Thứ Hai, 13 tháng 2, 2012

FarmVille Unreleased Lemon Balm Market Stall & Lemon Balm Bushel

FarmVille Lemon Balm Market and Bushel
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Farhan for finding these unreleased FarmVille Lemon Balm Market Stall & Lemon Balm Bushel.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Happy Aquarium: Walrus Referee and Football Seal join the team

Zack the soccer-playing lion cub is now joined by Russ Referee and Diego the Football Fan in Happy Aquarium. Both Russ and Diego are animated critters that cost premium currency to buy. Russ taps his foot, blinks his eyes, and blows his whistle. While Diego is more like Zack, and carries a hot pink soccer ball on his head with which he performs tricks in the tank.

Russ is also a Limited Edition character, so if you've got 24 Pearls or 20 Facebook Credits (the equivalent of $2 USD), you should grab him ASAP, cause he won't be sticking around the shop forever. You can find him under "Specials!" star tab, under the subcategory "Premium", while Diego is with Zack in the "Tank Mates" tab, and goes for 48 Pearls or 40 FB Credits ($4 USD).

Given the game's recent premium currency increase for leveling up, these characters should now be easily affordable for high-level players.

Tiki Resort: Hire a cabana boy to tend your island

Ringing the icon of a hotel styled desk bell on the left side of your Tiki Resort game will allow you to summon Dan the Automator. Dan is a new game feature that promises to collect money and charms from your attractions, pick up trash, and tend your pets. He comes with a chart that'll let you to see just how much work he's done by how many things he's collected on his shift.
Tiki Resort Dan the Automator Shifts
Dan has two shifts you can set him up on. A 15 min. shift requires 25 Coconut Drink Charms, while a 3-day shift goes for 39 Facebook Credits, or roughly, $4 USD.

Coconut Drink Charms increase the walking speed of your tourists, leading them to visit more attractions, which means they'd spend more. You can buy a set of 50 at the in-game store for 149 FB Credits, which is approximately $14.90 USD. So unless you've got an attraction that generates that charm, the 15 min. shift isn't Dan's best deal for you.

Social City's Gala Raffle: Win past decor and Limited Edition buildings

Social City Gala Raffle
Players who click the "Build" menu can now participate in Social City's new Gala Raffle to win buildings and decorations that are no longer available in gifts or up for sale at the store. This new feature seemed to have quietly rolled out last week and the response among fans is pretty positive.
Social City's Gala Raffle in the Build icon menu
One excited player described the raffle as "kinda fun, but also kinda dangerous." How? Well, the raffle is divided into three categories. The first category offers Limited Edition attractions and discontinued giftables. The second offers Limited Edition residential buildings. Both of these require City Bucks, or Social City's form of premium cash, to make your spin. The first one requires 8 City Bucks, while the second needs 5. For $4.99 USD, you can get 55 City Bucks. So this is going to cost real world money, and what you get is luck of the draw.

But the third category uses virtual coins to work. Even at 50,000 Coins per spin, it's as good as free. Right now, that raffle's offerings include premium-level Japanese style buildings and the discontinued giftable Sakura Paths.

Happy Pets: Own an Apple Tree for Free Daily Coins and XP

Under the "Goods" tab in the Happy Pets store, there's now a "Harvest" category selling an Apple Tree for 3,750 Coins. Purchasing this tree will gain players 300 XP. The tree itself promises to deliver 125 Coins and 25 XP every 24 hours.

Apples Tree can be placed in the rooms and yards, but not in the attic. If you upgrade using coins, then your tree goes "under construction" for that time period. That means you'll miss those daily bonuses. A new leaf icon on the top of your screen will let you know how many trees you're allowed to palce in an area. This amount is determined by the number of pets you're allowed to have.

A great thing about this tree is that it can be upgraded. Upgrading the Apple Tree to Tier 2 requires 7 days and 7,500 Coins. But if you do, then the tree will earn you 250 Coins and 50 XP every 24 hours. There are 4 Tiers to the tree in all. Check out the handy chart below to see the costs and benefits.

Apple Tree Level
    Upgrade Cost     Instant Upgrade Cost
    Daily Coins & XP Harvest     Upgrade Time
Tier 2     7,500 Coins     36 Facebook Credits     250 Coins & 50 XP     7 Days
Tier 3     11,250 Coins     44 Facebook Credits     375 Coins & 75 XP     9 Days
Tier 4     15,000 Coins     50 Facebook Credits     500 Coins & 100 XP     11 Days

Thứ Bảy, 11 tháng 2, 2012

FarmVille White Stallions, Neutered?

FarmVille Horse Stable Not Producing!
UPDATE: This is a glitch that will be resolved when FarmVille "enhances" with tonight's Updates. You will not have to do anything to restore the White Stallions functionality.

From FarmVille's Community Manager, Grimwell:

    "I'd like to thank everyone who has sent me their UID so far, and ask that nobody else does!
    The development team has found the bug that is causing this issue with your stallions, and intend to have a fix for it later today. You will not have to do anything to restore functionality to your stallions, the update later today will care for it. Thank you for your patience, and special thanks to everyone who shared their ID's so we could get a look!" (Source: Official FarmVille Forum)

Lots of FarmVille Freaks, such as FarmVille Freak Lisa, FarmVille Freak Julia, FarmVille Freak Pia, and FarmVille Freak Becky, among others are reporting that their White Stallions are no longer producing Foals!

As you know, the White Stallion was a special limited edition farm cash animal available only through a Mystery Box. Unlike other Wandering Stallions, the White Stallion is a permanent Horse Stable occupant and once purchased you are able to keep it forever. Owners of White Stallions have the advantage of being able to produce a Foal everyday. The ability to produce foals explains why the temporary "neutering" of White Stallions, has caused angry FarmVille Horse breeder enthusiasts and White Stallion owners.

