Thứ Tư, 26 tháng 10, 2011

The DC Superhero Statues Of New York Comic Con

Our own Stephen Totilo spent some time at New York’s Comic Con today, and among his activities he’s put together this video of some superhero statues from the DC Comics booth. Many of the old favourites are in the beginning, but afterwards he moves on to some really cool and more out-there stuff, including some Mad Magazine version of the Joker and Wonder Woman, some neat black and white Batmen, and at least one more version of Starfire.

Hooray, A Rubicon Video Game! Oh, Different Rubicon

Alas, it turns out that this particular Rubicon will be a movie, graphic novel and video game described by its producers as “The Seven Samurai, set in Afghanistan with Navy SEALs as the heroes, and the Taliban the villains.” Hmm. Not maybe as interesting. It will, however, be written, produced, and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, whose past credits include The Usual Suspects (which he wrote) and The Way of the Gun (which he wrote and directed).

Street Fighter X Tekken: ‘Street Fighter meets Magic: The Gathering’

After launching Street Fighter IV, Ono said he’d wanted to increase the fanbase but said that it still seems it’s only the most elite, fanatical players who gravitate towards the fighting genre. The Gem System came about as a way to deal with issues that crop up constantly in bouts, like mirror matches, throw escapes and skill disparity. Gems buff your attributes — speed up, stronger defence, more powerful attacks — but will be visible to your opponent above your super meter. You’ll be able to equip up to five and they’ll have certain conditions that trigger their activation, like getting hit by five normal attacks or three supers in a row. Ono described the mechanic as “Street Fighter meets Magic: The Gathering”.

Costume Quest At Long Last Comes To PC — Like, Right Now

“We have always said that if it were up to us, we’d release our games for the PC,” Double Fine’s Tim Schafer said in a statement. “Well, now… it’s finally up to us!”

The PC version of the game also includes the add-on “Grubbins on Ice”.

The studio’s statement also quoted “that one guy who always posts on our forums” (“I’m still mad! I mean, what took them so long?”) and gave a shout-out to Double Fine’s investment partners. OK.

How Making Fitness Into An Role-Playing Game Makes Us All Look And Feel Great

Brian Wang and Dick Talens shared their tales of going from flabby and scrawny teenagers to buff bodybuilders, while still retaining their gamer cred. CNN then found two psychology experts — normally these are the guys who TV turns to when they want to talk about how soul-suckingly addictive video games are. Instead, they identify games’ ability to make their players feel competent and the freedom and autonomy they offer, and then the social component supporting all of it.

New York Comic Com 2011 Day Three In Ivy, Steampunk And Homicidal Mario

There’s a lot going on at New York Comic Con this weekend. There’s the comics, the video games, the table top gaming, the cosplay and the cars.
The cars include three amazing originals from TV’s Batman, Hollywood’s Batman and everyone’s Back to the Future. Yeah, all three of those are the real things.

Enjoy A Ton Of Tiny, Cute Screens From Cave Story 3D

I continue to find myself looking forward to Cave Story 3D on the 3DS — something about the game’s look seems like it will really lend itself to both portable play and to the 3DS’s screen (and hopefully, controls). In fact, I might just be looking forward to this game more than any other upcoming 3DS title except perhaps for Super Mario 3D Land.

Thứ Ba, 25 tháng 10, 2011

Professor Layton: The Arcade Game?

Level-5, the studio responsible for Professor Layton, is working on a new piece of game hardware: An all-purpose arcade cabinet for its games.

Dubbed “Level-5 Station”, the cabinet will be capable of playing customised versions of Level-5 console games altered specifically for this general purpose cabinet.

The cabinet features a 32-inch monitor and the ability to save on IC cards. What’s more, the cabinet’s on-board Wi-Fi means that players can download items and characters to their portables.

The idea is that Level-5 will take its games, perhaps Professor Layton, and then put out Level-5 station versions. First up in 2012 is Level-5 Station Inazuma Eleven: Strikers 2012 Extreme, a tweaked Level-5 Station version of upcoming Wii title Inazuma Eleven: Strikers 2012 Extreme.

Level-5 Station will be available across Japan — start date is TBA. One play will cost ¥100 or $1.30.

Lord Of The Rings Online’s Forums Might Have Been Hacked

Turbine, developers of Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online, have sent out an email this evening warning users that the studio’s forum accounts may have been compromised.
The guts of the message read like this:

3DS Monster Hunter Won’t Have Online

One of the things that impressed me most about the 3DS was its online. With the 3DS, Nintendo has delivered a solid online experience — an experience that will be M.I.A. for Monster Hunter 3G.
It is possible to get online with Monster Hunter 3DS to do things like download event quests. You just won’t be able to play with your faraway buddies.
The game’s Wii version did support online; however, the 3DS version will not. Instead, players can connect via ah hoc wireless play. Old school.

Thứ Hai, 24 tháng 10, 2011

This Adorable Video Shows The Birth Of A Gamer

Before and after: What you’re seeing here is the moment when a person makes the leap from future suit to Gamer. You might want to turn your volume down.

You May Now Watch Grand Theft Auto III’s 10th Anniversary Trailer

Behold the 10th anniversary for Grand Theft Auto III, a game that came out on October 22, 2001, back before Halo existed (Halo came out a month later, and, man, we’re all so old!).

What version of the game is this? A Rockstar rep says it’s not the new mobile version, which is coming soon to iOS and Droid . (We have played that new version, and we like it.)

Thứ Bảy, 22 tháng 10, 2011

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 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.

My Kinect Midnight launch details

I know Kinect doesn't go over to well on this site. Mostly because of the fanboyism that runs unchecked here. I will state up front that I am a "Core" gamer in my mid 20's and I decided to pre-order Kinect after I saw it at this past E3.
I also know most people said Microsoft failed at this past E3, I didn't think that though. I saw a changing, I saw Microsoft as the only company that would make money right away from all I saw them offer, they played every card brilliantly.
Having done other midnight launches, most recently Halo Reach, Fable 3 and Modern Warfare 2. Reach had around three hundred people at my local Gamestop. Last night at that same Gamestop, there were no less then five hundred people. Also the main difference was people were joking, having fun and just enjoying themselves. There was no hostility, no trash talking, no nothing. They had some Kinect demo stations up, Pizza, Monster Energy drink. Everyone was having fun. Which is what the basis of gaming is all about right? At least it should be and was for me growing up.

