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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.
XBLA in Brief: Bejeweled 3
We've reviewed the multiplatform release Dungeon Defenders (which is excellent, by the way), and that only leaves Bejeweled 3 for XBLA in Brief this week. It's ... well, it's Bejeweled. There are new Xbox Live Arcade games released every week. We realize that our readers are busy, attractive people, and may not have time to download and examine each and every new XBLA game. You've got busy, attractive person stuff to do, after all. Not to worry though, because we've done the work for you, downloading every single trial game and giving you a taste of what to expect. Watch XBLA in Brief every week to see which games deserve a closer look. When you have the time, of course.
Popcorn Dragon trailer pops up, looks delicious
Like most PopCap games, it looks like Popcorn Dragon is all about finding that little kernel of fun. You know, that simple gameplay mechanic that really pops, hopefully giving way to something light, fluffy and not too hard – the kind of thing that gets stuck in your head.
Plants vs Zombies iPhone update adds nine new mini-games
If you need to take a breather from the exhausting business of arboreal zombie warfare, you'll be able to participate in nine new mini-games on the iPhone version of Plants vs. Zombies today. An update for the title just launched, which adds three packs of three diversions to Crazy Dave's store, such as ZomBotany 2, Invisi-Ghoul and Beghouled Twist. Really, the puns are worth the price of admission. Each pack can be bought with in-game coins, or if you prefer, with $0.99 of your real-world cash. We'd suggest spending the former, because the latter can be spent on other real-world goods and services. Like, you could play the mini games, and also eat the three Twix bars you just bought. Or, wait -- six Twix bars! Because there's two of them.
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.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Bookworm
If you're into word games, today's Daily Mac App will be right up your street. Bookworm, from PopCap, is a word game that combines Boggle-style word making with Bejeweled-style tile removal. You're presented with a board of tiles filled from the top that's seven columns wide and seven to eight tiles high. You link adjacent tiles to make words with a minimum length of three letters and for each word you make you get points based on its length and letter types. Each word removes those used tiles from the board. The "Classic game" is simple enough, but as you progress you must deal with "burning tiles" that burn through letters, dropping down one tile per turn. If they reach the bottom of the board it's game over, so you have to use them in a word pretty fast. Other special tiles come into play as rewards. Green tiles appear randomly and will increase your word score if you include them. Gold tiles are earned by creating words with five letters or more, and are worth even more. Diamond and sapphire tiles are also available for massive scores. You can boost your score by creating the suggested bonus words that pop up too. There's also an "Action game" that drops many more burning tiles requiring you to match words as quick as you can to survive. It's a great game for word game fans and can get pretty addictive as you level up at the end of each round. Bookworm is available for US$6.99 from the Mac App Store, directly from PopCap if you're not on Snow Leopard or Lion and is available in the browser for free too.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Bejeweled 3
Fancy an addictive, fun, casual game for your Mac? Look no further than the classic Bejeweled, now back in its third iteration on the Mac. Played either in full screen or windowed, the standard game hasn't changed, you still match three or more gems in a row to clear them from the board. There are four different play modes to choose from: classic, which you just match the gems until you can't make any more moves, levelling up as you go; Zen, where the board is shaken up if you can't move; Lightning, where you have to match against the clock; and Quest, where you have to complete a set task or puzzle to progress. Four secret modes are also available to unlock like Poker, a cross between gem matching and the classic card game, which are unlocked by playing the four regular game types. Bejeweled 3 has all sorts of fancy gems, which explode, zap and annihilate the gems, while the explosions and sound effects are joined by an announcer who blasts out "Excellent" and "Awesome" when you get on a roll. The game even has a fairly decent midi sound track to it. If you're a fan, the whole experience really draws you in so be prepared to waste a good hour or two before you know it. As with most modern games Bejeweled 3 also comes with achievements in the form of 20 badges to collect, including five "Elite" badges, while you can level up with experience points gained from playing each of the games. Bejeweled 3 is available from the Mac App Store for the rather dear US$19.99, but if you've played the free online version and want the ads gone and a native experience, Bejeweled 3 for Mac delivers in droves and there's even a free trial to test it out.
Riccitiello details EA's three-point plan: IP, Platform, Talent
During an investor conference call yesterday, EA CEO John Riccitiello formalized the company's three-point plan for the forseeable future. For fiscal 2012 and beyond, the three pillars of EA's business growth are IP: "building roughly twelve franchises into year-round businesses across a range of platforms, packaged goods, and digital," Platform, "building a solid ecosystem for leveraging our content and services, focusing on our own platform, Origin, while supporting our retail partners," and, finally, Talent: "investing in our creative and engineering talent to drive and maintain our IP across multiple platforms from console to social and PC to mobile." The "IP" central to EA's strategy includes, of course, things like Madden, Battlefield, The Sims, and FIFA. "Platform" is easily summarized as "Origin." As for "Talent," that includes high-profile acquisitions like PopCap as well as growth in existing EA studios -- like the Austin expansion EA just announced.
Make-A-Wish recipient's Allied Star Police now available from PopCap
You may not remember the name Owain Weinert, but you probably remember his story. The 9-year-old, who's been living with leukemia since 2010, had a dream fulfilled by the Make-A-Wish foundation when he designed a game in conjunction with PopCap. Today, the product of that collaboration -- Allied Star Police -- arrives on iOS platforms courtesy of PopCap's 4th and Battery branch. Better yet, the top-down arcade RTS tower defense game (ambitious for a rookie!), is available for free on the App Store right now. Well, what are you waiting for? What are you, made of stone?
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.
