Been waiting to hear from PopCap about release plans for Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare beyond PC and Xbox? Wait no more–the weird and wacky Frostbite 3-powered multiplayer shooter is officially coming to PlayStation Nation!

Today, Garden Warfare has been confirmed for an August 19th launch on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. On PS4 specifically, the game will run at native 1080p and 60 frames per second and support Vita remote play as well as Boss Mode and split-screen co-op. Additionally, the previously released free Garden Variety and Zomboss Down DLC packs will be integrated into both versions right out of the box.

For an extra special PlayStation touch, PopCap will be offering exclusive pre-order bonuses in the form of digital card packs and character customization hats including Sly Cooper’s iconic blue beret with pointy ears attached, a Fat Princess wig and crown, and Mickey Mouse style Ratchet (of Ratchet & Clank) ears. Check the gallery underneath the new reveal video for silly spoof posters introducing these PlayStation-themed hats.

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PSP ports of PS3-first PSN games have, for the most part, been spotty in quality, so while I was hopeful Fat Princess would be the game to buck the trend, I’d be lying if I said I was overly optimistic.

As it turns out, though, Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake does so much more than simply tack on a goofy subtitle to a stripped-down port of last year’s delectable PS3 multiplayer action game. SuperVillain Studios admirably picked up the mantle from Titan Studios and has delivered not only a comparable portable translation, but one that is in many ways superior to the console original.

Pretty much everything I said in my review of the PS3 version still applies to Fistful of Cake, and at the core it is the same exact game: a team-based arcade action game in a cute fantasy setting with a great sense of humor and loads of comical violence. Surprisingly, there is very little drop-off in graphical quality or technical performance, and even with a reduced button count the controls are spot on. So rest assured, this game looks sensational and plays smoothly on the PSP.

Even more shocking, Fat Princess is a plumper, meatier game on the PSP, serving up new maps, new modes, and a single-player campaign that is twice as long as that of the PS3 version. The PS3 campaign was really nothing more than a training ground for the online play with a fun storyline, but in Fistful of Cake the campaign plays more like a true campaign rather than a slapdash sequence of bot matches, consisting of diverse mission objectives that teach the basics of each multiplayer match type while still maintaining a link to the storyline. One mission has you rescuing your princess from a dragon, for example — the PS3 version has nothing of the sort.

In addition to the fattened-up campaign, Fistful of Cake features four new play modes on top of the four original modes from the PS3: Team Deathmatch, Invasion, Rescue the Princess and Snatch ‘N Grab (the soccer mini-game and gladiator arena carry over as well). The new match types include:

Jailbreak: A variation of the Invasion mode in which you capture and hold jails to reduce the opposing team’s life counter to zero.

Demolition: Carry bombs into the enemy base and attempt to destroy their throne. The first team to blow up the other team’s throne wins.

Grim Reaper: Players fight for the right to play as the Grim Reaper, slaughtering enemies and collecting souls to earn enough points to win the game.

Dilapidated: Teams begin with broken Hat Machines that must first be fixed.

Certain compromises were made to stuff in all this extra content, though. Online player count, for starters, has been chopped down from 32 on the PS3 to only 8 on the PSP, and while you can fill up larger matches with bots, the bot AI (particularly for teammates) frequently verges on brain dead. Given the more volatile nature of portable wireless connections, online performance varies wildly from one match to the next as well – sometimes the game plays great, sometimes it is brutalized by lag that cripples hit detection and control response. Actually finding other live players can be difficult at times too, but if you stick it out, fun times await.

Fistful of Cake certainly isn’t a flawless port, but regardless of the online compromises it is immensely entertaining and far exceeds my expectations for what I thought Fat Princess could be as a portable game. Sony would be wise to put out a demo, and maybe even lower the cost so it’s on par with the PS3 game at $15 (it’s currently $20 on UMD and PSN), but it’s definitely loaded with enough content to justify the price hike.

Go ahead and take a bite – I think you’ll find the game quite tasty!