This is why I decided to get Kinect in the first place. I am in a gaming clan/community. I play "Core" games all the time, my team has been sponsored and we've done Gamebattles and been in the playoffs ect... It get's so unsavory to be honest.
I at first glance thought Kinect would be fun with some buddy's coming over and cracking a beer or two, I didn't even take into account of the ability to play online over XBL.
I have a Wii as well, but the lack of true online is frustrating, now there is finally a motion controlled device that has fantastic online options.

People also haven't realized yet that there are more "Casual" gamers then "core" gamers, by a large margin. So it was foolish to think Kinect would fail. It's going to do very well. The reviews are pretty good, there are some fun games. If you haven't actually tried it, you have no right to judge it.

The games are fun, I got Joy Ride, Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures (packaged with it) and Sonic Free Riders. All of which are really responsive.

I can see Kinect doing well for a long time, as I've always said it's a new console in a way, it's not like anything I've seen or done before.

Thứ Sáu, 21 tháng 10, 2011

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.


Friends for Change
Courtesy of Disney

In addition to playing online games for charity, kids can view exclusive video content and participate in a number of funonline activities.  Kids can create online art on the Friends for Change Group Wall at Disneyxd.biz, where they can see the transformative power of friends everywhere pitching in to make a difference. The Disneyxd.biz site will also feature exclusive videos from the “Disney Friends for Change Games,” including a special wrap-up show hosted by Tiffany Thorntonand Jason Earles. Kids can also download the official 2011 Friends for Change anthem “We Can Change the World” featuring Bridgit Mendler on Disneyxd.biz


Friends for Change
Courtesy of Disney

Over 30 Disney Channel Games and Disney XD Games stars from around the globe will compete in “Disney Friends for Change Games.” Four teams will play on behalf of a global charity — Fauna and Flora International, World Wildlife Fund, Ocean Conservancy and UNICEF. For five weeks beginning Friday, June 24, Disney Channelwill present “Disney Friends for Change Games” in interstitials during its Friday, Saturday and Sunday primetime original series programming, and Disney XD will present a special episode from the games Monday nights beginning June 27 (9:30 p.m., ET/PT). The Games will culminate with a special half-hour episode Sunday, July 31 on Disney Channel.


Friends for Change
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.

Ryu Ga Gotoku yakuza Kenzan Review

this is my third review

all comments welcomed positve and negative

look forward to reading what everyone has to say so i can use that imformation to imporve my next review

Thứ Năm, 20 tháng 10, 2011

Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says

Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.

Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.

Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.

Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.

Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.

It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.

Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63

New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb

Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.

The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!

Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!

Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!

Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!

Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!

Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!

Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!

Chủ Nhật, 16 tháng 10, 2011

After This, Sony Will Be the One You CAN Trust.

Hey guys, this is my first blog post, so please be as painfully honest as you can. Anyhow, Here's my opinion on this whole PSN debacle.

PSN has been down for a week and a half now. Information has been leaked, and people are reporting that they're seeing unauthorized transaction on their account. Nearly everyone who has ever played online on a PS3 now has his or her information floating out there somewhere. On N4G, people are taking sides. Some say that Sony was not to blame as the hackers were the ones who stole the information, that they couldn't have stopped it regardless, and that Sony has been keeping people up-to-date. The other side is stating that Sony failed to encrypt all of their personal information, that this kind of thing would never happen on Xbox Live, and that Sony failed to inform consumers about the information leak until an entire week after it happened. So, is it okay to be mad? I say heck yeah!

When I first heard about the info leak, I was pretty mad. First, I hadn't been able to play online for a week, and now my address is floating around somewhere for anyone to get? I'm not usually one to care much about privacy, but it's a big deal when you leak 70 odd million people's emails and passwords. I was one of those threatening to exchange my PS3 for a 360, grinding on Sony for being irresponsible with our information, and not giving us information the entire first week of the outage. However, after I settled down, I realized that perhaps I was making too much of a fuss.

In this day and age, one can do almost anything on the internet. Amazon is there for your shopping needs, and delivers right to your front door. Paypal is there for easy online transactions. News is literally at your fingertips almost the second it happens. With the internet, who needs banks? Who needs paper money? Unfortunately, now we realize the dangers of this kind of living: All of our information is sitting somewhere in a server just waiting to be cracked by some hacker who will promptly sell it on the black market. However, Sony isn't the only company that this has happened to.

Xbox Live has been known for inadvertently giving out personal information to the wrong people. Paypal has had its share of leaks. Even Facebook has had its trip-ups. Granted, they've never been on the same scale as the PSN scandal, but it goes to show that Sony isn't the only one vulnerable to these attacks.
I say that the era of the hacker terrorist is near. Who will be next? iTunes perhaps? maybe Amazon? How about Paypal? All of these are just waiting for a hacker to come along. "But these companies are more responsible with our personal information," you say! I don't care how safe they have it, a hacker with the right amount of skill can crack it within an hour. The truth is, we can never be safe. All of our information was probably floating out there on the interwebs long before Sony's trip-up. Your credit card info was probably leaked when you accidentally downloaded that spyware that your anti-virus didn't pick up; your passwords, when you signed up for that free iPhone you never got.

The internet is a dangerous place, the Wild West of the 21st century. Sony isn't going to be the only one to leak your information. I'll bet you that soon, of of the big names that we all know and love will leak your information. We all have to be careful; monter your credit card account weekly, try to avoid using the same password too much, and always make sure that an email that you get from your bank or paypal is legitimate.
Right now, Sony is rebuilding their servers. Do you think that they'll make the same mistake twice? I don't. They’ve hired an outside company to help them make sure that your information will now be as safe as possible. Their servers will most likely be safer than any other of the big names out there. They're most likely trying to avoid this kind of thing ever happening again. So I say, who will you trust: the company with the brand new, most likely entirely encrypted servers, or the company making fun of them near the Bill-Gates-shaped water cooler?