EA to acquire PopCap Games for $750 million
Rumors first began circulating nearly three weeks ago when TechCrunch reported that casual gaming pusher PopCap was going to be acquired for over $1 billion dollars. Now, Electronic Arts has announced its intention to purchase the Seattle-based developer for $750 million, including $100 million in stock. The acquisition is expected to close in August of this year, pending the usual regulatory approvals. "EA and PopCap are a compelling combination," boasted CEO John Riccitiello, clearly envisioning a newly expanded EA digital empire. "PopCap's great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA's momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business." "We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games," said David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. "By working with EA, we'll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience." In case it's not obvious, we'll spell it out for you: O-R-I-G-I-N.
First GDC Online 2011 summits announced
Despite the brutal, anti-nerd reality that is Texas weather, Austin has become a major hub for development houses that produce MMOs and casual/social online titles. BioWare, NCSoft, Blizzard, SOE, heck, even Zynga; they've all got offices in Austin and collectively they're responsible for a sizable growth spurt in the city's already impressive technology sector. It makes sense, then, that GDC 2011's "Online" chapter should return to the Lone-Star State's capital city. GDC has, historically, been a conference "for developers, by developers," meaning that it's probably not the sort of show Jimmy Halo and Ricky Killzone want to spend their tuition money on. However! If you're in the industry, or just really, really into game design, you just might find something worthwhile at one of GDCO's recently announced summits. The Game Narrative Summit, for instance, returns for its 6th year of lectures and dissertations with Eidos Montreal's Mary De Marle giving a talk on "Building the Story-driven Experience of Deus Ex: Human Revolution," and Volition's Steve Jaros hosting a roundtable discussion of development mistakes and war-stories in "Sins of the Past." PopCap's Giordano Bruno Contestabile will be contributing his knowledge of pocket-sized, casual gaming to the Smartphone and Tablet Games Summit, and while the GDC Virtual Items Summit has been announced, no specific session details have been listed as of yet. If extremely-inside-baseball discussions really are your bag, baby, then summit lectures will be open to GDCO attendees with "All Access" and "Summits & Tutorials" badges during the first two days of the conference's October 10-13 run at the Austin Convention Center.
Plants vs. Zombies vs. Windows Phone 7
PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies continues to spread its roots throughout the games industry (or, from the other perspective, it continues its slow, mindless march across the industry). Today, PopCap's outrageously popular casual strategy game has launched on the Windows Phone 7 platform for $4.99/€4.99. It's part of Microsoft's "Must Have Games" promotion, preceded by Sonic 4 and followed next week by Angry Birds. The WinPhone version includes Xbox Live integration, including leaderboards and achievements. It also includes the first mobile versions of the "Vasebreaker" and "I, Zombie" puzzle modes. [Thanks, Jared]
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."]
Bejeweled 3 headed to consoles
PopCap Games announced today that Bejeweled 3 will drop on DS, PS3 and Xbox 360 (in retail, PSN and XBLA versions, respectively) during the last quarter of 2011 in North America and Europe. If you haven't already declared PopCap Games the enemy of global productivity, the company now reminds you that the Bejeweled games are purchased "at the rate of one copy every 4.3 seconds." The developer and publisher of such time-sinks as Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle has already given us a glimpse into the future of its cuddly, iron-fisted domination of free time. The company recently began its huggable assault on Android devices, is funding a $3 million Spicy Horse project and continues to put the pieces in place for further Facebook control. Fear the power of a PopCap IPO, friends.
Android Peggle free on Amazon Appstore today
You've already seen the headline -- and our friend, Tyrone -- so let's dispense with the pleasantries. Peggle for Android is free today on the Amazon Appstore. Go get it.
PSA: Plants vs. Zombies free on Android today
Time is already passing, and you're not downloading Plants vs. Zombies on your Android device -- for zero dollars! Frankly, that seems really silly to us. Sure, Popcap already released the game on just about every other piece of electronics you own, but that doesn't make it any less wonderful and addicting. Did we mention it's free? Maybe we should point that out again, 'cause it's totally free.
9-year-old hangs with PopCap, creates iOS game via Make A Wish Foundation
When you're 9 years old you dream of plenty of things. Thanks to the Make A Wish Foundation, Owain Weinert's dream came true when he got to visit PopCap Games and design his very own video game. Owain's been diagnosed with pre-B Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia and has spent several weeks working with PopCap to design his game, Allied Star Police. "This is my dream and I finally get to see my dream come true," he says. "It's a real-time strategy game and I really had fun watching it take shape." Owain's mother Heather seemed bowled over by the kindness PopCap has shown her son. "Today is a real high point," she said during a visit to the company. "Being in the hospital for kids with cancer can be a real downer." PopCap presented Owain with an iPad with the development version of the game, which is due in the App Store in the coming months. Profits will go to the Make A Wish foundation. You can watch a video of Owain's visit to PopCap on the next page (sorry iOS users, no Flash-free version available).
Make-A-Wish and PopCap help 9-year-old create his own iOS game
PopCap and the Make-A-Wish foundation recently teamed up to help 9-year-old Owain Weinert, who was diagnosed with Leukemia last year, realize his dream of creating his very own iOS game. The developer took Weinert's idea for the title -- a real-time strategy game called Allied Star Police -- and turned it into a fully-fledged product which is set to launch on the iPad and iPhone App Stores sometime within the next few months. Best of all, the proceeds from the game will go directly to Make-A-Wish, forming some kind of beautiful circle of altruism. Check out a video report from Seattle's FOX affiliate after the jump to see the launch party PopCap threw for Weinert and his friends. You might want to brace yourself, though, because you're about to have a new favorite kid of all time.
