Pack your bags -- a new Challenge Mission has arrived in Mafia Wars, and even though you've recently returned from Paris, you and your crew will be jetting to London. The mission? To Steal a Crown Jewel.
mafia wars challenge mission london
First thing's first -- you have to make sure you crew is up to the task. That will require adding one more person to your crew and -- instead of Parisian Maps -- you'll need to collect British Passports to complete each of the chapters. Passports can be found by completing jobs, fights and robbing.
mafia wars london passports by completing jobs
mafia wars challenge mission london passport
It also looks like the London mission will also have an additional way to score more passports -- by adding more people to your Mafia. If you played the Paris Challenge Mission, you probably remember that Parisian Maps were not exactly easy to come by (for all of us, anyway), and it looks like more mafia will make completing jobs a little easier.
mafia wars my crew
The London Challenge Mission will consist of three chapters, and one will unlock each week. Complete each chapter to score one of three limited edition items.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Game of the Day: Jump My Love
It's Saturday and the game of the day will never rest. Just like all you Treasure Isle treasure hunters, the game of the day will never stop searching for new games. (Well, not for at least a few months)
Today's game of the day is Jump My Love. Jump My Love is a bit of a love story game. You play the red ball with the hat on who is trying to reach his cute pink square of a girlfriend. Unfortunately, your path will not be easy! You need to climb up the other cubes that are falling to get to your love. Not only are you libel to get squished, there is water rising as well so time is of the essence. Jump your way to the top!
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.
Play Jump My Love now >>>
Today's game of the day is Jump My Love. Jump My Love is a bit of a love story game. You play the red ball with the hat on who is trying to reach his cute pink square of a girlfriend. Unfortunately, your path will not be easy! You need to climb up the other cubes that are falling to get to your love. Not only are you libel to get squished, there is water rising as well so time is of the essence. Jump your way to the top!
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.
Play Jump My Love now >>>
Game of the Day: Pearl Lover
Sunday, a day of rest for most, but not for the Game of the Day. It never stops! If you are the under the sea type and tend to your FishVille fish today's game will be right up your alley.
Today's game of the day is Pearl Lover. Pearl Lover is cute little game where two lobster lovers are courting each other. It's the lobster lad's job to man the balloon grabber and collect pearls for his lobster lovely. You have to be careful not to pop the balloons or you will lose your lobster lady. Go for the high scores and enjoy.
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.
Play Jump My Love now >>>
Today's game of the day is Pearl Lover. Pearl Lover is cute little game where two lobster lovers are courting each other. It's the lobster lad's job to man the balloon grabber and collect pearls for his lobster lovely. You have to be careful not to pop the balloons or you will lose your lobster lady. Go for the high scores and enjoy.
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.
Play Jump My Love now >>>
Game of the Day: Elementals - The Magic Key
Vacations? Who needs vacations from the Game of the day! We won't stop putting up games until you stop playing them. Judging from the 20 million playing people Treasure Isle, it doesn't look like people are done playing.
Today's game of the day is Elementals - The Magic Key. Open the door to an enchanted world with a magical hidden object adventure. That's the official marketing text, we think the game is great because our friends at Playrix made the game. Playrix has made so many great games that we're certain that this one will be great too.
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.
Play Elementals - The Magic Key now -->
Today's game of the day is Elementals - The Magic Key. Open the door to an enchanted world with a magical hidden object adventure. That's the official marketing text, we think the game is great because our friends at Playrix made the game. Playrix has made so many great games that we're certain that this one will be great too.
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.
Play Elementals - The Magic Key now -->
Permanent Hair Styles In YoVille Salon!
New permanent hair styles have been released in YoVille Salon for both guys & gals. The Movie Star Perm and Yohol Artist Perm will cost you 14 YoCash, while the other styles run at 18,000 Coins.
gals
Get your new hair styles, the offer lasts just 3 days!
guys
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
gals
Get your new hair styles, the offer lasts just 3 days!
guys
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
FrontierVille: How do I make walkways and paths?
frontierville path
Among our readers, there has been a great deal of confusion on how to create walkways and paths in FrontierVille. We remain equally confused, as the above image continually teases us when we load up the game. How do we create paths like the one seen above? So far we haven't been able to figure it out, but we hope the feature is released in a future update.
Having paths around our land would be a big step towards looking like a real frontier town. Paths show people have traveled the same trail many times and also show the wilderness has been beaten back by civilization, not to mention they look rather nice.
Personally, I think the FrontierVille farm pictured above is one of the most beautiful around. It's quaint, supple and homey, and I think it owes a large part of that to its walkway leading to the front door. Just imagine if they had filled the rest of the yard with sunflowers; now that would really be something. In fact, it would probably look similar to the cottage from Everything is Illuminated (below).
frontierville paths
Nonetheless, although it may seem like a small detail, I know many of our readers are hoping walkways, paths and even larger roads are incorporated into FrontierVille.
Check back here for all the latest FrontierVille news; you can be sure I'll announce when path making becomes available.
Click here to play FrontierVille>
Source:
blogs.warwick.ac.uk/odonnelle/
Among our readers, there has been a great deal of confusion on how to create walkways and paths in FrontierVille. We remain equally confused, as the above image continually teases us when we load up the game. How do we create paths like the one seen above? So far we haven't been able to figure it out, but we hope the feature is released in a future update.
Having paths around our land would be a big step towards looking like a real frontier town. Paths show people have traveled the same trail many times and also show the wilderness has been beaten back by civilization, not to mention they look rather nice.
Personally, I think the FrontierVille farm pictured above is one of the most beautiful around. It's quaint, supple and homey, and I think it owes a large part of that to its walkway leading to the front door. Just imagine if they had filled the rest of the yard with sunflowers; now that would really be something. In fact, it would probably look similar to the cottage from Everything is Illuminated (below).
frontierville paths
Nonetheless, although it may seem like a small detail, I know many of our readers are hoping walkways, paths and even larger roads are incorporated into FrontierVille.
Check back here for all the latest FrontierVille news; you can be sure I'll announce when path making becomes available.
Click here to play FrontierVille>
Source:
blogs.warwick.ac.uk/odonnelle/
Mafia Wars Global Cup collectible balls -- an offer you might refuse
Mafia Wars Global Cup event has officially ended (as of midnight, June 24) -- but you can still buy limited edition collectible balls in the Marketplace. Each costs five Reward Points and each has different stats, some more defensive and other more offensive. We'll have those stats for you soon.
From what I've seen on these stats-wise -- unless you're one of those people who absolutely have to collect EVERYTHING in Mafia Wars (or really love soccer), you might want to save up those Reward Points for something with a little more kick. You dig?
Which Collectible Balls did you purchase? Do you think they're worth the Reward Points?
From what I've seen on these stats-wise -- unless you're one of those people who absolutely have to collect EVERYTHING in Mafia Wars (or really love soccer), you might want to save up those Reward Points for something with a little more kick. You dig?
Which Collectible Balls did you purchase? Do you think they're worth the Reward Points?
Cafe World's No Spoil Genie: Pay big bucks for spoil-free cooking
FarmVille just re-released it's Un-Wither Ring and now Cafe World seems to be following along by releasing the No Spoil Genie, which ensures that your dishes will never spoil. However, this thing is a serious investment, and I've made the argument before, that items like this kinda ruins the whole point of playing these games. Then again, not having dishes spoil ever IS pretty tempting...
One thing that's nice about the No Spoil Genie -- if you want to use it, you just place it in your cafe. However, if you want to remove the no-spoil effect, you can drag it out of your cafe and into storage, and -- voila -- everything's back to normal. Though I'm sure once you have one of these things, you'll never choose to have spoiled dishes. Amirite?
What do you think -- do items like the Un-Wither Ring in FarmVille and No Spoil Genie in Cafe World ruin the game?
One thing that's nice about the No Spoil Genie -- if you want to use it, you just place it in your cafe. However, if you want to remove the no-spoil effect, you can drag it out of your cafe and into storage, and -- voila -- everything's back to normal. Though I'm sure once you have one of these things, you'll never choose to have spoiled dishes. Amirite?
What do you think -- do items like the Un-Wither Ring in FarmVille and No Spoil Genie in Cafe World ruin the game?
FrontierVille goals: Eight more achievements added to your to-do list
frontierville coming soon
FrontierVille has been out for a number of weeks now and many of us have already loaded up he game countless times. To us, the FrontierVille loading screens have become so familiar that we no longer really look at them, letting our investigative minds idly gloss over the images. However, the FrontierVille loading screens are full of things to look at, including items not yet available to us players. So we sat down and were able to both investigate and deduce potential items and features that are sure to be coming soon to FrontierVille.
Continue reading to check out what we found.
Eggplant harvestable crop
Flowerbed (at top)
Flowerpots (at top right)
Large Flowerbed (at top right, behind white flowers)
Wooden Bench (at bottom, below inn)
Thin Dirt Path
Picnic Table (at top)
frontierville coming soon
Wide Dirt Path
Perhaps the Oregon Trail unreleased mission
FrontierVille coming soon
Picnic Basket and Blanket
Flowerpots
Flowerbed (against cabin)
Birdhouse (at bottom, in the grass)
Thin Dirt Path
frontierville coming soon
Eggpland harvestable crop (at bottom)
Of most interest to us was the unreleased harvestable crop: Eggplant. I'm a huge fan of eggplant parm, and I'm very excited to bring that tasty treat to the wild west.
Also of major interest were the dirt paths both wide and thin. Previously written about in a separate post, our readers have been wondering how to construct such walkways and paths. The truth is, it's just not possible at the moment, yet it clearly exists within the game. The same goes for the rest of the unavailable items seen in the loading screen, and we expect them all to be released eventually.
FrontierVille has been out for a number of weeks now and many of us have already loaded up he game countless times. To us, the FrontierVille loading screens have become so familiar that we no longer really look at them, letting our investigative minds idly gloss over the images. However, the FrontierVille loading screens are full of things to look at, including items not yet available to us players. So we sat down and were able to both investigate and deduce potential items and features that are sure to be coming soon to FrontierVille.
Continue reading to check out what we found.
Eggplant harvestable crop
Flowerbed (at top)
Flowerpots (at top right)
Large Flowerbed (at top right, behind white flowers)
Wooden Bench (at bottom, below inn)
Thin Dirt Path
Picnic Table (at top)
frontierville coming soon
Wide Dirt Path
Perhaps the Oregon Trail unreleased mission
FrontierVille coming soon
Picnic Basket and Blanket
Flowerpots
Flowerbed (against cabin)
Birdhouse (at bottom, in the grass)
Thin Dirt Path
frontierville coming soon
Eggpland harvestable crop (at bottom)
Of most interest to us was the unreleased harvestable crop: Eggplant. I'm a huge fan of eggplant parm, and I'm very excited to bring that tasty treat to the wild west.
Also of major interest were the dirt paths both wide and thin. Previously written about in a separate post, our readers have been wondering how to construct such walkways and paths. The truth is, it's just not possible at the moment, yet it clearly exists within the game. The same goes for the rest of the unavailable items seen in the loading screen, and we expect them all to be released eventually.
FrontierVille flowers, eggplant and roads coming soon?
frontierville coming soon
FrontierVille has been out for a number of weeks now and many of us have already loaded up he game countless times. To us, the FrontierVille loading screens have become so familiar that we no longer really look at them, letting our investigative minds idly gloss over the images. However, the FrontierVille loading screens are full of things to look at, including items not yet available to us players. So we sat down and were able to both investigate and deduce potential items and features that are sure to be coming soon to FrontierVille.
Continue reading to check out what we found.
Eggplant harvestable crop
Flowerbed (at top)
Flowerpots (at top right)
Large Flowerbed (at top right, behind white flowers)
Wooden Bench (at bottom, below inn)
Thin Dirt Path
Picnic Table (at top)
frontierville coming soon
Wide Dirt Path
Perhaps the Oregon Trail unreleased mission
FrontierVille coming soon
Picnic Basket and Blanket
Flowerpots
Flowerbed (against cabin)
Birdhouse (at bottom, in the grass)
Thin Dirt Path
frontierville coming soon
Eggpland harvestable crop (at bottom)
Of most interest to us was the unreleased harvestable crop: Eggplant. I'm a huge fan of eggplant parm, and I'm very excited to bring that tasty treat to the wild west.
Also of major interest were the dirt paths both wide and thin. Previously written about in a separate post, our readers have been wondering how to construct such walkways and paths. The truth is, it's just not possible at the moment, yet it clearly exists within the game. The same goes for the rest of the unavailable items seen in the loading screen, and we expect them all to be released eventually.
FrontierVille has been out for a number of weeks now and many of us have already loaded up he game countless times. To us, the FrontierVille loading screens have become so familiar that we no longer really look at them, letting our investigative minds idly gloss over the images. However, the FrontierVille loading screens are full of things to look at, including items not yet available to us players. So we sat down and were able to both investigate and deduce potential items and features that are sure to be coming soon to FrontierVille.
Continue reading to check out what we found.
Eggplant harvestable crop
Flowerbed (at top)
Flowerpots (at top right)
Large Flowerbed (at top right, behind white flowers)
Wooden Bench (at bottom, below inn)
Thin Dirt Path
Picnic Table (at top)
frontierville coming soon
Wide Dirt Path
Perhaps the Oregon Trail unreleased mission
FrontierVille coming soon
Picnic Basket and Blanket
Flowerpots
Flowerbed (against cabin)
Birdhouse (at bottom, in the grass)
Thin Dirt Path
frontierville coming soon
Eggpland harvestable crop (at bottom)
Of most interest to us was the unreleased harvestable crop: Eggplant. I'm a huge fan of eggplant parm, and I'm very excited to bring that tasty treat to the wild west.
Also of major interest were the dirt paths both wide and thin. Previously written about in a separate post, our readers have been wondering how to construct such walkways and paths. The truth is, it's just not possible at the moment, yet it clearly exists within the game. The same goes for the rest of the unavailable items seen in the loading screen, and we expect them all to be released eventually.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
FarmVille New England Animal: Puffin
A new limited edition New England themed Puffin is now available in the FarmVille Market.
The Puffin can be purchased with farm cash in the FarmVille Market during the next 11 days only.
farmville puffin
FarmVille New England LE Animal: (Released on July 29, 2010)
farmville puffinPuffin – 14 FV$
"Puffins are stocky, short-winged and short-tailed birds, with black upper parts and white or brownish-grey underparts. The head has a black cap, the face is mainly white, and the feet are orange-red. The bill appears large and colorful during the breeding season. The colorful outer part of the bill is shed after the breeding season, revealing a smaller and duller true bill beneath.Although the puffins are vocal at their breeding colonies, they are silent at sea." (Source: Wikipedia)
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
The Puffin can be purchased with farm cash in the FarmVille Market during the next 11 days only.
farmville puffin
FarmVille New England LE Animal: (Released on July 29, 2010)
farmville puffinPuffin – 14 FV$
"Puffins are stocky, short-winged and short-tailed birds, with black upper parts and white or brownish-grey underparts. The head has a black cap, the face is mainly white, and the feet are orange-red. The bill appears large and colorful during the breeding season. The colorful outer part of the bill is shed after the breeding season, revealing a smaller and duller true bill beneath.Although the puffins are vocal at their breeding colonies, they are silent at sea." (Source: Wikipedia)
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
What legal online gambling could mean to social gaming
Since 2006, online gambling has been illegal in the United States, forcing the lucrative market overseas. The law has also forced social gaming companies to make their Facebook poker games into strictly fake-money affairs (even though many players buy and sell chips for real money through shady third-party services).
