Plants vs. Zombies sprouts and shuffles onto the Apple iPhone Feb. 15

If it seems as though Popcap Games marvelous cute and inventive take on the tower defense genre, Plants vs. Zombies, has been in the works for the iPhone/iPod touch for a long, long time, it has – the game was first announced in last August. Although Popcap Games didn’t make its “late 2009″ window, I can forgive the kindly team of casual gaming gurus because the trailer for the upcoming Apple port looks really, really good (and they know how to thoroughly rock a Halloween parade).

Judging by Popcap Games’ video, the winning gameplay looks in tact, but I wonder how the multi-touch will be implemented (which has, unfortunately, added a cumbersome elements to many good iPhone/iPod touch titles). Still, the prospect of playing Plants vs. Zombies on the Apple iPad’s slick 9.7-inch display sounds quite delicious, especially on long flights or road trips, if you happen to think the tweener device is worthy the dough.

Battle Beat merges music and tower defense on your Xbox 360

Outside of innovative titles such as Rez, few music games have attempted to be more than simple “press the button when the icon is in the right position” rhythm games. That formula was the basis of Parappa the Rapper, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band, and has proved highly successful with wannabe music mavens. Fortunately, developer Stegersaurus Games attempts to elevate the genre.

Battle Beat (available for 400 MSP) is a new game available in the Xbox 360 Indie Games channel that eschews pseudo rockstar status by placing gamers in the role of space commander that must save his home world from hostile alien forces. Using instrument or standard Xbox 360 controllers, players command a squad of troops to launch attacks in this music-meets-tower-defense title.

Really, it’s an intriguing use of the plastic axes that populate our homes, but all it really does is Beg for a kick ass Macross 7 game to be created. LISTEN TO MY SONG!

Best 2D Puzzle/Strategy/Tower Defense Game Of 2009: Plants vs. Zombies

Irresistible. There isn’t much other way to describe Popcap Games’ Plants vs. Zombies, an addictive and infinitely charming take on the tower defense genre. Instead of planes, tanks, mechs, or other miscellaneous items, the title demands that you defend a suburban home from a zombie invasion using the  flora that you plant in your lawn. Plants! If it all sounds a hair bizarre, it is, but in the absolutely best way possible. Fun and addictive, Plants vs. Zombies deserves a place in the collection of any armchair strategist.

Plants vs. Zombies At The NYC Halloween Parade; Goth Gaming Geeks Rejoice

When one thinks of the city that I call home, typically the Yankees, Broadway, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Coney Island, and a dozen other landmarks and locales comes to mind, but the Big Apple also throws one heck of a Halloween party; absolutely killer if I were to draw from the well of fairly obvious puns.

If you were fortunate enough to be in the New York City this past October 31st, you would have witnessed several wild and wacky outfits that would’ve caused laughter, repulsion, and admiration (sometimes from the same get up)  as angels, demons, sexy police officers, and large men dressed as Little Bo Beep shimmied through the West Village. It was all par for the course, really.

What is unusual, however, is for a video game company to act as an in-parade sponsor, which is exactly what Popcap Games did with its Plants vs. Zombies troupe. Popcap Games assembled a motley crew of Halloween revelers (including myself and Examiner’s Gracie Leach who chatted it up with  a Popcap Games rep as well as a member of the undead) that either donned the worker bee garb of the Temp Zombie, or the insanely cute visage of one of  the many in-game plants. And it was awesome.

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Review: Plants vs. Zombies (Mac, PC)

When it comes to designing incredibly addictive, infinitely playable casual games, no company can match the track record that the magicians at Popcap have produced. Zuma was marvelous. Even more so, Peggle. But with the release of Plants vs. Zombies Popcap has truly outdone itself by crafting what is one of the most fun, engaging, and dare I say flawless games of this generation. Hyperbole this is not.

Plants vs. Zombies’s premise is a simple one: You’re given the task of protecting your home from a zombie invasion by planting a variety of flora in the yard which grant a variety of offensive and defensive capabilities. As the undead make their slow march from the street toward your abode you seed a six square high grip with a number of plants including a exploding cherries, Peashooters (which can snipe from long range), and  Chompers (a zombie-eating Venus Flytrap-like green). The most vital plant of the dozens that you’ll acquire is the Sunflower, which is the fuel for your attack.

As with analog plants, these digital ones require sunlight to flourish, which is represented by falling golden orbs that are affixed with point values that let you purchase plants.  These will occasionally appear on the field all by there lonesome, but as you plant more Sunflowers, they appear at a far quicker rate, vastly increasing your “money” supply, and thus your armaments. However, you can’t simply litter the field with the most powerful of weapons and sit back; icons on the top of the screen display each individual plant’s refresh rate, some like the Sunflowers are swift, while others takes seemingly a lifetime to recharge.

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