If you've got a mobile phone and some spare time you may be able to pickup Bookworm from PopCap games. Bookworm is an addicting word puzzle casual game for you and the family to enjoy. Now it's mobile!
When I first downloaded Bookworm I thought to hide my shame by playing when nobody else was around. You don't want to be labeled as the guy playing "educational games" spelling out big words in a puzzler.
Bookworm isn't just for nerds and kids trying to learn the English language, it's for folks looking for a challenge and don't mind thinking at the same time. It's a game title where you'll walk away after three hours feeling you didn't "waste your time" playing a video game because you spent time exercising your mind...by accident.
In any case, it's now going to be available on mobile phones like other hit casual games. This seems to be the new market considering the amount of folks in the United States carrying around a mobile phone. It may actually be easier to count those that don't have a phone than those that do!
Press Release
SEATTLE, Washington – November 21, 2007 — PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced the immediate availability of its hugely popular game Bookworm™ for a wide array of cell phones in North America and the United Kingdom. Originally launched for Web and PC play in 2003, and the recipient of numerous accolades including “Puzzle Game of the Year” from Games for Windows magazine (nee Computer Gaming World), Bookworm has been a resounding success on BlackBerry since becoming available for that handheld device in April of this year. Bookworm is the second mobile game PopCap has developed internally, and is available today from T-Mobile in the UK and all major mobile carriers throughout North America.
“Bookworm is very well suited for mobile phones because it can be played in short bursts of a minute or two whenever and wherever the opportunity arises,” said Andrew Stein, director of mobile business development at PopCap. “At the same time, the game also offers a great challenge for marathon word-builders since it’s essentially infinite in its replayability. We’ve streamlined and optimized the controls so that playing Bookworm on a phone is even easier than via a mouse or keyboard. And the game now references the Oxford English Dictionary, so even the most inveterate ‘lexophile’ will be satisfied.”
In Bookworm, players must build words from contiguous letter tiles on a grid. Longer and more difficult words score more points and produce a variety of “gem tiles” that offer additional bonuses (and mega-bonuses when multiple gem tiles are used in a single word). Burning tiles sear through normal tiles, reaching the bottom of the grid more quickly; they must be used before they reach the bottom or the game ends. With the new mobile version, players have the option to control the selection of letter tiles via d-pad/cursor, triple-tap or predictive text entry, such that the game controls are streamlined specifically for on-the-go play.
Key features of Bookworm Mobile include:
- Classic and Action game modes with all the game-play of the award-winning PC version
- Vocabulary of up to 140,000 words based on the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary
- Historical tracking of all-time highest scoring as well as longest words, enabling players to compare their personal bests to friends’ all-time best words and scores
- Choice of 3 input methods (two of which are unique to mobile) to optimize experience on the mobile phones
About PopCap PopCap Games (www.popcap.com) is the leading multi-platform provider of “casual games” — fun, easy-to-learn, captivating computer games that appeal to everyone from age 6 to 106. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000 and has a worldwide staff of over 160 people in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, B.C. and Dublin. Its games have been downloaded more than 1 billion times by consumers worldwide, and its flagship title, Bejeweled®, has sold more than 10 million units across all platforms. Constantly acclaimed by consumers and critics, PopCap’s games are played on the Web, desktop computers, myriad mobile devices (cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, iPod and more), popular game consoles (such as Xbox), and in-flight entertainment systems. PopCap is the only casual games developer with leading market share across all major sales channels, including Web portals, retail stores, mobile operators and developers, and game device manufacturers.
