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Even the Candy Crush developers are worried that they're a one-hit wonder
Candy Crush Saga (you know, that über-successful puzzle game that's almost exactly like Bejeweled, which, by the way, is superior in every way... but I digress) is successful on a level that most developers never even dream of. To date, the game has been downloaded more than half a billion times. That's fantastic for its creator, a London-based mobile game company named King, but it also poses a bit of a problem for its potential IPO, Telegraph reports. The game's runaway success is a concern for potential investors because King hasn't proven its ability to duplicate the winning formula. The epic debut, spike and subsequent decline of Zynga's stock price is still fresh in everyone's mind, so to help assuage Wall Street's worries, King is putting a hold on its bid for a Nasdaq listing until it can prove it won't pull a Vanilla Ice. So if you were hoping to cash in on the Candy Crush hype, you'll have to wait until an unspecified 2014 window to do so.
Candy Crush Saga passes 500m downloads, Bejeweled fans shake their heads
I won't play Candy Crush Saga -- mainly because it bothers me that Bejeweled never reached the same level of mainstream popularity -- but a lot of people do play it. Developer King revealed to The Telegraph that a whopping 500,000,000 have played the game across web and mobile platforms. The color-matching puzzler debuted on Facebook in April of 2012, followed by an iOS version in November and finally an Android release in December. According to King, a staggering 78% of US fans play the game while watching TV, and Level 65 is the one that is most likely to trip players up. When players do hit a brick wall they always have the option of resorting to the game's in-app market for a help in exchange for cash, but the company claims 60% of players don't pay a dime. Of course, that still means that the other 40% are shelling out an unspecified amount of cash to get passed the more difficult levels.
The Game Archaeologist interviews Puzzle Pirates' Matt Jensen
Two weeks ago, we opened the book to a strange game indeed. The odd combination of swashbucklers and minigames has sentenced Puzzle Pirates to the fringe of MMO society, yet it's thrived there as an offbeat title that caters to a... very select and fanatical crowd. Which is totally cool with me, by the way. I love MMOs that take a path less-traveled. Today I got the pleasure of sitting down with Puzzle Pirates Lead Developer Matt Jensen to talk about what it's like to work on the lovechild of Captain Hook and Bejeweled. If nothing else, he convinced me that it would be awesome to work at Three Rings Design because the dress code every day is peg legs and frilly blouses. His team also has one of the coolest offices ever.
The Game Archaeologist: Puzzle Pirates
Up until this point in my life, Puzzle Pirates has always been that "oh yeah, that actually exists!" game to me. Even when I do lists of pirates in MMOs, this title slips right off of my radar. Maybe it's because Puzzle Pirates doesn't make waves (har!) these days, or maybe it's been around for so very long. I can't be the only one; the last time Massively talked about Puzzle Pirates was three years ago. I think that part of Puzzle Pirates' forgettability is that it doesn't exactly scream MMO. I mean, its combat is more cerebral than anything else, it's all cutesy and stuff, and even its name suggests a casual flash title than anything deep and substantive. Yet I have friends with a long and abiding love for this game, people who always chide me when I forget it. So to peer pressure I bow: It's high past time that we gave Puzzle Pirates its due as part of the MMO genre. Avast, ye landlubbers, and swab those peepers: We be goin' to sea!
EA, Wooga pulling games from Google Plus
PopCap and Wooga-developed games will disappear from Google's social media platform, Google+. Wooga shut down Monster World prior to May 1, issuing their own "goodbye" to Google+. Electronic Arts will remove Bejeweled Blitz from the service on Monday in order to "redeploy our resources to other adaptations of Bejeweled," a PopCap spokesman told All Things D.A Wooga customer care representative said the company "decided to remove certain games from Google+ because we have a much larger following on Facebook and they are active users." Wooga will remove Bubble Island and Diamond Dash from Google+ on July 1.PopCap's spokesman added that "Google is a valuable gaming partner for PopCap and EA, and we'll continue to develop for Google platforms."
