After four years of development, Popcap lit up Seattle Monday night with the launch of Bejeweled Twist sparing no expense to show off their new casual game. It took four years to complete but Popcap isn’t going to release a game until it’s perfect. You won’t play it until they believe it is a game their mom would love.
“Popcap builds games for people, not demographics,” says CEO David Roberts. At the launch the founders, John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka talked about the casual game market while the “Gem Girls” walked around looking sexy and flashy. Roberts talked about the casual game industry and forecasts it growing to become an $8 billion market — not too shabby for USD $19.99 games.
Downloads of Bejeweled, of course, show no signs of stopping and Popcap explained that 40% of their revenue comes from the old concepts of “Diamond Mine.” Phil Spencer, Microsoft Game Studios’ General Manager, hopped on stage and explained how Microsoft saw Popcap’s vision in their Diamond Mine flash game and suggested a rename to Bejeweled, the founders hated the name but took the big companies suggestion on the change.
Since then, we’ve had many folks attempt to clone and replicate the success in Popcap’s flagship product. Complete with open bar, Gem Girls, camera flashes and glitter this game launch shows the growing casual games industry the great power and momentum of “simple” casual games.
Nothing about Bejeweled Twist is simple. The game play of Bejeweled Twist aggregates all the knowledge Popcap has acquired over the last seven years to design one blockbuster title. From classic Bejeweled to Chuzzle to Peggle, the game takes pieces of each successful title and combines the game play, sounds, graphics and modes into a product that will bring casual gaming to a new level. Bejeweled Twist is going to be the new bar to reach in the industry in terms of addictive game play and a unified casual vision.
Stay tuned for the full review as we get deep into the full features of Bejeweled Twist. Special thanks to Dale North from Destructoid for hanging out for some drinks during the after party.
@PSP Go Price Goes Back to $200 After 3 Days
I honestly don’t know what to believe. Looks like a mistake. Good point from Jonah, now every person (that cares about it) will wait for the price to go down :).
@Industry Struggling With Casual and Mobile Game Market:
All industries that sell information or information services (be it music records, movies, games, communication services) get affected by how the information technology evolves.
There’s also a need to follow the social trends, not only the technology, and this is where some industries lack behind. I don’t see record companies doing what Nine Inch Nails did:
https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/11947
@Gamer Loses $1800 In Games from Steam:
… that’s dumb. If you were caught once, why the heck would you try it again?
Now, another question: did Valve just take preemptive actions? Because if they did, that can turn bad for them.
Now, if you really want to sell a game you own on Steam, make one Steam account for each game. Then sell only THAT account.
@Netflix vs. Facebook: Jennifer, very good point there, with the interests of the said bank 😀
And no, Jonah, it was not the ‘Tom Cruise Mission Impossible’, it was the TV series Mission Impossible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMDthmydL1c
Carmack is more interested in the game engine rather than the game itself. Tim Willits is the ‘game’ guy from Id, along with John Romero.
@Question of the week: I’d go for GDC as well, because I’m more interested in how games are made, and because I’m not Average Joe 😛
@PSP Go Price Goes Back to $200 After 3 Days
I honestly don’t know what to believe. Looks like a mistake. Good point from Jonah, now every person (that cares about it) will wait for the price to go down :).
@Industry Struggling With Casual and Mobile Game Market:
All industries that sell information or information services (be it music records, movies, games, communication services) get affected by how the information technology evolves.
There’s also a need to follow the social trends, not only the technology, and this is where some industries lack behind. I don’t see record companies doing what Nine Inch Nails did:
https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/11947
@Gamer Loses $1800 In Games from Steam:
… that’s dumb. If you were caught once, why the heck would you try it again?
Now, another question: did Valve just take preemptive actions? Because if they did, that can turn bad for them.
Now, if you really want to sell a game you own on Steam, make one Steam account for each game. Then sell only THAT account.
@Netflix vs. Facebook: Jennifer, very good point there, with the interests of the said bank 😀
And no, Jonah, it was not the ‘Tom Cruise Mission Impossible’, it was the TV series Mission Impossible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMDthmydL1c
Carmack is more interested in the game engine rather than the game itself. Tim Willits is the ‘game’ guy from Id, along with John Romero.
@Question of the week: I’d go for GDC as well, because I’m more interested in how games are made, and because I’m not Average Joe 😛
@qotw
i would totally attend comic con to see monster hunter armors and stuff
@qotw
i would totally attend comic con to see monster hunter armors and stuff
I was searching for a good gamming podcast for mounths and finally found it, tks guys, really great show
I was searching for a good gamming podcast for mounths and finally found it, tks guys, really great show
@PSP Go – I am ashamed to admit that I have owned not just one, but three PSP’s. At this point Sony seems to be cranking out system after system without putting enough in it. It seems like the only thing they do it make it slimmer.
@Gamer Losing 1800 – If he wants to sell his account he should find someone privately not announce it. I think that people will never read the ULA no matter how short it gets. Its just that part of the registration where you click the check box and hit next.
@PSP Go – I am ashamed to admit that I have owned not just one, but three PSP’s. At this point Sony seems to be cranking out system after system without putting enough in it. It seems like the only thing they do it make it slimmer.
@Gamer Losing 1800 – If he wants to sell his account he should find someone privately not announce it. I think that people will never read the ULA no matter how short it gets. Its just that part of the registration where you click the check box and hit next.
cmon derrick record the podcast already i cant live without your podcast
cmon derrick record the podcast already i cant live without your podcast
It’s not going to happen for about a month, will explain in an episode will post this week with outtakes.
It’s not going to happen for about a month, will explain in an episode will post this week with outtakes.
A month is fine, as long as nothing bad happened to you guys.
A month is fine, as long as nothing bad happened to you guys.
Unfortunately it wasn’t good news at all. My son was diagnosed with Leukemia a week or so ago and we’re working to get him better. Spending a lot of time in the hospital with him and we’ve not got time to record anything until he’s able to come home.
Unfortunately it wasn’t good news at all. My son was diagnosed with Leukemia a week or so ago and we’re working to get him better. Spending a lot of time in the hospital with him and we’ve not got time to record anything until he’s able to come home.
Fuuu …
Sorry about the news, I was hoping for something “we won a one month trip to Hawaii” kind of thing …
Anyway, family comes first.
Fuuu …
Sorry about the news, I was hoping for something “we won a one month trip to Hawaii” kind of thing …
Anyway, family comes first.