This is Alexey Pajitnov, creator of the world-famous Tetris game. In the past 27 years, Tetris has reached over 50 different platforms, is played in more than 185 countries worldwide and reached over 132 million paid mobile downloads. When I created the game in 1984, I never imagined the game would be so popular, and I’m so pleased to know that people around the world love Tetris.

The Tetris brand is more relevant today than ever before and has truly become a lifestyle to many of our fans. What better way to bring people together to celebrate the game, than a worldwide tournament for the ultimate Tetris champions?

Last year, we sponsored the first Tetris World Championship tournament at the Downtown Independent Theater in LA. We had over 400 of our fans attend to either participate or watch the best of the best compete for the title of Tetris World Champion.

I’m proud to announce that this year, Blue Planet Software, Inc. – the managing agent for the Tetris brand – along with EA and Techno Source will be sponsoring the 2nd annual Tetris World Championships on Sunday, October 16th. This year’s tournament will include a battle to determine the best one player and two-player team of PS3 Tetris gamers.

The event details are below – I hope you can attend!

At the Tetris World Championships on October 16th, we’ll be looking for the best PS3 Tetris players to come out and showcase their talent in a live competition at USC’s Bovard Auditorium in Los Angeles. Challengers can choose to participate in either head-to-head or two-on-two competitions of Tetris for PS3.

Admission to the event is $10 and it’s open to the public (participants must be U.S. residents age 18+), includes one qualifying attempt and admission to the theater for live championship rounds. Additional qualifying attempts are $3 each. Four unique Tetris champions will be crowned and will be awarded a cash prize, trophy and title of Tetris World Champion. All participants will also be entered to win various raffle prizes such as the award-winning tabletop game, Tetris Link and Tetris for PS3.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to be the next Tetris World Champion, head over to http://tetrischampionship.com/ for more information, and be sure to brush up on your skills with Tetris on the PlayStation Network before hitting the competition on Sunday, October 16th.

Greetings, fellow TETRIS enthusiasts! I’m here to deliver some very cool news about our TETRIS game on PlayStation Network. Ever dreamed of being immersed in a multi-dimensional rain of falling Tetriminos? I know I have. Well, thanks to the wonders of 3D Television (and the EA Production Team); we can all finally live the fantasy. We just launched one of our most impressive free TETRIS updates ever. TETRIS on PSN will finally be playable in 3D. Yes, you read that right – 3D! To experience this new option, all you have to do is launch TETRIS on your PS3 and accept the update. That’s it! It’s available in North America and Europe and is only 75MB.

In addition to TETRIS on PSN boasting 5.1 Dolby Sound, 1080p HD graphics and six different play modes – you will now be able to play TETRIS on your snazzy 3D monitor. We’re really excited about this update and can’t wait to compete in PS3-exclusive multiplayer modes, with Tetriminos in our faces!

Keep your eyes on @PlayStation on Twitter today — we’ll be giving out codes you can redeem for a free copy of Tetris on PSN!

We tried these multiplayer modes out at an EA event a few weeks back, and I can say with confidence that longtime Tetris fans will enjoy them with like-minded friends. As we were testing out the game, we were informed that Alexey Pajitnov, the original creator of Tetris, was looking on. So of course, I got nervous and started stinking it up…

As someone who had been playing Tetris since it showed up at my elementary school in the mid-80s, a time when entertainment imported from Russia was pretty much unheard of (aside from vodka), I had a number of questions for Mr. Pajitnov:

How did you come up with the idea for Tetris? Were you trying to jam a lot of boxes in your car and had to get creative?

I was just having fun. I really like puzzles and was inspired by a puzzle board game called Pentomino.

Tetris is generally thought to be the “first true puzzle” videogame. What are your favorite games that have come out in this genre you created? What makes a good puzzle game?

I like many puzzle games – Pipe Dream, Parking lot, Doctor Mario, and Shanghai. In my opinion, it’s very important that a good puzzle game has a large number of levels – from very simple to very hard.

I know the game is 25 years old, but I’d like to hear your advice on playing the game, as it seems there are two schools of thought on Tetris. Should you always attempt to keep the playing area as clear as possible, or should you continually try to set it up to clear 4 lines at a time with the stick piece?

The Tetris game allows many strategies – pick the one that fits you best. In my opinion, usually beginners try to keep the field clear, while more experienced players like to somewhat fill up the matrix to set up short combos in advance. “Masters” routinely set up for 4 line-clears, or a “Tetris” line clear, for more points, and “Grandmasters” tend to play for T-spins and long combos.

Tetris has transcended gaming to be a part of popular culture. Pretty much everyone’s played it, and so there’s a reference that anyone can get (like a vignette from a 2003 episode of The Simpsons). What’s that been like? Where’s the most interesting place you’ve seen Tetris appear?

I was very amazed to see the game played on the side of a skyscraper, using the lights and windows of the building to create falling Tetriminos. That happened at Delft University of Technology where engineering students played the world’s largest working Tetris game along the side of their building. I didn’t see it live, but the videos online are very fun!

Why do you think Tetris has stayed fresh after 25 years? People can still pick it up and play it (and they do).

Why not? Technology has drastically changed in the last 25 years, but not the human brain. I think all good games from the past can become popular again, but in order to do so, they’ll need to be re-introduced properly and kept relevant to current pop culture and technologies. We’ve always done a great job of developing the Tetris game for cutting-edge platforms, like the PlayStation 3 with surround sound and high-definition graphics.

You haven’t just been sitting on the achievement that is Tetris. What have you been doing since the game released?

I worked as a game designer for many years with companies like Spectrum Holobyte, Nintendo, and Microsoft. I also published several titles such as El-Fish, Pandora’s Box, and Hexic.

Finally, why should people pick up Tetris on PlayStation Network?

To have fun! What can be the other reason?

Tetris arrives on PSN tomorrow for $9.99.

Hello, fellow Tetris enthusiasts! This is Christophe from EA Mobile and we’ve got some really big news. We are launching Tetris on PlayStation Network and it’ll be available to download from the PSN store in very early next year. This version of Tetris boasts 5.1 Dolby Sound, 1080P HD graphics, plus six online and local multiplayer modes. Of course, you can play Marathon mode by yourself in the boldest and brightest graphics ever, but what we’re really excited about are three new PS3-exclusive multiplayer modes that will make this a must-have. I can’t go into much detail, but these new online, real-time multiplayer modes will be more fun and competitive than anything you’ve seen before.

A couple of weeks ago Alexey Pajitnov, the original creator of Tetris, got to try out this new PS3 version and absolutely loved it. And since we know how excited you are, we have a trailer ready to showcase just how awesome this gets. Check it out above! This is going to be the definitive Tetris experience.