We are waiting on an official response from Zynga and will keep you informed and updated as we learn more information about the questionable fertility of the White Stallion.
You can read some of our FarmVille Freak White Stallion owners' user-submitted emails below:

    "Hi FarmGoddess, After the introduction to the Beehives, I went on my farm to do my nightly ritual of horse breeding. I have gone through 30 horses without any reproduction success (I would usually achieve one foal in every 3-5 horses). Not only has this changed, but also the message that comes after you harvest your stable has changed (I have taken a screen shot & attached it for you to see). For the past few days I have encountered issues while breeding (screen freezing, out of sync issues etc...). I noticed that I used to collect a couple thousand coins each time I harvest without a Foal produced, but now the amount has gone down to about 168 coins." – FarmVille Freak Lisa

    "Hi, Since yesterday I can't make foals in my stable. I have a White Stallion but it's like he's not there, I always got the message: "You didn't find anything special in the stable, but you did earn 588 coins while tending to your horses. Tend to them again tomorrow for a chance to find something special." Some people say the the White Stallions have been neutered. Have you heard something about this? I worried coz I paid farm cash for my Stallion... I paid to have the chance to make as many foals as I can in one day, this is not fair..." -FarmVille Freak Julia

    "It seems they made changes to the harvest of Horse Stables, and make it like the Dairy Barns.You get no thank you and money anymore and rumors say you will only be able to harvest once a day. Maybe something to look into. As they release the black stallion (Gelding) in next mystery boxes, wonder what happen to the people who already have one. Regards." -FarmVille Freak Pia"

    "Can you find out what the problem is with our White Stallions not producing anymore...post something on your website plz....they are just like any other horse when you try to breed Foals...people on facebook wall are going crazy ;-) " – FarmVille Freak Becky

Are you experiencing problems with your White Stallion, such as non-producing Foals?

YoVille: Rally Your Friends and Protect the Gulf

YoVille Protect the Gulf
The Charity Pet will be coming soon to YoVille. YoVille has teamed up with Audubon to help raise money to fund the rescue efforts in the Gulf and protect the animals fallen victim to the catastrophic oil spill. Platinum Ninja has posted an Official Blog on YoVille.com. Read how you can help out after the jump. Hey Everyone,

Help YoVille and Audubon protect the wildlife in the Gulf's habitat!! Coming Soon! After this catastrophic oil spill, we want to team up and help raise money to fund the rescue efforts in the Gulf to protect these animals and the future of our planet. Let's check out how YoVille and the Audubon is helping Protect the Gulf and find out how you can help out too!!

YoVille and Audubon

To help aid this disaster YoVille will be giving players an opportunity to purchase Charity Pets. 50% of all proceeds from these special creatures will support the recovery effort and help Audubon Society protect this wildlife and habitat.

The Audubon Society's Mission: "Audubon's mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity." To check out more information about the Audubon Society please read here: http://www.audubon.org/

How You Can Help Save the Gulf!

Whether it is purchasing a Charity Pet or Rallying your friends you can help spread the word about this terrible oil spill and get involved. Wouldn't it be awesome to help protect the Gulf's Wildlife and habitat while playing your favorite game at the same time Well you can so let's find out how you can help!

Charity Pet
YoVille Help Save the Gulf
Coming soon we'll be releasing 4 new Charity Pets to help support the efforts to repair the damage caused to their ecosystem. There will be one new pet per week, for a total of four weeks, which will be available to purchase. Expect to see a Pelican, Sea Turtle, Otter and more! Remember, YoVille will be forking over half of all of the proceeds from these pets that will go to help protect the Gulf.

To purchase a Charity Pet you will click on the Protect the Gulf Icon in the upper right hand corner. You will then receive a dialog and preview of the pet available that week to buy. If you want to help out click "Buy Pet" and purchase this pet!

Also, after you buy this pet you will be able to let your friends know that you protected the Gulf by posting a Feed that your friends can click in on to help too. Make sure to share how you are trying to make a difference with your friends and do your part!

Rally your Friends
YoVille Rally your friends
You can also help spread the word by Rallying your Friends. To Rally your Friends you will need to click the Protect the Gulf Icon and then click Rally your Friends. This will post a feed to your friends to let them know you are helping protect the Gulf.

We will be giving you an extra incentive to spread the word around this catastrophic disaster. If 10 of your Friends click in on your Help Save the Gulf Feed you will receive an Exclusive Balloon which you can carry all over YoVille. So make sure to Rally your Friends by posting these feeds and clicking in through your friend's feeds as well to help bring awareness to this Oil Spill and get an exclusive item.
YoVille Rally Your Friends Wall Post
Well that's about all folks! Stay tuned for this opportunity to help protect the gulf coming soon!! Most importantly tell your friends about this opportunity and share how easy it is to help out a habitat in need. This is your chance and ours to make a difference while playing YoVille! So let's all rally together and help out!

Bar Exam: Should boozy games be allowed on Facebook?

Bar Society is a bar simulation game that debuted on Facebook in late May and currently has 400,000+ monthly active users. Players get to decorate and run their own bar. It's got the vibe of Booyah's Nightclub City, and the familiar game mechanics of restaurant sims like Playfish's Restaurant City and Zynga's Cafe World. Earlier this month, however, Facebook ordered Bar Society to ban a segment of its players, leading to technical wrinkles that forced a temporary shutdown of the game. The problem? The players in question were under age 18.

