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Deals with Gold: PopCap puzzlers
This week's Deals with Gold features discounts on a handful of PopCap-developed games for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Xbox One owners can pick up third-person shooter Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare at 66 percent off ($13.59) as well as Peggle 2 at 60 percent off ($4.79). Garden Warfare is just $10.19 this week on Xbox 360 as well. Other Xbox 360 games are half-off this week, such as the original Peggle ($4.99) and its Peggle Nights expansion ($2.49) as well as Bejeweled 3 and Plants vs. Zombies ($7.49 each). Lastly, players can download both Zuma and Feeding Frenzy ($2.49 each) as well as their sequels Zuma's Revenge and Feeding Frenzy 2 ($4.99 each). The deals are good through Monday, December 15. [Image: PopCap Games]
Peggle Blast hits iOS, Android this fall
A new game in the addictive peg-busting Peggle series will arrive this fall on iPad, iPhone and Android devices. Peggle Blast was announced alongside the space bar-avoiding SimCity BuildIt and FIFA 15 Ultimate Team by EA Mobile head Frank Gibeau this week, the latter launching later this month for mobile devices. Peggle Blast will feature Peggle Master characters and quests that are new to the series. According to Pocket Gamer, the game will be free to play like another entry in one of PopCap's other popular series, Plants vs Zombies 2. The three games are among "a dozen" from EA Mobile "in the pipeline that will launch over the next year." Gibeau also revealed this week that the publisher's mobile division has two teams committed to prototyping game experiences for Apple's recently-announced Apple Watch device. John Vechey, co-founder of Peggle developer PopCap, announced his departure from the studio late last week. [Image: EA]
PopCap co-founder Vechey leaves, PopCap working on 'all-new' Peggle
PopCap co-founder John Vechey is leaving his role as CEO at the Plants vs. Zombies 2 developer. In a departing message shared by EA, Vechey notes that his leave follows a sabbatical, which allowed him to "step back and appreciate what I have in life, and what the future has in store." Although Vechey's plans for the immediate future focus on working with non-profit environmental news group Grist, PopCap is assuredly still focused on games: EA followed Vechey's post by mentioning "an all-new Peggle" among the studio's upcoming projects, as well as "global opportunities for PopCap brands like PvZ." Vechey's role as CEO began eight months ago, when he left his role as VP of development and strategy and, as was then described by his LinkedIn profile, "spearheading/helping new initiatives." Vechey was the only original founder left at PopCap after fellow co-founder Jason Kapalka moved to a consultant's role on January 8, 2013. [Image: EA]
Bjorn to make you happy: Peggle free on Origin
Thanks guys, that was amazing, thanks so much. I'd say I was speechless, but I've one more thing to announce... PEGGLE! FREE! Yeah! (cue music) Yeah! (ow my spine and dignity) No really, PopCap's ball-dropper is free right now for PC and Mac on Origin, and it's staying free until August 5. So what are you waiting for? Get cracking, Tyrone!
Humble Weekly Sale spotlights PopCap with Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies
This week's Humble Weekly Sale focuses on casual games developer extraordinaire PopCap Games, serving up downloadable copies of Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies, and other favorites plucked from the studio's back catalog. Buyers who pay at least $1 for the bundle will receive Steam and Origin copies of PopCap's pachinko-puzzler hybrid Peggle, match-three gem-buster Bejeweled 3, word-stringing puzzle game Bookworm, hidden-object adventure Escape Rosecliff Island, and sealife evolution sim Feeding Frenzy Deluxe. Chip in more than $6 and you'll also get the Game of the Year Edition of PopCap's tower defense strategy game Plants vs. Zombies, DLC expansion Peggle Nights, and color-matching puzzler Zuma's Revenge. PopCap owner Electronic Arts is donating all bundle proceeds to The V Foundation for Cancer Research and the Melanoma Research Alliance. [Image: Humble Bundle / PopCap]
Xbox One does not require demos, devs to make that decision
The Xbox 360 featured a demo for every Xbox Live Arcade release. It had to, because Microsoft made that a mandate. For the Xbox One however, things have changed, and now developers decide whether or not they want to release a demo. "It is (and always has been) up to game developers to do demos for their own games," wrote Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb on his blog. "They'll [sic] be more demos for Xbox One as the platform goes forward." Hryb was later asked why Microsoft changed its demo policy, but offered no response to that question. Hryb's statement came in response to discussion of Peggle 2, a recent release that offers players a free demo. That's good, but problematically the Xbox One interface does nothing to separate what were previously considered Arcade games from their retail brethren. As a result, finding the demo is more difficult than it reasonably should be.
