A Peggle sake set? PopCap's auctioning it off (and more) for charity

PopCap Games is embarking on another major charity endeavor this month. Beginning today and lasting until July 12th, all proceeds from their official eBay listing will go to benefit the Starlight Children's Foundation in America and SpecialEffect in the United Kingdom.

PopCap Peggle sake setPopCap Games / eBay
Thirty-four pieces of artwork are expected to be put on sale (currently, 9 are available) and they all feature PopCap's various games from Plants vs. Zombies to Zuma Blitz to Peggle, which gets its own ceramic sake set! There's no Bejeweled Blitz goods in sight though, but we're sure one will appear in the coming weeks. Go to www.ebay.com/popcap to visit the auction.

PopCap's past fundraising efforts included raising $100K to help Susan G. Komen for the Cure fight breast cancer on Mother's Day in 2008, $85K for Haiti relief in 2010, and most recently, $200K going to the International Red Cross for Japan back in March.

Is EA's PopCap working on casino-style Facebook games? [Rumor]

Is PopCap looking to go toe to toe with Zynga and DoubleDown Interactive's casino Facebook games? According to GeekWire, a bunch of rather specific domain purchases by the recently-acquired company certainly suggest that's the case. Well, that and a recent trademark application ... and a Facebook page created with that very same trademark. Alright, PopCap has been terrible at keeping this whole thing a secret.

Lucky Gem CasinoThe game in question might be titled "Lucky Gem Casino," as Fusible points out that the Bejeweled creator recently changed a Facebook page it owns to reflect the new title. The Info tab on the page reads, "Thanks for visiting! PopCap Casino is the future home of some amazing, casino-style social games from PopCap, the worldwide leader in casual gaming."

With wording like that, it sounds as if Lucky Gem Casino will be a suite of casino games from the developer, much like DoubleDown Casino. And if you take a peak at the page's Wall, a message can be found there, presumably from the company, that reads, "Keep an eye out to experience casino-style gaming from PopCap Games!" A week later, a poll was posted asking fans about their favorite type of casino games--unsurprisingly, the "Slot Machines" category won by a landslide.

GeekWire points out that this might be because PopCap is now owned by EA, which likely has a vested interested in directly competing with Facebook game champ Zynga at every turn. However, it's also important to keep in mind that a majority of PopCap's games (not including Plants vs Zombies) are visibly influenced by a casino approach to gameplay albeit with a far heavier focus on skill rather than luck.

[Via Financial Times]

[Image Credit: Destructoid]

What do you think PopCap might be up to with this trademark, Facebook page and domain registries? Would you play a stable of casino games from the creator of Bejeweled and Zuma Blitz? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments.