popcap 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.

Two of the biggest casual game developer/publishers, MumboJumbo and PopCap, have apparently been fighting in court for the last few years. Today MumboJumbo announced it has been awarded a sum of $4.6 million in damages by a Dallas, Texas jury.

MumboJumbo claimed that it entered into an agreement with PopCap in 2006 to "produce, distribute and sell certain PopCap games in North America." However MumboJumbo then claimed that PopCap went behind their back and decided to sell their games on their own. The jury agreed with MumboJumbo that Popcap "committed fraud and tortious interference when it severely damaged the business relationship between MumboJumbo and a key retailer." Big Download contacted PopCap for comment and received this response from their PR head: "PopCap continues to believe that it did nothing wrong in this case, and will vigorously pursue its claims and defend itself through the appeals process."

We are smack dab in the middle of the holiday sale on Steam and as usual the PC game download site has some great deals that can be had for just one day only at some rock bottom prices. One of the best deals today is for the PopCap collection where you can get all 30 PopCap casual games on Steam for just $49.99. Compare that to the collection's usual $99.99 price and the $224.70 price if you purchases each game in the collection separately.

Other games on sale until noon Eastern time Monday include Dead Space for $10.19, Hearts of Iron III for just $7.49 and Zombie Driver and Day of Defeat: Source for $2.49 each.

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.

Last September during the Tokyo Game Show, publisher Square Enix announced a collaboration with casual game developer PopCap Games with their upcoming puzzle-RPG Gyromancer. Today it was revealed via a new trailer that the downloadable game would be released for the PC on November 18 for $15.

The game itself has that Square Enix art style for the RPG portion of the game mixed with a Bejeweled Twist puzzle gameplay experience. You can expect to have access to over 50 monsters that can be used in your puzzle-RPG battles across 12 different stages. An online leaderboard will also be made available to compare your scores with others.

Download HD Gyromancer Trailer (73 MB)

If you have been thinking about buying the full version of Zuma's Revenge but feel that the price of $19.95 is just too much money to pay for the sequel to PopCap Games' popular casual puzzle title, then you might just be interested in Zuma's Revenge Adventure. This "lite" version of the full game is priced at just $9.95 and should be available now via a number of download outlets.

Zuma's Revenge Adventure has just the one gameplay mode, the Adventure mode, to play but does not contain any of the extra modes that you can access in the full version of the game. It still has all of the features of the full game's Adventure mode which includes 60 levels, new power ups, boss battle levels, support for up to 1920 x 1200 resolution and more.

Download the Zuma's Revenge demo at Big Download (98 MB)

The Tokyo Game Show is the place for some of the more unusual announcements in games and this year is no exception. Square Enix has announced plans to team up with casual PC game king Popcap Games to create Gyromancer, a downloadable PC title that will be released via Steam.

A la Puzzle Quest, this is a fantasy puzzle-RPG combo that has a distinct Square Enix art style mixed in with some Bejeweled gameplay options. Your character of Rivel has to naturally fight off creatures and you can even use the beasts to your advantage to join the fight. Pricing and a release date for the game have not yet been announced.

This is the playable demo for Zuma's Revenge! available for the PC and Mac.

"Enter an all-new world of Zuma where evil tiki bosses rule the land! Conquer over 60 levels by firing stone spheres to make matches and destroy the deadly stream of balls, then take on six tiki boss battles and guide your agile amphibian to victory!

Leap into action in four game modes with explosive new features and amazing new gameplay: Slide and hop for smarter shots, hit targets for exotic bonuses, and detonate new power-up balls! Will you succumb to the perilous pitfalls, or can you tame the jungle in this PopCap ball-blasting challenge?"

Download Zuma's Revenge! Demo (98 MB)
Download Zuma's Revenge! Demo [Mac] (73 MB)

Casual game publisher PopCap Games has had big success with sequels to their hit games like Peggle Nights and Bejeweled Twist. Today PopCap revealed their plans for yet another high profile game sequel, Zuma. The sequel to the addictive ball-based puzzle game, Zuma's Revenge, is scheduled to be released for the PC and Mac on September 15 for $19.95.

Zuma's Revenge will have 60 new levels, new power ups, new "boss batles" and new gameplay modes. PopCap also promises the game will have three time the resolution of the original Zuma along with support for widescreen monitors and "cool 3-D particle effects". PopCap even hired the highest scorer known in the original Zuma, Rick Fortinm to beta test the sequel. MTV's Multiplayer site has some screenshots from the game.

A few weeks ago, PopCap Games' PR rep told us that their next big casual game release would be " . . . a sequel to one of our best selling franchises." Today PocCap let the cat (or worm as the case may be) out of the bag with the announcement of Bookworm Adventures 2, the sequel to their 2007 best selling word puzzle-oriented title.

Like the original game (which you can see above; no screenshots of the sequel have been released yet), Bookworm Adventures 2 has you playing Lex the worm who has to form words via letter tiles in order to fight enemies and collect power-ups. The sequel will have features like a infinity Replay mode, six mini-games, an arena mode, achievements and more. Look for the game to be released on July 30 for $19.99. We are guessing that a free demo will be released at the same time.