FarmVille Podcast (June 4) highlights: Biplane, 7-Eleven and crafting cottages

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 >

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?

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.

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.

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.

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).

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!

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
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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.

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.

FarmVille behind bars: Inmates use smuggled phones to tend virtual crops

Just because you're locked up behind bars doesn't mean you need to abandon your virtual farm. According to this New York Times article, smuggled smartphones are starting to become a prison cliche, much like finding a homemade shiv hidden in a mattress. These contraband phones are being used for everything from directing criminal activities outside prison to ... playing FarmVille on Facebook.

    "Almost everybody has a phone," said Mike, 33, an inmate at Smith State Prison in Georgia who, like other prisoners interviewed for this article, asked that his full name not be used for fear of retaliation. "Almost every phone is a smartphone. Almost everybody with a smartphone has a Facebook."

Even though the smartphones are banned from prison systems (if you're found in possession of one, it can lead to additional criminal charges or affect your parole) they still manage to make their way into inmate's hands. The NYT article says that In California last year, officers discovered around 9,000 contraband cell phones. Guards, visitors and inmates smuggle in the phones and monthly payments range from $300 to $1,000, which are generally paid by convict's relatives.

There was no percentage on just how many cons use their smartphones to play games on Facebook, but it looks like FarmVille-maker Zynga might have a burgeoning new fan base on its hands.

FarmVille England Expansion saga continues

Back in the January 24 official FarmVille podcast, FarmVille community manager Lexilicious and her British friend Charles offered us a very quick sneak peek of new foreign content that would be added to the game. At the time, that was all we had to go on, but shortly thereafter, a sign advertising a trip to England was spotted as an unreleased image.

Now, that same sign has appeared on all farmers' land, similar to the CityVille billboard that appeared a few weeks ago. Does this sign mean we'll be able to travel to England in the incredibly near future? One would believe so. Clicking on the sign gives us a few slight details (although still vague) about this new expansion. Note: You can remove the sign by clicking on it and then clicking on the "Remove sign from farm?" toggle at the bottom of the pop-up window.

We're told that this feature will give us a "whole new way to play" FarmVille, and that it will indeed be a full "England Expansion." Furthermore, news, official sneak peeks, prizes, and more will be coming to the game "soon" to give us more details about what this entire expansion will entail.

As it stands, we're still fairly in the dark concerning this new expansion, but if assumptions hold true, this is looking to be an incredibly large feature in the game, so we can't wait to see what officially comes of it.

What are your theories concerning this new expansion? Do you think it will simply be a new neighbor to visit, or will there actually be activities to participate in once we get there?

Picture of the Day: FarmVille Rubik's Cube

FarmVille players are always making something unique and interesting out of haybales and other decorations. This picture shows just how intricate some of these designs can get as a player constructed an actual Rubik's Cube on their farm. We're not sure how long this took, but we can only imagine the amount of effort that went into making this look like sheer perfection.

Are you into creating pixel art on your farm? Send us an email with your creations and we'll be happy to feature them here!

(Thanks to Ron W. for the submission!)

FarmVille encourages meetups in 250+ cities on February 27

Zynga has just announced a brand new meetup, and it's happening in the city near you. FarmVille is utilizing Meetup.com in order to connect players with each other for a real world meetup on February 27th. To participate, you simply need to visit this site to find the meetup that is closest to you. If you can find one, you can signup as an attendee so that others know you are coming. If you don't find a meetup in your area, you can start one and signup as the organizer for the group.

So far there are 250 meetups ranging from 1 attendee up to 8 attendees, however this was just announced and things are just getting started. There are meetups in large cities such as New York City and Las Vegas and smaller cities like Kenosha, WI. There are also meetups being formed outside the United States, such as Cairo and Sydney.

We're not exactly sure why February 27th was the chosen date, but it is a Sunday and is a few short weeks from now. For more information, view the official FarmVille blog.

FarmVille St. Patrick's Day Animals: Shamrock Pony & Shamrock Pig

As part of tonight's FarmVille update, Zynga released two new animals in the current St. Patrick's Day theme of limited edition items. One of these items was recently featured in a scam that you may have spotted on your news feed (well, its foal was anyway), but rest assured, this release of the animal is the real deal. That animal of course is the Shamrock Pony, while the other new animal is the Shamrock Pig.

Both of these animals go for Farm Cash, with the Shamrock Pony being the more expensive of the two animals, at 26 Farm Cash. The Shamrock Pig, meanwhile, costs 18 Farm Cash, which is still a fairly hefty price all things considered. Then again, you should never really expect new animals to be available for coins, so I guess the price isn't that great of a surprise.

The Shamrock Pony can be harvested once every three days, while the Shamrock Pig can be harvested from once every two days. Place these animals in their respective animal buildings, however, and you can claim your profits (however meager) once per day.

Both of these animals will be available in the game for the next two weeks, so feel free to take a few days to decide if the Farm Cash price is really worth it.

Check out the rest of our St. Patrick's Day 2011 coverage right here.

What do you think of these animals? Are they worth the high Farm Cash price just because they're limited edition?

Zynga drops the Flock: Social browser dies; developers join new team

Zynga--well, social gaming in general, but mostly Zynga--has had an incredibly disruptive effect on not just the gaming industry, but now on the information technology industry. Since the FarmVille creator bought Flock, the social browser, just this past January the 6-year-old team has, um, swarmed (did you see that terrible pun just miss me?) to Zynga offices. Officially, the site will go kaput on April 26, PCMag reports.

