Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the game Plants vs. Zombies released?
Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games for Microsoft Windows and OS X. The game involves homeowners who use a variety of different plants to prevent an army of zombies from entering their houses and "eating their brains". It was first released on May 5, 2009, and made available on Steam on the same day. A version for iOS was released in February 2010, and an HD version for the iPad. An extended Xbox Live Arcade version introducing new gameplay modes and features was released on September 8, 2010. PopCap released a Nintendo DS version on January 18, 2011 with content unique to the platform. The PlayStation 3 version was released in February 2011 also with added new co-op and versus modes found in the Xbox 360 version. An Android version of the game was released on May 31, 2011 on the Amazon Appstore, while it was also released to the Android Market (now Google Play) on December 14, 2011. On February 16, 2012, a version was released for BlackBerry PlayBook. Later, a BlackBerry smartphone version of the game was released on January 2013 following the launch of BlackBerry 10. Furthermore, both the original Windows and Mac version of the game have been re-released with additional content in a "Game of the Year" version. In January 2015, a free ad-supported version of the game was released for iOS.
The game originated as an entry in the 2013 7 Day FPS Challenge, which Superhot Team expanded into a browser-based demonstration that September. Widespread attention from the demonstration prompted the team to develop out the full game, using Kickstarter to secure funding to complete the title. "Superhot" was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux in February 2016. An Xbox One version was released in May 2016, and a PlayStation 4 version was released in July 2017. A rebuilt version of the game to better support virtual reality, Superhot VR, was later released for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR headset devices. A standalone expansion, Superhot: Mind Control Delete, which utilizes roguelike elements such as procedural generation and permadeath, is planned for a 2018 release and became available through early access in December 2017.
"Freedom Planet" was first released as a demo for Microsoft Windows in August 2012. After a full version of the game was funded through Kickstarter, it was taken to Steam Greenlight and approved for Steam. Its release was first projected for early 2014, then delayed to June 30. Shortly before that date, it was delayed again to July 19: the developers wanted to promote the game at a convention in Miami, Florida, and to avoid competition from the heavily discounted products in Steam's Summer Sale. The game was released, after a third delay, on July 21. To advertise the game, GalaxyTrail created branded T-shirts, and Lilac was included as an easter egg in the 2013 game "". DiDuro considered and rejected the idea of developing an Android version of "Freedom Planet", but he is saving money to port the game to the PlayStation Vita. The game was released on the website GOG.com in late 2014. GalaxyTrail also developed versions for Mac OS X and Linux, which were released on Steam on April 17, 2015.
Near the same time that Epic released "Fortnite" into early access, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" had become a worldwide phenomenon, having sold over 5 million copies three months from its March 2017 release, and drawing strong interest in the battle royale genre. Epic recognized that with the "Fortnite" base game, they could also do a battle royale mode, and rapidly developed their own version atop "Fortnite" in about two months. By September 2017, Epic was ready to release this as a second mode from "Save the World" in the paid-for earlier access, but then later decided to release it as a free game, "Fortnite Battle Royale", supported with microtransactions. This version quickly gained players, with over 10 million players during its first two weeks of release, and leading Epic to create separate teams to continue the "Fortnite Battle Royale" development apart from the "Save the World" mode, outside of common engine elements and art assets. This allowed "Fortnite Battle Royale" to expand to other platforms otherwise not supported by the "Save the World" mode, including iOS and Android mobile devices and the Nintendo Switch.
PopCap Games in Vancouver started the title's development in early 2012. With PopCap hoping to use a new game to expand the franchise and introduce it to a broader audience, they intentionally opted not to make a 2D tower defense game and opted for a different genre. The team was inspired by other team-based shooters with colorful visuals such as "Left 4 Dead" and "Team Fortress 2", and the team faced different challenges when designing the game's eight classes. Game engine Frostbite 3 powered the game, and the team collaborated closely with EA DICE when implementing the game's technology.