According to Bar Society's Facebook page moderator,

    Facebook sets an "alcohol" tag for each account which is designed to indicate whether the user is suitable for alcoholic consumption. However if your birthday is hidden this tag is sometimes inaccurate, which results in blocking. While this is outside of our control, we are working diligently with Facebook to resolve this issue. We thank you again for your patience.

There's been no word on how many people were banned, but Roiworld's April study on online social networks says Facebook is the most popular site among teens, beating out YouTube, MySpace, and Twitter. On top of that, a majority of those teens go on Facebook just to play games. For Bar Society's underage players, "sincere apologies" were given, but many, including some parents, responded by pointing out the hypocrisy of Facebook policy, where games like Zynga's Mafia Wars are still accessible to minors. This proves, at the least, an inconsistent enforcement by Facebook of its own rules, though much of these rules spring from the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which was adopted in 2000.

Can these arbitrary rules be enforced? Not really. Anyone can set up a Facebook account and fabricate an age. It's more like Facebook is going through the motions to avoid any legal hassle.

For developers looking to avoid a Bar Society-style shutdown, there's a filter that can be used to block underage gamers. I gave this filter a test drive by setting up an account as a 13-year-old. Sure enough, Bar Society didn't allow me to play (and neither did the cannabis-growing, FarmVille knockoff, Pot Farm). Mafia Wars let me right in, though, and if you want to ignore all the bits about gunning down bouncers, bribing government officials, and collecting vodka and rum drinks, well, don't be surprised if you're called out as a hypocrite.
Bar Society Drinks List
I hope Restaurant City doesn't get into trouble for their recent Lounge Bar feature, but if anyone kvetches, it won't be the players. Also, bartenders and alcoholic looking beverages are displayed prominently in Nightclub City -- in fact, booze is the only thing you serve your virtual customers.

My suggestion? If the developers behind Bar Society want a wider audience, they should consider creating a Bubble Tea game -- a sim for those Taiwanese/Chinese cafes where they serve fancy, little cakes, non-alcoholic milk teas and syrupy drinks with tapioca or jellies in 'em. God, that stuff is good. And, it and can be served -- hassle-free -- to gamers of all ages.

FarmVille Fan Sheep updated and possibly released tonight

A few days ago the FarmVille Fan Sheep finally reached its goal of 2 million fans on Facebook. Even though the FarmVille Sheep lost the Battle of the Barnyard to the FarmVille Cow, Zynga is still celebrating with the release of a special FarmVille Sheep.

The Fan Sheep should be available in the FarmVille Market very soon- perhaps tonight! Get a sneak peek of the FarmVille Fan Sheep to the right.

Continue reading to see it move!

FarmVille: Is there life after level 100?

If you're a FarmVille power player, life at the top can be lonely (and rather boring). You've already bought all of the multi-milllion coin estates and completed every achievement. To appease overachieving farmers, Zynga recently rolled out a 5M coin mansion only available to level 70 and above, but it was more of a gesture than a real solution to the problem.

It looks like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, however. This pop-up notification (see above) from one uber farmer says that you can't earn cash after level 100, but says "there's sure to be rainbows after the rain." That leads us to believe the FV team is hard at work behind the scenes, creating new achievements and items for power players. With FarmVille losing millions by the week (the game which once boasted 80 million monthly players is now down to 62 million), keeping devoted sharecroppers in business should be first priority.

Thứ Năm, 9 tháng 2, 2012

Music Pets, Super Dance take a final bow, both "shutting down soon"

The same day Zynga announced its acquisition of Music Pets and Super Dance creator Conduit Labs, a notice appeared on both of the Facebook music games, saying that they "will be shutting down soon." There's a longer explanation of the close of these games, which essentially boils down to this one quote: "we've been unable to make Music Pets/Super Dance commercially viable."

Read the entire note below:

    music pets closure





The biggest question is what happens to players who have invested real-life cash into these games? I like that there is a concession for players who bought items with Facebook Credits over the past month, but this doesn't address the larger problem that arises when social games get the axe -- how do you handle loyal customers (aka 'whales') who have spent hundreds of dollars in your game? I think companies should take a Las Vegas approach, where casinos comp hotel rooms and other rewards for high rollers. Maybe social game whales can be comped a pile of free virtual cash in a new game or get some kind of real-world reward.

super dance

There isn't an easy answer, but while you ponder the possibilities, let's say so-long to Super Dance and Music Pets and look forward to what the newly minted Zynga Boston is jamming on behind the scenes.

CityVille: Will this be the next 'Ville' in the Zynga gaming dynasty?

Back in March, Zynga surveyed players, asking how much time they spent playing city-building games like Social City, and that, of course, led us to believe that Zynga was doing its due diligence before launching its own city-building game. And, it looks like something called CityVille might soon be the new kid on the block, if this image taken from the official Zynga forums means anything.

cityville

Essentially, you're seeing something called CityVille in the Zynga community forums, but, if you try to enter this area, you will be denied access. What does this mean? Well, we don't know for sure, but we have a hunch we'll be soon be adding CityVille to our social gaming diet.

Thanks, Nikolas for the tip!

Do you think Zynga's getting ready to launch a city-building game on Facebook? Will it be a FarmVille killer?

FarmVille new items: Summertime and the livin is easy

Tonight, a small FarmVille update included a set of new summertime themed items! In this set is one animal, two houses, and five decoration pieces. It's the hot August months, so it's the perfect time too cool down with some summery fun in FarmVille. Here is what you can expect to find in the FarmVille Market:

Flamingo - 16 Farm Cash
Bouncy Castle - 32 Farm Cash
Dinosaur Slide - 30 Farm Cash
Fireflies - 4 Farm Cash
Octopus Pool - 80,000 coins
Summer Campsite - 50,000 coins
Backyard Fort - 30 Farm Cash
Ice Cream Shop - 220,000

These items are only available for 9 days, and we suspect this won't be the entire summer theme release. Zynga loves to release their themes slowly to maximize the fun (and the spending, we presume).

