This week's Official FarmVille Podcast was on time as scheduled and hosted by FarmVille Community Manager Lexilicious. You can listen to the video above, read the FarmVille Freak Summary below, or read the official transcript at the bottom of the post. This week's FarmVille Podcast contains some exciting news, especially for higher Level farmers that are Level 70 and above. New Levels! New Rewards! New Challenges! Read complete details in "Coming Soon" section.
This Week's Releases:
Move & Recycle Tools
* Move and Recycle Tools that allow you to easier decorate and re-arrange farms.
* Move Tool allows you to even move planted plots!
* Recycle Tool deletes items with no value and sells items with no value.
* Recycle Tool features a quick delete tool that will not notify you or warn you when you are about to sell items that cost under 1,000 coins.
Biplane
* Biplane applies instant grow on crops, making them grow instantaneously.
* Can purchase one for 30,000 coins.
* Accessible to Level 12 farmers and above.
* First flight is free, additional flights can be purchased with farm cash. The cost varies.
* Can win one as Gold Reward for completing the new Co-Op Farming "Peanut Butter and Jelly" Job.
Limited Edition Tuscan Items
Birthday Themed Decorations
Cracked Ribbon
* Cracked Ribbon rewards you for finding or "cracking open" Mystery Eggs.
User-Submitted Questions:
* Q:What made FarmVille decide to partner with 7-Eleven for a promotion? A: Danielle of FarmVille Product Marketing says that initially it started as FarmVille Slurpee cups and extended beyond because of the opportunity to promote offered by 7-Eleven.
* Q: Why is this 7-Eleven promotion available to the United States only? A: Due to specific restrictions and time constraints they were only able to open it to United States and Canada, some future promotions will include international players as well.
* Q: Will there be other similar promotions available in the future? A: Yes.
COMING SOON
New Content for Higher Level Players
(The Zynga gods are listening to our FarmVille Freak pleas :) )
* In the near future, the Level cap of 70 will finally be increased and extended to Levels 100 and beyond!
* New high level crops will be introduced that can be purchases with a one time use permit.
* New crops that will require you to Master other crops first.
* New high level coin items and gifts will be introduced for higher level players.
Crafting Cottage Preview
* Will give information on 3 upcoming buildings including what they produce.
* Learn which Bushels will be required to make some of the crafted goods.
* There will be a special gift for those that participate in the Preview.
Thank-You for Farmers that Submitted Email Permission
* Farmers who have given their email to FarmVille will receive a special prize.
* They will be rewarded with Free Fuel.
* As a thank you they will be given Free Fuel once per day, for 2 weeks.
The next Podcast will be Friday, June 11th 2010.
What is the most exciting part of this Podcast for you? I am excited about the new features for higher level farmers because their dedication deserves recognition!
Click here to read the Official transcript provided by Zynga below: Continue reading »
FarmVille Podcast – June 4th:
Hey Farmers, and welcome to this week's installment of the Official FarmVille Podcast! My name is Lexilicious and I am here to bring you all of the latest news and information about FarmVille from Zynga. This week, we will be discussing our latest releases, you guys will all be getting a sneak peek of things coming to FarmVille in the future, and we have a very special guest with us today to answer some questions from the FarmVille community!
This week featured lots of great new Limited Edition items, as well as some great new features.
The new "Move" and "Recycle" tools made an appearance this week, allowing users to more easily decorate and rearrange their farms. To access the Move tool, Simply click the Hand icon from the multi-tool menu to enter decoration mode. When in this mode, you will be able to move items with a single click, including plots!
When using the Move tool, you can also use the space bar to rotate applicable items when they are being held.
The new Recycle tool can be used to quickly clean up your farm. This new tool can be accessed by clicking the Recycle symbol in the Multi Tool menu.
The recycle tool will delete items with no value and sell items with coin value. In addition, the Recycle tool includes a "Quick Delete" mode. Quick delete will not warn you about selling or deleting any object worth less than 1,000 coins that is not a limited edition item when enabled.
Quick Delete will also give you an option to choose not to be warned about selling or deleting specific types of items until another tool is used. The new FarmVille Biplane was also released this week, which allows you to grow all of your crops instantaneously by applying an eco-friendly mix from the sky!
The Biplane can be purchased from the "Vehicles" Tab of the Market for 30,000 coins and is unlocked at level 12. Alternatively, you can obtain the Biplane by obtaining a Gold Medal in the new "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" Co-op that was released on Thursday.
Applying Instant Grow with the Biplane costs Farm Cash. The amount of Farm Cash you pay is dependent on how much time is left until your crops mature and how many seeded plots are on your farm. After you first purchase your Biplane, you are entitled to one free application of Instant Grow. To use it, simply click on the Biplane and select "Apply Instant Grow".
And lastly, new Limited Edition Tuscan Items and the new Birthday themed decorations are now available in the market, along with the new "Cracked" Achievement.
Alright! And that's about it for new releases this week! On that note, let's go ahead and get into answering some questions submitted by members of the FarmVille Community! Today, we have a special guest with us who has graciously taken time out of her busy day to sit down and answer some questions from the community about the 7/11 promotion that is currently running.
Our first question comes to us from Ar-nak-nag-sak, and they would like to know "What made FarmVille decide to partner with 7-11 for a promotion?"
Here is what Danielle had to say about this question.
Hi Farmers, my name is Danielle and I work on Product Marketing for FarmVille. I've been on the team for close to a year and have seen FarmVille grow into something that has brought enjoyment to millions of players around the globe.
As FarmVille has grown, so has the opportunity to partner with other companies to expand our brand. One such company was 7-Eleven. What initially started as bringing FarmVille to Slurpee cups turned into an opportunity to work with 7-Eleven on a full fledge promotion that involved numerous Zynga branded 7-Eleven merchandise, Zynga marketing posters in and around the store, and the ability for consumers to earn exclusive virtual items.
Our next question comes to us from Icanhazbeez. "Why is this promotion only available to the US, and not to international users?"
While we would have loved to bring this promotion to our international community, we work with all of our partners on an individual basis and due to a number of different variables, including time restraints, we were not able to bring the 7/11 promotion to our international users.
However, It was amazing that we were able to bring this promotion to US and Canadian users within the time frame that we had, although we are still open to future promotions that will include our international community.
And finally, our last question comes to us from Super Woman. "Will there be more future promotions similar to 7-11?"
Due to the popularity of the 7/11 promotion, we will be looking into more opportunities like this in the future. I would personally like to thank everyone who has participated in the 7-eleven promotion and we are very interested in hearing your feedback. Please make sure to visit the official farmville forums with any ideas or suggestions.
Thanks for having me on the podcast. I may be back in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.
Alright, awesome. I want to give a big thank you to Danielle for taking time out of her busy schedule to sit down and talk with us today. And going forward, we will be doing our best to get other members of the FarmVille team to sit down with us to discuss new features and answer questions from the community.
So for this week's coming soon segment, I actually have some information for you guys on something I mentioned very briefly a few months ago in one of our earlier podcasts. The FarmVille team has recently been spending a lot of time coming up with content for our higher level players. Because of that, I am very excited to let you know that in the near future, we will be raising the level cap of 70, and adding more levels to FarmVille! Soon, you will be able to level up to level 100 and beyond. We will also be introducing new high level crops that can only be planted with a special one time purchase Permit and crops that require another crop to be mastered before they can be planted.
Along with the great new crops and additional levels, new high level coin items and gifts will soon be available to our most dedicated farmers.
Make sure to also keep an eye out for the Crafting Cottage preview, where you can find out about these three upcoming buildings and what they can produce. Learn which bushels are required to make some of the crafted goods and make sure to claim your special gift for participating in the preview!
And lastly, as a thank you to our users who have provided us with their email addresses, we will soon be emailing out fuel once a day for 2 weeks to anyone who has signed up for email.
Alright Folks, that's it from me this week. I will be back next Friday to give you all of the latest news and information from around the Farm. Again, my name is Lexilicious, and I will see you soon. Happy farming everybody!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak >
Thứ Tư, 15 tháng 2, 2012
Thứ Bảy, 11 tháng 2, 2012
Cafe World: Celebrate Fourth of July with Sizzling Summer Decor
cafe world fourth of july summer theme
Fourth of July weekend is coming up and what better way to celebrate than by decorating your Cafe World restaurant. An all new Summer theme was released that features many of the things we've come to embrace on Independence Day.
cafe world summer decor cafe world fourth of july
The items include fun summer activities and items like fireworks, kites, coolers of beverages, and of course: BBQ. Continue reading to see all the new Fourth of July summer items.
cafe world fourth of july
Tables
Picnic Table - 20,000 Coins
Chairs
Beach Chair - 2 Cafe Cash
Picnic Bench - 2 Cafe Cash
Windows
Butterflies - 4 Cafe Cash
Beehive - 4 Cafe Cash
Walls
Summer Picket Fence Wallpaper - 1 Cafe Cash
Summer Mountain Wallpaper - 1 Cafe Cash
Decor
Beach Umbrella - 2 Cafe Cash
Rubber Ducky - 4 Cafe Cash
Picnic Surprise - 4 Cafe Cash
Lemonade Stand - 7 Cafe Cash
American Flag Tent - 12 Cafe Cash
Trail Sign - 15,000 Coins
Sunflowers - 18,000 Coins
Drink Cooler - 20,000 Coins
Volleyball Player - 140,000 Coins
Sparkler Fun Girl - 150,000 Coins
Functional
Camping Grill - 6 Cafe Cash
So whether you like celebrating Fourth of July with fireworks, a beach cookout or by lounging next to the pool, Cafe World's new Summer Theme will let you decorate your cafe appropriately. Check it out for yourself in Cafe World and prepare yourself for the big Fourth of July weekend!
Click here to play Cafe World>
Fourth of July weekend is coming up and what better way to celebrate than by decorating your Cafe World restaurant. An all new Summer theme was released that features many of the things we've come to embrace on Independence Day.
cafe world summer decor cafe world fourth of july
The items include fun summer activities and items like fireworks, kites, coolers of beverages, and of course: BBQ. Continue reading to see all the new Fourth of July summer items.
cafe world fourth of july
Tables
Picnic Table - 20,000 Coins
Chairs
Beach Chair - 2 Cafe Cash
Picnic Bench - 2 Cafe Cash
Windows
Butterflies - 4 Cafe Cash
Beehive - 4 Cafe Cash
Walls
Summer Picket Fence Wallpaper - 1 Cafe Cash
Summer Mountain Wallpaper - 1 Cafe Cash
Decor
Beach Umbrella - 2 Cafe Cash
Rubber Ducky - 4 Cafe Cash
Picnic Surprise - 4 Cafe Cash
Lemonade Stand - 7 Cafe Cash
American Flag Tent - 12 Cafe Cash
Trail Sign - 15,000 Coins
Sunflowers - 18,000 Coins
Drink Cooler - 20,000 Coins
Volleyball Player - 140,000 Coins
Sparkler Fun Girl - 150,000 Coins
Functional
Camping Grill - 6 Cafe Cash
So whether you like celebrating Fourth of July with fireworks, a beach cookout or by lounging next to the pool, Cafe World's new Summer Theme will let you decorate your cafe appropriately. Check it out for yourself in Cafe World and prepare yourself for the big Fourth of July weekend!
Click here to play Cafe World>
Mafia Wars Fourth of July Sale incentives: Elvis Impersonator and more
Mafia Wars Fourth of July sale has officially kicked off, and in addition to five limited edition items, the game is offering special Las Vegas themed incentives to anyone willing to part with Reward Points in the next five days. Here's how it works:
Buy 1 item, win an Elvis Impersonator (bodyguard, 20 A, 48 D)
Buy 5 items, win a Pair of Kings (weapon, 56 A, 26 D)
Buy 10 items, win a Sin City Shooter (weapon, 81 A, 36D)
If you read the fine print, though, you'll be disappointed to learn that soccer balls, Treasure Chest keys and health refills do not count toward getting these items, which seems rather arbitrary. The idea of owning a weapon with 81 Attack sounds pretty enticing at first, though I'm not sure it's enticing enough to buy a whole 10 items just for one of these guns, even if it packs a lot of heat.
Would you buy 10 items to get the Sin City Shooter?
Buy 1 item, win an Elvis Impersonator (bodyguard, 20 A, 48 D)
Buy 5 items, win a Pair of Kings (weapon, 56 A, 26 D)
Buy 10 items, win a Sin City Shooter (weapon, 81 A, 36D)
If you read the fine print, though, you'll be disappointed to learn that soccer balls, Treasure Chest keys and health refills do not count toward getting these items, which seems rather arbitrary. The idea of owning a weapon with 81 Attack sounds pretty enticing at first, though I'm not sure it's enticing enough to buy a whole 10 items just for one of these guns, even if it packs a lot of heat.
Would you buy 10 items to get the Sin City Shooter?
Ridiculous social game oversell of the moment
"Ever heard about mixed-reality social gaming? Well, Gbanga brings you the new dimension of gaming. Now interact, socialize and play with real people around you. Get astonished with ultimate gaming innovation. The Gbanga adapts itself relatively to the real world location. This means if you live in London in reality, you would be in London in the actual game too. With similar landmarks and real people, soon it would get tricky to separate Gbanga from reality. This makes a whole new experience of Gbanga which is the first ever mixed reality social game over multi-mobile platforms. Get ready to bang on Gbanga! [emphasis added]."
-A writer at Eye on iPhone ("Its all about iPhone applications n [sic] accessories") goes a little overboard in his advertisement news post about Gbanga's location-aware social gaming platform.
-A writer at Eye on iPhone ("Its all about iPhone applications n [sic] accessories") goes a little overboard in his advertisement news post about Gbanga's location-aware social gaming platform.
Pet Society rolls out Fourth of July items and clearance sale
Like other Facebook games, Pet Society is preparing for the big Fourth of July weekend by releasing fun summer items and sales. Fireworks and confetti are both available and are a perfect way to celebrate the United States of America's independence. In addition, various other American themed items were released such as flags and other goodies decked in red, white and blue. pet society fourth of july
In my opinion, Fourth of July is a day best celebrated with company, the great outdoors and delectable BBQed food. It seems Pet Society agrees as they've released new barbecuing equipment in the stores.
Also released was a free plush bald eagle that you may send to your friends, so make sure to send it to your fellow pets while you still can.
Below are images of some of the new Fourth of July stuff found in Pet Society:
pet society fourth of julypet society fourth of july
pet society fourth of julypet society fourth of julypet society fourth of july
All these goodies can be found in the various stores. To find the fireworks and other party equitment, head to the Market and click the Party and Gifts tab (pictured right). There's a lot to see and a lot of good deals as a result of the Fourth of July clearance sale. The sale and items will be around till July 11th so head over to Pet Society to Check them out now.
Click here to play Pet Society>
FishVille creatures and decor flaunt Fourth of July flair
fishville fourth of july
For a limited time only, FishVille has released a number of exclusive Fourth of July items in the store. Only available for another six days, the goods are here just in time for the Independence Day weekend.
Continue reading to see all the Fourth of July FishVille exclusives.
fishville fourth of julyfishville fourth of julyfishville fourth of july
In addition to the two festive July 4th creatures, the Independence Jelly and Independence Horse, there are a number of decorate items to place in your tanks (all pictured above). We're always pleased to see items purchasable with Coins and it seems FishVille is letting most everyone get into the National Holiday by only charging Sand Dollars for just a few things. Unfortunately, both creatures, including the Seahorse wearing a hat, cost Sand Dollars. You'll have to throw down some real money if you want to own one of the few marine animals to ever wear a hat in FishVille.
If you're a fan or own an aquarium in FishVille, check out the limited edition Fourth of July items. They won't be around for long.
Click here to play FishVille>
For a limited time only, FishVille has released a number of exclusive Fourth of July items in the store. Only available for another six days, the goods are here just in time for the Independence Day weekend.
Continue reading to see all the Fourth of July FishVille exclusives.
fishville fourth of julyfishville fourth of julyfishville fourth of july
In addition to the two festive July 4th creatures, the Independence Jelly and Independence Horse, there are a number of decorate items to place in your tanks (all pictured above). We're always pleased to see items purchasable with Coins and it seems FishVille is letting most everyone get into the National Holiday by only charging Sand Dollars for just a few things. Unfortunately, both creatures, including the Seahorse wearing a hat, cost Sand Dollars. You'll have to throw down some real money if you want to own one of the few marine animals to ever wear a hat in FishVille.
If you're a fan or own an aquarium in FishVille, check out the limited edition Fourth of July items. They won't be around for long.
Click here to play FishVille>
Thứ Năm, 9 tháng 2, 2012
FarmVille Gnomes: The Complete Gnome Collection
FarmVille Gnomes Antony Jo
In FarmVille, there's a gnome for every theme and occasion, whether it's Halloween, Thanksgiving, or even for working on your Crafting Cottages! To keep track of all the FarmVille gnomes, we've created a handy alphabetized table guide of all the names and pictures of the gnomes for you below.
So far, Zynga has designed 146 gnomes for its players since 2009, but not all of them have been released to players and some of them are the same gnomes, but just in different sizes. The gnomes that are still unavailable are listed in bold font.
Edit: Gnomes updated as of Dec. 27th, 2011, Tues. at 1:45 p.m. ET.
American Gnome
Arctic Explorer Gnome FarmVille autumn gnome
Autumn Gnome
Autumn Fairy Gnome
FarmVille gnome Bacchus Gnome
Bacchus Gnome (Sr.)
