Casual News – Aug. 21, 2009

Legacy Interactive announces The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Vol.2; The next Women’s Murder Club game will launch on Sept. 10; and according to a study, 60% of the Western world plays video games. These headlines and more below.

News

• PopCap’s Plants vs. Zombies dances into retail for PC and Mac
• Women’s Murder Club: Twice in a Blue Moon launching Sept. 10
• Legacy announces The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2
• Majesco Entertainment partners with Tetris Online Inc. to bring two new Tetris video games to market
• Sony announces "minis" download section for PSP content on PlayStation Network
• New slimmer and lighter PlayStation 3 to launch worldwide this September
• Majesco Entertainment announces Shorts for Nintendo DS is now available at retail
• Cartoon Network Digital names new VP
• MapleStory creator Nexon touts 35% year-on-year sales hike
• eGames announces preliminary fourth quarter fiscal 2009 financial results
• Carillon Media ventures into edutainment casual games on Wii for children
• Cellefun introduces mentor program for new users
• New online Bingo side games from Microgaming
• Game portal Candystand socializes its games with Facebook Connect

Features

• Sprill Diaries: The Fox is Back!
• How Payfish baits the hook on Facebook
• Study: 60 percent of the Western world plays games
• Mobile gaming on the rise but where does the BlackBerry falter?
• GDC Europe: Do you need a publisher for you iPhone game?
• GDC Europe: Zynga talks the rise of social games
• Interview: Nexon talks MapleStory DS, microtransaction saturation
• Gaming’s new market dynamics and the importance of middleware

Erin Bell