Which summery FarmVille items are going to buy?

Treasure Isle soon to allow coin trading for cash

A surprising update came tonight on the Treasure Isle fan page, telling us that soon, players will be able to trade their coins in for Island Cash. This is a huge announcement, and one that players will likely be very excited about. Typically, you can only buy a game's "hard currency" through paying real money (or taking part in 'offers'). Sometimes, you can also buy additional "soft currency" (usually coins) with real life money as well. But as far as we know, there aren't any social games out there yet that allow you to buy hard currency with soft currency.

This provides a huge benefit for players who have a lot of neighbors and are diligent about helping them out. In addition, people who have a lot of Facebook friends and can claim wall bonuses will have a serious advantage here. This update will make gaining Island Cash much easier for people who have been hoarding all of their coins.

So far, we don't know any details. We're not sure of the pricing, or if there will be a limitation per day. We're excited to hear more, and we'll be sure to update you all when this new feature goes live.

Do you think this will trivialize getting Island Cash or do you still think it will be difficult to obtain?

FrontierVille Animal Mystery Crate: Find out what's inside

A new Mystery Animal crate mysteriously appeared in FrontierVille, bringing with it a chance to add three new, exclusive animals to your homestead. If you're in the mood to try your luck, you can buy a Mystery Animal box in the market for 50 Horseshoes (roughly $7) and open it up to find an owl, porcupine and a pink rabbit inside. If you collect all three, you'll will be able to brag about it with your new Dead Bear statue.







The Mystery Animal crate will only be around for a limited time, so all of you collectors out there should move fast before the crate disappears from the Market. (Though, judging from FarmVille's limited edition items, it's more than likely that these mystery animals will return again at a later date).

Do you think the Mystery Animal Crate is worth the price? How many tries did it takes for you to find all three animals?

Thứ Hai, 6 tháng 2, 2012

Coronation Street social game to bring fans of British soap to Facebook

A U.K. soap opera known as "Coronation Street" has been transformed into a social game titled "Corrie Nation," according to British televsion network ATV. The game, set to launch both on Facebook and ITV.com November 1, allows fans of the show to play in a parallel version of their favorite soap opera.

Players will collect up to 60 characters to start with as well as familiar buildings from the series. Like most social games, Corrie Nation will be free-to-play, but will feature paid transactions for virtual goods (sound familiar?). ITV, the British network that has broadcast Coronation Street for 50 years, and developer Enteraction will also introduce advertising and commercial sponsorship into the game to boost revenue, according to ATV.

Kieran Roberts, Creative Director Manchester Drama, said, "We're delighted this brilliantly imaginative new game will take the show onto new platforms whilst remaining truthful to 50 years of heritage and everything viewers love about Corrie."

It looks like American TV networks better learn a thing or two quick before they lose their share of the daytime TV tradition.

FrontierVille Missions menu makes it easier to keep track of to-dos

One of the reasons I consider FrontierVille my favorite game on Facebook is because there's always a stream of missions that give you things to do. Until now, however, it's been a little difficult to keep track of them all -- especially since you can have numerous missions going at one time. They would appear and disappear from the left-hand side of the screen at random, so I was always thinking things like "Where did that groundhog mission go? Did I complete it or not?"

Now that problem has been solved as Zynga flips the switch on a new Missions menu that helps you keep track of everything you need to do in-game. You can see what missions you have going by clicking on 'My Stuff' and the clicking on 'Missions.' That will pull up a page (see above) that lists all of your missions. Click on each mission to see what else you need to do to finish.
frontierville missions menu
You can alternately click on the mission icon on the left-hand side of the game (see image below) to pop the menu.
frontierville missions menu
If you're so inclined, you can prioritize missions by reordering them, which will be handy if you've got more Missions in the hopper than I do.

Restaurant City: Paris items complete your Parisian bistro

New Paris Items
After adding the Coffee Bar to Restaurant City, Playfish decided to help finish out the Parisian theme with these new decorations. The first thing that comes to mind when I think "coffee bar" is expensive European espressos, so these new items couldn't be more fitting!

Continue reading for the full list plus a surprise.
Paris Items and free Chocolate
Here's a full list of the new items:

Chairs


    Red Bistro Chair (1500 coins)
    Silver Bistro Chair (1500 coins)



Tables


    Black Bistro Table (2000 coins)
    Silver Bistro Table (2000 coins)



Decorations


    Post Impressionist Painting (12 Playfish Cash, adds one second waiting time)
    Bistro Chalkboard (1800 coins)
    Hanging Pans (2500 coins, unlocks with e-mail permission)Eiffel Tower
    Bistro Clock (6500 coins)
    Flowered Trellis (6500 coins)
    Impressionist Print (12,000 coins)
    Red Deco Vase (4 Playfish Cash)
    Large Suave Lamp (5 Playfish Cash)
    Bicycle (5 Playfish Cash)
    Bistro Waiter (6 Playfish Cash)
    Bistro Flowers (600 coins, free gift item)
    Bistro Condiments (1000 coins, free gift item)
    Magazine Rack (1100 coins, free gift item)
    Blue Deco Vase (1600 coins)
    Suave Table Lamp (1900 coins)
    Bistro Column (several colors, 2800 coins)
    Delicatessen Shelves (8500 coins)
    Eiffel Tower (1,000,000 coins, +2 to max popularity, unlocks at 85)



Floors

    Paris Pathway (60 coins, Cobblestone and Pavement)
    Paris Pathway Corners (65 coins)


Wallpapers

    Bistro Wallpaper (2700 coins, White and Ochre)
    Parisian Wallpaper (3400 coins, Red and Cream)
    Cafe Wallpaper (4100 coins)


There you have, just about everything you'll need to complete your Parisian Bistro. Thankfully most of the items are only asking for coins (we'd all be broke if a fraction of these cost Playfish Cash). Oh, did we mention that you'll get a free piece of chocolate for logging in today? Yeah, they're cool like that.

