Video games: New puzzle games reach out to wordplay fans

The worldwide sudoku craze appears to be fading -- if electronic versions of the number-logic game are any indication. Since 2005 I've seen dozens of sudoku games for consoles, handhelds, computers and cell phones. On the schedule for 2008 are none. I gave into the fad for a while, in much the same way I got hooked on "Tetris," "Minesweeper" or "Bejeweled." But now that I've achieved a reasonable skill level, it feels like there's not much more to see. I've put aside sudoku and returned to my old two-crossword-a-day puzzle regimen. I'd love to see more video games based on word puzzles, and I think there's an audience out there. Casual gamers have made modest hits of PC games such as "Bookworm" and "Text Twist," while the Facebook crowd has turned "Scrabulous," a Scrabble knockoff, into a phenomenon.