Casual Games Broach Apple's iPhone

Members of the game community who have been wondering (or worrying) about the lack of games on Apple’s iPhone can now look to casual games company PopCap Games, who has decided that if Apple will not come to it, it will go to Apple. Seattle-based PopCap today announced it has launched a new web-based version of Bejeweled that iPhone users will be able to play on their devices. The popular casual game has been customized for Safari, the web browser that comes with the iPhone. According to a press release from PopCap, the revamped version of Bejeweled fits with the wireless capabilities of the iPhone and has been optimized to take advantage of its display and input controls. Beginning today, iPhone users will be able to play the game for free by simply visiting PopCap’s web site from their mobiles. While hype for games on Apple’s “i” products has been somewhere between light and virtually nonexistent, at least one other company, iGiki.com, did announce before the iPhone’s release that it would also supply users with games. In early June, iGiki.com said it too would supply web-based iPhone-playable games, developed in Adobe Flash CS3 and modified for use without a mouse. Unlike PopCap’s Bejeweled for the iPhone, iGiki.com’s titles are for the most part sold in packs for around $2 for three months of access, though some smaller “GikiMini” games are free. The company mostly specializes in remakes of classic arcade games and mini games, like darts and Hangman.