a chain of 3, or counts to 0. If it hits 0 you get a “second chance” minigame, which you can only usually win once or twice before it lets the bomb end your game. The coal gems can only be destroyed by a blast, and the locked gems by a chain. Locked gems cannot be rotated, which makes them a pain…err challenge.

You start out the game with two modes open to you, classic and Zen. Classic is gameplay like you would expect with all the special gems and challenge. It starts you off easy, and adds the special gems with subsequent levels. After you complete a board, you get your ranking, and a pretty cool little space flight to the next board. It gets challenging as you complete the boards.

Zen mode is just the straightforward gameplay, without all the bombs and locked gems. It also changes the transitions between boards. This mode makes it easier to practice on, honestly, and you can finally make use of the multiplier that builds up, but decreases if you have to make more than one rotation. The music changes to a more low-key tempo, which makes it seem less frantic.

Challenge Mode gives you some insane challenges to beat. I only unlocked the first 4 of the 13 7-part challenges. None of them were easy, though the first one, Detonator wasn’t too hard to learn. Yes, I finished at least level 1 of each of these to unlock the next one for this review (whew!)
Detonator: You have to destroy a set amount of gems with 1 move.
Spectrum: You have to make a set number of matches in a row, which is tougher than it sounds, as they have to be one after another with no moves in-between.
Coal Mine: Makes you destroy a set number of coal blocks with one move. This one takes planning, or a good lightning blast when you get higher up.
Chain Reaction: You have a set number of matches in a row.
Gem Fall: You have to do a set number of cascades with one move.
Preserver: Has you keep a certain amount of colored gems on the board at one time…this is much harder than it sounds.
Firestorm: Has you detonating a certain amount of flame gems within a timeframe.
Stratamax: Has you clearing a set of gems in a certain amount of moves.
Arsenal: Detonate a set number of Flame Gems in one move. This was tough, as you wind up detonating those saved gems on accident.
Bonanza: Clear a set amount of gems within a timeframe.
Survivor: Have to just make it through a certain amount of turns. Bomb and Doom gems make it tough going.
Voltage: Detonate a set amount of lighting gems in a set timeframe. This is tough, as you have to create the lightning gems first! It took me 6 games to get past the first level of this challenge.
Enigma: Has you creating Flame or Lightning Gems with 1 move. I couldn’t do this one after 10 tries.

Blitz Mode is just a 5-min point-fest. Try to get the highest score in 5 minutes.

The graphics, as stated before are excellent for a puzzle game. The casual game market itself doesn’t usually see this level of polish for a puzzle game, and the explosion effects are just great eye-candy.

The sound in this is also a step above for your typical puzzle game, with up-tempo, engaging music in the classic, challenge, and blitz modes, and low-key and soothing in Zen mode. Also worth noting: Did they get the Mortal Kombat guy to do the voice for this one? I mean, I kept waiting for him to say FATALITY! when I made a cool move.

This one doesn’t take up massive amounts of hard disk space, or have major hardware requirements, but it will take up a lot of you free time, and if you’re a puzzle game fan, this doesn’t disappoint.

Rating: 4.75 of 5
Pros: New take on Bejeweled concept. A lot of variety in Challenge mode.
Cons: Challenges may be just too tough for the casual gamer.

Five New Themed Levels and Ten New Challenges – PopCap and Holiday Themed – Now Available for Download

SEATTLE, Washington – December 17, 2008 — PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced the immediate availability of the first FREE “level pack” for Peggle^™ Nights. Available exclusively at Popcap.com, the Peggle Nights “Holiday 2008” level pack features five all-new levels, with holiday themes or themes related to other PopCap^® titles – or in some cases, both. The new levels can be played in the Quick Play or Duel modes of Peggle Nights, and there are also ten new challenges in Challenge Mode based on the new levels. Additional level packs will be forthcoming in 2009 and beyond.

“We can’t get enough of Peggle ourselves, so there’s a selfish motive behind introducing additional levels for Peggle Nights on a frequent basis,” explained Sukhbir Sidhu, Studio Director at PopCap and co-creator of Peggle and Peggle Nights. “For the legions of Peggle Nights fans, this is a small, early holiday gift from us, in thanks for that support.

The new levels in the Holiday 2008 level pack all have winter and/or holiday themes, and several also feature imagery and characters from other PopCap games, including obscure titles such as Iggle Pop^™, Dynomite^™, and Pixelus^™. Peggle Nights owners simply download and install the Holiday 2008 bonus level pack file from Popcap.com and launch Peggle Nights to start playing the all-new levels and challenges. Even players who have the free trial version of Peggle Nights can play a couple of the new bonus levels. (As is the case with regular Peggle Nights, the new Challenge Mode challenges in the level pack can only be accessed once Adventure Mode has been completed.)