Microsoft has revealed the next wave of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass for May with SnowRunner being out today for consoles, PC and the cloud. May 20th sees Peggle 2, EA’s colorful puzzle game, and Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville available for the cloud. Both titles require EA Play (available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate) to play.

Secret Neighbor is out on the same but there’s also The Wild at Heart, an action adventure which sees two kids venturing into the Deep Woods, gathering Spritelings, and taking on twisted foes. The latter will be available for console and PC subscribers. On May 21st, EA’s Knockout City will be available on Xbox Game Pass for PC and EA Play.

May 25th sees the release of Maneater for console, cloud and PC subscribers while Conan Exiles arrives for consoles and the cloud on May 27th. Fuzion Frenzy, Joy Ride Turbo and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries are all out for consoles on the same day. Meanwhile, PC subscribers get Slime Rancher and Solasta: Crown of the Magister, the latter being an RPG in the vein of old-school, tabletop titles. SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest rounds out the selection of titles for May.

The following titles will also be leaving Xbox Game Pass on May 31st:

• Assetto Corsa (Cloud and Console)
• Broforce (PC)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 Remix (Console)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (Console)
• Surviving Mars (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Void Bastards (Cloud, Console, and PC)

PopCap Games is the star of this week’s Deals With Gold on Xbox Live. Gold subscribers will have a chance to avail of discounts on major PopCap releases on both Xbox One and Xbox 360 from now till December 15th.

For Xbox One users, you’ll be able to pick up Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare at 66 percent discount and Peggle 2 at a 60 percent discount. The Xbox 360 has a wider range of discounted titles available with Peggle, Bejeweled 3, Peggle Nights, Zuma’s Revenge, Plants vs. Zombies, Feeding Freenzy 1 & 2 discounted at 50 percent. Like the Xbox One version, the Xbox 360 version of Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare is discounted by 66 percent.

Both Peggle 2 and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare some of the more fun games to be had on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 so they’re definitely worth picking up. What are your thoughts on this week’s Deals With Gold? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information on discounts.

Peggle 2 came out as a timed exclusive for the Xbox One in December and was met with decent praise for its endearing and addictive gameplay, just as the original game was. And that left Xbox 360 owners wondering- to some capacity- whether they’d get the chance to play the puzzle title anytime soon. Turns out, they will.

Developer PopCap Games will be releasing an Xbox 360 version of Peggle 2 on May 7, Microsoft has announced. What’s more, Xbox 360 owners will also be treated to an additional online Duel mode, for multiplayer battles both online and locally. The Duel mode has also been made available to Xbox One owners, starting today. Go, go, go, if you have Peggle 2, download the Duel mode.

Peggle 2 has been praised by several people for being extremely enjoyable and addictive, but it hasn’t seen the same level of critical success that the original Peggle did. I’d still say it’s worth a purchase, though.

PopCap Interactive’s Peggle series has a fairly strong following – so strong in fact, that Microsoft realized how beneficial it would be to have Peggle 2 serve as a timed exclusive for the Xbox One. Nonetheless, the Achievements for the game have already been revealed. They indicate 28 Achievements for a total Gamerscore of 1000 points. You can check them out below. We’d tell you to beware of spoilers but for crying out loud, it’s Peggle. We don’t think you’ll find out who killed Dumbledore by reading them.

Toured the Campus (50G)
Completed every level in the Peggle Institute

Insitutionalized (25G)
Completed every trial in the Peggle Institute

Trolled (50G)
Completed every level in Mountain Highs

Higher Ground (25G)
Completed every trial in Mountain Highs

Found Frozen Friends (50G)
Completed every level in Winter Blunderland

SSSSlide (25G)
Completed every trial in Winter Blunderland

Found So Many Contraptions (50G)
Completed every level in Gnorman’s Gneighborhood

