While some gamers regard PopCap's selection as casual titles as the stuff that bored housewives play (good thing they've got a computer in the kitchen and all), let's face it -- millions of people play their games for a reason. The match-three formula makes for a simple, enjoyable gaming experience,and best of all, it is ideal for a stress-free zone out session where your brain can shut off for a while.

Sounds like just what some soldiers could use to ease the stress of their everyday responsibilities, which may be part of the reason why PopCap chose to donate the first 500 copies of Bejeweled Twist to Games For Soldiers, a non-profit organization that helps to keep soldiers supplied with games to play in their down time.

Pretty cool stuff, especially considering that casual games such as Bejeweled are popular with military personnel of all ages. Now I need to come up with a cool organization so people will donate games to me. Oh wait, Destructoid already exists!

PopCap Donates First 500 Retail Copies of Bejeweled Twist^™ To Overseas Military

Donation to Games For Soldiers Organization Brings Latest Blinged-Out Puzzler to Armed Forces Personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan

 

 

SEATTLE, Washington – November 12, 2008 — PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, announced today that it will ship the first 500 boxed, retail copies of Bejeweled Twist^™ to the non-profit Games For Soldiers (GFS) organization tomorrow. GFS will deliver the boxed copies of the game to armed services personnel stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan in time for soldiers in the field to enjoy it during the holiday season. The third installment in its ultra-popular Bejeweled^® franchise, Bejeweled Twist arrives on retail shelves next Tuesday, November 18 and is available now via Web download at www.popcap.com.

 

"We really appreciate PopCap's generous contribution – one of several the company has made to our organization – and are ramping up to distribute copies of Bejeweled Twist to soldiers in the field by mid-December, just in time for the holidays," said Jesse Williams, founder of Games For Soldiers and Army National Guard soldier who returned home from a deployment to Afghanistan earlier this year. "So-called 'casual' games like Bejeweled, Peggle and Zuma are hugely popular with military personnel of all ages, ranks and backgrounds. These games lend themselves to the occasional and haphazard 'down time' common to military life in combat areas, and provide some distraction and even stress relief in what are often high-adrenaline and/or high anxiety environments."

 

SPC Williams first began contacting video game publishers while stationed in Afghanistan, securing donations to help outfit his unit's MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) center. After returning home, he founded the Games For Soldiers organization (www.gamesforsoldiers.org), which has shipped thousands of video games to armed services personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008, to both individual soldiers and base recreation centers and Internet cafes. While there are dozens of organizations chartered with distributing books, toiletries, snacks and other items to U.S. Armed Services personnel, Games For Soldiers is the only entity that is specifically focused on donating video games to the troops.

 

Bejeweled Twist is the recently-launched third installment in the seminal puzzle franchise. From PCs and Macs, PlayStation and Xbox consoles to mobile phones, PDAs, iPods and iPhones, Bejeweled is available for more than a dozen devices and platforms and is the most popular casual game of the 21^st century. More than 350 million copies of Bejeweled/Bejeweled 2 have been downloaded from the Web, accounting for nearly a third of the 1 billion-plus downloads of all PopCap^® titles. Further, the Bejeweled franchise alone has been enjoyed for more than 6 billion hours by consumers worldwide.