That could all be set to change though, with word that the House Financial Services Committee has passed a measure that would legalize and regulate many forms of online gambling, including online poker. If and when the bill eventually becomes law, social games like Zynga's HoldEm Poker, Playdom's World Series of Poker and the millions of other Facebook poker games would seem perfectly positioned to open up the floodgates for real-money bets (assuming Facebook was willing to allow them to, that is). Apparently we're not the only ones to think so, either -- Business Insider quotes a "source close to Zynga" as saying that the company "would be excited to move into real-money poker given the opportunity."
But why stop there? Legal gambling could spread to all sorts of social games. Imagine an in-game Farmville slot machine that takes real money (in the form of Facebook Credits) and occasionally gives back a Farmville cash jackpot. Or imagine having the ability to bet with friends on the outcome of a Bejeweled Blitz high score contest. With many social games already resembling glorified slot machines, we shudder to think at the addictive (and pocketbook-destroying) potential that real-world gambling could have on the social gaming space.
That could all be set to change though, with word that the House Financial Services Committee has passed a measure that would legalize and regulate many forms of online gambling, including online poker. If and when the bill eventually becomes law, social games like Zynga's HoldEm Poker, Playdom's World Series of Poker and the millions of other Facebook poker games would seem perfectly positioned to open up the floodgates for real-money bets (assuming Facebook was willing to allow them to, that is). Apparently we're not the only ones to think so, either -- Business Insider quotes a "source close to Zynga" as saying that the company "would be excited to move into real-money poker given the opportunity."
But why stop there? Legal gambling could spread to all sorts of social games. Imagine an in-game Farmville slot machine that takes real money (in the form of Facebook Credits) and occasionally gives back a Farmville cash jackpot. Or imagine having the ability to bet with friends on the outcome of a Bejeweled Blitz high score contest. With many social games already resembling glorified slot machines, we shudder to think at the addictive (and pocketbook-destroying) potential that real-world gambling could have on the social gaming space.
FarmVille New England Decorations: Coastal Beach, Nelly Moser & Trawler Gnome
Continuing with the limited edition New England theme, FarmVille released three new decorations including a Coastal Beach, Nelly Moser tree, and a Trawler Gnome. A trawler Gnome, also known as Fisherman Gnome is representative of the importance of the Seafood industry for New England.
These limited edition decorations can be purchased in the FarmVille Market during the next 11 days only and afterwards will retire.
farmville trawler gnome farmville nelly moser farmville coastal beach
FarmVille New England LE Decorations (Released July 29, 2010):
Coastal Beach – 16 FV$
Nelly Moser (tree)* – 50,000 Coins
Trawler Gnome – 18 FV$
*This is a decorative tree only, meaning it will not yield coins and is not harvestable.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
These limited edition decorations can be purchased in the FarmVille Market during the next 11 days only and afterwards will retire.
farmville trawler gnome farmville nelly moser farmville coastal beach
FarmVille New England LE Decorations (Released July 29, 2010):
Coastal Beach – 16 FV$
Nelly Moser (tree)* – 50,000 Coins
Trawler Gnome – 18 FV$
*This is a decorative tree only, meaning it will not yield coins and is not harvestable.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FarmVille rolls out new grab bag, plus more suggestive pop-ups
FarmVille added a few tweaks to the game today, including more suggestion pop-ups. Lately, you may have noticed pop-ups reminding you to add a Facebook friend as a neighbor. Now there will be others that will, for instance, let you know if a neighbor started a co-op job and needs your help or something else along those lines.
farmville grab bags
OK, before you say "Uh, more pop-ups! Lame!" -- one you click on the pop-ups, you'll be able to send a grab bag to your neighbor. Takes away some of the sting of having to deal with more pop-ups -- right? At least a little? So far, items pulled from the grab bag include experience points (XP) and extra coins.
farmville grab bag
Did you get a special Grab Bag yet? What did you find inside?
farmville grab bags
OK, before you say "Uh, more pop-ups! Lame!" -- one you click on the pop-ups, you'll be able to send a grab bag to your neighbor. Takes away some of the sting of having to deal with more pop-ups -- right? At least a little? So far, items pulled from the grab bag include experience points (XP) and extra coins.
farmville grab bag
Did you get a special Grab Bag yet? What did you find inside?
YoVille: A new generation of items is coming
We've seen items interactive items that earn you energy, sell you food, move when clicked on. This time, we are about to use an item that and can earn you coins!
The new Photo Booth that will arrive soon to YoVille allows you take pictures of your avatar surfing. Your friends who cannot afford to get one, can use your booth to take pictures too and you will win some coins.
Zynga's Platinum Ninja explains this new feature. Read more about it after the link.
yoville photobooth
Want to get an item that is fun to play with and let's you brag to your friends?! Well the chance to do so will be coming very soon. We'll be releasing a Photo Booth in game that will allow you and your friends to interact with and post feeds to show off your wave riding skills. Let's check out a sneak peek of this Photo Booth and what you can do with it!
To interact with this item you will need to either have one yourself or go to a friend's home (who owns this item). To get a Photo Booth of your own you'll have to purchase it when it becomes available in game. Once you have a Photo Booth to interact with you will click on it and your avatar will jump on the surfboard. Then a picture will be taken of your avatar catching some waves. You'll then be prompted to "Share" your photo. Make sure to click share and show off your skills on your Facebook Wall.
yoville surfing
If you are the lucky owners of a surfing Photo Booth you'll be able to have photo shoots any time you want! As an added bonus when your friends come by and use your Photo Booth and post a surfing feed you'll make some extra coins too! So not only can you play and brag with this item but can also make some coins even when you are not around!
If you don't have a Photo Booth but want to have a surfing session of your own you still can! Keep your eyes out for your friend's Surfing Feeds and click (in) to be taken to your friend's Photo Booth. Remember to share your photo so you can show off your surfing skills and get your friend some extra coins!
Well that's about all folks! We'll update you with more details when this feature is live in game but wanted to give you a little heads up on what to expect soon.
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
The new Photo Booth that will arrive soon to YoVille allows you take pictures of your avatar surfing. Your friends who cannot afford to get one, can use your booth to take pictures too and you will win some coins.
Zynga's Platinum Ninja explains this new feature. Read more about it after the link.
yoville photobooth
Want to get an item that is fun to play with and let's you brag to your friends?! Well the chance to do so will be coming very soon. We'll be releasing a Photo Booth in game that will allow you and your friends to interact with and post feeds to show off your wave riding skills. Let's check out a sneak peek of this Photo Booth and what you can do with it!
To interact with this item you will need to either have one yourself or go to a friend's home (who owns this item). To get a Photo Booth of your own you'll have to purchase it when it becomes available in game. Once you have a Photo Booth to interact with you will click on it and your avatar will jump on the surfboard. Then a picture will be taken of your avatar catching some waves. You'll then be prompted to "Share" your photo. Make sure to click share and show off your skills on your Facebook Wall.
yoville surfing
If you are the lucky owners of a surfing Photo Booth you'll be able to have photo shoots any time you want! As an added bonus when your friends come by and use your Photo Booth and post a surfing feed you'll make some extra coins too! So not only can you play and brag with this item but can also make some coins even when you are not around!
If you don't have a Photo Booth but want to have a surfing session of your own you still can! Keep your eyes out for your friend's Surfing Feeds and click (in) to be taken to your friend's Photo Booth. Remember to share your photo so you can show off your surfing skills and get your friend some extra coins!
Well that's about all folks! We'll update you with more details when this feature is live in game but wanted to give you a little heads up on what to expect soon.
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
FarmVille Wild West Animals: Wild Turkey & Buckskin Horse
FarmVille released two additional Limited Edition Wild West themed animals including a Wild Turkey and a Buckskin Horse.
You may recognize these animals as previously unreleased items. Both the Turkey and the Buckskin Horse can be purchased in the FarmVille Market during the next 10 days only.
FarmVille LE Wild West Animals (Released September 2, 2010):
* Wild Turkey – 16 FV$
* Buckskin Horse – 26 FV$
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
You may recognize these animals as previously unreleased items. Both the Turkey and the Buckskin Horse can be purchased in the FarmVille Market during the next 10 days only.
FarmVille LE Wild West Animals (Released September 2, 2010):
* Wild Turkey – 16 FV$
* Buckskin Horse – 26 FV$
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FarmVille: Hot Pink Pig returns to the Market for 12 days only
Tonight, the Hot Pink Pig makes a return to FarmVille! The Hot Pink Pig, a previous Limited Edition Valentines Day animal, seems to have replaced the regular Pig in the FarmVille Market.
The regular Pig, in the meantime, has been moved to the Free Gifts page. You can now send free Pigs to your FarmVille neighbors via the Gifting Page. While the regular Pig is now giftable, the Hot Pink Pig will cost you 18 FV$ farm cash and is set to expire from the market in 12 days.
This Pig change is most likely due to the recent addition of the FarmVille Pigpens and gives everyone a chance at filling their Pigpens with occupants for free.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
The regular Pig, in the meantime, has been moved to the Free Gifts page. You can now send free Pigs to your FarmVille neighbors via the Gifting Page. While the regular Pig is now giftable, the Hot Pink Pig will cost you 18 FV$ farm cash and is set to expire from the market in 12 days.
This Pig change is most likely due to the recent addition of the FarmVille Pigpens and gives everyone a chance at filling their Pigpens with occupants for free.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Pirates Ahoy: Bring the bling to the high seas with a Gold-plated Hull
The Pirates Ahoy Gold-plated Hull in action
You'd think in a world where everyone is searching for treasure, gold would be a little more valuable. Pirates Ahoy creator Playfish just released a Gold-plated Hull for your ships to bring some style to your treasure hunts on the cheap.
The item requires you to be Level 7 to purchase it and goes for a measly 1,600 coins. That's not too shabby for a chance to look as good as the relics you'll find in it. Continue reading to find out where you can find this gem and how much it goes for.
The New Hulls available in Pirates Ahoy
Just head over to your island and click on your ship to customize it. Under the "New" tab you'll find the Gold-plated Hull as well as the new Iron Hull and the limited edition Steel-plated Hull. The Iron Hull is only available to Level 18 players willing to dish out 1,000 coins, while the Steel-plated Hull is open to Level 9 players with 600 coins for just four more days.
The Iron-plated Hull and Gold-plated Hull are only availble for the next seven days, so grab them while you still have time.
You'd think in a world where everyone is searching for treasure, gold would be a little more valuable. Pirates Ahoy creator Playfish just released a Gold-plated Hull for your ships to bring some style to your treasure hunts on the cheap.
The item requires you to be Level 7 to purchase it and goes for a measly 1,600 coins. That's not too shabby for a chance to look as good as the relics you'll find in it. Continue reading to find out where you can find this gem and how much it goes for.
The New Hulls available in Pirates Ahoy
Just head over to your island and click on your ship to customize it. Under the "New" tab you'll find the Gold-plated Hull as well as the new Iron Hull and the limited edition Steel-plated Hull. The Iron Hull is only available to Level 18 players willing to dish out 1,000 coins, while the Steel-plated Hull is open to Level 9 players with 600 coins for just four more days.
The Iron-plated Hull and Gold-plated Hull are only availble for the next seven days, so grab them while you still have time.
Zynga Poker offers chips on the cheap for just 24 hours
If you're looking to play some cards this weekend, the Labor Day Weekend sales continue with Zynga Poker holding a 24 hour sale on chips and Casino Gold. Zynga's online poker phenom is offering 20 percent more chips than normal on top of the discounted prices.
There couldn't be a better time to pick up some chips when 10 Nintendo Wii consoles are at stake. Through September 10, win Round 3 of any Shootouts game to qualify for a chance to win. Continue reading for details on this short sale.
The 24-hour Zynga Poker chip sale
Here's a breakdown of the discounts on chips available for just 24 hours:
150 thousand chips for $2
375 thousand chips for $5
750 thousand chips for $10
7.5 million chips for $25 (was $50)
36 million chips for $75 (was $150)
72 million chips for $125 (was $250)
For the average player, 375 thousand chips should be enough for a few games just for fun. For the hardcore poker player sitting in on high stakes games, you might want to shoot a bit higher to get the best deal. Here's a list of the discounts on Casino Gold:
10 Casino Gold for $2
25 Casino Gold for $5
50 Casino Gold for $10
330 Casino Gold for $25 (was $50)
830 Casino Gold for $50 (was $100)
1,660 Casino Gold for $75 (was $150)
Clearly, the best deals will be for the high rollers. But considering Casino Gold purchases are purely cosmetic, we doubt the casual poker fan will have to worry about these.
Click here and hurry to the tables to take advantage of these 24-hour deals.
There couldn't be a better time to pick up some chips when 10 Nintendo Wii consoles are at stake. Through September 10, win Round 3 of any Shootouts game to qualify for a chance to win. Continue reading for details on this short sale.
The 24-hour Zynga Poker chip sale
Here's a breakdown of the discounts on chips available for just 24 hours:
150 thousand chips for $2
375 thousand chips for $5
750 thousand chips for $10
7.5 million chips for $25 (was $50)
36 million chips for $75 (was $150)
72 million chips for $125 (was $250)
For the average player, 375 thousand chips should be enough for a few games just for fun. For the hardcore poker player sitting in on high stakes games, you might want to shoot a bit higher to get the best deal. Here's a list of the discounts on Casino Gold:
10 Casino Gold for $2
25 Casino Gold for $5
50 Casino Gold for $10
330 Casino Gold for $25 (was $50)
830 Casino Gold for $50 (was $100)
1,660 Casino Gold for $75 (was $150)
Clearly, the best deals will be for the high rollers. But considering Casino Gold purchases are purely cosmetic, we doubt the casual poker fan will have to worry about these.
Click here and hurry to the tables to take advantage of these 24-hour deals.
Fanglies welcomes us back with news screen
Fanglies news
Fanglies has been iterating at a fast pace, constantly releasing new features and items for players to get their hands on. Today, players will be greeted with a welcoming surprise: a new news screen that tells you about the latest deals. At the moment, this screen is more or less a promotional tool, showing three new purchasable items that are only available if you pay gems. There is a space on the top, however, where the latest news could go. Many players don't actually become fans of games, meaning that they may miss the latest happenings. This "Welcome Back" screen is the new place for everyone to see what is new and hot before it leaves the market.
This will pop up every time you log in to Fanglies. If you want to access it later, there is a button in the bottom toolbar that says "New!" that will always bring this screen up.
Fanglies has been iterating at a fast pace, constantly releasing new features and items for players to get their hands on. Today, players will be greeted with a welcoming surprise: a new news screen that tells you about the latest deals. At the moment, this screen is more or less a promotional tool, showing three new purchasable items that are only available if you pay gems. There is a space on the top, however, where the latest news could go. Many players don't actually become fans of games, meaning that they may miss the latest happenings. This "Welcome Back" screen is the new place for everyone to see what is new and hot before it leaves the market.
This will pop up every time you log in to Fanglies. If you want to access it later, there is a button in the bottom toolbar that says "New!" that will always bring this screen up.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
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.
Disney XD Games
Disney Friends for Change Games
To support the “Disney Friends for Change Games” on Disney Channel and Disney XD, Disneychannelgames.biz has launched an online destination at Disneyxd.biz, where kids and families can take part in the Games from home and help the planet — by making personal pledges of their own, playing online versions of the Games, and making art that matters! When kids play online versions of the Games at Disneyxd.biz, they can donate the points they earn to one of the four charities involved. At the end of the Games, the charity with the most points given by the Disney.com online community will receive $100K.
