There is now a consistent user experience across all parts of the site MSN Games Site redesign accomplished the following: Increase customer satisfaction by 38% Increase consumer engagement by 30% per session Support a scalable advertising model that will increase revenue and user satisfaction Provide a scalable games discovery experience that incorporates all the different play types Site Redesign Redesigned the entire site in October 06 2 follow on releases since then to tweak the experienceĪffected the whole site. Top – measured by purchases Green – also a top 20 web game Luxor Amun Rising Cubis 2 Gold Family Feud Hidden Expedition Titanic Luxor 2 Jewel Quest Luxor Mah Jong Quest Diner Dash Wheel of Fortune Game Populations – Multi-Player Web Gamesĭo badges make a difference to web populations? Game Populations – Single Player Web Games
Top – measured by game hours Green – also a top 20 download game Luxorīackgammon Solitaire Collapse Hearts Jewel Quest Hexic Wheel of Fortune Bridge Bankshot Billiards Chuzzle Watch Television 34% Play Games on MSN Games 67%
All of the games in the series are great fun for a short blast, especially if you get satisfaction from organising brightly coloured shapes.īut what are your memories of the original Bejeweled? Did I send you off on a wormhole of match-3 titles? Let us know in the comments.Agenda MSN Games Overview Site Redesign Advertising Revenue Share Vista Enhanced Games Getting Your Games on MSN Gamesĭemographics Majority of female players Male 29%Ĩ0% play for a break, either from work or at homeĦ7% of the respondents play for entertainmentĦ7% of respondents prefer playing games on MSN Games to watching TV They all work in broadly the same way, each ever so slightly building on the last game, so you aren’t really missing out by not having access to the original.īejeweled truly is a modern classic which re-ignited the passion for the humble match-3 puzzler. If you fancy spending your cash on something a little more substantial however, Bejeweled Deluxe is available on Steam and it’s many sequels are also available from the Microsoft Store. To enable you to get in on the action whilst on the move, publishers of the original game (EA) have you covered with their mobile app, Bejeweled Classic. It’s very similar, but just as enjoyable (it actually distracted me for about 30 minutes in the middle of writing this). Never fear dear reader, as Microsoft (being the enterprising devils that they are) stepped in with Microsoft Jewel, a free-to-play browser game hosted on their MSN games website. Hearing the deep-voiced “Excellent” back up your moves became something of a hallmark for the match-3 game, and a personal highlight. What I always found pleasing about Bejeweled, was how the in-game announcer gave you verbal reassurance when you scored a decent amount of points. There would be plenty of imitations that would follow in the years after.
The quick thinking but ultimately simple puzzling, when pitted against the clock, became an irresistibly tense and colourful take on the match-3 genre. Failure here came only when your progress bar emptied completely.įor me, it was this latter mode that really brought the perfectly tuned gameplay to life. But if you ran out of matches, it was not game over and you would get a new board to play on.
You would, once again, level up by matching gems but this time it would cause your progress bar to deplete increasingly quickly.
Alternatively you could have a go at Time Trial Mode, where the aim was to stop your progress bar from running down to empty.