TL;DR: Sony just rebuilt their servers, so they're safer now. But seriously, man, I put alot of work into that wall of text, Y U NO READ IT, LAZZY MAAAN!

Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63

New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb

Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.

The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!

Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!

Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!

Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!

Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!

Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!

Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!

Thứ Sáu, 14 tháng 10, 2011

Why EA won't post Xbox footage of BF3

It's pretty evident that so far we have seen not an inch of xbox footage of bf3, but is it really because it looks bad or not finished/optimized? I really don't think so.

For starters, I think the reason no one has seen a trailer or even a piece of gameplay on xbox is because of Activision and Microsoft. Don't believe me? Well, look at this: xbox promotes call of duty, every map pack or DLC content released for cod is first released on XBL. Activation has exclusive partnership with Microsoft XBL basically promotes COD media. For example: we have seen COD run on xbox, but have we seen it run on PC or PS3? No. Cod is a console centered shooter, but why do you think we haven't seen it on other platforms as well?

I see people post comments like, "the console version must be hideous", or "sub par", but I believe it's not. It definitely won't be PC standard, but I can very well guess that the game will be one of the most technically amazing games out there. It all has to do will console exclusivity, hence why bf3 is prominently shown on ps3 and not xbox360. If you need another example, look at the cod press conference at the Call of Duty XP event. It had Microsoft and Xbox360 written all over it.

Want proof?: http://www.cinemablend.com/...

Or: "-$1 million dollar Call of Duty tournament by Activision and the event's lead sponsor Microsoft Xbox 360."

Why have a competitor to the game you sponsor posted up in headlines? Also, PS3 is not sponsoring BF3. People may think that but DICE and EA decided to use the "Buy BF3 new and get 1943 exclusively on PS3 for free" deal, it was to at least get some PS3 owners on their side because they basically had absolutely no influence on the Xbox side of things.

So please guys, don't nitpick and speculate on things that are obvious if you look for the signs, for all my nitpickers out there.

why is kinect being given such a harsh treatment?

As a kinect enthusiast I am a constant supporter of kinect and if something bad do happen I try to assess the reasons for the problem and comment on what could or should have been done. The thing that hits me the hardest though is when I see a bunch of comments about how it sucks and this and that when it’s clearly been proven that it can have 1:1 recognition and do other cool things. This is on top of the fact that it’s been out for only 10 months and is still a little new to the developers.

The point that I'm trying to get across is that even if most of the stuff produced by the big guys of gaming aren't the Holy Grail’s of motion controls doesn't mean that motion control in general is bad. With the kinect you really can play any type of game with it. The only issue is that with this innovative device you’re going to have to come up with an even more innovative way to do the varied actions in the games we know and love today. We have all seen such innovations like the way Ubisoft has implemented shooting into kinect without the need of a trigger and also the new ways to play made by modders/hackers online.

I believe that these are great signs of what we could do with kinect and that as time goes by the kinect will just keep getting better and better because of kinect's ability to upgrade through software. It’s going to take time but it’s a sure thing that as time goes by the games and software behind kinect will get better and better. I recently commented on this post with some cool things people have done with kinect on you tube, just check them out and just think about what could be done with kinect if you were allowed to develop your own game.

Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63

New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb

Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.

The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!

Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!

Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!

Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!

Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!

Have Fun!

Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!

Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!

Chinese Couple Sells All Three Kids to Play Online Games

A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online Nick jr games at Internet cafes, reports a southern Chinese newspaper.

According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games.  A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son.  Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.

In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession.  They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after.  The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.

Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.

They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.

When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”

Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.

Thứ Tư, 12 tháng 10, 2011

Parking Wars 2 brings Philly's ... charms to light in Facebook gaming

We have a fine city here, Philadelphia. But, a lot of that beauty has to grow on a person, and that can take years. So, to warn folks of our city's charms before they decide to visit the City of Brotherly Love, Majesco presents Parking Wars 2 for Facebook. The creator of franchises like Cooking Mama (also on Facebook!) and the Zumba Fitness games is looking to cash in on Facebook.

Based loosely on the hit A&E show of the same name--you know, the one that shows just how awesome it is to drive in my hometown? (To dispel any misleading, It's horrific.) The game launched this week, Inside Social Games reports, and has since reached over 34,000 monthly players and just over 1,500 daily players.

The game tasks players with parking cars on their friend's streets and keeping track of when to move each car and where to move them to in order to maximize points. At this year's E3, we left Parking Wars 2 feeling like it was too reliant on other friends, perhaps. And while it sounds (and sort of is) a bit boring, a slick presentation, sharp '50s style and matching tunes keep it interesting.

Parking Wars 2 in action
When players leave a car in a spot for too long or park illegally, their friends can ticket them there for parking illegally. Players level up by correctly parking and removing cars in a timely fashion. Then, they can purchase new cars that are worth more points when parked correctly. You can then buy items to boost the value of your cars, as well as for extra bonuses to ticketing vehicles. If you're a fan of watching people bicker about parking on TV, then perhaps this is your game, but I like to escape from reality, thanks.

Click here to play Parking Wars 2 on Facebook Now >

Are you excited that Parking Wars is back in action on Facebook? Do you think this sequel will do better than its predecessor? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

EA transplant to Zynga confirmed: Jeff Karp joins as marketing head

The cat has been officially removed from the bag ... by Zynga. The FarmVille creator confirmed to us that Jeff Karp (pictured), former executive VP of EA's casual games label, EA Play, has been hired as Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer at Zynga. Of course, Karp will oversee all marketing operations at the $11.5 billion company (at least), as well as international sales.

Before joining Zynga, Karp enjoyed 11 years at EA in various executive positions including chief revenue officer of the EA Games label. It was there he oversaw international marketing for properties like Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Mass Effect and more, according to Zynga's statement.