Ballet Girl Gnome
Balloon Gnome
Beach Gnome
Birthday Gnome
Black Knight Gnome FarmVille gnome Bride Gnome
Bride Gnome FarmVille gnome Bunny Gnome
Bunny Gnome
Butler Gnome
Butterfly Gnome
Cancan Gnome FarmVille gnome Candied Gnome
Candied Gnome
Candy Cane Gnome
Candy Corn Gnome
Carnival Barker Gnome FarmVille gnome Cave Gnome
Cave Gnome
Centurion Gnome
Charro Gnome Farmville gnome Chef Gnome
Chef Gnome (Sr.) Farmville Chicken Gnome
Chicken Gnome
Chieftain Gnome
Christmas Carolers
Gnome
Chrome Gnome
Clover Gnome
Conductor Gnome
Confetti Gnome FarmVille gnome Cowboy Gnome
Cowboy Gnome FarmVille gnome Cowgirl Gnome
Cowgirl Gnome
Cricket Gnome FarmVille gnome Cupid Gnome
Cupid Gnome
Detective Gnome
Drummer Boy Gnome
FarmVille gnome Dutch Gnome
Dutch Gnome FarmVille gnome Dutch Girl Gnome
Dutch Girl Gnome FarmVille gnome Elf Gnome
Elf Gnome FarmVille gnome Elf Girl Gnome
Elf Girl Gnome
England Chef Gnome FarmVille gnome Eskimo Gnome
Eskimo Gnome
Fairy Gnome
Fairy Leaf Gnome
Fall Pilgrim Gnome Fame Gnome
Fame Gnome FarmVille Fairy Flower Gnome
Fairy Flower Gnome
Fairy Godmother Gnome
Father Gnome festival gnome
Festival Gnome
Fisherman Gnome
Flamenco Gnome
Flamenco Gnome
Flying Kite Gnome FarmVille Gnome Franken Bride
Franken Bride Gnome FarmVille gnome Franken Gnome
Franken Gnome FarmVille gnome Garden Gnome
Garden Gnome
Gardener Gnome FarmVille Gentleman Gnome
Gentlemen Gnome FarmVille German Gnome
German Gnome FarmVille Ghost Gnome
Ghost Gnome
Gift Giving Gnome FarmVille gnome Gingerbread Gnome
Gingerbread Gnome FarmVille Gnome Ref
Gnome Ref FarmVille Gnome Sprinkler
Gnome Sprinkler
Gold Gnome FarmVille gnome Groom Gnome
Groom Gnome
Gourd Gnome
Gum Drop Gnome
Harvest Gnome
Headless Horseman
Gnome FarmVille gnome Heart Broken Gnome
Heart Broken Gnome
Holiday Gnome
Ice Fishing Gnome
Inn Keeper Gnome
Irish Girl Gnome
Jack Frost Gnome
Jack O Lantern
Gnome
Kissing Gnomes
Knight Gnome
Koala Gnome
Leaf Fairy Gnome FarmVille gnome Leprechaun Gnome
Leprechaun Gnome
Leprechaun Girl Gnome
Lighthouse Keeper Gnome
Lobster Gnome
Male Fairy Gnome
Mandolin Gnome
Maple Leaf Gnome
Mariachi Gnome FarmVille gnome Master Gnome
Master Gnome FarmVille Mechanic Gnome
Mechanic Gnome
Mime Gnome
FarmVille gnome Mr Swiss Gnome
Mr Swiss Gnome FarmVille gnome Miss Swiss Gnome
Miss Swiss Gnome
Mom Day Gnome
Monster Gnome
FarmVille gnome Mrs Claus Gnome
Mrs Claus Gnome FarmVille gnome Mummy Gnome
Mummy Gnome
Mystery Gnome
Neptune Gnome
FarmVille gnome New Year Gnome
New Year Gnome
North Pole
(Naughty) Gnome FarmVille gnome Nutcracker Gnome
Nutcracker Gnome
Nutcracker King
Gnome
Ornament Gnome
Parisian Waiter Gnome FarmVille gnome Pilgrim Gnome
Pilgrim Gnome FarmVille gnome Pilgrim Girl Gnome
Pilgrim Girl Gnome
Piper Gnome
Pirate Girl Gnome
Pirate Gnome FarmVille gnome Pocahontas Gnome
Pocahontas Gnome
FarmVille gnome Prince Gnome
Prince Gnome FarmVille gnome Princess Gnome
Princess Gnome FarmVille gnome Platinum Gnome
Platinum Gnome
Pumpkin Gnome
Purple Pumpkin Gnome FarmVille Queen's Guard
Queen's Guard
Rainbow Gnome FarmVille gnome Reindeer Gnome
Reindeer Gnome
FarmVille Santa Gnome
Santa Gnome
Safari Gnome
Sailor Gnome FarmVille gnome Silver Gnome
Silver Gnome
Ski Patrol Gnome
Snowboard Gnome
Snowman Gnome FarmVille Spa Gnome
Spa Gnome (Sr.)
FarmVille Student Gnome
Student Gnome FarmVille Surfer Gnome
Surfer Gnome FarmVille gnome Swiss Alphorn
Swiss Alphorn
Teddy Bear Gnome
Tinsel Gnome
Tourist Gnome FarmVille gnome Trawler
Trawler Gnome
Trick Or Treat Gnome
Troll Gnome
Tubing Gnome
Tuxedo Gnome FarmVille gnome Valentine Gnome
Valentine Gnome
FarmVille gnome Vampire Gnome
Vampire Gnome
FarmVille gnome Venus Gnome
Venus Gnome
Werewolf Gnome
White Knight Gnome
FarmVille gnome Wizard Gnome
Wizard Gnome
Zombie Gnome
Chart Notes: When you see "Sr." listed next to a gnome, this indicates that there's actually two different sized versions of this gnome. The "Sr." version of the gnome is roughly one and a half times bigger than the normal gnome.
FarmVille Mystery Gnome
Also, the "Mystery Gnome" looks ordinary, but it's actually gigantic! (Image credit goes to HatchetHolic on FarmVilleFreak.com.)
Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.
Which FarmVille gnome is your favorite? How many have you collected?
In FarmVille, there's a gnome for every theme and occasion, whether it's Halloween, Thanksgiving, or even for working on your Crafting Cottages! To keep track of all the FarmVille gnomes, we've created a handy alphabetized table guide of all the names and pictures of the gnomes for you below.
So far, Zynga has designed 146 gnomes for its players since 2009, but not all of them have been released to players and some of them are the same gnomes, but just in different sizes. The gnomes that are still unavailable are listed in bold font.
Edit: Gnomes updated as of Dec. 27th, 2011, Tues. at 1:45 p.m. ET.
American Gnome
Arctic Explorer Gnome FarmVille autumn gnome
Autumn Gnome
Autumn Fairy Gnome
FarmVille gnome Bacchus Gnome
Bacchus Gnome (Sr.)
Ballet Girl Gnome
Balloon Gnome
Beach Gnome
Birthday Gnome
Black Knight Gnome FarmVille gnome Bride Gnome
Bride Gnome FarmVille gnome Bunny Gnome
Bunny Gnome
Butler Gnome
Butterfly Gnome
Cancan Gnome FarmVille gnome Candied Gnome
Candied Gnome
Candy Cane Gnome
Candy Corn Gnome
Carnival Barker Gnome FarmVille gnome Cave Gnome
Cave Gnome
Centurion Gnome
Charro Gnome Farmville gnome Chef Gnome
Chef Gnome (Sr.) Farmville Chicken Gnome
Chicken Gnome
Chieftain Gnome
Christmas Carolers
Gnome
Chrome Gnome
Clover Gnome
Conductor Gnome
Confetti Gnome FarmVille gnome Cowboy Gnome
Cowboy Gnome FarmVille gnome Cowgirl Gnome
Cowgirl Gnome
Cricket Gnome FarmVille gnome Cupid Gnome
Cupid Gnome
Detective Gnome
Drummer Boy Gnome
FarmVille gnome Dutch Gnome
Dutch Gnome FarmVille gnome Dutch Girl Gnome
Dutch Girl Gnome FarmVille gnome Elf Gnome
Elf Gnome FarmVille gnome Elf Girl Gnome
Elf Girl Gnome
England Chef Gnome FarmVille gnome Eskimo Gnome
Eskimo Gnome
Fairy Gnome
Fairy Leaf Gnome
Fall Pilgrim Gnome Fame Gnome
Fame Gnome FarmVille Fairy Flower Gnome
Fairy Flower Gnome
Fairy Godmother Gnome
Father Gnome festival gnome
Festival Gnome
Fisherman Gnome
Flamenco Gnome
Flamenco Gnome
Flying Kite Gnome FarmVille Gnome Franken Bride
Franken Bride Gnome FarmVille gnome Franken Gnome
Franken Gnome FarmVille gnome Garden Gnome
Garden Gnome
Gardener Gnome FarmVille Gentleman Gnome
Gentlemen Gnome FarmVille German Gnome
German Gnome FarmVille Ghost Gnome
Ghost Gnome
Gift Giving Gnome FarmVille gnome Gingerbread Gnome
Gingerbread Gnome FarmVille Gnome Ref
Gnome Ref FarmVille Gnome Sprinkler
Gnome Sprinkler
Gold Gnome FarmVille gnome Groom Gnome
Groom Gnome
Gourd Gnome
Gum Drop Gnome
Harvest Gnome
Headless Horseman
Gnome FarmVille gnome Heart Broken Gnome
Heart Broken Gnome
Holiday Gnome
Ice Fishing Gnome
Inn Keeper Gnome
Irish Girl Gnome
Jack Frost Gnome
Jack O Lantern
Gnome
Kissing Gnomes
Knight Gnome
Koala Gnome
Leaf Fairy Gnome FarmVille gnome Leprechaun Gnome
Leprechaun Gnome
Leprechaun Girl Gnome
Lighthouse Keeper Gnome
Lobster Gnome
Male Fairy Gnome
Mandolin Gnome
Maple Leaf Gnome
Mariachi Gnome FarmVille gnome Master Gnome
Master Gnome FarmVille Mechanic Gnome
Mechanic Gnome
Mime Gnome
FarmVille gnome Mr Swiss Gnome
Mr Swiss Gnome FarmVille gnome Miss Swiss Gnome
Miss Swiss Gnome
Mom Day Gnome
Monster Gnome
FarmVille gnome Mrs Claus Gnome
Mrs Claus Gnome FarmVille gnome Mummy Gnome
Mummy Gnome
Mystery Gnome
Neptune Gnome
FarmVille gnome New Year Gnome
New Year Gnome
North Pole
(Naughty) Gnome FarmVille gnome Nutcracker Gnome
Nutcracker Gnome
Nutcracker King
Gnome
Ornament Gnome
Parisian Waiter Gnome FarmVille gnome Pilgrim Gnome
Pilgrim Gnome FarmVille gnome Pilgrim Girl Gnome
Pilgrim Girl Gnome
Piper Gnome
Pirate Girl Gnome
Pirate Gnome FarmVille gnome Pocahontas Gnome
Pocahontas Gnome
FarmVille gnome Prince Gnome
Prince Gnome FarmVille gnome Princess Gnome
Princess Gnome FarmVille gnome Platinum Gnome
Platinum Gnome
Pumpkin Gnome
Purple Pumpkin Gnome FarmVille Queen's Guard
Queen's Guard
Rainbow Gnome FarmVille gnome Reindeer Gnome
Reindeer Gnome
FarmVille Santa Gnome
Santa Gnome
Safari Gnome
Sailor Gnome FarmVille gnome Silver Gnome
Silver Gnome
Ski Patrol Gnome
Snowboard Gnome
Snowman Gnome FarmVille Spa Gnome
Spa Gnome (Sr.)
FarmVille Student Gnome
Student Gnome FarmVille Surfer Gnome
Surfer Gnome FarmVille gnome Swiss Alphorn
Swiss Alphorn
Teddy Bear Gnome
Tinsel Gnome
Tourist Gnome FarmVille gnome Trawler
Trawler Gnome
Trick Or Treat Gnome
Troll Gnome
Tubing Gnome
Tuxedo Gnome FarmVille gnome Valentine Gnome
Valentine Gnome
FarmVille gnome Vampire Gnome
Vampire Gnome
FarmVille gnome Venus Gnome
Venus Gnome
Werewolf Gnome
White Knight Gnome
FarmVille gnome Wizard Gnome
Wizard Gnome
Zombie Gnome
Chart Notes: When you see "Sr." listed next to a gnome, this indicates that there's actually two different sized versions of this gnome. The "Sr." version of the gnome is roughly one and a half times bigger than the normal gnome.
FarmVille Mystery Gnome
Also, the "Mystery Gnome" looks ordinary, but it's actually gigantic! (Image credit goes to HatchetHolic on FarmVilleFreak.com.)
Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.
Which FarmVille gnome is your favorite? How many have you collected?
Happy Pets: New vote and shoot camera feature has players saying 'Cheese!'
Want to get that cool camera view of your Happy Pets at home that you see below? Click the "Photo Show-off" icon on the top right corner of your game window. It's the camera that has the red check mark on it. Then a window will appear. Click the blue "Take A Photo" bottom on the top left of the window to launch your camera.
You can use the arrow keys or the letters W, A, S, & D on your keyboard to move the camera around, and the little plus and minus buttons on the left-hand side to zoom in and out of your snapshot. Get your pets to come running to you for a photo by using the laser pointer. Or drag 'em over by using the arrow icon. Then click the big red button when you're ready!
After that, you can submit your photos for a public vote. You can also post the photo to your Facebook Wall, and if your friends click on it there, it will count as a vote. All the votes and snapshots will stay up for 24 hours.
Happy Pets Camera View
Voting for your favorite photos of the day (you can vote 10 times per day) will earn you coins and XP! Right now the whole feature is a popularity contest, so there's no prizes or anything. But it sure is fun showing off your pets.
Happy Pets visit user in Photo Show-off
And the best part about this is, you can visit the homes of the photos you love the most, and get to see the other people's pets in action! You don't have to be friended to them either. Just go to any photo and click "Visit User". This means you can play with new pets and collect money from other piggy banks too. This makes it much more than a photo sharing camera -- it's a method of in-game traveling!
You can use the arrow keys or the letters W, A, S, & D on your keyboard to move the camera around, and the little plus and minus buttons on the left-hand side to zoom in and out of your snapshot. Get your pets to come running to you for a photo by using the laser pointer. Or drag 'em over by using the arrow icon. Then click the big red button when you're ready!
After that, you can submit your photos for a public vote. You can also post the photo to your Facebook Wall, and if your friends click on it there, it will count as a vote. All the votes and snapshots will stay up for 24 hours.
Happy Pets Camera View
Voting for your favorite photos of the day (you can vote 10 times per day) will earn you coins and XP! Right now the whole feature is a popularity contest, so there's no prizes or anything. But it sure is fun showing off your pets.
Happy Pets visit user in Photo Show-off
And the best part about this is, you can visit the homes of the photos you love the most, and get to see the other people's pets in action! You don't have to be friended to them either. Just go to any photo and click "Visit User". This means you can play with new pets and collect money from other piggy banks too. This makes it much more than a photo sharing camera -- it's a method of in-game traveling!
Happy Pets: New 'My Little Pony' inspired horses are here to stay
Happy Pets Amethyst Appaloosa, Bronze Zebra, and Jet Black Pegasus
Thirteen new permanent horses trotted into the Happy Pets store last week, and I'm happy to say that none of them are Limited Editions, though they're all going to cost you some real world money. The cheapest ones go for 50 Facebook Credits ($5 USD), while the most expensive ones -- which are the winged horses and unicorns -- cost 62 FB Credits ($6.20 USD) due to their popularity.
Here are the Limited Edition ones from last week, if you want to see 'em, but they're all sold out now. Just a caveat, you'll still need to build a Horse Stable in order to keep horses in your game. Read our Happy Pets: Horse Stable Guide for more info.
Happy Pets new permanent horses
Happy Pets Psychedelic Horse1. Violet Horse - 50 FB Credits
2. Cherry Horse - 50 FB Credits
3. Orange Pinto Horse - 50 FB Credits
4. Pinto Clydesdale - 50 FB Credits
5. Snow Clydesdale Appaloosa - 50 FB Credits
6. Zebra - 52 FBC
7. Amethyst Appaloosa - 54 FB Credits
8. Bronze Zebra - 54 FB Credits
9. Psychedelic Horse - 60 FB Credits
10. White Clydesdale Pegasus - 62 FB Credits
11. Jet Black Pegasus - 62 FB Credits
12. Cotton Unicorn - 62 FB Credits
13. Jet Black Unicorn - 62 FB Credits
Thirteen new permanent horses trotted into the Happy Pets store last week, and I'm happy to say that none of them are Limited Editions, though they're all going to cost you some real world money. The cheapest ones go for 50 Facebook Credits ($5 USD), while the most expensive ones -- which are the winged horses and unicorns -- cost 62 FB Credits ($6.20 USD) due to their popularity.
Here are the Limited Edition ones from last week, if you want to see 'em, but they're all sold out now. Just a caveat, you'll still need to build a Horse Stable in order to keep horses in your game. Read our Happy Pets: Horse Stable Guide for more info.
Happy Pets new permanent horses
Happy Pets Psychedelic Horse1. Violet Horse - 50 FB Credits
2. Cherry Horse - 50 FB Credits
3. Orange Pinto Horse - 50 FB Credits
4. Pinto Clydesdale - 50 FB Credits
5. Snow Clydesdale Appaloosa - 50 FB Credits
6. Zebra - 52 FBC
7. Amethyst Appaloosa - 54 FB Credits
8. Bronze Zebra - 54 FB Credits
9. Psychedelic Horse - 60 FB Credits
10. White Clydesdale Pegasus - 62 FB Credits
11. Jet Black Pegasus - 62 FB Credits
12. Cotton Unicorn - 62 FB Credits
13. Jet Black Unicorn - 62 FB Credits
Frontierville question of the day: What is an 'unready' chicken?