Courtesy of Disney
Courtesy of Disney
Courtesy of Disney
About Disney’s Friends for Change
Disney’s Friends for Change is a multi-platform initiative that helps inspire kids and families to join together and make a positive impact on their world (and the people and animals that live there). Through PSAs on-air and online tool-kits, the program aims to provide useful information to help kids make small changes that add up to big differences. As part of the program, Disney donates $1 million dollars annually to fund projects all around the globe and has funded over 41 projects that help the planet ranging from educational & community programs to species & habitat protection. Friends for Change currently has over 4 million actions taking place from kids in 33 countries throughoutthe United States, Europe, Latin America, Japan, India and China. For more information, please visit Disneyxd.biz.- Disney XD gets its game on
Astral-owned Disney XD Canada is delving deeper into the gaming space in a month-long promotion that will see the multi-platform brand take viewers behind the scenes of June’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), offer up two new games on DisneyXD.biz every week and give away five video game consoles to Disney XD viewers.
The Level Up contest runs through the month of September and is set to feature the star of What’s, Up Warthogs!, Eduard Witzke, reporting from this year’s E3 in eight short interstitial reports entitled Ed’s E3. New episodes of Ed’s E3 will premiere every Tuesday and Thursday from September 1 and will air throughout the Disney XD schedule. Additionally, a weekly entry word will appear in each episode, which can be used to enter the Level Up contest online to win one of five game consoles.
On top of entering the Level Up contest on DisneyXD.ca, viewers can explore a dedicated minisite to re-watch episodes of Ed’s E3 as well as test their skills on brand-new Disney XD games. Two new games will be unveiled each week with a bonus game available for those who can work out the special DisneyXD.biz game code.
Disney XD News
DISNEY XD TO PREMIERE “FORT BOYARD – ULTIMATE CHALLENGE,” A REALITY ADVENTURE SERIES ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 17
Geno Segers (Disney XD’s “Pair of Kings”) and popular British television presenter Laura Hamilton (“Dancing On Ice”) host an exciting competition requiring brainpower, courage and teamwork, “Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge,” a 10-part series premiering MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET/PT), with a thrilling finale MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD. Based on the international game show phenomenon “Fort Boyard,” the series is set in a 19th century sea fort off the coast of France. It introduces six teams — 24 teens from the United States and the United Kingdom — who team up for a tournament where only one team will ultimately get the key to unlock the historic fort’s hidden treasures and win the honor of calling themselves “the conquerors of Fort Boyard.”
The reality adventure series marks the first kids’ version of the popular game show which premiered more than 20 years ago and has since been produced in over 38 countries worldwide.
In the premiere episode, team members from the Red Vipers and Yellow Scorpions compete in the first round of challenges to find out which team has what it takes to move on to become the conquerors of the fort.
“Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge” is produced by Zodiak Media Group’s production companies The Foundation and Adventure Line Productions, who created the concept for the original “Fort Boyard” and have been producing the series for 22 years.
The executive producers are Nigel Pickard and Ged Allen for The Foundation, Pierre Godde for Adventure Line Productions and Jamila Metran for CiTV. The producer is Steve Pinhay.
The series will be televised on Disney XD cable and satellite channels around the world (excluding France and the Nordics) and CiTV in the UK.
About “Fort Boyard”
“Fort Boyard” is the most successful adventure game show in the world, having sold to over 30 territories, while dominating France 2′s primetime summer schedule every year since 1990. The action takes place in an imposing fortress built in the middle of the ocean. This provides the perfect backdrop for strenuous, against-the-clock physical challenges and mind-boggling riddles, featuring strange characters and fearsome animals. All this and more awaits those attempting to reach the Treasure Room! Only the fittest and most intelligent contestants can hope to conquer Fort Boyard.
About Disney XD:
Disney XD is a basic cable channel and multi-platform brand showcasing a compelling mix of live-action and animated programming for Kids age 6-14, hyper-targeting boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, sports, adventure and humor. Disney XD branded content spans television, online, mobile and VOD platforms. The programming includes series, movies and short-form, as well as sports-themed programming developed with ESPN. In the U.S., disney channel XD is seen on a 24-hour, advertiser supported network that reaches over 78 million households via its basic cable and satellite affiliates. There are 22 other Disney XD Games channels around the world.
Geno Segers (Disney XD’s “Pair of Kings”) and popular British television presenter Laura Hamilton (“Dancing On Ice”) host an exciting competition requiring brainpower, courage and teamwork, “Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge,” a 10-part series premiering MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET/PT), with a thrilling finale MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD. Based on the international game show phenomenon “Fort Boyard,” the series is set in a 19th century sea fort off the coast of France. It introduces six teams — 24 teens from the United States and the United Kingdom — who team up for a tournament where only one team will ultimately get the key to unlock the historic fort’s hidden treasures and win the honor of calling themselves “the conquerors of Fort Boyard.”
The reality adventure series marks the first kids’ version of the popular game show which premiered more than 20 years ago and has since been produced in over 38 countries worldwide.
In the premiere episode, team members from the Red Vipers and Yellow Scorpions compete in the first round of challenges to find out which team has what it takes to move on to become the conquerors of the fort.
“Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge” is produced by Zodiak Media Group’s production companies The Foundation and Adventure Line Productions, who created the concept for the original “Fort Boyard” and have been producing the series for 22 years.
The executive producers are Nigel Pickard and Ged Allen for The Foundation, Pierre Godde for Adventure Line Productions and Jamila Metran for CiTV. The producer is Steve Pinhay.
The series will be televised on Disney XD cable and satellite channels around the world (excluding France and the Nordics) and CiTV in the UK.
About “Fort Boyard”
“Fort Boyard” is the most successful adventure game show in the world, having sold to over 30 territories, while dominating France 2′s primetime summer schedule every year since 1990. The action takes place in an imposing fortress built in the middle of the ocean. This provides the perfect backdrop for strenuous, against-the-clock physical challenges and mind-boggling riddles, featuring strange characters and fearsome animals. All this and more awaits those attempting to reach the Treasure Room! Only the fittest and most intelligent contestants can hope to conquer Fort Boyard.
About Disney XD:
Disney XD is a basic cable channel and multi-platform brand showcasing a compelling mix of live-action and animated programming for Kids age 6-14, hyper-targeting boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, sports, adventure and humor. Disney XD branded content spans television, online, mobile and VOD platforms. The programming includes series, movies and short-form, as well as sports-themed programming developed with ESPN. In the U.S., disney channel XD is seen on a 24-hour, advertiser supported network that reaches over 78 million households via its basic cable and satellite affiliates. There are 22 other Disney XD Games channels around the world.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Zoo Paradise brings back dinosaurs from the Jurassic era
Back in May, Zoo Paradise rolled out a set of adorable big eyed dinosaurs during their archeology theme. Now, players have apparently been requesting these critters so much that Crowdstar has decided to bring a few of them back to make a special appearance. Originally, there was a fairly big set of dinos and all of their accessories and decorations. This time, there are just three new dino companions available to fill your habitats.
Purple Raptor - 60 Facebook Credits
Pink T-Rex - 70 Facebook Credits
Purple Triceratops - 70 Facebook Credits
You'll probably notice that these dinosaurs cost about $1.00 less than they did in early May. Those of you who wait are getting a little discount, which is always appreciated. This dinosaurs do require the Prehistoric Plains habitat, which requires level 12 unless you want to pay Facebook Credits for it.
Purple Raptor - 60 Facebook Credits
Pink T-Rex - 70 Facebook Credits
Purple Triceratops - 70 Facebook Credits
You'll probably notice that these dinosaurs cost about $1.00 less than they did in early May. Those of you who wait are getting a little discount, which is always appreciated. This dinosaurs do require the Prehistoric Plains habitat, which requires level 12 unless you want to pay Facebook Credits for it.
Nightclub City: Energy changes game drastically, good or bad?
If you play a lot of games on Facebook, you've probably already experienced the energy mechanic in games like Treasure Isle, Pirates Ahoy, It Girl, or FrontierVille. Now, Nightclub City is the latest game to join the club (pun definitely intended) and use energy as the main driving mechanic in their game. Unlike other games which have added a decorative item that uses energy (such as the coffee machines in Cafe World), Nightclub City has completely revamped the game to integrate energy into the core experience. Could this be a bad thing?
Now, all players have 20 energy to spend doing activities in their club. Almost everything costs energy, from doing bartender tricks and dedicating songs to your clubgoers. Once you run out of energy, you really can't do anything in the game. Players are already complaining about this change because it means they're now severely limited on what they can do in their club without paying money or waiting for energy to regenerate. Energy can be purchased for Facebook Credits of course, or it will naturally come back over time. One good thing is that you can now start parties instantly without needing Facebook Credits - you just use your energy.
Nightclub City
Another change is the addition of Luxury. Luxury is a new meter that controls how much your drinks cost, and it goes up based on how good your club looks. Buying fancier decorations will increase your luxury and therefore your profit from packing a full house. There is also a ton of information when you click on your quests, including four meters - Happiness, Tip Rate, Fights Started, and Pukes. You can kick people out who are causing trouble or throwing up, and dedicate songs or give VIP status to people who aren't happy.
This feels a bit risky at this stage in the game for Nightclub City, but we can't deny that these changes make sense. It's now more fun and makes more sense to interact with guests. It feels like there is a point to doing things within your club, whereas before it didn't feel like anything had much of an effect. Energy is a proven mechanic that sells well and should do well for Nightclub City as long as the existing playerbase doesn't feel too alienated or shocked by this change. Nightclub City is a great game, so we wish it the best and look forward to watching the community reaction to these changes.
Now, all players have 20 energy to spend doing activities in their club. Almost everything costs energy, from doing bartender tricks and dedicating songs to your clubgoers. Once you run out of energy, you really can't do anything in the game. Players are already complaining about this change because it means they're now severely limited on what they can do in their club without paying money or waiting for energy to regenerate. Energy can be purchased for Facebook Credits of course, or it will naturally come back over time. One good thing is that you can now start parties instantly without needing Facebook Credits - you just use your energy.
Nightclub City
Another change is the addition of Luxury. Luxury is a new meter that controls how much your drinks cost, and it goes up based on how good your club looks. Buying fancier decorations will increase your luxury and therefore your profit from packing a full house. There is also a ton of information when you click on your quests, including four meters - Happiness, Tip Rate, Fights Started, and Pukes. You can kick people out who are causing trouble or throwing up, and dedicate songs or give VIP status to people who aren't happy.
This feels a bit risky at this stage in the game for Nightclub City, but we can't deny that these changes make sense. It's now more fun and makes more sense to interact with guests. It feels like there is a point to doing things within your club, whereas before it didn't feel like anything had much of an effect. Energy is a proven mechanic that sells well and should do well for Nightclub City as long as the existing playerbase doesn't feel too alienated or shocked by this change. Nightclub City is a great game, so we wish it the best and look forward to watching the community reaction to these changes.
FarmVille Golden Horse Statue available through Mafia Wars Italy
Tonight, Zynga has announced that the cross-promotion between Mafia Wars and FrontierVille, advertising Mafia Wars Italy was actually just the first of a much larger celebration, which has now found a place on the farms of FarmVille as well.
A similar cross-promotion sees FarmVille players being given the opportunity to earn a Roman Golden Horse statue by playing Mafia Wars. Be on the lookout for a small pop-up at the bottom of the gameplay area which introduces the promotion, and be sure to head to Mafia Wars via the link provided therein to ensure that the promotion has been activated on your account.
After that, all you'll need to do is play Mafia Wars long enough to level up three times, to the minimum level of level 8. This is one of those rare occasions when being newer to a game might actually work in your favor, as Mafia Wars levels become harder to earn (or at least more time consuming) the higher level you are.
Once you've reached at least level 8 and leveled up three times, you'll be taken back to FarmVille where your free Roman Golden Horse statue will be waiting for you.
A similar cross-promotion sees FarmVille players being given the opportunity to earn a Roman Golden Horse statue by playing Mafia Wars. Be on the lookout for a small pop-up at the bottom of the gameplay area which introduces the promotion, and be sure to head to Mafia Wars via the link provided therein to ensure that the promotion has been activated on your account.
After that, all you'll need to do is play Mafia Wars long enough to level up three times, to the minimum level of level 8. This is one of those rare occasions when being newer to a game might actually work in your favor, as Mafia Wars levels become harder to earn (or at least more time consuming) the higher level you are.
Once you've reached at least level 8 and leveled up three times, you'll be taken back to FarmVille where your free Roman Golden Horse statue will be waiting for you.
Restaurant City's Halloween dishes are almost too scary to eat
With Halloween rapidly approaching, Playfish has added a whole slew of new recipes to Restaurant City that will either delight, or perhaps sicken those guests that attempt to eat them.
There are three limited time recipes now available to learn (in addition to the Vampire Steak, Blood Orange Juice, and Pumpkin Risotto you also might have learned this holiday season). The first is the Gasping Goulash, a terrifying pasta dish that is literally haunted, with ghosts appearing at random from the dish's pasta noodles. Next is the Almond Brain Pudding. We're hoping that the "brain" part of this dish is simply its shape, as we can't imagine anyone wanting to eat raw brain, let alone a raw brain pudding. Finally, a Brain Drain drink is available to learn. Served in a clear skull-shaped mug with an orange and brown straw, this is perhaps the most appetizing of the three dishes, but we're not sure if that's saying much.
While the thought of these dishes is disgusting (not to mention mostly impossible) in the real world, when taken in the context of a game, they have to be some of the most clever Halloween-themed items we've seen yet. And luckily, you have a bit longer to learn them than you might expect - 11 days, meaning that you have a few days even after Halloween to track down the required ingredients to learn them.
There are three limited time recipes now available to learn (in addition to the Vampire Steak, Blood Orange Juice, and Pumpkin Risotto you also might have learned this holiday season). The first is the Gasping Goulash, a terrifying pasta dish that is literally haunted, with ghosts appearing at random from the dish's pasta noodles. Next is the Almond Brain Pudding. We're hoping that the "brain" part of this dish is simply its shape, as we can't imagine anyone wanting to eat raw brain, let alone a raw brain pudding. Finally, a Brain Drain drink is available to learn. Served in a clear skull-shaped mug with an orange and brown straw, this is perhaps the most appetizing of the three dishes, but we're not sure if that's saying much.
While the thought of these dishes is disgusting (not to mention mostly impossible) in the real world, when taken in the context of a game, they have to be some of the most clever Halloween-themed items we've seen yet. And luckily, you have a bit longer to learn them than you might expect - 11 days, meaning that you have a few days even after Halloween to track down the required ingredients to learn them.
Critter Island goes back to the 80's with new retro theme
Are you so wrapped up in Ravenwood Fair that you have forgotten that Lolapps also launched Critter Island not that long ago? We'll admit it, we're a bit smitten by Ravenwood Fair as well - but Critter Island is still cranking out content left and right. Not to be left behind, Critter Island has just released a fairly large set of 1980's themed items, and some of them are quite hilarious for those of us who were around to appreciate them. Here is a list of the new items:
Plumber vs Ape (Arcade Machine) - 30 FB Credits
Critter Ecu - 44 FB Credits
Rad Keytar - 9,700 coins
Doc's Special - 75 FB Credits
Buddy Tuxpin - Requires 9 Neighbors or 65 FB Credits
My Lil' Horsie Statue - 27,700 coins
Breakman Blaster - 35,700 coins
Piping Pete's Pizza - 77 FB Credits
Strawberry Augustus - 79 FB Credits
KC's Toy Store - 9 Neighbors or 285 FB Credits
Lazer Invaders - 170,000 coins
Sweet Aromatherapy - 200,000 coins
We'll be honest, a lot of these are pretty obscure and we don't really get them. But hey, we'll play along.
