And our next prize sponsor is....

Yep, those guys.

PopCap will be our prize sponsor throughout October, and I understand that a box o' PopCap games and swag is winging its way eastward at this very moment. I'm tingling all over just thinking about it.

This sponsorship thing has been easy so far, because both companies (first Bicycle and now PopCap) are ones I truly enjoy and admire. I remember talking to PopCap co-founder Jason Kapalka about ten years ago when they were just getting off the ground, and it was clear they were doing something new: a fresh kind of casual game with a much broader appeal. I never dreamed it would get this big, and I frankly thought their pursuit of mobile gaming was daft. (Obviously, I got that one very wrong.) Ten years on, PopCap games are everywhere, and Plants vs. Zombie shows that they can still innovate in ways we never imagined.

I consider them one of the major forces in gaming today. About a year ago, I wrote a column in Maximum PC in which I suggested the future of PC gaming belongs to PopCap and the casual gaming revolution they ignited. I still think that's the case. On the short list of Games That Changed Everything, Bejeweled is near the top.

So, beginning in October, we start passing out the PopCap love. Stay tuned.

Thanks to Garth, Eric, and the PopCap family for their kind support.