Today's Question of the Day is about Frontierville on Facebook, and we answer the question that's burning in so many virtual pioneers' brains -- "What the heck is an 'unready' chicken?!
frontierville unready chickens
First, some background. In the Checking for Breakfast mission on FrontierVille, you're directed to collect one egg, collect two bacon and "tend ten unready neighbor chickens." You can find the egg by harvesting chickens, collect bacon by harvesting pigs and tend to neighbors 'unready' chickens?
After doing some research (as in, I decided to read the hint at the bottom of the goal pop-up window) I discovered that an 'unready' chicken is one that has already been fed. To complete this goal, you need to find 10 chickens that are not hungry (hint: these chickens don't have an arrow above them).
Once see an unready chicken, mouse over it and your cursor will turn into a brush. Then click, and you'll see a progress bar that says 'grooming.' Grooming a chicken? Is that even legal? Once you've groomed 10 chickens, you'll complete the goal, which will earn you an extra 40 XP and 80 Food, and the option to share a Breakfast with your friends.
Pro Tip: Here's a quick tip on how to get this job done fast. Ask fellow frontierfolks to feed their chickens, and when they're done, scoot over to their property and click on their fed chickens. I did this with two of my friends, and it was easier than eating a bucket of fried chicken (so sue me, I like chicken).
How long did it take you to find unready chickens? Do you have any other related tips?
frontierville unready chickens
First, some background. In the Checking for Breakfast mission on FrontierVille, you're directed to collect one egg, collect two bacon and "tend ten unready neighbor chickens." You can find the egg by harvesting chickens, collect bacon by harvesting pigs and tend to neighbors 'unready' chickens?
After doing some research (as in, I decided to read the hint at the bottom of the goal pop-up window) I discovered that an 'unready' chicken is one that has already been fed. To complete this goal, you need to find 10 chickens that are not hungry (hint: these chickens don't have an arrow above them).
Once see an unready chicken, mouse over it and your cursor will turn into a brush. Then click, and you'll see a progress bar that says 'grooming.' Grooming a chicken? Is that even legal? Once you've groomed 10 chickens, you'll complete the goal, which will earn you an extra 40 XP and 80 Food, and the option to share a Breakfast with your friends.
Pro Tip: Here's a quick tip on how to get this job done fast. Ask fellow frontierfolks to feed their chickens, and when they're done, scoot over to their property and click on their fed chickens. I did this with two of my friends, and it was easier than eating a bucket of fried chicken (so sue me, I like chicken).
How long did it take you to find unready chickens? Do you have any other related tips?
Treasure Isle Tiki Relic: New buildable artifact spits out daily rewards
Treasure Isle has gone and released a new thing to build -- a Tiki Relic to be exact. When you log into the treasure hunting game, you'll get a pop up that asks if you want to place the Tiki Relic Frame or store it to place later. Be warned when you get ready to place this thing -- it's huge! It takes up nine square on your island, so if you're a packrat (you know who you are), you'll have to clear out some space to house this massive artifact.
Once the frame is in place, you'll have to collect items to build it. If you built out the Pirate Ship (or one of many buildables in other Facebook games), this will all be instantly familiar.
The materials required to finish the relic include the following:
1 Glue
1 Dye
1 Fire
1 Metal
1 Oil
You can request materials from friends via a Facebook wall post or buy them using Island Cash. If you don't want to go through the whole building rigamarole, you can pay a total of 5 Island Cash (roughly $1.25) to get it done.
Once you complete your build, you will get a pop-up that lets you know you can collect rewards from your Relic every day, and this is when you learn that you're not done yet -- you still need to collect more of the same five items several times over to actually finish the relic.
treasure isle upgrade your relic
Daily items collected from the relic so far include:
Gems
Painted Tiki Heads
Red, Orange, Blue Tiki Torches
Garden Hut
treasure isle garden hut
treasure isle tiki heads
Once the frame is in place, you'll have to collect items to build it. If you built out the Pirate Ship (or one of many buildables in other Facebook games), this will all be instantly familiar.
The materials required to finish the relic include the following:
1 Glue
1 Dye
1 Fire
1 Metal
1 Oil
You can request materials from friends via a Facebook wall post or buy them using Island Cash. If you don't want to go through the whole building rigamarole, you can pay a total of 5 Island Cash (roughly $1.25) to get it done.
Once you complete your build, you will get a pop-up that lets you know you can collect rewards from your Relic every day, and this is when you learn that you're not done yet -- you still need to collect more of the same five items several times over to actually finish the relic.
treasure isle upgrade your relic
Daily items collected from the relic so far include:
Gems
Painted Tiki Heads
Red, Orange, Blue Tiki Torches
Garden Hut
treasure isle garden hut
treasure isle tiki heads
Thứ Hai, 6 tháng 2, 2012
FarmVille train: Build your own choo-choo with new limited edition decor
The FarmVille train has officially pulled into the station, as predicted earlier this week. You can build your own Wild West reail road from 10 different parts, all of which are listed below. You can also give your track an extra authenticity with a new cactus, lake and other decor. And -- the best news -- you can build almost the entire thing using coins instead of Farm Cash. Almost.
These Wild West items will only be around for the next 12 days, so you better get chugging if you don't want to miss this train.
FarmVille Wild West Train Parts (Released September 9, 2010):
* Lake with Canoe – 30 FV$
* Train Engine – 22 FV$
* Red Passenger – 100,000 Coins
* Green Passenger – 100,000 Coins
* Train Caboose – 50,000 Coins
* Train Crossing – 80,000 Coins
* Train Track 1- 8,000 Coins
* Train Track II – 5,000 Coins
* Train Track III – 5,000 Coins
* Train Track IV – 5,000 Coins
* Train Track V – 5,000 Coins
* Town Sign – 50,000 Coins
* Organ Pipe Cactus – 10,000 Coins
These Wild West items will only be around for the next 12 days, so you better get chugging if you don't want to miss this train.
FarmVille Wild West Train Parts (Released September 9, 2010):
* Lake with Canoe – 30 FV$
* Train Engine – 22 FV$
* Red Passenger – 100,000 Coins
* Green Passenger – 100,000 Coins
* Train Caboose – 50,000 Coins
* Train Crossing – 80,000 Coins
* Train Track 1- 8,000 Coins
* Train Track II – 5,000 Coins
* Train Track III – 5,000 Coins
* Train Track IV – 5,000 Coins
* Train Track V – 5,000 Coins
* Town Sign – 50,000 Coins
* Organ Pipe Cactus – 10,000 Coins
Quote of the Moment: 'Farmtown' floods Facebook friend feed
"Quit posting everything you do to Facebook. ... All I see every time I go on there is 100 God damn message about your stupid farm. It's getting so I don't know when my friends are making dinner or feeling sad no more!"
-Gina complains about the side effects of her husband's 'Farmtown' addiction in the latest episode of YouTube series Greg & Donny (also embedded below)
Source
Bookmark this site!
-Gina complains about the side effects of her husband's 'Farmtown' addiction in the latest episode of YouTube series Greg & Donny (also embedded below)
Source
Bookmark this site!
Mafia Wars Las Vegas Crew Collections: The Rat Pack is back!
Get ready to round up your buddies and start searching in Mafia Wars as Zynga has just released a new Las Vegas Crew Collection in the game. Not to mention they have toyed around with the Collections interface a bit. Log in to Mafia Wars to find the option to begin your new Crew Collection, "Bring Back the Pack," in your Daily Checklist.
Select the option and you'll be given your first random item of seven that you're crew will need need to collect in order to get the new vault item, The Rat Pack. Join us behind the cut for a list of the items you'll need to get The Rat Pack.
Mafia Wars new Crew Collections
If you want to check your progress on this 48-hour collection, just go to your profile and select "Collections and Vault." From here you can gift the item you already have to other members of your crew or place the remaining items on your wish list for your friends to see. Here's what you'll need to find through jobs in Las Vegas or with the help of your friends:
Mafia Wars The Rat Pack
Sammy's Shades
Ol' Blue Eyes
King of Cool
Joote's Shoes
Bogey
Blond Bombshell's Dress
Angel's Coat
Find all these items and once you vault them your mafia will receive The Rat Pack, an item with an oddly low 29 Attack (it's three guys for Pete's sake!) and an impressive 60 Defense. Don't fret because Zynga also added new Las Vegas collections to sate your inner hoarder.
Also, don't forget that you can only ask for your friends' help every 48 hours and if they decide to help you, they must complete a specific job that will drop one random item from the collection that you requested help for, but thankfully you'll both get the item that drops. However, you can help five friends every 24 hours and a total of five mafia friends can help you on a request.
So, get to it and start collecting if you want a chance to add the legendary Rat Pack to your arsenal. Too bad Mafia Wars doesn't support voice work; I do a mean Sammy Davis Jr. impression.
Select the option and you'll be given your first random item of seven that you're crew will need need to collect in order to get the new vault item, The Rat Pack. Join us behind the cut for a list of the items you'll need to get The Rat Pack.
Mafia Wars new Crew Collections
If you want to check your progress on this 48-hour collection, just go to your profile and select "Collections and Vault." From here you can gift the item you already have to other members of your crew or place the remaining items on your wish list for your friends to see. Here's what you'll need to find through jobs in Las Vegas or with the help of your friends:
Mafia Wars The Rat Pack
Sammy's Shades
Ol' Blue Eyes
King of Cool
Joote's Shoes
Bogey
Blond Bombshell's Dress
Angel's Coat
Find all these items and once you vault them your mafia will receive The Rat Pack, an item with an oddly low 29 Attack (it's three guys for Pete's sake!) and an impressive 60 Defense. Don't fret because Zynga also added new Las Vegas collections to sate your inner hoarder.
Also, don't forget that you can only ask for your friends' help every 48 hours and if they decide to help you, they must complete a specific job that will drop one random item from the collection that you requested help for, but thankfully you'll both get the item that drops. However, you can help five friends every 24 hours and a total of five mafia friends can help you on a request.
So, get to it and start collecting if you want a chance to add the legendary Rat Pack to your arsenal. Too bad Mafia Wars doesn't support voice work; I do a mean Sammy Davis Jr. impression.
FarmVille farmers go head-to-head against real farmers
Mashable's FarmVille versus real farms
While tending to everyone's favorite farm, ever wonder what the real farming life is like? Mashable has provided you curious virtual farmers with some stats on how your crops stack up to the real deal in one of the longest infographics we've ever seen.
Here's a scary fact: agriculture makes up a mere five percent of the Gross World Product, while Zynga, with the help of FarmVille, pulled in a mind-blowing 200 percent more net profit than Facebook itself, according to Mashable.
There are 930 million acres of farmland in the U.S., according to Mashable's sources, which dwarf in comparison to the fact that 500 million acres of farmland were harvested in just the first 15 months of FarmVille's existence. With 60 million FarmVille players harvesting what now could be billions of acres compared to just two million farmers in the U.S., it's clear folks are far more comfortable with their digital strawberries.
Does FarmVille pique your interest in farming? With games like FarmVille being so gripping, could digital crop gathering overtake actual farming in terms of GDP? Do you know anyone that farms both in and outside of Facebook?
While tending to everyone's favorite farm, ever wonder what the real farming life is like? Mashable has provided you curious virtual farmers with some stats on how your crops stack up to the real deal in one of the longest infographics we've ever seen.
Here's a scary fact: agriculture makes up a mere five percent of the Gross World Product, while Zynga, with the help of FarmVille, pulled in a mind-blowing 200 percent more net profit than Facebook itself, according to Mashable.
There are 930 million acres of farmland in the U.S., according to Mashable's sources, which dwarf in comparison to the fact that 500 million acres of farmland were harvested in just the first 15 months of FarmVille's existence. With 60 million FarmVille players harvesting what now could be billions of acres compared to just two million farmers in the U.S., it's clear folks are far more comfortable with their digital strawberries.
Does FarmVille pique your interest in farming? With games like FarmVille being so gripping, could digital crop gathering overtake actual farming in terms of GDP? Do you know anyone that farms both in and outside of Facebook?
Is the future of social games in your mobile browser?
Munich-based social game developer Itsmy has officially expanded its mobile gaming engine to be available on over 12,000 mobile web devices. If not for mobile browsers, this feat would be virtually impossible. But do social gamers want to play in their browser when apps, quite frankly, do it much better?
"In 2011 we will see an interesting battle: Apps vs. Browsers," Itsmy CEO Antonio Vince Stabyl said today in a press release. "I personally think 2011 will be the year of online gaming on mobile devices without downloading or updating anything. We have learned from our users that people don't care about technical requirements and they love to play games with their phone all day long."
According to Itsmy CTO Jukka Saarelainen, the future of social gaming on mobile devices is in "cross-any-platform." That's all well and good, but until the iPhone's browser can do what Zynga's FarmVille app (syncing issues aside) can do, while still connecting me to Facebook, consider us skeptical.
What do you think? Would you rather play your favorite social games while on the go through your browser or with a dedicated app? Is there a future in social games on mobile browsers?
"In 2011 we will see an interesting battle: Apps vs. Browsers," Itsmy CEO Antonio Vince Stabyl said today in a press release. "I personally think 2011 will be the year of online gaming on mobile devices without downloading or updating anything. We have learned from our users that people don't care about technical requirements and they love to play games with their phone all day long."
According to Itsmy CTO Jukka Saarelainen, the future of social gaming on mobile devices is in "cross-any-platform." That's all well and good, but until the iPhone's browser can do what Zynga's FarmVille app (syncing issues aside) can do, while still connecting me to Facebook, consider us skeptical.
What do you think? Would you rather play your favorite social games while on the go through your browser or with a dedicated app? Is there a future in social games on mobile browsers?
Thứ Bảy, 4 tháng 2, 2012
Happy Island pays homage to Miyazaki films with an Anime Collection
Many item releases that come out of Facebook games deliberately tap into holidays, ever popular themes, or pop culture. But success depends on timeliness, and Crowdstar's Happy Island definitely marches to a different tune with a different beat from all the rest.
Between their Charlie the Unicorn and Avatar: The Last Airbender themes, and now, Anime Collection, the Happy Island creators have proven themselves to be quirky super-nerds that prefer to celebrate what they love, on their own time.
Happy Island Anime Collection in store
The Anime Collection features four Limited Edition premium attractions that once collected, will earn players a free Dog Taxi. These four are the House of Popo, House of Toto, Grand Spirited Castle, and Steam Moving Castle. Each costs 35 Facebook Credits (or $3.50 USD). Right now, only the House of Toto and Steam Moving Castle are visibly animated. Toto has a lawn of moving grass, while the Steam Castle blows steam and hovers. But that can all change, because players of Happy Island know that buildings can be upgraded, which evolves them into a different design.
The discerning animated movie geek, or just general otaku, would recognize these buildings as famous ones in Hayao Miyazaki films.
House of Popo is the house from Ponyo (2008), Toto is from My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Grand Spirited Castle is the bathhouse from Spirited Away (2001), and Steam Moving Castle comes from Howl's Moving Castle (2004). Check out the image below where the one on the left is the Totoro house and to the right is the Ponyo house...
Ghibli houses: Totoro and Ponyo
Lastly, the Dog Taxi is based on the famous Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro:
Totoro Catbus
Between their Charlie the Unicorn and Avatar: The Last Airbender themes, and now, Anime Collection, the Happy Island creators have proven themselves to be quirky super-nerds that prefer to celebrate what they love, on their own time.
Happy Island Anime Collection in store
The Anime Collection features four Limited Edition premium attractions that once collected, will earn players a free Dog Taxi. These four are the House of Popo, House of Toto, Grand Spirited Castle, and Steam Moving Castle. Each costs 35 Facebook Credits (or $3.50 USD). Right now, only the House of Toto and Steam Moving Castle are visibly animated. Toto has a lawn of moving grass, while the Steam Castle blows steam and hovers. But that can all change, because players of Happy Island know that buildings can be upgraded, which evolves them into a different design.
The discerning animated movie geek, or just general otaku, would recognize these buildings as famous ones in Hayao Miyazaki films.
House of Popo is the house from Ponyo (2008), Toto is from My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Grand Spirited Castle is the bathhouse from Spirited Away (2001), and Steam Moving Castle comes from Howl's Moving Castle (2004). Check out the image below where the one on the left is the Totoro house and to the right is the Ponyo house...
Ghibli houses: Totoro and Ponyo
Lastly, the Dog Taxi is based on the famous Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro:
Totoro Catbus
Zynga raises over $1 million for the School of Choice in Haiti
FarmVille School of Choice Balloon
Surely, you've all received your commemorative School of Choice Hot Air Balloon in FarmVille, but it doesn't stop there. Zynga announced today that with the $200,000 we helped donate through gifting Haiti School Supplies in the Backpack for Haiti program, the company raised a total of $1 million for the School of Choice in Haiti. The company's official announcement explains how,
We discovered a few needles in our haystack and we are pleased to announce that the FarmVille community, plus a generous contribution from FaceBook Credits including a corporate gift from Zynga, altogether rose over $1,000,000 to build the School of Choice in Mirebalais, Haiti.
Zynga seems to have taken the Facebook Credit Sweet Beet purchases by the players along with a direct corporate donation of an undisclosed amount to clear $1 million raised for the school. This makes for a total of nearly $4 million raised for the Haitians since Oct. 2009. And it's thanks to virtual farmers like you for gifting and growing your little hearts out.
