Got a bit of spare cash burning a hole in your pocket? It seems that every digital distribution platform under the sun is willing to take that spare money off your hands this Halloween, as each offers its own appealing range of special offers.
Fans of older titles (or owners of older computers) might want to check out Good Old Games' latest horror-themed sale, which offers a variety of titles for 50% off. The offer includes Sierra's excellent Gabriel Knight series of supernatural point and clickers; the dreadful-but-simultaneously-awesome Phantasmagoria series of FMV adventures; comedic action adventure Litil Divil; shooter/RPG/adventure hybrid Realms of the Haunting; terrifying puzzle adventure Scratches: Director's Cut; oldschool top-down alien blaster Shadowgrounds; psychedelic point-and-clicker Sanitarium; and the less-good of the two Vampire: The Masquerade games, Redemption. (If you do want to play a Vampire game, do yourself a favor and pick up Bloodlines instead, which is infinitely better, and available for 75% off in Steam's sale.)
For the most part, the offerings in the sale live up to the description "Good Old Games." Considering you can pick all of them up for considerably less than the price of a new retail title, it's definitely not a bad deal at all. Check out the full list here.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Qix-Inspired Fortix 2 Coming to iOS, Free Halloween Version Now Available
Fortix and its sequel are two little indie games for PC and Mac that you might not have heard of. Taking the core gameplay of arcade classic Qix and transplanting it into a medieval fantasy world, the game challenges players to capture areas of a battlefield to lift the curse of an evil wizard.
Hungarian developer Nemesys Games has confirmed today that Fortix 2 is coming to iOS devices, and that in celebration of this fact (and, of course, Halloween) they have released a "preview" version for free on the App Store. Knight vs. Zombies features a series of zombie-themed levels with Fortix 2's core gameplay, and is indeed completely free -- grab it from the App Store here.
Hungarian developer Nemesys Games has confirmed today that Fortix 2 is coming to iOS devices, and that in celebration of this fact (and, of course, Halloween) they have released a "preview" version for free on the App Store. Knight vs. Zombies features a series of zombie-themed levels with Fortix 2's core gameplay, and is indeed completely free -- grab it from the App Store here.
Get Beat Hazard for $1 on the Mac App Store
In celebration of the excellent Beat Hazard Ultra's recent release on the Mac App Store, one man developer Cold Beam Games has decided to sell the game for an astonishing 90% off until November 1. That means you can get a copy for $1.
If you haven't experienced this game, it's a twin stick shooter in the Geometry Wars
13 clicks
vein, with the twist being that you can play your own music in the background -- and said music affects enemy waves, visual effects and even the power of your weapons. The game comes bundled with a collection of music, supports iTunes tracks and also has an Internet Radio facility for downloading new tunes with which to play. There's also a levelling and perk system available, along with online play and leaderboard support.
Beat Hazard is now available for PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with an iOS version in the works releasing soon. Grab the $1 Mac version here.
If you haven't experienced this game, it's a twin stick shooter in the Geometry Wars
13 clicks
vein, with the twist being that you can play your own music in the background -- and said music affects enemy waves, visual effects and even the power of your weapons. The game comes bundled with a collection of music, supports iTunes tracks and also has an Internet Radio facility for downloading new tunes with which to play. There's also a levelling and perk system available, along with online play and leaderboard support.
Beat Hazard is now available for PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with an iOS version in the works releasing soon. Grab the $1 Mac version here.
Dungeon Defenders | Trendy Entertainment/Reverb Publishing | PC, XBLA, PSN
Trendy's innovative tower defense/action RPG combo has been a big hit on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade so far -- distribution issues on the European PSN store have meant that the PS3 version is lagging behind a bit, but sure to catch up. If you like the idea of playing online as a team with other people, but are tired of the same old guns, iron sights and grenades, Dungeon Defenders provides a huge amount of brightly-colored fun that is packed with personality for just $15.
Editorial: Five Recent Releases for People Who Have No Interest in Battlefield 3
I can't be the only person out there who has absolutely no interest whatsoever in playing Battlefield 3, or indeed any competitive multiplayer manshooter -- however beautifully it might be rendered (or, err, not).
It's easy to forget that other games release around this time of year amid all the online buzz surrounding the year's biggest launches. So here are five recently released titles that you might have missed -- and that you might particularly enjoy if you don't feel like playing soldiers right now. While none of them have the budget of Battlefield 3, they all have entertainment value in droves. Even better, buy all of them and you'll still have spent less than you would have on a new copy of DICE's shooter. Hooray for frugality!
It's easy to forget that other games release around this time of year amid all the online buzz surrounding the year's biggest launches. So here are five recently released titles that you might have missed -- and that you might particularly enjoy if you don't feel like playing soldiers right now. While none of them have the budget of Battlefield 3, they all have entertainment value in droves. Even better, buy all of them and you'll still have spent less than you would have on a new copy of DICE's shooter. Hooray for frugality!
Best Video Game Monsters
The GamePro gang calls out their favorite video game monsters from the hulking Big Daddy and exploding babies to regenerating zombies and creepy mannequins. Do you have a favorite video game monster? Let us know on the comments below.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Mojang’s Next Game Can Still Be Called Scrolls
For now. Minecraft creator and Mojang boss Markus “Notch” Persson has just tweeted the above, meaning the legal tussle between his studio and Elder Scrolls publishers Bethesda, while not over, is for now going in his favour.
This Ryu Cosplay Is An Animated GIF Waiting To Happen
not easy. And this Ryu cosplayer gets the costume part totally right. He also does a solid job uttering “Hadouken!”
It’s when he actually starts trying to pull off Ryu’s moves when things go south. Also, cartwheels? Wait, what?
Okay, this Ryu cosplay player doesn’t get anywhere near Ryu’s Hurricane Kick, but his “Hadouken” doesn’t sound half bad, and his costume looks good. But what’s up with the cartwheel?
It’s when he actually starts trying to pull off Ryu’s moves when things go south. Also, cartwheels? Wait, what?
Okay, this Ryu cosplay player doesn’t get anywhere near Ryu’s Hurricane Kick, but his “Hadouken” doesn’t sound half bad, and his costume looks good. But what’s up with the cartwheel?
An Official Portal Turret Replica (That You Can Snuggle With!)
This Portal 2 turret stands 14.5″ tall. It’s soft. It’s cuddly. And it talks.
Due out in mid-December, it’s an officially-licensed product available at ThinkGeek, and will go on sale for only US$30. While the plush’s product listing doesn’t specify which phrases the little darlings will utter, they do say the turrets will know all “the phrases all proper sentry turrets should know”.
While Portal devotees are the initial targets, I can see a lucrative secondary market opening up for people who make internet videos about cats.
Due out in mid-December, it’s an officially-licensed product available at ThinkGeek, and will go on sale for only US$30. While the plush’s product listing doesn’t specify which phrases the little darlings will utter, they do say the turrets will know all “the phrases all proper sentry turrets should know”.
While Portal devotees are the initial targets, I can see a lucrative secondary market opening up for people who make internet videos about cats.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Pet Battles Coming To World Of Warcraft. It’s Not Pokemon
You can keep your pandas and your monks; the most exciting feature of the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft is the new Monster Battle system, detailed today during the BlizzCon 2011 World of Warcraft preview panel.
In a nutshell, once Mists of Pandaria goes live, most of the in-game pets you’ve collected over the years will transform from useless followers to fierce combatants, capable of fighting and gaining experience in player-versus-enemy and player-versus-player pet battles.
These battles are turn-based, unlike any other battle in World of Warcraft. The player selects three of the six abilities each pet is able to learn and then deploys them to a battlefield, which looks much like the conceptual screenshot above.
Along with the existing non-combat pets, Mists of Pandaria will introduce the concept of wild pets, pets that just appear as you are travelling. You might just be walking along and then BAM! A wild murloc appears! Some wild pets will only appear in certain zones, or at certain times, during certain types of weather; there could even be a pet that only appears in June at night when it’s raining. Catching them all is just part of the adventure.
As is travelling. As you, the traveller, journeys to new lands discovering new pets, recording them in your new Pet Journal (which also acts as an information resource of collectible pets), you’ll encounter powerful NPC trainers that align themselves with a certain type of pet. Conquering them unlocks special trainer powers that can be used during battles.
“It’s not Pokemon” the PR people shout. Of course it isn’t; that would be silly. Combining World of Warcraft and Pokemon is an insane idea that could only end in tears.
In a nutshell, once Mists of Pandaria goes live, most of the in-game pets you’ve collected over the years will transform from useless followers to fierce combatants, capable of fighting and gaining experience in player-versus-enemy and player-versus-player pet battles.
These battles are turn-based, unlike any other battle in World of Warcraft. The player selects three of the six abilities each pet is able to learn and then deploys them to a battlefield, which looks much like the conceptual screenshot above.
Along with the existing non-combat pets, Mists of Pandaria will introduce the concept of wild pets, pets that just appear as you are travelling. You might just be walking along and then BAM! A wild murloc appears! Some wild pets will only appear in certain zones, or at certain times, during certain types of weather; there could even be a pet that only appears in June at night when it’s raining. Catching them all is just part of the adventure.
As is travelling. As you, the traveller, journeys to new lands discovering new pets, recording them in your new Pet Journal (which also acts as an information resource of collectible pets), you’ll encounter powerful NPC trainers that align themselves with a certain type of pet. Conquering them unlocks special trainer powers that can be used during battles.
“It’s not Pokemon” the PR people shout. Of course it isn’t; that would be silly. Combining World of Warcraft and Pokemon is an insane idea that could only end in tears.
Battlefield 3 Insert Hints At Imminent Medal Of Honor Sequel
The insert appears at 3:39 of this video. The card is just a logo, but it has an ESRB Rating Pending badge on it, meaning it’s unlikely this is a promotion for the existing game or a re-release of it.
In February, Greg Goodrich of Danger Close said the studio was working on the next instalment of Medal of Honor. It would seem to put Electronic Arts on a schedule of rolling out a military shooter every year while alternating installments of its two big franchises.
In February, Greg Goodrich of Danger Close said the studio was working on the next instalment of Medal of Honor. It would seem to put Electronic Arts on a schedule of rolling out a military shooter every year while alternating installments of its two big franchises.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Good Is The New Bad
So there have been some minor uproars over game review scores lately that have gotten enough attention to rise above the usual internet static. First was Hydrophobia's developer pitching a fit over it receiving some less than glowing evaluations. Then the developer of the new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow title took issue with IGN delivering it a score of 7.5, which equates to "good" on their rating scale.
Since I personally reviewed one of these games, and I'm tentatively slated to review the other, it got me thinking about review scores in general as a sliding scale. It seems as of late, things have gone a bit awry.
Remember when you were in elementary school and the class was divided up by groups according to their reading skill? Each group had a specific color to go along with their workbooks. Children in the "Advanced" group set the gold-standard, readers in the "Average" group were told that they were "good", but were secretly spurned and tracked for being sub-par readers which translated to "good enough". Kids in the "Remedial" group had parents that were related to one another.
The video game industry appears to have reached a point where it is so cut-throat and competitive, that less than stellar review scores for games now equate to a title being forgettable or outright bad. This is only reinforced by the above incidents where developers speak out against a score that is considered in the upper echelon of the sites review scale, but not the very top.
It would be easy to just blame developers and PR people for "not delivering on promises", but the gaming journalism industry is largely at fault too. We (yes I'm lumping myself in there) sit and hype games based on pure speculation, creating a buzz months before there is even a tangible product to evaluate. This in turn creates a readership with very high expectations. I'm not telling anyone they should have to settle. Don't ever settle. Stay hungry, like Twisted Sister told you to. However, I think this behavior from us actually creates an almost self-destructive environment.
In a world where only the top scores mean something is worthwhile, a few docked points garner a title being widely ignored, and a low score yielding a possible phone call or email from an angry company, a new precedent is set. Reviewers most likely give much higher scores simply because their frame of reference is skewed, or because they don't want to deal with the backlash from the occasional low score. So then what's even the point of having numbers below 4 or 8 on the scale at all?
I think as the holiday game season comes upon us we will only see more of this as the top titles compete among cash strapped consumers. There are always winners and losers in a competitive industry, but a combination of the journalist hype machine, and impertinent developers reacting to imperfect scores for their works are creating a culture where we can't separate "median" from "mediocre".
Since I personally reviewed one of these games, and I'm tentatively slated to review the other, it got me thinking about review scores in general as a sliding scale. It seems as of late, things have gone a bit awry.
Remember when you were in elementary school and the class was divided up by groups according to their reading skill? Each group had a specific color to go along with their workbooks. Children in the "Advanced" group set the gold-standard, readers in the "Average" group were told that they were "good", but were secretly spurned and tracked for being sub-par readers which translated to "good enough". Kids in the "Remedial" group had parents that were related to one another.
The video game industry appears to have reached a point where it is so cut-throat and competitive, that less than stellar review scores for games now equate to a title being forgettable or outright bad. This is only reinforced by the above incidents where developers speak out against a score that is considered in the upper echelon of the sites review scale, but not the very top.
It would be easy to just blame developers and PR people for "not delivering on promises", but the gaming journalism industry is largely at fault too. We (yes I'm lumping myself in there) sit and hype games based on pure speculation, creating a buzz months before there is even a tangible product to evaluate. This in turn creates a readership with very high expectations. I'm not telling anyone they should have to settle. Don't ever settle. Stay hungry, like Twisted Sister told you to. However, I think this behavior from us actually creates an almost self-destructive environment.
In a world where only the top scores mean something is worthwhile, a few docked points garner a title being widely ignored, and a low score yielding a possible phone call or email from an angry company, a new precedent is set. Reviewers most likely give much higher scores simply because their frame of reference is skewed, or because they don't want to deal with the backlash from the occasional low score. So then what's even the point of having numbers below 4 or 8 on the scale at all?
I think as the holiday game season comes upon us we will only see more of this as the top titles compete among cash strapped consumers. There are always winners and losers in a competitive industry, but a combination of the journalist hype machine, and impertinent developers reacting to imperfect scores for their works are creating a culture where we can't separate "median" from "mediocre".
N4G and the Forza 3 modding catastrophe
Ever since Turn 10 announced Forza 3 over a year ago, this site has been hellish to post on about said title.
Microsoft and Turn 10 (mostly Turn 10) were extremely vocal about their love of Forza 3. In their eyes, it was God's gift to gaming (or for you Atheists, the Big Bang of Gaming) and they made sure to tell everyone about it.
And anywhere you posted anything negative about it was met with deletion of your comment, or probably a ban of some sort. And this site is no exception.