Source: A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for coverage purposes.

Good on Titan Studios. A week after Fat Princess launched, a patch has already been issued to iron out some of the performance kinks that have made playing online an occasionally frustrating experience. The patch, which went live Friday night in North America and will be out for European players next week, tweaks a few scoring and gameplay balances (the princesses now burn calories faster in an attempt to cut down on stalemates, for example), but mainly focuses on addressing the connection and lag issues many players have had.

Thus far, the patch’s impact has been mostly positive, but unfortunately the effects still seem to be hit or miss. Browsing around the forums, some folks are reporting significantly improved performance, others are saying they’re suffering through the same problems as before. I just wrapped up a couple hours of post-patch play, and personally, I’ve experienced a little of both sides.

Right after installing the patch, I wasn’t seeing any difference. My first attempt to enter a match failed. My second attempt succeeded, but a couple minutes into the match I was booted back to the main menu. Then I tried connecting again a couple times and kept getting a message about no matches being available, which is an error I never saw before the update.

Needless to say, I was a bit concerned at this point. But after these problems I decided to exit out of the game and restart, and after doing this I began having better luck, as the next few matches I tried connected without much hassle. From then on, the connection success rate became inconsistent. Sometimes I’d get a match quickly, sometimes I’d have to sit through three or four (sometimes more) failed matchmaking attempts like before.

The matchmaking system still needs some extra tuning, but the in-match performance definitely seems much improved. It’s not like the game was a laggy mess before, but it wasn’t 100% optimized either. Now, though, the game runs noticeably smoother. In the post-patch matches I played, I didn’t notice a single hitch of lag. I did get disconnected that one time, but that was the only in-match performance snafu I encountered.

So overall, the patch is a good first step towards tuning Fat Princess into a well-oiled, cake-eating machine. Titan Studios has some tweaking and balancing left to do, but as is the game is simply a blast to play. I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am!

Follow the links below for the patch notes, and be sure to check out my full review of the game from earlier in the week if you haven’t already. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on the game and patch. The comments are open if you’d like to chat.

Fat Princess: Sony America Patch Live! [Titan Studios Dev Blog]
Fat Princess: Sony America Patch Live! [Fat Princess PlayStation.com Forum]

If Unreal Tournament, Warcraft and South Park were somehow able to hook up and make a baby, their offspring would probably look a lot like Sony and Titan Studios’ new PSN game Fat Princess.

Part chaotic, gore-filled fragfest, part team-based Capture the Flag variant, part resource-gathering strategy game, Fat Princess is the new “comic medieval battle royale” game that PS3 gamers the world over have been anxiously waiting for since it was first shown at last year’s E3. Now that the game has been completed and launched, one question remains: was Fat Princess worth the long wait and the months and months of hype?

I think you already know the answer!

Fat Princess is a team-based arcade action game pitting two squads of cartoony, pint-sized characters against each other in 32-player online bloodbaths. The gameplay exudes the spirit of fast, frenetic twitch shooters, yet plays out from an isometric bird’s eye perspective sort of like a zoomed-in RTS and has the clean, colorful aesthetics of a hi-res Flash game. It’s also bloody hilarious, with characters taunting each other in squeaky voices, menu listings labeled with funny titles (“Twiddly Knobs” is the option menu, “Bragging Rights” leads to stats and leaderboards, and when you want to customize your avatar you “Get Fabulous.”), and gore so absurdly cartoonish it just makes you chuckle (a violence filter lets you turn off the gore if you so desire).

A short-but-sweet single-player story mode is included, along with a survival gladiator arena and the ability to play offline with AI bots, and honestly, this solo content is much better than I thought it would be. But don’t expect to play these for anything more than practice before heading online against real competition. This is a multiplayer game first and foremost, folks. If you have any expectations for some in-depth single-player experience here you are looking in the wrong place.

