According to the latest on PopCap's blog, they have decided to release Plants vs. Zombies 2 in Australia and New Zealand on July 9, so you lucky people living down under are already playing this highly anticipated sequel.

(If you notice the game on our site, it's because it's only available for players in New Zealand and Australia... I know... it's a tease... sorry about that!)

This soft launch is to "Test out all of the new systems and features we've built into the game... We've added a bunch of new features that allow us to take advantage of new technologies to make a better experience for our players, and those innovations require us to perform some large tests to make sure we are ready for our worldwide audience to play."

Since we already know that Plants vs. Zombies 2 is a free-to-play game, we're going to assume all this testing concerns the in-app purchases... i.e. the way PopCap is going to make millions off of players for a very long time.

I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I suppose it's to be expected as it seems that's where the market is certainly headed. Just take Candy Crush Saga for example of a successful execution of F2P. I kind of miss the days when I just paid for a game and that was it. I didn't have to worry about it anymore... but maybe that's me just being old and all.

Oh well, despite my reservations on the free to play model, I'm still all pins and needles waiting for the release here in the states, when I'll finally be able to get my hands on Plants vs. Zombies 2 and experience it for myself!

Sigh... why couldn't they test in the sunny state of Florida instead?? Oh well, if you're living in one of these amazing countries, and you're currently in the throes of waging war against shambling zombies, do us a favor and let us know how it's going... just be nice about it...