With the recent news of the awful move Turn 10 is making by releasing the Ultimate Edition (why they didn't capitalize on Definitive Edition is beyond me, maybe the mass bugs and glitches have something to do with it) of Forza 3 and having all DLC, plus non-DLC content, packaged with the game; it's needless to say that there are plenty of people pissed off with this move, and even more who decry them for such shady business practices.
When the news broke and was posted on this site, the very correct majority of people spoke out against the practice. And what were they met with? Nothing but report after report of Trolling, Off Topic, Immature, Offensive reports to more than half of the comments on the first page of the thread alone.
See for yourself...
http://n4g.com/news/618744/...
As you can see if you click on the posts that are hidden, MOST of them are legitimate concerns or gripes with Turn 10 posted in an inoffensive fashion, and yet were still reported for trolling.
My only conclusion is that Turn 10 once again sent out employees to gaming journalism websites, only this time not to troll but to stealth report out their asses to ensure nothing negative is said about their milked, I mean "new", game. I mean, why not, it's not like they're above that kind of thing.
A poll was posted on CNET.com that asked which game would people buy, Forza 3 or Gran Turismo 5. Turn 10 posted that if people voted for Forza 3 and it won, the voters would get exclusive content for the game. They tried to rig the vote.
And then there was the Microsoft employee that trolled the GT5 release date and was outed by a NeoGaf forum mod. Read about that here...
http://gamrconnect.vgchartz...
And now, with the release of this new dairy product, I mean game (keep making that mistake... mooo), Turn 10 have ignored the dozens upon dozens of posts on their own forums of angry gamers who are upset, and rightfully so, that they already paid full price + the cost of DLC for a game, only to be told they'll have to pay another $60 for new content to an already year old game. They've even deleted many comments, essentially censoring and erasing negative feedback to this horrible move of theirs.
Read about that here...
http://www.lazygamer.net/xb...
And the Turn 10 Studio blog about this topic is here...
http://forums.forzamotorspo...
So, is it entirely inconceivable that Turn 10 studios, or Microsoft, would send out employees to the internets largest gaming news aggregator? I don't think so.
My own comments on the how the comments were being removed even though they weren't trolling were themselves marked for trolling. And today, I had 2 bubbles removed (from the mods) and a 3 day commenting ban for my comments on the Forza 3 issue.
This kind of Nazi-like modding is pathetic and just goes to show you that Turn 10 is either paying N4G's bills, or mass reporting anyone that says anything negative about their dumbass milking move.
Well, too bad for them that they are outnumbered significantly, and they will never suppress the truth. That they are a horrible excuse for professionals, make horrible games, and are not above trolling the internet, rigging votes, and ignoring the people WHO MAKE THEM MONEY to get what they want.
So, N4G site admins, congratulations on continuing to fan the flames of the fanboy wars by allowing sensationalist articles that go against the site rules. Congratulations on allowing Turn 10 to tell you what can and cannot be said on a supposedly "free" site. Congratulations for being Nazi/Facists. I'm sure your mothers are very proud of you.
Microsoft and Turn 10 (mostly Turn 10) were extremely vocal about their love of Forza 3. In their eyes, it was God's gift to gaming (or for you Atheists, the Big Bang of Gaming) and they made sure to tell everyone about it.
And anywhere you posted anything negative about it was met with deletion of your comment, or probably a ban of some sort. And this site is no exception.
With the recent news of the awful move Turn 10 is making by releasing the Ultimate Edition (why they didn't capitalize on Definitive Edition is beyond me, maybe the mass bugs and glitches have something to do with it) of Forza 3 and having all DLC, plus non-DLC content, packaged with the game; it's needless to say that there are plenty of people pissed off with this move, and even more who decry them for such shady business practices.
When the news broke and was posted on this site, the very correct majority of people spoke out against the practice. And what were they met with? Nothing but report after report of Trolling, Off Topic, Immature, Offensive reports to more than half of the comments on the first page of the thread alone.
See for yourself...
http://n4g.com/news/618744/...
As you can see if you click on the posts that are hidden, MOST of them are legitimate concerns or gripes with Turn 10 posted in an inoffensive fashion, and yet were still reported for trolling.
My only conclusion is that Turn 10 once again sent out employees to gaming journalism websites, only this time not to troll but to stealth report out their asses to ensure nothing negative is said about their milked, I mean "new", game. I mean, why not, it's not like they're above that kind of thing.
A poll was posted on CNET.com that asked which game would people buy, Forza 3 or Gran Turismo 5. Turn 10 posted that if people voted for Forza 3 and it won, the voters would get exclusive content for the game. They tried to rig the vote.
And then there was the Microsoft employee that trolled the GT5 release date and was outed by a NeoGaf forum mod. Read about that here...
http://gamrconnect.vgchartz...
And now, with the release of this new dairy product, I mean game (keep making that mistake... mooo), Turn 10 have ignored the dozens upon dozens of posts on their own forums of angry gamers who are upset, and rightfully so, that they already paid full price + the cost of DLC for a game, only to be told they'll have to pay another $60 for new content to an already year old game. They've even deleted many comments, essentially censoring and erasing negative feedback to this horrible move of theirs.
Read about that here...
http://www.lazygamer.net/xb...
And the Turn 10 Studio blog about this topic is here...
http://forums.forzamotorspo...
So, is it entirely inconceivable that Turn 10 studios, or Microsoft, would send out employees to the internets largest gaming news aggregator? I don't think so.
My own comments on the how the comments were being removed even though they weren't trolling were themselves marked for trolling. And today, I had 2 bubbles removed (from the mods) and a 3 day commenting ban for my comments on the Forza 3 issue.
This kind of Nazi-like modding is pathetic and just goes to show you that Turn 10 is either paying N4G's bills, or mass reporting anyone that says anything negative about their dumbass milking move.
Well, too bad for them that they are outnumbered significantly, and they will never suppress the truth. That they are a horrible excuse for professionals, make horrible games, and are not above trolling the internet, rigging votes, and ignoring the people WHO MAKE THEM MONEY to get what they want.
So, N4G site admins, congratulations on continuing to fan the flames of the fanboy wars by allowing sensationalist articles that go against the site rules. Congratulations on allowing Turn 10 to tell you what can and cannot be said on a supposedly "free" site. Congratulations for being Nazi/Facists. I'm sure your mothers are very proud of you.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Move VS. Killzone 3: The first step
And it went on, going from the dualshock 2 to the playstation move in a first person shooter like killzone 3 is not entirely the easiest thing i've done, in fact i expected to be able to play better with the move, having played MAG and Modern combat with it, i seriously thought i had it down, sadly that was not the case with this, having started my morning with nothing to do i downloaded killzone 3 began the very impressive beta, using the dualshock 3 that is, the first few rounds i had were pretty bad but after an hour or so i finally was able to get a grasp of things, which lead to me getting more kills over deaths in several games, even going as far to keep my position as top player for about six games straight, my overall experience with the beta is just fantastic. and of coarse once i started to feel abit bored of the game it hit me that i could use playstation move with it
After setting my Playstation eye up in the right place, collaborating the move controller, fixing the sensitivity and either little settings i jump right into the game, surprisingly everything was smooth and i seen no problems at all with the cross hair and the camera movements. i figured it would be a breeze to get a kill or two, although that changed when i realized that facing other players using the dual shock means they will have a pretty fast lock-on of you within a split second, time passes and i realized i did not do a very good job, the next game came and i seem to be doing even worst, this kept going for quite some time, i used every gun i had, i tried playing slower, tried playing faster, hell. i even camped for a while but it did not work much for me, after 10 games or so i became frustrated with things and with that said i just didn't really want to bother with the move
But despite my frustration to lacking the skill to keep up with the others i did not stop attempting to provide a better score for my team, NOW this will probably sound silly but ever since i bought the move i never once tried playing it while sitting. which of course i did in fact do, and once again i was surprised haha, so now i sit there just flicking my wrist around, still not getting many kills, nor was i even really getting a decent aim at the enemy player, but one thing that i did notice was that i was sprinting and turning through the map more easily, one of the problems i had with the dualshock was the sensitivity was either too fast or too slow so turning was a pain in the butt, But with the move i seemlessly made turns and cut corners with ease. and with that said i feel i may have somewhat found my improvement with the move, i do not see myself playing through the rest of the beta using the dualshock over the move now, for some reason i feel the need to adapt to the move more.. and with that said i now leave this blog to its end. that is until the next part. ha
After setting my Playstation eye up in the right place, collaborating the move controller, fixing the sensitivity and either little settings i jump right into the game, surprisingly everything was smooth and i seen no problems at all with the cross hair and the camera movements. i figured it would be a breeze to get a kill or two, although that changed when i realized that facing other players using the dual shock means they will have a pretty fast lock-on of you within a split second, time passes and i realized i did not do a very good job, the next game came and i seem to be doing even worst, this kept going for quite some time, i used every gun i had, i tried playing slower, tried playing faster, hell. i even camped for a while but it did not work much for me, after 10 games or so i became frustrated with things and with that said i just didn't really want to bother with the move
But despite my frustration to lacking the skill to keep up with the others i did not stop attempting to provide a better score for my team, NOW this will probably sound silly but ever since i bought the move i never once tried playing it while sitting. which of course i did in fact do, and once again i was surprised haha, so now i sit there just flicking my wrist around, still not getting many kills, nor was i even really getting a decent aim at the enemy player, but one thing that i did notice was that i was sprinting and turning through the map more easily, one of the problems i had with the dualshock was the sensitivity was either too fast or too slow so turning was a pain in the butt, But with the move i seemlessly made turns and cut corners with ease. and with that said i feel i may have somewhat found my improvement with the move, i do not see myself playing through the rest of the beta using the dualshock over the move now, for some reason i feel the need to adapt to the move more.. and with that said i now leave this blog to its end. that is until the next part. ha
How would you make a good Superman game?
First and foremost you need a good story that can stand on its own, it shouldn't HAVE to be movie based game or tied in to the movies, and second you need a committed and willing group of developers that will take their time and do the game right.
It needs to be open city.
Fully destructable and intelligent environments.
You need good, smooth flight and running mechanics.
The fighting needs to be smooth simple yet engaging
Take advantage of full use of all of Supermans abilities
Great voice cast, and story like TAS (the game has to be about Superman, don't overcrowd it with unnecessary hero and characters)
Acceptable graphics
Unique missions and challenges.
Easy upgrade system.
Visually pleasing graphics and animations.
It needs to be open city.
Fully destructable and intelligent environments.
You need good, smooth flight and running mechanics.
The fighting needs to be smooth simple yet engaging
Take advantage of full use of all of Supermans abilities
Great voice cast, and story like TAS (the game has to be about Superman, don't overcrowd it with unnecessary hero and characters)
Acceptable graphics
Unique missions and challenges.
Easy upgrade system.
Visually pleasing graphics and animations.
BBCW launches CBeebies games app
Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Chinese Couple Sells All Three Kids to Play Online Games
A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online Nick jr games at Internet cafes, reports a southern Chinese newspaper.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
Sony vs Nintendo : a battle we've seen before
Today Sony and Nintendo are nearly on equal footing in terms of how they run their business in this gaming industry. They both have highly successful closed platform mobile devices. They both make similar sales month over month and they both have shown their hand for what the next generation [of portables] will offer.
The Nintendo 3DS is home to some N64 classics such as The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Mario64, and many more. The Nintendo 3DS also has the same basic control scheme of the N64 and hardware capabilities of a similar nature. For the unaware some may think the 3ds was an accessory to the N64 to play your games on the go.
The Playstation Vita has some characteristics shared with it's oldest predecessor the psone. The psone was lightyears ahead of times with it's new optical media and cutting edge graphics. The PS Vita is currently the highest specced mobile device on market and with an OLED screen and rear touch panel the PS Vita is bringing essentially our day equivalent (hardware wise) of the psone.
People often remarked that Nintendo had too long of an established position in the industry for Sony to take any of the pie. But the psone triumphed and it is one of the best selling consoles of all time. The battle of Vita vs 3DS is similar to that of psone vs N64, one that says Nintendo should win, after all look at the huge success of the DS, can Sony possibly top that? I suggest they will. The Vita has too much going for it at such a competitive price that Nintendo simply have been outgunned. The lack of 3rd party support recently suggests to me that they are jumping ship and backing Vita in what they [the publishers] hope, and Sony hopes, will be a one horse race.
Of course, even if my predictions or wild accusations turn out to be true, the fact is the N64 vs PSone battle was a little different - and both systems ended up being pretty damn amazing. Games on both systems are widely regarded as the best of all-time, and with good reason. FFVII, MGS, OoT, Mario64 and GoldenEye to name but a few - if Vita vs 3DS produces results just half as good, I think it's fair to say bring 'em on!!
And who's to say this won't happen? Maybe Vita WILL get all of the 3rd party games, and a few first party, but when Nintendo backs their hardware - they back it with full force. Could the 3DS have an OoT that's not actually OoT? Could there be a new GoldenEye [IP] by one of Nintendos 1st party? What about Metroid?
Regardless of sales the battle should be a good one, but my blog does suggest the Vita will triumph in a similar way to the psone.
Thanks for reading, comments as always hugely welcome.
The Nintendo 3DS is home to some N64 classics such as The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Mario64, and many more. The Nintendo 3DS also has the same basic control scheme of the N64 and hardware capabilities of a similar nature. For the unaware some may think the 3ds was an accessory to the N64 to play your games on the go.
The Playstation Vita has some characteristics shared with it's oldest predecessor the psone. The psone was lightyears ahead of times with it's new optical media and cutting edge graphics. The PS Vita is currently the highest specced mobile device on market and with an OLED screen and rear touch panel the PS Vita is bringing essentially our day equivalent (hardware wise) of the psone.
People often remarked that Nintendo had too long of an established position in the industry for Sony to take any of the pie. But the psone triumphed and it is one of the best selling consoles of all time. The battle of Vita vs 3DS is similar to that of psone vs N64, one that says Nintendo should win, after all look at the huge success of the DS, can Sony possibly top that? I suggest they will. The Vita has too much going for it at such a competitive price that Nintendo simply have been outgunned. The lack of 3rd party support recently suggests to me that they are jumping ship and backing Vita in what they [the publishers] hope, and Sony hopes, will be a one horse race.
Of course, even if my predictions or wild accusations turn out to be true, the fact is the N64 vs PSone battle was a little different - and both systems ended up being pretty damn amazing. Games on both systems are widely regarded as the best of all-time, and with good reason. FFVII, MGS, OoT, Mario64 and GoldenEye to name but a few - if Vita vs 3DS produces results just half as good, I think it's fair to say bring 'em on!!
