I’ve had to make a conscious effort not to get Plants vs. Zombies for the iPhone, simply because I know I’ll spend too much of my life playing it. That game is insanely addictive, to a point I think is fair to consider unhealthy. A couple hundred thousand people have been bitten by this brainless monster, putting the total sales figures for just 9 days at a million bucks.

As PopCap has it, the game sold more than 300,000 units in just 9 days, which set an App Store record.

“There’s always a concern when bringing a computer game to a mobile, pocket-sized device that something will get lost in the process, but in this case the overwhelming consensus is that Plants vs. Zombies is even more fun on the smaller touch screen!” That’s Andrew Stein, PopCap’s director of mobile business development. The company is also responsible for Bejeweled, a game that never leaves the top downloads page it seems. Apparently Bejeweled is now the first paid app to reach 3 million dollars.

Source: Kotaku

We’ve been waiting for a mobile version of the Xbox platform for a long time. A very long time. I think the success of the iPhone has killed that dream, and the new Windows Phone 7 is going to be the closest we’ll see for a very long time.

The problem is, the Windows Phone 7 doesn’t really do all that much. Ballmer and company were quick to tout its Xbox Live integration, but what do you really get? You can collect mobile achievements for some more Gamerscore (does anyone actually care about Gamerscore?), browse leaderboards, play turn-based games though not in real time, and take a peek at your Avatar (possible from any web capable phone already).

Those are pretty lackluster features for a phone that’s supposed to bring your entertainment experience on the go. Ron Pessner, the GM of Xbox LIVE Mobile had this to say: “It has always been our vision to expand the Xbox LIVE service to connect people to their games, entertainment and friends wherever they go, and the launch of Windows Phone 7 Series is an important step toward that goal.”

It’s a baby step, my friend, as in you guys finally have a platform that isn’t fugly so you actually did some development for it. Color me unimpressed.

You might not be a believer in the iPad. I understand that. I respect that. As it stands, the device is pretty lackluster, and it’s certainly lacking in the gaming department. PopCap believes in it, though, or at least one of the co-founder’s does.

John Vechey recently talked with Eurogamer about the future of Apple’s newest gadget and the role it would play in PopCap’s development. “The iPad’s important,” he said, “but I think it’s going to be more important in three years … it’s probably going to take the second generation to make it really, like, ‘Wow!’” I’d say at least the second. Unless Apple’s initial release was the worst tease of all time, the iPad has a long way to go before it becomes a must-have item.

It’s not just the device Vechey is attracted to, it’s the accessibility to new content. “Here’s this new device that gets to more people with a really great e-commerce model attached to it … it’s really easy to buy on the iPhone — that’s part of what makes it successful.”

Read the full interview at Eurogamer.

According to a recent study by Game Developer Research, the iPhone OS has surpassed both the Nintendo DS and the PSP as a handheld gaming development platform. The study showed that 19 percent of all developers are coding for the iPhone/iPod Touch, which is more than double the stats for both Nintendo and Sony.

If you think this isn’t a big deal, consider the following: handheld games are now 25 percent of the total gaming market, up from just 12 percent before the iPhone came on the scene. That’s some huge growth, even if you figure most iPhone gamers are playing simple things like Bejeweled 2 and Tap Tap Revenge. Sure, there’s no Scribblenauts, not yet anyway, but the platform has enough support from both gamers and developers that I’m sure we’ll see more serious titles in the future.

The problem for me is still the lack of physical controls. I know the touch thing is cool, but it’s also completely frustrating to cover your game screen with your thumbs. That’s not enjoyable. I’m still waiting for that universal controller add-on to launch.

Source: Electronista

Someone needs to sit down with John Koller, Sony’s hardware marketing manager, and give him a quick lesson on cause and effect. He seems to think the iPad, as with the iPod Touch and iPhone, will drive PSP sales for customers looking for “deeper, richer console.” Personally, I think he’s nuts.