More iOS App Store anniversary goodies: Angry Birds Star Wars, Dead Space, KOTOR and more
Apple's celebration of the iOS App Store's five year anniversary continues with more free/discounted games with which to smudge up that capacitive touchscreen. In addition to the stuff that was made free yesterday, Chopper, Peggle, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Flight Control and Angry Birds Star Wars are now available at no cost. Moreover, the iPad version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been discounted to $5, though its mysterious monetary adjustment may not be directly related to Apple's festivities. As a result, there's no telling how long that particular discount will last. Jump past the break for all the applicable iTunes links.
Peggle 2 coming this year from PopCap
Popcap's John Vechey just announced Peggle 2 will launch this year on unknown platforms from PopCap.
All PopCap games half-off this weekend
To celebrate the Chinese New Year, PopCap put every game in its library on sale through Tuesday, February 12. All downloadable PC games are 50 percent off though the developer's store, including Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle and Bejeweled 3.The sale could certainly fund PopCap's "AAA console title" ambitions, but the savings are passed on to you, the player. That extra money equates to a lot of burritos, or in this weekend's case, egg rolls.
Kickin' Momma becomes Gem King, Hothead tells us why
I am a fan of Hothead Games' Kickin' Momma, a colorful, Peggle-style title that appeared on the App Store a couple months back. Just recently, that game disappeared from the store, and in its place now is a new title called Gem King. It's free to download and employes a freemium, in-app purchase system. A few of the comments on that game accuse Hothead of some questionable business practices in making the apparent switch to the new title, so TUAW spoke with Hothead's Oliver Birch and Joel DeYoung to figure out exactly what happened. In short, Kickin' Momma, while a good game ("Our highest rated game yet," they told me), didn't do as well as expected. "To be honest with you, it just didn't achieve nearly the downloads that we were hoping it would. We had a plan to add new content, new levels," said DeYoung, "but it wasn't enough downloads to really justify making that new content." Hothead liked the game a lot, however, so they came up with a solution to get more people playing it. "We figured the best way to do it is to just take it free." The team already had an update planned out for iOS 5, and there were some bugs and inconsistencies in the gameplay they wanted to fix, so they decided to "reboot and reimagine" Kickin' Momma, and then release it as a free title. Perhaps the biggest and most obvious change in the game is that Momma is now a dude, a King nonetheless. Hothead said that they originally just went nuts with Momma's collectible accessories, which got them into trouble. "When we were coming up with ideas of the little dress up things," DeYoung said, "it was like well, she kicks her babies so she's going to need boots, and then it kind of went on from there." The first unlockable in Kickin Momma was a moustache, which led to confusion about just what Momma was. So in Gem King, the character is obviously male, and obviously a king, which opens him up to even more personalization. Did Hothead purposely choose a male character because they thought that would get more downloads? "I don't think we thought of that as a factor, necessarily," said DeYoung. The decision was more based on what's clear and fun than actual gender preferences. "There were suggestions about a backstory, maybe she got a sex change or something, but we didn't take it that far. Of course it's not meant to be taken so seriously." In the iTunes reviews for Gem King, some players are complaining about Hothead putting Gem King up at a higher price, and then dropping it to free to try and get on price charts. DeYoung confirmed that yes it did launch at a price higher than free, but he said that the company wasn't doing anything but standard price testing on the App Store. "It gives us a lot of interesting data about price sensitivity and that sort of thing, and that's something you see fairly typically on the store." From the beginning, however, Gem King was set up to be free. "The intention was let's reboot or reimagine Kickin' Momma as a free game. And that's what we did. It was free within 12 hours or something very quickly after that. A few people, I think, jumped on, and jumped to some conclusions." At any rate, Gem King is now free on the App Store, and it offers the gameplay and levels of Kickin' Momma, along with a freemium design and the new features of iOS 5. If you already have Kickin' Momma installed, you can keep it and it will still work, but of course any updates will go out to (the free to download, of course) new version.
