Casual games are both convenient and relatively inexpensive. For $20 you can often download a game that will last you for many weeks, offering addictive puzzles and plenty of finger-flickin’ fun. Hoping to cash in on the market, online sales behemoth Amazon now offers several games in its beta download section for $7 to $10. That’s a nice price for gamers but not so good for the economically precarious game companies developing the games.

According to Venture Beat, companies including PopCap Games and iWin and have already parted ways with Amazon’s new Games Download section. Games that usually start at $20 each are being undercut by Amazon’s low starting prices and casual game companies want to …

On July 24, 2008, during Casual Connect, the second annual Zeebys Casual Game Awards were held. The award show names the best casual games in a variety of categories, as nominated by 40 companies and casual gamers. This year’s awards had 17 categories and honored games from 2007.

The show also raised a substantial amount of money. The Zeebys is an awards show and a charity event, and this year $11,000 from ticket sales and a charity auction was raised for Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

The categories and winners (taken directly from the press release and official site) are as follows…

MumboJumbo has announced that the second installment of 7 Wonders will be available for PC on August 14, 2007. The game is has been developed by Hot Lava and will retail in stores for $19.99. In 7 Wonders II, players match three same-colored coins to gather supplies to create the seven wonders. Even though it’s more »

Earlier this week (July 12, 2007), Funkitron, Inc. announced the development of a new trivia title, The ’80s Game with Martha Quinn, featuring the image and voice of former MTV VJ, Martha Quinn. The game, to be available for download in Q3 2007 for PC, will include approximately 3,000 trivia questions from several genres: ’80s more »

Funkitron is currently offering the addictive strategy boardgame, Blokus, as a free online PC game through its web site, Blokus.com. To play, you strategically place Tetris-esque pieces on a game board without touching while blocking another player’s moves.

Since multi-talented artist and engineer Bernard Tavitian introduced this game to…

Verizon Wireless and Sony BMG Music Entertainment has announced that its newest and exclusive mobile phone game, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Mobile, is now available to select Verizon Wireless Get It Now-capable phones including enV by LG, MOTOKRZR K1m and Samsung SCH-a950 cellphones.

In this modern arcade-style game with retro spirit, the player controls a space ship that must annihilate a never-ending onslaught of various enemy shapes. Players can use either four- or eight-way buttons, as well as the keypad to maneuver the game with the same precision as the original…

An annual study by the Casual Games Association (CGA) reports an increase of investments, breadth of offerings and a consumer shift towards casual games (both retail and online). The results, which were announced Tuesday (July 17, 2007) at the casual connect conference in Seattle, WA, go into further detail about the widening demographics and lists the most popular casual games of 2006.

Unsurprisingly, the study found that the demographic for casual game players is widening. Women make up the majority of paying players online, with men representing approximately half of the (much larger) pool of non-paying online players. No details were listed about the age breakdown.

The report suggests that the market has become much more …

Casual games publisher and developer Ludia Inc. just announced a deal with Fremantle Media to launch The Price Is Right across all the major platforms. Based on the long-running gameshow, the title will feature continuously updated real life merchandise. The downloadable PC game will be available this Holiday season (2007). Core gameplay will revolve around more »

Another Tetris-like puzzler is headed to your PC from the folks over at FreshGames, developers of the casual hit Cubis. ZenGems chronicles the adventures of young Hoshiko as he searches for Medallions of Virtue in a desperate attempt to save his grandfather’s temple.

The screenshots make it look like the game will require you to drop colored balls down onto a pre-set puzzle formation, described as a combination of Astro Pop and Bejeweled with painted background. Certain patterns eliminate portions of the puzzle and score you points. The game …

King.com, the casual games competition site, announced the launch of MyGame today (July 17, 2007), a social games site which combine user-generated content, casual games and revenue sharing. The site is up and running right now and available in eight languages.

The coolest feature in MyGame is the “create games” section, where users upload a photo and make a simple game incorporating it. Other sections of the site include the Pro Games section for more serious developers and the skill games area with content provided by King.com. Players can…