PopCap finally releases Bejeweled HD on iPad
Bejeweled is probably the most popular mobile game out there, but for some reason, PopCap has never actually released it officially on the iPad. It's been out on the iPhone before, and of course you could play it on Apple's tablet, but it has never run natively. Until now, that is -- PopCap has finally released Bejeweled HD, which means you can now play the grandaddy of gem matching games in full Retina Display style. The game is now $3.99, and it's got special modes like Diamond Mine and Butterflies, four special gems to put together, and all of the usual extras that we've seen in Bejeweled games before. If you think the price is high, PopCap has sales on its titles pretty often, so we may eventually see it drop, but keep in mind this is an iPad title, and PopCap usually tries to keep those up as long as possible.
Screen Grabs: Serena's packing Steam, Gossip Girl turns gamer
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. Didja hear the latest? Little Ms. Serena van der Woodsen is a closet gamer. Well, at least that's what her icon tray is saying. A screen grab from a fresh episode of Gossip Girl betrays the little busybody while she's negotiating the future of show's namesake hearsay blog over chat. No, not Steam chat -- she's obviously running games distribution service in offline mode. We'd like to think she's putting that HP Envy 14 Spectre to good use, but let's face the facts: she's probably just playing Bejeweled. [Thanks, Michael]
Lots of free and discounted apps this pre-holiday weekend
Yes, Christmas isn't until next week, but around here, a free app is always welcome. Here's some apps that have gone free for this holiday season. The excellent match-3 Call of Atlantis is free this weekend. Chillingo's puzzle platformer NyxQuest is also free. Babo Crash is another match-3 title that's gone free. Pro Zombie Soccer, where you use a soccer ball to kill zombies, is free. Bejeweled is usually 99 cents, but you can get it for free thanks to a promotion on Apple's Facebook page. Gameloft's Asphalt 6 racer has gone free. And the great RPG Fara is now completely free as well. And there's some solid sales going on as well: Com2Us has most of its catalog on sale for 99 cents. Peggle and the HD version are down to just a buck each. Just in case you missed it on our Twitter account, Edge Extended is on sale for just 99 cents, while the original Edge is free. And EA is continuing its daily deals through the holidays with lots of free and discounted games inside their catalog. Lots of great games for cheap or free this weekend! Enjoy.
PopCap revamps Bejeweled on iOS, sends Bejeweled Blitz freemium
Very similar to the way EA has revamped its Tetris app recently, PopCap Games (now owned by EA) has decided to revamp its Bejeweled offerings on the iPhone, taking the various versions of the world's brightest match-3 game gem and concentrating them down into a few offerings. There will be two Bejeweled games on the App Store after all is said and done. Bejeweled Blitz is going to go to a freemium model where players can earn coins to unlock content (or just buy it outright via in-app purchase); the app will also take advantage of full Facebook integration. Bejeweled 2 is being reinvented as Bejeweled for iPhone and iPod touch, featuring three gameplay modes, full Retina Display graphics, and a host of various social and profile features. Bejeweled for iPhone will be 99 cents on the App Store. I've been waiting for PopCap to release Bejeweled 3 on the iPhone, but it looks like this is the best we're getting -- the new app has a Zen mode in it, plus all the achievements and ranking the latest PC game comes with. Odds are that if PopCap is bringing other updates to the iOS version, it'll be through this app, not through an official Bejeweled 3 port. Interesting that there's no iPad coverage yet, either -- I for one wouldn't mind playing Bejeweled on my iPad, too. But it certainly seems like PopCap and EA are getting their ducks in a row before the holidays, laying out out their biggest properties so they can be found (and purchased) by players with shiny new iPhones and iPads.
Mouse Computer's LuvBook S heals emotional scars, one Hello Kitty at a time
What the world needs now is just one thing, and that thing is a bejeweled Hello Kitty laptop. Fortunately, Japan's Mouse Computer is well aware of this, which is why it's unleashed the LuvBook S, pictured above. Designed in collaboration with Sanrio and Swarovski, this masterpiece is powered by a 2.2 GHz Intel Core i3-2330M processor and boasts an 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 display. It also packs a 500GB HDD and a 1.3 megapixel camera, but all that really matters is the swaggy centerpiece -- a heart-ensconced Hello Kitty mug made out of about 1,100 Swarovski stones and untold buckets of cuddles. The LuvBook is available now for ¥69,930 (about $900), at the source link below.