Play Critter Island on Facebook >
Plumber vs Ape (Arcade Machine) - 30 FB Credits
Critter Ecu - 44 FB Credits
Rad Keytar - 9,700 coins
Doc's Special - 75 FB Credits
Buddy Tuxpin - Requires 9 Neighbors or 65 FB Credits
My Lil' Horsie Statue - 27,700 coins
Breakman Blaster - 35,700 coins
Piping Pete's Pizza - 77 FB Credits
Strawberry Augustus - 79 FB Credits
KC's Toy Store - 9 Neighbors or 285 FB Credits
Lazer Invaders - 170,000 coins
Sweet Aromatherapy - 200,000 coins
We'll be honest, a lot of these are pretty obscure and we don't really get them. But hey, we'll play along.
Play Critter Island on Facebook >
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Island Paradise Dodo is back from extinction
Island Paradise has just released a brand new animal, the Dodo. Though Dodos are an extinct breed of bird, this dodo is back and spreading quickly.
The Dodo in Island Paradise produces eggs to use in your recipes, which is a good way to put them right back into extinction. We'll pretend that you're saving a few for preservation so that the breed can continue to exist. This large bird isn't cheap, it will cost you 750 Meteor Credits to have one of your own.
The Dodo is harvestable every 4 hours and gives out 25 coins. It is only going to be around in the game for 16 days, so it is limited and then it will be gone back to extinction. Island Paradise have also announced that a new Squirrel is available for purchase, but we were unable to find it in our Island Shop to give you details.
The Dodo in Island Paradise produces eggs to use in your recipes, which is a good way to put them right back into extinction. We'll pretend that you're saving a few for preservation so that the breed can continue to exist. This large bird isn't cheap, it will cost you 750 Meteor Credits to have one of your own.
The Dodo is harvestable every 4 hours and gives out 25 coins. It is only going to be around in the game for 16 days, so it is limited and then it will be gone back to extinction. Island Paradise have also announced that a new Squirrel is available for purchase, but we were unable to find it in our Island Shop to give you details.
Run your own bar with Bar World by DNA Games
Bar World is a brand new game that launched early this month that allows players to create their own bar. It was developed by the stealthy DNA Games, and this is their first released game on Facebook after receiving 2 million dollars in funding. At first glance, the game has all the right pieces to be successful. It is cute, very polished, and easy to understand. Not to mention, who doesn't want to create drinks and serve customers?
We took a peek at this brand new game, and give you the full details after the break.
While installing the game, we thought it might be similar to a game like Nightclub City, but it actually plays much closer to Baking Life or Cafe World. Instead of just running a club and attracting customers, you run mixing machines and create drinks. The bar has drink recipes for beer, liquor, and wine, and you make these drinks in machines by clicking on them and serve them on counters when they're ready. Recipes have different lengths of time to make, and give out different profits and XP for making them. Your bar has an overall experience level, and you also have a popularity level which increases by visiting and helping out friends, and a bar rating that is increased by buying decorations for your bar and giving your customers drinks.
We love how this game has a cute art style, but a more adult content to it. The fact that you are making real mixed drinks such as Gin and Tonic, Mint Juleps and Mudslides and that you can serve IPAs and Merlots adds an element to the game that makes it feel like something an adult would play. It almost feels "cool" to play this game and serve drinks to your customers. After all, who doesn't want to be a bartender at some point in their life?
Bar World Drink Menu
The similarities to Nightclub City begin with the ability to micromanage your customers and buy them drinks. You can also play matchmaker and connect your friends with each other. Another similarity to Nightclub City is that you can change the music and pick different tracks to play. Bar World also has locations that allow you to move your bar to different areas such as the Paradise Beach, Downtown, or the Mountaintop. These locations are unlocked through increasing your popularity or paying Bar Bucks.
Bar World Drinking Game
One new innovative social and viral feature is the ability to play drinking games with friends. You can play games like Rock Paper Scissors which sends a request to your friend telling them to accept a request in order to play with you. If that won't cause installs for Bar World, we don't know what will.
Overall, this is a great new contender in the Facebook games space. It's obvious to us that DNA Games spent a lot money on this highly polished game and we think it will pay off for them. Bar World currently has 83,000 monthly active users and a high rating of 4.8 out of 5 from players so far.
Play Bar World on Facebook >
We took a peek at this brand new game, and give you the full details after the break.
While installing the game, we thought it might be similar to a game like Nightclub City, but it actually plays much closer to Baking Life or Cafe World. Instead of just running a club and attracting customers, you run mixing machines and create drinks. The bar has drink recipes for beer, liquor, and wine, and you make these drinks in machines by clicking on them and serve them on counters when they're ready. Recipes have different lengths of time to make, and give out different profits and XP for making them. Your bar has an overall experience level, and you also have a popularity level which increases by visiting and helping out friends, and a bar rating that is increased by buying decorations for your bar and giving your customers drinks.
We love how this game has a cute art style, but a more adult content to it. The fact that you are making real mixed drinks such as Gin and Tonic, Mint Juleps and Mudslides and that you can serve IPAs and Merlots adds an element to the game that makes it feel like something an adult would play. It almost feels "cool" to play this game and serve drinks to your customers. After all, who doesn't want to be a bartender at some point in their life?
Bar World Drink Menu
The similarities to Nightclub City begin with the ability to micromanage your customers and buy them drinks. You can also play matchmaker and connect your friends with each other. Another similarity to Nightclub City is that you can change the music and pick different tracks to play. Bar World also has locations that allow you to move your bar to different areas such as the Paradise Beach, Downtown, or the Mountaintop. These locations are unlocked through increasing your popularity or paying Bar Bucks.
Bar World Drinking Game
One new innovative social and viral feature is the ability to play drinking games with friends. You can play games like Rock Paper Scissors which sends a request to your friend telling them to accept a request in order to play with you. If that won't cause installs for Bar World, we don't know what will.
Overall, this is a great new contender in the Facebook games space. It's obvious to us that DNA Games spent a lot money on this highly polished game and we think it will pay off for them. Bar World currently has 83,000 monthly active users and a high rating of 4.8 out of 5 from players so far.
Play Bar World on Facebook >
YoVille Sneak Peek: New costumes for Thanksgiving coming soon
YoVille has just posted a sneak peek on its Facebook wall showing two upcoming costumes coming soon to the game. There is a Turkey costume that is complete with features, a beak, and claws. There is also a little Native American costume for girl avatars shown, that comes with a cute headdress and a little revealing Indian costume.
We have no idea when these will be ready or how much they will cost, but we're sure there will be more available. We suspect that a male version of the Native American costume will also be coming. We love when games give us sneak peeks of things to come, because it helps us save our money for items that we want.
What Thanksgiving costumes in YoVille are you hoping will be released?
Find more stories on our 2010 Thanksgiving Guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars & more.
We have no idea when these will be ready or how much they will cost, but we're sure there will be more available. We suspect that a male version of the Native American costume will also be coming. We love when games give us sneak peeks of things to come, because it helps us save our money for items that we want.
What Thanksgiving costumes in YoVille are you hoping will be released?
Find more stories on our 2010 Thanksgiving Guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars & more.
Happy Pets Random Cat and Horse are back for a short time
Happy Pets Random Cat and Random Horse
Happy Pets has brought back the popular Random Horse and Random Cat, but if you don't stop reading this article and hustle over to Happy Pets you might not get one in time. These items are both discounted from their price last time, but they were released at a very limited amount so not many people will have a chance to get one.
The Random Cat will cost you 120 Facebook Credits (down from 150 last time), and the adult sells for 4500 coins. It becomes an adult in 3 days and requires food every 8 hours. There are currently 205 of these left. The Random Horse costs 102 Facebook Credits (down from 1200), sell for 3600 coins, becomes an adult in 7 days and requires food every 16 hours. There are 445 of these available as of this writing.
These animals act like Mystery Boxes except that you at least know what kind of animal you will get. The colors will be random though, so there will still be a pretty big surprise coming at a pretty big price.
Were you lucky enough to score one of these? What kind of cat or horse did you get?
Happy Pets has brought back the popular Random Horse and Random Cat, but if you don't stop reading this article and hustle over to Happy Pets you might not get one in time. These items are both discounted from their price last time, but they were released at a very limited amount so not many people will have a chance to get one.
The Random Cat will cost you 120 Facebook Credits (down from 150 last time), and the adult sells for 4500 coins. It becomes an adult in 3 days and requires food every 8 hours. There are currently 205 of these left. The Random Horse costs 102 Facebook Credits (down from 1200), sell for 3600 coins, becomes an adult in 7 days and requires food every 16 hours. There are 445 of these available as of this writing.
These animals act like Mystery Boxes except that you at least know what kind of animal you will get. The colors will be random though, so there will still be a pretty big surprise coming at a pretty big price.
Were you lucky enough to score one of these? What kind of cat or horse did you get?
Fashion World Victorian Fluro pack makes your shop bright
Fashion World Florescent Collection
Fashion World debuted a new decoration collection today full of bright and neon colored items. The Victorian Fluro pack contains 38 different items. The game has just started selling packs, which allow you to buy the entire set of items for one decent price. This entire Fluro pack will cost you 75 credits, or about $7.50. We like this idea because it gives you a quick way to get the entire set without having to pick through each piece. Plus, you get it at a discount!
This pack contains doors, couches, endtables, rugs, walls, flooring, lamps, and sewing machines. These items are all individually priced at anywhere from 3 to 20 Facebook Credits, and there are also coin items as well up to 43,000 coins.
Some of the other available packs are: Bohemian, Rattan, Oriental, Vintage, Seaside, and Disco Glam. These are all priced differently, so you'll have to check out Fashion World for the different packs.
Play Fashion World on Facebook >
Fashion World debuted a new decoration collection today full of bright and neon colored items. The Victorian Fluro pack contains 38 different items. The game has just started selling packs, which allow you to buy the entire set of items for one decent price. This entire Fluro pack will cost you 75 credits, or about $7.50. We like this idea because it gives you a quick way to get the entire set without having to pick through each piece. Plus, you get it at a discount!
This pack contains doors, couches, endtables, rugs, walls, flooring, lamps, and sewing machines. These items are all individually priced at anywhere from 3 to 20 Facebook Credits, and there are also coin items as well up to 43,000 coins.
Some of the other available packs are: Bohemian, Rattan, Oriental, Vintage, Seaside, and Disco Glam. These are all priced differently, so you'll have to check out Fashion World for the different packs.
Play Fashion World on Facebook >
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
FarmVille Holiday Tree: Sneezy Sheep, Kodiak, more coming next week
Gypsy HorseAs it turns out, the gifts currently in the FarmVille Holiday Tree won't be the only ones come next Thursday. That's right, the folks over at FarmVille Freak are at it again and have discovered seven unreleased items that are expected to be added to the Holiday Tree come Dec. 16. Check out what's to come and how many Gifts each will cost:
Sneezy Sheep: 75 Gifts
Winter Tinsel Tree: 100 Gifts
Frozen Pegasus: 125 Gifts
Ice House: 150 Gifts
Kodiak: 200 Gifts
Arctic Fox: 300 Gifts
Snow Stallion: 500 Gifts (available after breaking the Meter Limit)
If you were waiting for some better items to be featured in the Holiday Tree, well, here they are. You have a whole week to gather enough Gifts, so get to it if you'd rather have one of these items. Honestly, we'd rather wait for these bad boys. I mean, who wouldn't want a massive house made of ice on their farm? No one, that's who.
Find the rest of our Holiday coverage right here.
What do you think of these unreleased Holiday Tree items?
Sneezy Sheep: 75 Gifts
Winter Tinsel Tree: 100 Gifts
Frozen Pegasus: 125 Gifts
Ice House: 150 Gifts
Kodiak: 200 Gifts
Arctic Fox: 300 Gifts
Snow Stallion: 500 Gifts (available after breaking the Meter Limit)
If you were waiting for some better items to be featured in the Holiday Tree, well, here they are. You have a whole week to gather enough Gifts, so get to it if you'd rather have one of these items. Honestly, we'd rather wait for these bad boys. I mean, who wouldn't want a massive house made of ice on their farm? No one, that's who.
Find the rest of our Holiday coverage right here.
What do you think of these unreleased Holiday Tree items?
FarmVille Festive Tree Missions: Everything you need to know
On top of today's release of this year's Holiday Tree in FarmVille, we also see Zynga launching a new series of holiday quests in the game. These quests are brought to us again by Zing the Elf. Now that you've made your farmland look festive for the holidays via the Winter Wonderland Quests, Zing is hoping that you'll take part in these new quests, which deal with your new Holiday Tree, along with the new limited edition crops that have been added to the game in celebration of the winter / holiday season.
Meet us behind the break for a look at these new missions.
The first quest in this set is called "A Festive Tree," and it comes with three goals:
Buy Holiday Tree
Harvest 200 Poinsettias
Add 10 Gifts to your Holiday Tree
As the Holiday Tree is being rolled out to users on a slow rollout, it's possible that you may not have access to completing this portion of the quest just yet. However, if you haven't received an in-game popup letting you know that the tree has arrived on your farm, but you have received wrapped presents from friends, you may be able to "force" the tree into our account, by attempting to "Use" one of these presents from your Gift Box. This should alert you to the fact that you have yet to place your Holiday Tree on your farm, and you'll be allowed to purchase the tree for a single coin. I can personally confirm that this method does work, as it was how I finally earned my tree, but you may need to be a bit lucky to have the "exploit" work for you. Either way, it's worth a shot, no?
The other portion of this quest - the harvesting of Poinsettias - can either be skipped by paying 15 Farm Cash, or you can go through with harvesting 200 of these flowers. Poinsettias are a 1 day crop, meaning that they take a full 24 hours to b available to harvest. They are planted for 45 coins per square, and are then harvested for 126 coins. You'll gain 3 experience points for each Poinsettia seed that you plant, making these 200 worth your while to plant.
After completing the Festive Tree quest, you'll receive 100 XP, 2,500 coins, and a Snow Angel decorative item as a reward. The Snow Angel decoration looks like a pile of snow that has a snow angel indentation in it.
After finishing this quest, you'll move onto the second in the line, which is called Wrapping Presents. This quest also has three steps associated with it:
Harvest 200 Peppermint
Get 6 Sheets of Wrapping Paper
Harvest 3 Gifts from the Winter Workshop
Now that the Holiday Tree has been released, and you now have a place to actually put Christmas presents, the Winter Workshop has been updated to randomly give away gifts when you "collect" from it. These gifts will go into your Gift Box after you "collect" them, and you can then add them to your Holiday Tree just like any other gift.
As for the Peppermint, this is a permanent crop that takes 1 full day to grow. You can plant it for 50 coins and then harvest it for 150 coins per square. You'll gain 1 experience point per seed of Peppermint that you plant. Finally, you can ask for Wrapping Paper from friends in the same way that you asked for Holiday Cookies back in the Winter Wonderland Quest set.
The rewards for this second step are 250 experience points, 5,000 coins, and a Winter Sheep. This Winter Sheep is a plain white sheep that has simply been given a red scarf to protect it from the cold.
Finally, the third quest looks to be the end of this Holiday Tree quest line, but this time, it only requires you to do two tasks to complete:
Add 30 Gifts to your Holiday Tree
Fertilize 25 Plots on your neighbors farm
You'll be able to finish the second step quite easily, as you can fertilize five plots on five different neighbors' land and have this step done in a jiffy. If you have a limited number of neighbors, or don't have many neighbors with land that will accept fertilization, it is presumable that you could work on the same friends' farm over multiple days to reach the same end, but that is unconfirmed as of this time.
Also, by the time you've unlocked this mission (unless you were already growing Poinsettias at the time of their launch), you will have likely already collected close to 30 gifts, or perhaps more, from your friends. All told, this seems like the easiest quest out of the three to complete, but it comes with some great rewards if you've made it this far. You'll earn 500 experience points, 7,500 coins, and a Frozen Pegasus statue for completing it.
As more images from this quest line become available, we'll be sure to update this space. In the meantime, start planting those Poinsettias so you can finish off this quest set before the holidays arrive in full!