The numbers look good – the PSP and PSP Go have tripled in combined sales since the launch of the iPhone. But that doesn’t make the two related. My guess is the price of the PSP has gone down so much and the units have been hacked so many times that it’s become accessible enough to encourage a lot of gamers to buy.

I talk a lot on Gadget Teaser about the death of dedicated devices and the future of the all-in-wonder. I think handheld gaming is following the trend toward multi-purpose machines. Apple has simply put together a better system for supporting that kind of platform. If Sony doesn’t make some changes, I wouldn’t be surprised to see PSP sales plateau in the next 2 years.

Source: WSJ

So you’re unwilling to spend the money on Steam for a version of Plants vs. Zombies you can’t take on the go. For a hot minute it looked like you might be in luck, set to enjoy PopCap’s great little tower defense game on the iPhone by the end of the month. Sadly, the game has been delayed, pushed back until mid-February.

The news was delivered via a tweet from the company that included the adjective “*confident*” – stars included – to describe the new launch window. If I were you, I’d save the last couple bucks you have in your iTunes account until next month. You know you want this.

Oh, and until then, consider the League of Legends: Turret Defense game. It’s surprisingly addictive, particularly for a game that has very little to do with its inspiration.

This little bit of news will have you wishing someone would just make a standard controller peripheral for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Epic Games has successfully ported its Unreal Engine 3 to Apple’s mobile platform.

Anandtech got a chance to play with a demo of some familiar weaponry and level design. The demo looks really smooth, as the video over at Anandtech shows, though Epic said this shouldn’t be taken as a sign that the developer is getting serious about the platform. My guess is that it’s because of a lack of hardware support. The engine requires Open GL ES 2.0, a feature only available to the newest iPod Touch and the iPhone 3GS. Without wider adoption its probably not worth it to spend time developing a game that would only reach a portion of possible iPhone gamers.

Check the video over at Anandtech.

Reuters ran an article on Tapulous the other day, you know, the guys responsible for the iPhone/iPod Touch game Tap Tap Revenge. Obviously the game has seen crazy adoption rates, but I couldn’t believe just how crazy things have become. The game has been installed more than 20 million times, generating sales of nearly a million dollars per month.

The kicker? Tapulous has just 20 employees. That’s it. The report says the company is profitable, which is as unsurprising as things get. Can you split almost twelve million dollars between 20 people? I know I could. As to the future of the company, the CEO has stayed quiet. There has been speculation that someone like EA could acquire them, but for now that’s not really news. EA has been picking up social gaming developers lately like Playfish, which was bought for a cool $275 million.

Source: Reuters

If the success of Virtual Console titles tells us anything, it’s that gamers love their nerdy past. Classic titles sell like mad, and I know I practically flip when I find out something I loved is coming to a new console. One developer’s been paying attention to the classic game frenzy, and it’s turned a childhood classic into a serious moneymaker.

To find the game, you only have to look at this weeks’ top-grossing iPhone OS games. At the top of the charts, yes all the way at number one, is Where’s Waldo: The Fantastic Journey. This isn’t just a fluke, either. The game beat out Call of Duty: World at War Zombies and Dragon Lair to take the top spot.

Among other games Waldo has pushed out this week are Super Monkey Ball 2, The Sims 3, and Tetris. It’s quite an achievement, really, and something developer Ludia has got to be happy with.

There’s another firmware update coming to the PS3, build 3.15, that will allow the system to finally play those PSP Minis. Yes, at long last you can make just one purchase of those overpriced little one-hitters and play them on your console.

It looks like the update works with titles you’ve already purchased as well. Just head to your download list and you can pick up the game on your console. The update also makes it a little easier to transfer data from one PS3 to another, a nice little bonus for those of you who picked up the PS3 Slim. The new data transfer is a simple LAN connection that dumps everything over to your new rig.

For full details on the patch, hit up the Playstation Blog.