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.

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,

Mafia Wars undergoing HUGE changes: A new look, more boss battles

Mafia Wars as we know it is preparing to roll out some MAJOR changes that includes a complete visual overhaul and many new boss fights that will drop game-changing loot, such as new properties and weapons that will give you a permanent boost to your stats.

mafia wars new look
The unofficial word is that only new players currently have access to this overhauled Mafia Wars, which will serve as a testing ground until Zynga rolls out the game to everyone else. There's also lots of discussion on how much Flash this new version of the game will use, and how that will affect the overall performance. I recently restarted Mafia Wars from scratch and while re-playing the first New York chapters, was wondering when/if more bosses would be added to the game. Looks like the answer is 'yes.'

Check out the images in the gallery below to get a taste of what you have to look forward to (all screens courtesy of Mafia Wars master 7eetprox125.) IMAGES COMING SOON.

Gallery: The New Mafia Wars

New Mafia Wars intro movie adds slight storyline to Facebook game

There's an overhauled Mafia Wars (a.k.a. 'New Mafia Wars') circulating Facebook, and if you are a new player (or open a new Facebook account), you can check it out for yourself. I did just that and discovered that the game has a new intro movie that adds a bit of a storyline to all of that clicking we've been doing for the past two years. See for yourself in the video above.

What do you think about the idea of a New Mafia Wars?

Lost FarmVille animals being replaced?

FarmVille Freak has received quite a few emails about animals now being replenished to players who experienced loss in last week's FarmVille animal fiasco. But, are these replacements the correct animals? Many players are reporting that when logging on their farm animals have been added directly to their buildings with purpose/animal storage buildings, enough to stretch the capacity of the building, but these animals are not what they initially lost. Zynga is clearly attempting to make good on farmers losses but maybe not in the most efficient way?


FarmVille Freak Lisa lost Cream Draft Horses and Rhode Island Red Chickens but was given Grey Horses and Gold Chickens.

    I noticed something odd in my stable this morning when making my round I noticed I had more horses than there should have been room for! I had 65 horses when capacity is only 40! I guess they are trying to compensate for lost animals, but they missed the mark by far giving me such common stock when I lost the much harder to replace cream horses, red chickens and etc. :(


FarmVille Freak LittleBuePig had a similar experience:

    During Farmville's recent updates I lost 14 cows from my dairy and 10 bricks from my Japanese barn. A day of so later I received 7 cows, 30 golden chickens, 3 green calves, and no bricks. I've attached a screen shot showing by chicken coop with 60/60 chickens, but 83 golden chickens.

    FarmVille Freak LittleBuePig Incorrect Gold Chicken Replacement

FarmVille Freak Ashley found calves in her Nursery Barn, but her missing cows were not replaced:

    This morning I logged onto Farmville and noticed that in my nursery barn (where all my missing animals had been) I had 32/20 animals in there. I looked inside and noticed that I had 14 regular calfs...when before I only had about 3. I checked my other things like the dairy barn, horse stable, and chicken coop but those all seemed normal even though I did have a missing cow or two. I was just wondering if this was a glitch or will I acutally be able to keep 32 animals in there!

    FaceBook FarmVille Freak Ashley Missing Cows Replaced With Regular Calves

The good news? Some restitution plan is in action. The bad news? Players are not the receiving animals they lost. Hopefully this is just the first stage of Zynga's plan to replace our precious animals.

Have you received correct replacement animals?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Rixty offers free Facebook Credits for Coinstar users

It looks like PayNearMe isn't the only credit-card-free virtual currency service giving away bonus Facebook Credits to attract new customers. Coinstar partner Rixty is now offering up to 105 free Facebook credits to entice users to try out its service.

There are two ways for users to get the free currency, and both involve taking your extra loose change to a nearby CoinStar machine coin-counting machine. Just changing your coins for a cash voucher nets you 10 free Facebook Credits, but using those proceeds to buy Facebook Credits directly from Rixty gets you a bonus of up to seven percent of your purchase. That bonus maxes out at a $150 purchase (and 105 Facebook Credits) so don't even think about converting your entire savings account into Facebook Credits (via Rixty) and making a tidy 7% profit on the transaction, because we thought of it first and it won't work.

The offer, which started yesterday, runs until Sept. 7, so start smashing open those piggy banks. And remember, a penny saved is a penny earned only under very specific circumstances.