Bejeweled 3 out now for Mac
Billed as the world's #1 puzzle game, PopCap's Bejeweled 3 for Mac is out and ready for download. This new version has 8 different game modes, including Classic Bejeweled, non-stop Lightning, and Zen mode, and it also allows players to collect up to 65 achievement badges and unlock 4 new games as they play. Available for Mac OS X 10.5-10.6.x and later, Bejeweled 3 is priced at US$19.99. A free 60-minute trial of the game is also available for those looking to check it out before buying. After Angry Birds, Bejeweled 2 is my second favorite time waster game on my iPhone. While the release of Bejeweled 3 for Mac is notable, I myself will be waiting for the iOS release as that's where I do most of my gaming. Click Read More to check out a video of Bejeweled 3. [via Steam]
PopCap and Taito team up to bring Pop Tower to Japan
PopCap Games and Taito announced a partnership this morning that would oversee the launch of a new "dedicated mobile social game service" in Japan. The service is named, appropriately enough, Pop Tower. The service will add an "all-new metagame with RPG elements" to several of PopCap's titles (Bejeweled, Chuzzle, and Zuma were all named), unifying multiple PopCap properties under one persistent leveling system. Beyond unnamed new modes being added and the RPG metagame, additional "social elements" will give players the opportunity to communicate with friends. As we've come to expect with most games moved from the Western market to the East, microtransactions will play a major role in the monetization of Pop Tower's titles, allowing for the purchase of "in-game virtual goods and premium service options." And hey, if that means we can play as Björn the Unicorn across multiple PopCap titles and persistently level him up, consider us sold.
Bejeweled 3 drops a gem on us December 7
Just when you thought you were ready to kick that decade-old "habit," PopCap goes and announces Bejeweled 3. You might be thinking: Okay, so they just added the number three to the title ... I can resist that. Really? Can you? The only good news is you don't have to lie to yourself, because it's not just the number three that's been added. The new Bejeweled -- coming in, uh-oh, just five short weeks -- appears to offer plenty of excuses for your imminent relapse, including new Quest and Zen modes, plus unlockable "secret" game variants. Of course, you can always blame it on the "ultra-smooth gameplay" and "mellifluous music and sound" -- that's probably even grounds for a class action right there. Beginning December 7, Bejeweled 3 will be peddled for $20 through online and retail outlets across North America, Europe and Asia. A Popcap representative confirmed to Joystiq that at that time the game will be available for PC and Mac, with other unannounced platforms to follow. %Gallery-106368%
TUAW's Daily App: Shifters
Shifters is a fun little match-3 game with a "twist" -- instead of switching colored blocks to match three of a kind, you rotate them in sets of four. That changes up the strategy a bit, as the patterns look a little different from the standard Bejeweled-type game (the shifting mechanic is obviously more similar to Bejeweled Twist) but the gameplay is still simple and fun. Shifters is presented in levels, too, with each level providing a separate goal to meet, from matching a certain number of shifters to meeting a score within a certain time. Is it simple? Yes -- if you want anything more than some empty tapping and silly faces, you won't find it in Shifters. But the mechanic is entertaining enough to while away a few minutes of waiting in line or for the bus, and the 99 cent price is worth it as long as your expectations are low.