And who's to say this won't happen? Maybe Vita WILL get all of the 3rd party games, and a few first party, but when Nintendo backs their hardware - they back it with full force. Could the 3DS have an OoT that's not actually OoT? Could there be a new GoldenEye [IP] by one of Nintendos 1st party? What about Metroid?
Regardless of sales the battle should be a good one, but my blog does suggest the Vita will triumph in a similar way to the psone.
Thanks for reading, comments as always hugely welcome.
Things We want in the next generation
User blog
1- Free Online Gaming On All Consoles:
Online gaming is a very important feature of now a days games, it's also a huge game and console seller,which means the manufacturer will gain more money from selling more devices just because there are couple of kick-ass online games, so why charge for it? especially if your competitors provide the same quality of service for free.
2- More Famous Actors/Musicians:
This current generation witnessed the presence of few famous stars But my personal favourite was " Danny Trejo " the guy is just amazing, There was also a rumour that Eminem would be the lead in GTA 5 but i guess that turned out not to be true. Believe it or not people will actually buy a game they don't like so much because there is a famous star in it,not only actors but they could actually bring some famous musicians for soundtracks , imagine if you play GTA and the voice of Jay Z in the car radio or the game menus. It will be huge seller and would make some games more popular, and it will be worth it.
3-Upgradable Consoles:
If home consoles industry remains as it is it will always be few steps behind PC,right now as i write these words PC gaming has officially put both feet into the next-gen. era while current consoles started to age, it's not fare that PC gamers can enjoy more futuristic pretty version of "Battlefield 3" regarding graphics and online players capacity than consoles gamers not to mention Crysis 2. Manufacturers can come up with some practical way to make consoles upgradable after like 3 years of release date to make it last another 3 years in order to raise the actual life cycle, make all versions of consoles and PC equal and exactly the same and of course they can gain more money. SONY announced earlier they are aiming to give the Playstation 3 a 10 years life cycle, it's been only 5 and it's already getting old comparing to PC.
4-Consoles shipped with standard accessories:
Nintendo started that by shipping with a stand, Microsoft followed by shipping certain models with a headset,SONY did nothing, both aren't even shipping with an HDMI cable which is highly recommended for playing games on both consoles, instead they are shipping with the useless composite cable.We need to see consoles shipped with more accessories which in fact a very important tools for the user and not just extras such as the HDMI cable - Headset - chargeable battery ( if both Microsoft & Nintendo will continue to use battery based controllers ) and it would be nice if all companies shipped their consoles with a stand and one extra controller, they would still gain more money of selling those same accessories in the future and will gain users respect.
5-Disc Changer:
It might cost more money and makes a console bigger and heavier but it's actually a very nice feature to have, in current consoles you can turn them on or off while you are setting comfortably on you couch, but what if you want to change the game ?! and don't tell me they could just solve that by converting to digital download games because that's not going to replace physical discs any time soon.
1- Free Online Gaming On All Consoles:
Online gaming is a very important feature of now a days games, it's also a huge game and console seller,which means the manufacturer will gain more money from selling more devices just because there are couple of kick-ass online games, so why charge for it? especially if your competitors provide the same quality of service for free.
2- More Famous Actors/Musicians:
This current generation witnessed the presence of few famous stars But my personal favourite was " Danny Trejo " the guy is just amazing, There was also a rumour that Eminem would be the lead in GTA 5 but i guess that turned out not to be true. Believe it or not people will actually buy a game they don't like so much because there is a famous star in it,not only actors but they could actually bring some famous musicians for soundtracks , imagine if you play GTA and the voice of Jay Z in the car radio or the game menus. It will be huge seller and would make some games more popular, and it will be worth it.
3-Upgradable Consoles:
If home consoles industry remains as it is it will always be few steps behind PC,right now as i write these words PC gaming has officially put both feet into the next-gen. era while current consoles started to age, it's not fare that PC gamers can enjoy more futuristic pretty version of "Battlefield 3" regarding graphics and online players capacity than consoles gamers not to mention Crysis 2. Manufacturers can come up with some practical way to make consoles upgradable after like 3 years of release date to make it last another 3 years in order to raise the actual life cycle, make all versions of consoles and PC equal and exactly the same and of course they can gain more money. SONY announced earlier they are aiming to give the Playstation 3 a 10 years life cycle, it's been only 5 and it's already getting old comparing to PC.
4-Consoles shipped with standard accessories:
Nintendo started that by shipping with a stand, Microsoft followed by shipping certain models with a headset,SONY did nothing, both aren't even shipping with an HDMI cable which is highly recommended for playing games on both consoles, instead they are shipping with the useless composite cable.We need to see consoles shipped with more accessories which in fact a very important tools for the user and not just extras such as the HDMI cable - Headset - chargeable battery ( if both Microsoft & Nintendo will continue to use battery based controllers ) and it would be nice if all companies shipped their consoles with a stand and one extra controller, they would still gain more money of selling those same accessories in the future and will gain users respect.
5-Disc Changer:
It might cost more money and makes a console bigger and heavier but it's actually a very nice feature to have, in current consoles you can turn them on or off while you are setting comfortably on you couch, but what if you want to change the game ?! and don't tell me they could just solve that by converting to digital download games because that's not going to replace physical discs any time soon.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Angry Birds for PC
Finally, those birds that everybody likes has arrived on PC. After iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile versions, also iPhone cases and toys, Angry Birds has finally arrived on the PC thanks to the Intel App Up store. It’ll work fine and dandy on laptops and netbooks and will cost you only $4.99 to download. Nice price for this lovely game.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
BBCW launches CBeebies games app
Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63
New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!
Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!
Chinese Couple Sells All Three Kids to Play Online Games
A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online Nick jr games at Internet cafes, reports a southern Chinese newspaper.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
Official Pokemon Game Coming To Smartphones
The Pokemon Company is set to bring an official Pokemon Online game to smartphone devices, marking the first time that an official Nintendo-copyrighted app will be available on the iOS and Android.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Nick Jr., MTVN expand in Asia
Rugrats and music fans in Singapore and Malaysia will be able to tune in to “Dora the Explorer” and 24-hour music videos, docus and concerts with the launch of Viacom’s Nick Jr. and MTVN HD in the territories in coming weeks.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Brave New World
After building a base camp, I set out to explore the bold new landscape. It's amazing how much bigger the biomes are this time around, and they're far more varied as well -- so much that Minecraft feels like a new game at times. I trudged deep into swamplands with flooded trees, punched through thick forests, crossed snaking rivers with sloped banks, and pushed onward into other enticing areas. The world comes together much more dynamically, instilling a stronger sense of place and adventure.
I was also impressed by the updated lighting effects. Above ground, sunsets are more dramatic as they bathe the landscape in bright amber hues. Below ground, dim torchlight casts a warmer glow on the subterranean caverns. It makes a surprisingly big difference in each setting's overall vibe. Beyond aesthetics, the terrain offers a broader range of nooks and crannies, ripe for exploration. Randomly generated ravines seem to pop out of nowhere as you run around; these crevices can run along lengthy stretches of the world map. Smaller caves are equally common too, and they often lead to sprawling underground caverns that are much bigger than what we've seen before. I wandered into one massive cave and spent the better part of an hour spelunking through its depths -- I went so far down into its snaking tunnels that I couldn't find my way back up again. That was when I stumbled upon one of 1.8's hard-to-find marvels: an abandoned mining stronghold.
I was also impressed by the updated lighting effects. Above ground, sunsets are more dramatic as they bathe the landscape in bright amber hues. Below ground, dim torchlight casts a warmer glow on the subterranean caverns. It makes a surprisingly big difference in each setting's overall vibe. Beyond aesthetics, the terrain offers a broader range of nooks and crannies, ripe for exploration. Randomly generated ravines seem to pop out of nowhere as you run around; these crevices can run along lengthy stretches of the world map. Smaller caves are equally common too, and they often lead to sprawling underground caverns that are much bigger than what we've seen before. I wandered into one massive cave and spent the better part of an hour spelunking through its depths -- I went so far down into its snaking tunnels that I couldn't find my way back up again. That was when I stumbled upon one of 1.8's hard-to-find marvels: an abandoned mining stronghold.
Zounds! Fancy Meters, New Abilities
The most noticeable difference upon loading update 1.8 is the addition of a few newfangled meters to contend with. A new food bar measures your hunger level, which adds a cool element to the health system in Survival Mode. Eating food no longer instantly heals you; instead, it restores a hunger meter that -- when filled -- regenerates your health naturally over time. To help keep you from starving, chickens, pigs, and cows now all drop meat when slain... though they run away if you attack them.
Movement and combat also are affected in 1.8: You can run by double-tapping the forward key, and gaining momentum lets you jump a bit further. This makes escaping threats and traveling across lengthy stretches of terrain a lot more manageable. Updated bow physics let you draw arrows back, letting them fly farther depending on how long you hold the shot. It's also possible to score critical hits on foes, taking them down with a single blow. Very cool!
One of the more exciting and game-changing ideas planned for Minecraft is the inclusion of specific goals and a progression system featuring role-playing-game-like elements. The Adventure Update offers a tantalizing taste of this with a new experience bar: Slain creatures now drop glowing orbs that you collect to gain experience. While it's not functional at present (the bar simply resets when it's full), the many ways it could come into play with future updates leaves me salivating.
Movement and combat also are affected in 1.8: You can run by double-tapping the forward key, and gaining momentum lets you jump a bit further. This makes escaping threats and traveling across lengthy stretches of terrain a lot more manageable. Updated bow physics let you draw arrows back, letting them fly farther depending on how long you hold the shot. It's also possible to score critical hits on foes, taking them down with a single blow. Very cool!
One of the more exciting and game-changing ideas planned for Minecraft is the inclusion of specific goals and a progression system featuring role-playing-game-like elements. The Adventure Update offers a tantalizing taste of this with a new experience bar: Slain creatures now drop glowing orbs that you collect to gain experience. While it's not functional at present (the bar simply resets when it's full), the many ways it could come into play with future updates leaves me salivating.
Getting Down and Dirty with Minecraft's Adventure Update
Anyone held in thrall by a raging Minecraft addiction for the past year can attest -- these are exciting times. While developer Markus "Notch" Persson's surprise indie hit is pushing closer to its official release in a few months, the just-released beta update 1.8 ushers in some exciting new changes to the game's sandbox realm... and the way you can interact with it. If you're like me, you've probably already sunk an absurd number of hours into building and exploring in the game's blocky world. But don't retire your virtual pickaxe just yet; Minecraft's 1.8 "Adventure Update" is here, and it's awesome.
Even if you've toiled for days on end to hone the pixelated landscape into a perfect Minecraft realm, starting a new world from scratch carries a certain kind of thrill. That's what you have to do to access the new content in this update, since it has such a big impact on Minecraft's landscape. Update 1.8 may only offer half of the content for the full Adventure Update -- 1.9 will roll out the remainder of the massive changes planned for this phase of the game -- but after firing up a new world and digging in, I was blown away by how much it improves the Minecraft experience.
Even if you've toiled for days on end to hone the pixelated landscape into a perfect Minecraft realm, starting a new world from scratch carries a certain kind of thrill. That's what you have to do to access the new content in this update, since it has such a big impact on Minecraft's landscape. Update 1.8 may only offer half of the content for the full Adventure Update -- 1.9 will roll out the remainder of the massive changes planned for this phase of the game -- but after firing up a new world and digging in, I was blown away by how much it improves the Minecraft experience.
News Minecraft 1.9 Pre-Release Leaked by Mojang
He did it with Minecraft 1.8, and now he's done it again with Minecraft 1.9. Mojang developer Jens Bergensten has "leaked" the pre-release build of the latest Minecraft update via twitter. The new version will probably be unstable and buggy... but eager players can download it and get a taste of the new features.
Included in Minecraft 1.9 are new mobs, such as the Snow Golem (pictured) and something called a Mooshrum Cow.
minecraft snowman
The Snow Golem is actually friendly, and will throw snowballs at enemies. Cute.
Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has also tweeted that a Minecraft 1.10 update is on the horizon, which will bring with it even more "Adventure Update" features.
If you want to get your hands on Minecraft 1.9, visit Bergensten's twitter feed and click the download link.
Included in Minecraft 1.9 are new mobs, such as the Snow Golem (pictured) and something called a Mooshrum Cow.
minecraft snowman
The Snow Golem is actually friendly, and will throw snowballs at enemies. Cute.
Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has also tweeted that a Minecraft 1.10 update is on the horizon, which will bring with it even more "Adventure Update" features.
If you want to get your hands on Minecraft 1.9, visit Bergensten's twitter feed and click the download link.
News Minecraft Gets Dragons, Please Don't Tell Bethesda
Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has tweeted images of his next idea for the ever-evolving indie-hit Minecraft: dragons! And before you ask, no, these do not look like Skyrim's dragons. They look like grey, blocky, flying LEGO beasts.
Of course, this is an early build of the dragon model. One would assume the real dragon will have colored textures. No word on when this monster will be entering the game, however.
Of course, this is an early build of the dragon model. One would assume the real dragon will have colored textures. No word on when this monster will be entering the game, however.
Creativity and Beyond
Outside of Survival, there's also the new Creative mode. With the ability to fly, place an infinite number of blocks of any type, and destroy any block in a single hit, this low-stress building mode lets you dabble to your heart's content. The creative freedom is fun, but I still found myself spending the most of my time in Survival mode, which feels a very new experience. Major changes to the game's beautiful blocky landscapes and biomes alone make exploring feel fresh, and the underground realm is vastly improved by 1.8's subtle tweaks. There's a little more waiting in-store before 1.9 delivers the next round of thrilling adventure-oriented content, but this latest update offers plenty of reasons to lure you back into Minecraft's expansive depths.
Ghosts of Civilization
Deep underground, I was surprised to encounter a stretch of cave, lit by torches I hadn't placed. This led to me to a vast subterranean complex complete with mine shafts, cart tracks, treasure, flooded areas, and rooms crafted by human hands. Everything was in disrepair; I'd uncovered the remnants of what appeared to be a lost civilization, deep beneath the surface. However, the place was infested with skeletons, zombies, and worse. Throwing caution to the wind, I eventually found a room filled with cobwebs... and met a bitter end at the jaws of many cave spiders. The little buggers swarmed, nibbling me to death with their poison-dripping fangs.
When I respawned back on the surface, I geared up again, and embarked on a several-day trek to hunt down some fabled non-player villages. After a lot of exploring, I finally found one of these rare settlements, which will eventually act as hubs of bustling activity, and sources of supplies and quests. But for now, they're ghost towns.
