Thứ Tư, 15 tháng 2, 2012

Pet Society scores a goal with its new World Cup Bundle

Head over the the Market store in Pet Society, in the section labeled "Cool Stuff", and you can find a World Cup Specials set of sports goods, such as soccer uniforms, a Soccer Goal, and a Bouncy Soccer Ball for just 2,800 Coins.
Pet Society World Cup Bundle Special
Sold separately, the goal post and ball are both 1,000 Coins each. We're lucky the game hasn't decided to make these items premium. I'm glad to report that the Bouncy Soccer Ball is really super bouncy! Try setting it in your pet's room and it's sure to hop and roll away from you. Unfortunately, you can't use it to play ball with your pet. But Pet Society does have a bouncing ball game which provides you with a free ball! See how I dressed up my pet, Peachy Keen, in Referee's Hat, Black Soccer Cleats, White Soccer Shorts, and Referee's Jersey. Even Hideeni came by to watch us play!
Pet Society Hideeni watches soccer game
And speaking of Hideeni, his mission this time is to visit everyone's homes to give away 15 flags of countries participating in the game. You can expect all this fun to be available until July 12th, which is basically one day after the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Treasure Isle gets fired up about upcoming Fire God Mountain

For the past couple of months, Zynga has been teasing us with the Fire God Mountain in Treasure Isle. This volcano has shown up on our map since the game has released, but has had a big "Coming Soon" banner and a lock on it. Of course, Zynga had to know how much this was driving us crazy. They have now launched a fan page entitled Treasure Isle's Volcano Diggers Anonymous in an apparent effort to build up some anticipation for the new Fire God Mountain.

On this fan page, they are encouraging fans to talk about how excited they are for the new Fire God Mountain, and have even shared some early pictures of the new volcano. We're thrilled about this, because this is the first set of maps that looks wildly different from all of the rest. Meanwhile, on the official Treasure Isle fan page, we have been informed that the volcano will be erupting soon.

Zynga has a real opportunity to do something new and exciting in this Fire God Mountain. Some players are hoping for additional challenges such as monsters to defeat. Others are predicting that maybe the illusive Rain God will help put out the fires. Chances are good that it will just be a basic map with a different theme, but it is fun to make wild guesses about what could happen on this new map.

Are you excited for the Fire God Mountain volcano in Treasure Isle?

Country Story releases new buildable pond and Ugly Duckling

Country Story Pond
Tonight, Country Story has debuted a brand new feature that allows players to build their own pond. These ponds come in several different sizes, and have special functionality which enables you to plant particular pond plants. There is also a new Ugly Duckling that will grow up into a full-grown duck. Players have been asking for a pond for a very long time in Country Story, so we're sure this feature will be well-loved by the fans.

To build a pond, you have to collect 10 cement pieces from your friends. Similar to collection-style games in FarmVille and other Facebook games, cement can be sent as gifts. Of course, you can also buy cement at a price of 1 Playfish Cash per cement. In addition, you will need 10,000 coins to buy the Stage 1 pond, but there does not seem to be a level requirement.

The Ugly Duckling costs 40 Playfish Cash, which is quite the price for this adorable little duck that you will probably want many of. We're still working on our pond since this has just released, but we bet some of you have already finished yours. Log in to Country Story now to check out the new pond building feature.

New game alert: Raise your own adorable ponies in Ponyland

Ponyland is a brand new game spotted in the wild that will make your heart ache with overwhelming cuteness. Don't say we didn't warn you! This game appears to be the first Facebook game effort by an individual game developer, and we think it's important to pay attention to the little guys as well as the big names like Zynga and Playdom. Ponyland is just what you'd expect given the name; a delightfully charming pony-raising game that brings together some of the best elements of dollhousing games such as SPP! Ranch along with the farming mechanic that we all are intimately familiar with.

When you first start out in Ponyland, you are greeted with a few screens giving you a general overview on how to play. Nothing here is unfamiliar. You can mate your ponies with your neighbor's ponies in order to create baby horses that look like their parents. You can farm to buy food for your ponies, and if you don't come back frequently enough to take care of your pony it will get sick and need medicine. You start off with one pony, and you can pick from three different colors. Once you pick your pony, it will move itself into a corral and begin to walk around. The art is highly stylized - in fact, it barely looks like a pony. It's still adorable though, and we couldn't help but want to take care of it. Clicking on a pony will give you the option to customize its appearance by buying additional colors, eyes, mouths - even wings and horns.
An interesting mechanic in Ponyland is the concept of mating. Mating can be done with your neighbor's ponies, or with the one sample pony that is provided for you. The resulting pony from the breeding will automatically inherit the appearance from one of its parents, which has a small chance to include any valuable customizations that were made to the parent (such as expensive wings and horns). This adds a nice element of chance that makes mating more of a lottery experience. It does cost Pony Coins (the free currency) to breed ponies with each other.
Ponyland also features a farming simulation similar to FarmVille that allows players to plant their own food for their pony. This is the basic way to level up in the game to unlock new ponies and decorations. Plants need to be harvested when they are ready, and new seeds can be planted. Ponyland doesn't bring anything new to the table as far as farming goes. Similar to other Facebook games, your farm can be expanded and you can plant additional plots to allow yourself faster experience gains.

