bejeweled-twist posts

It's one of the most popular and addictive puzzle games ever made and today PopCap Games is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of Bejeweled (first known as Diamond Mine). Yes, we know even you have had some time playing the game as you match jewels, blow them up and more.

Popcacp says it has sold over 50 million units of the original game, Bejeweled 2 and the most recent PC game Bejeweled Twist since the original game was first released for the PC. It's also been named as The Most Popular Puzzle Game Series of the Century by the Guinness World Records 2010 Video Games Edition. PopCap plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary by releasing new versions of Bejeweled.

With the success Puzzle Quest saw in fusing the casual puzzle game Bejeweled with role-playing elements and a story, one could reasonably guess that it was only be a matter of time before PopCap would to capitalize on its popularity by developing its own version. What few saw coming is the partnership with Square Enix in developing Gyromancer. What we have here are two giants in their respective fields coming together to create the ultimate puzzle RPG hybrid. The contributions from each party are clear: PopCap adapts Bejeweled Twist to act as the combat system while Square Enix is responsible for the plot and characters. Yet somehow, these two innovators end up looking like second rate imitators when combining their expertise.

Casual game developer and publisher PopCap Games has been on a roll in the past year or so with a number of major sellers including Peggle Nights, Bejeweled Twist and most recently the addictive tower defense game Plants Vs Zombies. All three games have sold very well and Plants Vs Zombies was recently declared to be, " . . . the best-selling game PopCap's ever had"

So what's next for the superstar casual game company. Big Download managed to get one big hint via PopCap's PR head Garth Chouteau: "It will be a sequel to one of our best selling franchises." Hmmmm.... That's all the hint Garth would give us for the moment but we can speculate...how about a new Zuma game? Or maybe a Heavy Weapon sequel? Hopefully we won't have to wait for long.

The NPD Group's latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games in US retail stores looks pretty familiar. That's because most of the games on the list (for the week ending May 9) were also on the list the previous week. The only major change is that Demigod, which had been on the list for the past three weeks, has moved out of the top 10 to be replaced by Bejeweled Twist. Also the Interplay classic PC game collection Fallout Trilogy remains on the list for the second week in a row.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Left 4 Dead - Valve
4. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard
5. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
6. Empire: Total War - Creative Assembly/Sega
7. Spore - Electronic Arts
8. Fallout Trilogy - Interplay
9. Bejeweled Twist - PopCap Games
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts

In this currently tough economic situation some companies are dying while a few are thriving. One of them is PopCap Games, the casual PC game developer and publisher. Today the company announced that in 2008 revenues from selling their games at retail stores jumped a massive 85.3 percent. That was enough to put the company on the list of the top 20 highest earning game publishers (Specific revenue numbers were not revealed).

Popcap has, of course, sold many of its casual games like Peggle (seen above) and Bejeweled via online download but they have had recent success with publishing games in stores, particularly their recent Bejeweled Twist puzzle game.Popcap currently has 15 of their games on store shelves compared to 10 in 2007.

The NPD Group has provided their latest top 10 best seling PC games list for the US retail store market. Unfortunately the list, for the week ending December 27, is just a repeat of the same list from last week with some changes in positions.

As expected Blizzard's MMO expansion pack World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King remains in the number one spot but EA's The Sims 2Double Deluxe supplants Spore this week in the number 2 spot. Other than that, this new list is a bit of a yawner:

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Spore - Electronic Arts
4. Left 4 Dead - Valve/EA
5. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
6. Fallout 3 - Bethesda Softworks
7. Call Of Duty: World At War - Activision
8. World of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
9. The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff - Electronic Arts
10. Bejeweled Twist - Popcap Games

The NPD Group was apparently busy during the holiday break as the consumer tracking company has now released its latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games, this time for the week ending Dec. 20. There's no new games on the list compared to the last NPD list but there has been some shuffling of the deck in positions

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. Spore - Electronic Arts
3. Left 4 Dead - Valve/EA
4. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
5. Call Of Duty: World At War - Activision
6. Fallout 3 - Bethesda Softworks
7. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
8. Bejeweled Twist - Popcap Games
9. World of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
10. The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff - Electronic Arts

As we head into the final days of the holiday shopping season, PC game buyers are behaving in prediciable ways. The last top 10 list of the best selling PC games in the US (via the NPD Group) once again shows Blizzard's MMO expansion pack World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King at the top of the charts for the week ending Dec. 13.

Little has changed between this week's list and last week's line-up. The only major change is Rockstar Games' PC port of Grand Theft Auto IV is off the top 10 list after just one week while Popcap Games' casual puzzle game Bejeweled Twist debuts on the list at number 8.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. Spore - Electronic Arts
3. Call Of Duty: World At War - Activision
4. Left 4 Dead - Valve/EA
5. Fallout 3 - Bethesda Softworks
6. The Sims 2 Deluxe - Electronic Arts
7. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
8. Bejeweled Twist - Popcap Games
9. World of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
10. The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff - Electronic Arts

Popcap Games continues to dominate the casual games market and one of the reasons is their "Match-3" style puzzle game Bejeweled and its sequel. The games have pretty much been adapted for every game platform known to man, including inside World of Warcraft, with 25 million copies of the two games having actually sold.

Now Popcap has announced that the next game in the series, Bejeweled Twist, is being prepared for a launch next month. Details on the game are being kept under wraps until a launch event to be held in Seattle on Oct. 27. At the moment all the publisher is saying is that the game has been under development for over three years and will "bring a completely new perspective" to the genre.