The current lack of human life in Minecraft isn't quite as eerie as the Adventure Update's main new mob addition: the Enderman. These tall black critters come out at night, and keep busy moving blocks around the map. It's not until you look directly at them that they hone in you with their creepy, glowing eyes. The second you look away, they come chasing after you -- teleporting closer if you flee. I found it best to avoid them, but these potentially dangerous mob are fascinating to watch (and fun to fiddle with).
When I respawned back on the surface, I geared up again, and embarked on a several-day trek to hunt down some fabled non-player villages. After a lot of exploring, I finally found one of these rare settlements, which will eventually act as hubs of bustling activity, and sources of supplies and quests. But for now, they're ghost towns.
The current lack of human life in Minecraft isn't quite as eerie as the Adventure Update's main new mob addition: the Enderman. These tall black critters come out at night, and keep busy moving blocks around the map. It's not until you look directly at them that they hone in you with their creepy, glowing eyes. The second you look away, they come chasing after you -- teleporting closer if you flee. I found it best to avoid them, but these potentially dangerous mob are fascinating to watch (and fun to fiddle with).
Monday, October 10, 2011
Vostu goes for Goooaaal with GolMania on Facebook, Orkut [Video]
And boy, does it look intense. Vostu--you know, the Brazilian social game maker trading legal blows with Zynga--has released what is likely its most ambitious social game yet with GolMania. Available now on Facebook and Orkut in English, Portuguese and Spanish, this social soccer game touts real-time, directly-controlled soccer matches between friends in a cute art style.
And, according to a Vostu representative, "real-time" means live, arcade-style gameplay between two friends over Facebook or Orkut, Google's wildly popular social network in South America. The game pits players against one another on the field, but has friends cooperate off of the green to build up each other's stadiums and to gain energy and money for more matches.
As player progress in GolMania by mastering its keyboard controls and dominating opponents live, they will unlock special maneuvers. You will also be able to organize private tournaments between friends and participate in global cups amongst the game's top players--you can even play soccer in low gravity on the moon. And Vostu already has even bigger plans for its now flagship social soccer game.
Gallery: GolMania on Facebook
Vostu's Mystery Fantasy Game on Facebook
"GolMania brings Vostu's fun social experience to a casual sports game," Vostu Chief Scientist Mario Schlosser said in a release. "We look forward to our millions of users getting to play GolMania and like with all of our games, we will then quickly react to their feedback and our deep analytics about player behavior to unveil new features that take into account how users make the game their own."
The game was developed Vostu's recent acquisition MP Studio, and employs the publisher's Vostu Game Network, meaning friends can play with one another in real time across social networks. Vostu also teased to us an unnamed social game (found in the gallery above) with a deep, cartoonish fantasy setting that's set to launch this fall as well. But until then, check out GolMania below and see if it gives your fingers a real challenge.
Click here to play GolMania on Facebook Now >
What do you think of Vostu's first real-time action sports social game? Do you see these types of games taking off on Facebook? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments
And, according to a Vostu representative, "real-time" means live, arcade-style gameplay between two friends over Facebook or Orkut, Google's wildly popular social network in South America. The game pits players against one another on the field, but has friends cooperate off of the green to build up each other's stadiums and to gain energy and money for more matches.
As player progress in GolMania by mastering its keyboard controls and dominating opponents live, they will unlock special maneuvers. You will also be able to organize private tournaments between friends and participate in global cups amongst the game's top players--you can even play soccer in low gravity on the moon. And Vostu already has even bigger plans for its now flagship social soccer game.
Gallery: GolMania on Facebook
Vostu's Mystery Fantasy Game on Facebook
"GolMania brings Vostu's fun social experience to a casual sports game," Vostu Chief Scientist Mario Schlosser said in a release. "We look forward to our millions of users getting to play GolMania and like with all of our games, we will then quickly react to their feedback and our deep analytics about player behavior to unveil new features that take into account how users make the game their own."
The game was developed Vostu's recent acquisition MP Studio, and employs the publisher's Vostu Game Network, meaning friends can play with one another in real time across social networks. Vostu also teased to us an unnamed social game (found in the gallery above) with a deep, cartoonish fantasy setting that's set to launch this fall as well. But until then, check out GolMania below and see if it gives your fingers a real challenge.
Click here to play GolMania on Facebook Now >
What do you think of Vostu's first real-time action sports social game? Do you see these types of games taking off on Facebook? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments
Gree's OpenFeint hires ex-Glu Mobile exec, more social games coming?
The mobile social game wars are heating up, as OpenFeint just took on former Glu Mobile executive Sarah Thompson (pictured) as its director of developer relations, SocialTimes reports. In other words, OpenFeint, owned by Japanese mobile social gaming powerhouse Gree, hired Thomson to strategically acquire build relationships with independent developers.
Namely, SocialTimes's Azam Khan guesses those developers will be primarily social and mobile social game creators, given Thomson's past exploits in the industry with Glu Mobile and IUGO Entertainment before that. And frankly, we couldn't agree more. Considering OpenFeint is a social network for mobile games at heart, and Gree's existing status, it simply makes sense.
"OpenFeint is going through an exciting phase of growth right now and Sarah is exactly the kind of person we need to keep up the momentum," OpenFeint SVP Marketing and Developer Relations Eros Resmini said in a release. "Sarah's deep history in mobile gaming paired with her connections to the developer community made her a great fit for OpenFeint."
We can't help but recall what just went down between OpenFeint and Gree: The former's co-founder and CEO Jason Citron resigned, and Gree CFO Naoki Aoyagi took his place. (Though, VentureBeat reckons the move was less ... cut-and-dry.) But back to Gree and OpenFeint's future plans, the simple fact is mobile social games are growing at an exponential rate on iOS and Android devices.
"I've always admired OpenFeint for its constant innovation in the mobile gaming space," Thomson said in a release. "As the company continues to change with the market, I'm excited to help OpenFeint continue growing." And we think we have an idea of just where Thomson would like to go. It starts with an "S" and--oh, forget it. You get the point already.
Do you think this puts OpenFeint in a better place to compete with opponents like DeNA and Zynga in mobile games? Don't you wish you could have rockin' tattoos and a big time exec gig? Sound off in the comments. 3 Comments
Namely, SocialTimes's Azam Khan guesses those developers will be primarily social and mobile social game creators, given Thomson's past exploits in the industry with Glu Mobile and IUGO Entertainment before that. And frankly, we couldn't agree more. Considering OpenFeint is a social network for mobile games at heart, and Gree's existing status, it simply makes sense.
"OpenFeint is going through an exciting phase of growth right now and Sarah is exactly the kind of person we need to keep up the momentum," OpenFeint SVP Marketing and Developer Relations Eros Resmini said in a release. "Sarah's deep history in mobile gaming paired with her connections to the developer community made her a great fit for OpenFeint."
We can't help but recall what just went down between OpenFeint and Gree: The former's co-founder and CEO Jason Citron resigned, and Gree CFO Naoki Aoyagi took his place. (Though, VentureBeat reckons the move was less ... cut-and-dry.) But back to Gree and OpenFeint's future plans, the simple fact is mobile social games are growing at an exponential rate on iOS and Android devices.
"I've always admired OpenFeint for its constant innovation in the mobile gaming space," Thomson said in a release. "As the company continues to change with the market, I'm excited to help OpenFeint continue growing." And we think we have an idea of just where Thomson would like to go. It starts with an "S" and--oh, forget it. You get the point already.
Do you think this puts OpenFeint in a better place to compete with opponents like DeNA and Zynga in mobile games? Don't you wish you could have rockin' tattoos and a big time exec gig? Sound off in the comments. 3 Comments
Very sneaky, Zynga: Mafia Wars Shakedown revealed for iOS devices
Jeez, these guys are just terrible at keeping secrets, huh? (Alright, so this one looks like it was intentional, but nobody told us!) Zynga has announced yet another game, Mafia Wars Shakedown for iOS devices. However, the company went with a more low key approach for this announcement, which is far from its style. Exhibit A: Mafia Wars 2.
News of the game appeared when it replaced the Facebook page for Mafia Wars: Atlantic City, which was shuttered earlier this month in preparation for a "a much more exciting destination," the Mafia Wars Blog reads. What that implies to us is that Atlantic City may have been a failed experiment in HTML5 game creation, hence Shakedown. No other information about the game has been revealed other than it will first release for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.
Well, that and these tiny pieces of artwork. It's unknown whether this new iPhone game will come within a dedicated app like FarmVille and CityVille Hometown for iOS or through HTML5 like its predecessor. Frankly, HTML5--a web-based coding language capable of game development across multiple platforms simultaneously--is capable of more than Atlantic City.
Mafia Wars Shakedown Banner
Shakedown has all but replaced the web presence for Atlantic City (even the Twitter account has been taken over). My guess is that this new game will be a native iOS app like previous Zynga Mobile games, especially considering this news comes just as Zynga Mobile's David Ko told The Guardian he thinks HTML5 is still too early. We've reached out to Zynga for comment.
What are your guesses about this brand new Mafia Wars game for iOS devices? Are you bummed at all that Atlantic City has been closed down? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
News of the game appeared when it replaced the Facebook page for Mafia Wars: Atlantic City, which was shuttered earlier this month in preparation for a "a much more exciting destination," the Mafia Wars Blog reads. What that implies to us is that Atlantic City may have been a failed experiment in HTML5 game creation, hence Shakedown. No other information about the game has been revealed other than it will first release for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.
Well, that and these tiny pieces of artwork. It's unknown whether this new iPhone game will come within a dedicated app like FarmVille and CityVille Hometown for iOS or through HTML5 like its predecessor. Frankly, HTML5--a web-based coding language capable of game development across multiple platforms simultaneously--is capable of more than Atlantic City.
Mafia Wars Shakedown Banner
Shakedown has all but replaced the web presence for Atlantic City (even the Twitter account has been taken over). My guess is that this new game will be a native iOS app like previous Zynga Mobile games, especially considering this news comes just as Zynga Mobile's David Ko told The Guardian he thinks HTML5 is still too early. We've reached out to Zynga for comment.
What are your guesses about this brand new Mafia Wars game for iOS devices? Are you bummed at all that Atlantic City has been closed down? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter goes live on Facebook
Released previously only in a private beta, Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter has now officially gone live on Facebook. Developed by Atari and set in the Neverwinter realm, the game already has 166,000 monthly players from its time in beta, but if you'd like to join them, here's a taste of what you can expect.
When first starting Heroes of Neverwinter, you'll be allowed to create a character using either set templates of a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric or Rogue (each with their own stats and specialties), or can create a custom character to customize your gender, stats, class, race and more. In this, the game can immediately start out being as complex or as straightforward as you like.
Upon launching into the game proper, you're met with a story of amnesia and will be introduced to Edrick, a scout that was guiding you on your way to Neverwinter before a pack of Goblins knocked you unconscious. Through this introduction, you're told of Neverwinter, a place of hope and civilization that has survived the Ruining, and that you had originally wanted to travel there to purchase a home and earn your fortune. With this as a base, you're sent on your way.
Movement is achieved on a grid, with this turn-based game automatically allowing you to move at the beginning of each turn. When commanding a party, you'll be able to complete multiple actions, including attacking or opening your inventory with each character before needing to manually end their turn and start over with the next character. Once each "adventure" in the game is complete, you'll receive experience points for the battles you won and the tasks you completed in the process. For immediate prizes, you'll sometimes be able to loot your fallen enemies, selecting a prize from a list of ten. You can choose randomly from ten cards, or can use a potion to reveal items before you choose.
In terms of actual combat, you'll have a wide variety of options, depending on the classes of characters in your party. You might be able to attack an enemy from far away, eliminating them before they ever become a threat, or surround an enemy with multiple characters, giving everyone a combat advantage. There's enough strategy here to keep more hardcore players satisfied, but the initial sections of gameplay are incredibly simple and work well to help an unfamiliar player get up to speed.
Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook
Back in Neverwinter proper, you can access a variety of buildings including the Adventure Board where you'll accept new Adventures (Adventures require energy and have multiple difficulty levels), the Tavern where you can purchase energy potions or Adventure boosts to your stats, the Trade house where you'll purchase similar potions or new equipment items, and even your own home, which you'll be able to fill with treasures as you complete different achievements or tasks within the game (collecting a certain amount of gold, for instance).
That being said, the main focus here (understandably) is in the Adventures themselves. There are plenty of them to undertake, each with an additional focus on bringing your friends in to help you (early on, it's entirely possible to fail even the most basic of Adventures by simply going it alone). The lore within the game is presented through text boxes at the beginning and end of most scenes and encounters, and will likely satisfy current D&D fans. Still, this isn't the first game of its kind of Facebook, so hopefully the D&D name alone will help draw more followers into the fray.
Will D&D Heroes of Neverwinter win over the "Zynga" crowd with its fairly in-depth, and somewhat slow-going gameplay? Likely not, but there's plenty of content here for fans who go out specifically in search for it.
Play Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook -->
Have you tried Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook? What did you think of it? Sound off in the comments.
When first starting Heroes of Neverwinter, you'll be allowed to create a character using either set templates of a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric or Rogue (each with their own stats and specialties), or can create a custom character to customize your gender, stats, class, race and more. In this, the game can immediately start out being as complex or as straightforward as you like.
Upon launching into the game proper, you're met with a story of amnesia and will be introduced to Edrick, a scout that was guiding you on your way to Neverwinter before a pack of Goblins knocked you unconscious. Through this introduction, you're told of Neverwinter, a place of hope and civilization that has survived the Ruining, and that you had originally wanted to travel there to purchase a home and earn your fortune. With this as a base, you're sent on your way.
Movement is achieved on a grid, with this turn-based game automatically allowing you to move at the beginning of each turn. When commanding a party, you'll be able to complete multiple actions, including attacking or opening your inventory with each character before needing to manually end their turn and start over with the next character. Once each "adventure" in the game is complete, you'll receive experience points for the battles you won and the tasks you completed in the process. For immediate prizes, you'll sometimes be able to loot your fallen enemies, selecting a prize from a list of ten. You can choose randomly from ten cards, or can use a potion to reveal items before you choose.
In terms of actual combat, you'll have a wide variety of options, depending on the classes of characters in your party. You might be able to attack an enemy from far away, eliminating them before they ever become a threat, or surround an enemy with multiple characters, giving everyone a combat advantage. There's enough strategy here to keep more hardcore players satisfied, but the initial sections of gameplay are incredibly simple and work well to help an unfamiliar player get up to speed.
Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook
Back in Neverwinter proper, you can access a variety of buildings including the Adventure Board where you'll accept new Adventures (Adventures require energy and have multiple difficulty levels), the Tavern where you can purchase energy potions or Adventure boosts to your stats, the Trade house where you'll purchase similar potions or new equipment items, and even your own home, which you'll be able to fill with treasures as you complete different achievements or tasks within the game (collecting a certain amount of gold, for instance).
That being said, the main focus here (understandably) is in the Adventures themselves. There are plenty of them to undertake, each with an additional focus on bringing your friends in to help you (early on, it's entirely possible to fail even the most basic of Adventures by simply going it alone). The lore within the game is presented through text boxes at the beginning and end of most scenes and encounters, and will likely satisfy current D&D fans. Still, this isn't the first game of its kind of Facebook, so hopefully the D&D name alone will help draw more followers into the fray.
Will D&D Heroes of Neverwinter win over the "Zynga" crowd with its fairly in-depth, and somewhat slow-going gameplay? Likely not, but there's plenty of content here for fans who go out specifically in search for it.
Play Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook -->
Have you tried Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook? What did you think of it? Sound off in the comments.
The Sims Social maker EA wants you ... to make it lots of ad money
And unfortunately, it doesn't sound like you'll have much of a choice. EA, co-creator of Playfish's The Sims Social on Facebook (and arch nemesis to Zynga at this point), has announced EA Legend.
This is the company's new platform to provide marketers and advertisers with "campaign and audience insights across mobile, social, online and console games reaching over 300 million people worldwide," a release reads.
In other words, you're more valuable to EA than you might already know. The publisher wants to use the information you provide them inadvertently through gameplay to rope in ad and marketing deals not just through its Facebook games but all of its games. More specifically, EA said it can provide advertisers with (prepare for buzzword overload):
Key cross-platform campaign performance indicators such as impressions, clicks, unduplicated reach, demographic profiles, social media buzz, and ROI metrics.
Segmented audience insights based on demographic, psychographic, and social data.
Ability to drill down into the factors that impact campaign effectiveness including audience engagement, audience segmentation and type of creative all measured over time.
EA Legend
What's that again--psychographic data? This may all sound like something out of "1984," but it's nothing new. If you think other game creators don't do this type of stuff, then here's your wake-up call. We won't know exactly what information about us EA will provide to advertisers through Legend until it makes advertisers see green at this year's Advertising Week event in New York City on Oct. 4. And if EA keeps using words like psychographic, we may never know.
[Via All Facebook]
What do you think about this new EA Legend program? Do you think it's something worth worrying about, or is this just business as usual? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
This is the company's new platform to provide marketers and advertisers with "campaign and audience insights across mobile, social, online and console games reaching over 300 million people worldwide," a release reads.
In other words, you're more valuable to EA than you might already know. The publisher wants to use the information you provide them inadvertently through gameplay to rope in ad and marketing deals not just through its Facebook games but all of its games. More specifically, EA said it can provide advertisers with (prepare for buzzword overload):
Key cross-platform campaign performance indicators such as impressions, clicks, unduplicated reach, demographic profiles, social media buzz, and ROI metrics.
Segmented audience insights based on demographic, psychographic, and social data.
Ability to drill down into the factors that impact campaign effectiveness including audience engagement, audience segmentation and type of creative all measured over time.
EA Legend
What's that again--psychographic data? This may all sound like something out of "1984," but it's nothing new. If you think other game creators don't do this type of stuff, then here's your wake-up call. We won't know exactly what information about us EA will provide to advertisers through Legend until it makes advertisers see green at this year's Advertising Week event in New York City on Oct. 4. And if EA keeps using words like psychographic, we may never know.
[Via All Facebook]
What do you think about this new EA Legend program? Do you think it's something worth worrying about, or is this just business as usual? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
The Godfather: Five Families on Facebook puts friendly ties to the test
The word "family" implies a lot to the average American: love, togetherness, mutual respect and support ... in-laws. But for folks, you know, in the mob, that same word holds an entirely different meaning. Soon enough, we Facebook gamers will know what "family" means all too well, and that lovey-dovey stuff isn't part of the equation. Kabam, creator most recently of sci-fi-themed strategy Facebook (and Google+) game Edgeworld, has announced The Godfather: Five Families for Facebook.
Thanks to a partnership with Paramount Digital Entertainment, the developer will pay homage to the Academy Award-winning film trilogy in the only way it knows: intense, constant competition. (And, in this case, tested friendships.) The Godfather: Five Families throws players into the Prohibition Era of our fine nation's history with the initial choice to join one of five families--just like in the movies--and vie to become the dominant family in New York.
Five Families concept art
Based on an early look at Five Families, thanks to Kabam GM Lawrence Koh and VP of Brand Marketing and Communications Ted Simon, these families look to act much like factions in previous strategy games by the developer. However, the ties that bind your family together haven't been done with the best knots, but more on that later.
When it comes to combat, the developer's old fondness for sprawling battle scenes filled with clashing swords and searing spells will give way to smaller, more meaningful conflicts and focused rivalries between families. Of course, resources like cash, food and building materials and will be at the heart of your combat operations. But even more important is your muscle, which at launch will span 10 far more down-to-earth units like Hitmen, Arsonists and Tommy Gunners.
Gallery: The Godfather: Five Families on Facebook
While--like in most Kabam games--players will have to defend their own territory known as Estates, combat will be provoked in more inventive ways in Five Families. As friends come to each others' defense in the wee hours of the morning, neutral areas known as Landmarks with rich, attractive resource bonuses will lure players into cross-family skirmishes over control. These battles over familiar locales like the Empire State Building and Times Square will quickly become ongoing struggles.
While these bloody games of King of Hill rage on, players will have that Estate to worry about. Estates will serve as the home base for all of your operations from recruiting new units to gathering resources and interacting with your family. We imagine that, like other Kabam games, you will be given a grace period to build their defense before you become a fair target. So, unless you want to be open to attack from the 70,000 players per server (a figure Kabam revealed to us), we suggest you pimp out your Estate.
And fast. As your Estate progresses, thanks to upgrades, its appearance will change and improve. Not only will this slowly increase your cred within your own family, but give you a sense of your power increasing. (Check out the nifty, interactive slider above to see how a Level 10 Estate looks compared to a Level 1 Estate.) But that's far from the only thing that will change as you progress through Five Families.
Remember this well: There can only be one "Don" ... per family. This position of power--much like the King in CivWorld--holds far more weight than you might think. While it's specific benefits weren't revealed just yet, what was is the fact that this will be a highly coveted goal for members of the same family, which will inevitably lead to tension and eventually conflict within families. Five Families will cause players to question their social connections, which speaks volumes to how ambitious this project looks thus far.
Five Families concept art victory
But you will see evidence of that almost immediately through the engrossing, scene-setting concept art littered throughout the game. When you win a battle, you'll be greeted by a dramatic scene of a mobster plodding through the streets of New York on a damp night, bodies laying motionless on the curb behind him as he totes a tommy gun. And this is just one of many vivid pieces you will come across in Five Families.
The Godfather: Five Families, with its focus on faction-based combat and intense inter-familial conflicts, looks to be Kabam's most socially inventive strategy game yet. While we were told that a heavier focus would be on combat in this game, we weren't shown enough of it to give impressions just yet. But if you want to see the combat firsthand, Kabam is now accepting registrations for a closed beta test of the game set to launch within the next several weeks.
Click here to sign up for The Godfather: Five Families Closed Beta Test Now >
Are you psyched about a Godfather game coming to Facebook? How well do you think the game will represent the films in its social strategy combat format? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Thanks to a partnership with Paramount Digital Entertainment, the developer will pay homage to the Academy Award-winning film trilogy in the only way it knows: intense, constant competition. (And, in this case, tested friendships.) The Godfather: Five Families throws players into the Prohibition Era of our fine nation's history with the initial choice to join one of five families--just like in the movies--and vie to become the dominant family in New York.
Five Families concept art
Based on an early look at Five Families, thanks to Kabam GM Lawrence Koh and VP of Brand Marketing and Communications Ted Simon, these families look to act much like factions in previous strategy games by the developer. However, the ties that bind your family together haven't been done with the best knots, but more on that later.
When it comes to combat, the developer's old fondness for sprawling battle scenes filled with clashing swords and searing spells will give way to smaller, more meaningful conflicts and focused rivalries between families. Of course, resources like cash, food and building materials and will be at the heart of your combat operations. But even more important is your muscle, which at launch will span 10 far more down-to-earth units like Hitmen, Arsonists and Tommy Gunners.
Gallery: The Godfather: Five Families on Facebook
While--like in most Kabam games--players will have to defend their own territory known as Estates, combat will be provoked in more inventive ways in Five Families. As friends come to each others' defense in the wee hours of the morning, neutral areas known as Landmarks with rich, attractive resource bonuses will lure players into cross-family skirmishes over control. These battles over familiar locales like the Empire State Building and Times Square will quickly become ongoing struggles.
While these bloody games of King of Hill rage on, players will have that Estate to worry about. Estates will serve as the home base for all of your operations from recruiting new units to gathering resources and interacting with your family. We imagine that, like other Kabam games, you will be given a grace period to build their defense before you become a fair target. So, unless you want to be open to attack from the 70,000 players per server (a figure Kabam revealed to us), we suggest you pimp out your Estate.
And fast. As your Estate progresses, thanks to upgrades, its appearance will change and improve. Not only will this slowly increase your cred within your own family, but give you a sense of your power increasing. (Check out the nifty, interactive slider above to see how a Level 10 Estate looks compared to a Level 1 Estate.) But that's far from the only thing that will change as you progress through Five Families.
Remember this well: There can only be one "Don" ... per family. This position of power--much like the King in CivWorld--holds far more weight than you might think. While it's specific benefits weren't revealed just yet, what was is the fact that this will be a highly coveted goal for members of the same family, which will inevitably lead to tension and eventually conflict within families. Five Families will cause players to question their social connections, which speaks volumes to how ambitious this project looks thus far.
Five Families concept art victory
But you will see evidence of that almost immediately through the engrossing, scene-setting concept art littered throughout the game. When you win a battle, you'll be greeted by a dramatic scene of a mobster plodding through the streets of New York on a damp night, bodies laying motionless on the curb behind him as he totes a tommy gun. And this is just one of many vivid pieces you will come across in Five Families.
The Godfather: Five Families, with its focus on faction-based combat and intense inter-familial conflicts, looks to be Kabam's most socially inventive strategy game yet. While we were told that a heavier focus would be on combat in this game, we weren't shown enough of it to give impressions just yet. But if you want to see the combat firsthand, Kabam is now accepting registrations for a closed beta test of the game set to launch within the next several weeks.
Click here to sign up for The Godfather: Five Families Closed Beta Test Now >
Are you psyched about a Godfather game coming to Facebook? How well do you think the game will represent the films in its social strategy combat format? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Will Zynga finally promote Adventure World in FarmVille and elsewhere?
According to the numbers, it just might have to. FarmVille Freak has found an unreleased piece of Adventure World in Zynga's first big time Facebook game, FarmVille. The website discovered that soon (if not already), Zynga might cross promote the first Facebook game by its Boston studio through the familiar billboard method that players are used to seeing.
This might come in addition to a neighbor card featuring the Adventure World logo that will likely take players directly to the brand new game. Adventure World, Zynga's largest, most ambitious (and different) Facebook game to date isn't doing so hot after its first week of existence, according to AppData.
The game has only managed to garner just over 419,000 monthly players since its launch last week, and just a maximum of over 203,000 daily players. What's worse is that number is already on the decline, as today it reads just over 190,000. This news may seem premature, as the game has only been on Facebook publicly for a week. However, consider games like Empires & Allies and CityVille, which soared within their first two weeks on Facebook to tens of millions of players.
Adventure World doesn't seem like it will enjoy that astronomical growth, judging from what the first seven days have shown us. In the game's defense, Adventure World hasn't enjoyed much cross promotion between Zynga's existing games, if any at all. Based on the differences from my early look at the game and playing it since, there are some features to the game I could do without, such as the Base Camp (let's just focus on the adventures, hm?).
Nevertheless, if there is one Zynga game that deserves at least the same growth Empires & Allies earned in the first few weeks after its release, it's Adventure World. While it includes a few of the common trappings that many believe hold Facebook games back today, it's also treading new ground with its interactive environments and huge scope. So, here's to hoping Zynga Boston's debut finds its second wind--and fast.
[Image Credit: FarmVille Freak]
What do you think of Adventure World so far? Do you think the game deserves the millions of players that the company's more traditional games cater to? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
This might come in addition to a neighbor card featuring the Adventure World logo that will likely take players directly to the brand new game. Adventure World, Zynga's largest, most ambitious (and different) Facebook game to date isn't doing so hot after its first week of existence, according to AppData.
The game has only managed to garner just over 419,000 monthly players since its launch last week, and just a maximum of over 203,000 daily players. What's worse is that number is already on the decline, as today it reads just over 190,000. This news may seem premature, as the game has only been on Facebook publicly for a week. However, consider games like Empires & Allies and CityVille, which soared within their first two weeks on Facebook to tens of millions of players.
Adventure World doesn't seem like it will enjoy that astronomical growth, judging from what the first seven days have shown us. In the game's defense, Adventure World hasn't enjoyed much cross promotion between Zynga's existing games, if any at all. Based on the differences from my early look at the game and playing it since, there are some features to the game I could do without, such as the Base Camp (let's just focus on the adventures, hm?).
Nevertheless, if there is one Zynga game that deserves at least the same growth Empires & Allies earned in the first few weeks after its release, it's Adventure World. While it includes a few of the common trappings that many believe hold Facebook games back today, it's also treading new ground with its interactive environments and huge scope. So, here's to hoping Zynga Boston's debut finds its second wind--and fast.
[Image Credit: FarmVille Freak]
What do you think of Adventure World so far? Do you think the game deserves the millions of players that the company's more traditional games cater to? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
PlaySay uses Facebook friends as language lessons to get you to 'Hola'
Following its debut at TechCrunch Disrupt, the giant startup launch conference in San Francisco, PlaySay is now playable for budding linguists and aspiring polyglots on Facebook.
Founder Ryan Meinzer, who has already acquired over $570K in funding, as well as a partnership with McGraw Hill, came up with PlaySay while trying to learn Japanese in Japan. Right now, PlaySay is only teaching Spanish. But Meinzer wants to use players' Facebook friends as social lures to spread interest in non-English languages.
PlaySay does this with random Flickr photos (under the Creative Commons license) and tagged photos of your Facebook friends. This part of it works like flash cards. You'll look at photos and get asked questions en español, such as, "Is your friend in this photo?", "Which friend is this?" or "Is this a photo of a girl?" Not very sophisticated stuff, but when audio is included, the potential for tougher lessons grows.
