casual

Peggle is the iPhone and iPod Touch version of the extremely popular (and addictively fun) arcade game also found on Macs, PCs, the Nintendo DS, Xbox Live, and other platforms. Combining skill and luck, this easy-to-play, Pachinko-style game challenges you to shoot down a set number of orange pegs with a limited number of balls on ever more complex levels. You can rotate a scroll wheel or just tap the screen to aim, ideally threading through ubiquitous blue pegs to hit multiple orange pegs with each shot, using carefully planned ricochets. You can double tap the screen to zoom in … Read more

Have you played Peggle? This iPhone game came out some time ago and was an immediate hit at the app store for its strange and extremely addictive gameplay. The game just went on sale for 99 cents, but it will only last until midnight Sunday, June 14.

The object of Peggle is to shoot balls from the top of the screen and hit all the orange pegs before you run out of balls. You can use the touch screen or the scroll wheel to aim your shot, but make sure that the shot ricochets in a direction that will hit … Read more

It's always funny when middle-class suburbanites rap. Always. And that's what makes Casual Mafia's video, In My Prius, work. Well, that and all the lyrics about the positive attributes of the Toyota Prius. Favorite line: "mad room for my knees."

H1N1 worries got you down? Perhaps taking a stab at flying, green, infected pigs with a giant needle will provide some comic relief.

That's your task in the Web-based Swinefighter, one of a growing number of casual games that capitalize on current events.

In this instance, you play as a doctor in a white coat and face mask. Wielding a giant needle, you attempt to inject sick-looking pigs flying around a map of the world. Once you prick the digi-pig (it's not hard), it turns a healthy pink and says "Oink," and you've done your … Read more

Jasmine France joins The 404 today. Just a little warning: she had just flown into New York City on the red-eye from San Francisco and is pretty loopy for part of the show. But she does give us the 411 on the best MP3 player and headphones to get.

Jasmine dishes the dirt on Justin as an intern years ago. Let's just say dry cleaning, coffee, foot rubs, and walking her dog were part of his daily routine. Oh, how far he has come.

We talk a bit about how popular "casual encounters" has become on Craigslist. It's even bigger than Match.com, eHarmony, or even Yahoo! Personals. Jasmine tells us about her "missed connections" story. It gets juicy. Find your subway crush here.

Also, we discuss a bit 'bout how piracy is ruining the PSP. Justin doesn't really care; Jeff gets upset; and Wilson's fourth cousin is selling pirated games back home in Zhong Guo. Speaking of China, for about five minutes too long, Wilson exposés on Jackie Chan's recent comments in the press. This is why we don't discuss anything with any seriousness.

Finally, it's "Earf Day"...we think that's how it's spelled. Anyway, as part of our effort to be friendly to the environment, CNET TV is launching The Green Show, starring Mark Licea. That's right! MTI has his own show now. Check it out and send us your comments at greenshow [at] cnet [dot] com.

Single women rival single men as tech device owners, according to a Forrester Research survey released Thursday.

Obviously, to an organization filled with female tech geeks, the study was met with bemusement.

But the survey of more than 1,000 single adult males and more than 1,000 single adult females in the United States and Canada had some interesting gems.

Did you know that single women prefer laptops while single men prefer desktops? Among the adult singles surveyed, 47 percent of women said their next computer would be a laptop, and 29 percent said it would be a desktop, … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Are video games really all about feeding your ego? Maybe, suggested legendary game designer Will Wright in a keynote interview at the Web 2.0 Expo on Thursday morning.

"Most people are very narcissistic," said Electronic Arts' Wright, creator of the Sim City and Sims franchises and now last year's avant-garde Spore, onstage with Federated Media's John Battelle. "The more you can make the game about that person, the more interested, the more emotionally involved they will get."

Advancements in technology have made it possible for the customization craze of the social-networking world … Read more

As someone who spends the vast majority of his time each day on the Web, I've developed a unique love for casual online games. When I'm bored or just want to slip away from work for a while, I head over to one of my favorite online game sites and let the hours pass by.

But I should note that although there are thousands of online games out there, my favorites are relatively limited. In fact, I only play four online games regularly. These are the games I find so addicting that I can ignore the rest.

"… Read more

I just saved the U.S. economy, and it only took a minute and a half! Yay me.

Well, I didn't actually save it, but after playing a quick round of the free casual game "Trillion Dollar Bailout!" an image of a newspaper appeared on my screen with the headline "Economy Saved! World Rejoices!!!" Apparently, amid all the disagreement over how the $787 billion economic stimulus package should be divvied up, I managed to make wise choices as to who and what should get funding. A regular Paul Krugman I am.

Ah, if only rescuing … Read more