All in all, we're pretty impressed by this little title. The biggest issue with the game right now is that a lot of the English translation was not done correctly, so there are many awkward phrases. The UI is clean and slick and the fonts are reminiscent of games such as Jungle Extreme and Birdland. Though Ponyland doesn't bring anything new and unique to the Facebook gaming scene, horse lovers like myself will greatly enjoy this cute overload. The art is cutsey, cartoony, and fun. The game is surprisingly complete at this stage of the game, and was actually quite fun to play. Caring for your own pony is a fun experience that many people are likely to enjoy, and there hasn't been a pony game that has brought top level execution just yet. We experienced some troubles playing it in Google Chrome, but after switching to Firefox it loaded just fine for us.

Ponyland launched officially on May 19th, so it has only been around for a couple weeks. The game 5,661 monthly active users as of this writing, but we're sure it's just undiscovered as of yet. With a strong art style, a fun theme that hasn't been done well yet, and solid game mechanics - we hope this game sticks around and gets the development and support that it needs to be truly great.

Try Ponyland Now >

lenny the snail, LennyTheSnail, playfish, Restaurant City, RestaurantCity, under the sea, UnderTheSea

YoVille Romantic Set
Platinum Ninja has announced in her Blog at YoVille.com that during this week, new items will be released to enable you to build your own Hollywood Film Set. The four themes include Creepy Horror Set, Western Style Set, Romantic Set, and Fantasy Set. Read her Official Blog after the jump and see more sneak peeks!

"Hey Everyone,

We recently ran a poll on the YoVille Fan Page and asked you to choose your favorite Hollywood Sets! Based on your results we will be bringing you some of these fun Hollywood sets!

Coming this week you'll be able to build your own Hollywood Sets and we'll be releasing everything you could need to become a director or even star in some of you favorite movie scenes!! Or create your own YoMovie Scene! Tons of scene prop items for Horror, Fantasy, Western Style Sets and more! So get ready to become a director or star in your new YoMovie that will be hitting theaters this summer :)

Let's check out some sneak peeks and examples of some Hollywood Sets that are all built up and currently filming...
YoVille Fantasy Set
Fantasy Set
YoVille Creepy Horror Set
Creepy Horror Set
YoVille Western Style Set
Western Style Set

So don't forget to come play YoVille this week and join in on the fun!! Before you know it you will become a Yo Hollywood Star!! Can't wait to see what type of movie sets you all come up with. We'll keep you updated on when these are live in game.

- Platinum Ninja"

Tell us what you think in comments.

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Thứ Bảy, 11 tháng 2, 2012

Mafia Wars South Africa Challenge Mission: Fix the Global Cup

Over the past few days, we noticed Counterfeit Tickets in the free gifts section, and it turns out those were all to prepare us for the Mafia Wars South Africa Challenge Mission, where your mafia's mission is to fix the Global Cup. This new mission works much like Mafia Wars Paris and Mafia Wars London Challenge Missions before it -- you have 15 days to complete all three Chapters of the challenge.

Instead of Passports, this challenge requires you to collect Counterfeit tickets, which can be received as gifts and as loot from jobs and fighting. There's also a heat meter, which will only allow you to do jobs a number of times before the cops catch onto your activities (and then you have to wait 8 hours for the meter to drop before getting back to work).

Once you finish each Chapter, you'll add a limited edition reward to your armory. Here are the rewards:

Chapter 1
Goalie
A: 45 D: 58

Chapter 2
Tiebreaker
A: 76 D: 42

Chapter 3
Penalty Kick
A: 110 D: 59

Over the weekend, Mafia Wars South Africa will have double mastery bonus, which means that it'll be much easier to get through these missions. Many (me included) have had trouble finishing the previous Challenge Missions, so it's key to put the work in over this holiday weekend to make sure you fix the World Cup and take home all of that extra loot.

Mafia Wars exclusive Vegas Chips: Get 'em while they're still hot

UPDATE (7/4): The Rack of Chips is an item that can be sent as a Free Gift. Even though the Chips were only supposed to be available on Saturday, July 3, they're still seem to be hanging around today as well. To send you friends a Rack of Chips, click HERE. Happy Fourth of July everybody!

As part of the Mafia Wars 'Must Play Weekend,' the game is rolling out exclusive 'Vegas Chips' today only. From the Coming Soon section in the game:

    Mafia Wars: Las Vegas is almost here , and this Saturday, July 3rd, you'll get a chance to loot exclusive "Vegas Chips". These chips will give you an advantage when Vegas releases, so you'd better collect as many as you can get ahead of your Mafia rivals.

I haven't found any of these just yet, but if you have any tips on where to find them,