This EA-Zynga transplant joins a number of high-level traitors former EA executives. Most recently it's rumored that Mark Turmell, senior creative director at EA Sports and creator of NBA Jam, has joined Zynga. Just this June, former GM of EA-owned Easy Studios Ben Cousins joined Ngmoco to head its Sweden studio. And there are plenty more to mention.

It's unfortunate that just as the company goes full speed ahead into social and casual games with one of the biggest buys in recent gaming history that some of its most important positions have gone temporarily vacant. But it looks like The Sims Social could already be the shot in the arm EA needed--it's already attracted over 7 million players.

Do you think this will be a harmful loss for EA? With The Sims Social and whatever PopCap is up to, do you think EA could bounce back and enter the ring with Zynga? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Thứ Năm, 6 tháng 10, 2011

FarmVille Halloween items: Candy Corn Tree, Halloween Cottage, Jack-O'-Lantern and more

With tonight's FarmVille update, we see the game switch to Halloween-mode, as the first set of Halloween related items has been released in the store. This particular update sees the launch of both new items and old, so if you happen to regret not purchasing some items from last year's Halloween theme, take a look at our overview of these items to see if they've come back around.

Crops

Jack O Lantern - 10 Farm Cash

To be specific, the Jack O Lantern crop comes as an exclusive, permit-only crop that can be unlocked for 10 Farm Cash. For that price, you'll gain access to planting the crop as many times as you'd like for a seven day period. Once purchased and planted, you'll be able to harvest the Jack O Lanterns after 12 hours, and will gain three experience points for each and every square planted. The crop is masterable, with the first star coming at 400 harvests.

Trees

Candy Corn Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Candy Corn Tree - 14 Farm Cash
Halloween Candy Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Big Halloween Candy Tree - 14 Farm Cash

If you're like me, the thought of bright and whimsical trees will likely have you ready to whip out your credit card. These trees are no exception, as the Halloween Candy trees keep their purple color constantly, while the Candy Corn trees start out in different shades of green, only to mature into the classic white, yellow and orange trio of colors we're familiar with from the candy. As usual, the Level 1 (cheaper) trees are the only ones you really need to worry about purchasing outright for your collection, as you'll likely earn the larger trees in each pair for free via Mystery Seedlings.

Animals

Candy Corn Cat - 12 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Unicorn - 30 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Stallion - 35 Farm Cash

For these animals, the Candy Corn Pony was released last year (also for 24 Farm Cash), so you might already have one on your farm. If you'd like to purchase these items for your new Lighthouse Cove farm, however, you will have to purchase multiples (duplicates) as there is no way to transfer storage to your new farm as of this writing.

Buildings

Halloween Cottage - 30 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Home - 18 Farm Cash

The Halloween Cottage has to be one of the most intricately detailed buildings I've seen released in FarmVille in quite some time, if not ever. The building is covered in various spiderwebs and has candy, pumpkins and what appear to be twigs resting in the windowsills, around the front "porch" and the sides. Even the weather vane on the roof is in the design of the bat - how neat! As for the Candy Corn Home, it takes on a cuter appearance, with smaller candy corn pieces branching off from the main home as separate rooms. It's just a shame that both of these items cost Farm Cash, rather than going for coins.

Decorations

Candy Corn Gate - 10,000 coins
Candy Corn (Fountain) - 15 Farm Cash
Jack-O'-Lantern - 3,000 coins
Candy Corn Gnome - 15 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Fence - 5,000 coins

If this Jack-O'-Lantern trio looks familiar, it's because this is one item that has been a stable in FarmVille's Halloween events for the last few years, first appearing in 2009. The price has increased somewhat, but at 3,000 coins, it's still a bargain (especially considering that they glow as though lit with a candle).

Avatar Clothing

Banana Costume - 5 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Costume - 7 Farm Cash

While I'm fairly confident additional costumes will be launched in the game's store between now and Halloween proper, if you're looking to get into the spirit early, or just really like Bananas or Candy Corn, you can spend a few Farm Cash to dress your avatar up appropriately. Remember, you can try on items to see if you like the way your avatar looks in them before purchasing.

All of these items (with the exception of the crop) will be available in the game for the next 13 days. To top all of this off, however, if you happen to purchase seven items in this theme so far within the next seven days, you'll receive a free Nightmare Rider: a Halloween-themed sheep with a pumpkin hat and an orange and black flame motorcycle. We'll make sure to let you know when additional Halloween items and features launch in the game in the coming weeks, so keep checking back with us!

Are you excited to see FarmVille transition into Halloween-themed mode this year? Which of these items is your favorite so far? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille: Horses return to the store in celebration of Horse Paddock

As has become a new (but temporary) ritual in FarmVille, every time another animal breeding building releases in the game, a set of matching animals are re-released in the game's store allowing you to fill it with a variety of limited edition animals. Such is the case with this final breeding habitat - the Horse Paddock - as you can now purchase a variety of Horses to fill it from the store for a limited time. Remember, you don't need a Stallion inside your Horse Paddock to trigger breeding; you just need a single kind of a particular Horse to produce a Foal at random you harvest from the Paddock. Here's a look at the animals you can now purchase.

Disco Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Pinto Pony - 26 Farm Cash
Clydesdale Stallion - 40 Farm Cash
Mini Appaloosa - 26 Farm Cash
Palouse Horse - 28 Farm Cash
Haflinger - 24 Farm Cash
E-QUESTR10N - 24 Farm Cash
Mini Purple Unicorn - 35 Farm Cash
White Pegasus - 35 Farm Cash
Andalusian Horse - 26 Farm Cash
King Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Pink Ponytail Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Pinto Mini Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Fairy Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Comtois Horse - 26 Farm Cash

There are plenty of Horse collectors in FarmVille, and it shows here, with a whopping 15 horses/ponies being released once again for players to add to their collections. If you joined the game later than other farmers, or just started your collection recently, this is a fantastic (albeit incredibly expensive) way to flesh out your collection into something that's definitely worth showing off. Just remember, these Horses will only be available in the store for the next week. After that point, they'll go into retirement, with no guarantee of when (if ever) they'll come back again.