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
We understand that the community has been pretty shaken up by the introduction of quests into FarmVille. With these new quests being available, let us know if you plan on participating in them, or if you'll just go on as usual. Does FarmVille need quests to be entertaining?
Meet us behind the break for a look at these new missions.
The first quest in this set is called "A Festive Tree," and it comes with three goals:
Buy Holiday Tree
Harvest 200 Poinsettias
Add 10 Gifts to your Holiday Tree
As the Holiday Tree is being rolled out to users on a slow rollout, it's possible that you may not have access to completing this portion of the quest just yet. However, if you haven't received an in-game popup letting you know that the tree has arrived on your farm, but you have received wrapped presents from friends, you may be able to "force" the tree into our account, by attempting to "Use" one of these presents from your Gift Box. This should alert you to the fact that you have yet to place your Holiday Tree on your farm, and you'll be allowed to purchase the tree for a single coin. I can personally confirm that this method does work, as it was how I finally earned my tree, but you may need to be a bit lucky to have the "exploit" work for you. Either way, it's worth a shot, no?
The other portion of this quest - the harvesting of Poinsettias - can either be skipped by paying 15 Farm Cash, or you can go through with harvesting 200 of these flowers. Poinsettias are a 1 day crop, meaning that they take a full 24 hours to b available to harvest. They are planted for 45 coins per square, and are then harvested for 126 coins. You'll gain 3 experience points for each Poinsettia seed that you plant, making these 200 worth your while to plant.
After completing the Festive Tree quest, you'll receive 100 XP, 2,500 coins, and a Snow Angel decorative item as a reward. The Snow Angel decoration looks like a pile of snow that has a snow angel indentation in it.
After finishing this quest, you'll move onto the second in the line, which is called Wrapping Presents. This quest also has three steps associated with it:
Harvest 200 Peppermint
Get 6 Sheets of Wrapping Paper
Harvest 3 Gifts from the Winter Workshop
Now that the Holiday Tree has been released, and you now have a place to actually put Christmas presents, the Winter Workshop has been updated to randomly give away gifts when you "collect" from it. These gifts will go into your Gift Box after you "collect" them, and you can then add them to your Holiday Tree just like any other gift.
As for the Peppermint, this is a permanent crop that takes 1 full day to grow. You can plant it for 50 coins and then harvest it for 150 coins per square. You'll gain 1 experience point per seed of Peppermint that you plant. Finally, you can ask for Wrapping Paper from friends in the same way that you asked for Holiday Cookies back in the Winter Wonderland Quest set.
The rewards for this second step are 250 experience points, 5,000 coins, and a Winter Sheep. This Winter Sheep is a plain white sheep that has simply been given a red scarf to protect it from the cold.
Finally, the third quest looks to be the end of this Holiday Tree quest line, but this time, it only requires you to do two tasks to complete:
Add 30 Gifts to your Holiday Tree
Fertilize 25 Plots on your neighbors farm
You'll be able to finish the second step quite easily, as you can fertilize five plots on five different neighbors' land and have this step done in a jiffy. If you have a limited number of neighbors, or don't have many neighbors with land that will accept fertilization, it is presumable that you could work on the same friends' farm over multiple days to reach the same end, but that is unconfirmed as of this time.
Also, by the time you've unlocked this mission (unless you were already growing Poinsettias at the time of their launch), you will have likely already collected close to 30 gifts, or perhaps more, from your friends. All told, this seems like the easiest quest out of the three to complete, but it comes with some great rewards if you've made it this far. You'll earn 500 experience points, 7,500 coins, and a Frozen Pegasus statue for completing it.
As more images from this quest line become available, we'll be sure to update this space. In the meantime, start planting those Poinsettias so you can finish off this quest set before the holidays arrive in full!
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
We understand that the community has been pretty shaken up by the introduction of quests into FarmVille. With these new quests being available, let us know if you plan on participating in them, or if you'll just go on as usual. Does FarmVille need quests to be entertaining?
New FarmVille Ribbon: Looking Fresh
In an unannounced FarmVille update, Zynga has added a new ribbon to the popular farming game (bringing the current total to 40 ribbons), this one called "Looking Fresh." If the name doesn't give it away, this ribbon has to do with the relatively new ability to change your in-game avatar's clothing.
All you need to do to earn this ribbon is simply change your avatar's clothes. You can do this by clicking on your Avatar and then customizing their outfit from the menu that appears. However, you must do this "once per day" in order for it to count. We would say that this is a bit strict on Zynga's part, especially with the holidays coming up, and people spending more time with friends and family rather than playing on Facebook, but that's apparently the way it is.
As with all other ribbons, you'll be able to earn four different ribbons in this set: Yellow, White, Red and Blue. The Yellow Ribbon is earned after changing your clothes just 3 times, or in three days time. White is earned after a week's worth (7 days) of clothing changes, Red is awarded at 10 changes, and finally, the Blue ribbon is received after changing your avatar's clothing 20 times. Withe every new ribbon that you earn, you'll gain coins and experience points (the better ribbon, the more the reward, of course).
For daily players, the biggest problem with this ribbon will be actually remembering to take a few seconds to change your avatar's clothing.
Note: As of this writing, it doesn't appear as though simply swapping out clothing items in your inventory will do the trick to racking up "clothing changes," as we went through our stock inventory and never saw any progress. It was only after purchasing a 5,000 top from the store that we actually received one mark on our tally. We've contacted Zynga for confirmation, and we'll be sure to let you know if this changes, or if you really will have to purchase 20 pieces of clothing as soon as we hear back.
Will you take the time to change your avatar's clothing this much just to earn an in-game ribbon? What if you didn't have to pay coins to change their clothing?
All you need to do to earn this ribbon is simply change your avatar's clothes. You can do this by clicking on your Avatar and then customizing their outfit from the menu that appears. However, you must do this "once per day" in order for it to count. We would say that this is a bit strict on Zynga's part, especially with the holidays coming up, and people spending more time with friends and family rather than playing on Facebook, but that's apparently the way it is.
As with all other ribbons, you'll be able to earn four different ribbons in this set: Yellow, White, Red and Blue. The Yellow Ribbon is earned after changing your clothes just 3 times, or in three days time. White is earned after a week's worth (7 days) of clothing changes, Red is awarded at 10 changes, and finally, the Blue ribbon is received after changing your avatar's clothing 20 times. Withe every new ribbon that you earn, you'll gain coins and experience points (the better ribbon, the more the reward, of course).
For daily players, the biggest problem with this ribbon will be actually remembering to take a few seconds to change your avatar's clothing.
Note: As of this writing, it doesn't appear as though simply swapping out clothing items in your inventory will do the trick to racking up "clothing changes," as we went through our stock inventory and never saw any progress. It was only after purchasing a 5,000 top from the store that we actually received one mark on our tally. We've contacted Zynga for confirmation, and we'll be sure to let you know if this changes, or if you really will have to purchase 20 pieces of clothing as soon as we hear back.
Will you take the time to change your avatar's clothing this much just to earn an in-game ribbon? What if you didn't have to pay coins to change their clothing?
Magic Mall offers FrontierVille's technical elements, but not much else
While farming and restaurant games may be the most popular with players on Facebook, there is also a growing number of games available dealing with shopping, retail, and malls in general (Mall Dreams from Metrogames for one). It's no surprise, then, that we see the release of another mall-tycoon game, this one called Magic Mall, from the folk at Mob Science.
Magic Mall just launched on Facebook yesterday, and it has already claimed over 13,000 users. The game allows you to, you guessed it, build your very own shopping mall, store by store, until your heart is content. The game starts you off by asking you to build a Coffee Shop, in this case known as the Lava Java Store.
As computer controlled visitors shop eat at your cafes and restaurants or shop in your stores, each location's unique coin count will fill. This is similar to any number of Facebook games, in that you'll have to come back to the game every few hours to "cash out" those properties, adding your profits to your in-game total.
With that being said, meet us behind the break to see what else makes Magic Mall tick.
In addition to building your own mall, you'll be able to "shop" in your friends' malls, which is where elements from FrontierVille, of all games, start to come into play. Each of your friends' malls will show shopping carts over their stores and restaurants. You'll be able to click on these carts to "shop" in that particular store, earning you experience points or collectible items that can be used back in your own Mall. Here's the catch - these bonus items appear to the side of each store, just like Bonus items like experience points and coins appear in FrontierVille after doing just about anything in the game.
You can use these collectible items when it comes time to upgrade your stores. Upgraded stores will collect more coins for you before they stop (and wait for you to cash them out, that is). For instance, upgrading the Lava Java coffee shop (that I mentioned at the beginning of this post), will raise its coin capacity from 500 coins to 1000. However, you'll need to collect ingredients, or building parts, just like in FrontierVille in order to actually do any upgrading.
For the sake of the argument, the Lava Java upgrade requires eight each of five different items, so you'll need to add a lot of posts to your wall for your neighbors to respond to, or buy single ingredients for "Magic Cash," the game's premium currency.
One last comparison worth noting is the inclusion of an Energy Bar, that drains as you complete tasks other than building new stores in your mall.
After you've built a few stores, you'll have to wait for your stores to earn money so that you can earn experience points, but while you wait, you can purchase decorative items to customize your mall, including new flooring types, decorations like benches and potted plants, new wallpapers and new doors.
While the stores in Magic Mall are nice enough (jewelry stores, toy stores, play areas for children, a pretzel shop and even an arcade), there really aren't that many stores to choose from just yet - likely due to the fact that the game is so new. Still, if all buildings and eventual upgrades work as the Lava Java upgrade does, it seems like all of your progress will be slow coming, if it comes at all, as you won't be able to increase your profits unless you can somehow convince other people to play the game with you. With a lack of gameplay other than the aforementioned... well, good luck in that pursuit.
Where other Facebook games normally push you through a lengthy tutorial, and in the process force you to level up to level 3 or 4, your progress in Magic Mall can come to a stand still without even reaching the halfway point of level 1. Unless you want to flood your mall with the same types of stores ad nauseum in order to boost your experience point total, you'll likely find the game fairly boring. Hopefully with enough time, Mob Science will add more gameplay, or easier ways to upgrade buildings, as there just isn't that much to do in the game's current state.
Magic Mall just launched on Facebook yesterday, and it has already claimed over 13,000 users. The game allows you to, you guessed it, build your very own shopping mall, store by store, until your heart is content. The game starts you off by asking you to build a Coffee Shop, in this case known as the Lava Java Store.
As computer controlled visitors shop eat at your cafes and restaurants or shop in your stores, each location's unique coin count will fill. This is similar to any number of Facebook games, in that you'll have to come back to the game every few hours to "cash out" those properties, adding your profits to your in-game total.
With that being said, meet us behind the break to see what else makes Magic Mall tick.
In addition to building your own mall, you'll be able to "shop" in your friends' malls, which is where elements from FrontierVille, of all games, start to come into play. Each of your friends' malls will show shopping carts over their stores and restaurants. You'll be able to click on these carts to "shop" in that particular store, earning you experience points or collectible items that can be used back in your own Mall. Here's the catch - these bonus items appear to the side of each store, just like Bonus items like experience points and coins appear in FrontierVille after doing just about anything in the game.
You can use these collectible items when it comes time to upgrade your stores. Upgraded stores will collect more coins for you before they stop (and wait for you to cash them out, that is). For instance, upgrading the Lava Java coffee shop (that I mentioned at the beginning of this post), will raise its coin capacity from 500 coins to 1000. However, you'll need to collect ingredients, or building parts, just like in FrontierVille in order to actually do any upgrading.
For the sake of the argument, the Lava Java upgrade requires eight each of five different items, so you'll need to add a lot of posts to your wall for your neighbors to respond to, or buy single ingredients for "Magic Cash," the game's premium currency.
One last comparison worth noting is the inclusion of an Energy Bar, that drains as you complete tasks other than building new stores in your mall.
After you've built a few stores, you'll have to wait for your stores to earn money so that you can earn experience points, but while you wait, you can purchase decorative items to customize your mall, including new flooring types, decorations like benches and potted plants, new wallpapers and new doors.
While the stores in Magic Mall are nice enough (jewelry stores, toy stores, play areas for children, a pretzel shop and even an arcade), there really aren't that many stores to choose from just yet - likely due to the fact that the game is so new. Still, if all buildings and eventual upgrades work as the Lava Java upgrade does, it seems like all of your progress will be slow coming, if it comes at all, as you won't be able to increase your profits unless you can somehow convince other people to play the game with you. With a lack of gameplay other than the aforementioned... well, good luck in that pursuit.
Where other Facebook games normally push you through a lengthy tutorial, and in the process force you to level up to level 3 or 4, your progress in Magic Mall can come to a stand still without even reaching the halfway point of level 1. Unless you want to flood your mall with the same types of stores ad nauseum in order to boost your experience point total, you'll likely find the game fairly boring. Hopefully with enough time, Mob Science will add more gameplay, or easier ways to upgrade buildings, as there just isn't that much to do in the game's current state.
Hey Facebook, there's a Game Request in my Notifications Bar!
One of the biggest areas of scrutiny with games on Facebook is just what happens to gift requests when they are sent from user to user to be redeemed in a specific game. The Gift Requests page has long been the standard, regardless of its positioning on the site, allowing users to pick and choose which request they'd like to respond to at any one time, but at one time, users were also notified about game requests and activities via their Notifications bar.
For the past months, the Notification bar has been reserved solely for Facebook-specific "news" related to your account, alerting you when you've had a comment on your status, photos or wall posts, whether someone has written on your wall (even if this was for a game), accepted your friend request and so on. Over the last 24 hours, however, something very different has started to appear in this same space.
While playing your favorite Facebook games, you've likely come across a situation where you've received a notification bubble dealing specifically with in-game gift requests. These notifications are released after you've received a block of game requests, and show you one specific notification for just one game.
You'll see something along the lines of "John Doe, Jane Doe, and 3 other friends sent you requests in FarmVille," replacing "FarmVille" with any game you happen to have received requests from. The image above shows you what you can expect to see, but we have removed user names and profile images for the sake of their privacy.
The folks at Inside Facebook have been able to confirm that this is a test being performed by Facebook proper, in an effort to analyze the effects of these notifications on users. Facebook hopes that with these changes in notifications, they may be able to help developers with general app discovery and the retention of players. We can see how the latter purpose would easily come into play, as users would be able to receive frequent reminders that they have requests waiting for them in games, which would hopefully make them check back in more often than they would have otherwise.
Either way, this is definitely something to keep an eye on, as figuring out how to sustain the viral nature of app installations and keep players logging into their games are two issues that developers have been highly focused on since the removal of third-party notifications back in March.
Since this is sure to be a heavily discussed topic in the coming weeks, we'd like to know what you think about game notifications in general. Have you started receiving these test notifications for your games yet? Do you like the change, or do you think that you will quickly be overwhelmed with notifications?
For the past months, the Notification bar has been reserved solely for Facebook-specific "news" related to your account, alerting you when you've had a comment on your status, photos or wall posts, whether someone has written on your wall (even if this was for a game), accepted your friend request and so on. Over the last 24 hours, however, something very different has started to appear in this same space.
While playing your favorite Facebook games, you've likely come across a situation where you've received a notification bubble dealing specifically with in-game gift requests. These notifications are released after you've received a block of game requests, and show you one specific notification for just one game.
You'll see something along the lines of "John Doe, Jane Doe, and 3 other friends sent you requests in FarmVille," replacing "FarmVille" with any game you happen to have received requests from. The image above shows you what you can expect to see, but we have removed user names and profile images for the sake of their privacy.