In the online game, there are four different match types (well, five if you count the awesome soccer mini-game no one seems to play or even talk about), including standard Team Deathmatch, Invasion in which you must capture and hold outposts scattered around the map, and two Capture the Flag variants involving the titular fat princess: Rescue the Princess and Snatch ‘N Grab.

Snatch ‘N Grab has the most direct relation to traditional Capture the Flag, with your team’s goal being to capture the other team’s princess and return her to your team’s dungeon a certain number of times to win the game. Rescue the Princess, on the flip side, has you working to rescue your princess from the other team’s dungeon, return her to your throne room and protect her from being recaptured for a short time. The twist here – and it’s a good one — is that you need to regularly feed your princess slices of cake to keep her nice and plump, thus making her more difficult for the opposition to capture – the heavier the princess, the slower the enemy is able to carry her away.

In these four match types you are free to play as five main class types, including the tank-like Warrior, bow-and-arrow equipped Ranger, health-restoring Priest, spellcasting Mage, and the Worker, an unassuming class but one that is vital to the team with its abilities to harvest lumber and stone for upgrading classes and building siege weapons like springboards and catapults. And when you initially spawn you begin life as a Villager – they don’t have much life but can slap and stun enemies and run faster than any other class – and from there you choose your role by visiting the different hat machines located in your base and putting on the hat associated with the desired class.

Forum debates have already begun over certain classes being too overpowered (many players think the Mage’s area of effect freeze spell is too cheap) and others underpowered (many players feel the Warrior’s slow movement speed is too much of a disadvantage against ranged classes), but personally, I think the classes are perfectly balanced. Perhaps certain classes are weaker than others if you run amok without much strategy. But if you cooperate with your teammates and use smart team tactics like the game is meant to be played, each class’ weaknesses are counterbalanced by the strengths of another class, so it all seems to even out in the end.

The maps are a bit of a different story though. Eight maps are included, and for the most part they are well designed. But there are a couple that seem like they were slapped together without much balancing, almost as if the developers threw them in just so they could tout the quantity of maps. One map in particular – I can’t recall its name at the moment – is essentially broken. On the side of the castle is a rock elevator leading to a small escape path down the side of the mountain, and in one match I got into the enemy took our princess down this path and it was virtually impossible for us to return her to the base. If we tried to bring her back up the elevator, there was no way for us to jump over the ledge while carrying her fat ass, so we’d fall right back down to the bottom. So then we tried carrying her down the path and around to the front entrance of the castle, but near the end the path is broken into a series of small separated platforms you have to traverse. But again, this was almost impossible when carrying the princess. We eventually made it across, but not without numerous plummets to our death, a lot of wasted time away from attacking the other team, and plenty of frustration.

Currently, Fat Princess also suffers from inconsistent online performance. The matchmaking system is particularly problematic at the moment. Every time I’ve tried to play I’ve had to sit through at least three or four failed match connections before one would finally take. Once matches get going, the game generally runs smooth, but I have experienced some terrible lag in a few matches, and one time the game froze up my PS3 entirely (and of course this happened right at the end of a long match in which I was going to finish in the top three, argh!!!).

Fat Princess, like almost every online multiplayer game released these days, has some minor growing pains it needs to work through before its potential is maximized. But the good news is that the core game oozes so much charm and is so damn fun to play that you won’t mind putting up with the overly long matchmaking searches and other niggling performance issues Titan Studios is working to weed out. And hey, any game that lets you hack up its creators during the credits while Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” thumps in the background is a winner in my book!

Pros:
+ Fast, chaotic gameplay that’s easy to pick up and play and surprisingly deep on team strategy
+ Puts a fun twist on Capture the Flag and the online shooter genre as a whole
+ Good mix of well-balanced classes
+ Sharp, colorful graphics and loads of comical gore
+ Charming sense of humor
+ Solid selection of preparative single-player modes
+ Robust stat-tracking

Cons:
– Slow matchmaking and other nagging online performance issues
– A couple glitchy, unbalanced maps
– Lack of local offline multiplayer may disappoint some

Game Info:
Platform: PS3 via PSN
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Titan Studios
Release Date: 7/30/09
Genre: Team Arcade Action
ESRB Rating: Teen
Players: 1-32

At long last, Titan Studios’ adorably gory PSN multiplayer action game Fat Princess has a release date. And it’s this week!