FarmVille LOLs: Girl quits broker job and outs her boss as a FarmVille jerk

We've no idea if this is a joke or for real, especially since The Chive walks and talks like a close cousin of The Onion, but it's got everyone on the internet cackling today.

Here's what The Chive has to say:

    We received the following photos last night from a person who works with this girl. Her name is Jenny (not confirmed) - we're working our contact for Jenny's last name. Yesterday morning, Jenny quit her job with a (flash)bang by emailing these photos to the entire office, about 20 employees we're told. Awesome doesn't begin to describe this office heroine. Check back as we will be updating if we get more details. [Source]

Since Jenny's boss installed a "little office snitch" to monitor everyone's computer time, Jenny thought it was time to turn the tables on her boss.

Here's what she discovered -- her boss spends 4 hours per week on Scottrade, 5.3 hours per week on TechCrunch, and for the coup de grâce... 19.7 hours per week playing FarmVille!

At the time, Jenny's surname has yet to be confirmed. So I'll just like you guys to know there's no way Jenny can be your -- this here -- humble Games.com blogger. Especially since if we DIDN'T play FarmVille in this office, we'd definitely lose our jobs! A fact like that certainly takes your head for a spin, doesn't it?

Update: Peter Kafka of "All Things Digital" interviews the owners of The Chive to ask if Jenny is real. [Source]

Final update: After one day, The Chive has confirmed that "Jenny" is one of their pranks! But they hope we were entertained, and judging by all the positive online buzz, this prank did the job. [Source]

Is FarmVille changing everything? Games biz bigwigs speak out

To say the game industry is undergoing a transformation would be an understatement. The entire playing-games-on-one-system paradigm is rapidly shifting, as more people play games on multiple devices -- consoles, PCs, and increasingly the iPhone, iPad, or even the favorite medium of the Games.com - The Blog! crew, Facebook (along with other social networks). And, more people are starting to play games, period.

    ... Not only are there a lot of new customers showing up and becoming gamers for the first time, but we're seeing really big behavior changes by traditional gamers that used to just camp on one platform like the PlayStation and now they're using a diversity of media, and they're engaging with friends, so they're doing a lot of things that are more casual.

    Trip Hawkins, Digital Chocolate

In this new video series, Game Theory, video game industry bigwigs like Sims creator Will Wright and Fable creator Peter Molyneux talk about the tectonic shifts in the industry and, of course, social games come up more than once.

    "It's changing... and we can feel it. We're literally on the bow of the ship and the waves are crashing and the wind is in our face and we're like holy sh*t."

    Chris Taylor, Gas Powered Games

This pair of videos might be too 'inside baseball' for most of you, but if you dabble in gaming trends, this might be worth a few minutes of your time. I am still amazed at how much of an impact that FarmVille, Pet Society and others have had on the traditional video game console business. Social games might be classified as "casual," but there's nothing casual about the wake up call these non-traditional games are giving the traditional game industry.

Mafia Wars rolls out trigger-happy trailer to promote $25K contest

In addition to blowing up an armored truck, Mafia Wars is giving away $25K as part of a promotion for the recently released Vegas expansion. To promote the promotion, Mafia Wars creator Zynga released this graphic-novel style trailer, where generic mafia members steal a truck from NYC, roadtrip to Vegas, snag more cash, then walk into the sunset with moneybags in hand. There's bullets; there's bloodshed; there's even a babe -- good thing the long arm of the ESRB doesn't extend to Facebook games.

PetVille Midnight Crypt items give a wink, nod to The Shining, Poltergeist

While I wile away the hours, cleaning up my pet's leftover tacos, I find myself hoping (praying even) that PetVille will release a suite of Mad Men related items. It looks like I'll have to wait a little longer to get my hands on a Pet Draper or dress my pet in one Joan-inspired hip hugging dress with gold pendant -- this week's release, a collection called Midnight Crypt, takes on more gothic overtones.

Some of the highlights from this new spooky collection include the limited edition Shimmering Twins (25 PetCash), inspired by those super creepy twin girls in 'The Shining,' a Poltergeist Programmed TV (18 PetCash), a nod to the movie Poltergeist and the Three Wolves Painting (9 PetCash), an homage to the Three Wolf Moon internet meme. I'm seriously considering shelling out for all three of these items.