Surely, you've all received your commemorative School of Choice Hot Air Balloon in FarmVille, but it doesn't stop there. Zynga announced today that with the $200,000 we helped donate through gifting Haiti School Supplies in the Backpack for Haiti program, the company raised a total of $1 million for the School of Choice in Haiti. The company's official announcement explains how,
We discovered a few needles in our haystack and we are pleased to announce that the FarmVille community, plus a generous contribution from FaceBook Credits including a corporate gift from Zynga, altogether rose over $1,000,000 to build the School of Choice in Mirebalais, Haiti.
Zynga seems to have taken the Facebook Credit Sweet Beet purchases by the players along with a direct corporate donation of an undisclosed amount to clear $1 million raised for the school. This makes for a total of nearly $4 million raised for the Haitians since Oct. 2009. And it's thanks to virtual farmers like you for gifting and growing your little hearts out.
Playdom's Social City named 'Best Social Network Game'
At the first-ever Game Developer's Choice Awards ceremony, Playdom's city building game Social City won the Best Social Game Network Game, beating out Zynga's Treasure Isle, FIFA Superstars from Playfish, NanoStar Siege from Digital Chocolate and Nightclub City from Booyah.
Playdom's Eric Todd stepped up to to accept the award with a gloriously short speech saying that Social City gives "the ability for millions of people to make something beautiful, I'd like all of us to aspire to that in the future."
Several Facebook/social games were nominated for other categories, but were largely beat about by online MMOs, namely League of Legends, a game inspired by Warcraft III. FarmVille was also beat out by Eve Online for the Best Live Game.
Overall, social games didn't have the best showing tonight, but the fact that they were recognized in this awards ceremony (or any awards ceremony) is a good start. Below are the winners of the rest of the evening's awards:
Best Online Technology
League of Legends
Best Online Visual Arts
League of Legends
Best Audio for Online Game
Aion
Best Community Relations
World of Warcraft
Best Online Games Design
League of Legends
Best Live Game
Eve Online
Best New Online Game
League of Legends
Hall of Fame
Ultima Online
Online Game Legend
Dr. Richard A. Bartle
Audience Award (out of 120,000 votes)
League of Legends
Wizard 101 -- runner-up
Playdom's Eric Todd stepped up to to accept the award with a gloriously short speech saying that Social City gives "the ability for millions of people to make something beautiful, I'd like all of us to aspire to that in the future."
Several Facebook/social games were nominated for other categories, but were largely beat about by online MMOs, namely League of Legends, a game inspired by Warcraft III. FarmVille was also beat out by Eve Online for the Best Live Game.
Overall, social games didn't have the best showing tonight, but the fact that they were recognized in this awards ceremony (or any awards ceremony) is a good start. Below are the winners of the rest of the evening's awards:
Best Online Technology
League of Legends
Best Online Visual Arts
League of Legends
Best Audio for Online Game
Aion
Best Community Relations
World of Warcraft
Best Online Games Design
League of Legends
Best Live Game
Eve Online
Best New Online Game
League of Legends
Hall of Fame
Ultima Online
Online Game Legend
Dr. Richard A. Bartle
Audience Award (out of 120,000 votes)
League of Legends
Wizard 101 -- runner-up
FarmVille Autumn LE Theme: Pumpkins, flowers and maple... Oh my
In the spirit of that weird time when nothing cool happens between Summer and Halloween--or what I hear people on streets refer to as "Fall"--Zynga has added some more limited edition items and two new crops to FarmVille. These items are only available for two weeks, so get the ones you want below (i.e. Pumpkin Sheep) before they're gone for good:
Pumpkin Sheep: 10 Farm Cash, Harvest in 3 Days
Pumpkin Market: 36 Farm Cash, 800 XP
Autumn Pond: 28 Farm Cash, 640 XP
Sugar Maple: 4 Farm Cash, 40 XP
Hayride Wagon: 80,000 coins, 800 XP
Autumn Fence: 5,000 coins, 50 XP
Corn Fence: 4,000 coins, 40 XP
Red Maple Tree: FarmVille.com Gift
Red Maple Leaves: FarmVille.com Gift
Check behind the break for the two new crops just in time for this "Fall" everyone is talking about.
Columbine
The two new crops that have arrived in FarmVille are for mid-to-high level players only. Since FarmVille covers pretty much every crop in existence that grows in the autumn season, these two are flowers. The first is the Columbine, a Level 44 flower that costs 340 coins and only harvests for 380 in four hours. Not the best return on investment in the world, if you ask us.
Orange Daisies
Second is the Orange Daisy, a Level 59 flower that requires you to master Gladiolus before you can even touch this popular fall flower. In a much better yield, Orange Daisies cost 410 coins and harvest for 590 coins in 24 hours. See the perks you get for being a high-level farmer? Fortunately, these crops don't seem to have a limited time with us, so no pressure on getting to Level 59 before they're gone.
Pumpkin Sheep: 10 Farm Cash, Harvest in 3 Days
Pumpkin Market: 36 Farm Cash, 800 XP
Autumn Pond: 28 Farm Cash, 640 XP
Sugar Maple: 4 Farm Cash, 40 XP
Hayride Wagon: 80,000 coins, 800 XP
Autumn Fence: 5,000 coins, 50 XP
Corn Fence: 4,000 coins, 40 XP
Red Maple Tree: FarmVille.com Gift
Red Maple Leaves: FarmVille.com Gift
Check behind the break for the two new crops just in time for this "Fall" everyone is talking about.
Columbine
The two new crops that have arrived in FarmVille are for mid-to-high level players only. Since FarmVille covers pretty much every crop in existence that grows in the autumn season, these two are flowers. The first is the Columbine, a Level 44 flower that costs 340 coins and only harvests for 380 in four hours. Not the best return on investment in the world, if you ask us.
Orange Daisies
Second is the Orange Daisy, a Level 59 flower that requires you to master Gladiolus before you can even touch this popular fall flower. In a much better yield, Orange Daisies cost 410 coins and harvest for 590 coins in 24 hours. See the perks you get for being a high-level farmer? Fortunately, these crops don't seem to have a limited time with us, so no pressure on getting to Level 59 before they're gone.
Cafe World 'The Banquet' Catering Order: Everything you need to know
Cafe World The Banquet Catering Order
Still working on that Corporate Luncheon? We know, life is rough, which is why Zynga introduced a much lighter order for you to handle in Cafe World, 'The Banquet.' It's sounds plenty more daunting than it actually is, so let's right on with it so you can score those coveted three stars and the Veggie Sushi recipe.
Join us behind the break for a guide on completing this brief, surprisingly simple Catering Order.
Crackling Peking Duck White Radish Cake Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail
This exquisite order can only be started after you've completed the Corporate Luncheon within 10 days and requires that you be at least Level 13 to cook the Crackling Peking Duck (wait... what?*). The order calls for just three different dishes:
Crackling Peking Duck: 80 servings, cooks in 18 hours
White Radish Cake: 40 servings, cooks in 24 hours
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail: 80 servings, cooks in 30 minutes
While this order only allows for six fellow caterers, you honestly shouldn't need more than that considering how small this job is. Of course, this order requires some additional materials, five Serving Plates and 5 Steam Trays. Fortunately, you can ask your six fellow caterers for these items. Here's what you'll get for finishing this order within the three time limits:
Within Three Days: 1,621 Cafe Points, 24,313 coins, Veggie Sushi recipe
Within Seven Days: 1,158 Cafe Points, 17,366 coins
More than Seven Days: 694 Cafe Points, 10,420 coins
Employing the good old trick of waiting until the dishes are nearly finished before accepting the order will get this job done with three stars in no time. Enjoy one of the easiest Catering Orders you'll probably ever have to complete.
*With Cafe Point rewards this low, The Banquet would have been perfect for new caterers, but since it requires you to complete the Corporate Luncheon before tackling it, that idea is out of the window. That must be why the reward for completing the order with three stars is a brand new, low level, 900 coin recipe. Wait, that doesn't add up either. Well, you're probably going to need to finish this order before you can move on to the next, so you might as well get it over with and get a new recipe to master.
Still working on that Corporate Luncheon? We know, life is rough, which is why Zynga introduced a much lighter order for you to handle in Cafe World, 'The Banquet.' It's sounds plenty more daunting than it actually is, so let's right on with it so you can score those coveted three stars and the Veggie Sushi recipe.
Join us behind the break for a guide on completing this brief, surprisingly simple Catering Order.
Crackling Peking Duck White Radish Cake Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail
This exquisite order can only be started after you've completed the Corporate Luncheon within 10 days and requires that you be at least Level 13 to cook the Crackling Peking Duck (wait... what?*). The order calls for just three different dishes:
Crackling Peking Duck: 80 servings, cooks in 18 hours
White Radish Cake: 40 servings, cooks in 24 hours
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail: 80 servings, cooks in 30 minutes
While this order only allows for six fellow caterers, you honestly shouldn't need more than that considering how small this job is. Of course, this order requires some additional materials, five Serving Plates and 5 Steam Trays. Fortunately, you can ask your six fellow caterers for these items. Here's what you'll get for finishing this order within the three time limits:
Within Three Days: 1,621 Cafe Points, 24,313 coins, Veggie Sushi recipe
Within Seven Days: 1,158 Cafe Points, 17,366 coins
More than Seven Days: 694 Cafe Points, 10,420 coins
Employing the good old trick of waiting until the dishes are nearly finished before accepting the order will get this job done with three stars in no time. Enjoy one of the easiest Catering Orders you'll probably ever have to complete.
*With Cafe Point rewards this low, The Banquet would have been perfect for new caterers, but since it requires you to complete the Corporate Luncheon before tackling it, that idea is out of the window. That must be why the reward for completing the order with three stars is a brand new, low level, 900 coin recipe. Wait, that doesn't add up either. Well, you're probably going to need to finish this order before you can move on to the next, so you might as well get it over with and get a new recipe to master.
Thứ Năm, 2 tháng 2, 2012
Ranch Town welcomes new goats to the herd
Are you bored with the same ol' horses, cows, and chickens in Ranch Town? You can now increase the variety of your herd with the new Goat available in the Holliday's Supplies shop. This new goat can be harvested every 30 seconds and gives out 28 coins and Goat Milk. It can be yours for only 600 Meteor Credits, which makes the goat a pretty average priced animal in Ranch Town.
Ranch Town has been bleeding users pretty heavily over the past few weeks. The game has lost 95,000 players in just the last week alone. That's a pretty big deal for a game that only has a 650,000 players. If it gets much worse, we're fearing this game may be headed for the chopping block. At least, we won't be covering it in our regular rotation anymore unless it picks up in activity.
What do you think Meteor Games could do to reinvigorate Ranch Town? Do you think the game has a chance?
Ranch Town has been bleeding users pretty heavily over the past few weeks. The game has lost 95,000 players in just the last week alone. That's a pretty big deal for a game that only has a 650,000 players. If it gets much worse, we're fearing this game may be headed for the chopping block. At least, we won't be covering it in our regular rotation anymore unless it picks up in activity.
What do you think Meteor Games could do to reinvigorate Ranch Town? Do you think the game has a chance?
Ooh la la! New French Kitchen set arrives in PetVille
PetVille is always brewing up something charming in the game for players (and their pets) to enjoy. This new limited time French Kitchen theme is great, because it comes in three different colors so that you can match it with whatever room you are trying to decorate. This is yet another truly massive theme, with tons of decorative items down to the littlest spices for the spice rack. The Blue Kitchen items will only be available for 5 days, and the rest will stick around a bit longer. Here's a sneak peek at all the items in this new French Kitchen collection:
Pegasus Range Hood - Blue: 38 Pet Cash
Hanging Skillet - Steel: 7,000 coins
Stainless Griddle: 8,000 coins
Braid of Garlic: 8 Pet Cash
Imperial Stove - Blue: 45 Pet Cash
Steaming Saucepan - Steel: 10 Pet Cash
Gemini Stove - Blue: 43 Pet Cash
Caprica Stove - Blue: 45 Pet Cash
Side View Skillet - Gold: 6,500 coins
Potted Lavender: 13 Pet Cash
Potted Mint: 11 Pet Cash
Ornate Shelf: 7 Pet Cash
Balsamic Vinegar: 5,000 coins
Rosemary Infused Olive Oil: 5,500 coins
Fruit Basket: 7 Pet Cash
Basket of Baguettes: 10,000 coins
Hanging Saucepan: 6,800 coins
Hanging Skillet - Gold: 7,000 coins
Boiling Stockpot - Steel: 11 Pet Cash
Side View Skillet - Steel: 8,000 coins
Caprica Stove - Pink: 28 Pet Cash
Gemini Stove - Pink: 26 Pet Cash
Imperial Stove - Pink: 28 Pet Cash
Sizzling Wok - Gold: 11 Pet Cash
Potted Parsley - 11 Pet Cash
Potted Basil - 11 Pet Cash
Ornate Spice Rack - 9 Pet Cash
Ground Cayenne Spice - 4,500 coins
Yams Spice - 4,500 coins
Chili Powder Spice - 4,500 coins
Oregano Spice - 4,500 coins
Bay Leaves - 4,500 coins
Ground Cumin Spice - 4,500 coins
Cinnamon Spice - 4,500 coins
Ground Turmeric Spice - 4,500 coins
Curry Powder Spice - 4,500 coins
Ground Mustard Seed Spice - 4,500 coins
Caprica Stove - Black: 28 Pet Cash
Gemini Stove - Black: 26 Pet Cash
Imperial Stove - Black: 28 Pet Cash
Pegasus Range Hood - Black: 7 Pet Cash
Jar of Honey - 4,500 Coins
Mixed Peppercorn Spice - 4,500 coins
Grains of Paradise Spice - 4,500 coins
Clad Skillet - Gold: 8,800 coins
Hanging Wok - Gold: 7,000 coins
Golden Griddle - 8,800 coins
Steaming Saucepan - Gold: 10 Pet Cash
This set is enormous, so even if you don't want to transform your kitchen into a Parisian masterpiece, you could still buy bits and pieces of the set to make your kitchen feel more cozy. Our personal favorites are the potted herbs, such as Mint and Basil. The attention to detail is pretty remarkable here with this new set. So what are you waiting for? Quit reading and hop over to PetVille to check out the new French Kitchen items!
Pegasus Range Hood - Blue: 38 Pet Cash
Hanging Skillet - Steel: 7,000 coins
Stainless Griddle: 8,000 coins
Braid of Garlic: 8 Pet Cash
Imperial Stove - Blue: 45 Pet Cash
Steaming Saucepan - Steel: 10 Pet Cash
Gemini Stove - Blue: 43 Pet Cash
Caprica Stove - Blue: 45 Pet Cash
Side View Skillet - Gold: 6,500 coins
Potted Lavender: 13 Pet Cash
Potted Mint: 11 Pet Cash
Ornate Shelf: 7 Pet Cash
Balsamic Vinegar: 5,000 coins
Rosemary Infused Olive Oil: 5,500 coins
Fruit Basket: 7 Pet Cash
Basket of Baguettes: 10,000 coins
Hanging Saucepan: 6,800 coins
Hanging Skillet - Gold: 7,000 coins
Boiling Stockpot - Steel: 11 Pet Cash
Side View Skillet - Steel: 8,000 coins
Caprica Stove - Pink: 28 Pet Cash
Gemini Stove - Pink: 26 Pet Cash
Imperial Stove - Pink: 28 Pet Cash
Sizzling Wok - Gold: 11 Pet Cash
Potted Parsley - 11 Pet Cash
Potted Basil - 11 Pet Cash
Ornate Spice Rack - 9 Pet Cash
Ground Cayenne Spice - 4,500 coins
Yams Spice - 4,500 coins
Chili Powder Spice - 4,500 coins
Oregano Spice - 4,500 coins
Bay Leaves - 4,500 coins
Ground Cumin Spice - 4,500 coins
Cinnamon Spice - 4,500 coins
Ground Turmeric Spice - 4,500 coins
Curry Powder Spice - 4,500 coins
Ground Mustard Seed Spice - 4,500 coins
Caprica Stove - Black: 28 Pet Cash
Gemini Stove - Black: 26 Pet Cash
Imperial Stove - Black: 28 Pet Cash
Pegasus Range Hood - Black: 7 Pet Cash
Jar of Honey - 4,500 Coins
Mixed Peppercorn Spice - 4,500 coins
Grains of Paradise Spice - 4,500 coins
Clad Skillet - Gold: 8,800 coins
Hanging Wok - Gold: 7,000 coins
Golden Griddle - 8,800 coins
Steaming Saucepan - Gold: 10 Pet Cash
This set is enormous, so even if you don't want to transform your kitchen into a Parisian masterpiece, you could still buy bits and pieces of the set to make your kitchen feel more cozy. Our personal favorites are the potted herbs, such as Mint and Basil. The attention to detail is pretty remarkable here with this new set. So what are you waiting for? Quit reading and hop over to PetVille to check out the new French Kitchen items!
Happy Pets: Get a free Pink Glow Bunny today only
Happy Pets free pink glow bunny
Every once in awhile a game developer surprises us by giving out free things for seemingly no reason whatsoever. Tonight is one of those nights, and Happy Pets sure is making us happy. Anyone who logs in to the game before 7am Pacific Time tomorrow morning will get a free Pink Glow Bunny delivered to their gift box. This little glow bunny is part of the new Glow Animals set, which contains a lot of different glowing animals.
When placed in your home, this little pet glows a light pink and hops around like any good bunny rabbit should. While Crowdstar are calling this a special fan giveaway, you don't need to click a link on the fan page in order to get it. Simply log in to the game anytime before tomorrow morning to get this exclusive pet.
Did you get your Pink Glow Bunny yet?
