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Clash Royale

Supercell’s Clash Royale could have been a micro-transaction enterprise like Clash of Clans or a Hearthstone rip-off. Instead, it’s proven to be a compelling mix of competitive multiplayer, collectible card battling, strategy and tower defense. The rewards also offer a good balance between free to play and premium, enticing you to keep playing without having to spend any real cash.

EA bet big on the Xbox One. They bet very big on it, and honestly, considering the sales performance of the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, the general brand perceptions of both consoles among the mainstream masses, and of course, the financial strength of Microsoft and financial weakness of Sony, it wasn’t hard to see why they, along with so many others, thought that the Xbox One would be the leading console of this generation.

That didn’t happen, and in hindsight, that caught EA on the wrong foot, with all their Xbox One exclusivity deals (games such as Plants vs Zombies 2 and Titanfall, content such as FIFA Ultimate Team players in the FIFA games), when the PlayStation 4 started clowning the Xbox One in sales. Over time, the industry has gradually started to prioritize Sony’s console in their development, but EA’s CFO Blake Jorgensen reckons that a series of aggressive moves by Microsoft, which include price cuts, bundles, and more, are accelerating Xbox One sales to the point that it is ‘quickly catching up’ to PS4.

“Clearly Sony has jumped out to a lead with a great console and I think a great pricing strategy,” Jorgensen said at the UBS Global Technology Conference. But, he added, “Microsoft is catching up quickly”.

“Pricing actions that are taking place, particularly within this Christmas season, driven by Microsoft around reductions plus a lot of bundled software, I think will continue to help pull the consumer into the new consoles.”

Well, if price and bundling is what wins you the war, I expect the Wii U to be the top console this season.

That said, Sony’s lead isn’t unsurmountable- the Xbox One is at nearly 10 million units shipped worldwide, the PS4 is at 13.5 million units (both of them are far ahead of Nintendo’s 7.2 million for the Wii U).

But hey, EA, if you’re so convinced about the Xbox One… I suppose we’ll soon be seeing Titanfall 2 exclusive to the Xbox One, right?

Plants vs Zombies 2 is the sequel the the excellent mobile game that was released a few years ago; the new game, called Garden Warfare, hit smart devices last year, and was also made available for the Xbox One earlier this year. Now, the game will also be coming over to Sony’s PlayStation 4 (especially since EA has been trying to make nice with Sony ever since it became clear the PS4 would do better than the Xbox One, after initially backing Microsoft fully).

This newest trailer that you see above is showcasing the game, and its PlayStation 4 release, for later this year.

Plants vs Zombies 2, in addition to already being available on iOS and Android smart devices, and the Xbox One, is also available on the PC, so it’s not like there actually is any shortage of ways for people to play this game. Still, if you wanted to try it out on your PS4, you’re in luck, I guess.

Originally, Gibeau had stated during an internal EA presentation that this was most certainly the case, though both PopCap and EA didn’t comment on the matter. As of now, the Android port is expected to release in the Fall, though as of now there is no confirmation on the same.

Overall, Plants vs. Zombies 2 has been racking up great sales on iOS, with about 25 million downloads in little more than a month. Despite controversies surrounding the micro-transactions within the game, the game has received excellent critical acclaim. What are your thoughts on Apple buying off EA (or not)? Let us know below.

(Source)

Plants vs Zombies 2 will introduce new zombies, plants and best of all: new worlds. These new worlds can take place both in the future and in the past.  In one world,  you might be defending a seaport from the pirate zombies while in another world you’ll be in an entirely different time period.

It wouldn’t be Plants vs Zombies without the return of Crazy Dave the crazy and funny neighbor from the original game. Crazy Dave’s main purpose was to be funny, help players out on their zombie slaying adventures and charge them gold coins for plant upgrades at his shop.

Plants vs Zombies 2 will be free to download and free-to-play game on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch on July 18th worldwide. Majority of the game content will be free, including all the levels, new zombies and plants, however; getting upgrades and in-game items will mostly be purchased via micro-transactions.

Here is what Allen Murray, Senior Producer for Plants vs Zombies 2 had to say regarding the announcement.

“We’re confident that players will see the love and attention we’ve put into this game. We’ve created wild new ways to experience the plants and zombies you know and love as well as packing the game with tons of completely new content, and we’re still hard at work coming up with even more cool stuff that will keep Plants vs. Zombies 2 fresh and evolving in the months and years following launch.”

Check out these awesome screenshots from Plants vs Zombies 2:

This is an exciting time to be a Plants vs Zombies fan, the sequel sounds promising and a lot of fun. I am personally looking forward to playing it.

Let us know if you’re excited for this awesome sequel in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more updates.

Electronic Arts has started teasing something funny towards PopCap’s famous strategy game Plants vs Zombies.

Take a peek below:

It looks like that Plants vs Zombies will be getting a skin overhaul for one of the most common enemies in the game. This will probably be something for PopCap’s recently announced sequel Plants vs Zombies 2 instead of the original game that has been out for quite some time now and has had many re-releases on multiple platforms.

Electronic Arts has not released any kind of official information in regards to these teaser images that they have shown to the public, so it’s safe to say an announcement will be coming soon.

Let us know what you think of this funny teaser from EA and Bioware in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more updates.

Stephanie Bayer PopCap’ community marketing manager for Plants vs Zombie has confirmed today via twitter that a sequel for Plants vs Zombies is finally coming out this July. Here is her exact twitter quote “”Yay! I can finally say it! PvZ 2: It’s About Time is coming in July,” she stated.

Meanwhile, there is no actual release date on the game, the July release window confirms the previous release window of ‘early summer’.

Plants vs Zombies 2 is a sequel to the critically-acclaimed acclaimed strategy game where players must use a different kind of plants to protect their house from zombies attacks. The first game was originally released on PC and Mac and later on became available on iOS devices and then eventually into handheld platforms such as the PlayStation Vita.

Unfortunately, PopCap Games didn’t give out any new details on Plants vs Zombies 2. Although, they did release a official teaser trailer with a couple of famous YouTube users such as Francis.

Check out the teaser trailer below:

Stay tuned on GamingBolt for our review of Plants vs Zombies 2 when it launches sometime in July of this year.

Curt Bererton, head of PopCap San Francisco stated, “Plants vs. Zombies Adventures is a highly accessible, zombie-zapping adaptation of the original game designed specifically for Facebook.

“The game not only offers up exclusive new plants and zombies along with old favorites, it features all-new forms of zombie combat that will open PvZ to a whole new world. We like to think we’re creating a brand new twist on the classic Plants vs. Zombies that is the most social, shareable and expansive Plants vs. Zombies experience ever.”

PvZ Adventures will have a brand new way of playing the game with new plants and upgrades – now, send zombies instead of sheep to your friends. That’ll learn ’em. Learn more here.

PopCap Games’ founder John Vechey talked about as much, saying that the layoffs are occuring due to the new free-to-play genre. Having exploded in the past year, and being the main source of revenue for the company, Vechy wants to undertake a reorganisation in order to have better cost management and work efficiency for the future.

As of now, efforts are being made to explore a consulatory solution for their Dublin studio. Vechy also confirmed that they layoffs were a management decision, and not a result of any pressure from parent company, EA.

PopCap is currently entrenched in Plants vs Zombies 2. In light of recent events, it makes one wonder how the final product will be affected. Stay tuned for more.