Bejeweled comes to WoW

Gamer collapse imminent as addictive franchises combine.

World of Warcraft just became even more addictive with the casual game maker PopCap bringing its well-known game Bejeweled into Azeroth as a little add-on.

World of Warcraft may be one of the most popular games of all time, but every player will tell you there are times when its can be a little on the boring side.

Be it regrouping after being wiped by Illidan Stormrage, passing time on the interminably long flight between Theramore Isle and Auberdine, or just levelling up your fishing skill, there are occasions when every avatar is left twiddling its virtual thumbs.

This is usually the time someone will go make a cup of tea, crack open another beer or get rid of previously-consumed tea or beer, but now there is a new way of whiling away those wasted minutes, thanks to the inclusion of the Bejeweled plug-in.

According to WoW Insider, it started when Michael Fromwiller created a Bejeweled clone called Besharded to play in WoW, however unlike Mattel's response to the Scrabble clone in Facebook, when PopCap found out about the mini-game, it hired Fromwiller to make a more polished and official version of the game.

Although an unofficial add-on for the game, it integrates into WoW to some degree, with options to automatically pop up when you die during a raid, and when you begin a gryphon flight it begins a timed version of the game that lasts exactly as long as the flight. There are also high score lists for your friends and guild, adding an extra layer of good-natured fun.

We'd like to tip our hat to PopCap for its masterful handling of things, but we are a tad worried that gamers are going to start collapsing left and right as they may now never leave their computers for vital refreshment breaks.