FrontierVille Meal Deal: Sign up to get free meals via email

FrontierVille is presenting an offer we can't refuse -- a free meal delivered to our email inbox daily. This 'meal deal' is a limited time offer and here's how it worked when I signed up.

I went into the game and was notified that I had a letter, which I found sitting in the middle of my property with a giant yellow arrow above it.


I clicked on the letter and received the following pop up, which explains how this deal works. Basically, you'll get a daily email from FrontierVille that will contain a free meal (meals replenish your energy in the game). You have to accept the meals that same day or they will expire.



Not sure how long this meal deal will be around, there's no indication that this will be a long-term or short-term promotion. I also checked my email right after I signed up, and I didn't get an email for today. We'll see how it long it takes for this free meal thing to kick in. After all, I'm a sucker for free food -- real or virtual.

Happy Aquarium: Lady Baba brings her poker face to your tank

In a nod to you-know-who, Happy Aquarium has welcomed Lady Baba to the store. For either 52 Facebook Credits ($5.20 USD) or 62 Pearls, you can have your very own pop icon of the sea, but there are only about 2,600 left as of this writing!

We're calling it now: this one will last for about 37 more seconds, so don't wait. Just don't call her name. Alejandro ruined that for the rest of us.

Thứ Sáu, 3 tháng 2, 2012

Treasure Isle's Ninja Vs. Pirates Map is now ready for epic battles

Well, Zynga's earlier claim to the "battle of the universe" is yet to be seen, but the prophesied Pirates Vs. Ninjas update to Treasure Isle is now live... and it's another map titled "Ninja Vs. Pirates." There better be some intense duels on at least one of this new map's eight islands or we will all be very sad ninjas--or do I mean pirates?

You'll find a novice ninja monkey either sitting on your home island or inside your backpack who will need to be trained in the ways of ninja combat before he can take you to the Ninja Vs. Pirates map. You'll have to ask five friends to help train your simian shinobi or unlock each of the five training steps for 5 Island Cash, or about $1. Oh, this is just like the Wounded Dragon and Wounded Tiger maps before it, but with less pathetic creatures and more swords. After that's through, the new islands are yours to explore, though it's still unknown who's going to come out on top in this battle. It seems we'll just have to do some exploring to find out.

Zynga Giveaway: Win a free Zynga Moleskine Notebook

Happy Friday! Once again: we're kicking off the holiday season a little earlier this year by giving away a bunch of free stuff. We have all kinds of cool swag and we aim to give it all away to our readers. Everyone is eligible to get free prizes so continue reading to find out how you can enter to win.

In our previous giveaways, readers could enter to win a free FarmVille T-Shirt and a free Zynga Laptop Bag. Now, for our third Zynga giveaway, we have a custom Zynga Moleskin Notebook. This trendy notepad is perfect for those who need a space to keep their thoughts, addresses, doodles and more. I can't tell you how often I think of a cool idea but end up forgetting it because I neglected to write the idea down. Don't let that happen to you! Emblazoned with the Zynga logo, secured by an elastic strap, and full of blank pages just waiting to be filled; Zynga's Moleskine Notebook is ideal for note-taking and more.

Continue reading to learn how to enter.

To enter:

Step 1: Go to the Games.com Facebook fanpage (http://www.facebook.com/gamescom).

Step 2: 'Like' the fanpage so you can see Facebook game news, tips, and cheats.

Step 3: Enter the giveaway by heading to the fanpage and leave us a comment saying "I love Games.com!" BUT WAIT, there's a catch. While typing, you aren't allowed to use your hands and you aren't allowed to backspace. Tricky eh? Be creative! And when you're done, let us know how you managed!

(i nmlo9v fe gtam esxdz.c volm ~! That was my best attempt using my elbows. Hopefully you can do better haha)

After a few days, we'll randomly select a winner, message them on Facebook for their address, and send them their free prize. Sound easy enough?

Get started by heading to the Games.com fanpage to enter for a free Zynga Moleskine Notebook.

ESPNU College Town brings Baseball, Softball and giftable All Star Refills

Getting bored of football (impossible) and basketball? Playdom has added both baseball and softball to ESPNU College Town among a litany of other features, fixes and items. Players can now build baseball and softball fields on their campus and, of course, recruit new baseball and softball All Star players.

On top of that, a slew of new items have been added to the store along with some fixes to the game that you'll find behind the cut.
Max All Star Plays
In addition to the new baseball field and new All Stars, a new giftable item was introduced called "Max All Star Plays." This free gift will refill all of your All Star's plays, allowing you to use the same All Star players over and over again. However, Playdom also added a list of items that aren't so cheap:

    Samford Hall - Auburn
    Science Building - Baylor
    Healy Hall - Georgetown
    Campus Recreation Center - Georgia Tech
    Beardshear Hall- Iowa State
    Memorial Union - Iowa State
    Hale Library Kansas State
    Marquette Hall - Marquette
    Memorial Bell Tower - North Carolina State
    Rebecca Crown ClockTower - Northwestern
    Edmon Low Library - Oklahoma State
    College Building - Providence



Each of these buildings inspired by true-to-life university buildings costs between 29 and 39 Campus Cash, or between $6 and $9, which is pretty steep for some XP and School Spirit. Playdom made a few mysterious fixes to the game to improve the overall experience as well:

    Numerous fixes to address loading and synchronization issues.
    Numerous fixes to the competitions section of the game.
    Various fixes to improve user experience and minor textual issues.

