More than seven months ago, players of Facebook’s popular Bejeweled Blitz received a game-changing update that introduced coins and boosts. When the PC download was released a few months later, the availability of boosts and coins began to spread. It seemed as though every version of the game was destined to receive these features except the iPhone. Now, thanks to the latest update from PopCap Games, that’s no longer the case.

Enjoy the weekend with these casual game deals: Sandlot Games has the Farm Frenzy Value Pack: five Farm Frenzy games (Farm Frenzy, Farm Frenzy 2, Farm Frenzy 3, Farm Frenzy 3: American Pie, and Farm Frenzy Pizza Party) for $12.99 until May 31. Sandlot's free game of the week is Pirate Island. Big Fish Games is selling Dream Chronicles for just $2.99 until May 30 ( use coupon code CATCH299 at checkout). Over at PopCap you can still grab the Bejeweled Bundle (Bejeweled Twist, Bejeweled 2 and Bejeweled Blitz) for $39.95. iPlay is selling Dream Day Wedding: Married in Manhattan for $2.99 until midnight on Saturday.

Game designer Jon Radoff has created a wonderful flow chart that traces the "brief" history of social games all the way back to 3100BC. The chart begins with ancient pastimes like Senet, Go and Backgammon and connects them to everything from football and billiards to poker and Magic the Gathering, eventually culminating in four distinct branches of social games: Social strategy (such as the infamous Evony), social sims (Farmtown), social experiences (Music Pets), and social role-playing games (Mafia Wars).

PopCap rarely does anything without giving it a lot of thought. Nowhere is this more apparent than in last year’s Facebook hit Bejeweled Blitz. PopCap’s first foray into social gaming was a resounding success, boasting more than 25 million players since its launch. Now PopCap is doing what comes naturally – trying to put that success in as many places as they can. First they added Blitz to the sublime Bejeweled 2 on the iPhone. Now they’ve come along and released a full download version of Blitz for the PC and Mac.

Innovation isn’t a word that’s used too often when describing match-3 games. Sure Bejeweled Blitz offered a neat re-tooling of the genre, but new experiences like that are few and far between. Babo Crash is one of those rare new experiences, and it’s one that works incredibly well. Crazy power-ups, challenging obstacles, and unique objectives turn the well-worn match-3 formula on its head -- and we couldn’t be happier.

PopCap Games has just released Bejeweled Blitz for the PC. Originally released for Facebook and later ported to the iPhone, the full PC version of Bejeweled Blitz offers an enhanced presentation over its earlier counterparts. Improved sounds and graphics, a full-screen play mode, and dozens of new achievements round out this new offering.

Online games of poker, even the "just for fun" kind like Zynga Poker or Poker Rivals, have always been about slow-building tension and real world competition. Poker Blitz does away with such conventions, offering up a single-player experience that’s as frantic as it is fun. It's a stark contrast to Zynga’s previous casino-themed releases.

Mahjong has always been a fantastic way to pass the time, but mahjong in under a minute? That’s genius. Mahjongg Dimensions takes the three dimensional spin of Mahjong Dimensions Deluxe for the PC and gives it the under-a-minute Bejeweled Blitz treatment. What results from this strange combination is a game that’s as fun, fast, and as addictive as the titles that inspired it.

Don’t worry, be happy this Friday since Gogii Games has just released its new strategy/simulation game, HappVille. Other downloads out now are Alice in Wonderland (HOG), Dream Day Wedding: Bella Italia (HOG), Treasure Seekers: Follow the Ghosts ($6.99 version), and Engineering (swap 3 puzzle).

Brand new free games on Facebook this week are Poker Blitz by Zynga and Hotel City by Playfish. Click Find Games and go to our New Releases page for up to the minute updates on all brand new games to play.

And yes…our bee still has no name, there were too many good ideas, I’ll pick one soon!

Machinarium, Canabalt and PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz are among the winners of the Mochis 2010, an awards show recognizing some of the best Flash games in the industry created across 2009. Held as part of the Flash Gaming Summit, the awards were open to any game created in 2009 that is Flash-based, including games on destination sites or social networks like Facebook. Continue reading for the complete list of winners and runners-up.

When Bejeweled 2 launched alongside the iPhone App Store last year, it quickly rose to the top of the sales charts.  Despite thousands and thousands of iPhone game releases since, PopCap's classic action-puzzler always seems to perform well in terms of sales.  Now, thanks to the addition of Bejeweled Blitz, Bejeweled 2 for the iPhone seems to have cemented itself as one of the most popular iPhone apps around.

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PopCap Games has just released a major update to its popular Facebook game Bejeweled Blitz.  This revamped version keeps the previous gameplay intact and introduces two new gameplay elements for Facebook gem-swappers to get used to; coins and boosts.

Coins are a type of currency that appears as a special gem.  Match this to two other blocks of the corresponding color and earn 100 coins towards your bank.  The coins will be spent in between rounds on - you guessed it - boosts. 

Boosts are temporary modifiers that will provide you with an in-game advantage.  Each does something unique, and only a certain number of rounds.  At the present time, there are only five boosts available;

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Taking a cue from the success of Bejeweled Blitz, the team at PopCap have just released another totally free time-limited spin on a classic formula.  Zuma High Speed Challenge takes the ball-bursting, color-matching action you know and love, puts it online, and has you struggling to get as high a score as you can in under 3 minutes.

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