You can also post a status to Facebook via PlaySay, and then friends can click on it and get a small quiz about the meaning of what you posted. Meinzer's logic is, "Your Facebook friends are your new classmates. Check ins, status updates and pictures are your course materials." Basically, he's banking on your most curious and nosy friends to go the extra mile.
Trivia and quiz games aside (e.g. Who Want to Be a Millionaire), there really aren't any educational Facebook games right now. At one point, I fantasized that Crowdstar's Happy Aquarium or Zynga's FishVille would actually teach people about real aquarium-keeping because both use virtualized real fish in their games, but no dice. Instead, Zynga flailed in the tank with things like Fish Battle Arena.
Gallery: PlaySay
One downside to PlaySay's reliance on tagged photos is that people don't always tag photos that have them in it. And sometimes, friends tag other friends onto something to circumvent privacy settings or to just get their attention. Hence, I got asked by PlaySay, "Is one of your friends in this photo?" while I was shown a photo of a sneaker, and then told I got my answer wrong when I said the sneaker wasn't my friend. All Facebook beta game launches undergo some buggy rite of passage, but PlaySay will have to anticipate problems that no bug fixes will solve. Mind you, it's not that I particularly want them solved, because seeing that sneaker was actually pretty darn funny.
To keep track of PlaySay's development follow its official Facebook fan page.
Click here to play PlaySay on Facebook now >
How important do you think it is to learn another language? Would you like to see more educational games on Facebook? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Founder Ryan Meinzer, who has already acquired over $570K in funding, as well as a partnership with McGraw Hill, came up with PlaySay while trying to learn Japanese in Japan. Right now, PlaySay is only teaching Spanish. But Meinzer wants to use players' Facebook friends as social lures to spread interest in non-English languages.
PlaySay does this with random Flickr photos (under the Creative Commons license) and tagged photos of your Facebook friends. This part of it works like flash cards. You'll look at photos and get asked questions en español, such as, "Is your friend in this photo?", "Which friend is this?" or "Is this a photo of a girl?" Not very sophisticated stuff, but when audio is included, the potential for tougher lessons grows.
You can also post a status to Facebook via PlaySay, and then friends can click on it and get a small quiz about the meaning of what you posted. Meinzer's logic is, "Your Facebook friends are your new classmates. Check ins, status updates and pictures are your course materials." Basically, he's banking on your most curious and nosy friends to go the extra mile.
Trivia and quiz games aside (e.g. Who Want to Be a Millionaire), there really aren't any educational Facebook games right now. At one point, I fantasized that Crowdstar's Happy Aquarium or Zynga's FishVille would actually teach people about real aquarium-keeping because both use virtualized real fish in their games, but no dice. Instead, Zynga flailed in the tank with things like Fish Battle Arena.
Gallery: PlaySay
One downside to PlaySay's reliance on tagged photos is that people don't always tag photos that have them in it. And sometimes, friends tag other friends onto something to circumvent privacy settings or to just get their attention. Hence, I got asked by PlaySay, "Is one of your friends in this photo?" while I was shown a photo of a sneaker, and then told I got my answer wrong when I said the sneaker wasn't my friend. All Facebook beta game launches undergo some buggy rite of passage, but PlaySay will have to anticipate problems that no bug fixes will solve. Mind you, it's not that I particularly want them solved, because seeing that sneaker was actually pretty darn funny.
To keep track of PlaySay's development follow its official Facebook fan page.
Click here to play PlaySay on Facebook now >
How important do you think it is to learn another language? Would you like to see more educational games on Facebook? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Dunkin' Donuts pushes its brand with a free Sims Social Lawn Chair
Dunkin' Donuts strikes again in The Sims Social. On top of all the free fan gifts from Playfish and EA rolling out daily on the game's official fan page, the American coffee-and-donuts chain has chipped in for the first Sims Social-branded virtual item in the form of an exclusive Dunkin' Donuts Lawn Chair.
To get the chair, you've got to 'like' the official Dunkin' Donuts Facebook page here and then head over to the section of the page titled "DD & The Sims Social".
Owning the lawn chair adds 250 points to your house value, which is a modest, but no small amount. It also sells for 15 Simoleons, which is chump change, but hey, free furniture! And lastly, the chair comes with a bit of extra animation.
Just click on the chair, and your Sim will get the option to "Sit" or "Drink Dunkin' Donuts Coffee". So kick back, and watch your Sim lie down on the chair to sip from a steamy cup.
Dunkin Donuts Sims Social Lawn Chair
Do you enjoy branded goods in games? Do you think it makes them more realistic? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
To get the chair, you've got to 'like' the official Dunkin' Donuts Facebook page here and then head over to the section of the page titled "DD & The Sims Social".
Owning the lawn chair adds 250 points to your house value, which is a modest, but no small amount. It also sells for 15 Simoleons, which is chump change, but hey, free furniture! And lastly, the chair comes with a bit of extra animation.
Just click on the chair, and your Sim will get the option to "Sit" or "Drink Dunkin' Donuts Coffee". So kick back, and watch your Sim lie down on the chair to sip from a steamy cup.
Dunkin Donuts Sims Social Lawn Chair
Do you enjoy branded goods in games? Do you think it makes them more realistic? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Pioneer Trail Ice Shed: Everything you need to know
Just days ago, we saw the launch of the Potting Shed in Pioneer Trail, and now we've seen another "shed" added to the game. This one, the Ice Shed, will allow you to "keep your milk cold," while receiving Critter Milk for free everyday. You'll unlock two new animals via the construction of this building, and will also have a couple of goals to complete along the way. Here's a complete guide to the Ice Shed, so get our your hammers and get ready to build! Note: This feature may not be available to all players as of this writing.
Once this update rolls around to you, you can either place the base right away, or you can purchase it from the store at a later time if you choose to finish some other tasks first. Once you place it, you'll need to gather plenty of building ingredients: 10 each of Rivets, Sheet Metal and Warm Gloves, along with 15 each of Ice Boxes, Saw Dust piles and Insulation. These final three items are earned through individual gift requests sent to friends, while the former trio are earned through general news feed posts.
Once built, your Ice Shed will give you access to free Critter Milk everyday when collecting the building's Daily Bonus, and you'll also receive a free Dairy Cow (that goes by the name of Daisy) once you finish the building's two goals:
Milk Cooler
* Place Ice Shed
* Tend 25 Adult Cows
* Collect 15 Blocks of Ice
You'll need to ask your friends for the Blocks of Ice, as you might expect. For finishing this first of two goals, you'll receive 500 XP, 1,000 coins and a single bottle of Critter Milk.
Stockpiling
* Tend 15 Neighbor Goats
* Tend 15 Pigmy Goats
* Collect 15 Glass Milk Bottles
Again, you'll finish this collection task by asking your friends to help you, while you'll need to visit at least three neighbors for all of those regular Goats. As for the Pygmy Goat, it becomes available to purchase in the store once you've completed your Ice Shed. If your friends beat you to it, it looks like you can tend their Pygmy Goats instead. Finish this goal and you'll receive 800 XP and the Daisy Dairy Cow that I told you about earlier.
All told, this is a fairly simple and straightforward building project and goal series (albeit probably a bit time consuming), so just make sure to take a few seconds out of your day to ask for these building pieces and you'll eventually finish both off.
Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here. >
What do you think of the Ice Shed in Pioneer Trail? What other sorts of items would you like to receive free from buildings, if not Critter Milk? Sound off in the comments.
Once this update rolls around to you, you can either place the base right away, or you can purchase it from the store at a later time if you choose to finish some other tasks first. Once you place it, you'll need to gather plenty of building ingredients: 10 each of Rivets, Sheet Metal and Warm Gloves, along with 15 each of Ice Boxes, Saw Dust piles and Insulation. These final three items are earned through individual gift requests sent to friends, while the former trio are earned through general news feed posts.
Once built, your Ice Shed will give you access to free Critter Milk everyday when collecting the building's Daily Bonus, and you'll also receive a free Dairy Cow (that goes by the name of Daisy) once you finish the building's two goals:
Milk Cooler
* Place Ice Shed
* Tend 25 Adult Cows
* Collect 15 Blocks of Ice
You'll need to ask your friends for the Blocks of Ice, as you might expect. For finishing this first of two goals, you'll receive 500 XP, 1,000 coins and a single bottle of Critter Milk.
Stockpiling
* Tend 15 Neighbor Goats
* Tend 15 Pigmy Goats
* Collect 15 Glass Milk Bottles
Again, you'll finish this collection task by asking your friends to help you, while you'll need to visit at least three neighbors for all of those regular Goats. As for the Pygmy Goat, it becomes available to purchase in the store once you've completed your Ice Shed. If your friends beat you to it, it looks like you can tend their Pygmy Goats instead. Finish this goal and you'll receive 800 XP and the Daisy Dairy Cow that I told you about earlier.
All told, this is a fairly simple and straightforward building project and goal series (albeit probably a bit time consuming), so just make sure to take a few seconds out of your day to ask for these building pieces and you'll eventually finish both off.
Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here. >
What do you think of the Ice Shed in Pioneer Trail? What other sorts of items would you like to receive free from buildings, if not Critter Milk? Sound off in the comments.
Cafe World 2 Year Anniversary Winston's Royals Goals: Everything you need to know
I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, chefs (I really do), but it looks like there's a new goal series - actually, an entire event - now taking place in Cafe World celebrating the game's two year anniversary. Via this (apparently first?) goal series, you'll be helping Winston prepare a feast fit for a King, because you are indeed cooking for Royals (our anniversary celebration includes a vacation to Britain). There are new dishes up for grabs in these goals, and if you can finish them all within the next 18 days, you'll have the ability to repeat them to earn all of the dishes therein. Yes, that's right, two of your favorite things are present here - repeatable goals and a time limit. While I know that not all of you out there are opposed to such things, there are plenty more who are, so we'll try to help you through these goals at least once with our guide.
Winston's Royals 1
* Ask for 3 old British Recipe Cards
* Spice 6 of your own dishes
* Place the High Table Tea Party
First, the High Table Tea Party is a new building project that we'll have a guide for as soon as possible and you can check out our guide to building it right here. In the meantime, don't panic about the spice task; if you have any extra Salts or Peppers lying around, just use those. Meanwhile, as your friends for the Recipe Cards. Finishing this goal gives you five Travel Passes. These are a huge element of this event, as they'll give you a chance to win real-world prizes like trips "around the world," or in-game items like Stoves and Cafe Cash, and you'll have the ability to collect literally hundreds of them throughout the entirety of this event.
Winston's Royals 2
* Ask for 4 British Postcards
* Collect 2 Anniversary Collection Items
* Serve 10 French Onion Soups
French Onion Soup can be served after four hours. Meanwhile, the Anniversary Collection comes with five new items that you can earn by using spices on your dishes. Finishing this goal gives you 10 more Travel Passes.
Winston's Royals 3
* Ask for 6 Old British Recipe Cards
* Spice 10 Neighbor Dishes
* Serve 15 Angel Fruit Cakes
Angel Fruit Cake takes 8 hours to cook. Also, when visiting your neighbors, make sure to spice cooking dishes, and not just stoves. It's possible the latter would count, but there's always a chance that it won't. Better safe than sorry, no? Finish off this third goal and you'll earn - you guessed it - more Travel Passes, 15 to be exact.
Winston's Royals 4
* Ask for 7 British Postcards
* Serve 2 Dishes with the Pastry Station
* Serve 25 Gem Cakes
Here's where things get a bit complicated, as you'll have to worry about cooking dishes on your stoves and in the Pastry Station. If you've yet to build your Pastry Station, here's a complete guide to doing so. As for the Gem Cake, it takes 12 hours to prepare. Finish off this goal for 20 more Travel Passes.
Winston's Royals 5
* Ask for 10 Old British Recipe Cards
* Serve 18 Chocolate Creme Brulee
* Complete the High Tea Party Table
Chocolate Creme Brulee is a specialty coffee drink found in the Coffee Machine. You will need to have hired Becky the Barista in order to unlock it. For finishing off this last goal, you'll receive a whopping 500 Travel Passes along with a Mystery Prize in the form of a new recipe. This new recipe will most likely be Yorkshire Pudding, although there are three others that might appear in random order as you repeat the goal series. These are the Bangers and Mash, Shepherd's Pie and Salmon Mousse.
As we mentioned before, Winston's Royals looks to be just the first of many goal series available in this two-year anniversary event. While it's unclear whether or not the 18 days applies to just Winston's Royals, or to the entire event, we do know that we'll eventually travel to other countries and unlock other rewards. In the meantime, here's a complete checklist of the "British" tasks you can complete, which can be found in your own game at any time (click on the airline ticket in the right-side menu).
Good luck completing these goals and earning all of the rewards in time!
What do you think of the Winston's Royals goals and the two-year anniversary event as a whole? Sound off in the comments!
Winston's Royals 1
* Ask for 3 old British Recipe Cards
* Spice 6 of your own dishes
* Place the High Table Tea Party
First, the High Table Tea Party is a new building project that we'll have a guide for as soon as possible and you can check out our guide to building it right here. In the meantime, don't panic about the spice task; if you have any extra Salts or Peppers lying around, just use those. Meanwhile, as your friends for the Recipe Cards. Finishing this goal gives you five Travel Passes. These are a huge element of this event, as they'll give you a chance to win real-world prizes like trips "around the world," or in-game items like Stoves and Cafe Cash, and you'll have the ability to collect literally hundreds of them throughout the entirety of this event.
Winston's Royals 2
* Ask for 4 British Postcards
* Collect 2 Anniversary Collection Items
* Serve 10 French Onion Soups
French Onion Soup can be served after four hours. Meanwhile, the Anniversary Collection comes with five new items that you can earn by using spices on your dishes. Finishing this goal gives you 10 more Travel Passes.
Winston's Royals 3
* Ask for 6 Old British Recipe Cards
* Spice 10 Neighbor Dishes
* Serve 15 Angel Fruit Cakes
Angel Fruit Cake takes 8 hours to cook. Also, when visiting your neighbors, make sure to spice cooking dishes, and not just stoves. It's possible the latter would count, but there's always a chance that it won't. Better safe than sorry, no? Finish off this third goal and you'll earn - you guessed it - more Travel Passes, 15 to be exact.
Winston's Royals 4
* Ask for 7 British Postcards
* Serve 2 Dishes with the Pastry Station
* Serve 25 Gem Cakes
Here's where things get a bit complicated, as you'll have to worry about cooking dishes on your stoves and in the Pastry Station. If you've yet to build your Pastry Station, here's a complete guide to doing so. As for the Gem Cake, it takes 12 hours to prepare. Finish off this goal for 20 more Travel Passes.
