PopCap Tries Hand At HTML5 With New Bejeweled Release

Today, casual gaming powerhouse PopCap Games released a new version of Bejeweled for the Chome Web Store, marking the company's first foray into HTML5 development. This new version of the game has been specifically designed to take advantage of Google's browser, and is the latest in PopCap's continual push to offer its titles across a wide range of devices and platforms. "Everyone is looking to HTML5 these days because it holds the promise of cross-platform development across all browsers and mobile devices," said Giordano Bruno Contestabile, Bejeweled franchise business director at PopCap. "While it's still early in the technology life cycle, we at PopCap are very interested in the potential of HTML5 gaming, and this game is one of the most advanced and impressive HTML5 games yet implemented." Contestabile previously discussed his interest in HTML5 during this October's GDC Online, when he said that "HTML5 might be the hope" for ubiquitous cross-platform development. Alongside this announcement, PopCap said that it will bring its popular Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle to the Android Market later this week, further expanding the company's presence in the mobile space. Earlier this year, the company was among the first to offer apps on Google+, and recently expanded its catalog to new devices by jumping onto Amazon's Kindle Fire. Just last week, PopCap announced that its popular Bejeweled 2 and Bejeweled Blitz will use a free-to-play model to help lower the barrier of entry for players across iOS and Facebook.