Bookworm and Bejeweled Twist Coming to the DsiWare and the DS

PopCap Games, the company that has made a fortune on the back of casual experiences designed to charm the player with their personality and their simplicity, has announced that it plans to bring two Bejeweled Twist and two Bookworm releases to the Nintendo handhelds. The company is aiming to deliver content for both the Nintendo DS console and for the DSiWare digital distribution service in order to reach as wide an audience as possible.

Bookworm is based on matching letters and forming words and, while the basic gameplay will not be changed in any significant way, PopCap aims to deliver some game modes that are exclusive to the new platform. The DSiWare version of the title offers the complete Classic mode, adapted to work for dual-screen and touch-screen technology, while the DS version introduces a new Bookworm Battle mode, 20 never-before-seen Collectible Books and the Lex Ray, which tracks the progress of the main character of Bookworm.

Meanwhile, Bejeweled Twists, which is based on matching gems on a board in real time, will offer a DSiWare version that only contains Classic and Multiplayer modes, while the full DS version of the game also includes Zen, where there's no chance of failing, Blitz, which speeds up the action, and Challenge, with multiple levels of difficulty. The two versions both feature new gems and new obstacles.

Players will be able to pick up the DSiWare version of Bookworm later in September, with the Bejeweled Twist release coming at some point in the middle of October. The DS retail releases are set for December 1 for Bookworm and for early 2010 for Bejeweled.

Ed Allard, who is the vice president of strategic development at PopCap, stated that, “We’re bringing serious innovation to Bookworm and Bejeweled Twist – two of our most important game franchises – to deliver unique features and cool new multiplayer capabilities that have been specifically designed for the Nintendo systems.”