Of course, there are quite a few more items in the Midnight Crypt collection -- a few outfits, furniture, other decor -- though only a few can be purchased with coins, like the carpet and wallpaper in the pic to the left and -- probably the best coin item -- an antique vampire hunting kit.
petville midnight crypt

petville midnight crypt

petville midnight crypt

FarmVille 'Fertilize All' limited edition gift was a little too 'limited'

While accepting FarmVille gifts this weekend, I noticed that there's a new free gift going around called 'Fertilize All.' After doing a little research, turns out that 'Fertilize All' was a limited edition gift that appeared in the Free Gifts section briefly before it disappeared again. Not sure if this vanished due to a bug or if this was a truly 'limited' edition gift.

If you were lucky enough to score this amazing gift, accept it from your feed and then open your gifts menu in the game. Click 'use' to instantly fertilize ALL of your crops! Next thing you know, your little farmer will be surrounded by sparkly crops that will yield extra experience points and other bonuses.



Not sure if this generous gift will resurface soon or if this was a one-time deal. Stay tuned.

FarmVille official podcast (9/10): New co-op jobs and three-in-one vehicle (and more) coming soon

The new official FarmVille Podcast has arrived -- it's now on a bi-weekly schedule -- and Community Manager Lexi 'Lexilicious' Smith reviews what launched in the farm game last week and then talks about some cool stuff coming soon, which includes new Bushel Co-op jobs, a time-saving "three-in-one" vehicle and a new limited edition German theme. I'll say Prosit! to that.

You can listed to the podcast in the player above, or if you just want to skim the highlights, check out the recap below:

FarmVille Podcast Recap:

Pigpens

* Visit neighbors' pigpens and give them slop
* Four levels of truffles
* Trade in truffles for exclusive pigs

Toy Collection (Collectibles)

* Available for a limited amount of time
* Find by seeding.
* Can purchase for 67 Farm Cash.
* Complete for special prize and XP rewards
* Fewer pop-ups than before

(See our Toy Collection Quick Links here)

Two New Permanent Crops

* Square Melon, Gladiolus and Lupine (LE)

Mystery Gift Updates

* Updated with several new prizes.
* New Prizes: Butterfly Stick, Tricycle, Owl Statue

New Wild West limited edition Items

* Train and rotatable train tracks and train pieces introduced this week.
* Wild West LE Animals include: Appalloosa Mini Horse, Wild Turkey, Horned Toad, and Western Longhorn

FarmVille Game Card Exclusive Prize - the Valeductorian

* Back-to-School Valeductorian Duck is an exclusive Game Card redeemable prize.
* Free with the purchase of a Game Card that is redeemed through September 6-13.

Coming soon!

Bushel Co-Ops Jobs

* Users who own Crafting Cottages will be able to start a Co-Op for a specific Recipe.
* Grow ingredients and any friends that join will also get rewards and Bushels.
* The faster you finish, the more Bushels you get.
* Friends without Crafting Buildings will be rewarded with a high-level ingredient.

Super Combine Vehicle

* This all-in-one vehicle works as a seeder, harvester, and tractor.
* Eliminates the need to switch between vehicles to tend crops

Yee-haw! Frontierville Missions tracker is 'coming soon'

Looks like FrontierVille is going to make keeping track of our many missions that much easier with a new 'Missions' option in the 'My Stuff' menu.

I will certainly welcome something like this since my missions seems to appear and disappear off the left-hand side of the screen at random. This new menu item is marked as "Coming Soon!," so that means it probably won't be much longer until we can keep better track of our in-game tasks.

FarmVille Wild West Train Station, Ranch & Tipi

    farmville train station     farmville tipi
FarmVille introduced three new Limited Edition Wild West themed buildings tonight that includes a Train Station, Wild West Ranch and Tipi.

You can purchase these buildings during the next 12 days only in the FarmVille Market.

FarmVille LE Wild West Buildings (Released September 9, 2010):

    Train Station – 42 FV$
    Wild West Ranch – 36 FV$
    Tipi – 360,000 Coins


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

What do you think of these new buildings?

FarmVille Wild West Mini Appaloosa & Mini Appaloosa Foal

farmville mini appaloosa
One of the cutest animals ever, the Mini Appaloosa, has hit the FarmVille Market!

