Gyromancer now on Xbox Live Arcade, Steam

Square Enix and PopCap Games have released their first collaborative game development effort, Gyromancer, on XBLA for 1200 points and on Steam for $14.99. Gyromancer is a strategic puzzle RPG that offers a deep storyline, a multifaceted leveling system and 50 monsters to call upon during battle.

Players assume the role of Rivel, a summoner who ventures through the enchanted Aldemona Wood. Each stage contains its own objectives, from defeating beasts that block the player’s way, to solving puzzles before time runs out. Rivel can learn to summon dozens of the beasts he encounters, bending their power to his will and commanding them in battle. Hidden within each stage are a number of rewards earned for completing feats great and small.

Look for the game on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade today.

Peggle Nights expansion coming to XBLA this fall

PopCap Games announced that upcoming Peggle Nights is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade this fall. PopCap promises that this casual puzzler will be fine tuned specifically for XBLA players, and will include all the levels and challenges from the PC and Mac versions of Peggle Nights, along with the ability to play all the new Nights content in the exclusive multiplayer modes found only on XBLA. The Peggle Nights expansion pack will be available for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE this Autumn.

Features in the Peggle Nights expansion pack for XBLA will include 60 new Peggle Nights levels for multiplayer over Xbox LIVE and all single player/local modes, Peggle Nights Adventure mode (60 levels) -including the Nights story, 60 new Peggle Nights Challenges, a new Peggle Master named Marina, a Peggle Nights trophy room, all the Peggle Nights adventure statistics you can handle, new style shots from Peggle Nights PC (available as title upgrade for all Peggle XBLA players) and three new Xbox 360 achievements worth a total of 50 gamerscore - bringing Peggle up to a total of 250 gamerscore.

Plants vs. Zombies confirmed for iPhone

Some great news for iPhone users from PopCap Games today: the wonderful Plants Vs. Zombies is coming to iPhone and iPod Touch by the end of the year. I have said in the past that this game would work on any platform, so i’m glad to see it making its way to the app store later this year.

If you don’t know what it is, Plants vs. Zombies is a unique take on the tower defense genre where players use a variety of plants and specialty units and objects to keep a never-ending onslaught of zombies from getting into your house. The game was originally released for PC and Mac to much acclaim.

The original game included a survival mode, a puzzle mode, and a set of PopCap game-themed mini-games. We do not know at this time if the iPhone version of the game will feature everything from the original, but we hope that it does. More on Plants vs. Zombies when it becomes available. Oh and PopCap - please bring it to PSN and XBLA sooner rather than later. Thank you.

source via Ryan Kuo

PopCap Games reveals Zuma’s Revenge!

Zuma’s Revenge! is on the way from PopCap Games and will be released on September 15th, 2009 according to a news blast from the folks at casual games site Gamezebo.com. The sequel to action puzzle game originally released in 2003 will apparently be a marriage of familiar gameplay from with several new features and game modes.

Zuma’s Revenge! will be available on Sept. 15 in retail stores and via download directly from PopCap.com for $19.95.

Gamezebo already has a preview, the very first screenshots and an exclusive first-look video showing off some of the gameplay.

Robert Chamberlain joins PopCap

PopCap Games has hired Robert Chamberlain, a 20-year technology sector veteran and 30-year finance executive, to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Chamberlain comes to PopCap after similar roles with F5 Networks, Onyx Software and Watchguard Technologies and several other significant software and services companies. Chamberlain officially joins PopCap on August 31, 2009, and replaces interim CFO Karla Horwitz, a partner with Tatum Executive services who has built and grown the finance team for PopCap over the last 17 months.

Chamberlain spent the past two decades driving the growth of many public and private tech firms of various sizes via private or public sales and acquisitions. Most recently he worked for more than two years at Watchguard Technologies, a Seattle-based global provider of firewall and unified threat management (UTM) appliances where he served as CFO. Chamberlain’s past employers include F5 Networks, PhotoDisc, ElseWare Corporation and MidCom Communications. Chamberlain began his career at KPMG, where he spent over ten years as a finance and audit executive and partner.

Ten new World of Warcraft themed Peggle levels released

PopCap Games has released ten new World of Warcraft-themed Peggle levels - available for free at www.popcap.com/promos/pegglewow.

The new WoW-themed Peggle mash-up is a stand-alone version of Peggle, available for free that combines the sights, sounds and storyline of World of Warcraft with the rainbows and unicorns of everyone’s peg-popping addiction. It’s like crack mixed with meth, with a thin coating of ecstasy. It features ten new levels with Peggle masters Bjorn the Unicorn and Splork with his Space Blast facing off against denizens of Azeroth in scenes with names like Too Soon, Executus and The Traitor King – as well as ten new challenges with titles such as Phat Lewtz and Pwnyxia.

The WoW-themed Peggle mash-up is a joint collaboration between PopCap Games and World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment.

Plants vs. Zombies Interview

Plants vs. Zombies Designer George Fan Gets Grilled -
GameTrust contributor Erin Bell has an interesting interview with Plants vs. Zombies, the ultra popular casual tower defense game from PopCap and the man behind the hit game Insaniquarium. The interview is particularly interesting because it delves into the process of creating such a game including its influence, how Fan perfected the addictive gameplay formula, his work on Diablo 3, and a slight hint at what the future holds for Fan.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

Plants vs. Zombies is your second project with PopCap Games; prior to that you also worked with them on Insaniquarium. Was the process significantly different the second time around? If so, how?

“ I was freelance when working on Insaniquarium and didn’t have the resources to hire a full-time team. As a result I had to wear many hats, as I did a majority of the programming and game design while writing some of the music as well as doing the concept art. During Plants vs. Zombies, I was a full-time employee of PopCap, so they helped me put a team together for the game, which really let me focus a lot more on just the game design.“