PlayStation US Blog is showing off the first of Electronic Arts’ “PSP Minis”, namely Tetris and Soduku for now, with more being promised. PSP Minis are bite-sized downloadable games similar to iPhone applications.

Plants Vs. Zombies has become Popcap’s fastest selling game ever, reports Joystiq.

Popcap won’t divulge the exact numbers, but they state it’s sold faster than any other title in the last few weeks in their history, including Bejeweled and Peggle. Those games aren’t exactly slouches, so Plants Vs. Zombies must have really touched the sweet spot. Maybe it was the music video.

According to Joystiq: 

PopCap’s Garth Chouteau believes this is just the tip of the iceberg for the the fauna vs. undead simulator. Telling Joystiq, “It’s as strategic as any game launched this year … in it’s own humble cutesy sort of way.” He believes that players will continue to find incredible depth in the title, especially after they are done with the adventure’s story and move into the survival mode.

Why is it so hot? Just read our review and find out.

MarketResearch.com has released a package of facts about the people that play video games day in and day out. The stereotypical video gamer use to be a young male between the ages of 18 – 34 years of age. The report is titled “The Adult Video Gamer Market in the U.S.: Tapping into the New Diversity of Video-Game Players,” and provides all types of information regarding the people now playing video games.

One of the interesting facts was this one:

The report also shows how the population of videogamers is rapidly diversifying beyond the core young male gamer. The prototypical videogamer is now as likely to be a woman as a man. The videogamer population includes 25 million adults in the 55+ age bracket, 13 million retirees and 28 million grandparents.

Personally, I think the casual games industry is to thank for the above statistics. I can’t imagine the 25 million people in the 55+ age bracket playing first person shooter type games. The Nintendo Wii probably has a lot to do with those numbers as well. The Nintendo Wii really capatized on the casual gaming market when the Wii came out. The Nintendo Wii provided an entirely new gaming device to an entirely new gaming audience.

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The Palm Pre is suppose to be the next big thing in smartphones and Palm’s challenge to the iPhone. Since the Pre is going to compete with the iPhone, it will need to be able to play games. There are a lot of games and apps for that matter available for the iPhone. Palm has realized they will need some games on their latest platform and have said they will concentrate on casual games, initially, and not 3D gaming.

Palm is willing to work with developers as they are developing games for the Pre. Palm will be there to help with any issues that may arise as developers are making games for their platform. The Pre will support Flash Lite, which is an another avenue for casual game developers.

The Pre is a phone that has garnered some excitement. I am anxious to see if Palm can do games and an App Store well enough to compete with Apple and the iPhone. Apple has a pretty good grip on the market and it will take a lot of good apps and games to draw people away from the iPhone and the App Store.

Thanks PocketGamer

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Gamers are finding new homes on the Internet playing casual games. While the economy goes into a nose dive, gamers are finding a warm distraction in online entertainment. King.com is finding huge growth with 350-million games being played a month on their service showing the industry that entertainment continues to be strong in a down market.

Casual game growth will no doubt explode under the harsh economic days ahead. Games are low cost, contain hours of great play value for the dollar and often have free counterparts to play online or great trial downloads for try before you buy situations. Does life really get any better for the casual gamer?

Read on for full press release.

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