Electronic Arts isn't a stranger to putting in-game ads in their games but for their latest PC expansion pack for The Sims 2 they went and made a deal to put the ads in the game's title as well. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff, due out on June 23, lets the best selling Sims characters shop and use products from the home furnishings of the Swedish-based retailer.

Yes, now you can put in the trademark sofas, beds, tables and more furnishings from the iconic store into your Sims enviroment. You can bet this latest expansion will show up quickly in the top 10 best selling PC games list as most Sims expansion packs tend to do. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff will be priced at $19.99.

The term "casual" has been coined to define a genre of game that so-called "non-gamers" can play. These games typically have a number of elements in common:

1. Simple rules -- the object of the game should be clear, with an easily-understood control scheme
2. Minimal time investment -- levels should be short enough to be completed in one sitting, say, between 3 - 5 minutes
3. Minimal system requirements -- the game shouldn't require the latest video card or esoteric browser plug-ins

If we examine one of the reigning kings of the casual game genre, PopCap Games' Bejeweled, we find all three of these elements. It's easy to understand, progress can be made quickly (even though there is no goal other than the accrual of points), and it's Flash-based, which most web browsers already support out of the gate. So on the surface, it's fairly easy to determine, at a glance, if a game fits within the casual template. However, while games like Bejeweled still abound, the genre as a whole has begun to mutate, requiring a redefinition of the label. We'll explore how and why after the jump.

PopCap co-founder John Vechey has revealed its upcoming, internally developed, casual title has had over one million dollars spent on its production thus far in an interview with CasualGaming.biz.

"It's been in production for some time – we took a few wrong turns with the product and turned back to go in different directions. It's really tough to get the simple gameplay out there, but we're there." Vechey said. While major developers have grown used to multi-million dollar production budgets, the million dollar title is a new step in the world of casual gaming. "We spend more time than anyone else in the casual games space on those things," Vechey explained. "Very few people are able to take that risk, except for rare cases like Valve or Blizzard."

The unnamed title has been in development at PopCap for sometime and is scheduled for a release by the end of the year.

Xbox 360 owners got access to this game first but now PC owners can have the thrill of playing their own version of . . . wait for it . . . Boogie Bunnies. What is Boogie Bunnies, you might be asking yourself? Well you are in luck my friend because we can tell you. Boogie Bungies is a casual puzzle game developed by Artech Studios and published by Vivendi Games' Sierra Online brand. It's full of oddly designed "bunnies" (and we use that term loosely) all in rows that have to be taken out when you match three of each color.

The web site has the the full game. The odd thing is that the PC version is priced at $19.95 while the Xbox 360 version costs 800 Microsoft points which currently is worth $10. How do Xbox 360 owners get the same game for half the price? We haven't a clue. If you want to check out the free demo (which gives you one hour of playtime) you can grab it right here at Big Download.

Download the Boogie Bunnies PC demo today

Jack Thompson would be so ashamed at the sort of violence that is being perpetrated recently. First Fantastic Blood Boy, and now this?! Beltality is a small, quirky game where you control presses with one of two goal: squish people (in showers of square blood, no less!) or assemble robots. It's an amazingly simple game, and a good time waster. There are also leaderboards, for those obsessives who have to show their awesome high scores to their friends.

[Via IndieGames]

So little has changed in recent months -- The Sims 2 and World of Warcraft still completely dominate PC game sales. Sure, now and then something usurps them for a short time, but they always come back. The top 10 PC games in the NPD sales report released this past week:

1. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
3. The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack
4. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
5. World Of Warcraft
6. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
7. Sins Of A Solar Empire
8. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
9. Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition
10. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2

That makes four years that The Sims 2 and World of Warcraft have been fairly consistently pwning the industry. The only other PC exclusive on the list is Ironclad/Stardock's runaway 4X RTS hit Sins of a Solar Empire. The others -- Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 -- are multi-platform titles. WoW's position is no surprise, given the NPD's research with regards to online game revenues. The Sims 2's domination of the charts, however, speaks to a vast, silent market of gamers to whom hardcore games like Rainbow Six don't appeal.

If you want to create your own game but think that applications like XNA Game Studios Express are too complicated to use, this may be your lucky day. Microsoft recently announced that it has launched the first version of its Popfly Game Creator. The program is an extension of Popfly, a Silverlight-based way to make web pages and small applications.

The interface allows folks to make games based on 15 different templates with access to a bunch of different artwork as well as sounds, backgrounds and animations. While you can make simple games like variations of Asteroids or Frogger without writing a line of code there is an option to write in code manually if you feel that is needed for your game. The idea is for your to make a game and embed it on your blog page or on a social network page like Facebook where it can be shared by others. The program is in an alpha version so expect improvements to be made in the coming months.

Well that was certainly a case of excellent timing. The same day as the NPD Group announced that the Realarcade.com casual game web site was the second biggest subscription based gaming web site, its parent company RealNetworks announced it was planning to spin off their game business into its own separate company. RealNetworks may even launch an IPO of the new game company to sell up to 20 percent of its shares.