The Mini Appaloosa is part of the Limited Edition Wild West theme. You can purchase it in the FarmVille Market for 26 FV$ farm cash during the next 9 days only.

And yes, there is a chance at yielding a Mini Appaloosa Foal when you place in the Horse Stable.

FarmVille LE Wild West Animal (Released September 9, 2010):

    Mini Appaloosa – 26 FV$


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Will you purchase the Mini Appaloosa?

YoVille Halloween costumes: Dress your avatar as a zombie, superhero and more

   
YoVille Halloween costumes are here! Celebrate this Halloween dressing like your favorite superhero, evil villain or zombie bride/ groom. Tons of pictures are after the link with the prices.
As usual, all body costumes are for coins and all handheld accessories, hats and masks are for YoCash.

Which costume are you going to buy? Tell us in comments!
yoville halloween costumesyoville halloween costumesyoville halloween costumesyoville halloween costumes
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Happy Pets Pet Park feature brings live chat and real time showboating

Happy Pets Pet Park
CrowdStar introduced a new feature to Happy Pets that will make the social element of its game that much more prominent in the Pet Park. This feature allows players to take their pets from their home into one of four park areas that feature live chat with other Happy Pets players.

Everyone's pet is displayed in real time and will automatically make buddy-buddy with other players' pets in Central Park, the first available live park. There are several chat rooms within each park that you can enter, with each room holding about 10 players. Players can join existing rooms or make their own, which is a bit scary as its only a matter of time before some of the more sketchy online game chat rooms are created. Hopefully in the future some privacy or protection measures are introduced in this feature as live chat can easily get dangerous for the little ones.

You also have the option to dig with your pet and others for buried treasure, which will lead to unlocked trophies and other goodies. Unfortunately, the Pet Park is still a bit buggy as it was just added over the weekend, so try to bear with the crashes as things smooth out. Until then, enjoy making friends in real time and finding some new doodads for your place.

YoVille Halloween: Build a Haunted Bed in the Widget Factory

yoville haunted bed halloween
In YoVille, you can now build a haunted spike bed at the Widget Factory. Though who in their right mind would lay down for a snooze on a bed they know is haunted! It's almost guaranteeing a terrible night of ghosts and ghouls. The Halloween themed bed is animated available in grey and red. Start building today!

Enjoy the pictures after the jump.
yoville haunted bed halloweenyoville haunted bed halloween
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Pet Society: Buy a Slow Loris to give a little to the World Wildlife Fund

It's no surprise that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the flagship charity of Pet Society, but what is unfortunately surprising is how much Playfish is giving to their charity of choice. Buying the adorable new Slow Loris pet accessory--and any other WWF item for that matter--will donate 10 percent of the proceeds to WWF.

While that might sound like a lot, 10 percent of 8 Playfish Cash--if paid for in Facebook Credits--amounts to about 8 cents. That doesn't seem like a lot, does it? (But there is strength in numbers.) Anyway, buying the Slow Loris from the WWF section in the Boutique places the doe-eyed primate on your pet's head making for a (somewhat) lively head accessory. Hey, at least it'll look better on your head than this dress.

However, we recommend that if you really want to make a donation to the WWF to make it direct as not much of your money will be going there through the Slow Loris. If only these animals weren't endangered, I'd be all over that bug-eyed monkey as my next real pet.

Mafia Wars: Atlantic City coming soon for mobile devices only

Mafia Wars Atlantic City
There will soon be a new location for Mafia Wars players to wreak havoc, Atlantic City, according to a leak caught by Mafia Wars Maniac. However, the new location will only be a city available to mobile phones--not to be confused with Zynga's Mafia Wars game for iPhone, which oddly has little to no connection with the Facebook game.

Atlantic City can only be accessed by going to m.mafiawars.com from a web browser on a mobile device, but the content is currently in beta testing and no launch date has been announced. Fortunately, the leaked promo page in Mafia Wars gives a great amount of detail as to what we'll be enjoying in Atlantic City.

Players Level 18 and above will be able to tackle this city using the same stats and items from their Facebook profile (finally!) as well as use their Las Vegas currency to complete the jobs. There will be an exclusive daily bonus for playing on your mobile device accompanied by two impressive reward items for mastering the location: the Automatic .22 with 105 Attack and 98 Defense and the Bullet 44 OET vehicle (99 Attack, 116 Defense). Bookmark the website on your mobile browser and stay tuned here for when Atlantic City finally goes live.