Will you purchase any of these re-released Horses, or is your collection of Horses already large enough to fill plenty of Horse Paddocks? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille Horse Mystery Box: What's inside?

If the recently re-released set of Horses available in the FarmVille marketplace aren't enough to satisfy your Horse-collecting needs, why not look into purchasing one of the new Horse Mystery Boxes that have also been released in the game's store? Remember, these Mystery Boxes are found under the Decorations tab of the store, even if they contain animals, so don't worry if you don't see them where they likely should be.

As for this particular box, it comes stocked with six Horses, but remember - you'll have no way of knowing which Horse you'll receive when opening a single box up. They come with the expected Horse price tag of 24 Farm Cash per box, and for that price, you're guaranteed to receive one of the following:

Black Shire Horse
Chrome Pegasus
Rainbow Mini Horse
Rainbow Pony
Rainbow Stallion
White Unicorn

Unfortunately, another problem inherent with these Mystery Boxes is that they also don't guarantee you to not receive duplicates if you decide to open more than one. Depending on how many of these Horses you already have on your farms from previous releases, that fact alone could actually make this box too much of a risk to purchase. Either way, you'll need to make up your mind about a purchase fairly quickly, as the box (and its contents) will expire from the store in a week's time.

Will you purchase a Horse Mystery Box for your game? Which Horse are you hoping to find inside? Which one did you actually receive? Let us know in the comments!

FarmVille Halloween Model Farm offers free Arborists and more

While I know I've expressed my problems with the Model Farm in FarmVille in the past, with the new Halloween Model Farm that launched this evening, I might have to eat my words. Not only is it great to see Halloween-themed items (from one of my favorite holidays) in all of their "life-size glory," but this particular Model Farm also combines these Halloween items with Lighthouse Cove items so that we can see how that looks without spending our own money beforehand.

To add to this, you're even given free prizes just for visiting, giving us even more incentive to do so. Tonight's free prize, for example, is an Arborist. While it's unclear as to whether or not that prize is static just for today's date on the calendar or for each user's first visit to the Model Farm, but either way, it doesn't hurt to just spend a few seconds allowing the farm to load each day to receive your free prize. It could be anything from functional items to coins and beyond so isn't the mystery alone enough reason to check it out?

No? Well, also remember that you can purchase items directly from the farm if you happen to see something you like but that the store never gave you enough detail to before. I suppose that's the real purpose of the Model Farm, after all, so feel free to put it to good use.

What prizes have you received from the new Halloween Model Farm? Do you find the Model Farm feature useful, or is it just wasted space in your eyes? Let us know in the comments!

PopCap feels the power of 'free,' more freemium games incoming

Perhaps "PopCap feels the power of Facebook" is more like it. During an interview with PocketGamer.biz, PopCap senior director of mobile product and business strategy Giordano Contestabile revealed that the Bejeweled Blitz creator has plenty more plans for freemium mobile games. That's especially since its recent Plants vs Zombies freemium-inspired update.

"While we typically don't disclose much about our future plans, I can say that you're in for a lot of surprises for us in the coming months, and that in-app transactions and the freemium model are going to feature prominently," Contestabile told PocketGamer.biz. The PopCap exec believes that the play first, (maybe) pay later model of mobile games will likely take over.

"I think that, one year from now, 95 percent or more of iOS game downloads might come from freemium games, and 80 percent or more of the revenue could be associated with them," Contestabile told the website. "The freemium model is extremely powerful because it allows developers to reach the biggest possible audience, and it allows players to choose if and how to pay for content, after having tried it out."

While Contestabile did say that there's still a place for premium game experiences, or pay-to-play games, that approach is losing its luster for most games. It wouldn't be terribly inaccurate to call this "The Facebook Effect." The fact that companies like Zynga and EA (which now owns PopCap) have made serious dough with free-to-play Facebook games has certainly had a visible impact on mobile gaming, which has a distribution model fairly similar to social networks. Almost Free is here to stay, and it looks like PopCap wants to lead the charge.

Are you excited to hear that more free-to-play games are coming from PopCap? Which property do you hope gets the free treatment next, or are you hoping for more original games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Thứ Ba, 4 tháng 10, 2011

Cafe World Manny's Mobile Meal Catering Order: Everything you need to know

Last week, we gave you a look at the second portion of the Cafe World two-year anniversary event, which takes us to the Philippines to help Manny on a Journey. While that may have been an already complex series of goals (and even a building project), Manny's story becomes even more in-depth today, as the accompanying catering order has finally launched. This order asks you to cook up a storm for a Filipino feast, and comes with the usual free recipe for completing this order with a three star rating.

Unfortunately, this is another order that will likely be impossible for some chefs to complete, unless they've already completed Manny's goals enough times to unlock all of the new Filipino recipes launched in this particular event. To be specific, you'll need to serve Lechon 475 times, Sisig 45 times and Filipino Paella 140 times. I suppose you could get lucky and have some really, really helpful friends do the cooking in these tasks for you (while you showered them with thanks, of course), or you could even pay your way through the goals with Cafe Cash to unlock the dishes more quickly that way. Either way, you're looking at some lengthy gameplay before you can even be eligible for completing this catering order on your own.

While you're cooking (or waiting on your friends to cook), you can ask your friends for the two collectible items in this order: 12 Monster Skewers and 16 Banana Leaves. Both of these are earned by sending out individual requests to friends, so earning all 28 may take you a few days, depending on the number of neighbors you have available to ask for help.