Bejeweled 2 rated for Wii
PopCap's remarkably popular casual games have been released on just about every gaming platform on the current market, save for one notable exception: Wii. That could soon change, however, according to the USK. Germany's ratings board has listed the match-three puzzle game Bejeweled 2 for release on Wii. Now Mike Leyde can start all over again -- with a new control scheme! If you haven't played Bejeweled 2, you can download it here or play a web version here. Oh, but first, clear your day. [Via Gamerbytes]
Man 'beats' Bejeweled 2 after playing for 3 years
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/30/man-beats-bejeweled-2-after-playing-for-3-years/'; We admire all forms of dedication -- even the absolutely insane forms. A California steel contractor named Mike Leyde recently displayed one such type of persistence by playing a single round of his casual game of choice, Bejeweled 2, for 2,205 hours and 51 minutes over the course of three years. In that time, he collected 4,872,229 gems, earning the game's highest calculable score, 2,147,483,647, at which point the score display got really perplexed and went blank. (Check out a video of Mike's achievement after the jump.) According to PopCap, Leyde is the first person to ever "beat" Bejeweled 2. That's one way of looking at it, we suppose. Another way of looking at it is to say that everyone else who's ever played Bejeweled 2 is a quitter. Yeah, that's right. Why don't you follow through with something for once in your life? Sheesh.
April Fools: PopCap announces Celebrity Bejeweled
Usually, we put out these April Fools' Day PSAs to inform you when a partially realistic story is actually bunko -- but you could probably guess this one's a total joke. PopCap recently distributed a press release announcing Celebrity Bejeweled, a new iteration of its lucrative puzzle franchise where the standard multicolored gemstones are replaced by "holographic likenesses of gem-named superstars," including Neil Diamond, Jewel and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Sadly, prolific disco bassist Topaz Wilson didn't make the cut -- largely because we just made him up. The $2,000 collector's edition of the non-game also comes with DNA samples from the featured celebrities, which can be used for "home chemistry experiments, various forms of extortion and/or sale on eBay." Thanks, PopCap, but we've already got like, four or five vials of Neil Diamond sweat around the house. We're all good, in that respect.
Bejeweled celebrates 10th birthday, tops 50m units sold
Can you believe that Bejeweled has been around for a decade? It seems like only yesterday when we accidentally sunk our first afternoon into gem-matching ... and then another ... and another -- oh where has the time gone? According to PopCap, a 10-month celebration of the puzzle game's decade of dominance has commenced. Throughout 2010, a slew of community events will be held, like the first official Bejeweled competition, and new installments in the franchise will be released. The Bejeweled creator has also served up some starting statistics, including word that the various installments in the franchise have collectively sold more than 50 million units. By PopCap's calculation, a copy of Bejeweled is purchased every 4.3 seconds. By our calculation, eight people bought Bejeweled in the time it took you to read this post. Maybe more, if your reading comprehension could use some work.
iPhone game devs give us their thoughts on the iPad
With yesterday's announcement from Apple of its much hyped "latest creation" -- the iPad -- and the news that already existing iPhone applications (that means games too, folks) will be playable on the device, we started wondering how the developers of the world felt about this shiny new piece of gadgetry. So we asked a handful of our favorites -- Canabalt's Adam "Atomic" Saltsman, Pocket God's Dave Castelnuovo, and PopCap's Andrew Stein, just to namedrop a few -- to give us their reactions. "It's hard to say anything concrete without actually playing with the thing personally, but I'm optimistic about it continuing to open up video games to even more 'normal' people," Saltsman told us. "I'm hopeful that having a big multitouch space will help mediate the whole 'fat fingers on a tiny screen' problem." PopCap's Andrew Stein agreed, telling us "We'll certainly look at the unique capabilities of the iPad and work hard to utilize those in instances where they can make our games even more fun." Republic of Fun prez Mike Rasmussen sees things a bit differently, noting the opportunity in the upped horsepower of the device. "From a pure gaming perspective, I'm excited about the additional resolution and horsepower, and really interested to start understanding the 3D performance of the A4 [chip]." But even the most successful app developer on the market -- Pocket God creator Dave Castelnuovo -- seems a bit reticent of the iPad, telling us he sees "a lot of potential with the device," but his company is going to "wait to see what kind of acceptance the tablet will have" before moving forward with development. But that's not all! See the full reactions from a variety of iPhone game developers after the break. %Gallery-84102%
NintendoWare weekly: Bejeweled, Blaster Master, Earthworm Jim 2
As promised, Sunsoft's brought Blaster Master to the Virtual Console -- though we think the impact is somewhat dulled by the quantity of other games available for download this week. There's a total of 11 different games available, so head past the break for the full list.
