D2C Games today formally emerged as a creative publishing leader of innovative and social game experiences delivered through a direct download distribution model.

Alawar announced today that it has signed an agreement with Extent to add in-game advertising to its lineup. The deal includes casual titles ranging from arcade-style games like CheboMan to 3D arkanoid-breakout games like Magic Ball 2.

According to a survey made by casual game developer PopCap Games, of the estimated 150 million consumers who play family-friendly, non-violent puzzle, word and simple action games on the computer regularly, almost half of them are age 50 or older.

Xbox and Burger King are conducting a promotion that gives casual gamers control of the humorous, pop-culture personalities of such Burger King icons as The King, Brooke Burke and Subservient Chicken in 3 Arcade-style games playable only on Xbox and X360. With the purchase of any value meal, these $3.99 games will be available at US Burger King restaurants nationwide from Nov.19 – Dec.24th.

MumboJumbo announced an agreement with developer Reflexive Entertainment to bring the popular casual games Big Kahuna Reef 2, Mosaic: Tomb of Mystery and a third, upcoming title to the retail channel.

Apple's latest version of its online music and video store, iTunes 7 offers more TV series, music and now also movies for download, but our main point of interest is the fact that it now also allows you to download casual games to play on your 5th generation iPods, including EAs Tetris, Mahjong and Mini Golf, Pac-Man from Namco and PopCap Games' Bejeweled, Zuma, for $4.99 each.

PopCap Games today announced a partnership with Square Enix that brings PopCap's popular casual computer and Web games, Bejeweled 2, Chuzzle, Insaniquarium and Heavy Weapon, to the Japanese market via its new casual games download service.

FUN Technologies will host the inaugural casual games competition WorldWide Web Games (W3Games) Saturday Sept. 9. Set to air on the Game Show Network December 2, the W3Games will bring casual game players from across the world to Hollywood for a chance to turn hours of game play into one huge $1 million paycheck.

EA today announced it has reached an agreement with Korean NOWCOM to license Tales Runner, its first multiplayer advanced casual game, for distribution in Mainland China through its publisher Guangdong Tian Yue Network Technology Development.

A survey conducted by Macrovision revealed a common misconception about the habits of people who play casual games. People who like mainstream games, such as Diner Dash and MahJong, frequently play more than nine, two or more hour ‘sessions’ each week, usually at night as opposed to during commute hours or other ‘quick break’ times during the day.

TrayGames announces the first annual TrayGames Developer Challenge, a competition for "pick up and play" casual games using their multi-player platform. Launched in conjunction with its new developer support site, the Challenge offers a $10,000 Grand Prize.

Starting in June, Nintendo will begin branding its more casual Nintendo DS titles under the new Touch Generations label, including titles that anyone can pick up and play, even with little or no experience with video games.