Friends Only
While Playdom is unclear on what these fixes might have actually... fixed (I wasn't experiencing any problems in-game), hopefully they solved some issues for players. In yet another change to the Competitions section, players can now filter their potential Challenges to just their friends in the Competitions menu, which is a small but welcome addition. Honestly, we just can't wait to see what sport Playdom adds to the game next. Come on, crew team!

Happy Island on iPhone and iPad is now free (finally)

Happy Island on iPhone
When CrowdStar first introduced the Happy Island app for iOS 4 devices in July, it cost $.99, which is weird for a social game that's free to play online. Finally the company has decided to make the app, developed by Sibblingz, free in the Apple App Store.

The Happy Island app, which allows you to access and interact with your Facebook islands much like FarmVille for iPhone, allows players to visit their friend's islands as well as collect profits from their attractions and customize their islands. The app was recently updated on Oct. 11 to improve stability and fix bugs, so hopefully the game is ready for the onslaught of downloads it's most likely to suffer very shortly.

FarmVille Halloween Costumes arrive: Are they a trick or a treat?

FarmVille Halloween costumes have arrived, and for the next 16 days, you will be able to purchase a costume (for either coins or Farm Cash) and dress up your farmer in a variety of outfits -- my personal faves have to be Super FV Woman and the Ugly Duckling, as modeled by my virtual farmer in the image above.

There's good news and bad news about these costumes. A handful of them are available for coins, but the really cool ones will require you to spend some real-life cash to have the privilege of putting 'em on your farmer. However, I you just want to see if those pricier costumes are worth buying, you can try them on your farmer.
There are two ways to find these brand new costumes:

farmville halloween costumes

1. Click on your farmer, which will open the customization window. You should see a new 'Clothing' button on the top right. Mouse over it and you'll see a pop-down menu, which will have 'Costumes' as an option. Select costumes and you will be able to scroll through your selection.

farmville halloween costumes

2. There is also a new 'Clothes' option in the FarmVIlle Market. Click it to open up the menu of items, which can be purchased right there. If you want your farmer to try on the costumes, you will be bounced to the customization window once again.

Thứ Năm, 2 tháng 2, 2012

FrontierVille Giant Rabbit Timed Mission: Everything you need to know

Just as the 'Chicken Roundup' timed mission is coming to a close, FrontierVille releases another one called "Maybe it's for a Giant Rabbit." If you've been playing the game for a while, this will be a pretty simple mission to complete.

In two days, you'll need to collect the following:

    500 Wood
    21 Nails
    10 Metal Bars

frontierville giant rabbit

Wood can be collected while chopping trees. Nails and metal bars can be requested from friends and purchased for Horseshoes. You can also get these materials by responding to friends' requests.

Once the job is done, you receive a Trojan Rabbit for your troubles. This is one big decoration, so make sure you have enough room to place it on your homestead.

Game of the Day: The Lost World

The Game of the day is back and better than ever. Today's game is a The Lost World. The Lost World takes the familiar bubble popping game mechanic and infuses it with gorgeous background images and a little bit of techno trance. The game is dead simple - use you bubble aiming device to match three bubbles on the board and clear the board. Simply stuff that is endlessly fun.

Click here to play The Lost World -->

Madden NFL Superstars Daily Bonuses coming soon, log in daily for coins and cards

But wait, there's more. That's right, Madden NFL Superstars might be the current football hotshot on Facebook, but that doesn't mean it isn't missing a few nuts and bolts. Playfish will soon be plugging one of the game's holes with Daily Bonuses. Something that's become somewhat of a staple in the social gaming world, players will be rewarded with increasingly better gifts for more consecutive log-ins.

Despite whether when compared to something as massive as Collections and Elite Cards that Daily Bonuses seem minuscule, the feature is not live yet. Though, we imagine that it will play out a lot like the Daily Take in Mafia Wars, which rewards players for consecutive log-ins with better rewards. However, collecting your reward early will reduce its strength or value, thereby giving players incentive not to collect immediately. With items like free matches and Ultimate Cards (both pictured) on the line, we can only imagine a system at least close to this. Stay tuned for when you'll be handsomely rewarded for your endless devotion to football of the pixelated variety.

Are FrontierVille Babies on the way?

Unless the next update to FrontierVille is an homage to Alien, then we'd have to say yes. Zynga cryptically posted a teaser image a very pregnant woman reading, "Big things are arriving," today on the FrontierVille fan page. Now, this is just an educated guess based off of millions of years of human evolution, but we're lead to believe that the woman pictured above is about to deliver a baby.

That being said, we have absolutely no idea what this will mean for FrontierVille, but who doesn't like some good old speculation? Our guess is that this feature will introduce a new protege, if you will. A young guy or gal we can show the ropes so that they can take care of the homestead while we're out at the movies or quite simply want to escape to our fancy new Kinects for a few days hours. Planted some crops that you might miss ripen because the new episode of The Walking Dead is on? Fuhget about it; the little one knows how to harvest a mean tomato. Rampant dreams of loyal servant children aside, stay tuned for when this feature goes live as we'll be all over it.

