Possibly Zen Studios’ most animated virtual pinball table to date, Plants vs. Zombies, is shambling onto the PlayStation Network this afternoon, the first new table to be offered under the Zen Pinball 2 banner. There’s also a pretty great launch trailer up for viewing, showing off how the table stays true to the tower defense nature of the original PvZ.
When Zen Pinball 2 releases for PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita later today, players will also be able to pick up the Plants vs. Zombies table for $2.99. A collaboration between two studios, PopCap Games’ Community Manager Jeff Green and Zen Studios’ Creative Director Neil Sorens tag-teamed a post on the PlayStation Blog highlighting how the development process went down.
According to Green, PopCap pretty much threw everything, including the kitchen sink, Zen’s way.
“The first thing you need to know about this Plants vs. Zombies table is that it is built out of authentic Plants vs. Zombies bits,” he said. “We handed Zen Studios original game assets including art, sounds, objects, zombies, flowers, plants, [and] defenses.”
According to Sorens, Zen’s job was to then make those assets usable in a 3D environment, and then plug them into a table specifically designed for PvZ gameplay.
“One of the first things we had to figure out was how to translate a very deliberate, slow-paced 2D game into a fast-paced, frantic pinball game with 3d interactive characters,” Sorens said.
You can find out how it turned out for yourself when Zen Pinball 2 hits the PlayStation Network later today. Until then, why not clap your peepers on the game’s release trailer?
