Review: Plants Vs. Zombies, Limited Edition (Linux)

One of the things than's always impressed me, more than anything else, is just how well PopCap Games run under Linux. I don't know if it's because their programmers deliberately target the same stable Windows core APIs that the Wine people chose to target, or if they actually test under Wine, but I've run Bejeweled 2, Bejeweled Twist, Peggle, Zuma, and now Plants Vs. Zombies without a single hitch. It's quite impressive.

PvZ LE is a re-issue of PvZ. It is not, sadly, the PvZ HD edition for iPad re-engineered for the desktop; it does not have the "dig to China" option, and many of the mini games that came with PvZ HD are not there. What is carried over from PvZ HD is the acheivements record, which isn't very memorable, and the new "Disco Zombie," a replacement of the "Dancing Zombie" (which the Michael Jackson estate claimed was too close to their original zombie, Mr. J.). The Disco Zombie is an annoying enough change, but the four heavyset mustachioed bears kinda subtract from the Mustache Mode. I've assiduously kept my original copy of PvZ in another folder, so I can have the Dancing Zombie (not Disco) whenever I like.

PvZ LE is, well, PvZ. It's an incredibly fun and addictive game, as it has been since the day of its release, but I don't see how this re-issue really brings anything to you that you didn't already have. You do get the "Zombatar" toolkit, which allows you to mix-and-match your own zombie, but again, that's just a riff on a common Internet meme (Make your own Simpson, make your own Weeble) and isn't worth spending an additional $20 on. But if you've never played PvZ before, it absolutely is worth $20.

PvZ LE takes only 88MB of disk space, and runs perfectly under Wine 1.2. The game can be video-intensive, so make sure you have an install of Wine with proper 3D acceleration.

Burien Wellness Festival: The Woo is Strong!

We had a Saturday outing, the whole family and Lisakit as well, to run around and do errandy things. It being the start of the school year we had to go and get Yamaraashi-chan several items from the office supply shot, and Kouryou-chan needed new dance shoes. After we'd finished those tasks, we stopped at the library, where I picked up several business process books, including the big one by Guy Kawasaki.

Next to the library, the city was hosting a "Wellness Festival." When I see the word "wellness" used in this fashion, I immediately assume that we're going to get woo.

And boy did we ever. To be fair, the local hospitals and chiros-- both the good ones and the dubious ones-- had their booths set up along the broad, curving pathway that runs the length of the block through the town center. But they were only half the attendees. The other half consisted of dubious herbalists, acupuncturists, homeopaths, and more.

The standout professional hucksters were those selling supplements branded with the Beach Body line. I approve of Beach Body's pretty damn good collection of home-based workouts, but their heavy-duty upsell of dietary supplements, pills, and horrible green and brown liquids to "optimize" what is already a solid workout, makes me queasy. It would be nice if someone with the body and charisma of Tony Horton wouldn't try to maximize his profit by straying off the basic message and instead devolving to hustling marks who want their bodies as fast as possible and without all that sweating. When the woman at the Beach Body tent assured me that she had the best diet she could get but still used the foul stuff because a diet rich in vegetables, lean meats and fruits was still inadequate and our farms made sure of that, I begged off. That was enough.

We went home with our library books in hand. I think we'll stick to medicine, thank you.