Social City update keeps City Bucks items from newbies, adds three new buildings

    Pillar Rock     Hot Springs Resort
What better day to update your favorite city planner game than Wednesday? With hopefully just enough content to hold players over until the weekend, Playdom updated Social City with three new buildings. First up is the Pillar Rock, a decoration item that will add 25,000 Happiness and grant you 785 XP for 25 City Bucks, or $4.99. Next in line is the Hot Springs Resort, which for 45 City Bucks (about $9) will reward players with 50,000 Happiness and 2,305 XP on top of 3,000 coins every day and a half. Lastly is the Louvre Square. Based on the world famous art museum in Paris, France, this building costs a whopping 59 City Bucks (slightly over $10), but will provide you with 5,000 coins every 12 hours and 3,845 XP--not to mention 66,000 Happiness.

While these flashy new buildings are certainly a treat, what's even more interesting is that Playdom has barred players below Level 3 from buying items that cost City Bucks. While there was no official explanation for the change, we imagine the developer wants to keep new players from making purchases before they've become invested in the game world. Not to mention players of such a low level--or what the kids these days call "noobs"--have no real use for an item that costs $10. So, for the--ahem--noobs out there: get a better feel for the game before you run around spending your hard-earned cash.

Update: Players can now "Like" each others' city layouts. These "Likes" will post to your friends' News Feeds just like normal.

Lunchtime Poll: McDonalds Facebook game - would you play?

It's hard to turn on the TV or visit a news site without hearing about McDonald's this week. First, there's the big news that the Golden Arches is bringing back the McRib sandwich for a limited time, and now we're reading that they're banning toys from mcdonald's mcribHappy Meals in San Francisco. A few weeks ago, there was a big McDonald's promotion in FarmVille.

With McDonald's on the brain and this recent story about how big brands are getting ready to explode on Facebook -- wouldn't it be crazy if (bear with me here) McDonald's launched its very own social game and, more importantly, would you play? Maybe you could try your hand at slinging virtual Big Macs for hungry customers in a Diner Dash-style time management game.

Cafe World Cheats & Tips: Collections Cabinet gifting links

cafe world collections cabinet gifting links
Hello Cafe-folks, It's Mr. Cheats here with the down-low on the things you shouldn't know.

Today, The Facegamer released a batch of Cafe World gifting links for the new Collections Cabinet. Your going to need a whole lot of parts to finish this one up. But luckily with my Cafe World Collections Cabinet gifting links, you should be done in no time. All you're going to need is a little help from your friends and my gifting links below.

To use the Cafe World Collections Cabinet gifting links, click the picture of the part you'd like to send, then select the friends you'd like to send it to. When you're done, link your friends to this page so they can return the favor and send you some Collections Cabinet parts.

You're going to need ten of each part, so let's get started building that Collections Cabinet:
cafe world collections cabinet gifting links     cafe world collections cabinet gifting links
cafe world collections cabinet gifting links     cafe world collections cabinet gifting links
Click on an image to send the part as a gift to your friends.

For cheats & more, check out The Facegamer.

Note: The parts may not appear in your Zynga Message Center, so go to your Facebook requests page to accept them normally.

Dallas Mavericks offer Free Facebook Credits for Twitter followers

Dallas Mavericks+Twitter=Free Facebook Credits
The Lone Star State's basketball team, the Dallas Mavericks, is giving the first 1,000 retweeters and 15,000 followers of the teams' account, @dallasmavs, five free Facebook Credits. Made possible by Ifeelgoods, a micro-incentives platform, the promotion only has another two days left. Ifeelgoods claims to be the first company to let retailers to provide Facebook Credits, which it does through a special application that Facebook users will need to install to their accounts.

While the company normally works with online stores, advertising and email listings, the Dallas Mavericks are using the service to give folks like you and I incentive to become fans of the team via Twitter. If successful, this could break ground for not only brands to amass more followers, but become a 100 percent legitimate source of free virtual cash. You know, for the folks who snoop around the bottom of games' pages for potentially seedy free cash offers. Yeah, we know who you are (i.e. us).

Players who either follow the Dallas Mavericks' Twitter or retweet one of their updates will receive a direct message on the service from Ifeelgoods containing the credits, Inside Facebook reports. According to Suchit Dash, Co-founder & VP of Product of Ifeelgoods, these credits can be used anywhere on the social network. You know what that means, right?