Peggle HD launches on the iPad tomorrow
You know how you promised to, like, do stuff tomorrow? Forget it, you've got new plans -- addictive, intoxicating plans. Popcap has announced via its Twitter account that Peggle HD launches on the App store tomorrow. No price was revealed but, honestly, does it matter? Of course it doesn't. So, we suggest in light of this news that you start going around, stocking up on goodwill with the people in your life. Help them in these last few hours of Wednesday, August 24. Once it's the 25th, you're gonna need to use up some of that goodwill ignoring everything except your iPad.
Daily iPhone App: Kickin Momma
Kickin' Momma is Hothead Games' latest iOS title, and it pretty blatantly borrows some gameplay setups from Popcap's popular Peggle. That's actually ok from a gaming standpoint, though, because the game is executed very well, and there's just enough newness here to really enjoy the proceedings. The idea is that "Momma" kicks her little spawn off into a little series of circular pegs, and your goal in each level is to pick up as many little red gems as possible. Hothead uses a Chillingo-style rating system for each of the 36 levels, and there are other little mechanics that pop up later on, like explosive and multiplier pegs to hit. There's a whole lot of sparkle and flair to the game's design, with lots of particles kicking around and flashy graphics to enjoy. You can earn accessories for Mama as you play, and there's full Game Center integration for both leaderboards and achievements. Kickin' Momma is a great game with a lot of style, and while yes, it does re-use some ideas from Peggle specifically (though Peggle is kind of based on Plinko from the Price is Right, no?), there's enough care and work put into this one that it's well worth the purchase. You can buy a standard iPhone version for US 99 cents, or a universal HD version for both the iPhone's Retina Display and the iPad for $1.99.
PopCap games to be bundled with Sony Ericsson phones in Europe
PopCap and Sony Ericsson today announced an agreement that will finally bring the casual developer's titles to Android devices in Europe. The agreement will bring them to exactly two of Sony's platforms, the Xperia Mini and the Xperia Mini Pro, as they roll out this summer. Three of PopCap's titles will be pre-loaded onto the devices, specifically the full version of Chuzzle and trial versions of Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle. In the press release detailing the agreement, PopCap's Giordano Bruno Contestabile stated, "We are delighted to partner with Sony Ericsson to fulfill our promise to Android users and bring PopCap's hit mobile games to an ever-widening base of smartphone users." Presumably, PopCap's titles will spread to more than two of Sony's phones in the future.
Report: PopCap being acquired for over $1 billion
TechCrunch reports, by way of "multiple sources," that casual gaming powerhouse PopCap – the group behind Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle, and every other game your mom loves and you won't admit to loving – is in the process of being acquired. ... for over $1 billion. While you consider all the wrong decisions you've made with your life, we'll finish writing this post so we can join you. The buyer remains unknown and, while growth-happy dev Zynga seems like an obvious pick, TC is hearing that PopCap's asking price (over $1 billion, remember?) was too rich for its blood. TC speculates that either EA, Japanese mobile group DeNA, or Chinese outfit Tencent might be behind the purchase. You may recognize DeNA following its acquisition of ngmoco last year, and Tencent following its majority buyout of free-to-play hit League of Legends. We've asked PopCap for comment which, if the report is true, we expect right after the PopCap team finishes screaming about how rich they are. [Update 6:09pm ET – As is to be expected, PopCap issued us the following comment: "Per company policy, we do not comment on rumors and speculation of this nature." 6:45pm ET – PopCap's soon-to-be "Customer Engagement Lead" Jennifer Kye took to Twitter to say, "Not true. Rumor debunked." She later clarified that she would be "working there next week" and that her soon-to-be "boss confirmed it" for her. We've again reached out to PopCap for another statement. 7:02pm ET – And PopCap got back to us again – they're really good about that – with the same no comment: "we do not comment on rumors and speculation of this nature."]
