PopCap Unleashes Bejeweled Twist On Unsuspecting Public

October 28, 2008

PopCap
Unleashes Bejeweled Twist On Unsuspecting Public

#1 Puzzle Game of the Century
Revolutionizes Fun with a Brilliant New Way to Play

PopCap Games today introduced an
irresistible innovation in its flagship Bejeweled franchise. Bejeweled Twist,
the first new Bejeweled title in almost four years, puts a completely new spin
on the top-selling puzzle game that PopCap pioneered eight years ago. Featuring
a revolutionary new style of play and production values unrivalled by any other
casual game, Bejeweled Twist is available now for PC via online download at

www.popcap.com/games/bejeweledtwist.

Portal partners including MSN Games,
ORB, RealArcade/Zylom, Steam.com, Telstra, and WildTangent will offer the game
on November 18. On the same date local language versions of Bejeweled Twist will
be available via PopCap’s international websites and other European portal
partners. Also on November 18, Bejeweled Twist will arrive on shelves at leading
North American retail chains including Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Target. Bejeweled
Twist is due to hit European retail shelves in 2009.

Bejeweled is the most popular casual
game franchise of the 21st century, with more than 350 million copies downloaded
and over 25 million units sold. And Bejeweled Twist is already winning over fans
of the original Bejeweled and Bejeweled 2: “There’s no doubt this is the world’s
greatest casual video game,” declared Cindy Robertson, who wrote, published and
sells a strategy guide for Bejeweled 2 under the pen name Julia Gemstone.
“PopCap has done it again, taking a ridiculously simple concept and honing it
into an utterly enthralling experience that can be relaxing, challenging,
exciting or incredibly strategic, depending on your mood. With so many ways to
play, Bejeweled Twist provides thousands of hours of fun for anyone. If
Bejeweled is hot chocolate, Bejeweled Twist is a double mocha latte!”

“It took considerably more time,
more money and more people than the original Bejeweled, but we feel it was worth
every ounce of that effort,” said Jason Kapalka, chief creative officer and
co-founder of PopCap, and co-creator of all three Bejeweled titles. “We promised
ourselves we’d come up with something really new for ‘the next Bejeweled’ and we
must have gone through at least a hundred ideas before settling on the ‘twist
mechanic’ in the new game. Then it was a question of making that mechanic as fun
and intuitive as possible, and that took a lot of tinkering and tweaking. But
we’re really happy with the final result. We believe the new game will be
immediately recognizable to Bejeweled fans, and as easily accessible to novice
players as the original game, but allow far more flexibility and freedom in
play. So it can provide a challenging game for those who enjoy strategy, a
fast-paced blitz for players with a passion for action, and a more relaxing,
Zen-like experience for those just looking for a quick stress-busting break.”