Epic Games had released "Fortnite", a cooperative survival game, into early access near the release of "Battlegrounds". Epic saw the potential to create their own battle royale mode, and by September 2017, released the free-to-play "Fortnite Battle Royale" which combined some of the survival elements and mechanics from the main "Fortnite" game with the Battle Royale gameplay concept. The game saw similar player counts as "Battlegrounds", with twenty million unique players reported by Epic Games by November 2017. Bluehole expressed concern at this move, less due to being a clone of "Battlegrounds", but more so that they had been working with Epic Games for technical support of the Unreal Engine in "Battlegrounds", and thus they were worried that "Fortnite" may be able to include planned features to their battle royale mode before they could release those in "Battlegrounds". "Battleground" developer, PUBG Corporation, filed a lawsuit against Epic in South Korea in January 2018 claiming "Fortnite Battle Royale" infringements on "Battlegrounds" copyrights. By the end of June 2018, the lawsuit had been closed by PUBG, under undisclosed reasons.
Pocket Mortys, also known as Rick and Morty: Pocket Mortys, is a free-to-play "Rick and Morty"-themed role-playing video game developed by Big Pixel Studios and published by Adult Swim Games. The game was released worldwide on 13 January 2016 for iOS and Android devices. The game is set in the "Rick and Morty" "Rickstaverse" and the mechanics serve as a parody on the "Pokémon" franchise.
In June 2017, Adam Isgreen, creative director of Microsoft Studios announced "Age of Empires: Definitive Edition" at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017. It features overhauled graphics with support for 4K resolution, a remastered soundtrack, and other gameplay improvements, and was planned to be released on October 19, 2017, but was delayed until February 20, 2018. "Age of Empires: Definitive Edition" was released through the Windows store and was met with mixed or average reviews and weighted score of 70 out of 100 in Metacritic. PC Gamer gave the game 60/100, calling the game "solid remake of a game past its time". GameSpot gave the game 6/10, praising its 4K graphics and upgraded soundtrack but criticizing old problems still persisting.
A video game adaptation of the book and film versions of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" was made for Microsoft Windows, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Boy Advance and Mac OS X. It was released on 25 June 2007 in the U.S., 28 June 2007 in Australia and 29 June 2007 in the UK and Europe for PlayStation 3, PSP, PlayStation 2, Windows and 3 July 2007 for most other platforms. The games were published by Electronic Arts.
These massively multiplayer online games include "Call of Duty Online", a massively multiplayer online game that consists of previous "Call of Duty" titles with added content;" Dungeon Fighter Online", a side-scrolling online beat 'em up game; "QQ Fantasy", a 2D online game that incorporates elements from Chinese mythology; "Xunxian", a 3D, online RPG; "QQ Sanguo", an online casual role playing game set during the historical three kingdoms period; "QQ Huaxia", an online RPG; "QQ Dancer", an online musical dancing game that offers QQ IM interactivity; "QQ Nanaimo", an online game set on a desert island where players maintain houses and pets; "QQ Speed", a casual online racing game; "QQ R2Beat", an online in-line skating game; "QQ Tang", an "advanced casual game" with gameplay derived from Chinese literature; "QQ PET", and a QQ IM-based desktop virtual pet game. Tencent also develop and publish mobile games such as the MOBA title "Honor of Kings" ("Arena of Valor"), fully own "League of Legends", and partly own battle royale games such as "Fortnite" and "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds".
In 2017, 21 April, Tencent announced the rebranding of its Chinese 'Tencent game platform' as WeGame, which was launched in September 2017. Tencent has since announced plans to develop a Hong Kong edition of WeGame that can be used by players outside of China, potentially setting up the platform to compete with Valve Corporation's Steam platform.