Grounded (25G)
Completed every trial in Gnorman’s Gneighborhood

Not Too Scary (50G)
Completed every level in Gravely Grove

Trials and Some Tribulations (25G)
Completed every trial in the Gravely Grove

Peggle Master (100G)
Completed every Celestial Realm level

Cryptic Cryptid (50G)
Completed every Celestial Realm trial

Opt-in (25G)
Completed 30 Optional Objectives

Objection! (25G)
Completed 60 Optional Objectives

Half-Way Yay! (25G)
Completed 90 Optional Objectives

Extreme Objectification (25G)
Completed 120 Optional Objectives

Ultra Extreme Objectification (50G)
Completed 150 Optional Objectives

All the Cheevos! (100G)
Completed 180 Optional Objectives

Baller (50G)
Won a level with at least 12 balls left

Superior Shot (5G)
Earned 3 free balls on one shot

Stylin’ (25G)
Got 75,000 styleshot points in a shot

Coolest Clear (50G)
Won a level with the cool clear style shot

Every day I’m Pegglin’ (10G)
Hit 10000 blue pegs

Orange Crusher (10G)
Hit 5000 orange pegs

I’d Hit That (10G)
Hit 300 green pegs

I Got a Fever (5G)
Cleared all orange pegs in a level

Ace’d! (25G)
Beat your first ace score

Ultra Extreme Fever (35G)
Cleared all pegs in a level

Peggle 2 releases on December 9th for Europe and North America on the Xbox One.

(Source)

Though PopCap Interactive had announced that both Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Peggle 2 would be timed exclusives for the Xbox One, the latter was to be released at launch for the Xbox One. It suffered a short delay though, but PopCap has thankfully announced that the upcoming puzzle game will be available on December 9th for the Xbox One. And yes, it’s still a timed exclusive.

New additions to Peggle 2 include coloured pegs, which bestow different special abilities and effects. For example, the orange pegs will make it easier for you to clear levels. Other than that, expect the same puzzle madness and fun that you enjoyed in the previous release – which made more than a pretty penny for PopCap alongside the Plants vs. Zombies franchise.

Peggle 2 will be available as a digital download on Xbox Live and will retail for $11.99. Stay tuned for more details as the official release nears.

The upcoming next generation of gaming has already seen its fair share of delays. From Watch Dogs to DriveClub, the launch line up for both the new systems looks a bit thinned out. To add to the woes, PopCap have revealed that Peggle 2 was never meant to be a Xbox One launch title.

In an interview with VentureBeat, PopCap senior director of PR, Garth Chouteau said that the game was “mischaracterized” as a launch title but instead they intended it to position it as a launch window game.

“Peggle 2 is a ‘launch timeframe’ title, But [it] will not launch day-and-date with the Xbox One — instead, it will become available a few weeks later in December,” he said.

Not a big delay for fans looking forward to playing the sequel to one of the biggest indie hits out there, the original Peggle. We will keep you updated on more information about Peggle 2 in the coming weeks.

Let us known your thoughts in the comments section below and stay tuned to GamingBolt for more news and updates.

Calling EA’s relationship with Sony “very good”, Gibeau was asked if having exclusives for the Xbox One would affect the commercial success of the PS4. He responded, “Not internally developed EA games. We’re changing nothing in our policy about being platform-agnostic. One of the things that struck me this week is how a tactical deal with one of our platform partners has been blown out and perceived as strategic tilt – that’s a messaging error on our part. There is no strategic tilt.

“The Sony platform and the Xbox platform are both very important to us. If you look at the previous generation we did tactical deals with both Sony and Microsoft throughout the cycle. Titanfall is different, it’s an EA Partners game – everything else is platform agnostic.

“Sony has been executing exceptionally well on the next-gen transition. Their hardware’s hot, they’re clear and disciplined and consistent with their policies, they are showing some amazing things with indies, so overall I couldn’t be more pleased with how they’re executing. I hope both systems are successful – EA succeeds when more platforms are doing well.”

On whether we’d be seeing some PS4 exclusive titles from EA, Gibeau stated that, “It’s a long cycle, and certainly there’s potential with Sony exclusivity deals too. I can tell you now, our internal games, the games we make ourselves, will be multiplatform.”

Satisfied with the response?

A new trailer showcased by PopCap Interactive featured new mulitpliers, characters and powers this time around. Not much else is discussed about the game, but given how addictive the first game was, we bet Peggle 2 will just be more of the same but better. Or something like that.

PopCap also talked about the upcoming Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and upcoming content for Plants Vs. Zombies 2, namely the “Far Future” content update which will add even more gameplay to the experience. Both Peggle 2 and Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will be timed exclusives for the Xbox One, although the latter features the Xbox One-exclusive Boss Mode which lets you play as Dr ZomBoss or Crazy Dave and issue airstrikes (think Battlefield 4’s Commander mode).

Developed by PopCap Interactive, both games will feature support for Kinect and SmartGlass. While Peggle 2 will be a casual puzzle games much in the vein of its predecessor, Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will be an off-shoot of the main franchise, taking place from a first and third person perspective as you take the fight to the zombies.

You’ll be able to grow different plants but also take control of different units such as the Peashooter, Cactus and Sunflower, each with their own abilities. Also disco zombies. Stay tuned for more announcements, with Microsoft’s Gamescom press conference kicking off at 10 AM PST.