Zombies are THE pop-cultural touchstones of our times. There is probably a deep-seated psychological reason for this based upon post-millennial angst, Generation Z nihilism and half a dozen other things, but I for one can't be bothered looking into it. Let's just say that if an actual Zombie Apocalypse were to happen tomorrow, I doubt if there would be any more zombies around than are currently stinking up our screens.

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A few weeks back we told you about Bejewelled Twist's official launch on PopCap. The day marked perhaps the greatest accomplishment in game design since at least 2005, when the last Bejewelled game was released, with news that gamers could twist their gems, as opposed to merely shifting them. Yes, it was genius.

Well hold tight because the gaming revolution has hit Australia; from today Bejewelled Twist will be available through Bigpond Games, for just $26.99. And you know what that means, right? We antipodeans can now twist to our hearts content- or at least until May 2009 when Bigpond's exclusive distribution rights to the game run out.

Bejeweled is a big, big deal. It's also a big money maker, with casual gamers dropping a mind-blowing $300 million on the game over the course of Bejeweled's eight-year existence across every platform PopCap Games can squeeze the game onto. The publisher is hoping to keep that money train a-rollin', announcing Bejeweled Twist, a new game in the series that, if you can believe it, has been in development for three years.

Details are scant, as PopCap is keeping the twist in Bejeweled Twist under wraps. The publisher plans to unveil the game at a gala event at Seattle's Experience Music Project Sci-Fi Museum and Hall of Fame on October 27. No, they're no kidding, not even when they say the gala will be "the most spectacular launch event in casual games history."

The most spectacular launch event in casual games history and we have the good fortune to be alive when it happens.

Know what's awesome? Peggle. Scoff if you must, but it's taking every molecule of willpower to continue with this post instead of just saying "Fuck it" and playing some Peggle. Fortunately, the Xbox Live Arcade release of PopCap Games' Peggle appears to be inching ever closer to release, now slated for a "sometime in 2008" release. The price? Cheap, at 800 Microsoft Points according to a new Talking About Games interview.

Sure, this whole level pack business will drive the price up, but its Microsoft Points, imaginary fun money with no real value. Plus, there's four-player multiplay via Xbox Live planned. Off to find a new vein for my Peggle addiction!

Peggle on XBLA: 4 player multiplayer, 800 MS Points, no level packs at launch [Talking About Games via X3F]

Had to rub my eyes when I saw this Onion-esque headline at Wired. "Bejeweled, Warcraft Combine to Form World's Most Addictive Game." No, it's not April Fool's. The puzzle game will be added into WoW next Thursday, allowing players to kill time when they're on long, tedious tasks, like waiting for a raid or gold/item-farming.

What's interesting on top of packing one world-class timesuck inside of another (in real world terms, this would be like snorting bacon-flavored meth), is how it all came to pass. Michael Fromwiller, a student at San Jose State, wrote an add-on he called Besharded, which came reasonably close to mimicking PopCap's hit. But it didn't come close enough for PopCap, which instead of sending out a C&D letter, reached out to Fromwiller and hired him to do a version of the real thing. Next week it's available for WoW, with no opposition from Blizzard. Wired has the word straight from PopCap itself, but a no-comment from Blizzard.

Bejeweled, Warcraft Combine to Form World's Most Addictive Game [Wired]

Casual game developer PopCap Games has teamed with Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment to bring hit downloadable computer game Peggle to the DS. Says PopCap's Greg Canessa:

I have a great deal of respect for Q Entertainment as one of the industry's preeminent game developers, with a proven reputation for creativity and innovation. Q is a great choice to partner with us — they share many of PopCap's design and creative philosophies and are equally big believers in quality and attention to detail. These factors, combined with Q's impressive track record of success on DS and PSP, make this a natural fit. I'm confident that Q will create an experience with Peggle for DS that will both satisfy existing fans of the game and attract a new audience of on-the-go gamers who appreciate the DS for its one-of-a-kind display format and other unique capabilities.

Q Entertainment is best known for titles like Lumines, Rez HD and Meteos. Details about the DS Peggle title are forthcoming, but it's expected to have exclusive DS levels and DS tweaked controls. Hit the jump for the full press release.

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Gamasutra has an interesting interview up with some of PopCap's people — co-founder John Vechey, CEO David Roberts and PR director Garth Chouteau — talking about the PopCap model and structure and the casual market at large. It's a reasonably lengthy interview with a couple of gems contained within:

It is very much a multiplatform, multichannel, multipartner business where our goal is to get our games anywhere they're going to be great, anywhere we can. If your fridge can make a great Bejeweled experience, by god, we'd have your fridge playing Bejeweled.

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PopCap, paragon portal of the casual clickfest, wants desk jockeys in the UK to spend more of their office hours playing casual games online. To support its efforts, the company is claiming that banning personal internet use in the office is costing UK businesses £4 billion ($US 7.85 billion) a year.

Workers unable to visit social networking, dating, shopping and gaming sites on office time, PopCap said, have reduced staff efficiency and morale. The casual games company even brought in a Goldsmiths University Psychologist, Dr. Chamorro-Premuzic, to study the impact of personal internet bans on employee productivity.

Plus, the report suggests, the 71 percent of employees who sneak online to mess around when they're not supposed to probably feel "frowned upon," even resentful of their workplace. 47 percent of PopCap's survey subjects said they felt their boss would rather they take a five minute "fag break" (that's cigarettes, guys) than surf online.

So, demoralised UK workers, PopCap apparently calls on you to help your economy by playing some Peggle on the job! Steely-eyed supervisors relent!

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Yes, yes, everyone is jumping on board the iPhone bandwagon, and since I own an iPhone that makes me very, very happy.

The latest recruits include Namco, PopCap and THQ with talk of Pac-Man, Galaga, Bejeweled, Zuma and Peggle coming to the device.

"We're very excited about Apple's new SDK and reaching every iPhone user through the new App Store," said Scott Rubin, vice president, Sales and Marketing, Namco Networks. "We can't wait to show off great new versions of arcade classics like PAC-MAN and Galaga that use the revolutionary features of the iPhone and iPod touch."

...

"Apple's become an important mobile game platform with the iPhone SDK," said Jason Kapalka, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, PopCap. "The new SDK gives us the tools to innovate and reinvent games like Bejeweled, Zuma and Peggle. With the new App Store we can reach every iPhone and iPod touch user on the planet."

...

"The iPhone is the mobile platform game developers have been dreaming of," said Scott Zerby, vice president, THQ Wireless. "We're looking at how we can use the iPhone's innovative user interface to create new game experiences for our big brand entertainment partners that consumers love."

All I gotta say is that they better be making use of some of the iPhone's neat capabilities and not just porting it straight over from a cell phone build. That and why the hell haven't we heard about Puzzle Quest? Don't make me email you Infinite Interactive!

iPhone SDK Downloads Top 100,000 [Apple]

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Yes, Peggle is coming for the DS. Don't act so surprised. John Vechey, co-founder of Peggle devs PopCap, announced the title at the Casual Connect conference, which is being held in Amsterdam. That should be all you need to know! Peggle, for the DS. If you're wondering about a release date or price, sorry, they don't have that yet. If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, consider that Peggle on the PC has now been downloaded over 10 million times.
PopCap's Peggle bouncing over to DS [Pocket Gamer]

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