Game feeds off Plants vs Zombies

US video game company PopCap's star production Plants vs Zombies, played wildly worldwide on smartphones and tablets, is gaining an unexpected and successful twist in China.

China Children's Press and Publication Group has turned the game into a series of publications including illustrated stories, audio books, 3-D paper puzzles, and even primary learning materials teaching math and writing.

The attempt soon became the hottest topic for young students in and out of the classroom, making the books a best-seller both at brick-and-mortar and online bookstores.

On Friday, the publisher celebrated reaching the milestone of 5 million copies in eight months after the first title was released in February. The group's president, Li Xueqian, said he is confident the series' sales can hit 100 million yuan ($15.7 million).

"We have great characters, but China Children's Press and Publication Group gives them great stories and shows us potential and possibilities we never thought of when creating the game - like they've opened the box for the future," said James Gwertzman, general manager of PopCap Asia-Pacific.

Gwertzman said the cooperation is important for his company because it's the first time that they have had their characters in books and other publications in the world.

"Its far beyond where the game would go," he said, adding PopCap gets the inspiration in China and is planning to bring similar trials to other countries.

"In an age that video games and books are like enemies to each other, I'm glad to see here in China our cooperation finds a way to encourage love of reading in the next generation," he said. His two children are reading the stories while learning Chinese.

Peking University professor Mao Dawei, also a father of a 3-year-old, said he noticed that the books diverted his son's focus from the screen.

Gwertzman said that the US headquarters were supportive but skeptical about their game going into print first in China.

The Chinese side's answer is their rich resources in marketing and in writers it has accumulated for years, the understanding of children's reading trends and mentality, and innovative minds of recreation with global views, China Children's Press and Publication Group's Li said.

For the 12-volume storybooks, the group invited five of its core children's literature writers to create their own versions of the plants and zombies tales, and had teams of quality illustrators to create the colored scenes based on the stories.

The writers include Gao Hongbo and Jin Bo, who have been writing for children for decades. But to PopCap, the team - with an average age of 64 - first appeared to wring their hands with worry that they might be too senior to adapt a game popular among youngsters, said Liu Kun, manager of PopCap's Greater China.

Gao, whose favorite is the Chomper who bites the zombies and chews them up, started playing the game and soon found himself a huge fan.

"I'm excited to have a chance to write deep into the characters' history and features, and their unknown backgrounds from a flat image," Gao said.

To him, the zombies, who might have negative implications in Chinese culture, are the naughty and playful kids.

"I'm not writing about evil vs good," Gao said. "But about individual traits and how individuals work miracles together with their team, and about the lessons in the process."

Gao and the other writers create each story with the focus on one plant or zombie character, and they also offer a 50-word summary to every story to make the readers think a step forward. He also invites in elements like rhymed verses.

"We owe a great debt to the writers' creations," PopCap's Liu said.

"The veteran writers' stories grow out of the domestic environment. With Chinese virtues and universal humanity, they can find a way into the young readers' hearts, and touch them," said Lin Dong, vice-director of the China Children's Press and Publication Group's Young Children's publishing center that operates the series.

PopCap and the Chinese publisher plan to have more Plants vs Zombies creations, including comic books and novels.

Children's literature writer and critic Cao Wenxuan said he's expecting a global tide stirred by the Chinese versions of Plants vs Zombies, just like what the movie Kung Fu Panda and Mulan have done, taking Chinese characters to express American values.

"This time it's American images and Chinese spirit," Cao said.