Cafe World: Choose the next diet Mountain Dew flavor for 2 free Cafe Cash

It seems the Morning Glory trailer in Cafe World was just the tip of the iceberg; that survey only netted players 1 free Cafe Cash, but this new one from Mountain Dew is offering 2 free Cafe Cash. All you have to do is vote for the next Diet Dew flavor. There's eight new choices, and your job is to choose two out of the eight for a blackboard showdown.
Cafe World free 2 Cafe Cash from Mountain Dew
Here are the choices (and flavors) listed on the left side of the board:

    Flare (berry & citrus)
    Ultra Violet (mixed berry)
    Typhoon (tropical strawberry pineapple)
    Voltage (raspberry-citrus blend and a shot of ginseng)


And to our right, we've got:

    White Out (lemongrass & yuzu)
    Crave (green apple)
    Distortion (a "flowing green river of goodness", which sounds blargh if you ask me, but it's probably just a diet version of the regular flavor)
    Supernova (strawberry-melon and a ginseng-powered punch)


After you've clicked and dragged your flavor choices into the two boxes above the "Submit Vote" button, click on the button to get your 2 free Cafe Cash. After that, you've the option to check out the Flavor Leaderboard on the Mountain Dew website. The leaderboard is a collection of votes from online surveys and a tasting tour the company's been doing.
Mountain Dew Flavor Leaderboard
Currently, the top three favorite Diet Dew flavors are Voltage, Supernova, and White Out. There's a little over a week left before voting comes to a close. If you love the Dew, check back in on the board in a week to see if your favorite flavor(s) made the cut.

Thứ Tư, 1 tháng 2, 2012

Zynga officially launches CityVille on Facebook - come build the city of your dreams!

If you're still with us at this late hour, you'll probably be thrilled to learn that Zynga has finally launched CityVille on Facebook!

We've been keeping tabs on the game over the last few weeks, and are expecting Zynga's version of the city-building game to take off pretty quickly. If you'd like more information about what to expect from the game, check out our hands-on preview (including a video preview) or simply dive head first into the game by heading over to the game's page on Facebook.

CityVille Cheats and Tips: Energy Guide

CityVille Building
CityVille, arguably the most anticipated social game of this season, was launched by Zynga just today. And, of course, we want you folks to have as fun a time as we are building our cities. That being said, managing your resources and tapping every possible source is going to maximize your time in CityVille and thus your overall enjoyment and personal happiness. (Yes, these games are that powerful.) Energy, the most important resource in nearly every Zynga game, is scarce, but it's not impossible to find.

Look after the break to find some tips that will increase your time in CityVille to potentially unsafe levels.

Energy MeterWaiting:
This is obviously the first logical option when you see that Energy timer being ticking. However, only one Energy point will refill every five minutes. So, if you just got into this and want to squeeze as much fun as possible out of it, we suggest you employ this method as a last, last resort.

Batteries:
The main source of Energy in CityVille, Batteries can be gifted for free as well as bought through the game's build menu (pictured below) for City Cash. Just click "Build" and then the lightning bolt icon to access the Energy shop where you can buy Batteries that give either 3, 7 or 12 Energy for 3, 6 and 9 City Cash, respectively. Though, there are some more fun ways to replenish Energy.
Battery Shop

Visiting FriendsVisiting Friends:
My personal favorite, visiting friends daily grants you a whopping 3 Energy for nothing among other rewards like XP, coins and Reputation points (this stat returns from FrontierVille). The more friends you help, the more oomph you'll have to do things back Home. Not to mention you'll look good around your friends, who might come around and help you out some in return.

Gifting:
As we mentioned before, Energy can be gifted to other players for free, which means your friends can do the same for you. Just click on the "Free Gifts" tab that rests on top of the game screen to the left of "Play." From there, you can select one type of gift to give out at a time--in this case that being either 1, 2 or 3 Energy Points (much less than Zynga's other games) with the latter two locked until you reach certain levels.

Collections:
Speaking of gifting, certain Collections (pictured below) in CityVille will yield lots of Energy if completed. This can be done through playing the game normally, collecting from properties like the Toy Shop and Coffee House, but there's a neat little feature called the Wishlist that might help. In your Collections menu (click on the icon to the right of the arrow), you'll see that every item in each Collection has a small button that looks like the RSS symbol. Click that to add it to your Wishlist and then click "Share" to broadcast exactly what you need, which should increase your chances of friends sending you those very items.

Collection
Going about your Business:
Just as it sounds, just doing normal tasks like collecting from properties, planting and/or harvesting crops and chopping down trees all have a chance of restoring spent Energy. Albeit small, work is progress and progress leads to...

Leveling Up:
Second only to visiting friends (personally), gaining levels restores huge amounts of Energy. Nothing beats the feeling of being on your last point of Energy as you build the City Hall, only to level up off of that last point of XP, launching you forward to finish the job.

Unfortunately, there aren't any cheats or get-energy-quick schemes in CityVille that we know of... yet. But with your help, we just might be able to figure out this game's little quirks that might help us maximize our Energy even further. So, if you find any interesting (and possibly unintentional) ways to nab some extra juice, why not let us know? It'll both help this guide and make you look even more awesome in front of your fellow mayors.

FarmVille creator Zynga buys mobile developer, forms Zynga with Friends

Zynga returns to round two of the ongoing mobile title bout swinging. Zynga With Friends, the company's brand new, mobile-focused studio, is thanks to Zynga's most recent acquisition of Texas-based NewToy. Developer of iOS hits such as Words With Friends and We Rule, NewToy will now be Zynga's premiere mobile developer, unifying the company's mobile efforts into one single platform. NewToy's studio will become the location of Zynga With Friends Studio, which is convenient considering the company just opened Zynga Dallas recently.

words with friends is now part of zynga with friends"Our goal is to have is to have Zynga games available to anyone, anywhere on any device," says Zynga SVP of Mobile David Ko. "At Zynga, we're committed to provide the best-of-breed mobile game experiences."