If successful--not to mention whether the technology is simple enough to employ--even small, local businesses could take advantage of the program. Imagine going to your local Internet cafe and signing up for a members card that rewards you something to the tune of three Facebook Credits for every coffee purchased. While that hypothetically awesome situation might be a ways away, the future of virtual currency as an online incentive is now.

Zynga Poker coming to Android devices with Live Poker

At the Facebook Mobile Event going on as of this writing in Palo Alto, Calif., Justin Cinicolo of Zynga just revealed that Zynga Poker is coming to Android devices in the form of Live Poker. Cinicolo claims, "at any minute, 90,000 players are going 'all in' in Zynga Poker," Read Write Web reports.

Zynga just made quite a lot of Android-using card sharks extremely excited. While the company has yet to reveal any details on how the game will play or a release date, we imagine it will be pretty similar to the version available now on Apple's iOS devices. Not to mention that it will most likely be free, using your Texas Hold 'Em profile from Facebook to play. So, this is why Zynga was looking to Android a while back, huh? Better yet, this potentially opens up the floodgates for more Zynga games like FarmVille and--dare we say--FrontierVille to make their way to Android in the future.

We've contacted Zynga for more information, so stay tuned.

FrontierVille 'Hoedown' Timed Mission: Everything you need to know

Hoedown
A big dance is just a few days away in FrontierVille, and you'll need to prepare for it in Zynga's new timed mission, "Hoedown." This task will be available for sometime, but after accepting it you will only have four days to complete it. In order to be fully prepared for the soiree, you'll need these three things:

    25 Cotton
    5 Fancy Clothing
    10 Tootin' Jugs



Harvesting the 25 Cotton should be simple enough, but in the meantime you should make and visit as many friends as possible. You're going to need quite a lot of Cloth to craft those five Fancy Clothing--30 pieces to be exact. All the while, be sure to berate your friends for those 10 Tootin' Jugs. Players who complete the Goal within four days will receive one Lunch, 100 coins and the Fiddle, a brand new musical instrument (hint: it's interactive). An interactive item just for harvesting some Cotton and making some swanky outfits? You can count us in.

YoVille Black Friday Sale is all about the style

YoVille Black Friday
Black Friday fever is everywhere and the Second Life of Facebook (without the flying), YoVille, is having a massive sale. Zynga's focus with YoVille's Nov. 26 festivities is on style of all kinds. Starting today and into Sunday, players will find deep discounts on several furniture sets and style changes. Here's what you have to look forward to:

Furniture:
-English Cottage: 30 percent off
-Camp YoVille: 50 percent off
-New Romantic: 30 percent off
-Enchanted Lands: 30 percent off
-Luxury: 50 percent off
-Morocco: 30 percent off

Clothing and Style:
-Camping: 50 percent off
-New Romantic: 30 percent off
-Fall Clothing: 30 percent off
-Moroccan: 10 percent off
-Permanent Hair: 10 percent off

That's a lot of savings, though we wish the Moroccan items had better discounts--such amazing clothing. If you can't log in today because Black Friday has you tied down in the real world, don't worry. These deals are here all weekend long, so enjoy a leisurely Black Friday at least in one place.

FrontierVille 'Heating Your Homestead' Christmas Goal: Everything you need to know

With winter's icy bite creeping in on us, Zynga has been leaking tons of details about FrontierVille's upcoming Winter missions and Goals. However, "Heating Your Homestead" is especially interesting in that, if the rumors are true, we'll be able to complete this mission repeatedly until Christmas arrives. And after you see the requirements and the reward you'll see why this detail is vitally important:

    Chop down five Trees
    Have 10 Fire
    Collect 15 Bits of Tinder


Chopping down trees should be a normal routine for you by now while crafting Fire is done in the covered Wagon using Wood and Cloth. So, visiting friends just became a much more important part of this Goal. But you'll also need a little help from your friends on this one. Just ask your friends for the Bits of Tinder and be sure to give them out via News Feed posts too as you'll be rewarded one for doing so.

Finally, here's why you'll be doing this incessantly for the next month: turning in this rumored-to-be repeatable quest will net you a Small Gift. These Small Gifts will always contain one random item from the Christmas Collection. So, doing this quest repeatedly will reward you with both lots of XP and inch you closer to yet another completed Collection. Be on the lookout for when this Goal goes live as I'm sure you'll be first in line to take it on.