If you can complete this entire order within the first three days, you'll earn the three-star rating, 12 Catering Points, 3,200 Cafe Points, 70,000 coins and the Cassava Cake recipe. In addition, since this order is technically part of the two-year anniversary event, finishing with the three star rating also gives you a bonus of 10,000 Travel Passes. If three days proves to be too short, but you can finish within five days, you'll receive two stars, 8 Catering Points, 2,300 Cafe Points and 50,000 coins. Finally, if you finish at any point after the first five days have passed, you'll receive just a single star, 4 Catering Points, 1,400 Cafe Points and 30,000 coins. Again, you must finish with the three star rating to unlock the new recipe and the extra Travel Passes, so feel free to "cancel" your order if you run out of time and start over for another try.

What do you think of this newest catering order? How many of these three required dishes have you already unlocked in your cafe? Let us know in the comments.

CityVille: Finish your Bridge, Dam and more with discounted materials

If you've been putting off building one of the larger structures in CityVille (like the Bridge or Dam, as examples), because you didn't want to gather the required building materials from friends, or simply didn't want to pay the high prices to purchase those materials with City Cash, the team at Zynga is hoping that buy putting these items on sale (well, some of these items anyway), it might be enough to persuade you to open your wallet.

To be specific, a sale is now being held for up to 40% off building materials in the game. The materials are unfortunately limited to a specific set of buildings: the Bridge, Sailboat Hotel, Dam, Mall, Mall 2, Pirate Ship Attraction and Go Kart Attraction, and the rest of the game's many, many buildings are left unaffected. To make matters worse - between the two of us - the sale really isn't that good.

For example, let's say you wanted to finish your Pirate Ship Attraction. This one's building materials still cost 3 City Cash each. Perhaps if that were three City Cash in total for all of a particular ingredient I needed (say, two Ship's Prows or five Overhead Bars), that might be an acceptable price, but in our particular example, we're still looking at six City Cash for the Ship Prows and 15 City Cash for the Overhead Bars. Wouldn't it still be smarter (if not more time consuming) to ask friends for these items instead?

I suppose if you're looking for an easier way of completing these specific buildings, then you'll want to take advantage of this apparently limited time opportunity. Just don't feel any unneeded pressure to purchase building materials; the free way is still available, and doesn't look to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Will you spend City Cash on any of these discounted building materials, or have you already completed the construction on all of these buildings? Let us know in the comments.

CityVille Governor's Run Family Goals: Everything you need to know

In your quest to become Governor in CityVille, you've had to help the farmers and the toy makers, but now it's time to look a little closer to home. Your third and final portion of Act I of this event will see you earning a family's vote in your campaign. Specifically, you're looking to impress the Stumpford family (remember them from the Family Vacation goals released back in August?). Why the Stumpfords wouldn't automatically be on your side after helping them before is anyone's guess, but here's how to earn their vote of confidence officially.

Family Matters

    * Ask friends for 10 Magazine Subscriptions
    * Collect from the Executive Driving Range 4 times
    * Collect from Community Pool 6 times


As you might have guessed, the Magazine Subscriptions are earned via a general news post you'll post to your wall asking all of your friends to help you at once. As for the Executive Driving Range, this is the game's newest attraction that you can find the guide to building right here. Finally, the Community Pool is a Community Building that can be purchased from the store for 150,000 coins. By finishing this first goal, you'll receive a prize of 85 coins.

School of Thought

    * Ask for 15 Tutors
    * Upgrade Middle School to Level 3
    * Harvest 70 Brussel Sprouts


The 15 Tutors, again, need to be earned via friends. As for the Middle School, you've been able to upgrade this particular Community Building since late August, but if you don't have it done already, you can check out our guide to doing just that. Finally, Brussel Sprouts are available to plant for 48 coins and are ready to harvest after eight hours. Finishing this second of three goals gives you 4,500 coins.

Exterior Decorator

    * Ask friends for 20 Street Sweepers
    * Remodel 6 Residences
    * Unwither 24 Neighbor Crops


If you have any friends that stopped playing the game and left some crops growing (which most of us probably do), you should have no problem finding 24 individual squares to unwither. Just click on them when visiting friends' towns and you'll finish that task fast. For the residence remodeling task, this can turn into an expensive one, depending on the houses you choose to upgrade and the particular upgrades themselves, but you can see how to start the process in our guide. Finishing this final goal will complete your work with the Stumpfords (although I'm sure they'll be back in another feature in the future), and you'll receive the Mega Nail Salon business as a reward. This is a massive building that requires 410 Goods but supplies 3,050 coins each time those Goods are used.

Again, after you finish helping the Stumpfords (so long as you've also finished with the farmers and toy makers), you'll have finished the first portion of the Governor's Run event, but there's still a lot more waiting down the line. As the event continues to expand, we'll make sure to give you all of the details you need, so keep checking back with us!

[Via CityVille Wiki]

What do you think of these Governor's Run Family goals? Are they the most difficult of the three goal sets in this event so far? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille: Sheep and Pig Mastery now available

If you've been stocking up on pigs and sheep in FarmVille with the knowledge (or even just hope) that the FarmVille team would launch pig and sheep mastery in the game, your wait is over. Now, if you're wondering how exactly this will work with the literally thousands of possibilities for different kinds of pigs and sheep to be bred in the game, let me calm your fears: this doesn't result in the addition of an equal number of mastery signs; rather, the system is pretty straightforward, once you get past the "rules."

Basically, there are two sets of both sheep and pigs that determine which kind of mastery sign you'll earn. In Sheep Breeding, for an example, if the animal is specifically labeled as a Ram or Ewe, it's considered a "Sheep Pen Ram" or "Sheep Pen Ewe," which makes sense. All Sheep Pen Rams and Sheep Pen Ewes are combined into those two categories and work cumulatively towards a pair of mastery signs. That is, if you have a a purple Ewe on one farm and a pink or yellow Ewe on another farm (or even those with patterns), when harvesting them, they'll all be treated equally, working towards the same mastery sign.

This entire process is replicated when it comes to pigs. If it's a Boar or Sow, it works towards cumulative breeding pig mastery signs. On the other hand, if the animal is a basic pig or basic sheep that can be purchased from the store and doesn't immediately relate to breeding (some examples being a Party Pig, Grape Sheep, Polka Dots Sheep and so on), these do have their own individual signs, giving you plenty of additional signs to work towards.

