I think everyone on the planet Earth has heard of PopCap Games, they’re responsible for some of the most addictive digital pastimes ever created including the life guzzling Peggle. They are the King of casual games. Yesterday they announced that their iPhone and iPod touch adaptation of Plants vs. Zombies has sold more than 300,000 units within the first nine days setting a new record for App Store launches and remaining at number one in the “top grossing” App Store charts from within twenty-four hours of its launch until two days ago. Obviously this means that PopCap have once again raked in a ludicrous amount of money with the hand-held Plants vs. Zombies making well over one million dollars.

Plants vs. Zombies began life on the PC and Macintosh and there was doubt as to whether the essence and fun of the game would survive the transition to a hand-held device but such doubts have now been washed aside in the wake of such a massive success. I for one can understand the insane popularity of such games on a portable format, long journeys and boring commutes must just whizz by when you have the digital equivalent of cocaine to hand. More than 95% of the people who bought the Plants vs. Zombies adaptation gave the game five stars out of five in the App Store’s rating system and those are the kind of statistics you just can’t argue with.

There was further good news for PopCap as another of their games, Bejewelled 2, became the first paid app to reach three million units on the App Store. The game was already consistently in the top ten of the App Store’s “top grossing” list. This means that PopCap can now boast of three games reaching number one on the App Store with Bejewelled and Peggle reaching the same heights amongst 150,000 other apps.

Well what can we say? The facts speak for themselves. Congratulations PopCap and thank you for making our long, dreary journeys a thing of the past.