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Release date: 05/28/13

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DAILY MANIFESTO

Bejeweled 3 Set To Distract You From Work Next Month

Posted on Monday, November 1 @ 22:34:48 Eastern by Daniel Bischoff

Whatever PopCap is doing is worth noting. In this case, announcing a sequel and releasing it in the next month is pretty freaking awesome.

Set for a December 7th release, PopCap announced Bejeweled 3 today. It was if millions of employers' voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

Bejeweled 3 will bring with it a handful of new mini-games and a quest mode with even more ways to play. Here's the rundown straight form the developer:

Classic: Play the most popular puzzle game of the century, with powerful new gems and new ultra-smooth gameplay
Quest: Journey through 40 magical puzzles in this multifaceted Bejeweled challenge!
Zen: Personalize your experience with ambient sounds and binaural beats - a revolutionary new way to relax!
Lightning: Charge up with a heart-pounding, beat-the-clock bout of gem-blasting fun!
Secret Games: Unlock 4 all-new games including Butterflies and Ice Storm
Badges: Earn up to 65 badges to prove your skills
High-definition graphics and high-fidelity audio: Bejeweled is now more dazzling than ever before!
Ultra-smooth gameplay: Make multiple matches while new gems fall into place

So you still don't understand the hubbub? Why should anyone care about Bejeweled 3? Bejeweled practically made PopCap what it is today. You wouldn't have Plants vs. Zombies without Bejeweled. Much like PopCap's current gardening hit, Bejeweled has been sold across 17 different platforms, including the cell phone I had when I was in middle school.

Pushing 50 million copies of the game is nothing to shake a stick at either.

Don't worry fans, this isn't a cash in. Jason Kapalka, co-founder of PopCap games said of Bejeweled 3 that

"The challenge in creating a new version of Bejeweled is to innovate and keep it fresh and exciting without losing touch with the game-play that millions of people love. So we're very careful when we make changes to the core game, which is why it can take so long!

"We've worked hard to make sure Bejeweled 3 retains the classic appeal of the earlier games while bringing a host of exciting new features to the table."

I recently spent over 100 hours on Plants vs. Zombies. I'll trust PopCap that they've got something good set up for Bejeweled 3.

Tags: popcap, PC, mac