In a review by Marcus Estrada of "Hardcore Gamer", he praised "Planetarian" for having a "beautiful story," gorgeous CGs and a soundtrack that "sets a melancholic, but hopeful mood fitting with the story." He also noted that "even as an aging property "Planetarian" still looks and sounds good." "Planetarian" is one of several kinetic novels featured in the "Lycèe Trading Card Game"; Yumemi and the planetarium are playable cards in the second VisualArt's card set. In the February 2007 issue of SoftBank Creative's "Gemaga" magazine, the PS2 version ranked first for console games in terms of satisfaction; the game had ranked fourth in the previous issue. In the Japanese video game magazine "Famitsu" released on September 8, 2006, it was reported that the PS2 version of "Planetarian" sold 8,170 units the week of August 21 to August 27, 2006 (the PS2 version was originally sold on August 24, 2006). When the PSP version was re-released as a fundraising event for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, 16,663 units were pre-ordered by the day of its release on May 12, 2011. From these sales, Prototype and VisualArt's donated 22,415,069 yen.
Crash of the Titans is a platform game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (ported by SuperVillain Studios), Wii and Xbox 360. The Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of the game were developed by Amaze Entertainment. The game was first released in North America on October 3, 2007, in Europe on October 12, 2007 and in Australia on October 25, 2007. It is the first game in the "Crash Bandicoot" series not to have a Japanese release.
In December 2009, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced the first ever "Voltron" video game would be released on mobile phones in the US, including the iPhone. The game would have 30 levels and 6 acts, isometric gameplay and gamers will command robot lions to traverse the galaxy and take on King Zarkon’s evil droid armies. In 2011, "", produced by THQ and Behaviour Interactive, was developed for home console play. A 1-5 player co-op game, it was released on November 29, 2011 for the PlayStation Network and November 30, 2011 for the Xbox Live Arcade. The First Trailer has been announced on IGN.com and tentatively priced at $10. Players will be able fight as the individual lions in an overhead shooter style gameplay to then form Voltron to take on Robeasts in a fighter style combat.
The game was first announced alongside the Nintendo Switch reveal presentation in 2017, with a worldwide release date planned for the same year. Similarly to the original "Xenoblade Chronicles", the game's localization was handled by Nintendo of Europe. Unlike the controversy surrounding "Xenoblade Chronicles X", the game does not feature any sort of censorship between different versions. Upon release the game received generally positive reviews. At over 1.5 million copies as of September 2018, it is the best-selling title in the "Xeno" series.
The game was first thought up in 2007 during a meeting between PopCap and Square Enix, which had published several of PopCap's games in Japan. Jason Kapalka, the co-founder and chief creative officer of PopCap, claims that he "half-jokingly" proposed a game collaboration between the two companies that would combine a role-playing game with "Bejeweled"-style gameplay, calling it “Final Fantasy Bejeweled”. Kapalka was envisioning creating a similar game to "", a 2007 video game which members of the development staff of both companies were playing at the time. The idea attracted the attention of Yuichi Murasawa, designer of "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance", and the game began formal development. To differentiate the game from "Puzzle Quest", the gameplay was based around "Bejeweled Twist" rather than "Bejeweled", which Kopalka feels fit the art design of the game more. Other candidates considered were "Zuma" and "Peggle", but they were dropped as the developers felt that they did not fit in with the combat theme. PopCap developed the early prototype for the game, then allowed Square Enix to complete the bulk of the work in designing and creating the game, especially in regards to the RPG aspects. Square Enix and PopCap announced the game on September 24, 2009. It was published by Square Enix on the Xbox Live Arcade and on the Steam platform for Windows PCs on November 18, 2009. A downloadable pack of maps and a pack of items were made available for sale a week after launch on November 23, 2009 for both versions of the game.
Resident Evil, known in Japan as Biohazard, is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom. Released for the GameCube video game console in 2002, it is a remake of the 1996 PlayStation game "Resident Evil", the first installment in the "Resident Evil" video game series. The story takes place in 1998 near the fictional Midwestern town of Raccoon City where a series of bizarre murders have taken place. The player takes on the role of either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, S.T.A.R.S. agents sent in by the city to investigate the murders.