In fact, Flock specifically recommended that fans move on to popular browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Why? Because while Flock will still be available, it will no longer be monitored or updated after April 26, leaving it wide open for attacks from hackers as a gateway into your files. If you're even still using Flock, just take their word for it, please. It's sad to see such an ambitious, original piece of software go, but such is the massive crater social gaming has left in the tech world's side.

[Image Credit: Flock]

Were you a Flock fan? If so, how are you adapting to life without it now that Zynga has all but killed it? How much more do you think the social gaming industry disrupt in the tech world?

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Gypsy King Horse gallops onto the scene

Gypsy King Horse
Another horse from the world of royalty is about to strut into FarmVille. Zynga has leaked yet another item to FarmVille Feed, the Gypsy King Horse. It's unknown exactly when this steed will be released, but FarmVille Feed predicts that it will be part of a larger medieval or King Arthur theme in the game. Either way, odds are it'll cost Farm Cash, so start saving if you want a way into the finer equine world where people raise their noses and always respond with, "Mmm... yes, with puffed chests. Alright, it won't be that bad, but expect it to cost a pretty amount of Farm Cash, if it lands in the Market. Stay tuned to find out when and how this new horse will stampede FarmVille.

[Image Credit: FarmVille Feed]

What do you think of this brand new Horse? Would you ever pay for a horse in FarmVille, or any game for that matter?

Zynga shears illegal FarmVille Sheep Breeding, but the damage is done

Did any of you inherit an awesomely-colored Sheep from a friend recently while on the English Countryside? As it turns out, that ewe or ram could very well be the descendant of an illegitimate, unreleased Sheep in FarmVille, according to Zynga. The company published a blog post today describing the situation, but admitting that it's almost impossible to remove the offspring of the illegal Sheep even after stopping the source.

This is especially due to the fact that those new branches on the Illegal Sheep Family Tree are 100 percent legit, at least in their methods. Furthermore, Zynga cannot even explain how a few players got a hold of the previously unreleased Sheep varieties to breed them for the masses. "Please bear this in mind if you think someone has 'cheated,'" Zynga wrote. "Chances are, they haven't been."

What's a bummer about this is that some minor content planned for Sheep Breeding has leaked, just like that. This could mean that it might be a little longer than usual before Sheep are updated again with new colors. In other sheepish news, the post goes on to reveal some more details and changes. Check them out:

    We also wanted to let everyone know about a change in how sheep breeding works. Previously when you got three lambs of the same gender in a row, you received a lamb of the opposite gender automatically. Currently we've made an alteration to this process so that the chances of getting a ram or a ewe are completely random, though the possibility of getting a ewe is higher than getting a ram.

    Finally, the 100 bred sheep limit (which includes current bred lambs and sheep on your farm as well as in your sheep pen or in your Gift Box) applies for each farm. So, for instance, if you have just 75 bred sheep on your English Countryside Farm, you should still have the capability of having 100 bred sheep on your Home Farm.

Reverting the recent change that guaranteed results in different Sheep genders should even the playing field a bit. Though, it's not entirely clear as to why Zynga leans farther one way--the Ewes--than the other--the Rams. As for the final revelation, have fun taking care of 200 Sheep at once.

[Via FarmVille Feed]

Have you been gifted a uniquely-colored Sheep? What do you think of the fact that now it has a genealogy of illegitimacy? Will you keep the tainted lovechild?

FarmVille Sneak Peek: American Express promotion coming soon

It looks like Zynga will be partnering with American Express for a new promotion in FarmVille in the coming days and weeks (perhaps for tomorrow night's update?), as FVNation has spotted images of the new promotion's loading screen, along with the prizes you'll receive.

For this promotion, it appears as though a new farm will be added to the game for us to visit, and for helping the farm in some way, we'll receive a themed Windmill (in the American Express classic blue color), an Instant Grow, and a Mystery Box, which contains an as-of-now unknown prize.

Just remember, as this is an unreleased cross-promotion, things could change before its actually launch in the game, so don't get too excited just yet. Ok, sure, get a little excited - this is a free installment of Instant Grow we're talking about here! And those four-day crops aren't going to master themselves! Put two and two together, and you've got instant progress, and there's nothing wrong with that.

[Image Credit: FVNation]

What do you think of the supposed prizes for this American Express promotion? What do you think is inside that Mystery Box? What do you hope is inside?

FarmVille Bug Report: Rollback issue under investigation as players lose levels

Late last week, players on the officlal FarmVille forums started reporting that they had lost progress on their farms. After experiencing a refresh or out of sync notice, players would finally reach their farms only to see that they've experiences a serious rollback - grown Lambs are missing, Mystery Seedlings hadn't been grown, old crops are on their land (and withered), animals haven't been fed, coins have gone missing, and even levels have disappeared from users' experience point totals.

Thankfully, the FarmVille team at Zynga has officially acknowledged the issue, and have flagged it as "Known." While the issue is currently still "Under Investigation" - Zynga's code for "We're working on it" - they have encouraged players that have suffered any amount of rollback, no matter how minor, to contact Zynga Customer Support, so that you may be reverted to your proper and original state. Hopefully, the FarmVille team will learn from this issue, and we won't have to worry about it happening again.

[Image Credit: Adventures in Agile]

Have you experienced the "rollback" issue in FarmVille this week? What would you do if you suddenly lost a level of progress, along with all of your other earned goodies?