According to the press release, RealNetwork's gaming division generated $108.5 million in revenues in 2007, an increase of 26 percent. In the last quarter (January-March 2008) it had $31.8 million in revenue, up 33 percent from the same period a year ago. While plans for the spin-off company are still early RealNetworks plans to file the appropriate papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by the end of 2008.

It's always been something of a mystery to figure out how much money is made through revenues of online gaming. Today the NPD Group gave us at least a ballpark figure for that amount with a new report that claims $1 billion in revenue was recorded for online gaming between March 2007 and March 2008. The figure not only includes revenue from PC massively multiplayer game subscriptions but also revenue from console games and from casual game downloads.

The study also listed the top five MMO games in terms of their online subscription revenues and its not a surprise to see Blizzard's World of Warcraft on top. The free web based MMO Runescape was second followed by Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online, Square Enix's Final Fantays XI and NCsoft's City of Heroes. The study also had the top five gaming web sites in terms of paid subscribers and as one might expect casual game sites dominated this segment. Electronic Arts' casual games site Pogo.com was first, followed by Realarcade.com, Bigfishgames.com, Gametap.com and Disney.com.

It's currently unknown if the survey also tracked services like Valve's Steam game downloads. The full report is, of course, available for purchase at NPD's web site.

It seems turning adult characters into cute cartoon kids equals box office; the Backyard Baseball line of games has been using that premise for years. Now Marvel Comics and THQ are moving into that genre with a line up of games called Marvel Super Hero Squad. The first game is set for release in 2009 for the PC and other platforms.

Targeting the ever picky 4-10 age group, Marvel Super Hero Squad takes place in Super Hero City where heavily cartooned style versions of Wolverine, Spider-Man and other heroes battle equally cartoony versions of villains like Doctor Doom and the Abomination. Presumably Wolverine's claws won't be cutting into the Abomination's flesh in this incarnation. Look for Marvel to really push this brand heavily with Marvel Super Hero Squad action figures, toys and an animated TV series due for release as well.

Leading casual game publisher PopCap Games has decided to do a very special promotion to celebrate Mother's Day. People who purchase any game on their web site site from now until Mother's Day on May 11 will have 30 percent of that price donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The organization is the largest non-profit group dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research.

People who purchase games from the PopCap web site don't have to do anything special; the 30 percent is automatically taken from the regular price of the game and people can even purchase gift certificates will apply to the promotion. If PopCap Games reaches its intended goal of $100,000 by the end of the day of May 11 it will send out a special free gift to every customer who participated. If you haven't purchase a casual game from PopCap but have been meaning to do so this is certainly the time to do it.

The GROW series of Flash games has got to be one of the most addictive, time-wasting series ever. Besides being terribly cute, they're also a testament to the creativity of one person, known only as 'On'. A new game from On is always an event to celebrate, and no less with his newest creation, Meet In.

This one's a little different than the other games on the Eyezmaze site. It's a single-player, cooperative (if you can get your mind around that one) escape-the-maze game. You have four screens, each of which has a character in it, stuck in a different part of the maze. By working together, all four can escape. It's fun, it's free, go check it out!

[Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

A new study by Carmen Russoniello of East Carolina University, which will be debuting at the Games for Health Conference in Baltimore, looks at how casual games impact the moods and stress levels of people playing them. The study looks at players playing one of three games: Bookworm Adventures, Peggle, and Bejeweled 2 (all by PopCap, who commissioned the study).

The most interesting part is that each game affected the players in a different way. Bookworm made people much more relaxed, Peggle reduced mental tension, and Bejeweled increased "mental vigor" the most. They all, however, caused at least short-term relaxation and stress reduction. The study did not, however, measure long-term effects of playing these games.

[Via Newsweek]

Remember a few weeks ago when EA Sports head Peter Moore decided to make PC sports game fans upset by announcing there would be no PC version of Madden NFL 09 this year? Well, PC sports gamers just got a new option to look forward to. Today it was announced that a new Boston based game developer-publisher called Play Hard has launched. The company, who has former Turbine CEO Jeff Anderson as its co-founder and CEO, is planning to launch a series of PC casual sports games via the Internet.

The press release mentions Electronic Arts' decision to abandon their PC port of Madden this year and sort of rubs that decision in EA's face, stating that Play Hard plans to fill the gap in that hole in the marketplace. The company has already scored a $5 million venture capital deal with New Enterprise Associates. In an article with the Boston Globe newspaper, Anderson stated that they plan to release their first game, a football title, sometime this fall (more sports genres will be added later) on their ad-supported web site (people will be able to see an add-free site via some kind of subscription fee). Players will be able to "level up" their football team and players the more they play in a nod to Anderson's previous experience as a developer of fantasy MMO games.

But will this new venture be successful? DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole is quoted in the article as having doubts about Play Hard, citing the already crowded casual game market as a barrier to Play Hard's success. Anderson has no such doubt, stating that after working on fantasy MMOs he was ready for something new. It should be interesting to see if a small start-up can succeed where EA apparently cannot.