The folks at Inside Facebook have been able to confirm that this is a test being performed by Facebook proper, in an effort to analyze the effects of these notifications on users. Facebook hopes that with these changes in notifications, they may be able to help developers with general app discovery and the retention of players. We can see how the latter purpose would easily come into play, as users would be able to receive frequent reminders that they have requests waiting for them in games, which would hopefully make them check back in more often than they would have otherwise.
Either way, this is definitely something to keep an eye on, as figuring out how to sustain the viral nature of app installations and keep players logging into their games are two issues that developers have been highly focused on since the removal of third-party notifications back in March.
Since this is sure to be a heavily discussed topic in the coming weeks, we'd like to know what you think about game notifications in general. Have you started receiving these test notifications for your games yet? Do you like the change, or do you think that you will quickly be overwhelmed with notifications?
Thursday, January 12, 2012
FarmVille New Year Animal: Disco Ball Sheep
If you're like me, and like anything bright, shiny, or animated in FarmVille, you'll be just as thrilled as I am to know that Zynga has launched an item that fits into all three of those categories. The Disco Ball Sheep is now available in the FarmVille marketplace as part of the limited edition New Year item theme.
What makes this item so great isn't just its shiny "wool" that makes the sheep look like it's a disco ball - it's the fact that you can... wait for it... purchase it for coins! Yes, after releasing animal after animal to the game's store that could only be purchased for Farm Cash, Zynga has mercifully priced this item for coins. Sure, its price tag of 140,000 coins isn't necessarily a bargain, but if you're a player that simply refuses to spend premium / real currency in FarmVille, this will definitely allow you to celebrate the New Year in style.
The Disco Ball Sheep can be harvested from every three days, and you'll receive 28 coins each time you do so. You'll receive 1,400 bonus experience points for purchasing the sheep, which will be available in the game for just 10 days.
What makes this item so great isn't just its shiny "wool" that makes the sheep look like it's a disco ball - it's the fact that you can... wait for it... purchase it for coins! Yes, after releasing animal after animal to the game's store that could only be purchased for Farm Cash, Zynga has mercifully priced this item for coins. Sure, its price tag of 140,000 coins isn't necessarily a bargain, but if you're a player that simply refuses to spend premium / real currency in FarmVille, this will definitely allow you to celebrate the New Year in style.
The Disco Ball Sheep can be harvested from every three days, and you'll receive 28 coins each time you do so. You'll receive 1,400 bonus experience points for purchasing the sheep, which will be available in the game for just 10 days.
FarmVille Disco Ball Tree makes an appearance in the market
For quite some time now, we've been investigating the appearance of the mysterious Disco Ball Tree in FarmVille. We had seed reports of the tree showing up randomly as a Mystery Seedling, even before any other New Years themed trees had been released, and we were then put under the assumption that the Disco Ball Tree is the level 2 tree from the Confetti Tree, which was released at the beginning of the week. But what if someone didn't want to wait for their Confetti Tree to spawn a Disco Ball Tree Mystery Seedling?
Luckily, there is now a solid answer for that, as the Disco Ball Tree has finally been released as a standalone item in the FarmVille marketplace. Unfortunately, if you'd like to add this lovely tree to your land, you'll need to be willing to pay 15 Farm Cash. Once purchased, however, you can harvest the tree every two days, and you'll receive 150 coins for doing so. You'll gain just 15 experience points for purchasing the tree, but as any tree-lover in FarmVille can tell you - you don't purchase the trees for the experience point bonuses.
The Disco Ball Tree will be available in the game's store for the next 15 days, but luckily, will be available as Mystery Seedlings long after if you choose to hand onto your Farm Cash for the time being. One final note - the tree can be mastered, with the first star of mastery being available after 75 harvests, if that's something that will sway your decision in purchasing one.
Luckily, there is now a solid answer for that, as the Disco Ball Tree has finally been released as a standalone item in the FarmVille marketplace. Unfortunately, if you'd like to add this lovely tree to your land, you'll need to be willing to pay 15 Farm Cash. Once purchased, however, you can harvest the tree every two days, and you'll receive 150 coins for doing so. You'll gain just 15 experience points for purchasing the tree, but as any tree-lover in FarmVille can tell you - you don't purchase the trees for the experience point bonuses.
The Disco Ball Tree will be available in the game's store for the next 15 days, but luckily, will be available as Mystery Seedlings long after if you choose to hand onto your Farm Cash for the time being. One final note - the tree can be mastered, with the first star of mastery being available after 75 harvests, if that's something that will sway your decision in purchasing one.
FarmVille New Years Items: Fireworks I, II, III, & New Year Gnome
As part of tonight's FarmVille update, we've seen the release of four new decorative items in the game. All four of these items fit into the current New Year theme of limited edition items, but unfortunately for those that like to save their Farm Cash, all of these items are premium.
What's more, three of the four items are Fireworks, meaning that they are one-time use items that will disappear from your farm once launched, after showing you a pretty virtual fireworks show in your game. The Fireworks are labeled as Fireworks I, II, and III, and all three cost 3 Farm Cash each. It seems a bit unreasonable for Zynga to charge Farm Cash for a one-time use item, but luckily, there are ways to receive free Fireworks this year, as friends can post them on their wall as they complete stages in the New Years Party Barn event.
The other new item is the New Year Gnome, which will be a big hit with Gnome collectors. He's a cheerful little fella that's ready to party, as he comes equipped with a noise-maker and confetti, and a price tag of 18 Farm Cash. You'll receive 1,800 bonus experience points for purchasing the Gnome, if that makes you more likely to purchase him.
All four of these items will be available in the game's store for the next 10 days, so if you can't play FarmVille on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day proper, you'll be able to throw a post-holiday Fireworks show within your game to keep the party going.
What's more, three of the four items are Fireworks, meaning that they are one-time use items that will disappear from your farm once launched, after showing you a pretty virtual fireworks show in your game. The Fireworks are labeled as Fireworks I, II, and III, and all three cost 3 Farm Cash each. It seems a bit unreasonable for Zynga to charge Farm Cash for a one-time use item, but luckily, there are ways to receive free Fireworks this year, as friends can post them on their wall as they complete stages in the New Years Party Barn event.
The other new item is the New Year Gnome, which will be a big hit with Gnome collectors. He's a cheerful little fella that's ready to party, as he comes equipped with a noise-maker and confetti, and a price tag of 18 Farm Cash. You'll receive 1,800 bonus experience points for purchasing the Gnome, if that makes you more likely to purchase him.
All four of these items will be available in the game's store for the next 10 days, so if you can't play FarmVille on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day proper, you'll be able to throw a post-holiday Fireworks show within your game to keep the party going.
FrontierVille 12 Days of Christmas Goals: Everything you need to know for Day Two
On the Second Day O' Christmas
Just two days remain in FrontierVille's 12 Days of Christmas Goal series and, oddly enough, things are getting progressively easier. "On the Second Day O' Christmas" requires three simple, almost menial tasks, of pioneers. First, you're to visit two Neighbors. While you're there, tend two of your Neighbors' Pigs and clean up two Debris while you're at it.
And that's it. No, we're not kidding. This could very well be one of the easiest Goals in the game, which is odd considering we're one Goal away from being done with Christmas once and for all in FrontierVille. Come to think of it, you could probably finish this Goal in five minutes. You'd imagine that Zynga would start to end the holiday with a bang, but a break from gift requests and cross promotions never hurt anyone. Complete this Goal and a not-so-well earned 1,000 XP, one "Tend Here" Sign and one Fruitcake are all yours. But we're not out of the woods yet. Check back tomorrow to find out what the final Goal of this series has in store for the frontier.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
Just two days remain in FrontierVille's 12 Days of Christmas Goal series and, oddly enough, things are getting progressively easier. "On the Second Day O' Christmas" requires three simple, almost menial tasks, of pioneers. First, you're to visit two Neighbors. While you're there, tend two of your Neighbors' Pigs and clean up two Debris while you're at it.
And that's it. No, we're not kidding. This could very well be one of the easiest Goals in the game, which is odd considering we're one Goal away from being done with Christmas once and for all in FrontierVille. Come to think of it, you could probably finish this Goal in five minutes. You'd imagine that Zynga would start to end the holiday with a bang, but a break from gift requests and cross promotions never hurt anyone. Complete this Goal and a not-so-well earned 1,000 XP, one "Tend Here" Sign and one Fruitcake are all yours. But we're not out of the woods yet. Check back tomorrow to find out what the final Goal of this series has in store for the frontier.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
Create on Facebook: This fun physics game forgot you have friends
Create in motion
Most Facebook games are littered with suggestions, pop ups and missions to guide you along in your progress, which certainly serve their purpose well. But not Create. The most recent Facebook game launch by EA, Create is a modified release of the puzzler with the same name currently available for all major consoles, PC and Mac. Tailored specifically for Facebook, this physics-based puzzle game provides players with the tools required to complete each level, but it's hands-off after that. While achieving real time physics on Facebook is certainly impressive, leaving the guesswork to the player soon becomes a double-edged sword.
Find more of our impressions of Create after the break.
Create Dashboard
Essentially, Create is a Rube Goldberg machine on Facebook. Your goal in each level is to, using the tools you're given, guide a soccer ball so that it hits its bulls eye target, making its way through hula hoops along the way for bonus points. However, getting into the meat of the game is rather confusing as Create will always load in sort of a hub world called the Dashboard. It's here that players can create as many soccer balls as they wish to play around with, check their best times and high scores and see how their friends are doing with their own creations. There is also a global list where creators can put others' balls through their own solutions to the game's puzzles. To start, you're given one ball, so just click "Go!" and choose any of the four puzzles.
This is where the fun begins... sort of. In each puzzle, there is a general path players will have to take to reach the target, but it is entirely up to them on how to approach it using the game's five tools. (In other words, this is a thinker.) These items include balloons, which will not float until an object, preferably the ball, make contact with its string. Players can also make use of orange bumpers which will repel any object that comes in contact with them at a high speed in the opposite direction. Suspended fans can also be used to propel the ball while boxes and see-saws serve of malleable platforms, though the see-saws somehow defy gravity. There's no limit to the amount of tools that can be used in any given puzzle, but clutter will be your worst enemy.
Create in motion again
Designed specifically to take advantage of Intel processors, the physics in Create are surprisingly smooth considering it's all happening in real time on Facebook. However, they can easily be broken. So far, I've found that certain items won't respond to gravity if placed in strange places, but who knows what other ways there are to break the system.
While the game's physics are certainly impressive--not to mention that it's refreshing to see a social game that requires critical thought--it's tough to call Create a social game. There seems to be little reason that this game is on Facebook other than the fact that it's a popular platform at the moment. Having friends in the game doesn't effect any portion of gameplay nor is there an incentive to continue logging in, which is something social games in their current state need to thrive. Though, it's doubtful that EA had that in mind to begin with when porting Create to the platform.
And perhaps I'm somewhat rusty when it comes to puzzle games, but Create doesn't exactly lend itself to the instantly gratifying gameplay of most social games. If your experience is anything like mine, you're going to be cracking at some puzzles for quite a while, which one could imagine the average social gamer just doesn't have time for on their lunch break. But if you have an extra minute, try something a little different than your average 'Ville and give that brain some exercise.
Most Facebook games are littered with suggestions, pop ups and missions to guide you along in your progress, which certainly serve their purpose well. But not Create. The most recent Facebook game launch by EA, Create is a modified release of the puzzler with the same name currently available for all major consoles, PC and Mac. Tailored specifically for Facebook, this physics-based puzzle game provides players with the tools required to complete each level, but it's hands-off after that. While achieving real time physics on Facebook is certainly impressive, leaving the guesswork to the player soon becomes a double-edged sword.
Find more of our impressions of Create after the break.
Create Dashboard
Essentially, Create is a Rube Goldberg machine on Facebook. Your goal in each level is to, using the tools you're given, guide a soccer ball so that it hits its bulls eye target, making its way through hula hoops along the way for bonus points. However, getting into the meat of the game is rather confusing as Create will always load in sort of a hub world called the Dashboard. It's here that players can create as many soccer balls as they wish to play around with, check their best times and high scores and see how their friends are doing with their own creations. There is also a global list where creators can put others' balls through their own solutions to the game's puzzles. To start, you're given one ball, so just click "Go!" and choose any of the four puzzles.
This is where the fun begins... sort of. In each puzzle, there is a general path players will have to take to reach the target, but it is entirely up to them on how to approach it using the game's five tools. (In other words, this is a thinker.) These items include balloons, which will not float until an object, preferably the ball, make contact with its string. Players can also make use of orange bumpers which will repel any object that comes in contact with them at a high speed in the opposite direction. Suspended fans can also be used to propel the ball while boxes and see-saws serve of malleable platforms, though the see-saws somehow defy gravity. There's no limit to the amount of tools that can be used in any given puzzle, but clutter will be your worst enemy.
Create in motion again
Designed specifically to take advantage of Intel processors, the physics in Create are surprisingly smooth considering it's all happening in real time on Facebook. However, they can easily be broken. So far, I've found that certain items won't respond to gravity if placed in strange places, but who knows what other ways there are to break the system.
While the game's physics are certainly impressive--not to mention that it's refreshing to see a social game that requires critical thought--it's tough to call Create a social game. There seems to be little reason that this game is on Facebook other than the fact that it's a popular platform at the moment. Having friends in the game doesn't effect any portion of gameplay nor is there an incentive to continue logging in, which is something social games in their current state need to thrive. Though, it's doubtful that EA had that in mind to begin with when porting Create to the platform.
And perhaps I'm somewhat rusty when it comes to puzzle games, but Create doesn't exactly lend itself to the instantly gratifying gameplay of most social games. If your experience is anything like mine, you're going to be cracking at some puzzles for quite a while, which one could imagine the average social gamer just doesn't have time for on their lunch break. But if you have an extra minute, try something a little different than your average 'Ville and give that brain some exercise.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
House, CSI: Miami and NCIS games to air on Facebook this winter
Social gamers are naturally very meta people. Come one, who else would watch an episode of CSI, only to play an episode of CSI: Crime City either during the show or afterward? Ubisoft seems to have struck gold with Facebook games based on TV properties, so the company has announced three more: CSI: Miami, House, M.D.: Critical Cases and NCIS: Major Crimes.
Inside Social Games reports that the games will launch either at the end of this year or early in 2012. In other words, they're coming this winter. The games will play out procedurally, like episodes of their television inspirations. Players will search for clues after identifying victims, patients or suspects and solve cases with the help of friends and non-player characters.
The French game publisher also announced a deal with Loot Drop, designer John Romero's studio that has yet to release its first game, Cloudforest Expedition. No details were given regarding the game, but this marks the third game set to come out of Loot Drop, its first two with publisher RockYou. Ubisoft will also release Ghost Recon Commander for Facebook.
The game will serve as a companion to the publisher's two upcoming Ghost Recon games: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for console and Ghost Recon: Online for PCs. According to ISG, players will be able to advance in either core game through the Facebook companion and vice versa. We've seen how high-profile companion games do already, but House is poised to be a winner--have you seen how many "Likes" it has on Facebook?
Inside Social Games reports that the games will launch either at the end of this year or early in 2012. In other words, they're coming this winter. The games will play out procedurally, like episodes of their television inspirations. Players will search for clues after identifying victims, patients or suspects and solve cases with the help of friends and non-player characters.
The French game publisher also announced a deal with Loot Drop, designer John Romero's studio that has yet to release its first game, Cloudforest Expedition. No details were given regarding the game, but this marks the third game set to come out of Loot Drop, its first two with publisher RockYou. Ubisoft will also release Ghost Recon Commander for Facebook.
The game will serve as a companion to the publisher's two upcoming Ghost Recon games: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for console and Ghost Recon: Online for PCs. According to ISG, players will be able to advance in either core game through the Facebook companion and vice versa. We've seen how high-profile companion games do already, but House is poised to be a winner--have you seen how many "Likes" it has on Facebook?
