Popcap games on Steam

[Sulkdodds]

In a not-entirely surprising move by Valve,
Popcap's enduringly popular and colourful puzzle games will soon be coming to Steam. Games such as Bejeweled and Zuma generate "over 175 million downloads and three billion player minutes per month". With a recent study (as seen in PC Gamer!) finding that 71% of the 'casual games' market is female and 65% over the age of 35, Valve is apparently tapping into as wide a market as possible, presumably to further some feminist conspiracy.[br]"The addition of PopCap Games' expansive library of leading casual games is an important step for the growth of Steam and direct distribution channels," said Valve head honcho Gabe Newell. Bryan Fiete, Popcap's co-founder, added: "our games appeal to all gamers, and not just some narrow 'puzzle game' niche."[br]

​

[br]Click here to read the full story, and click here for cheerful puzzle games. No, there is no sniper rifle.

 

[Lucid]

Insaniquarium too?! Plzplzplzplzzzthx

 

[CyberPitz]

Hmm, interesting. I wonder how much they will cost *if any*?

 

[Salamandra]

A game without a sniper rifle OR a crossbow isn't a game.

 

[Lucid]

A game without a sniper rifle OR a crossbow isn't a game.

Fail.

 

[Asus]

Neat. The more things available on steam the better.

 

[Salamandra]

Fail.

Oh

It looks interesting... but I don't think I'd particularly like any of those games...

 

[hool10]

Neat. The more things available on steam the better.

Wrong. Seeing banner ad games on Steam is never a good thing, but hey Valve is a business.

 

[Asuka]

Neat. The more things available on steam the better.

Agreed even tho im not a fan of the popcap games. I wish Valve starts selling some reflexive games. Now those rock!

http://www.reflexive.com/

 

[Shamrock]

Neat. The more things available on steam the better.

A
G
R
E
E
D
.

 

[Selkcip]

I feel it's a bit of a step down.

 

[BrimStone04]

Wrong. Seeing banner ad games on Steam is never a good thing, but hey Valve is a business.

What do u mean by that? If u mean the ads in the Steam Store menu, then whats the big deal about that, thats where people would go to search for games, u should expect to see the ads for them. I think its a great thing, shows that digital distribution is just one step bigger, and seeing as how i bought all my valve games from steam, not retail, i hope they continue to add more to their steam library. more game variety is needed, like on XBOX Arcade! So many cool games on that thing!

 

[nutcrackr]

Our little Steam is growing up :dork:

 

[easy_g]

More games on steam --> more revenue for valve --> more awesome Half Life stuff

 

[CyberPitz]

Agreed even tho im not a fan of the popcap games. I wish Valve starts selling some reflexive games. Now those rock!

http://www.reflexive.com/

www.missionred.com

Played that back in school 5 years ago. Good stuff.

 

[Vegeta897]

More games on steam --> more revenue for valve --> more awesome Half Life stuff

That's true, but I hate these stupid online games. Especially "bejeweled". Uuuugghghghhg.

 

[bigburpco]

I forecasted this a few days ago. :O

Anyway, already have the games, so meh for me, I guess.

 

[bodhi]

is steam turning into Xbox Live marketplace or something? (not necessarily a bad thing if they get marble blast and texas hold 'em etc)

 

[eAi]

I forecasted this a few days ago. :O

Anyway, already have the games, so meh for me, I guess.

You going to boast about this fact on every forum you can find?

 

[hool10]

What do u mean by that? If u mean the ads in the Steam Store menu, then whats the big deal about that, thats where people would go to search for games, u should expect to see the ads for them. I think its a great thing, shows that digital distribution is just one step bigger, and seeing as how i bought all my valve games from steam, not retail, i hope they continue to add more to their steam library. more game variety is needed, like on XBOX Arcade! So many cool games on that thing!

Most of these are games worthy of being in a banner ad. And most of them contain adware, etc. Its like a phrase when you work: "Are you looking at how many products you can make or the quality of the products you make?" Personally I would'nt d/l a game that looks like a flash game nor pay for one. :|

 

[Beerdude26]

My brother's girlfriend wtfOWNS everything and everyone AND your cat in that Zuma game. Damn ultra-fast women D:

 

[A True Canadian]

I'm not sure I understand the strategy behind this move. Popcap games are the standard arcade flair that is popular amongst office workers for getting through downtime. These games are already avaliable for free on an online distribution network...the Internet. I doubt that the 'casual gamers' that Valve are trying to market to are going to want to download a huge program like Steam just to play these small arcade games that are already available online.

