Singing Sunflower companion pet voiced by Laura Shigihara
by Mathew McCurley 
Sep 20th 2010 at 1:00PM
If you're a Plants vs. Zombies fan, you are quite familiar with Laura Shigihara, the composer for the PopCap Games plant-a-thon. She is also the voice behind the Plants vs. Zombies theme song.
On her blog today, Shigihara confirmed that her voice will be used for the companion pet, the Singing Sunflower, which players receive after completing the Peacebloom versus Ghouls minigame in Hillsbrad. How awesome is that?
Besides being fun and kind of novel if you're into PvZ, you get a pretty cool reward for finishing the quest: a "singing sunflower" pet! I actually had no idea this information was public until Hashimoto linked me to TotalHalibut's video earlier tonight... incidentally, I was right in the middle of recording the sunflower's voice when I watched it. ^_^ I am so excited about voicing a WoW-pet because what can I say ... I'm a big nerd.Peacebloom versus Ghouls is a minigame/quest in Hillsbrad that puts the player in charge of Brazie the Botanist's garden of ghoul-destroying plants. If you've played Plants vs. Zombies, you'll feel right at home. Defeat wave after wave of ghouls and you will claim your very own Singing Sunflower companion.
These new facts continue to illustrate the intimate and awesome relationship between Blizzard and PopCap, bringing good tidings to gamers who are fans of both excellent companies. Hopefully, more collaborations like this are in store for the future.
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
wutsconflag Sep 20th 2010 1:03PM
Oh, now that is AWESOME!
ioncat Sep 20th 2010 1:08PM
This is so beyond awesome.
Naminator Sep 20th 2010 1:09PM
Nice news! Minigames inside WoW with pets as rewards - AWESOME!
Xaklo Sep 21st 2010 12:49AM
"We heard you like playing games, so we put a game inside a game so that you can play games while gaming?"
Daedalus Sep 20th 2010 1:11PM
100%. Pure. Win.
I can't begin to quanitfy how many hours of my life that game has taken, and the end song was one of the most joyous moments I've had in gaming in a long, long time. To here that the singer is going to have some small part in WoW is nothing short of awesome.
I also love that Blizzard isn't afraid to toy with gameplay to the extent of putting a minigame like this, something so far out of the normal experience, in the game. Can't wait.
Drakkenfyre Sep 20th 2010 1:17PM
I noticed the comment she left on the video before her blog entry.
I was like wow, that's nice.
I wonder what she will say in the game? Obviously you can't directly reference Plants vs. Zombies due to copyright issues (even with PopCap's blessing, mentioning a title by name is still risky.)
I would suggest watching her play the song live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqpMFsnN7hM&feature=related
muhasoldia Sep 20th 2010 2:45PM
didn't they already put Peggle in wow?
epicboyz Sep 20th 2010 2:48PM
OMG!... TOO CUTE... MUST RESIST WHOLESOME URGES... TOO NICE....
but seriously, that kind of woman would get me into WAY too much trouble. Just too damn cute.
Drakkenfyre Sep 20th 2010 5:49PM
They put Peggle in as an addon. They wrote the addon. They released the addon.
Mentioning another company's game in your game is generally a risky proposition. Even if both companies are on good terms, it only takes one legal guy with a stick up his ass to start some shit.
PopCap put out a World of WarCraft themed version of Peggle. It was a free version that was limited to about 10 levels. It was licensed by Blizzard. However this way, a pet in the game, without any real apparant licensing (who knows, they might have) you wouldn't want to put any overt references like the sunflower singing the song. The song itself it copyrighted by PopCap. When I say references, I mean direct references like mentioning the name of the game.
I am sure whatever the pet says in the game will be fine by both Blizzard and PopCap.
jealouspirate Sep 20th 2010 1:17PM
Really, really cool on Blizzard's part.
I notice the quest is in Hillsbrad... is this Horde exclusive?
Neil Sep 20th 2010 1:30PM
I was just wondering the opposite. I'm not in the beta but I'm pretty sure the Alliance is retaking Hillsbrad. I'm hoping the quest isn't Alliance-exclusive.
Eddy Sep 20th 2010 1:40PM
I know that there's a video on the totalhalibut youtube channel of TotalBiscuit playing through it on an undead mage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWI5XTmGrmo
Blizzard would never make something like this faction-exclusive though.
jealouspirate Sep 20th 2010 1:49PM
Hillsbrad has been taken by the Forsaken, Southshore is completely wiped out and for the whole beta so far there have been zero Alliance quests there.
Hence my confusion. Everything indicates that this is a Horde-only zone, but the nature of this quest and pet makes it seem like it would be a faction-neutral thing.
Quich Sep 20th 2010 2:20PM
As the quest/minigame gives achievements, it stands to reason it isn't faction exclusive. I think there are also worgen in Hillsbrad now.
Either way, the quest giver is goblin and remember, while the horde are getting a few on their side, most are still neutral.
Eddy_D Sep 20th 2010 1:19PM
There are zombies (forsaken) on my (Hillsbrad) lawn (garden)!
.. more Cataclysm awsomesauce, care of the geniuses at Blizzard.
Zakarii Sep 20th 2010 4:32PM
Heh, I remember the end of PvZ...
Something along the lines of the lord zombie guy saying "Ok, I give up, you win. Now all I want to do is make a great music video with you."
I could see this in WoW context.
ARTHAS (Lord Zombie Guy): "Ok, I give up, you win. Now all I want to do is make a sweet video game (music video) reference with you in Cataclysm."
On another note, can both factions get this or is it Alliance only?
SaintStryfe Sep 20th 2010 1:28PM
Waiting on the nuffers screaming "Why is Blizzard wasting time doing mini games and not making Druid Balance spec .219% more what I think it should be." or someone whining about old models or no dance studio..
Veloxe Sep 20th 2010 1:39PM
I don't know about you, but Peaceblooms vs Ghouls against Dance Studio...well, I know what one I'd rather have on my lawn.
Daedalus Sep 20th 2010 2:01PM
@Veloxe,
Unless, of course, the dance studio taught the sunflower's dance. Then, I'd be somewhat torn.
mayersimon Sep 20th 2010 1:34PM
There's a sunflower in (PvZ) Protoss vs. Zerg? wtf?