Every once in awhile a game developer surprises us by giving out free things for seemingly no reason whatsoever. Tonight is one of those nights, and Happy Pets sure is making us happy. Anyone who logs in to the game before 7am Pacific Time tomorrow morning will get a free Pink Glow Bunny delivered to their gift box. This little glow bunny is part of the new Glow Animals set, which contains a lot of different glowing animals.
When placed in your home, this little pet glows a light pink and hops around like any good bunny rabbit should. While Crowdstar are calling this a special fan giveaway, you don't need to click a link on the fan page in order to get it. Simply log in to the game anytime before tomorrow morning to get this exclusive pet.
Did you get your Pink Glow Bunny yet?
Vampire Wars sends players through the portal to Tokyo
Today, Zynga's fang-ridden RPG Vampire Wars has released a new expansion event into Tokyo. Players are now prompted to "enter the portal" where there are greeted by a message telling them they have 24 days to complete all of the Tokyo missions. The first few missions are pretty easy, but all missions require Yen Coins. These coins can be purchased with Favor Points, earned through regular non-Tokyo missions, or received by asking from friends. Each set of missions is a "Chapter", and there are a total of 6 chapters that each unlock on a certain date. This date depends on when you first enter Tokyo, so it will differ for all players.
For completing these chapters, called Mission Tiers, you will unlock new abilities as long as you master each tier to level 3. The first chapter, "A Bloody Clue", contains the following missions:
Explore Tokyo
Question locals for information
Make your way to the Tokyo bridge
Search the dead vampire
Head to Nukekubi Industries
This event is pretty exciting, and you can access it now by logging into Vampire Wars and clicking on the "go through the portal" prompts. We'll have more details once we get through with Chapter 1 and move on to the later missions.
For completing these chapters, called Mission Tiers, you will unlock new abilities as long as you master each tier to level 3. The first chapter, "A Bloody Clue", contains the following missions:
Explore Tokyo
Question locals for information
Make your way to the Tokyo bridge
Search the dead vampire
Head to Nukekubi Industries
This event is pretty exciting, and you can access it now by logging into Vampire Wars and clicking on the "go through the portal" prompts. We'll have more details once we get through with Chapter 1 and move on to the later missions.
New FarmVille Tree & Animal: Cottoncandy Tree, Pinto Mini Horse
Ever since the official FarmVille podcast dated October 23, we've had a pretty good indication that the Country Fair theme, first released in the game last year, would be making a reappearance in the game this year. That time has come, as tonight's FarmVille update brings with it one Country Fair themed tree, and a new themed animal.
The tree is the Cottoncandy Tree, which is available for 5 Farm Cash. It can be harvested from every 2 days, giving you some profit, even if in the form of coins, after purchasing the tree.
Meanwhile, the new animal is a cute little Pinto Mini Horse, a dark gray and white miniature horse that can be harvested every 3 days. It can be purchased for either yourself or for a friend for 26 Farm Cash.
Both of these items have a 14 day time limit attached, giving us a fairly good idea of when the entire theme will leave the store. That being the case, plan your purchases ahead of time to make sure you can add all of the items you want to your collection while they are still available.
The tree is the Cottoncandy Tree, which is available for 5 Farm Cash. It can be harvested from every 2 days, giving you some profit, even if in the form of coins, after purchasing the tree.
Meanwhile, the new animal is a cute little Pinto Mini Horse, a dark gray and white miniature horse that can be harvested every 3 days. It can be purchased for either yourself or for a friend for 26 Farm Cash.
Both of these items have a 14 day time limit attached, giving us a fairly good idea of when the entire theme will leave the store. That being the case, plan your purchases ahead of time to make sure you can add all of the items you want to your collection while they are still available.
Thứ Tư, 1 tháng 2, 2012
FarmVille: Two additional Chicken Coop expansions are now available
It's something that FarmVIlle users have been waiting for, for weeks - nay, months - that being the addition of further Chicken Coop expansions.
Tonight we see the release of not one, but two new expansions that are now available for users (this appears to be a slow rollout, so be patient if you don't see it right away), bringing the new maximum total of Chicken storage space to a whopping 100 birds. Each expansion allows you to increase your storage space by 20 chickens, just as the previous two expansions that have been available for some time now.
Once you've finished expanding your Chicken Coop these final two times, you'll then be the proud owner of a "Super Coop," which is where we'll assuming the expansions will stop, at least for the foreseeable future (especially considering the fact that the last expansions were released all the way back in February).
For a complete look at how to expand your Chicken Coop, check out our full guide to the feature. For the basics - you'll need to ask ten friends to help you expand your coop by posting a wall post to your wall. You'll have three days to get the help from ten friends, at which point you can either start over from zero and try again, or you can finish the coop expansion by paying Farm Cash (1 Farm Cash equals 1 friend that would have helped).
Tonight we see the release of not one, but two new expansions that are now available for users (this appears to be a slow rollout, so be patient if you don't see it right away), bringing the new maximum total of Chicken storage space to a whopping 100 birds. Each expansion allows you to increase your storage space by 20 chickens, just as the previous two expansions that have been available for some time now.
Once you've finished expanding your Chicken Coop these final two times, you'll then be the proud owner of a "Super Coop," which is where we'll assuming the expansions will stop, at least for the foreseeable future (especially considering the fact that the last expansions were released all the way back in February).
For a complete look at how to expand your Chicken Coop, check out our full guide to the feature. For the basics - you'll need to ask ten friends to help you expand your coop by posting a wall post to your wall. You'll have three days to get the help from ten friends, at which point you can either start over from zero and try again, or you can finish the coop expansion by paying Farm Cash (1 Farm Cash equals 1 friend that would have helped).
FrontierVille Unreleased Winter is Coming Missions are, well... coming
Thanks to the good folks at FrontierVille Legend, we've learned that Zynga will apparently soon be releasing a series of new winter themed missions in FrontierVille called "Winter is Coming."
According to all leaked images and data, the Winter is Coming mission set will contain three steps - Winter is Coming I, III, and III. While the requirements and rewards for these three missions can change at any time, meet us behind the break for a look at what we know so far.
Winter is Coming I
- Tend 50 Apple Trees
- Visit 20 Neighbors
- Collect 15 Snow Shoes (we're assuming this will come through either a free-for-all wall post, or through individual gift requests from friends)
Reward: 200 XP and 400 coins
Winter is Coming II
- Clobber 10 Varmints
- Harvest 30 Potatoes
- Harvest 30 Wheat
Reward: 500 XP and 200 Food
Winter is Coming III
- Tend 100 Animals
- Collect 2 Barn Bonuses
- Collect 15 Straw Bales (most likely in one of the same ways mentioned for the Snow Shoes above)
Reward: 300 XP and a Winter Animal Gift Box
Again, these missions could change at any time, but we're assuming that with the Thanksgiving themed missions now winding down, we'll likely see the Winter is Coming mission set released very soon thereafter - perhaps even next week. We'll be sure to let you know if and when that's the case.
According to all leaked images and data, the Winter is Coming mission set will contain three steps - Winter is Coming I, III, and III. While the requirements and rewards for these three missions can change at any time, meet us behind the break for a look at what we know so far.
Winter is Coming I
- Tend 50 Apple Trees
- Visit 20 Neighbors
- Collect 15 Snow Shoes (we're assuming this will come through either a free-for-all wall post, or through individual gift requests from friends)
Reward: 200 XP and 400 coins
Winter is Coming II
- Clobber 10 Varmints
- Harvest 30 Potatoes
- Harvest 30 Wheat
Reward: 500 XP and 200 Food
Winter is Coming III
- Tend 100 Animals
- Collect 2 Barn Bonuses
- Collect 15 Straw Bales (most likely in one of the same ways mentioned for the Snow Shoes above)
Reward: 300 XP and a Winter Animal Gift Box
Again, these missions could change at any time, but we're assuming that with the Thanksgiving themed missions now winding down, we'll likely see the Winter is Coming mission set released very soon thereafter - perhaps even next week. We'll be sure to let you know if and when that's the case.
FrontierVille Winter Mystery Animal Crates will arrive soon
Today, we saw an interesting new loading screen while playing FrontierVille. This loading screen advertised the release of Mystery Animal Crates in the game, with the text on the screen saying that the crates are already available to purchase.
However, upon inspection of the market, we found no Mystery Animal Crate, leaving us to believe this was simply a glitch - a premature loading screen, if you will, giving us an impromptu sneak peek of what's to come as the Winter celebration begins in FrontierVille.
The crates look to contain three different kinds of animals: Polar Bears, Penguins, and what looks to be Sugar Gliders. And if the screen is anything to go by, these animals will be available to receive in different colors, like a blue or white Polar Bear, or black or blue Penguins.
No word yet as to what the pricing will be for these Crates, once they do hit the store, but we'll be sure to let you know all of the details surrounding these crates once they're available.
However, upon inspection of the market, we found no Mystery Animal Crate, leaving us to believe this was simply a glitch - a premature loading screen, if you will, giving us an impromptu sneak peek of what's to come as the Winter celebration begins in FrontierVille.
The crates look to contain three different kinds of animals: Polar Bears, Penguins, and what looks to be Sugar Gliders. And if the screen is anything to go by, these animals will be available to receive in different colors, like a blue or white Polar Bear, or black or blue Penguins.
No word yet as to what the pricing will be for these Crates, once they do hit the store, but we'll be sure to let you know all of the details surrounding these crates once they're available.
FarmVille Double Mastery Weekend is live through November 28
From now until November 28, Zynga is giving all FarmVille players something to be very thankful for - it's Double Mastery Weekend in FarmVille!
While the "weekend" portion of the event doesn't really fit, seeing as though we are still in the middle of the week, with the Thanksgiving holiday now upon us, it makes sense that Zynga would want to celebrate in a way that will make players squeal with delight.
For those that haven't taken part in a previous Double Mastery Weekend, the event will allow you to earn two times the normal mastery point for each square of a crop harvested, and now, for each tree harvested as well. That means that you'll earn 2 mastery points for each one crop, and 2 mastery points for each one tree harvested.
What's more, if you activate a bushel before harvesting your crops, you'll also receive the extra mastery point from this addition, meaning that until November 28 (at 9PM PST), you can potentially earn 3 points of mastery for just a single square of a crop! If you've been holding off on mastering certain crops due to their high requirements, this is definitely an event to take advantage of!
While the "weekend" portion of the event doesn't really fit, seeing as though we are still in the middle of the week, with the Thanksgiving holiday now upon us, it makes sense that Zynga would want to celebrate in a way that will make players squeal with delight.
For those that haven't taken part in a previous Double Mastery Weekend, the event will allow you to earn two times the normal mastery point for each square of a crop harvested, and now, for each tree harvested as well. That means that you'll earn 2 mastery points for each one crop, and 2 mastery points for each one tree harvested.
What's more, if you activate a bushel before harvesting your crops, you'll also receive the extra mastery point from this addition, meaning that until November 28 (at 9PM PST), you can potentially earn 3 points of mastery for just a single square of a crop! If you've been holding off on mastering certain crops due to their high requirements, this is definitely an event to take advantage of!
Happy Thanksgiving from Games.com - The Blog!
Everyone at Games.com - The Blog! (GDC-TB!) wants to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We're thankful for you, our readers, and that we have the privilege of playing and writing about social games -- one of the most fascinating gaming phenomenons since the invention of the joystick. (Or whatever game invention you find the most fascinating.)
As I'm sure you are already aware, everyone's favorite social games already have Thanksgiving in full-swing -- we've compiled a rather large list of holiday-themed things to do in the top Facebook games.
As for Black Friday, we're joining in the fun by giving away ten $15 Facebook Credits Gift Cards (courtesy of Target), so come back to the blog tomorrow for more details. We'll also be keeping a close watch on the biggest sales on virtual goods and compile them into an easy to peruse list for you.
Until then, have a great holiday!
As I'm sure you are already aware, everyone's favorite social games already have Thanksgiving in full-swing -- we've compiled a rather large list of holiday-themed things to do in the top Facebook games.
As for Black Friday, we're joining in the fun by giving away ten $15 Facebook Credits Gift Cards (courtesy of Target), so come back to the blog tomorrow for more details. We'll also be keeping a close watch on the biggest sales on virtual goods and compile them into an easy to peruse list for you.
Until then, have a great holiday!
Thứ Hai, 30 tháng 1, 2012
FarmVille one year ago -- remember when?
farmville one year ago old farmville history
FarmVille was released on Facebook in June 2009. Though the game has only been out a year and a half, it feels like it's been around for an eternity. With almost daily updates, fixes, new features and items, the virtual farm game is constantly changing. In fact, FarmVille has changed so drastically in the past year, you may not even remember the game as it once was: a simple click-farming game that pretty much consisted of planting and harvesting virtual crops.
With the approach of 2011, we decided to turn back the clock one year, and re-examine what FarmVille was like before the creation of Co-Op Jobs, Crafting Buildings and the Farmer's Market.
farmville one year ago old farmville history
Crop Mastery was a new (and awesome) feature
Crop mastery was not an original feature of FarmVille. In fact, if we look back at FarmVille exactly one year ago, Crop Mastery was still a relatively new feature. Released in September of 2009, long time fans had mixed feelings about the new feature. They were excited that FarmVille was adding more depth to the game, but feeling disappointed that their months of diligent farming didn't contribute to their crop mastery. Now, of course, crop mastery is a stable of life in FarmVille.
Nostalgic News:
Farmville Crop Mastery Released - Earn Bonuses Just Like in Mafia Wars
farmville one year ago old farmville history
Fertilizer was a mysterious farming phenomenon
We weren't always able to fertilize our crops. Fertilizer didn't arrive until October of 2009, and even then it was extremely rare. It was so rare that we had a hard time finding an image of it. The picture you see above was end-result of a long, arduous search.
The sight of sparkly crops was brand new and had us super excited to see what fertilizer features were soon to come. Fast-forward to present day and fertilizer is as common as dirt; friends can fertilize five crops or plots every time they visit your farm. But there was a time where fertilizer mystified us and it was a red-hot farming commodity.
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille Crop Whisperer: Sparkly Fertilized Crops in the Wild
farmville one year ago
Harvest Markers weren't always big pink carrots
Also in October of 2009, a big visual change hit FarmVille. If you recall, the pink carrots above your ready-to-harvest animals weren't always there. Instead, animals used to light up with a pink outline when they were ready for collection (pictured above). Like all new features, there were those that loved the change, but there were even more that despised it. "How could you mess with the FarmVille we know and love!?" we cried. One year later, I think the pink carrots are actually a lot nicer. Who woulda thunk it.
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille Cheats & Tips: New Harvest Markers for Animals
farmville one year ago old farmville history
Storage was on the way, and boy were we excited
In the olden days of FarmVille, many veteran farmers experienced a peculiar problem: simply having too much stuff. Back then there were no barns, no garages, and no storage at all. Once our inventories filled up, we were forced to either place the item on our farm, or get rid of it. Unfortunately, I lost many baby elephants this way -- a loss I mourn to this very day. So imagine our luck when FarmVille announced storage, we were ecstatic!
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille Storage and Giftable Flowers Coming Soon
FarmVille Introduces the Garden Shed
Oh Joy! FarmVille Turns Barns and Sheds into Useful Storage Buildings
farmville one year ago
Finding lost animals was a big event
Before the rise of Co-op Farming, Crafting Buildings, the Farmer's Market, and other FarmVille features, the game was pretty simple. There were crops, trees, and animals; and that was all we needed. At the time, one of the biggest features was FarmVille lost animals. While this feature has all but disappeared in the game now, in the past I used to get so excited every time I found an Ugly Duckling. And, of course, I'd immediately post it to my wall.
Animals used to be special too. Instead of just harvesting them, you'd pluck feathers from a turkey or milk a cow. Now you just get coins. While this may have been awkward for animals like the cat or elephant (what do you harvest from elephants that wouldn't alert PETA?), it was a feature that made my animals feel special, and made my game feel more like a real farm, and I liked that.
Nostalgic News:
Sad, Lonely Turtles Invade FarmVille
Scared Wild Turkeys Wander into FarmVille
farmville one year ago old farmville history farmville one year ago old farmville history
Our farms were tiny
One year ago, the Mighty Plantation 24 x 24 farm expansion was just being released for fans only, and it was very buggy. These days, seeing Farm Estates that are 28 x 28 is commonplace. For the record, that's an increase of 255 more plots! How did we ever manage with so little space and no storage?
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille 24 x 24 Expansion is acting glitchy -- coming soon?
Farmville 24X24 land expansion is available to fans only (for now)
farmville one year ago old farmville history
The Villa was the end-all, be-all of FarmVille
In the olden days of FarmVille, people farmed mostly for fun. But even so, I don't think there's one FarmVille player out there who wasn't at least partially going about farming, making money, and leveling-up, to buy the Villa. This building was no joke. Not only did it cost one million coins, but you had to be level 34 to buy it. Achieving those two milestone was no easy FarmVille feat. The Villa was a symbol that screamed, "I'm awesome at FarmVille," and nobody can deny that they wanted the majestic abode on their farms. Unfortunately now, there are more and more items that dwarf the Villa's one demanding presence on our farms. Now, it sits humbly in the corner of our estates, as a token to the FarmVille of old.
Nostalgic News:
Guest Column: Is There Life after Villa in FarmVille?
farmville remember when facebook updates
Non-FarmVillers got an overwhelming amount of spam
While many would argue the first few months of FarmVille were the golden era, for those who didn't play the game, it was definitely the dark ages. Before Facebook released updates that limited gifting and moved game requests to separate menus, our friends received an inhumane amount of requests. This was awesome for those who loved getting lost animals and other FarmVille bonuses. But for those who didn't play, the dozens of spammy Facebook game requests clogging up their notifications and news feeds could not have been more frustrating. But oh well, it was their fault for not playing!
