popcap-games posts

It looks like PopCap Games is wasting no time in getting the new Game of the Year version of Plants Vs Zombies to PC and Mac players. The game's official web site now has the new version of the popular tower defense game available for purchase and download for $19.99.

As we reported before the Game of the Year edition of the title has some extra features including 20 new achievements to, well, achieve. They have titles like "Explodonator" and "No Fungus Among Us." The biggest new feature is the Zombatar, the make-your-own-undead program that allows you to customize the zombie of your dreams and then see that zombie attempt to eat your back yard in the game.

[Thanks Mikhail]

Earlier this month we reported that Popcap Games will be releasing a PC/Mac "Game of the Year" edition of their tower defense game Plants Vs Zombies. At the time Popcap would not say specifically what new content will be added to the Game of the Year version but a recent visit to our local GameStop retail store had a pre-order mock-up of the game on display.

The mock-up stated that in addition to new achievements, the Game of the Year edition will allow players to create their own zombies and then see their custom undead creations in the game itself. GameStop is currently showing a release date of August 10 for Plants Vs Zombies Game of the Year.

One thing that won't be in the game is a zombie that looks like Michael Jackson. According to MTV Multiplayer, the Jackson estate frowned on having a "dancing zombie" that looked like an undead version of the late King of Pop in the original version of the game. Popcap, who clearly don't want to go through a costly legal battle, have issued a statement saying that the dancing zombie will be replaced with another version, saying, " The phase-out and replacement process is underway."

While Popcap Games' big announcement today was the upcoming launch of Plants Vs Zombies for the Xbox 360 buried in the press release was word that the popular casual tower defense game would also be getting a "Game of the Year" edition for the PC and Mac platforms.

The new edition will be released in retail stores later this fall and according to the press release, a limited number of the copies "will include a zombie figurine." And will the Game of the Year edition include new gameplay content as well? Big Download emailed Popcap's PR rep who indeed confirmed that the new version, " . . . will have a bit of new content, but we're not stating exactly what at this time..."

The release of Plants Vs Zombies by publisher PopCap Games proved that downloadable titles with a casual theme could also have some hardcore game elements. It's also addictively fun. So naturally some people have been wondering if a sequel to this tower defense variation is in the works.

We may not have much longer to wait on that score as PC Gamer has just posted up a note it got from PopCap Games.to save the date on August 2 for some kind of announcement. The artwork features a familiar looking limb coming out of the ground. From the looks of it we may be getting word soon on Plants Vs Zombies 2. Or it could just be about some hand coming out of the soil. Either way, it should be fun.

It's been a huge week for Mac gamers with the launch of the Mac steam client. However, Mac gamers also have a pretty nice sale going on at casual game publisher PopCap Games. While it's not mentioned on their main web site nor on their Twitter and Facebook pages, the publisher has a big sale bundle promotion for Mac versions of several of their games.

You can purchase and download 13 Mac ports of PopCap Games, including Plants Vs Zombies, Bejeweled 2, Peggle, Zuma and more for a mere $49.95. There's no word on when this promotion will actually end so if you are a Mac user you should jump on this quickly

[Via Joystiq]

We already alerted you to some weekend PC game download sales on Friday but a few more popped up that we were not aware of at the time. But we know about them now :)

• Just ahead of next week's release of its first big expansion pack, Direct2Drive has the original Age of Conan on sale for just $9.95. The sale ends today.
• PopCap Games is selling the original Zuma title for just $4.95 from now until May 12.
• Steam has the new Rocket Knight game on sale for 20 percent off as a pre-order before its release next week.
• Steam also has a new four-pack for the recently released Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, letting players get four copies of the game for the price of three. Also GetGamesgo has a 15 percent sale for the game.

It began as a Facebook game release and now publisher PopCap Games has decided to offer up Bejeweled Blitz as a stand alone PC game title. The latest entry in the wildly popular and addictive puzzle series is now available to purchase and download from the PopCap site for $19.99.

This installment of the franchise is basically just like the Facebook version which 25 million players have already checked out, but with full high definition graphics. The game uses 60 second rounds to give players a chance to blow up as many of those pesky gems as they can. The PC version can also still link up with Facebook in the game itself to allow players to hook up and play with friends. It also adds new achievements and badges that are not in the PC version. The full version of the game also includes 1 million in-game coins that players can use for power ups and other features.

Released back in September 2008, PopCap Games's casual puzzle game Peggle Nights is still a highly popular (not to mention addictive) title to play. Now PopCap Games is conspiring to give all of us the full version of the game for free. However this is a catch involved in this deal.

It isn't much of a catch, though. All you have to do is sign up to receive the company's Passport email newsletter. The sign up itself is free and then you can send a free copy of Peggle Nights "to a friend or relative." Of course there's nothing to stop you from sending that free copy to yourself if you have more than one email address and we don't think the gang at PopCap will mind too much.

Download Peggle Nights Demo (24 MB)

Two of the biggest casual game developer/publishers, MumboJumbo and PopCap, have apparently been fighting in court for the last few years. Today MumboJumbo announced it has been awarded a sum of $4.6 million in damages by a Dallas, Texas jury.

MumboJumbo claimed that it entered into an agreement with PopCap in 2006 to "produce, distribute and sell certain PopCap games in North America." However MumboJumbo then claimed that PopCap went behind their back and decided to sell their games on their own. The jury agreed with MumboJumbo that Popcap "committed fraud and tortious interference when it severely damaged the business relationship between MumboJumbo and a key retailer." Big Download contacted PopCap for comment and received this response from their PR head: "PopCap continues to believe that it did nothing wrong in this case, and will vigorously pursue its claims and defend itself through the appeals process."

The massive devastation and loss of life in Haiti following Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude earthquake is almost unimaginable. However the collective response to the disaster shows that no matter what happens there will always be folks who will help out. Casual game publisher PopCap Games is giving you a chance to donate money to one of the many groups trying to help the country.

For today only, PopCap will donate all proceeds from any game bought from their online store to Partners In Health, which is trying to help ease the pain of people who are currently living with this situation. So if you ever wanted to buy Plants Vs Zombies, now is the time.

[Via Joystiq]