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the "Warcraft" fantasy universe. "World of Warcraft" takes place within the "Warcraft" world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous "Warcraft" release, "." The game was announced in 2001, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the "Warcraft" franchise on November 23, 2004. Since launch, "World of Warcraft" has had seven major expansion packs released for it: "", "", "", "", "", "", and "".
Following years of struggling to find a distributor and various re-shoots, Zombie confirmed that his film "House of 1000 Corpses" would finally be released through Lions Gate Entertainment. The film was released theatrically on April 11, 2003. The film received a generally negative reception from critics, though grossed over $16 million worldwide. The film was criticized for being too "grotesque" and "violent", but has since garnered a cult following. Despite vastly negative reviews, the film garnered a warmer reception in later years, and is frequently listed as one of the "best horror films ever made". Zombie worked with Scott Humphrey on the majority of the film's soundtrack, which was released on March 25, 2003. The release features original songs from Zombie such as "Pussy Liquor" and "Little Piggy", as well as Zombie's own rendition of the Commodores hit single "Brick House" (1977), re-titled "Brick House 2003". The soundtrack peaked at number fifty-three on the "Billboard" 200, and number four on the Top Soundtracks chart.
Key's third game "Clannad" is a visual novel similar to Key's previous games, but contains no adult content. "Clannad" was meant to be released in 2002, but was delayed, leading to the game finally being released on April 28, 2004. Seven months after "Clannad"'s release, Key released their shortest game, "", on November 29, 2004 with a rating for all ages. "Planetarian", in contrast to Key's past games, is a linear visual novel that does not require the user to make choices during gameplay; this is what is referred to as a kinetic novel. The brand's fifth game is "", an adult game and spin-off to "Clannad" released on November 25, 2005, which expanded on the scenario of the heroine Tomoyo Sakagami from "Clannad". Key released their sixth game, "Little Busters!", on July 27, 2007 with no adult content, but released another version of the game entitled "Little Busters! Ecstasy" on July 25, 2008 with added adult content, story, and visuals.
The game was announced in January 2017 as part of Nintendo's detailed reveal of the Nintendo Switch, with a gameplay trailer being released on the same day. Similar to the original "Xenoblade", the title was announced as "Xenoblade 2" in Japan, but had "Chronicles" added to its name in English speaking regions. The game was also a part of Nintendo's presentation at E3 2017, where it was reconfirmed for release by the end of 2017. Like the original "Xenoblade Chronicles", Nintendo's European division took up the reins for the English localization, who regularly communicated with Nintendo's Japanese and American divisions about decisions that could prove controversial, something that was previously an issue with "Xenoblade Chronicles X". The game had a simultaneous worldwide launch on December 1, 2017, as the localization process took place during development rather than after it, unlike the first two games.
A visual novel, "Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Portable", was developed by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation Portable and released on February 23, 2012.
Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time is a 2013 free-to-play tower defense video game developed by PopCap Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to "Plants vs. Zombies", and was released worldwide on Apple App Store on August 15, 2013 and Google Play on October 23, 2013.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed by PopCap Games and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is the sequel to "". The game released in February, 2016.
In 2014, "", a multiplayer third-person shooter based on "Plants vs. Zombies", was released for Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. On May 5, 2015, it was revealed by Electronic Arts that a new "Plants vs. Zombies" game would be released in Q1 2016. EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that the upcoming game would be a follow-up to "Garden Warfare" and that it would be a bigger and bolder console experience.
In August 2012, PopCap announced that they were working on a sequel to their previous game, "Plants vs. Zombies", and that it would include "new features, settings, and situations". In a later announcement, the company confirmed that the new game would be released on July 18, 2013. On June 26, 2013, PopCap announced on their Twitter page that the game would release later than previously announced. On July 9, the game was released in Australia and New Zealand on the iOS App Store and came out worldwide on August 15, 2013. The Android version was released worldwide on October 23, 2013.