 

[boglito]

I'm not sure I understand the strategy behind this move. Popcap games are the standard arcade flair that is popular amongst office workers for getting through downtime. These games are already avaliable for free on an online distribution network...the Internet. I doubt that the 'casual gamers' that Valve are trying to market to are going to want to download a huge program like Steam just to play these small arcade games that are already available online.

Is steam huge? I mean, my steamfolder is 20GB, which I guess is huge, but the steam-client itself is a 709kB download and my steam-process currently sucks up 8MB of ram after being loaded for 48 or more hours. That is not in any aspect huge.

While I personally find these games almost 100% uninteresting it might be a smart move by valve to try to attract casual gamers. The current steam-lineup doesn't appeal to casual gamers, but valve may be working to change that. (Oh no, here comes Teh Sims: Source!!1)

.bog.

 

[Cole]

Is steam huge? I mean, my steamfolder is 20GB, which I guess is huge, but the steam-client itself is a 709kB download and my steam-process currently sucks up 8MB of ram after being loaded for 48 or more hours. That is not in any aspect huge.

While I personally find these games almost 100% uninteresting it might be a smart move by valve to try to attract casual gamers. The current steam-lineup doesn't appeal to casual gamers, but valve may be working to change that. (Oh no, here comes Teh Sims: Source!!1)

You don't have to preload any games you don't want to. If you don't preload them they wont take up anything on your hard drive.

The steam folder contains all the games that you have preloaded or installed.

 

[fearian]

I love zuma! ^-^

 

[TehPolaris]

Bleh, I want the Steam library to overflow with innovative and original Indie-games, not the same rehashed puzzle clones that office workers play to burn time. Oh well, this stuff will stay in the store section and most regular gamers who use steam will never notice

 

[605Scorpion]

71% of the 'casual games' market is female and 65% over the age of 35, Valve is apparently tapping into as wide a market as possible, presumably to further some feminist conspiracy.

O RLY? :naughty:

 

[sullview]

That zuma game rocks, but I guess I don't understand what being on steam will acoomplish for these games...

 

[Dog--]

I love Popcap, I've got every game they have (deluxe versions), Heavy Weapon is the best, though. Next is Insaniquarium.

 

[Xenon2]

lol

 

[CyberPitz]

Maybe this wont involve any way of getting adware/spyware on your box, so it's safer to use around teh office, or at home.

 

[bigburpco]

You going to boast about this fact on every forum you can find?

No, just thought it was strange/coincidental.

 

[Tarky]

Maybe this wont involve any way of getting adware/spyware on your box, so it's safer to use around teh office, or at home.

Er.. casual games don't contain spyware / adware, particularly not any from popcap.

A lot of people here are posting misinformed comments about casual games. They are aimed at a completely different market most of the time to what the majority of you guys are. Sure you may ask, why would valve put it on steam then. My best guess, they are attempting to expand their user base, get more people to have steam. And yes you will have to pay for them, in fact I wouldn't doubt that the pricing structure is almost identical to the actual popcap website itself. Keep in mind these are seperate games / applications that run on your computer and not some in browser flash game.

Great move in my oppinion, a lot of these games are created by small studios with small budgets almost always struggling developing one of these games every 6 months or so (depending on their dev cycle).

May I redirect you here : http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Whitepaper/Publishing

For more information about casual games.

& here to an interesting article
http://news.com.com/Casual+games+get+serious/2100-1043_3-6071465.html

 

[V-Man339]

Popcap is evil

Popcap is a thieving company, heres my proof.
http://www.tigsource.com/articles/2007/06/26/popcap-on-the-topic-of-creativity
The entire concept of zuma was stolen from a game released in 1993 by Nintendo or some other japanese company.
Way back they might have struggled for months to get all the concept the coding and the experimentaiton, but 10 years later Popcap comes along, notices a good idea made by someone else, and makes their own clone of it.
Nintendo or whoever it is even went so far as to have their lawyers e-mail them and popcap e-mailed them back.
In an interview with some nintendo dude he said something to the effect of "they e-mailed us and our lawyers back, and they basically said "we don't gibe a shit"".
I rest my case that popcap is just an evil company looking for millions of saps to steal $20 from.

 

[Lucid]

Dude, a news thread from AUGUST OF LAST YEAR?

Stop with the necromancy ffs.