Winston's Royals 5
* Ask for 10 Old British Recipe Cards
* Serve 18 Chocolate Creme Brulee
* Complete the High Tea Party Table
Chocolate Creme Brulee is a specialty coffee drink found in the Coffee Machine. You will need to have hired Becky the Barista in order to unlock it. For finishing off this last goal, you'll receive a whopping 500 Travel Passes along with a Mystery Prize in the form of a new recipe. This new recipe will most likely be Yorkshire Pudding, although there are three others that might appear in random order as you repeat the goal series. These are the Bangers and Mash, Shepherd's Pie and Salmon Mousse.
As we mentioned before, Winston's Royals looks to be just the first of many goal series available in this two-year anniversary event. While it's unclear whether or not the 18 days applies to just Winston's Royals, or to the entire event, we do know that we'll eventually travel to other countries and unlock other rewards. In the meantime, here's a complete checklist of the "British" tasks you can complete, which can be found in your own game at any time (click on the airline ticket in the right-side menu).
Good luck completing these goals and earning all of the rewards in time!
What do you think of the Winston's Royals goals and the two-year anniversary event as a whole? Sound off in the comments!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Zynga Gamestop promotion now live in Cafe World, CityVille, Pioneer Trail and more [UPDATE]
Last night, we brought you a complete rundown of the new GameStop promotion taking place in FarmVille, that will reward users with 1, 3 or 6 mystery goods in the game for redeeming one of the three dollar values of Zynga Game Cards that have been purchased at GameStop. Now, though, the promotion becomes much more interesting (and perhaps more dangerous to your pocketbook), as a similar deal has gone live in Cafe World, Mafia Wars, YoVille, CityVille, the Pioneer Trail and Empires & Allies! Holy cow!
To be specific, each game has its own set of items, some of which are exclusive to this GameStop promotion. If you purchase a $10 Game Card, you're guaranteed to receive just a single Mystery Good, although which item on the list you'll receive looks to truly be a mystery. For $25, your prize goes up to three Mystery Goods, while the top dollar amount - $50 - grants you six prizes. Keep in mind, you'll also receive the appropriate amount of premium currency for the particular game you've redeemed the card in.
Here's a complete look at the items that are available (notice that some are re-releases, or are least far less valuable than others - Cafe World spice, I'm looking at you).
Interestingly, Adventure World isn't found in this promotion, but that's likely due to its still young age. You'll only have until November 6 to take advantage of this offer, but in that time you can purchase as many cards (or as few) as you'd like. Perhaps we'll see Adventure World items added in that time frame, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that possibility just to be safe. For more information, check out the promotion's website.
UPDATE: We've spoken with Zynga, which confirms that Adventure World players won't be left out in the cold. If you're a PowerUp Rewards member (GameStop's rewards program), you'll receive an additional code for a starter pack in Adventure World or the upcoming Mafia Wars 2.
Will you purchase a Zynga Game Card or two during this promotional period? Which game will you redeem it in, and which items are you hoping to win when you do? Let us know in the comments!
To be specific, each game has its own set of items, some of which are exclusive to this GameStop promotion. If you purchase a $10 Game Card, you're guaranteed to receive just a single Mystery Good, although which item on the list you'll receive looks to truly be a mystery. For $25, your prize goes up to three Mystery Goods, while the top dollar amount - $50 - grants you six prizes. Keep in mind, you'll also receive the appropriate amount of premium currency for the particular game you've redeemed the card in.
Here's a complete look at the items that are available (notice that some are re-releases, or are least far less valuable than others - Cafe World spice, I'm looking at you).
Interestingly, Adventure World isn't found in this promotion, but that's likely due to its still young age. You'll only have until November 6 to take advantage of this offer, but in that time you can purchase as many cards (or as few) as you'd like. Perhaps we'll see Adventure World items added in that time frame, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that possibility just to be safe. For more information, check out the promotion's website.
UPDATE: We've spoken with Zynga, which confirms that Adventure World players won't be left out in the cold. If you're a PowerUp Rewards member (GameStop's rewards program), you'll receive an additional code for a starter pack in Adventure World or the upcoming Mafia Wars 2.
Will you purchase a Zynga Game Card or two during this promotional period? Which game will you redeem it in, and which items are you hoping to win when you do? Let us know in the comments!
CityVille Universities: Everything you need to know
While Elementary, Middle and High Schools in CityVille are one thing (fairly forgettable things, if we're being honest), Zynga is really getting into the school spirit this week with the release of a University feature in the game. This feature is more than just a single building, as you'll be able to build and name your own University consisting of multiple parts. First, you'll need to be at least level 23 to access this feature, but from there, will need to place a Student Center to get things started.
The Student Center takes seven whacks to build. To finish its construction, you'll need to collect various building materials:
* 6 Gowns
* 6 Laptops
* 6 Caps
* 6 Textbooks
* 6 Notebooks
The Gowns and Caps are earned through general news posts on your wall, while the other three items are earned through specific requests sent to individual friends. After the construction is finished, you'll get to name your Student Center and overall University. This currently can't be renamed, so make sure to choose something you really like.
After the naming process, you'll get to choose a logo, with a generic CityVille U logo being available for free, and tons more representing real world universities. These real-world logos come via a partnership between Zynga and Collegiate Licensing Company, which allows the logos to be represented in the game virtually. These logos cost City Cash, and come with a catch.
Once you purchase a logo with CIty Cash, it can be used on any duplicate college buildings you build, but not on different buildings. For instance, if I chose the Boise State logo for my first Student Center, and then built another Student Center, I could use the same logo twice without paying for it a second time. However, if I later built a College Stadium, Dorm, etc. I would need to purchase the logo all over again. This, needless to say might turn into a pretty costly endeavor, depending on how many college buildings you plan on investing in.
Speaking of, there are currently four additional buildings that can be constructed, but again, this can only be done after the Student Center is completely built (building materials and all). Here's a rundown of where you extra school spirit can go.
* Collect Stadium - 150,000 coins
* Collect Dorm - 30,000 coins
* University Sign - 8,000 coins
* Clock Tower - 16,000 coins
It's not unlikely that additional college-themed buildings will be released in the future, but for now, this gives you plenty to work on. As for an overall function, there doesn't really appear to be one here other than simply allowing you to show off your real-world team colors inside your CityVille town. Should we come across anything different, we'll make sure to let you know.
[Source and Image Credit: Zynga]
Will you build a large college complex in your town in CityVille? Which college logo are you going to unlock? Share your team spirit with us in the comments!
The Student Center takes seven whacks to build. To finish its construction, you'll need to collect various building materials:
* 6 Gowns
* 6 Laptops
* 6 Caps
* 6 Textbooks
* 6 Notebooks
The Gowns and Caps are earned through general news posts on your wall, while the other three items are earned through specific requests sent to individual friends. After the construction is finished, you'll get to name your Student Center and overall University. This currently can't be renamed, so make sure to choose something you really like.
After the naming process, you'll get to choose a logo, with a generic CityVille U logo being available for free, and tons more representing real world universities. These real-world logos come via a partnership between Zynga and Collegiate Licensing Company, which allows the logos to be represented in the game virtually. These logos cost City Cash, and come with a catch.
Once you purchase a logo with CIty Cash, it can be used on any duplicate college buildings you build, but not on different buildings. For instance, if I chose the Boise State logo for my first Student Center, and then built another Student Center, I could use the same logo twice without paying for it a second time. However, if I later built a College Stadium, Dorm, etc. I would need to purchase the logo all over again. This, needless to say might turn into a pretty costly endeavor, depending on how many college buildings you plan on investing in.
Speaking of, there are currently four additional buildings that can be constructed, but again, this can only be done after the Student Center is completely built (building materials and all). Here's a rundown of where you extra school spirit can go.
* Collect Stadium - 150,000 coins
* Collect Dorm - 30,000 coins
* University Sign - 8,000 coins
* Clock Tower - 16,000 coins
It's not unlikely that additional college-themed buildings will be released in the future, but for now, this gives you plenty to work on. As for an overall function, there doesn't really appear to be one here other than simply allowing you to show off your real-world team colors inside your CityVille town. Should we come across anything different, we'll make sure to let you know.
[Source and Image Credit: Zynga]
Will you build a large college complex in your town in CityVille? Which college logo are you going to unlock? Share your team spirit with us in the comments!
CityVille Add Comment CityVille Campaign Rally sale sees items marked down by up to 50%
Are there any expensive City Cash or coin items in CityVille that you've always wanted to purchase but you never wanted to actually splurge on? Now's the time to head back into the store for a second look then Mayors, as quite a few items have been given a temporary markdown in a "Campaign Rally Sale."
While some items, like a Back to School House are only marked down 10%, and therefore are likely too expensive to be worthwhile (in our example, the home still costs 75 City Cash), there are other deals here worth mentioning. For instance, decorations like the Bandstand and Sign Spinner now cost less than 10 City Cash each due to their 40-50% reductions, while larger items like the Discovery Aquarium are 33% off, bringing that item's particular price to 61 City Cash.
There are plenty of coin items on sale here too, and these share some of the highest discounts in this particular sale. A Celebrity Trailer decoration, for instance, costs 12,000 coins instead of 24,000, while the Camera Shop costs 11,000 coins, down from 22,000. Also keep in mind that some of these items are limited edition, giving you even more incentive to purchase them during this sale (after all, what's better than getting an exclusive item at a cheaper cost if you were already going to purchase one anyway?).
Here's a look at all of the sale items - happy shopping!
Will you purchase any of these items while they're on sale, or did you already have any interesting items city? Which ones did you decide to purchase? Tell us in the comments!
While some items, like a Back to School House are only marked down 10%, and therefore are likely too expensive to be worthwhile (in our example, the home still costs 75 City Cash), there are other deals here worth mentioning. For instance, decorations like the Bandstand and Sign Spinner now cost less than 10 City Cash each due to their 40-50% reductions, while larger items like the Discovery Aquarium are 33% off, bringing that item's particular price to 61 City Cash.
There are plenty of coin items on sale here too, and these share some of the highest discounts in this particular sale. A Celebrity Trailer decoration, for instance, costs 12,000 coins instead of 24,000, while the Camera Shop costs 11,000 coins, down from 22,000. Also keep in mind that some of these items are limited edition, giving you even more incentive to purchase them during this sale (after all, what's better than getting an exclusive item at a cheaper cost if you were already going to purchase one anyway?).
Here's a look at all of the sale items - happy shopping!
Will you purchase any of these items while they're on sale, or did you already have any interesting items city? Which ones did you decide to purchase? Tell us in the comments!
Adventure World Quaking Mine Expedition: Everything you need to know
While Expeditions in Adventure World already come with time limits, the Quaking Mine Expedition is particularly rushed as a mine is about to collapse! Ok, sure, you can take your time completing this Expedition, and won't really have to worry about the mine collapsing, but in the story things are a wreck! We're here to guide you through the Quaking Mine, but before you begin, make sure you have the required 1300 Supplies, along with 5 each of Food, Fuel and Water to get started. Quaking Mine has a two day time limit, so don't delay!
The Quaking Idol
* Recover the Quaking Idol
* Place the Quaklng Idol on the Pedestal
In this particular Expedition, some careless miners removed the idol of the Earthquake God and now the ground won't stop shaking! To prevent the mine from collapsing, you'll need to find the Quaking Idol and then place it back on its pedestal at the end of the map. In this Expedition, you'll travel along mine tracks while pushing carts. If you find an area that's inaccessible due to raised platforms, more often than not, simply pushing a mine cart into them will lower them (this will become pretty important in a minute).
As for collecting the Quaking Idol itself, you'll first need to locate the switches to turn off the traps blocking it. These are found in mushroom covered rocks, as seen below. While that may not immediately unlock your path to the Idol, it does allow you to get to the switch to turn off the Idol's specific trap.
To place the idol itself, you'll need to push a Mine Cart down a very long track until you reach a series of Skulls. You'll need to activate these skulls in a specific order (note the mushrooms covering the ordered markings back on the mine track) in order to lower the wall blocking your access to the Quaking Idol pedestal.
Crystal Cracker
* Break 3 Giant Crystals
* Break 4 Crystal Formations
This one's simple - just walk around the map smashing any crystals you see until you're done. Here's a look at the two different kinds for your reference.
Minecart Valet
* Push 5 Minecarts to the end of their tracks
* Ask friends for 10 Flashlight Bulbs
Collecting the Flashlight Bulbs is easily the most difficult portion of this Expedition, as you'll need to wait for others to help you out, rather than being able to do everything yourself. As we said before, the Minecarts can be pushed using energy and will unlock treasures at the end of their tracks. There are only five carts that can be pushed, conveniently enough, so push every cart you see to the end of its track and you'll finish off the first portion of this quest.
Once you've finished these three quests, you'll have completely finished the Quaking Mine Expedition, and will have saved the mine from collapse (and yourself from being squished!). This is a fairly short Expedition, in terms of the length of the map, so unless you run into trouble when collecting the Flashlight Bulbs, you shouldn't have any problem finishing it off in the two day time limit you're given.
Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Quaking Mine Expedition? Is it one of the easiest you've played through thus far, or is it more challenging than it outwardly seems? Sound off in the comments.
The Quaking Idol
* Recover the Quaking Idol
* Place the Quaklng Idol on the Pedestal
In this particular Expedition, some careless miners removed the idol of the Earthquake God and now the ground won't stop shaking! To prevent the mine from collapsing, you'll need to find the Quaking Idol and then place it back on its pedestal at the end of the map. In this Expedition, you'll travel along mine tracks while pushing carts. If you find an area that's inaccessible due to raised platforms, more often than not, simply pushing a mine cart into them will lower them (this will become pretty important in a minute).
As for collecting the Quaking Idol itself, you'll first need to locate the switches to turn off the traps blocking it. These are found in mushroom covered rocks, as seen below. While that may not immediately unlock your path to the Idol, it does allow you to get to the switch to turn off the Idol's specific trap.
To place the idol itself, you'll need to push a Mine Cart down a very long track until you reach a series of Skulls. You'll need to activate these skulls in a specific order (note the mushrooms covering the ordered markings back on the mine track) in order to lower the wall blocking your access to the Quaking Idol pedestal.
Crystal Cracker
* Break 3 Giant Crystals
* Break 4 Crystal Formations
This one's simple - just walk around the map smashing any crystals you see until you're done. Here's a look at the two different kinds for your reference.