Jurassic Park to (hopefully) bring Mr. DNA to mobile, Facebook in 2012
It's just not Jurassic Park without the little guy. Ludia, the Vancouver-based creator of branded Facebook and mobile games like Family Feud and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, has announced that it will bring a Jurassic Park social game to mobile devices in 2012. This deal with Universal Studios marks the company's move into the movie industry through branded games.
"This exciting license is our gateway to the movie industry and reinforces our strategy of turning high-profile brands into successful interactive entertainment experiences," Ludia CEO Alex Thabet said in a release, according to Inside Social Games. But it sounds as if the game will be far less about dinosaurs wreaking havoc than about keeping dinosaurs in check.
In other words, it's going to be another property management game. (Ugh.) Ludia will throw players onto the ill-fated island shortly after the events of the first movie, and they'll be able to help rebuild Jurassic Park into a thriving, money printing machine. What sounds most interesting is the ability to breed dinosaurs using new DNA strands discovered in pieces of amber. See? There's no way Ludia can leave out Mr. DNA now.
Of course, players will need to seek the help of their Facebook friends to keep dino-related disasters from happening and more tourists forking over the cash. The game has yet to receive an official title, and will release on mobile devices before hitting social networks like Facebook.
"This exciting license is our gateway to the movie industry and reinforces our strategy of turning high-profile brands into successful interactive entertainment experiences," Ludia CEO Alex Thabet said in a release, according to Inside Social Games. But it sounds as if the game will be far less about dinosaurs wreaking havoc than about keeping dinosaurs in check.
In other words, it's going to be another property management game. (Ugh.) Ludia will throw players onto the ill-fated island shortly after the events of the first movie, and they'll be able to help rebuild Jurassic Park into a thriving, money printing machine. What sounds most interesting is the ability to breed dinosaurs using new DNA strands discovered in pieces of amber. See? There's no way Ludia can leave out Mr. DNA now.
Of course, players will need to seek the help of their Facebook friends to keep dino-related disasters from happening and more tourists forking over the cash. The game has yet to receive an official title, and will release on mobile devices before hitting social networks like Facebook.
The Peanut Gallery runs Snoopy's Street Fair on iOS Nov. 17 [Video]
We're not usually the type to fawn over game trailers, but after hearing that lovely piano tune it's hard not to. Capcom and Beeline Interactive's Snoopy's Street Fair is set to launch on the App Store for free Nov. 17, TouchGen reports. At first glance, the game looks a lot like Beeline's Smurfs' Village. And, in theory, it probably is. But what's important here is the authenticity.
Seeing the game in motion looks like the strip come to life. (You know, aside from the TV specials.) Everything from the hand drawn graphics to the interface looks as if the venerable Mr. Schulz drew the artwork himself for the game. Players will help Chuck and the gang throw their own street fair, complete with attractions like Lucy's Psychiatric Help and lemonade stands.
The game looks like just another property management underneath the layer of nostalgia, but Beeline has mixed things up with a slew of mini games. Players will get to roast marshmallows, mix watercolors and squeeze lemons for lemonade in unique, timed romps for the high score. It looks like the game will have a number of collectible draws as well.
Capcom made a smart move getting into the branded games biz when it did, as IndustryGamers reports the Japanese publisher suffered a 28.1 percent loss in revenue year over year. Despite this, the company hailed mobile social game Smurfs' Village as the "driving force" behind an 89 percent jump in net sales since last year. Hey, if that means more adorable nostalgia fests like this, then count us in.
Seeing the game in motion looks like the strip come to life. (You know, aside from the TV specials.) Everything from the hand drawn graphics to the interface looks as if the venerable Mr. Schulz drew the artwork himself for the game. Players will help Chuck and the gang throw their own street fair, complete with attractions like Lucy's Psychiatric Help and lemonade stands.
The game looks like just another property management underneath the layer of nostalgia, but Beeline has mixed things up with a slew of mini games. Players will get to roast marshmallows, mix watercolors and squeeze lemons for lemonade in unique, timed romps for the high score. It looks like the game will have a number of collectible draws as well.
Capcom made a smart move getting into the branded games biz when it did, as IndustryGamers reports the Japanese publisher suffered a 28.1 percent loss in revenue year over year. Despite this, the company hailed mobile social game Smurfs' Village as the "driving force" behind an 89 percent jump in net sales since last year. Hey, if that means more adorable nostalgia fests like this, then count us in.
Ultima creator Richard Garriott runs social game studio with ... a robot?
At this point, with a guy who flew into space and once ran the craziest haunted house in the nation within his house, I guess you should expect these things. The Huffington Post reports that Richard Garriott, creator of the famed Ultima PC game series and co-founder of social game studio Portalarium, manages his Austin, Texas-based studio remotely ... with a robot. Seriously.
Since July of this year, Garriott has conversed with Portalarium's 25 employees in meetings and casually (the robot is a mobile, remote-controlled machine equipped with cameras and microphones) from his New York home. According to The Huffington Post, all he needs is a broadband connection, his laptop, a microphone and two cameras to make it work.
"When I'm up north, I log in in the morning and can meander over to anyone's desk and really be a part of the casual conversations that are so essential to our work," Garriott told The Huffington Post. "Sometimes I feel like a spy, but fundamentally it feels like I am really there." But the game industry veteran didn't buy the $15,000 Anybot QB solely for this job.
When Garriott married his wife earlier this year in the spring, he purchased the robot to ensure that his mother could participate in the ceremony and reception, which took place in Paris. The game designer strapped a cardboard cut-out of his elderly mother to the robot, gave her the controls from her Las Vegas home and it was as if she was there. Hey, at least we now know how dedicated Garriott is to Portalarium's upcoming crown jewel, Lord British's New Britannia (and his mum).
Since July of this year, Garriott has conversed with Portalarium's 25 employees in meetings and casually (the robot is a mobile, remote-controlled machine equipped with cameras and microphones) from his New York home. According to The Huffington Post, all he needs is a broadband connection, his laptop, a microphone and two cameras to make it work.
"When I'm up north, I log in in the morning and can meander over to anyone's desk and really be a part of the casual conversations that are so essential to our work," Garriott told The Huffington Post. "Sometimes I feel like a spy, but fundamentally it feels like I am really there." But the game industry veteran didn't buy the $15,000 Anybot QB solely for this job.
When Garriott married his wife earlier this year in the spring, he purchased the robot to ensure that his mother could participate in the ceremony and reception, which took place in Paris. The game designer strapped a cardboard cut-out of his elderly mother to the robot, gave her the controls from her Las Vegas home and it was as if she was there. Hey, at least we now know how dedicated Garriott is to Portalarium's upcoming crown jewel, Lord British's New Britannia (and his mum).
Sumon is Tetris-meets-math class on Facebook, Chrome and mobile
If there is one game genre that will likely survive them all, it's puzzlers. San Francisco-based Ludei claims to be one of the first social game developers to launch a game on Facebook, Chrome, HTML5, iOS and Android. The game is called Sumon, a puzzle game that evokes feelings of Tetris, but with math-centric gameplay that's said to serve well as a mind sharpening tool.
The game combines simple math problems through addition with spatial reasoning. Players are presented with a series of blocks, each with specific numbers on them, and a goal number. It's up to players to string blocks together to reach that goal number. Of course, the game sets players against the clock, adding numbered blocks until each level is cleared.
"Sumon is the first in a series of titles that is going to take advantage of bleeding edge innovation in mobile entertainment as we plan for a bigger footprint in the U.S. and worldwide," Ludei CEO Eneko Knorr said in a release. "By launching on HTML5, iOS and Android, we're able to bring Sumon to the largest possible audience, a sentiment that is often discussed but rarely executed-until now."
It's certainly a novel strategy in the social games world where the pressure to go multiplatform or go home is increasing. There are three modes of play in Sumon: classic, progressive and respawn. But generally, the more numbered blocks you use to reach a given goal number, the higher your score will go. But really, we're just digging the paper mache art style--so pretty.
The game combines simple math problems through addition with spatial reasoning. Players are presented with a series of blocks, each with specific numbers on them, and a goal number. It's up to players to string blocks together to reach that goal number. Of course, the game sets players against the clock, adding numbered blocks until each level is cleared.
"Sumon is the first in a series of titles that is going to take advantage of bleeding edge innovation in mobile entertainment as we plan for a bigger footprint in the U.S. and worldwide," Ludei CEO Eneko Knorr said in a release. "By launching on HTML5, iOS and Android, we're able to bring Sumon to the largest possible audience, a sentiment that is often discussed but rarely executed-until now."
It's certainly a novel strategy in the social games world where the pressure to go multiplatform or go home is increasing. There are three modes of play in Sumon: classic, progressive and respawn. But generally, the more numbered blocks you use to reach a given goal number, the higher your score will go. But really, we're just digging the paper mache art style--so pretty.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
TicBits brings iAssociate 2 iPhone game to Facebook
I'll admit - one of my favorite iPhone games ever is iAssociate 2 from TicBits. Imagine, then, my delight when I found out that the developer had launched the game on Facebook. For those unfamiliar with the iPhone game, iAssociate 2 is a word association game that is very simple in concept, but easily addictive.
Each level is comprised of a web of words. You'll be given one or perhaps two words to start (based on the web's design), and you'll be able to see all of the words directly related to your starting word via word bubbles. Of course, you'll have to come up with this associated words yourself, but you will be given the number of letters that the word contains.
Your starting level, for instance, gives you the word "Breakfast." From there, you'll need to think of all of the things associated with breakfast (toast, eggs, cereal, and so on) and enter those into the game to see if they match. Once you find a word, more branches stem off of it, until the entire web is one grand and complex setup, filling the screen.
Due to the idea of word association though, you won't necessarily always be talking about breakfast (in keeping with our example). Early on, you'll have the word Bacon, for instance. Bacon comes from Pigs, and sure enough, that word is in the web as well. Just as easy as that, you've transitioned from talking about breakfast and food to talking about barnyard animals. Know of a movie that contains a pig as the main character? There's another branch in the association - now moving you into the world of cinema and Hollywood.
You'll earn points for each correct word you guess, and certain bonus words will be available that grant you even more points. Once you complete a web, you'll be able to play another level, with another starting theme (Around the House, Comics & Cartoons, etc.). You are given just three levels to start the game, while the others require you to spend cash, a premium currency of sorts.
You can either buy cash with real money, or you can complete offers (surveys, purchase rewards, etc.) to earn them. Aside from that, you'll earn a single coin for each correct word you fill into a web. Additionally, you can simply invite your friends to play the game with you, and for each friend that accepts you'll earn 500 coins. Levels cost 790 coins and up (you start with 1,000 coins), so you'll likely need to invite quite a few friends before unlocking them all.
Once you finish the tutorial level, you'll be able to use hints to reveal one letter of a word of your choice. Hints are limited though, so you'll want to save those hints for when you need them most.
Your overall score will be counted across all levels, allowing you to be compared to your friends on the in-game leaderboard. And if you run out of hints, or simply want to get your friends in on the fun, you can click on the "Help" button in a level to pick a word that you need help with and then post a help request on your wall, asking your friends if they can figure out the word for you.
Social features aside, iAssociate is a pretty addictive package even when played solo. If you don't have an iPhone, I highly suggest trying this one out on Facebook.
Each level is comprised of a web of words. You'll be given one or perhaps two words to start (based on the web's design), and you'll be able to see all of the words directly related to your starting word via word bubbles. Of course, you'll have to come up with this associated words yourself, but you will be given the number of letters that the word contains.
Your starting level, for instance, gives you the word "Breakfast." From there, you'll need to think of all of the things associated with breakfast (toast, eggs, cereal, and so on) and enter those into the game to see if they match. Once you find a word, more branches stem off of it, until the entire web is one grand and complex setup, filling the screen.
Due to the idea of word association though, you won't necessarily always be talking about breakfast (in keeping with our example). Early on, you'll have the word Bacon, for instance. Bacon comes from Pigs, and sure enough, that word is in the web as well. Just as easy as that, you've transitioned from talking about breakfast and food to talking about barnyard animals. Know of a movie that contains a pig as the main character? There's another branch in the association - now moving you into the world of cinema and Hollywood.
You'll earn points for each correct word you guess, and certain bonus words will be available that grant you even more points. Once you complete a web, you'll be able to play another level, with another starting theme (Around the House, Comics & Cartoons, etc.). You are given just three levels to start the game, while the others require you to spend cash, a premium currency of sorts.
You can either buy cash with real money, or you can complete offers (surveys, purchase rewards, etc.) to earn them. Aside from that, you'll earn a single coin for each correct word you fill into a web. Additionally, you can simply invite your friends to play the game with you, and for each friend that accepts you'll earn 500 coins. Levels cost 790 coins and up (you start with 1,000 coins), so you'll likely need to invite quite a few friends before unlocking them all.
Once you finish the tutorial level, you'll be able to use hints to reveal one letter of a word of your choice. Hints are limited though, so you'll want to save those hints for when you need them most.
Your overall score will be counted across all levels, allowing you to be compared to your friends on the in-game leaderboard. And if you run out of hints, or simply want to get your friends in on the fun, you can click on the "Help" button in a level to pick a word that you need help with and then post a help request on your wall, asking your friends if they can figure out the word for you.
Social features aside, iAssociate is a pretty addictive package even when played solo. If you don't have an iPhone, I highly suggest trying this one out on Facebook.
FrontierVille: Trap Groundhogs Phil or Fred and keep them on your Homestead as pets
While I'm sure most of us are familiar with the new Groundhog Day goals in FrontierVille, two of which reward us with a single Frontier Phil and Frontier Fred (friendly Groundhogs that stay on your Homestead as pets), did you know that you can actually capture MORE of these two friendly groundhogs just by playing the game?
These groundhogs are appearing on users' farms, just as regular groundhogs do. You'll need to arm your Groundhog Trap in the same way as if you were catching normal, disappearing groundhogs, but here once you capture either Phil or Fred, you'll see a new pop-up in your game, asking you whether or not you'd like to keep your new friend on your own Homestead, or if you'd like to share these friendly groundhogs with your friends by posting a news item on your wall.
Regardless of which choice you decide, this definitely gives the idea of building the Groundhog Trap more merit outside of simply finishing these goals. You might even want to build more than one to increase your trapping area to have a better chance at finding one or both of these new critters yourself.
These groundhogs are appearing on users' farms, just as regular groundhogs do. You'll need to arm your Groundhog Trap in the same way as if you were catching normal, disappearing groundhogs, but here once you capture either Phil or Fred, you'll see a new pop-up in your game, asking you whether or not you'd like to keep your new friend on your own Homestead, or if you'd like to share these friendly groundhogs with your friends by posting a news item on your wall.
Regardless of which choice you decide, this definitely gives the idea of building the Groundhog Trap more merit outside of simply finishing these goals. You might even want to build more than one to increase your trapping area to have a better chance at finding one or both of these new critters yourself.
FarmVille: Brown Lamb & Sheep being given away at random
Oh my! The game of the day is one of the probably one of best games ever. Peggle online is a game where the rules are simple but the addiction is immediate. Just get ready, aim ... bounce! In Peggle, on every level you have to try and hit 25 orange pegs with 10 metal balls. Sounds silly but is wonder to play - Go ahead, click play to achieve EXTREME FEVER!
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.
Click to play Peggle free online
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.
Click to play Peggle free online
Game of the Day: Peggle
Oh my! The game of the day is one of the probably one of best games ever. Peggle online is a game where the rules are simple but the addiction is immediate. Just get ready, aim ... bounce! In Peggle, on every level you have to try and hit 25 orange pegs with 10 metal balls. Sounds silly but is wonder to play - Go ahead, click play to achieve EXTREME FEVER!
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.
Click to play Peggle free online
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.
