Interesting News (BfN Ads, BfN bundle, new PvZ toys)
Story #1 - BfN ads on Gamepass for PC
Apparently, BfN was featured in an ad for EA Play at the game awards. That doesn't mean anything, of course, as EA is know to have a desire to maximize profit. To include BfN had no costs attached to it, while it could make them some, so it makes sense. I still found it to be interesting.
The weirdness continues (the hypocrisy, too):
BfN I one of the frontrunner games for EA Play on Gamepass for PC. Boom.
I find this to be rather misleading. The game isn't being updated anymore, many promises made from the start were broken. Even now they are not going back on their promise to fix bugs, as the Wildflower & TV Head upgrades haven't returned yet and 80's can still fly over the map and get an unfair advantage. I believe BfN doesn't deserve the title of "high- quality PC game", either. The game might be great, but certainly not on PC. There are so many issues that have never been fixed on PC. The player base is tiny and they still have a message pop up saying they will improve the directx12 support, as it is still in development, which (now) is a lie.
Don't get me wrong, I love BfN and am convinced it deserves more recognition, but to me this is offensive. Marketing the game months after the cancellation, not allowing the team to finish nearly finished content, no news of a new PvZ shooter, ... Sigh
My guess is that Microsoft likes the game, as GW1 was xbox exclusive for the (back then) next gen xbox one for some time and has boss mode on that platform. Maybe they think it fills a gap in their line-up.
Story #2 - "Speed & Seed" bundle released
When opening the PSN store to check out new PS5 games, my interest was piqued by a bundle in the "new games" section. I couldn't believe what I saw. BfN bundled with the Need for speed: Hot Pursuit Remaster. WHY? Just to have a bad play on words? Do Need for speed and PvZ really share the same target audience? Am I missing something here? Is this the real life?
Again, I feel like it is unethical to sell it as a full price title without a notice that it was a live service title, which has been dropped less than a year in, but I understand that a profit oriented company would like to sell a product, instead of pointing out its flaws. They could at least release the 99% finished Iceburg Lettuce to make this offer compelling, but nope
Side Note:
On steam, the bundle says it has crossplay. So apparently, a cheap Need for Speed Remaster was allowed to have cross play but a major entry in the PvZ franchise was not. Also, they should indicate that only 1 game of the bundle has cross play, not the other. this is just misleading.
Story #3 - New PvZ plushies incoming!
According to a website called ToyNews Online, a company achieved a deal with EA / PopCap to produce new PvZ plushies. I couldn't find another source confirming this and would like to know if it is true. if so, which PopCap is it referring to? Seattle or Vancouver? Will the toys include BfN Characters? Acorn? Or is this referring to the now cancelled version of PvZ, making this announcement obsolete? The passage below seems to talk about the "classic" PvZ game and mentioned EA will soon grant fans new PvZ content. Personally, I feel like saying EA is "granting" us new content is extremely arrogant, as they are simply releasing products we have to pay for and then they drop support after 9-10 months.
Quote from the site:
Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense classic in which players pit their loyal plant squad against the zombie peril, fending off boss invasions and banding together with friends to help save their small town. With over 1.2 billion installs to date, the popular franchise is looking at granting its fans new adventures with future content releases.
“Plants vs. Zombies is a wildly popular video game franchise and we’re thrilled to be the licensed partner that gets to bring its characters to life in plush,” said TOMY’s Weyl. “Many of Club Mocchi- Mocchi-‘s most popular plush toys are characters and accessories from beloved video games, so we’re excited to bring a little piece of Plants vs. Zombies into gamers’ homes around the world.”
Retail Monster’s founder and CEO, Michael Connolly, added: “TOMY’s Club Mocchi- Mocchi- brand is renowned for its bespoke plush format, and we’re thrilled to delight Plants vs. Zombies fans with what will surely be an in-demand range of iconic plush characters.”
Happy Feastivus!
Sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PvZGardenWarfare/comments/kcfekp/its_there/
PSN store
This is such a weird mix of glad they still admit it exists and irritation that more work and time should have been invested in it and they do this. I saw this on the Reddit too and it's still available on Steam as well as Origin. At the least we need those missing upgrades back even if I've come to dislike both swarm characters.
The community on PC is small as you say but barring some serious issues with bugs (one the other day forced me to shut it down in task manager for example), it runs decently on PC with Dx12 (although my rig is decent which helps). Reading here and on Reddit, it's worse on console with lag as I have zero lag when I play, barring internet issues.
Speaking of GW1 Boss Mode, it was never all that popular as it was dropped for GW2, but it was nice and relaxing at times when I wanted to play but not mix it up in PvP as much.
This bit especially piques my interest: '...the popular franchise is looking at granting its fans new adventures with future content releases...' We need a new shooter so much right now. I'm enjoying bouncing between the games but I have everything unlocked in GW1 and 2 and only need to reach max rank in BfN which has become rather tedious to be sure as I'm GM 3 on all characters and they feel like such an empty grind.