Founded in 2008 by brothers Paul and David Bettner, NewToy has reached over 12 million mobile gamers through games like Words With Friends and Zynga hopes to bring that success to its presence in your phones. Paul, the company's CEO and co-founder will take the helm of Zynga With Friends as vice president and general manager and his brother David will become the studio's director.

"Throughout our acquisition talks we utilized a secret code name for the operation--that codename was 'jet pack,'" Zynga With Friends VP and general manager Paul Bettner says. "We chose jetpack because, to us, that's what this acquisition represented--the potential to strap jet packs to our backs and move even faster toward our shared goals."

However, it's unsure at this point what this means for the company's games that have already landed on mobile such as FarmVille's iPhone game and Mafia Wars: Atlantic City on mobile web browsers. Zynga declined to comment on how NewToy will handle making its new bosses' games--both old and new--available for all mobile devices at once.

Top 25 MySpace games of Dec. 2010: The land beyond Zynga's rule

Top 25 MySpace Games
Thanks to Inside Social, the results are in for this month's top MySpace games and the results would be shocking for anyone who doesn't normally game on the platform. Essentially, things over at MySpace could be known as the bizarro world of social gaming. In a land where MySpace is second fiddle to Facebook, so is Zynga to Playdom in a strangely mirroring way with its hit game Mafia Wars (13.4 million players) beat out by its direct competitor, Playdom's Mobsters (14.9 million players) by over one million players.

However, this list includes products that are more web apps than true social games like Tag Me from BitRhymes sitting in the number 5 spot with 8.4 million users. Though, web apps and games competing for the same audience is also common on Facebook with Phrases recently dethroning FarmVille as the top app in town. In fact, web apps are the majority on MySpace with 12 spots on this list including Bumper Stickers in the number 3 spot with 12.8 million users and Own Your Friends in fourth place with 10.3 million users.

Filling out the rest of this month's top MySpace games are a slew of pet care games such as SuperPoke Pets by Slide in ninth place with RockYou Pets tailing behind them in the 10 spot. Then rest of the list includes more obscure titles by Zynga and Playdom such as the former's Street Racing in the 13 spot and the latter's Bloodlines in 24th place. All in all, it shows that despite the power and insane growth of social games, social web apps can still give this relatively new genre of gaming a challenge.

Top 25 Facebook games of Dec. 2010: Digital Chocolate takes distant second place

Top 25 Facebook Games December
The results are in from Inside Social's list of the top 25 Facebook games for Dec. 2010 and they're somewhat surprising given AppData's recent developer rankings. Zynga grips tightly to the top seven spots on the list including staples like FarmVille in first with 53.7 million monthly players, FrontierVille taking the third spot with nearly 30 million players and Mafia Wars in fourth sporting 21 million players a month. But just after Treasure Isle in sixth place comes Millionaire City, the newest game by Digital Chocolate, with 12.7 million players--808 thousand more than last month.

Millionaire City, if it keeps going at this rate, could easily knock CrowdStar out of tailing Zynga and Takeoff Monkey--the folks behind Phrases. Especially considering its top game, Happy Aquarium, is lagging behind in the 11 spot with 9.8 million players. However, Millionaire City's success does come with Zynga losing millions of users in all of its games aside from FrontierVille, where it gained 86 thousand.

The same goes for other top developers like CrowdStar and Playfish who each lost hundreds of thousands of players over the past month in games like the aforementioned Happy Aquarium, which lost 1.2 million players, and Pet Society that lost 118 thousand players last month.

Rounding out the list are a few gems like Car Town, a new game from Cie Games that gained 1.1 million players last month to bump it into the number 15 spot. And in the most massive gain this month, Funzio and its crime game hit Crime City took 18th place thanks to welcoming 3.5 million more players into its felony-filled walls.

You'll notice on this list that FarmVille's new arch nemesis, Phrases, is nowhere to be found. This is because Inside Social believes that the sheer number of new Facebook games that have popped up in recent months warrants their removal. (A good move, I'd say.) But what's this? According to AppData's most recent app leaderboards, Zynga and FarmVille are back on top as the most popular app on Facebook with 53.7 million players. Though, CrowdStar still has a long way to go--about 20 million more players--if it wants to send Takeoff Monkey and Phrases farther down the ladder. We know you got it in you, guys, now make it happen.

Treasure Isle: Superhero's Sub bonus quest unlocks the deep sea

Treasure Isle: You need a submarine chassis
You can tell from the World Map that the islands of Atlantis (along with the North Pole and the Egyptian Isles) are still off-limits to Treasure Isle players. But its promise is alive, and two indicators of that are the recent Nexus Relic (probably inspired by the Stargate Atlantis sci-fi series) and now, there's the Superhero's Sub, because a submarine's the best way to reach a sunken island city.
Treasure Isle Bonus Quest: Superhero's sub
To build the sub, you'll need five materials: Gold, Glass, Bolts, Diodes, and Metal. Afterwards, you'll need to recruit your crew, but they don't let you know what that entails until you complete the materials task. You can get the materials by posting a message to your Wall or buying each of them for 1 Island Cash. In total, constructing it should cost you 5 Island Cash, which is pretty cheap, all things considered. But the game indicates that this is for construction of the "Submarine Base", which means you might get another pop-up window asking for more supplies to build the actual sub itself. If that's true, this will suck. Either way, you've got roughly 12 days to find out, because after that, the quest will disappear.