Click to play Peggle free online
LOLapps gives Critter Island the axe this month
Back in November, LOLapps started a desperate attempt to restore the viral channels in their game Critter Island. After launching the game in August, and then being denied access to social features (by Facebook) after a privacy debacle, LOLapps attempted to regain access to their viral channels in Critter Island (neighbor invites, gift requests, and wall posts), but to no avail.
The developer remained fairly quiet on the issue after creating the Restore Critter Island page on Facebook, but we now know that all efforts were apparently in vain. Thanks to a letter received by a concerned player from LOLapps itself, we now know that the entire development team has been transitioned from Critter Island to Ravenwood Fair, and that Critter Island itself will be shutting down alongside Supermodel: The Game on January 31.
That's right, after the end of the month, Critter Island will no longer be accessible. Supermodel: The Game will be closing on the same date. I guess we can only say it was fun while it lasted... or, at least until November when the controversy erupted. Hopefully this will be the last game closure we see from the company in the near future.
The developer remained fairly quiet on the issue after creating the Restore Critter Island page on Facebook, but we now know that all efforts were apparently in vain. Thanks to a letter received by a concerned player from LOLapps itself, we now know that the entire development team has been transitioned from Critter Island to Ravenwood Fair, and that Critter Island itself will be shutting down alongside Supermodel: The Game on January 31.
That's right, after the end of the month, Critter Island will no longer be accessible. Supermodel: The Game will be closing on the same date. I guess we can only say it was fun while it lasted... or, at least until November when the controversy erupted. Hopefully this will be the last game closure we see from the company in the near future.
Friday, January 6, 2012
New FrontierVille Collections: Flower Shop & Flower Gardening
Along with the release of the Flower Shop in FrontierVille today, we also see the game updated with two new collections to match. As usual, as with the release of any new building, we see a new collection released specifically for that building, but we also have a new collection dealing with raising the new flowers that are now available to plant and grow in the game.
The first collection is the Flower Shop collection, and this is the general collection that will be filled either when whacking the frame of the Flower Shop while building it, or when collecting your Daily Bonus from the Flower Shop once per day. The five items to be on the lookout for are:
Vase
Floral Wire
Bouquet Bow
Floral Foam
Gift Card
Collecting all five of these items will allow you to trade in the collection to receive 50 coins and a Flower Shop Sign decorative item which is only available (currently) through turning in the collection.
Meet us behind the break for details on the Flower Gardening collection, which is earned in an entirely different way.
As for the Flower Gardening collection, you'll earn these five items by tending to your flowers that you purchase after finishing the Flower Shop building on your land. Your flowers grow over time, like crops and trees do, and when you come back to tend to your flowers, you'll be able to randomly receive the following five items:
Gardening Apron
Pruning Shears
Flower Food
Potting Soil
Flower Bucket
The reward for this collection is a new kind of flower that is currently unavailable to purchase in the game (even if you have a completed Flower Shop on your land) - Irises. You'll receive 2 Irises, to be exact, along with 25 XP.
And there you have it - two collections to work on while completing your normal gameplay activities in FrontierVille. Will these new collections have an impact on how many flowers you'll purchase and grow in the game?
The first collection is the Flower Shop collection, and this is the general collection that will be filled either when whacking the frame of the Flower Shop while building it, or when collecting your Daily Bonus from the Flower Shop once per day. The five items to be on the lookout for are:
Vase
Floral Wire
Bouquet Bow
Floral Foam
Gift Card
Collecting all five of these items will allow you to trade in the collection to receive 50 coins and a Flower Shop Sign decorative item which is only available (currently) through turning in the collection.
Meet us behind the break for details on the Flower Gardening collection, which is earned in an entirely different way.
As for the Flower Gardening collection, you'll earn these five items by tending to your flowers that you purchase after finishing the Flower Shop building on your land. Your flowers grow over time, like crops and trees do, and when you come back to tend to your flowers, you'll be able to randomly receive the following five items:
Gardening Apron
Pruning Shears
Flower Food
Potting Soil
Flower Bucket
The reward for this collection is a new kind of flower that is currently unavailable to purchase in the game (even if you have a completed Flower Shop on your land) - Irises. You'll receive 2 Irises, to be exact, along with 25 XP.
And there you have it - two collections to work on while completing your normal gameplay activities in FrontierVille. Will these new collections have an impact on how many flowers you'll purchase and grow in the game?
New FrontierVille Badges: Florist & Gardener
Along with the release of the Flower Shop in FrontierVille today, we also see the launch of two new badges (achievements) to unlock related to the Flower Shop and the flowers you'll purchase/grow thereafter. The first badge is called the Florist badge, and it deals with the Flower Missions that are available to complete and repeat as many times as you'd like - in fact, that's how you earn this badge. It doesn't matter which of the four Flower missions you complete over and over again, so long as you do complete it.
The four badges in this series are rewarded after completing 4 Flower missions (it's easy to say "complete each of the four quests once"), 10 Flower missions, 20 Flower missions, and finally, after completing a whopping 50 Flower missions. If you have the patience to complete the same series of tasks over and over again, then congrats on eventually earning these badges. As you do, you'll be rewarded with Lilies, a flower that isn't available to purchase or plant directly.
Meanwhile, the Gardner badge is earned after tending to different numbers of flowers, so it's an entirely separate process from the Florist badge. You'll earn the four stages of the Gardener badge after tending to 25, 100, 250, and eventually 500 flowers. You'll receive the Flowering Cactus plant item as you go along. Just as with the Lilies, this Flowering Cactus is unavailable elsewhere in the game (as of this writing).
With so much to work on in terms of flowers in FrontierVille, you'll have plenty to keep you busy from now and a bit into the future.
The four badges in this series are rewarded after completing 4 Flower missions (it's easy to say "complete each of the four quests once"), 10 Flower missions, 20 Flower missions, and finally, after completing a whopping 50 Flower missions. If you have the patience to complete the same series of tasks over and over again, then congrats on eventually earning these badges. As you do, you'll be rewarded with Lilies, a flower that isn't available to purchase or plant directly.
Meanwhile, the Gardner badge is earned after tending to different numbers of flowers, so it's an entirely separate process from the Florist badge. You'll earn the four stages of the Gardener badge after tending to 25, 100, 250, and eventually 500 flowers. You'll receive the Flowering Cactus plant item as you go along. Just as with the Lilies, this Flowering Cactus is unavailable elsewhere in the game (as of this writing).
With so much to work on in terms of flowers in FrontierVille, you'll have plenty to keep you busy from now and a bit into the future.
FarmVille: Free Fuel and Double Mastery Events going on now
Two small updates launched in FarmVille this evening, but both will be greatly appreciated by long-time fans. First, the rest of this week (starting with Tuesday) will be called Free Fuel Week, where all users that login to the game consistently will be rewarded with free fuel just for doing so.
This first prize for the first day of Free Fuel week is a single can of fuel. Login tomorrow and you'll likely receive two cans. Login on Thursday and you'll receive three and so on. It's definitely a great prize for those that login consistently anyway, so make sure to do so for the rest of this week to claim your free black gold.
The second update will see you putting your free fuel to good use, as a 48-hour Double Mastery event has been launched in the game. As with all double mastery events, this will allow you to earn up to three points of mastery for every single square of a crop that you harvest, if you combine this automatic double mastery bonus with an activated bushel. You only have 48 hours to make the most of this event however, so make sure to plant as many crops as you can in that time. As for me, I think I have some two and four hour crops that are just screaming to be planted during this time. How about you?
Which of these events do you appreciate more - the free fuel, or the double mastery event?
This first prize for the first day of Free Fuel week is a single can of fuel. Login tomorrow and you'll likely receive two cans. Login on Thursday and you'll receive three and so on. It's definitely a great prize for those that login consistently anyway, so make sure to do so for the rest of this week to claim your free black gold.
The second update will see you putting your free fuel to good use, as a 48-hour Double Mastery event has been launched in the game. As with all double mastery events, this will allow you to earn up to three points of mastery for every single square of a crop that you harvest, if you combine this automatic double mastery bonus with an activated bushel. You only have 48 hours to make the most of this event however, so make sure to plant as many crops as you can in that time. As for me, I think I have some two and four hour crops that are just screaming to be planted during this time. How about you?
Which of these events do you appreciate more - the free fuel, or the double mastery event?
FarmVille Scam Alert! Avoid English Stars Sheep News Feed posts
The scammers have returned to the farm. According to FarmVille Freak, another illegitimate News Feed post is circulating Facebook. This time, it offers FarmVille players a free English Stars Sheep. This is not an official Zynga offer, so do not click on it, notify whomever supplied the feed and delete the post from your own News Feed. That is, if you couldn't tell already from the poor punctuation and pixelated image. Not to mention, this expansion pack hasn't even been released yet.
If you unfortunately did click on the offer and the subsequent pop-up page, which itself mentions that this "English Stars Sheep" has not been officially released yet, scan your computer for malware and change your passwords immediately. Also, keep in mind that accounts affected by scammers can be suspended by Zynga. So, be careful of the offers you accept and only accept those officially from Zynga.
[Image Credit: FarmVille Freak]
Have you seen this scam floating around the News Feeds? How do you think Zynga should handle the issue?
If you unfortunately did click on the offer and the subsequent pop-up page, which itself mentions that this "English Stars Sheep" has not been officially released yet, scan your computer for malware and change your passwords immediately. Also, keep in mind that accounts affected by scammers can be suspended by Zynga. So, be careful of the offers you accept and only accept those officially from Zynga.
[Image Credit: FarmVille Freak]
Have you seen this scam floating around the News Feeds? How do you think Zynga should handle the issue?
Zynga Poker deals in on Jimmy Kimmel Live, stumps his relatives
Zynga Poker appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to remind us that the Zynga Poker Con is just around the corner this March 18 and 19. Jimmy announced that players who win in the third round of Shoot Outs are eligible to win a set at the final table in the tournament. However, he realizes that not everyone is a poker pro, so Jimmy Kimmel thought he'd let his Aunt and Uncle teach the uninitiated how to play some Texas Hold 'Em. Let's just say it doesn't go over well. If you're this late to the poker scene, you might not want to learn at a tournament in Las Vegas with $100 thousand on the line. But if you do, we'd imagine there are still tickets available if Zynga is doing spots on late night TV. Considering the tournament is a little over two weeks away, we hope this isn't a bad sign.
[Via Zynga]
Have you signed up for the tournament in Vegas yet? What do you think this TV spot means ultimately for the convention?
[Via Zynga]
Have you signed up for the tournament in Vegas yet? What do you think this TV spot means ultimately for the convention?
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
FarmVille English Countryside: Exclusive decorations in the store
While you may have found yourself all caught up in the many quests and buildings to construct on your second farm in the FarmVille English Countryside, don't lose sight of the fact that there are a set of new and exclusive decorative items available to purchase for your new land in the game's store.
Like the Country Fence that was standing next to your Horse Stable? You can purchase that and two other items that are exclusive to the English Countryside expansion by heading to the Decorations tab of the store and clicking on "Them" under the Sort By drop down menu.
The Country Fence mentioned above costs 300 coins per piece, while a Dilapidated Fence is a lighter shade of brown (or even a dark tan color) that also costs 300 coins per section, but is a bit broken (on purpose of course). Finally, you can purchase a low Country Hedge to create all manner of mazes or just more naturally divided areas on your farm for 600 coins per piece.
There is no time limit associated with these items, so we expect them to be available permanently on your new farm.
Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.
Will you fill your second farm with these exclusive fence types?
Like the Country Fence that was standing next to your Horse Stable? You can purchase that and two other items that are exclusive to the English Countryside expansion by heading to the Decorations tab of the store and clicking on "Them" under the Sort By drop down menu.
The Country Fence mentioned above costs 300 coins per piece, while a Dilapidated Fence is a lighter shade of brown (or even a dark tan color) that also costs 300 coins per section, but is a bit broken (on purpose of course). Finally, you can purchase a low Country Hedge to create all manner of mazes or just more naturally divided areas on your farm for 600 coins per piece.
There is no time limit associated with these items, so we expect them to be available permanently on your new farm.
Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.
Will you fill your second farm with these exclusive fence types?
Game of the Day: Jumble Crosswords
Today's Game of the Day rocks it old school with a classic newspaper game, Jumble Crosswords. It's a combo of word scramble and crossword -- the goal is to unscramble a list of words using crossword-like clues to complete the crossword puzzle. Then use the circled letters in the puzzle to unscramble the bonus solution. Play today, then come back again every day for a brand new challenge.
Play Jumble Crosswords now >
Important side note: By playing The Game of the Day, you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.
Play Jumble Crosswords now >
Important side note: By playing The Game of the Day, you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.
Zynga raises $2.2 million for Japan relief effort (with a li'l help from Ashton and Britney)
Zynga Japan Relief
Twitter and social gaming yet again prove their worth (so, you can stop defending them now) as Zynga told the Hollywood Reporter that it has $2.2 million for the Japan earthquake relief effort. Within just over 24 hours of the disaster, the company launched a donation campaign with Save the Children that spanned several of its games including FarmVille, FroniterVille and more. With that alone the company raised over $1 million in matched donations through purchased in-game items, but it wasn't until Zynga enlisted the massive Twitter followings of stars like Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears that donations soared. Many of the in-game promotions have ended, but if you've yet to donate the link tweeted by Nicki Minaj and other miscellaneous superstars still seems to be in working condition. So, what are you waiting for?
[Image Credit: CityVille Games]
Have you donated to the Japan relief effort yet through Zynga? What do you think of Zynga's approach to helping Japan?
Twitter and social gaming yet again prove their worth (so, you can stop defending them now) as Zynga told the Hollywood Reporter that it has $2.2 million for the Japan earthquake relief effort. Within just over 24 hours of the disaster, the company launched a donation campaign with Save the Children that spanned several of its games including FarmVille, FroniterVille and more. With that alone the company raised over $1 million in matched donations through purchased in-game items, but it wasn't until Zynga enlisted the massive Twitter followings of stars like Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears that donations soared. Many of the in-game promotions have ended, but if you've yet to donate the link tweeted by Nicki Minaj and other miscellaneous superstars still seems to be in working condition. So, what are you waiting for?
[Image Credit: CityVille Games]
Have you donated to the Japan relief effort yet through Zynga? What do you think of Zynga's approach to helping Japan?
FrontierVille Bess Vs. Fanny Contest: Take a side, win Horseshoes
Despite the fact that FrontierVille's two leading ladies have already shacked up in several players' homesteads, Zynga is still pushing the Bess-Fanny rivalry. In fact, the company is throwing a contest to decide who gets to be Queen of the Homestead. All you need to do is express your vote for Queen in this FrontierVille forum thread through words, picture or another art form by April 5 to qualify.
If you decide to write in a response, be sure to make your case in 30 sentences or less; artful responses are asked to be under 10 images. The grand prize winner will receive a whopping 500 Horseshoes and a FrontierVille t-shirt, while second and third runners up will earn 250 and 125 Horseshoes, respectively (and a t-shirt). Another 47 runners up will get a FrontierVille shirt as well. Just don't rock the new threads to any major gaming conventions: You're subject to the wrath of the haters.
Have you entered the contest yet? Who do you should reign as Queen of the Homestead?
If you decide to write in a response, be sure to make your case in 30 sentences or less; artful responses are asked to be under 10 images. The grand prize winner will receive a whopping 500 Horseshoes and a FrontierVille t-shirt, while second and third runners up will earn 250 and 125 Horseshoes, respectively (and a t-shirt). Another 47 runners up will get a FrontierVille shirt as well. Just don't rock the new threads to any major gaming conventions: You're subject to the wrath of the haters.
Have you entered the contest yet? Who do you should reign as Queen of the Homestead?
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