Nostalgic News:
Will Facebook Redesign End Game Spam?
Two Reasons Facebook Games Are About to Change Forever
Facebook's Potential Changes May End Game Spam (Round 2)
Two Reasons Facebook Games Are About to Change Forever
Facebook changes affect FarmVille, Mafia Wars and other social game apps
farmville one year ago farmville.com
FarmVille.com was just getting started
On November 18 2009, FarmVille became playable on FarmVille.com in addition to Facebook. The feature was initially greeted with enthusiasm, as people assumed you would no longer need a Facebook account to play. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Not only did FarmVille.com still require you to log into Facebook, it also required your real email (and we all know how that turned out). FarmVille.com ushered in a new era of spammy, gimmicky FarmVille features. Since then, FarmVille.com players have always received bonus items and goodies just for playing on the site. Is it too much to ask that FarmVille players receive equal treatment regardless of where we play?
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille Without Facebook? Meet FarmVille.com
Breaking News: Now Play FarmVille on FarmVille.com
FarmVille.com exclusive gifts encourage players to leave Facebook
farmville one year ago old farmville history
Which do you prefer?
I've taken you through some of the ways FarmVille has changed. But this begs the question: did these changes make FarmVille better? On one hand, the changes have made FarmVille a deeper, more engaging Facebook game. But on the other hand, the simple farming game we could escape to for a few minutes a day is gone. You can't log in to FarmVille without being bombarded by notices announcing new features and items. So ultimately, it's up to you:
Do you prefer the new FarmVille, or the FarmVille of one year ago?
Which FarmVille do you prefer?
Older FarmVille, one year agoNew FarmVille, todayI like them equallyI hate FarmVille
VoteView ResultsShare ThisPolldaddy.com
FarmVille was released on Facebook in June 2009. Though the game has only been out a year and a half, it feels like it's been around for an eternity. With almost daily updates, fixes, new features and items, the virtual farm game is constantly changing. In fact, FarmVille has changed so drastically in the past year, you may not even remember the game as it once was: a simple click-farming game that pretty much consisted of planting and harvesting virtual crops.
With the approach of 2011, we decided to turn back the clock one year, and re-examine what FarmVille was like before the creation of Co-Op Jobs, Crafting Buildings and the Farmer's Market.
farmville one year ago old farmville history
Crop Mastery was a new (and awesome) feature
Crop mastery was not an original feature of FarmVille. In fact, if we look back at FarmVille exactly one year ago, Crop Mastery was still a relatively new feature. Released in September of 2009, long time fans had mixed feelings about the new feature. They were excited that FarmVille was adding more depth to the game, but feeling disappointed that their months of diligent farming didn't contribute to their crop mastery. Now, of course, crop mastery is a stable of life in FarmVille.
Nostalgic News:
Farmville Crop Mastery Released - Earn Bonuses Just Like in Mafia Wars
farmville one year ago old farmville history
Fertilizer was a mysterious farming phenomenon
We weren't always able to fertilize our crops. Fertilizer didn't arrive until October of 2009, and even then it was extremely rare. It was so rare that we had a hard time finding an image of it. The picture you see above was end-result of a long, arduous search.
The sight of sparkly crops was brand new and had us super excited to see what fertilizer features were soon to come. Fast-forward to present day and fertilizer is as common as dirt; friends can fertilize five crops or plots every time they visit your farm. But there was a time where fertilizer mystified us and it was a red-hot farming commodity.
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille Crop Whisperer: Sparkly Fertilized Crops in the Wild
farmville one year ago
Harvest Markers weren't always big pink carrots
Also in October of 2009, a big visual change hit FarmVille. If you recall, the pink carrots above your ready-to-harvest animals weren't always there. Instead, animals used to light up with a pink outline when they were ready for collection (pictured above). Like all new features, there were those that loved the change, but there were even more that despised it. "How could you mess with the FarmVille we know and love!?" we cried. One year later, I think the pink carrots are actually a lot nicer. Who woulda thunk it.
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille Cheats & Tips: New Harvest Markers for Animals
farmville one year ago old farmville history
Storage was on the way, and boy were we excited
In the olden days of FarmVille, many veteran farmers experienced a peculiar problem: simply having too much stuff. Back then there were no barns, no garages, and no storage at all. Once our inventories filled up, we were forced to either place the item on our farm, or get rid of it. Unfortunately, I lost many baby elephants this way -- a loss I mourn to this very day. So imagine our luck when FarmVille announced storage, we were ecstatic!
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille Storage and Giftable Flowers Coming Soon
FarmVille Introduces the Garden Shed
Oh Joy! FarmVille Turns Barns and Sheds into Useful Storage Buildings
farmville one year ago
Finding lost animals was a big event
Before the rise of Co-op Farming, Crafting Buildings, the Farmer's Market, and other FarmVille features, the game was pretty simple. There were crops, trees, and animals; and that was all we needed. At the time, one of the biggest features was FarmVille lost animals. While this feature has all but disappeared in the game now, in the past I used to get so excited every time I found an Ugly Duckling. And, of course, I'd immediately post it to my wall.
Animals used to be special too. Instead of just harvesting them, you'd pluck feathers from a turkey or milk a cow. Now you just get coins. While this may have been awkward for animals like the cat or elephant (what do you harvest from elephants that wouldn't alert PETA?), it was a feature that made my animals feel special, and made my game feel more like a real farm, and I liked that.
Nostalgic News:
Sad, Lonely Turtles Invade FarmVille
Scared Wild Turkeys Wander into FarmVille
farmville one year ago old farmville history farmville one year ago old farmville history
Our farms were tiny
One year ago, the Mighty Plantation 24 x 24 farm expansion was just being released for fans only, and it was very buggy. These days, seeing Farm Estates that are 28 x 28 is commonplace. For the record, that's an increase of 255 more plots! How did we ever manage with so little space and no storage?
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille 24 x 24 Expansion is acting glitchy -- coming soon?
Farmville 24X24 land expansion is available to fans only (for now)
farmville one year ago old farmville history
The Villa was the end-all, be-all of FarmVille
In the olden days of FarmVille, people farmed mostly for fun. But even so, I don't think there's one FarmVille player out there who wasn't at least partially going about farming, making money, and leveling-up, to buy the Villa. This building was no joke. Not only did it cost one million coins, but you had to be level 34 to buy it. Achieving those two milestone was no easy FarmVille feat. The Villa was a symbol that screamed, "I'm awesome at FarmVille," and nobody can deny that they wanted the majestic abode on their farms. Unfortunately now, there are more and more items that dwarf the Villa's one demanding presence on our farms. Now, it sits humbly in the corner of our estates, as a token to the FarmVille of old.
Nostalgic News:
Guest Column: Is There Life after Villa in FarmVille?
farmville remember when facebook updates
Non-FarmVillers got an overwhelming amount of spam
While many would argue the first few months of FarmVille were the golden era, for those who didn't play the game, it was definitely the dark ages. Before Facebook released updates that limited gifting and moved game requests to separate menus, our friends received an inhumane amount of requests. This was awesome for those who loved getting lost animals and other FarmVille bonuses. But for those who didn't play, the dozens of spammy Facebook game requests clogging up their notifications and news feeds could not have been more frustrating. But oh well, it was their fault for not playing!
Nostalgic News:
Will Facebook Redesign End Game Spam?
Two Reasons Facebook Games Are About to Change Forever
Facebook's Potential Changes May End Game Spam (Round 2)
Two Reasons Facebook Games Are About to Change Forever
Facebook changes affect FarmVille, Mafia Wars and other social game apps
farmville one year ago farmville.com
FarmVille.com was just getting started
On November 18 2009, FarmVille became playable on FarmVille.com in addition to Facebook. The feature was initially greeted with enthusiasm, as people assumed you would no longer need a Facebook account to play. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Not only did FarmVille.com still require you to log into Facebook, it also required your real email (and we all know how that turned out). FarmVille.com ushered in a new era of spammy, gimmicky FarmVille features. Since then, FarmVille.com players have always received bonus items and goodies just for playing on the site. Is it too much to ask that FarmVille players receive equal treatment regardless of where we play?
Nostalgic News:
FarmVille Without Facebook? Meet FarmVille.com
Breaking News: Now Play FarmVille on FarmVille.com
FarmVille.com exclusive gifts encourage players to leave Facebook
farmville one year ago old farmville history
Which do you prefer?
I've taken you through some of the ways FarmVille has changed. But this begs the question: did these changes make FarmVille better? On one hand, the changes have made FarmVille a deeper, more engaging Facebook game. But on the other hand, the simple farming game we could escape to for a few minutes a day is gone. You can't log in to FarmVille without being bombarded by notices announcing new features and items. So ultimately, it's up to you:
Do you prefer the new FarmVille, or the FarmVille of one year ago?
Which FarmVille do you prefer?
Older FarmVille, one year agoNew FarmVille, todayI like them equallyI hate FarmVille
VoteView ResultsShare ThisPolldaddy.com
Lord of the Rings arrives on Facebook with Aragorn's Quest advergame
Lord of the Rings advergame
Before making the journey to various consoles and handheld gaming systems, Aragorn will take his quest to Facebook in a social adventure... of sorts. To help create some buzz of his next adventure in The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, Warner Bros. have created a small (alright, it's minuscule) Facebook game for fans to enter. Players can take four of their friends along for the ride, filling the roles of The Wizard, The Hobbit, The Dwarf and The Elf. (If you can't figure out who they represent, then you must be new to this.)
After choosing a friend for each role, well, that's it really. The only purpose this serves is to enter you and your friends into the various contests that will take place on the game's fan page. Though, you can make alternate teams with more of your friends to increase your chances of winning the grand prize, a massive prize pack including an HDTV, a Sony Playstation 3 with MOVE motion controller starter pack and a copy of The Lord of The Rings: Aragorn's Quest.
All in all, it's a pretty big let down and a horribly missed opportunity at crafting what could have been an epic Facebok adventure. What's even worse is this sweepstakes is only open to our friends across the pond in the U.K., but at least Lord of the Rings fans across the globe can play the advergame and mark their friends as either Gandalf, Samwise, Legolas or Gimli in weekly quests. (Though, it seems somewhat wasteful at that point, really.) Act quickly, our British friends, as your journey for the grand prize will end on Jan. 14.
Before making the journey to various consoles and handheld gaming systems, Aragorn will take his quest to Facebook in a social adventure... of sorts. To help create some buzz of his next adventure in The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, Warner Bros. have created a small (alright, it's minuscule) Facebook game for fans to enter. Players can take four of their friends along for the ride, filling the roles of The Wizard, The Hobbit, The Dwarf and The Elf. (If you can't figure out who they represent, then you must be new to this.)
After choosing a friend for each role, well, that's it really. The only purpose this serves is to enter you and your friends into the various contests that will take place on the game's fan page. Though, you can make alternate teams with more of your friends to increase your chances of winning the grand prize, a massive prize pack including an HDTV, a Sony Playstation 3 with MOVE motion controller starter pack and a copy of The Lord of The Rings: Aragorn's Quest.
All in all, it's a pretty big let down and a horribly missed opportunity at crafting what could have been an epic Facebok adventure. What's even worse is this sweepstakes is only open to our friends across the pond in the U.K., but at least Lord of the Rings fans across the globe can play the advergame and mark their friends as either Gandalf, Samwise, Legolas or Gimli in weekly quests. (Though, it seems somewhat wasteful at that point, really.) Act quickly, our British friends, as your journey for the grand prize will end on Jan. 14.
CityVille blasts past FrontierVille with 47.9 million players, could outgrow FarmVille in days
CityVille won't stop!
CityVille, for all intents and purposes, is the new ish on Facebook. It's been reported by AppData and VentureBeat that the game, after grabbing a massive 47.9 million monthly players in just 18 days, could easily soar high above FarmVille in days. Think about it: the game made mincemeat of FrontierVille's 30.9 million with ease. With the farming sim sitting at 56.3 million players after a significant drop from its peak of over 80 million players earlier this year, Zynga is apparently in competition with itself. Now that FarmVille is frighteningly close to being finally dethroned, we ask, "Could anyone else have done it but Zynga?"
Probably not.
While we've already explored what might have contributed to the insanely rapid growth of the city-growing sim, it's about time we ask another question: What could this mean for FrontierVille and FarmVille? First off, they won't be going anywhere soon. But they could very well become less profitable over time, with fewer items asking for paid currency and inversely more items that cost City Cash popping up in CityVille. We doubt Zynga's focus would shift too dramatically from game to game--heck, the company is still trying to get Warstorm off the ground--but anything is possible. Here's one last question: Can CityVille return Zynga to its former glory of raking in over 80 million souls players in a single game? Stay tuned to see if CityVille trumps the farm in time for Christmas.
CityVille, for all intents and purposes, is the new ish on Facebook. It's been reported by AppData and VentureBeat that the game, after grabbing a massive 47.9 million monthly players in just 18 days, could easily soar high above FarmVille in days. Think about it: the game made mincemeat of FrontierVille's 30.9 million with ease. With the farming sim sitting at 56.3 million players after a significant drop from its peak of over 80 million players earlier this year, Zynga is apparently in competition with itself. Now that FarmVille is frighteningly close to being finally dethroned, we ask, "Could anyone else have done it but Zynga?"
Probably not.
While we've already explored what might have contributed to the insanely rapid growth of the city-growing sim, it's about time we ask another question: What could this mean for FrontierVille and FarmVille? First off, they won't be going anywhere soon. But they could very well become less profitable over time, with fewer items asking for paid currency and inversely more items that cost City Cash popping up in CityVille. We doubt Zynga's focus would shift too dramatically from game to game--heck, the company is still trying to get Warstorm off the ground--but anything is possible. Here's one last question: Can CityVille return Zynga to its former glory of raking in over 80 million souls players in a single game? Stay tuned to see if CityVille trumps the farm in time for Christmas.
FarmVille Silly Bandz Sponsored Link offers 25 Farm Cash
You could call the two mirrors, FarmVille and SillyBandz. One is a money-sucking phenomenon in the real world while the other serves that exact purpose in the digital world. So, it's only fitting that Zynga puts out a Sponsored Link to help merge the two wallet-incinerating hobbies. Though, this promotion goes one interesting step further.
Clicking on this Sponsored Link below your FarmVille game will take you to a purchase link to the SillyBandz website. Clicking on "Place Order Now" will redirect you to where you can buy FarmVille-inspired SillyBandz. However, to get the 25 Farm Cash you'll have to spend $8 on the mysterious wrist bands that somehow maintain their shape. In the special FarmVille pack of SillyBandz for $5.95, you'll find cows, tractors and even everyone's favorite sheep. While it's not free Farm Cash, at least you're getting it for less than paying directly and something tangible along with the 25 smackers to boot. And remember: only trust FarmVille Sponsored Links for ways to get free or discounted Farm Cash.
Clicking on this Sponsored Link below your FarmVille game will take you to a purchase link to the SillyBandz website. Clicking on "Place Order Now" will redirect you to where you can buy FarmVille-inspired SillyBandz. However, to get the 25 Farm Cash you'll have to spend $8 on the mysterious wrist bands that somehow maintain their shape. In the special FarmVille pack of SillyBandz for $5.95, you'll find cows, tractors and even everyone's favorite sheep. While it's not free Farm Cash, at least you're getting it for less than paying directly and something tangible along with the 25 smackers to boot. And remember: only trust FarmVille Sponsored Links for ways to get free or discounted Farm Cash.
Game of the Day: Aloha Solitaire
Bringing back the game of the day is always a good thing. Today's game is Aloha Solitaire. Take a peaceful trip to the gorgeous Hawaiian Islands and play solitaire on your way across the archipelago. Relaxing screens and unlimited Mai Tai's await on your Hawaiian game expedition.
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.
Play Aloha Solitaire Now >
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.
Play Aloha Solitaire Now >
Thứ Năm, 12 tháng 1, 2012
'Monk,' 'Burn Notice' and 'Law & Order' Social Games on the Way?
Your favorite TV shows just might be headed to Facebook.
USA Network, the cable channel known for hit original series like 'Monk' and 'Burn Notice,' has launched the new version of its Character Arcade, a portal for online casual games based on its shows. The site already features Facebook Connect integration, which means that new users can simply register/comment with their existing Facebook logins.
New partnerships with social gaming companies are already underway -- soon players could start to see more integration between the site and social networks in the form of friend leaderboards and achievement-based incentives.
Standout games already live on the site include 'Monk Shuiborhood' -- players must organize and straighten out Monk's house and neighborhood to match the OCD detective's standards -- and 'Psych Office' -- a collection of minigames set in Shawn and Gus' crime fighting headquarters.
With USA Network taking cues from big social game players like Zynga and Big Fish, we wouldn't be surprised to see those TV-show branded games embedded within Facebook in the coming months. Will other TV networks follow suit with their own social games? Only time will tell, but we suspect it'll be hard to resist tapping into the multi-billion dollar online gaming industry.
USA Network, the cable channel known for hit original series like 'Monk' and 'Burn Notice,' has launched the new version of its Character Arcade, a portal for online casual games based on its shows. The site already features Facebook Connect integration, which means that new users can simply register/comment with their existing Facebook logins.
New partnerships with social gaming companies are already underway -- soon players could start to see more integration between the site and social networks in the form of friend leaderboards and achievement-based incentives.
Standout games already live on the site include 'Monk Shuiborhood' -- players must organize and straighten out Monk's house and neighborhood to match the OCD detective's standards -- and 'Psych Office' -- a collection of minigames set in Shawn and Gus' crime fighting headquarters.