XBL Deal of the Week is having a Spring Fling
The Xbox Live Deal of the Week is going for a spring theme this week, offering discounts on several vernal games and items. Of particular note are Peggle and Ilomilo, both of which can be had for just 400 points each ($5), and you can throw in Peggle Nights for another 200 ($2.50). You'll also find it cheaper to deal with the zombies on your lawn, as Plants vs. Zombies has been knocked down to 800 points ($10). If none of that is appealing, you could always snag an Avatar monkey prop for 120 points ($1.50), because nothing says "spring" like monkeys.
Peggle faithfully recreated in LittleBigPlanet 2
Having both Peggle and LittleBigPlanet 2 on the same plane of reality meant this had to happen sooner or later. With Peggle already on every platform known to man, and LBP2 molding itself T-1000 style into every game imaginable, why wouldn't we get the Plinko puzzler recreated in Sackboy's world?
11 PSN games discounted by 50% tomorrow
Tomorrow's PSN update will be notable for what it adds to the PlayStation Store, though you may be a little fonder of what it's set to remove: fifty percent from the price of 11 games in an "11 for 2011" sale. Among the discounted games are Double's Fine enchanting Costume Quest for $7.49, hypnotic brick breaker Shatter for $3.99 (its excellent soundtrack is also discounted to $2.99), and Hoard for $7.49 -- a fitting saving for a dragon looking to amass a boast-worthy pile of presents and a roast-worthy mass of peasants. Sony has also included other well-received games like Swords and Soldiers, Tumble and Space Invaders Infinity Gene in the sale (valid in the US, Canada and Mexico through January 31). Have a peek at the full list after the break. Warning: Peggle is in there too.
Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle coming to Android [update: Q2 release planned]
Things are looking up for game-loving Android owners. First, we unveiled the Android version of the Joystiq app and now, much less interestingly, PopCap reveals that both Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies are headed to Android as well. Posting on Twitter, PopCap's Jeff Green uploaded images of both games running on an Android device. In response to another Tweet, Green also stated that the games won't be supported by ads, but will "probably" be sold via "the various marketplaces." We've contacted PopCap to see if we can dig up any more information. We'll plant an update right here if we hear anything. Update: PopCap isn't sharing details on its upcoming Android titles, saying only that they are "coming along" and that the first titles -- not necessarily Plants vs. Zombies or Peggle -- should launch in Q2 2011.
Peggle bounces onto PSP on Tuesday for $9.99
While it may not hold the same honors as Dead Space Girl, this mouth-watering image is one of the most frequently used throughout Joystiq history, reserved for many of our Peggle-related stories. Considering its wide cross-platform availability, we're almost certain you know exactly what Peggle is, and why it's so addicting. Surprisingly, PopCap's game has not yet made it to Sony's handheld -- a fact will be rectified next Tuesday when it lands on the PSN for $9.99. PopCap's Michael Santora promises that the PSP version will include "all the original Masters, challenges, and levels in adventure mode," but unfortunately, he makes no mention of any Peggle Nights. Considering how late the PSP version is, we're surprised no additional content is being added. It certainly makes justifying the $10 asking price a bit more difficult.
Peggle iPhone gets 'Nights' expansion through in-app purchase
If you're just now in the final stages of recovery from your brutal, all-consuming addiction to the iPhone version of Peggle, then look away! Quickly, before it's too late! Okay, there's your fair warning -- the Peggle Nights expansion is now available to download through the iPhone port's in-app store, adding a whole slew of new (and darker) levels to the addictive Pachinko title for $2.99. Though the announcement for the expansion claims that its contents come free with new purchases of Peggle starting today, it seems new purchasers actually just get access to a five-level sampler pack of Nights. The demo is also available to longtime mobile Pegglers with a free update to the title through the App Store. If this isn't proof that the company is run by extremely successful former drug dealers, we don't know what is.
