PopCap hops on the theme park bandwagon with a real-life PvZ arena

EA-owned PopCap Games is the latest video game company to make eyes at the amusement park business, announcing plans today to open a Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare attraction at the Carowinds theme park in next spring.

This is the latest in what seems to be a trend of high-profile game companies making deals to build physical theme park attractions (or even whole parks, in Ubisoft's case) based on their popular franchises.

PopCap isn't the first EA-owned studio to try this, either -- last week BioWare announced plans to open a Mass Effect 3D attraction at California's Great America theme park next year. 

PopCap's proposed Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare: 3Z Arena is also billed as a 3D experience, in which two opposing teams of players will file into separate rooms, sit in "motion-based" seats and compete against each other by shooting targets on giant screens using handheld blasters.