Minecart Valet
* Push 5 Minecarts to the end of their tracks
* Ask friends for 10 Flashlight Bulbs
Collecting the Flashlight Bulbs is easily the most difficult portion of this Expedition, as you'll need to wait for others to help you out, rather than being able to do everything yourself. As we said before, the Minecarts can be pushed using energy and will unlock treasures at the end of their tracks. There are only five carts that can be pushed, conveniently enough, so push every cart you see to the end of its track and you'll finish off the first portion of this quest.
Once you've finished these three quests, you'll have completely finished the Quaking Mine Expedition, and will have saved the mine from collapse (and yourself from being squished!). This is a fairly short Expedition, in terms of the length of the map, so unless you run into trouble when collecting the Flashlight Bulbs, you shouldn't have any problem finishing it off in the two day time limit you're given.
Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Quaking Mine Expedition? Is it one of the easiest you've played through thus far, or is it more challenging than it outwardly seems? Sound off in the comments.
Kevin James visits the critters of Zoo World 2 in Zoo Keeper promotion
After watching Kevin James bumble around as a firefighter feigning a domestic partnership and later as a blundering mall cop, I wasn't so keen on watching him play a clumsy zoo keeper. But hey, maybe it'll make for a fun Facebook game event, and RockYou seems to agree, as it announced that Zoo World 2 will honor James's comedic, klutzy exploits in Zoo Keeper.
Zoo Keeper has come and gone in theaters, but picking up the Blu-ray or DVD release of James's summer comedy will score Zoo World fans 12,500 Zoo Bucks (normally $10) to blow in Zoo World 2. Of course, digital zoo keepers will be joined by characters from the movie including Griffin (Kevin James's character), Bernie the Gorilla, Joe the Lion, Mollie the Giraffe and Barry the Elephant.
Zoo World 2 will feature several goals involving the cast of the film, and players will net extra rewards when taking care of the critters from the movie. Leveling up during this promotion will produce customizable, Zoo Keeper-inspired notifications that players can share with each other. The original game gets some love, too, with four Zoo Keeper-themed animals.
Gallery: Zoo World 2 Zoo Keeper Promotion
RockYou has finally caught wind that, hey, branding is where it's at right now in Facebook games. (And perhaps a big name will give the game's 370,000 daily players a boost.) Not only has Enrique Iglesias landed in Zynga's CityVille, but studios like Ecko|Code have launched full-blown branded games like Dexter Slice of Life. And, if big time social game execs have anything to say about it, this trend isn't going anywhere. Let's just not make an entire game surrounding a Kevin James flick, kay?
Are you a Zoo World 2 fan already? Do you think this promotion is a good fit for the game, and does it make you want to play or try the game out any more than before? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Zoo Keeper has come and gone in theaters, but picking up the Blu-ray or DVD release of James's summer comedy will score Zoo World fans 12,500 Zoo Bucks (normally $10) to blow in Zoo World 2. Of course, digital zoo keepers will be joined by characters from the movie including Griffin (Kevin James's character), Bernie the Gorilla, Joe the Lion, Mollie the Giraffe and Barry the Elephant.
Zoo World 2 will feature several goals involving the cast of the film, and players will net extra rewards when taking care of the critters from the movie. Leveling up during this promotion will produce customizable, Zoo Keeper-inspired notifications that players can share with each other. The original game gets some love, too, with four Zoo Keeper-themed animals.
Gallery: Zoo World 2 Zoo Keeper Promotion
RockYou has finally caught wind that, hey, branding is where it's at right now in Facebook games. (And perhaps a big name will give the game's 370,000 daily players a boost.) Not only has Enrique Iglesias landed in Zynga's CityVille, but studios like Ecko|Code have launched full-blown branded games like Dexter Slice of Life. And, if big time social game execs have anything to say about it, this trend isn't going anywhere. Let's just not make an entire game surrounding a Kevin James flick, kay?
Are you a Zoo World 2 fan already? Do you think this promotion is a good fit for the game, and does it make you want to play or try the game out any more than before? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter goes live on Facebook
Released previously only in a private beta, Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter has now officially gone live on Facebook. Developed by Atari and set in the Neverwinter realm, the game already has 166,000 monthly players from its time in beta, but if you'd like to join them, here's a taste of what you can expect.
When first starting Heroes of Neverwinter, you'll be allowed to create a character using either set templates of a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric or Rogue (each with their own stats and specialties), or can create a custom character to customize your gender, stats, class, race and more. In this, the game can immediately start out being as complex or as straightforward as you like.
Upon launching into the game proper, you're met with a story of amnesia and will be introduced to Edrick, a scout that was guiding you on your way to Neverwinter before a pack of Goblins knocked you unconscious. Through this introduction, you're told of Neverwinter, a place of hope and civilization that has survived the Ruining, and that you had originally wanted to travel there to purchase a home and earn your fortune. With this as a base, you're sent on your way.
Movement is achieved on a grid, with this turn-based game automatically allowing you to move at the beginning of each turn. When commanding a party, you'll be able to complete multiple actions, including attacking or opening your inventory with each character before needing to manually end their turn and start over with the next character. Once each "adventure" in the game is complete, you'll receive experience points for the battles you won and the tasks you completed in the process. For immediate prizes, you'll sometimes be able to loot your fallen enemies, selecting a prize from a list of ten. You can choose randomly from ten cards, or can use a potion to reveal items before you choose.
In terms of actual combat, you'll have a wide variety of options, depending on the classes of characters in your party. You might be able to attack an enemy from far away, eliminating them before they ever become a threat, or surround an enemy with multiple characters, giving everyone a combat advantage. There's enough strategy here to keep more hardcore players satisfied, but the initial sections of gameplay are incredibly simple and work well to help an unfamiliar player get up to speed.
Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook
Back in Neverwinter proper, you can access a variety of buildings including the Adventure Board where you'll accept new Adventures (Adventures require energy and have multiple difficulty levels), the Tavern where you can purchase energy potions or Adventure boosts to your stats, the Trade house where you'll purchase similar potions or new equipment items, and even your own home, which you'll be able to fill with treasures as you complete different achievements or tasks within the game (collecting a certain amount of gold, for instance).
That being said, the main focus here (understandably) is in the Adventures themselves. There are plenty of them to undertake, each with an additional focus on bringing your friends in to help you (early on, it's entirely possible to fail even the most basic of Adventures by simply going it alone). The lore within the game is presented through text boxes at the beginning and end of most scenes and encounters, and will likely satisfy current D&D fans. Still, this isn't the first game of its kind of Facebook, so hopefully the D&D name alone will help draw more followers into the fray.
Will D&D Heroes of Neverwinter win over the "Zynga" crowd with its fairly in-depth, and somewhat slow-going gameplay? Likely not, but there's plenty of content here for fans who go out specifically in search for it.
Play Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook -->
Have you tried Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook? What did you think of it? Sound off in the comments.
There may not be another Zynga game in which Energy is more important than in Adventure World. Every switch thrown, every puzzle solved and beastie whacked costs you the Facebook game juice. Players often find themselves without Energy minutes into an Expedition. But this isn't the time for whining--it's time to show you the value of upgrading your Tools and how to do it.
Tools: The Game Changer
If you noticed, each piece of debris and monster has a life bar, and normally take multiple hits with your Whip or Machete to whittle down. This, of course, quickly becomes a waste in later Expeditions purely due to the amount of obstacles in your path. But increasing the amount of damage your various Tools inflict against said baddies could considerably reduce the Energy spend in-game.
For instance, say a Snake has three hit points and is Level 5. Since monsters can hit back in this game, it could take three to five Energy before an enemy goes down. Now, imagine if you had upgraded your Whip to Level 2. Offing that Snake would take just two to four Energy with a beefier Whip. The same situation applies to Tools like the Machete.
Adventure World Tool Shop inside
And Now For Your How-To
Adventure World Tool Shop outsideUpgrading your Tools in Adventure World is simple. All you need to do is head back to Base Camp from an Expedition, and look for a makeshift hut that should already be in place in your headquarters. When you click on the Tool Shop, a window will appear featuring all the Tools you've found thus far on your journeys. Click on the Tool you wish to upgrade.
Once you click on a Tool to upgrade, you'll notice that each Tool costs Coins to upgrade. That's it--no asking friends to help you out with materials or farming certain crops for special items. Just the goods you find during your travels in search of El Dorado. However, Coins are actually quite rare in this game, so you'll need to save and spend wisely.
When you have enough Coins for an upgrade, just click on the appropriate icon to pay up. Tool upgrades are also level-locked, meaning you must reach a certain level for most Tools before being able to upgrade them using Coins. If you're feeling impatient, you could always unlock access to those higher level Tools early using Adventure Cash.
Just One Small Catch...
However, some Tool upgrades do require an extra boost: your Tool Shop. Yes, the building itself can be upgraded, too. And this time, you will need items from your friends. (Just think of how things work in CityVille.) Luckily, you only have to do this about twice to unlock access to all of the game's Tools. Then, it's back onto leveling up to access new upgrades for Coins.
Adventure World Tool Shop Upgrade
Upgraded Tools are hands-down the way to go, if you want to save precious Energy for the good stuff, that is. You know, exploring ... uncovering the secrets of El Dorado? That kind of stuff. Your wallet might thank us later.
Click here to find all of our Adventure World Tips in one spot >
[Source: Zynga]
Have you upgraded your Tools in Adventure World yet? What other Energy-saving tips might you have for your fellow adventurers? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
When first starting Heroes of Neverwinter, you'll be allowed to create a character using either set templates of a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric or Rogue (each with their own stats and specialties), or can create a custom character to customize your gender, stats, class, race and more. In this, the game can immediately start out being as complex or as straightforward as you like.
Upon launching into the game proper, you're met with a story of amnesia and will be introduced to Edrick, a scout that was guiding you on your way to Neverwinter before a pack of Goblins knocked you unconscious. Through this introduction, you're told of Neverwinter, a place of hope and civilization that has survived the Ruining, and that you had originally wanted to travel there to purchase a home and earn your fortune. With this as a base, you're sent on your way.
Movement is achieved on a grid, with this turn-based game automatically allowing you to move at the beginning of each turn. When commanding a party, you'll be able to complete multiple actions, including attacking or opening your inventory with each character before needing to manually end their turn and start over with the next character. Once each "adventure" in the game is complete, you'll receive experience points for the battles you won and the tasks you completed in the process. For immediate prizes, you'll sometimes be able to loot your fallen enemies, selecting a prize from a list of ten. You can choose randomly from ten cards, or can use a potion to reveal items before you choose.
In terms of actual combat, you'll have a wide variety of options, depending on the classes of characters in your party. You might be able to attack an enemy from far away, eliminating them before they ever become a threat, or surround an enemy with multiple characters, giving everyone a combat advantage. There's enough strategy here to keep more hardcore players satisfied, but the initial sections of gameplay are incredibly simple and work well to help an unfamiliar player get up to speed.
Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook
Back in Neverwinter proper, you can access a variety of buildings including the Adventure Board where you'll accept new Adventures (Adventures require energy and have multiple difficulty levels), the Tavern where you can purchase energy potions or Adventure boosts to your stats, the Trade house where you'll purchase similar potions or new equipment items, and even your own home, which you'll be able to fill with treasures as you complete different achievements or tasks within the game (collecting a certain amount of gold, for instance).
That being said, the main focus here (understandably) is in the Adventures themselves. There are plenty of them to undertake, each with an additional focus on bringing your friends in to help you (early on, it's entirely possible to fail even the most basic of Adventures by simply going it alone). The lore within the game is presented through text boxes at the beginning and end of most scenes and encounters, and will likely satisfy current D&D fans. Still, this isn't the first game of its kind of Facebook, so hopefully the D&D name alone will help draw more followers into the fray.
Will D&D Heroes of Neverwinter win over the "Zynga" crowd with its fairly in-depth, and somewhat slow-going gameplay? Likely not, but there's plenty of content here for fans who go out specifically in search for it.
Play Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook -->
Have you tried Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook? What did you think of it? Sound off in the comments.
There may not be another Zynga game in which Energy is more important than in Adventure World. Every switch thrown, every puzzle solved and beastie whacked costs you the Facebook game juice. Players often find themselves without Energy minutes into an Expedition. But this isn't the time for whining--it's time to show you the value of upgrading your Tools and how to do it.
Tools: The Game Changer
If you noticed, each piece of debris and monster has a life bar, and normally take multiple hits with your Whip or Machete to whittle down. This, of course, quickly becomes a waste in later Expeditions purely due to the amount of obstacles in your path. But increasing the amount of damage your various Tools inflict against said baddies could considerably reduce the Energy spend in-game.
For instance, say a Snake has three hit points and is Level 5. Since monsters can hit back in this game, it could take three to five Energy before an enemy goes down. Now, imagine if you had upgraded your Whip to Level 2. Offing that Snake would take just two to four Energy with a beefier Whip. The same situation applies to Tools like the Machete.
Adventure World Tool Shop inside
And Now For Your How-To
Adventure World Tool Shop outsideUpgrading your Tools in Adventure World is simple. All you need to do is head back to Base Camp from an Expedition, and look for a makeshift hut that should already be in place in your headquarters. When you click on the Tool Shop, a window will appear featuring all the Tools you've found thus far on your journeys. Click on the Tool you wish to upgrade.
Once you click on a Tool to upgrade, you'll notice that each Tool costs Coins to upgrade. That's it--no asking friends to help you out with materials or farming certain crops for special items. Just the goods you find during your travels in search of El Dorado. However, Coins are actually quite rare in this game, so you'll need to save and spend wisely.
When you have enough Coins for an upgrade, just click on the appropriate icon to pay up. Tool upgrades are also level-locked, meaning you must reach a certain level for most Tools before being able to upgrade them using Coins. If you're feeling impatient, you could always unlock access to those higher level Tools early using Adventure Cash.
Just One Small Catch...
However, some Tool upgrades do require an extra boost: your Tool Shop. Yes, the building itself can be upgraded, too. And this time, you will need items from your friends. (Just think of how things work in CityVille.) Luckily, you only have to do this about twice to unlock access to all of the game's Tools. Then, it's back onto leveling up to access new upgrades for Coins.
Adventure World Tool Shop Upgrade
Upgraded Tools are hands-down the way to go, if you want to save precious Energy for the good stuff, that is. You know, exploring ... uncovering the secrets of El Dorado? That kind of stuff. Your wallet might thank us later.
Click here to find all of our Adventure World Tips in one spot >
[Source: Zynga]
Have you upgraded your Tools in Adventure World yet? What other Energy-saving tips might you have for your fellow adventurers? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
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