iGame Radio

Machinarium is back, and this time for the iPad 2. Amanita Design has finished their port of their popular Indie strategy puzzler, but only to the iPad 2. We spoke to Jakub Dvorsky of Amanita, and he regretfully stated that to keep all of the animations and details, they needed more memory than a 256MB iPad would give. Follow the path of the little robot searching for his girlfriend in this wonderful post-human game of love and revenge. The iPad 2 version is available for $4.99.

Sketch Games has released a new take on an old idea. ArkanoArena takes the arcade game Arkanoid and merges them with some new gameplay mechanics and great Steampunk visuals. You won’t just be blasting breaks in the traditional sense…you’ve got powerups and upgrades to add into the fray as well. This game that was previously released for iPad is now out for iPhone for $1.99.

Lastly, PopCap Games has released a major update for Plants vs Zombies for iPhone. This wildly popular tower defense game pitting zombie against plants now sports nine mini-games from the original PC/Mac version, a new micro-game, and Game Center Achievements. The mini-games include favorites Walnut Bowling 2, Bobsled Bonanza, and ZomBotany 2, while the micro-game seems to be a take off on the original digging to China achievement in the iPad version, called “Race to China”. Mini-games come in packs which can be purchased through in-game coinage earned, or purchased via in-app purchases of $0.99.

• Machinarium
• ArkanoArena for iPhone
• Plants vs. Zombies

UPDATE: PopCap Games sent me a note that their update has been delayed till mid-June. Ah well, so many zombies to take care of anyway…

Com2uS has released what they call the “definitive tower defense game”…Tower Defense: Lost Earth. Available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, Lost Earth has players journeying to the future with the last expedition from earth as they battle to gather resources and defend humanity on a hostile alien planet with endless waves of enemies. With over 40 campaigns, 6 challenge maps, and 5 world maps encompassing mountain ranges, ice lands, lava terrain and more, Tower Defense: Lost Earth includes 4 game play modes, 10 types of enemies, 4 weapons and up to 9 tower types, with many more in DLC upgrades coming soon. Tower Defense: Lost Earth is available for $2.99 for iPhone/iPod Touch and $4.99 for the iPad.

PopCap Games has announced a major update that will happen in mid-June to its immensely popular game Plants vs Zombies for iPhone and iPod Touch. The flower defense game pitting zombies against the powerful vegetation features additional content, mini-games, and achievements. Included in the update is the Zen Garden to the mix, wherein you can now raise your own plants for coinage. More updates are promised for later in the year, but as always these are all free.

Ricky Carmichael’s Motocross Matchup has also received an update. The free-to-play racing title is based on the motorcycle racing career of all-time champion Ricky Carmichael, and includes a full motocross racing experience complete with GameCenter-supported online play and voice chat, graphics with full retina support, and tons of customizations for your bike and ride. The update adds in retuned pricing schemes, unlimited gas for unlimited racing, and many player requested fixes. You can dowload the update through the iTunes App Store.

UPDATE: Spoke with PopCap Games, and they stated that at this time Zuma Blitz, which will be coming out on Facebook in a matter of weeks, will be the “online multiplayer” adaptation of Zuma for North America. “Super Zuma is rather different from Zuma Blitz, but won’t be coming to N. America anytime soon.”


PopCap Games today announced a deal with NCsoft to bring PopCap’s first online multiplayer social game service to Korea later this year. The new platform, PopCap World, is the first product to be developed and released by PopCap’s Shanghai game studio.

PopCap World will be operated by NCsoft and will launch with 13 of PopCap’s award-winning games, including Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, and Zuma, as well as an all-new multiplayer game, Super Zuma, built exclusively for Korean players. All of the games will be free to play, with optional, premium paid elements to be added later.

Since its launch, PopCap Games has released hit games Bejeweled, Bejeweled 2, Plants vs. Zombies, and Zuma, as well as versions for the iPhone and iPad which have reached the top 10 on the App Store. Though there is no news as of this post on extending Super Zuma outside of the Korean world, or creating a different multiplayer game for other International markets, I’m quite certain if Super Zuma does well we can expect more announcements in the same vein to follow.

Now that the Micheal Jackson dancing Zombie of PopCap Game’s immensely popular game, Plants vs Zombies, is no more, we have been waiting with baited breath for its replacement. PopCap has now revealed the new dancing zombie:

PopCap revealed the new arrival yesterday, confirming that he is now called the “Disco Zombie”.

‘I can confirm that there is in fact a new ‘disco zombie’ (see image attached) and I would really appreciate if you could ‘be nice to the new guy’…the disco zombie is starting to feel like a second class zombie citizen, which is really unfair considering the length of time he spent doing his hair! I actually managed to catch up with him earlier today and, while he’s a little adverse to public speaking, he gave me the following (badly) written statement:

“Dear Alive Peeples, I am pleazed too join the big brainz at PopCap and can’t wait to meat you all. And yes, I du my own heir.”’