As you might have guessed, the amount of mastery points required for these cumulative breeding signs are fairly substantial. In the case of pigs, the Pig Pen Boar sign's first star comes at 467 harvests, while the Pig Pen Sow's first star is earned after 588 harvests. For sheep, the Ewe sign's first star is earned at 840 harvests, while the first Ram star is acquired at 560 harvests.

Keep in mind, while pig and sheep mastery is fairly exciting, we still haven't seen the launch of Calf and Foal mastery in the game. That too is "coming soon," and we'll make sure to let you know when it launches in full.

Will you breed more sheep and pigs just to earn these new mastery signs? Will you purchase additional sheep or pigs from the store? Sound off in the comments.

A Bit Lucky goes all in on hardcore Facebook games with Lucky Space

We know you're all thinking it, so we'll just come out and say it: Sci-fi is huge in Facebook games right now. (Like, crazy big.) The next developer to take a crack at the theme is A Bit Lucky with Lucky Space. The San Mateo, Calif.-based developer's second social game launches today, and it's light years away from Lucky Train.

In Lucky Space, players inherit a lifeless, barren alien planet purchased by Dr. X in his final days in search of the riches he was so sure are buried deep beneath its purple crust. You'll establish a thriving space colony with one mission: strip mine the planet for all its worth in rare gems and resources. Of course, it won't be long before you discover that Dr. X was onto more than just shiny rocks and black gold.

As you expand your colony and upgrade its buildings with unique components like the Force Field Dome and Ultra-Power Laser Extractor, you'll slowly uncover the remnants of an alien civilization. Through a series a quests and the help of your friends, you will dig out alien ruins while protecting your colony from a series of natural (to this world, maybe) disasters like meteor strikes. While the game is dubbed "hardcore," it doesn't look or sound as if combat is a focus in Lucky Space.

Gallery: Lucky Space on Facebook
"Lucky Space was inspired by our love of the sci-fi genre and the desire to innovate within the social gaming space," A Bit Lucky CCO Jordan Maynard said in a release. "We've been able to blend social gaming with hardcore PC gameplay mechanics to create a new and engaging experience."

Regardless of the game being deemed "hardcore" with a lack of combat, a tenant of most Facebook games given the silly adjective, Lucky Space sounds like it might have players depend on their friends more than in most social games. You will need friends not just to visit your colony for a few boosts, but to trade rare components and identify mysterious alien artifacts. One thing we know for sure is that the game looks like a vibrant, even jolly take on Facebook games skewed for the hardcore crowd. But don't just take our word for it, check out the trailer below and see for yourself.


Click here to play Lucky Space on Facebook Now >

What do you think of A Bit Lucky's second Facebook game so far? Do you think there's still room for Facebook games within the sci-fi genre, or are you on the lookout for something new? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Chủ Nhật, 2 tháng 10, 2011

The Sims Social celebrates fans with a week of free stuff

Free stuff? Yes, please, I'll take some of that! With almost 61 million players (and climbing), the folks at EA / Playfish have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to the Sims Social on Facebook. As a way to thank their ever-growing player base for their support (even when the game suffered from some nagging loading and gameplay issues), the developers have launched a week long celebration involving free stuff that will be given away, apparently on a daily basis.

To start, we're given a gift of Social Points - a whopping 400 Social Points at that. Since your other methods of earning Social Points normally come in small increments (of 10 or less per action) when visiting friends, this really is a substantial prize. Remember, these Social Points work as a form of third currency in the game, and can be used to purchase exclusive decorations or other home items that aren't available through any other method or currency.

We've also been told that we'll be able to increase our land size in the future, although that wasn't exactly announced in as many words. To be specific, we're asked if we "need more space to build your dream home" and that with that question comes a secret that the developers just couldn't hold in anymore. We're even asked "If you could expand your land, what is the first room you'd build on it?"

Put two and two together here, and you're left with the answer that land size will soon be increasing, although no particular release date was announced (unfortunately). If you're like me, your home has already filled most nooks and crannies of land in our admittedly small square, and is surrounded by outdoor goodies to boot. Being able to increase the size of our house plot is a huge deal, and we'll make sure to let you know when that feature / ability launches as soon as it does.

In the meantime, keep checking back with the game's Facebook fan page for additional links / announcements of free prizes, and click right here to claim your free 400 Social Points.

What sorts of prizes are you hoping to receive in this week-long event of free stuff? What will you purchase with your 400 free Social Points? Sound off in the comments.

Dress up a real turtle and win a trip to New York with Bravo's Turtle Time

Are you ready to help embarrass a turtle on cable TV and make life difficult for set designers on a weekly basis? If the answer is no, that's fine. I don't think most of us are ready for such a thing either. But for those of you who are, there's a new Facebook game that lets you do this called Turtle Time.

First announced last Thursday, Turtle Time is Bravo TV's little promotional stunt for Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live show. Cohen supposedly found the turtle, love blossomed and he decided to go steady by making her his show's mascot. Since the announcement, Bravo TV has launched a Facebook game for the turtle, given her a Twitter account (that now has 1,889 followers) and a name: "Tramona."

The game involves dressing up the turtle, and while the concept sounds innocuous, there might be some PG-13 material in the game, such as the presence of alcoholic items and profanity by the users. So I repeat, this is not a game targeted for kids. Right off the bat, when you try to play the game, it'll ask you for your birth date.

Gallery: Turtle Time

For the time being, players get 14 free items (nine Goods, three Costume pieces, and two Scenes) with 53 for sale at the store. Possibly the most outrageous item is "Gay Guys Holding Hands in Speedos," which surprisingly costs 150 Lettuce instead of Facebook Credits. Lettuce (a turtle's favorite food) is the in-game currency of Turtle Time, and you start off with 1,000 of it. But I managed to snag an extra 100 Lettuce, because I correctly answered a completely random, pop-up quiz question. And while there's no dedicated free gifts option yet, you can buy items and gift them to your friends.
Turtle Time Crowds Make Me Crabby
We can see this getting fun as more people play. Already, there's some killer entries, like surrounding the turtle with crabs or balancing the turtle on a pyramid of wine glasses or whiskey bottles--sorry, I can't rightly recall which. Overall, this is a simple game and the chance for a free trip to New York doesn't hurt either. This game has only been up for less than two days, and it's got 1,486 players. To follow the game, check out its official Facebook page.

