Video games remain big business, and casual games are becoming an increasingly large slice of the industry’s pie. Near the end of last year, online super-merchant Amazon.com purchased the casual game developer and portal Reflexive, and the industry wondered what fruit it would bear. We now know: Amazon is announcing the launch of its own casual games portal, with 500 games ready to download.

For the first week, visitors will even be able to grab three games for free: Jewel Quest 2, Build a Lot, and The Scruffs. That, along with the ability to try every game before you buy, should be enough to entice fans of casual gaming to check out Amazon’s offerings. It also looks like this could be Amazon’s first step into the world of digital distribution for video games.

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