With USA Network taking cues from big social game players like Zynga and Big Fish, we wouldn't be surprised to see those TV-show branded games embedded within Facebook in the coming months. Will other TV networks follow suit with their own social games? Only time will tell, but we suspect it'll be hard to resist tapping into the multi-billion dollar online gaming industry.
Son of Hotel Habbo Coming Soon
Sulake, the Finnish company behind the early social game, Habbo Hotel, may have not entered the current social networking craze on places like Facebook and MySpace, yet it still boasts a whopping 13 million players. Yet, the nine-year-old game is starting to show its age and with a worldwide economic crisis, about 10 percent of its audience pays for in-game objects. Finally, it's getting ready to launch a new teen-targeted virtual world called Bobba.com.
The "casual virtual world for mobile phones," is already out in testing form for Symbian OS-based phones (owned by fellow Finnish mobile powerhouse, Nokia) and will arrive for iPhone and iPod Touch later in September. With colorful 3-D environments that appear to allow level construction, players are limited to more of a virtual space like The Sims and less of the leveling up play than social network gamers are accustomed to. Yet, it still has room to grow.
"Bobba is still very much in the early development phase ... Our aim is to build a virtual world, which is virtually platform free -- it can be accessed practically anywhere, with all kinds of devices," Timo Soininen, chief executive of Sulake said.
Could Bobba represent the next wave of social mobile games? Stay tuned for when it arrives later this month in the App Store.
The "casual virtual world for mobile phones," is already out in testing form for Symbian OS-based phones (owned by fellow Finnish mobile powerhouse, Nokia) and will arrive for iPhone and iPod Touch later in September. With colorful 3-D environments that appear to allow level construction, players are limited to more of a virtual space like The Sims and less of the leveling up play than social network gamers are accustomed to. Yet, it still has room to grow.
"Bobba is still very much in the early development phase ... Our aim is to build a virtual world, which is virtually platform free -- it can be accessed practically anywhere, with all kinds of devices," Timo Soininen, chief executive of Sulake said.
Could Bobba represent the next wave of social mobile games? Stay tuned for when it arrives later this month in the App Store.
Mafia Wars Set to Conquer the Globe With Asia and Western U.S. Expansions
Mafia Wars players have known for some time that Zynga was planning on releasing a brand-new city, Moscow, for the Facebook/Myspace/iPhone social game. Like the Cuba release before it, Moscow will bring new missions, businesses and items -- those who played during preview weekends in August and early September even had a chance to grab some of the new loot items debuting with the expansion.
But it looks like Mafia Wars isn't stopping at just Moscow -- when we logged into our account today, we found two additional destinations under the 'Travel' menu: Asia and Western U.S.
We reached out to Zynga for comment on the previously unannounced cities, but did not hear back by the time of this posting. That said, we're wondering if Asia will take any cues from rival Facebook game, Yakuza Lords - set mostly in Asian cities.
Check back for more updates on all of the Mafia Wars expansions as you wait for your energy to replenish.
But it looks like Mafia Wars isn't stopping at just Moscow -- when we logged into our account today, we found two additional destinations under the 'Travel' menu: Asia and Western U.S.
We reached out to Zynga for comment on the previously unannounced cities, but did not hear back by the time of this posting. That said, we're wondering if Asia will take any cues from rival Facebook game, Yakuza Lords - set mostly in Asian cities.
Check back for more updates on all of the Mafia Wars expansions as you wait for your energy to replenish.
Spore Creature Creator Goes 2-D
Last year's release of Spore did the near-impossible. It let players create cute, ugly or bizarre creatures with just a few clicks, and then take those little buggers into a game where they would evolve from into civilization makers and space conquerors. Now, Spore Creature Creator 2-D gives potential Spore players a free hands-on sample of how much fun it is to create... just in one less dimension.
Users can create a creature from 250 eyes, noses, limbs, feet and other evolutionary accessories along with altering their creature's colors. Once complete, the creature is easily saved as a PNG image file that you can use to decorate your desktop, Facebook page or merely save for later bragging rights.
To discover how much of a Spore Hero your creature might be, bringing it into the Creature Trainer pits your new best friend through training exercises where you'll use your mouse to manipulate mouth/beak, hands, feet and tail weapons against orbs, skulls and clay pots that come in a constant barrage. Completing each level requires a certain point score and you don't gain coins of tokens but it's well-produced and with the ability to use different parts to defend, there's some replay value.
Once you hone your fighter's heroic qualities, you can change its appearance or start again. While you're unable to upload the unique creatures to the Sporepedia network, you can import several creatures.
Users can create a creature from 250 eyes, noses, limbs, feet and other evolutionary accessories along with altering their creature's colors. Once complete, the creature is easily saved as a PNG image file that you can use to decorate your desktop, Facebook page or merely save for later bragging rights.
To discover how much of a Spore Hero your creature might be, bringing it into the Creature Trainer pits your new best friend through training exercises where you'll use your mouse to manipulate mouth/beak, hands, feet and tail weapons against orbs, skulls and clay pots that come in a constant barrage. Completing each level requires a certain point score and you don't gain coins of tokens but it's well-produced and with the ability to use different parts to defend, there's some replay value.
Once you hone your fighter's heroic qualities, you can change its appearance or start again. While you're unable to upload the unique creatures to the Sporepedia network, you can import several creatures.
Hidden Objects Meet Free Casino Games in Slingo: Mystery
If you've found yourself struggling to make time for both your hidden object and casino game addictions, we've got your solution right here. Funkitron and Slingo have partnered up to release a brand new game, Slingo Mystery: Who's Gold? -- it combines a drama-filled storyline (you play as the broke ex-wife of a dead millionaire attempting to both solve the mystery and find as much of his money as possible) with two already popular online game genres.
We took the demo for a run earlier today -- it's essentially a hidden object game interspersed with Slingo minigames (for example, you'll have to 'win' a Slingo game in order to reveal one of the hidden objects). The storyline's pretty wacky - at one point we were breaking open vases in an attempt to find our ex-husband's money - but fun and hokey. You can download the one-hour demo for Slingo Mystery now - the full version can be purchased for $19.95.
Check out other hidden object mystery and Slingo games you can play right on Games.com!
Slingo
Mystery Case Files - Madame Fate
Women's Murder Club: Twice in a Blue Moon
Slingo Deluxe
5 Card Slingo
We took the demo for a run earlier today -- it's essentially a hidden object game interspersed with Slingo minigames (for example, you'll have to 'win' a Slingo game in order to reveal one of the hidden objects). The storyline's pretty wacky - at one point we were breaking open vases in an attempt to find our ex-husband's money - but fun and hokey. You can download the one-hour demo for Slingo Mystery now - the full version can be purchased for $19.95.
Check out other hidden object mystery and Slingo games you can play right on Games.com!
Slingo
Mystery Case Files - Madame Fate
Women's Murder Club: Twice in a Blue Moon
Slingo Deluxe
5 Card Slingo
Games.com Diary: Drawn: the Painted Tower
Big Fish Games is the developer behind some of our most popular game series, from the Diner Dash time management games to the Mystery Case Files hidden object games, but lately they've taken their development in a new direction: adventure games.
Drawn: the Painted Tower, which debuted earlier this month, has been one of our biggest addictions this past week. The game, very much reminiscent of the popular point-and-click adventure genre of the 90s, features beautifully detailed art, a great Tim Burton-esque storyline and original puzzles -- we were surprised to find how drawn in (no pun intended) we became to the plight of a missing girl with ability to bring her art to life.
'Drawn' takes many cues from the hidden object genre we're seen as of late -- we spent much of the game searching around scenes for items and progressing through areas to find items for use in other areas. Pretty standard stuff.
But the way the storyline ties into the gameplay is where 'Drawn' shines. The paintings that we explore are works of art created by the very missing girl we're trying to find and protect -- her magical abilities have made her a target for would-be evildoers (naturally!). They're peppered with interactive characters that animate and react depending on your actions -- Big Fish did a great job in making us feel like we had an impact on the game world. It evolved and changed as we progressed in the game.
The puzzles themselves are varied and impressive in their own right. In addition to some predictable jigsaw puzzles, we found ourselves using the mouse to draw in our own objects, rotating mirrors to shine sunlight on a plant and solving word riddles. We even transported objects (drawn on pieces of paper) to and from different paintings to use them. Yeah, it's good.
This was one of the first downloadable games that we wanted to buy even before the demo hour was up -- 'Drawn' pulled us in quickly and unexpectedly. Give it a try (download the demo here) and come back to let us know what you thought of it!
Drawn: the Painted Tower, which debuted earlier this month, has been one of our biggest addictions this past week. The game, very much reminiscent of the popular point-and-click adventure genre of the 90s, features beautifully detailed art, a great Tim Burton-esque storyline and original puzzles -- we were surprised to find how drawn in (no pun intended) we became to the plight of a missing girl with ability to bring her art to life.
'Drawn' takes many cues from the hidden object genre we're seen as of late -- we spent much of the game searching around scenes for items and progressing through areas to find items for use in other areas. Pretty standard stuff.
But the way the storyline ties into the gameplay is where 'Drawn' shines. The paintings that we explore are works of art created by the very missing girl we're trying to find and protect -- her magical abilities have made her a target for would-be evildoers (naturally!). They're peppered with interactive characters that animate and react depending on your actions -- Big Fish did a great job in making us feel like we had an impact on the game world. It evolved and changed as we progressed in the game.
The puzzles themselves are varied and impressive in their own right. In addition to some predictable jigsaw puzzles, we found ourselves using the mouse to draw in our own objects, rotating mirrors to shine sunlight on a plant and solving word riddles. We even transported objects (drawn on pieces of paper) to and from different paintings to use them. Yeah, it's good.
This was one of the first downloadable games that we wanted to buy even before the demo hour was up -- 'Drawn' pulled us in quickly and unexpectedly. Give it a try (download the demo here) and come back to let us know what you thought of it!
FarmVille "Allow Walk" Option Expected to Return This Week
The cows, sheep, ducks and other assorted livestock of popular social game FarmVille were set loose last Thursday night when developer Zynga added the "Allow Walk" option in each animal's drop-down menu. Once enabled, the animals wandered around the farm on their own until the "Stay" option was selected.
Or at least, they would have wandered around on their own if it weren't for a few kinks that arose -- according to some users (including FarmVille tips and tricks blog, Harvest Guide), the animations were jerky, animals ended up walking backwards and many "out of sync" issues were reported (this happens when the state of your game doesn't match the version that FarmVille servers have stored for you). The feature was disabled late Saturday night, according to FarmVille's official Facebook updates. As of this posting, we were still able to see the "Allow Walk" option in the drop-down menus, although nothing happens when it is selected.
We reached Zynga for comment, who told us that the feature will be turned back on after they resolve the syncing issues on the game, which they expect to happen by the end of the week.
"As you can imagine," said Zynga's Lisa Chan, "sometimes it's tough dealing with all of the bugs that come across when serving over 15 million players a day, but it's all part of the learning process."
Did any of you get to try out the "Allow Walk" feature before it was turned off? Did you experience any of the syncing or animation issues?
Or at least, they would have wandered around on their own if it weren't for a few kinks that arose -- according to some users (including FarmVille tips and tricks blog, Harvest Guide), the animations were jerky, animals ended up walking backwards and many "out of sync" issues were reported (this happens when the state of your game doesn't match the version that FarmVille servers have stored for you). The feature was disabled late Saturday night, according to FarmVille's official Facebook updates. As of this posting, we were still able to see the "Allow Walk" option in the drop-down menus, although nothing happens when it is selected.
We reached Zynga for comment, who told us that the feature will be turned back on after they resolve the syncing issues on the game, which they expect to happen by the end of the week.
"As you can imagine," said Zynga's Lisa Chan, "sometimes it's tough dealing with all of the bugs that come across when serving over 15 million players a day, but it's all part of the learning process."
Did any of you get to try out the "Allow Walk" feature before it was turned off? Did you experience any of the syncing or animation issues?
Thứ Ba, 10 tháng 1, 2012
You're gonna' get a free mobile social game, Charlie Brown!
Perhaps Charlie Brown isn't hopeless after all. Snoopy and the gang are going social, thanks to a partnership between Capcom and Peanuts Worldwide. More specifically, Capcom's new mobile division, Beeline Interactive, will develop a new "freemium" game for smartphones and tablets. However, all we know about the game at this point is that it's slated for a fall release and will include Peanuts staples like Charlie Brown, Lucy and, of course, Snoopy.
This move comes hot off the heels of the (perhaps too) wild success of Smurfs Village for iOS devices and Zombie Cafe, both developed by Capcom. Now, the Japanese developer will hand off the duties to Beeline as it pursues its ... manlier franchises like Street Fighter and Resident Evil. According to Pocket Gamer, Beeline plans to release three other mobile games in around the same time frame: Smurfs' Grabber, Dream Park and Monster Pet Shop.
However, it's also important to note that Iconix Brand Group, which now owns the Peanuts brand, is taking the iconic cartoons-turned-traditional holiday specials way farther than just mobile social games. The Peanuts theme park rides are now featured in Amazement Park, a Facebook game created by Cedar Fair Amusement Parks, owner of 11 theme parks nationwide. Certainly more Facebook adventures for Snoopy aren't out the realm of possibility. All we hope is that they involve at least one epic battle between Snoopy and The Red Baron--at least one.
This move comes hot off the heels of the (perhaps too) wild success of Smurfs Village for iOS devices and Zombie Cafe, both developed by Capcom. Now, the Japanese developer will hand off the duties to Beeline as it pursues its ... manlier franchises like Street Fighter and Resident Evil. According to Pocket Gamer, Beeline plans to release three other mobile games in around the same time frame: Smurfs' Grabber, Dream Park and Monster Pet Shop.
However, it's also important to note that Iconix Brand Group, which now owns the Peanuts brand, is taking the iconic cartoons-turned-traditional holiday specials way farther than just mobile social games. The Peanuts theme park rides are now featured in Amazement Park, a Facebook game created by Cedar Fair Amusement Parks, owner of 11 theme parks nationwide. Certainly more Facebook adventures for Snoopy aren't out the realm of possibility. All we hope is that they involve at least one epic battle between Snoopy and The Red Baron--at least one.
Facebook and Zynga's relationship: Just how shady is it?
Last month we talked about some of the details of an exclusive relationship between Zynga and Facebook that was revealed in their S-1 IPO filings. Some of these things were more obvious and less ominous, such as the requirement for Zynga to keep certain games on Facebook exclusively and not port them to other social networks or platforms. However, there was one little line in there that left behind a lot of uncertainty for social game developers:
The parties further acknowledge that Zynga is making a significant commitment to the Facebook Platform (i.e., using Facebook as the exclusive Social Platform on the Zynga Properties and granting FB certain title exclusivities to Zynga games on the Facebook Platform). In exchange for such commitment, the parties have committed to set certain growth targets for monthly unique users of Covered Zynga Games.
No one is exactly sure what this means, but one thing is for certain -- Zynga's Empires & Allies monthly active users graph looks particularly suspicious. In the line graph shown above, you can see the Empires and Allies peaked in traffic on July 9. From there, you can see that the game started to dramatically decline in numbers, which you will see in almost every Facebook game ever released. Social games on Facebook have an exciting climb up to their peak and then fall in numbers, spiking only with the release of new features.
However, you can see that starting on July 18, the monthly active user numbers have remained almost exactly flat. No growth, only a tiny decline that is the difference of thousands, not millions. Never before has the graph of a game looked like this. I'll go ahead and say it -- this is that Zynga/Facebook relationship at work. Facebook are doing something to help Empires & Allies remain at 45 million MAU.
It wouldn't be possible for Zynga to buy ads to keep their numbers exactly this flat. With the delayed reporting on Facebook ads, you can't buy daily ads with the intention of getting an exact number of users per day. You can't even really come all that close - especially when you're dealing with traffic numbers in the 45 million range. Especially when the daily active usage of the game looks like this:
In addition, Empires & Allies isn't retaining players well. The game is hovering between 15-17% of their monthly users coming back each day. With this kind of churn and this much fluctuation in terms of their daily playerbase, it's obvious that Facebook is pumping traffic in some fashion to the game to keep the numbers flat. They could be tweaking the ad algorithm, or doing a number of things to help Zynga maintain this number in Empires & Allies. Perhaps they are doing this until Zynga's IPO; no one can really be sure.
Other social game studios have every reason to be angry about this deal. Facebook is essentially helping the titan maintain its prowess over all the other studios, giving smaller developers little chance to make up ground. Sure, a lot of Zynga's success is compounded on their previous success -- no one is denying that Zynga are the leaders in the space. However, Facebook's special treatment feels malicious to me. It's hard enough to compete with the Zyngas and EAs of the space without having to deal with Facebook siding with a developer.
The parties further acknowledge that Zynga is making a significant commitment to the Facebook Platform (i.e., using Facebook as the exclusive Social Platform on the Zynga Properties and granting FB certain title exclusivities to Zynga games on the Facebook Platform). In exchange for such commitment, the parties have committed to set certain growth targets for monthly unique users of Covered Zynga Games.
No one is exactly sure what this means, but one thing is for certain -- Zynga's Empires & Allies monthly active users graph looks particularly suspicious. In the line graph shown above, you can see the Empires and Allies peaked in traffic on July 9. From there, you can see that the game started to dramatically decline in numbers, which you will see in almost every Facebook game ever released. Social games on Facebook have an exciting climb up to their peak and then fall in numbers, spiking only with the release of new features.
However, you can see that starting on July 18, the monthly active user numbers have remained almost exactly flat. No growth, only a tiny decline that is the difference of thousands, not millions. Never before has the graph of a game looked like this. I'll go ahead and say it -- this is that Zynga/Facebook relationship at work. Facebook are doing something to help Empires & Allies remain at 45 million MAU.