That’s right! Fat Princess will be out this Thursday, July 30, simultaneously across North America, Europe and Asia, and it’ll sell for $14.99.

“Fat Princess has been an exciting undertaking for our studio, from the depths of the tactical strategies to the countless funny and unique experiences that happen online, it’s definitely a game that we’re excited to share with the worldwide online community at large,” said Titan Studios Producer Chris Millar. “With development complete in more than 10 languages, we are now focusing upon the release and the potential to continually expand and support the franchise.”

The PlayStation blog crew also has a great video interview up with Chris Millar and Craig Leigh from Titan Studios. Follow the link below to watch the interview and learn more about the game.

Fat Princess: Worth the Weight (Here’s the Date) [PlayStation.Blog]

13 new screenshots from Sony and Titan Studios’ “comic medieval battle royale” arcade action game Fat Princess have waddled in for online consumption. This one is sure to be a PSN must-buy. Can’t wait!

Fat Princess E3 2008: Rescue Gameplay [GameTrailers.com]

Fat Princess has to be the coolest fucking game concept I’ve seen in years. Just chew on this for a moment. In the game you and up to 31 other players will do battle medieval style in 16-vs-16 online team-based arcade wars with the ultimate goal to rescue your princess being held captive in the depths of the other team’s castle dungeon. The thing is, the enemy captors have fattened the princess up so you won’t be able to simply waltz in and run her to safety like a game of capture the flag. She’s so fat that you and your teammates will have to work in unison to figure out how to not only rescue her, but transport her fat, tub-of-lard behind back across the battlefield to your castle. You can’t tell me that’s not pure gaming brilliance!

What sets Fat Princess apart even more than its genius gameplay concept, though, is its comically over the top art style and extreme cartoonish gore. Peak at the first screenshots below to see what I mean, then hit the jump for a fact sheet full of even more game details.

Fat Princess Fact Sheet

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Darkstar Industries, Inc.
Platform: PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3) computer entertainment system via PLAYSTATION®Network
Genre: Team Arcade Action
Players: 1 player single mode/16×16 Multi-Player
Rating: TBA

OVERVIEW
Frantic and fun, Fat Princess pits two hordes of players against each other in comic medieval battle royale. Your goal is to rescue your beloved princess from the enemy dungeon. There’s a catch though: your adversary has been stuffing her with food to fatten her up and it’s going to take most of your army working together to carry her back across the battlefield.

You can switch between five different character classes literally at the drop of a hat: the fearless Warrior, the steadfast Archer, the mystical Mage, the tireless Worker, and the deadly Priest. In order to triumph, players must combine their skills and work together. The name of the game is cooperation, whether it’s helping another player drag a log back to your castle, manning a battering ram to smash through the enemy’s front gate, or building a human pyramid to scramble over the walls.

KEY FEATURES

– Casual Single & Multiplayer Online/Offline Action – Cooperate with your team of medieval soldiers (up to 16 players on each side) to overthrow the opponent’s army, plunder their castle and save the princess

– 5 Character Classes – Change your avatar’s character anytime by swapping hats: Worker, Warrior, Archer, Mage and Priest

– 10 Unique Maps – There will be 10 maps total, shared across single & multiplayer modes.
Experience intense frantic gameplay across diverse, charming and challenging environments

– Resources & Upgrades – Work together to collect resources to upgrade your primitive weapons and basic castle defenses into superior armaments and impenetrable fortifications

– Unique Game Modes – Select from several various game types: Rescue the Princess, Thwart the Invasion, and Medieval Games

– Customizable Avatars – Create your own personal Avatar and charge online into battle

– 32-player Online Skirmish – Jump in and join as many as 32 players online to wreak havoc on the battlefield and carry your stout princess back home during the conflict