It’s Monday and that means another offering on Nintendo’s downloadable services. Usually we see more interesting titles hitting WiiWare while things like clocks and card games wind up on the DSi, but this week’s update bucks that trend. PopCap’s well-known tower defense title Plants vs. Zombies is now available on DSiWare. I suppose they need to do something to keep people interested in the DSi with the 3DS looming on the horizon.

Hit the jump for the rest of this week’s games.

WiiWare

• Liight (Studio Walljump, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
• Mix Superstar [demo] (Digital Leisure Inc., 1 player, 0 Wii Points; full version available for 500 Wii Points)

DSiWare

• Plants vs. Zombies (PopCap Games, 1 player, 800 DSi Points)
• Rabi Laby (Agetec Inc., 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
• 5 in 1 Mahjong (cerasus.media, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)

That means if you lived in a house by yourself with an adult neighbor on either side of you, then one of you plays games on some sort of mobile cellular device. Chances are it’s probably you because you’re here reading Gamer Limit. Hit the jump for more info about the survey and the results.

The survey was conducted by Information Solutions Group, and the results showed some interesting but not very surprising trends. Overall usage and frequency of mobile game playing increased in the US and the UK. People who own smartphones tend to be the most “avid consumers of mobile phone games.”

Out of the 2,425 people surveyed, over half said they had played a game on a mobile phone at some point. According to the purposes of the survey, that qualified them as mobile phone gamers. But here’s a stat that’s a little more telling: almost one fourth of the respondents said they had played a mobile phone game in the past week which qualified them as “avid mobile phone gamers” and over 80% of smartphone owners said they’d played a game within the past week.

For people who follow the video game industry, these results aren’t too revelatory. While I don’t own a smartphone, or even a phone that’s capable of playing games, I’ve noticed the rise of mobile gaming. Games like Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja have incredible widespread appeal and massive sales. I guess I better jump on the mobile gaming bandwagon as it sounds like I’m missing out on being part of a cutting edge section of the industry.

Complete survey results can be found at the Info Solutions Group’s website.

[Via PopCap Games]

We all knew the iPhone adaptation of Plants Vs. Zombies was going to be a huge hit with consumers.  For one thing, almost anything PopCap touches turns to gold (Bejeweled, Peggle).  For another, it’s tough for people not to fall in love with PvZ‘s addictive strategic gameplay.

However, results that arrived yesterday add solid statistical fact to our assumptions.  Plants Vs. Zombies for iPhone is an absolute mobile phenomena.  As of yesterday, February 24th, over 300,000 iPhones have downloaded PopCaps latest release for the Apple device, with the number growing everyday.  Added to the fact that the game is now the fastest selling iPhone release in the first 24 hours of availability, and you have yourself a bonafide success.

These reports of commercial success join the already huge critical reception of the game.  In fact, our very own Sean Carey awarded the game an excellent score for its iPhone debut in his review. Pretty much anyone that has played it walks away just as impressed.  Well, actually, they don’t really ever walk away – they can’t stop playing.  Nonetheless, impressed!

Source: Game Informer

Video game company MumboJumbo today revealed that they are victorious in a $4.6 million lawsuit against beloved publisher PopCap games, renowned for titles such as Plants Vs. Zombies and Peggle.  The reasons cited for said lawsuit?  Fraud and breach of contract, among other things.

“The law allows you to do plenty of things to be successful in business,” said MumboJumbo’s attorney, Marty Rose.  ”However, it does not allow you to commit fraud or interfere with a company’s business relationships. The jury’s verdict is a clear signal that this type of business conduct is not going to be tolerated.”

According to the specifics of the suit, PopCap was accused of damaging the business relationship between MumboJumbo and a “key retailer”, by spreading false statements about them.

To be honest, this in no way lessens my adoration of PopCap titles, and I will continue to buy them, as long as they continue to be as much casual fun as they have so far proven themselves to be.  What about you folks?  Has this effected the respect you had for PopCap?  Or are you too busy playing through Peggle right now to care?  Let us know in the comments.

Source: Game Informer

Did I mention “free”? You just cant beat the combination of Plants Vs. Zombies and free web-based Popcap games that I used to play in Middle School programming class nearly a decade ago. Its simply a match made in heaven!

Run on sentences aside, I think you need to immediately check this out if you haven’t already. Play the game right here, or hit the jump for some extra info!
The Flash version of Plants vs. Zombies includes:

• 3 available game modes (Adventure, Endless Survival, Vasebreaker)
• 14 levels of Adventure mode
• A zombie not found in the PC version!
• 6 zombie types and 12 plants with which to stop them
• Graphics and gameplay faithful to the PC version
• Unlike most of our web based games, PvZ streams in the music of the PC version as you playEnhanced performance features of Flash 10