It wouldn't be possible for Zynga to buy ads to keep their numbers exactly this flat. With the delayed reporting on Facebook ads, you can't buy daily ads with the intention of getting an exact number of users per day. You can't even really come all that close - especially when you're dealing with traffic numbers in the 45 million range. Especially when the daily active usage of the game looks like this:
In addition, Empires & Allies isn't retaining players well. The game is hovering between 15-17% of their monthly users coming back each day. With this kind of churn and this much fluctuation in terms of their daily playerbase, it's obvious that Facebook is pumping traffic in some fashion to the game to keep the numbers flat. They could be tweaking the ad algorithm, or doing a number of things to help Zynga maintain this number in Empires & Allies. Perhaps they are doing this until Zynga's IPO; no one can really be sure.
Other social game studios have every reason to be angry about this deal. Facebook is essentially helping the titan maintain its prowess over all the other studios, giving smaller developers little chance to make up ground. Sure, a lot of Zynga's success is compounded on their previous success -- no one is denying that Zynga are the leaders in the space. However, Facebook's special treatment feels malicious to me. It's hard enough to compete with the Zyngas and EAs of the space without having to deal with Facebook siding with a developer.
There are nearly 80M Facebook strategy gamers; now that's hardcore
Surprisingly enough, a lot of Facebook gamers wouldn't consider toiling away in digital soil for hours "fun." As traditional Facebook games like CityVille and FarmVille dominate the charts monthly, another sect of social games has garnered a considerable share of gamers' time: strategy games. According to SocialTimesPro, there are 80 million Facebook gamers that enjoy the cerebral, explosion-packed and "hardcore" action of games like Empires & Allies, Army Attack and Backyard Monsters.
The report cites the top 13 strategy games on Facebook by monthly players, which totals out to about 79 million. A number of stragglers that bring in hundreds of thousands more round out that number to 80 million. Of course, Empires & Allies by Zynga tops the list with 52 million monthly players (that's a bit dated, compared to current numbers on AppData). Though, that game's "hardcore" cred is somewhat arguable.
Zynga's clearly successful answer to this growing genre on Facebook is followed by many games that purists would call the real deal. Games like Army Attack by Digital Chocolate with 5.3 million monthly players and Kixeye's Backyard Monsters with 3.9 million players. And while Kabam sits at fourth place with Dragons of Atlantis at 3.8 million, it runs the rest of the list with three more games.
The fact that strategy games are growing is no surprise. But the fact that these games--generally reserved for fans of traditional strategy series like Starcraft and Command and Conquer--make up almost a third of all Facebook gamers is shocking. The thing is that most of these games don't have the reach Zynga throws around, yet still reel in millions of Facebook gamers. Are 18 to 35-year-old men getting their Facebook fix with these games? Or, is the new breed of social gamers (ahem, moms) getting keen on game types previously reserved for wrist brace-wielding PC gamers?
While the data presented by SocialTimesPro can't provide those answers, I'd personally go with the latter. Facebook is probably the last place fans of games like Starcraft would go to in search of a new strategy fix. So, maybe Richard Garriott is right: The line between "casual" Facebook gamers and "hardcore" PC and console gamers blurs further every day.
The report cites the top 13 strategy games on Facebook by monthly players, which totals out to about 79 million. A number of stragglers that bring in hundreds of thousands more round out that number to 80 million. Of course, Empires & Allies by Zynga tops the list with 52 million monthly players (that's a bit dated, compared to current numbers on AppData). Though, that game's "hardcore" cred is somewhat arguable.
Zynga's clearly successful answer to this growing genre on Facebook is followed by many games that purists would call the real deal. Games like Army Attack by Digital Chocolate with 5.3 million monthly players and Kixeye's Backyard Monsters with 3.9 million players. And while Kabam sits at fourth place with Dragons of Atlantis at 3.8 million, it runs the rest of the list with three more games.
The fact that strategy games are growing is no surprise. But the fact that these games--generally reserved for fans of traditional strategy series like Starcraft and Command and Conquer--make up almost a third of all Facebook gamers is shocking. The thing is that most of these games don't have the reach Zynga throws around, yet still reel in millions of Facebook gamers. Are 18 to 35-year-old men getting their Facebook fix with these games? Or, is the new breed of social gamers (ahem, moms) getting keen on game types previously reserved for wrist brace-wielding PC gamers?
While the data presented by SocialTimesPro can't provide those answers, I'd personally go with the latter. Facebook is probably the last place fans of games like Starcraft would go to in search of a new strategy fix. So, maybe Richard Garriott is right: The line between "casual" Facebook gamers and "hardcore" PC and console gamers blurs further every day.
Zynga drags Google into legal battle with Vostu, but aren't they bros? [Updated]
Ever since Google "secretly" invested in Zynga last year, we thought so too. But apparently not, as TechCrunch reports that the creator of FarmVille has filed suit against the search giant for its involvement with Brazilian social games developer Vostu. Zynga claims that Vostu has copied four of its games. (Keep in mind, Vostu has since filed a countersuit against Zynga for the very same thing.) Google has been dragged into this scrap because Orkut, a social network popular in Brazil that hosts the very games Zynga is targeting, is a Google property.
And, according to TechCrunch, Zynga filed another lawsuit against Vostu in a Brazilian court. Better yet (for Zynga, at least), a Brazilian judge has sided with Zynga and granted it a preliminary injunction against Vostu. The injunction, or court order, demands that Vostu and Orkut must remove four games--MegaCity, Pet Mania, Cafe Mania and Vostu Poker--within 48 unless the two want to pay a fine of about $13,000 USD every day until they are removed.
"Professor Bruno Feijó, from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro and Chief of Vision Lab, analyzed the games and concluded that: 'the four games from Vostu characterize a clear case of copying Zynga's games in both visual interface and gameplay,'" Zynga said in a statement. This was affirmed by Professor João Bernardes Junior from the University of São Paulo. At this point, we doubt Google and Zynga will hit the clubs together anytime soon ... or whatever bros do. Google declined comment.
Update: Vostu has decided to appeal the ruling made in Brazilian court. Here's Vostu's statement in full:
Vostu will vigorously appeal this ruling, which we firmly believe has no merit.
This is a desperate and misguided legal tactic by Zynga, a foreign company with no real Brazilian roots -- a company that has failed to secure a foothold in the local marketplace and failed to win consumers who have clearly shown they prefer the superior games created by Vostu's Brazilian team.
We are confident the Court of Appeals will reverse the injunction, when presented with Vostu's position and its full story.
In less than two years, Vostu has become the clear leader in social gaming in Brazil and has grown to 35 million registered users who enjoy our high quality games, which are specifically developed for the Brazilian audience. We employ more than 50 highly-skilled employees in Brazil and over 500 employees in the region, each of whom contributes to the Brazilian economy.
Vostu has been deeply entrenched with the Brazilian economy by heavily investing in local marketing, helping brands such as Guarana advertise, doing creative deals with Brazil's most popular star, Ivete Sangalo, and conducting in-depth market research analyses with Brazilian consumers.
We remain confident that Vostu will continue to maintain its dominance in the industry by offering the best gaming entertainment to Brazil and to employ the best and brightest Brazilians in the gaming industry. We are proud to be the first and most prominent gaming company in Brazil and being able to entertain our users with highly localized and relevant entertainment.
And, according to TechCrunch, Zynga filed another lawsuit against Vostu in a Brazilian court. Better yet (for Zynga, at least), a Brazilian judge has sided with Zynga and granted it a preliminary injunction against Vostu. The injunction, or court order, demands that Vostu and Orkut must remove four games--MegaCity, Pet Mania, Cafe Mania and Vostu Poker--within 48 unless the two want to pay a fine of about $13,000 USD every day until they are removed.
"Professor Bruno Feijó, from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro and Chief of Vision Lab, analyzed the games and concluded that: 'the four games from Vostu characterize a clear case of copying Zynga's games in both visual interface and gameplay,'" Zynga said in a statement. This was affirmed by Professor João Bernardes Junior from the University of São Paulo. At this point, we doubt Google and Zynga will hit the clubs together anytime soon ... or whatever bros do. Google declined comment.
Update: Vostu has decided to appeal the ruling made in Brazilian court. Here's Vostu's statement in full:
Vostu will vigorously appeal this ruling, which we firmly believe has no merit.
This is a desperate and misguided legal tactic by Zynga, a foreign company with no real Brazilian roots -- a company that has failed to secure a foothold in the local marketplace and failed to win consumers who have clearly shown they prefer the superior games created by Vostu's Brazilian team.
We are confident the Court of Appeals will reverse the injunction, when presented with Vostu's position and its full story.
In less than two years, Vostu has become the clear leader in social gaming in Brazil and has grown to 35 million registered users who enjoy our high quality games, which are specifically developed for the Brazilian audience. We employ more than 50 highly-skilled employees in Brazil and over 500 employees in the region, each of whom contributes to the Brazilian economy.
Vostu has been deeply entrenched with the Brazilian economy by heavily investing in local marketing, helping brands such as Guarana advertise, doing creative deals with Brazil's most popular star, Ivete Sangalo, and conducting in-depth market research analyses with Brazilian consumers.
We remain confident that Vostu will continue to maintain its dominance in the industry by offering the best gaming entertainment to Brazil and to employ the best and brightest Brazilians in the gaming industry. We are proud to be the first and most prominent gaming company in Brazil and being able to entertain our users with highly localized and relevant entertainment.
PS Vita won't take the 'social gaming revolution' west until 2012
At least Japanese gamers' social lives will be revolutionized this year. The Associated Press reports that Sony executive Kazuo Hirai announced that the PlayStation Vita, the successor to the PSP, will not release in the U.S. and Europe until 2012.
However, Sony will release the system on its home turf this year. Keep in mind that Sony never mentioned a release date for neither the West nor Japan. Whether the PS Vita will make it into Japanese gamers' grubby hands by Christmas--the most ideal release period--is still up in the air.
Of course, Hirai was asked by reporters in Sony headquarters in Tokyo how the company will react to Nintendo's drastic price cut of its 3DS. "We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable," Hirai said. "There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price."
Sony has slated the PS Vita as a device that will reign in a "social gaming revolution," according to a few promotional videos released by the company. This is thanks to touted features like cross-game voice chat, communication and gift-sharing with PS Vita players nearby through its Near feature, a Facebook News Feed-like feature that displays status updates from other players and more. Considering other platforms have been capable of a few of these features for years, we're waiting with bated breath to see just how revolutionary the PS Vita will be.
However, Sony will release the system on its home turf this year. Keep in mind that Sony never mentioned a release date for neither the West nor Japan. Whether the PS Vita will make it into Japanese gamers' grubby hands by Christmas--the most ideal release period--is still up in the air.
Of course, Hirai was asked by reporters in Sony headquarters in Tokyo how the company will react to Nintendo's drastic price cut of its 3DS. "We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable," Hirai said. "There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price."
Sony has slated the PS Vita as a device that will reign in a "social gaming revolution," according to a few promotional videos released by the company. This is thanks to touted features like cross-game voice chat, communication and gift-sharing with PS Vita players nearby through its Near feature, a Facebook News Feed-like feature that displays status updates from other players and more. Considering other platforms have been capable of a few of these features for years, we're waiting with bated breath to see just how revolutionary the PS Vita will be.
Thứ Hai, 9 tháng 1, 2012
Trial Madness 2 on Facebook is addictive, antisocial motocross
Trial Madness 2
Alright, so it's not exactly a social game in the traditional sense. But Trial Madness 2 by Spanish developer Social Point is just plain fun. Sure, you can add your friends and compare times with them--not to mention to global leader boards. And of course you can create a custom player profile and avatar that will display your highest score and currency. But none of this is the main draw of Trial Madness 2.
It's the gameplay.
And while gameplay alone doesn't seem to get social games very far these days, Trial Madness 2 certainly brings it in spades. Not to mention plenty of competition. Check behind the break for our detailed impressions of Trial Madness 2.
Trial Madness 2 gameplay
This balance-heavy biking game doesn't exactly advance the sub-genre of casual gaming, but Trial Madness 2 certainly does add some much need polish to it. The gameplay remains the same: simple to understand, nearly impossible to master. Players navigate a motocross bike across both somewhat normal and at times ridiculous terrain using the arrow keys. The "up" and "down" arrow key accelerate and apply the brakes, respectively. The "left" key leans the bike backward and "right" leans it forward. Throw in some horribly uneven courses and you got yourself what should be a headache.
Let's put it this way: you're going to crash. A lot. But reload times are so quick that I find myself almost pressing the "Retry" button via muscle memory. Trial Madness 2 evokes this almost insatiable need to beat the next level while maximizing points. Completing the level in the least amount of time will surely increase your score, throwing in a few skillful back flips or front flips here and there will rack up the points. To do a flip, just hold in either the "left" or "right" key while in midair, but the key to a successful flip is knowing when to stop. This trial-and-error gameplay (hence the name) is admittedly addictive.
Level Complete!
After every successful level, you'll be given the option to brag through a News Feed post, taunting your friends into trying to beat your time. Turning up the scale on the competition is World mode, which displays the top players globally with their highest score and Gold won from tournaments.
An otherwise meaningless statistic, Gold is used to buy into Tournaments, which offer large Gold prizes and bragging rights. As you might have already noticed, most of the game's social elements are pretty nebulous, deceptively simple features. Tournaments and Gold are both those types of features, offering no more incentive to partake than a chance at the glory of having your face attached to one of the highest scores. Throw in a long list of Achievements to obtain for nothing more than, again, glory, and Trial Madness might be one of the most competitive games on Facebook. But with such shallow social features, only you and the other otherwise anonymous bikers will know anything of it.
Alright, so it's not exactly a social game in the traditional sense. But Trial Madness 2 by Spanish developer Social Point is just plain fun. Sure, you can add your friends and compare times with them--not to mention to global leader boards. And of course you can create a custom player profile and avatar that will display your highest score and currency. But none of this is the main draw of Trial Madness 2.
It's the gameplay.
And while gameplay alone doesn't seem to get social games very far these days, Trial Madness 2 certainly brings it in spades. Not to mention plenty of competition. Check behind the break for our detailed impressions of Trial Madness 2.
Trial Madness 2 gameplay
This balance-heavy biking game doesn't exactly advance the sub-genre of casual gaming, but Trial Madness 2 certainly does add some much need polish to it. The gameplay remains the same: simple to understand, nearly impossible to master. Players navigate a motocross bike across both somewhat normal and at times ridiculous terrain using the arrow keys. The "up" and "down" arrow key accelerate and apply the brakes, respectively. The "left" key leans the bike backward and "right" leans it forward. Throw in some horribly uneven courses and you got yourself what should be a headache.
Let's put it this way: you're going to crash. A lot. But reload times are so quick that I find myself almost pressing the "Retry" button via muscle memory. Trial Madness 2 evokes this almost insatiable need to beat the next level while maximizing points. Completing the level in the least amount of time will surely increase your score, throwing in a few skillful back flips or front flips here and there will rack up the points. To do a flip, just hold in either the "left" or "right" key while in midair, but the key to a successful flip is knowing when to stop. This trial-and-error gameplay (hence the name) is admittedly addictive.
Level Complete!
After every successful level, you'll be given the option to brag through a News Feed post, taunting your friends into trying to beat your time. Turning up the scale on the competition is World mode, which displays the top players globally with their highest score and Gold won from tournaments.
An otherwise meaningless statistic, Gold is used to buy into Tournaments, which offer large Gold prizes and bragging rights. As you might have already noticed, most of the game's social elements are pretty nebulous, deceptively simple features. Tournaments and Gold are both those types of features, offering no more incentive to partake than a chance at the glory of having your face attached to one of the highest scores. Throw in a long list of Achievements to obtain for nothing more than, again, glory, and Trial Madness might be one of the most competitive games on Facebook. But with such shallow social features, only you and the other otherwise anonymous bikers will know anything of it.
Santa Claw: Use Facebook Connect to play a claw machine from home
Santa Claw
Well, at this point it's more like, "Wait in line to play a real claw machine from home," but it's awesome nonetheless. Mashable reports that Real Art Design, a Chicago-based design firm, have created a gigantic claw machine using one ton of steel, 700 feet and wire and 1.5 wheelchairs to be played with solely online. That's right, just log in using your Facebook account, Twitter handle or e-mail address and... wait for a really long time to play. As you can imagine, word of this intriguing creation has spread like wildfire--so much so that we can't even fit in the line at the moment.
The idea behind the creation is to give away the gifts that Santa had leftover from this past Christmas. That is, of course, if you manage to get in line before all the presents are gone. If you do somehow squeeze in and, through some mystical alignment of whatever celestial bodies symbolize luck, win a prize, then Real Art Design will send that exact present directly to your house. Who knows what could be inside, but we sure hope Santa dropped a MacBook somewhere along the way.
Well, at this point it's more like, "Wait in line to play a real claw machine from home," but it's awesome nonetheless. Mashable reports that Real Art Design, a Chicago-based design firm, have created a gigantic claw machine using one ton of steel, 700 feet and wire and 1.5 wheelchairs to be played with solely online. That's right, just log in using your Facebook account, Twitter handle or e-mail address and... wait for a really long time to play. As you can imagine, word of this intriguing creation has spread like wildfire--so much so that we can't even fit in the line at the moment.
The idea behind the creation is to give away the gifts that Santa had leftover from this past Christmas. That is, of course, if you manage to get in line before all the presents are gone. If you do somehow squeeze in and, through some mystical alignment of whatever celestial bodies symbolize luck, win a prize, then Real Art Design will send that exact present directly to your house. Who knows what could be inside, but we sure hope Santa dropped a MacBook somewhere along the way.
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