Small diversions for desktop gaming

By Wang Yu

One of the toughest questions for a gamer is whether to upgrade his PC or buy the latest Xbox 360.

Chipmakers and game developers have long conspired to lift more money from fans’ wallets. Every new visual masterpiece to hit store shelves always requires a new upgrade to the latest and greatest video card – usually released in tandem.

 But some designers have finally heard the pleas of their money-strapped fans.

As the average PC game balloons beyond 4 gigabytes, their 100-megabyte games require less hardware and disk space to provide hours of entertainment.

This week, Beijing Today meets up with local gamers to test small ways to kill time.

 

Plants vs. ZOmbies

Plants vs. Zombies is one of the biggest Internet phenomenon to spill into the real world, with fans acting out the war between plants and zombies in public spaces and selling memorabilia on Taobao.

The game, released last May, is a tower defense video game developed and published by PopCap Games for PC and Mac. The first edition is 30 megabytes and runs on average computers. It has been the most popular game in China since its release.

The player controls a homeowner who uses a variety of plants to repel an advancing army of zombies. The player must defend his own home, along with the home of a neighbor called Crazy Dave. Missions take place by both day and night, and in the front yard, backyard and on the roof.

The characters feature cute designs, especially the zombies, which have different uniforms and skills. Each plant has a unique function, and success depends on the player’s ability to arrange the plants to make the best use of his Sun Points. They money the player earns by killing zombies can be spent at Crazy Dave’s shop on new types of plants.

Warcraft III Tower Defense, Insaniquarium and Tapper were the three biggest influences on Plants vs. Zombie, designer George Fan said. The game is also available on iPhone and iPad.

However, its popularity and accessibility brought the game under legal scrutiny when one dancing zombie was found to bear a striking resemblance to Michael Jackson in his Thriller days. The character has since been replaced by a more generic disco zombie after a stern warning from Jackson’s lawyers.