Click here to play Turtle Time on Facebook now >

Are you playing for fun or for the free trip to New York? What's the wackiest costume and backdrop can you come up with for the turtle? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Pioneer Trail Bug Report: Lost progress bug is being squashed

If you've been playing Pioneer Trail (even when it was FrontierVille) for any considerable amount of time, I'd be surprised if you hadn't suffered from a rollback issue or two, or some other form of game/fun-breaking bug. If not, you're liable to run into one now, as a widespread issue has broken out in the game, causing users to lose considerable amounts of progress on goals. This is apparently such a large issue that the majority of the game's official forums has been branded with posts and banners about the issue, but Zynga is here to let you know that help is on the way.

Specifically, we're told this by customer service:

"We have received a high number of inquiries about players losing progress in the game and seeing old missions come back. We apologize for the problem and have our developers looking at the problem now.

There's no need to submit a help ticket for this matter, as we plan on correcting this problem on our end for all affected players. We request if you are having this problem to try again in a few hours (or even later today) to see if your progress has been returned. If this problem has occurred for you, please simply click the "vote to fix" button, this will alert us that you were affected."

Essentially, what this means is that you don't need to contact Zynga Customer Support to fix this issue, as supposedly everything will be placed back to normal on Zynga's end without any input from us. That is, the "game knows" where you were when the bug first hit, and will revert you back to the proper state when the bug has been fixed. As for the time table, things aren't progressing as quickly as we would have hoped. As of yesterday morning, the issue was still being worked on by developers, but a proper fix hadn't actually been pushed out.

While you're waiting for the issue to be resolved, I'd suggest simply not playing the game (or doing anything significant, that you would be upset about having to repeat). Keep checking back with the game's official forums for updates as to the progress of the bug fix, and we'll make sure to let you know if anything significant happens between now and then.

Have you been hit by this "lost progress" bug? How far did it push you back? Let us know in the comments.

Cafe World Farmers Insurance promotion comes with Professor Burke Statue

If anything, the folks at Zynga definitely know how to setup a good cross-promotion. After Capital One recently set up shop in a slew of Zynga's games (and practically took over FarmVille), we now see a new promotion launching in Cafe World with another company: Farmers Insurance (remember, we were told that Farmers would be making an appearance in the game back in June). If you watch a lot of TV, you might recognize this promotion's mascot of sorts - Professor Burke - from recent Farmers Insurance commercials.

Now, Professor Burke has come to your cafe as a character and as a statue, plated in gold. This "Professor Burke Statue" has a limited time of effectiveness, but will "insure" your cafe, granting you spoil protection on all of the dishes you cook from now until October 2. Luckily, the statue is free, and it doesn't require any "building" to gain its effect. You can either simply place the statue from the in-game pop-up that appears, or you can head into the game's build menu manually to drag your free statue out and into your cafe.

If there's one thing to remember about this, it isn't that the statue itself comes with a time limit that can be turned on and off depending on when you place it in your cafe; rather, it's a case where you'll want to place it in your cafe as soon as possible as the overall countdown timer ticks down until October 2. If the Farmers Insurance promotion grows in Cafe World, we'll make sure to let you know.

Would you have liked the Professor Burke Statue to have another effect, rather than wither protection? Or, will you take advantage of this opportunity to cook some quickly cooking dishes while you're busy doing other things since they won't spoil? Sound off in the comments.

Cafe World Manny's Mobile Meal Catering Order: Everything you need to know

Last week, we gave you a look at the second portion of the Cafe World two-year anniversary event, which takes us to the Philippines to help Manny on a Journey. While that may have been an already complex series of goals (and even a building project), Manny's story becomes even more in-depth today, as the accompanying catering order has finally launched. This order asks you to cook up a storm for a Filipino feast, and comes with the usual free recipe for completing this order with a three star rating.

Unfortunately, this is another order that will likely be impossible for some chefs to complete, unless they've already completed Manny's goals enough times to unlock all of the new Filipino recipes launched in this particular event. To be specific, you'll need to serve Lechon 475 times, Sisig 45 times and Filipino Paella 140 times. I suppose you could get lucky and have some really, really helpful friends do the cooking in these tasks for you (while you showered them with thanks, of course), or you could even pay your way through the goals with Cafe Cash to unlock the dishes more quickly that way. Either way, you're looking at some lengthy gameplay before you can even be eligible for completing this catering order on your own.

While you're cooking (or waiting on your friends to cook), you can ask your friends for the two collectible items in this order: 12 Monster Skewers and 16 Banana Leaves. Both of these are earned by sending out individual requests to friends, so earning all 28 may take you a few days, depending on the number of neighbors you have available to ask for help.

If you can complete this entire order within the first three days, you'll earn the three-star rating, 12 Catering Points, 3,200 Cafe Points, 70,000 coins and the Cassava Cake recipe. In addition, since this order is technically part of the two-year anniversary event, finishing with the three star rating also gives you a bonus of 10,000 Travel Passes. If three days proves to be too short, but you can finish within five days, you'll receive two stars, 8 Catering Points, 2,300 Cafe Points and 50,000 coins. Finally, if you finish at any point after the first five days have passed, you'll receive just a single star, 4 Catering Points, 1,400 Cafe Points and 30,000 coins. Again, you must finish with the three star rating to unlock the new recipe and the extra Travel Passes, so feel free to "cancel" your order if you run out of time and start over for another try.

What do you think of this newest catering order? How many of these three required dishes have you already unlocked in your cafe? Let us know in the comments.