Plants vs Zombies 2 Launching Tonight... in Australia

Popcap has announced that Plants vs. Zombies 2 is releasing tonight for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, but only in Australia and New Zealand. A release date for the United States and other international territories hasn't been announced, but will likely follow in "2-3 weeks" according to Popcap.

Plants vs Zombies 2 Senior Producer Allen Murray told IGN the down-under soft-launch is intended to ensure the game's back-end systems are up-to-snuff and ready for a crush of worldwide players.

"Plants vs Zombies' veneer is simple and silly, but there is an extremely complex system of software in place that supports it," Murray explained. "We looked at some of the core systems - back-end systems, and realized we needed to make changes."

"We aren't really [using this time] to change things that are player-facing," Murray continued. "We're using this time to work on things like how we handle accounts. Family play is important to us. In Plants vs Zombies 2 multiple accounts can progress through the game independently on a single device. Premium-purchased Plants and other items are shared between accounts. We take advantage of cross-device cloud saves, a shared wallet system, we stream in new game worlds to keep the initial download small... we're using this time to stabilize these systems."

Murray was also quick to point out that all these online features and functions won't prevent offline play.

"You can still play whenever you want, even if your phone or tablet isn't connected," he clarified.

On the freemium front, Murray emphasized that gamers will be able to play through the entirety of Plants vs Zombies 2 for free. But as with all free-to-play games, the devil will undoubtedly be in the details.

"We want to build up a relationship with players - build their trust. There's no friend pestering, no paying for new levels. and no energy meter. Certain levels are locked behind 'Key Gates' and 'Star Gates'. You can earn enough keys through play to unlock all the levels in the game, but if you're impatient you can bypass these gates with a purchase. Finally, a small number of plants and ugrades are premium-only - six plants, and four upgrades."

IGN will have much more on Plants vs. Zombies 2, including details on the game's Freemium pricing structure, as soon as it goes live. A release on Windows, Mac and presumably other platforms is planned for later this year, after the iOS rollout.

Justin Davis is Editor of IGN Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin and on IGN.

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