PopCap Games will be donating 30% of each purchase from April 30 to May 11 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the global leader in the fight to end breast cancer forever. The charity donation is in honor of Mother’s Day. PopCap is trying to reach a goal of $100,000 donated. If PopCap can manage to raise the allotted money, customers who purchased games during the time period will receive a gift from PopCap.

“For this year’s Mother’s Day promotion, we wanted to make a significant contribution to a cause that relates directly to mothers, and this seemed like an ideal way to do that,” said Ben Rotholtz, vice president of marketing for PopCap. “Susan G. Komen for the Cure is dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer, which obviously affects many mothers and their families. If the contribution we make saves even one life down the road, it will be a success in our eyes.”

The donation to the charity will be automatic from the customers stand point. Customers still purchase games like they normally would and PopCap handles the donation part. Gift Certificates purchased during the time period will also contribute to the donation.

Head over to PopCap Games, purchase a game and help donate to a great cause.

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MumboJumbo has announced the release of Polar Games 2 on retail shelves. Polar Games 2 features Polar Pool and Polar Golfer: Pineapple Cup. Polar Games 2 puts a comical spin on the game of golf and billiards.

Polar Pool allows players to participate in two different types of billiards games, 8 and 9 ball. Players can unlock characters and tables as they play through the game. Gamers can progress through the game on their own in single player mode or battle their friends in multi-player mode.

Polar Golfer: Pineapple Cup allows players to play 9 or 18 hole golf courses and can encounter all new “issues” along the way, such as all new natural disasters and hazards. Players have their choice of eight different characters to play as including Walrus and Gopher, two favorites from the first game, as well as Hula Girl and Tiki Guy, two brand new characters.

“We are very proud to bring Polar Games 2 to retailers nationwide — both Polar Golfer: Pineapple Cup and Polar Pool bring challenging and comical content to the 13 million fans of the original,” said Mark Cottam, CEO of MumboJumbo.

Polar Games 2 is available in retail stores for $19.99.

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Hands-On Mobile, Inc and Marvel Entertainment, Inc announce the release of Iron Man for mobile phones. Currently, Iron Man is available on a few carriers around the world, but is planned to roll out to more carriers in the next few weeks.

Players get to experience the life of Iron Man in this shootem’ up for mobile phones. Players shoot their way through four levels of action as they play through the levels based on the new Iron Man movie. Players collect power ups to increase the power of their weapons as they battle their way to the leader, Iron Monger.

“Hands-On Mobile has created wonderful games for us, including X-Men: The Last Stand and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” said Simon Philips, President of Marvel International.  “Both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk mobile games promise to continue this success with nonstop action and fantastic gameplay.  Hands-On Mobile continues to provide the greatest gaming experience for all of our fans.”

Users in the United States can get Iron Man by text messaging IRON to 46966.

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Multiplayer got a chance to interview Nolan Bushnell, the found of Atari and the co-creator of Pong. Pong was the first video game and has been cloned a number of times. Bushnell had some interesting comments on the state of casual gaming, how the video game industry as a whole use to be and why it went in a different direction than when the industry started.

“The way that games started, they were virtually all casual. If you really think about ‘Breakout,’ ‘Tank‘ and some of those things, games were very, very simple,” he said

“I like to talk about [how] 1983 was sort of the break point where games went from casual to hardcore,” said Bushnell. “They got violent. They went long form. The violence lost the women and the long form lost the casual gamer. I actually sort of stuck to my roots, and the console game market moved away.”

I would have to agree with Bushnell’s comments, for the most part. I was still young in 1983 so I can’t comment on whether that date was the turning point, I am sure it was if he specifically calls that date out. I do agree with the change from easy to play, short games changing to more complicated long games. This change shut out a lot of the original gamers, but it happened because a market existed. Casual gamers were lost in the switch over, but hard core gamers were found and the video game industry got big on the hard core gamers.

Now the industry is starting to incorporate the gamers that got left behind in 1983. Games are starting to come back around to be easier to play and have a shorter time requirement. This doesn’t mean that the hard core gamers are going to left out. The gaming industry is going to focus on both groups of people. There will be a hard core market and a casual market, which is a way it should be. Everyone will be able to play the type of game they like and the companies will profit from all types of gamers.

Thanks MultiPlayer

If you’re addicted to MoneyWheel, today is the day to be playing! It’s MegaMultiple Tuesday and that means you’ll earn multiple points each time you play. Normally, you’ll get multiple ‘promo’ spins on the MoneyWheel once in a blue moon (read: a few times a game) but today it’s every game you play.

If you’re new to MoneyWheel or curious about it, you can read my explaination on the game and decide, or just jump right in. It’s a free flash game which allows you to win real prizes by getting points to purchase virtual tickets to win physical prizes. If you don’t like this months prize packs you can hold your points over until the next prize announcement.