UPDATE: PopCap Games has issued a notice regarding an unintentional effect that the PvZ update has had to any iDevice using iOS4…there have been reports of crashes. From PopCap:

Plants vs Zombies has many different zombies in the game, including one iconic dancing zombie that cannot be mistaken for anything other than a tribute to Michael Jackson. Dressed in red jacket/pants, white socks, and one white glove (as in Jackson’s Thriller video from years gone), the dancing zombie keeps going and keeps bringing up more zombies until you destroy the dancing zombie itself.

But now, according to MTV, the estate of Michael Jackson has decided that this tribute is, in fact, objectionable, and wants it gone. Despite the fact that this clearly falls under the venue of parody, and thus free use, PopCap has decided that it isn’t worth it to fuss. So they are in the process of making changes to the dancing zombie to produce a new “dancing zombie” that is more disco-themed, and will be available in a later update.

The Estate of Michael Jackson objected to our use of the ‘dancing zombie’ in PLANTS vs. ZOMBIES based on its view that the zombie too closely resembled Michael Jackson. After receiving this objection, PopCap made a business decision to retire the original ‘dancing zombie’ and replace it with a different ‘dancing zombie’ character for future builds of PLANTS vs.ZOMBIES on all platforms. The phase-out and replacement process is underway.

For iPhone and iPad, this means that the next time you plug your iDevice in for a sync, you’ll probably loose that original dancing zombie. But what about your Mac version? I contacted PopCap Games about this, but they said that they could not release any further information at this time.

Dancing Zombie is dead! All hail Dancing Zombie!

via GamePolitics

I was introduced to Zuma Blitz for Facebook at the PopCap luncheon today. A merging of the ball shooting game Zuma with the fast-paced arcade concepts of Bejeweled Blitz, players in Zuma Blitz must face attacks from two sides in a limited time period to gain points. Time for attacks can increase in game with the right powerups.

Though the game is weeks from release still, there are plans for some pretty awesome social gameplay, such as players being able to level curses on each other to hinder gameplay, or sharing points, etc.

I also confirmed that the lovely rumor from July 12 about a possible Plants vs Zombies 2 is just that…rumor. I spoke directly with Garth Chouteau of PopCap Games to get the skinny on this rumor once and for all, and found that the “announcement” is really a celebration regarding the release of Plants vs Zombies for XBLA.

Gamespot reports on it in detail about the same time I was getting the info, so I’ll let them tell you more. I’m too heartbroken. Other than to say that Chouteau did say that while he wouldn’t rule out a Plants vs Zombies 2 game, there aren’t any plans for one right now.

TouchArcade is reporting on an announcement floating around the past weekend that hints at something interesting in the Plants vs Zombies universe. An image with a date of August 2nd in San Fancisco has been emailed to select journalists. Judging by what is in the image, and knowing little else, one can only make wild guesses, but of course the first guess is that a Plants vs Zombies sequel may be announced.

Considering the success of the desktop, iPhone, and iPad versions, this would be no surprise. Yours truly will be meeting with PopCap at the Casual Connect convention in two weeks, so perhaps another tidbit of information might find its way to this blog. Check back and see!

 

What’s inside this episode:

• A review of Plants vs Zombies HD (no, really, this is the real thing!) by PopCap Games, in which the loveable zombies come back to crunch our brains some more. Wait…no Zen Garden?? Heresy!
  
• And a review of PartyPlace: Marble Mixer for the iPad by GameHouse. The timeless game of marbles brought back for the next generation to enjoy. Watch out for that monster! Nom, nom, nom…
• Plus, a review of Babo Crash for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad by Playbrains. A universal release, still, the platform makes a difference. Check out which one you’d rather play on.
  

Show Notes:

• Omaha Sternberg and Peter Cohen of The Loop talk about the recent 3.3.1 issues and what it really doesn’t mean for just about everyone.
• Peter talks about his trip to PAX Boston, his impressions, and what he did.
• Did you know that even the government doesn’t trust the counterfeiting and piracy numbers?
• Peter and Omaha are sad that their friends overseas can’t get their iPads yet. Yeah. Real sad.
• Omaha and Peter talk about which games for the iPad are currently their favorite.
• And Omaha asks Peter if he also sold his sold to GameStation.

Music Notes:

• Digital Droo produced our theme music here at iGame Radio.
• Pedro Camacho featured his game demo music.
• Rob Howard featured music from The Broken Hourglass

Hmm…what’s that noise I’m hearing from my pocket? It sounds like…braaaaaaaainzzzzzzzz! Ah, yes, Plants vs Zombies has come out for the iPhone, in time for me to finally have time to play it. The award-winning zombie casual game pitting poor, defenseless zombies against savage, ruthless plants (ain’t historical revisionism grand) is now available for your iPhone or iPod Touch!

Defend your home from 26 different types of zombies using 49 different plant units in this clever and addictive (no, really, it is) tower defense game that translates really well to the iPhone’s small screen. BTW, this is probably the only game that I’ve ever seen on the App Store that does not have one rating below 4 stars…out of 2429 of them!

Available for all iPhone and iPod Touch versions, starting with the OS 2.2.1 and later. The game is only $2.99. Get it now!

PopCap Games has announced that they are working on an iPhone/iPod Touch version of Plants vs. Zombies. The game should become available around the end of this year. Unfortunately, no other details are available, so we’ll have to sit tight and wait for more info.