PopCap's games aren't ones that require eight-figure budgets and massive media campaigns, but we defy you to find anyone who plays games on any sort of basis who hasn't poured hours into Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies, or one of the studio's other addictive hits. While the company initially made its mark on Mac and PC, the last couple of years have seen expansion to other platforms, notably the iPhone, which has hosted pitch-perfect iterations of those aforementioned favorites.

Now, with the iPad release looming on the horizon, the big question is this: What's PopCap planning for Apple's tablet, and how soon will we be able to play it? Andrew Stein, director of mobile platforms at PopCap, wasn't able to share many specifics in a recent phone interview, but did offer some insight into how the company approaches new platforms, as well as what opportunities they see in iPad development.

Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone

"The iPad offers a new experience for both developers and customers, given that it has higher performance," says Stein. "Having the additional horsepower under the hood and the bigger screen, the higher-resolution graphics give a tableau for developers to get more creative with games. We can do things with the iPad that we can't do on a smaller iPhone screen."

In particular, Stein believes the large 9.7-inch screen will initially surprise iPad users, and likens the upgrade from an iPhone to that of bumping up to a new video game console. "I think that the size of screen is going to make the experience much more immersive, and it's going to be more than what people expect. In my mind, it's kind of the same as going from playing Xbox or PlayStation 2 on a 27-inch TV to playing Xbox 360 on a 46-inch high-def screen," asserts Stein. "It's right there in your face -- the leap is greater than what you might think from just the increase in size."

Not only will the larger display and faster processor lead to better-looking versions of existing games and play modes, but Stein also believes the iPad's unique capabilities will lead to new ways to play, and trigger an iPhone-like wave of developer ingenuity.

"You'll start to see potentially new game modes that are new and haven't been done before. I think multiplayer becomes very interesting on that device, because with the bigger screen and all the multitouch inputs, you have the possibility of having a couple people using it at once -- whether it's sitting on a table with people on the side, or multiple people holding it at once," explains Stein. "It's still to be determined how people will want to use the iPad once it gets on the market, but I think we'll start to see the same burst of creativity on the iPad as we saw with the iPhone."

Peggle on the iPhone

Stein says PopCap is tinkering with the latest iPad software development kit (SDK), and that they're working on a couple unnamed iPad projects at this time. According to his engineers, the SDK is a "very robust, mature development environment," leaving Stein and his team to focus on the why of bringing their games to iPad, rather than the how.

"When we bring games to platforms, we really adapt them to the platform. You won't see us just porting over iPhone games to the iPad, [and releasing] basically the same game but bumping up the graphics a bit. There are going to be new modes. It's going to be a richer, deeper experience, and really try to take advantage of the specific strengths of the device," says Stein. He goes on to note that their titles may "include things that might be brand new to the iPad that we've never done on another platform, because there's never been a platform that offers what the iPad does. That's the main thing. What's the game vision we want to bring to the device?"

While Stein believes 3D game will prosper on the iPad due to its enhanced capabilities, he still thinks casual games will be most popular on what he calls the "family media device," as players of all ages and tastes will be keen on playing a quick game of Bejeweled 2 on the iPad.

"It's kind of that device that would be floating around the house that people could grab and jump online, or play a game, or watch a video, or surf the web while they're watching TV," explains Stein. "It's going to be honestly tough for Apple to duplicate the success of the iPhone and iPod touch. But I've also learned never to underestimate Apple at what they can do. We're looking at it pretty aggressively, and at this point, I'm just going to assume it's going to be successful."

It seems likely that many, if not most of PopCap's notable properties will make an iPad appearance in due time, but Stein made it clear that whenever we do see PopCap's first iPad project, it'll follow a lot of care and consideration. "It's not going to be just a rough, quick and dirty port of Peggle to iPad," he explains. "We tend to do more than just the bare minimum."