FrontierVille 'PlayTime' Timed Mission: Everything you need to know

Yet another Timed Mission will soon arrive promptly (we hope) in FrontierVille. Titled "PlayTime," this Goal requires quite a lot of begging. And, again, it should be here for a long while. Though, you'll only have two days to complete it once accepted, which makes for an intense challenge. Here's what you need to do:

    Have 20 Planks
    Get 10 Bags of Playground Sand
    Get 10 Scrap Metal Pieces


While that sounds easy enough, it's a challenge to complete in 48 hours--especially when more than half of it relies on the attentiveness of your friends. Both the Playground Sand and Scrap Metal Pieces are gifts from friends like in other Goals. Though, make sure you have enough Wood to cover crafting 20 Planks before accepting the Mission. (For you math whizzes, that's 140 pieces of Wood.) However, you should be rewarded one for gifting to friends via their News Feeds, which could help compensate for the lack of friends that even notice the News Feed.

Completing this mission within the time limit will reward you with one Dinner, 500 XP and Monkey Bars. Those should come in handy for the six kids you should have by now. Oh, the things we do for them in Facebook games.

Cafe World Cafe Prize Machine: Assembly required to win sweet items

Use our Prize Machine gifting links to quickly finish your project.

With the new Builder Viewer on the way in Cafe World, it makes sense for Zynga to launch the feature with, well, another new feature. Soon enough (it's not yet released), you'll be building your very own Cafe Prize Machine. Remember the old days of going to the local pizza shop and spending your weekly allowance haplessly attempting to master the grab machines? Alright, maybe that was just me, but that's what you'll be able to do soon with this new item. Here's what you'll need to put it all together:

    10 Crazy Cranks
    10 Magical Gears
    10 Prize Capsules
    10 Cool Prizes


All four of these requirements must be completed by either asking for them from your friends or buying them outright 2 Cafe Cash per one of each requirement. Unless you're up for spending 80 Cafe Cash, we recommend just asking around. Once it's complete, you'll be able to play with it daily much like FrontierVille's Horseshoe Pit. Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a total money sink like those rigged grab machines from my childhood, though I never learned.

FrontierVille Caroling Collection: Harvest things at random for success

Large WreathThat's the way to do it, folks. Along with the 12 Days of Christmas Goals in FrontierVille comes a brand new collection with absolutely no rhyme or reason. The Caroling Collection can be completed right now, but at the moment there is no solid information on how to better your chances at nabbing each item. Here are all five items that you'll essentially find at random:

    Sheet Music
    Tuning Fork
    Caroling Candle
    Hand Bell
    Music Stand


With players reporting over on FrontierVille Wiki finding the items through almost every task imaginable from tending Neighbors' Pigs to collecting the Cabin Daily Bonus, we honestly can't say how exactly to complete this Collection. Though, finding all five items will reward you with one Large Wreath (pictured right) and 100 XP. Considering its random nature, we imagine this Collection will only be around for a limited time. So, erm, go about your business as usual and the Caroling Collection should be yours... eventually.

[Via FrontierVille Wiki]

[Image Credit: Zynga]

Find the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.

Where have you found items from this limited-time Collection? Have you found and pattern to where these items are hiding?

Mafia Wars Atlantic City pillages Android, Blackberry and webOS

Mafia Wars Atlantic City
While Mafia Wars Atlantic City landed on iPhone browsers some time ago, Zynga recently announced that the new and improved mobile version of the gang busting game has finally arrived on Android, Blackberry and webOS browsers. While iPhone, Blackberry and webOS players can simply type "m.mafiawars.com" (iPhone users can even save it as a web app), Android users have the option to use GetJar to access the new game as well.

By following this link: "http://www.getjar.com/Mafia-Wars" you can specify your Android phone model and download the game. Mafia Wars Atlantic City, which makes liberal use of your mobile browser, was developed using HTML5, TechCrunch reports. And considering Apple's iOS devices do not support Flash, this must be how it works on the iPhone as well. The tech blog also reports that the recently announced Zynga Poker for Android will be here later this week as Live Poker. To get a better idea of what this new mobile edition of Mafia Wars might be like on the other platforms, check out our detailed look at Mafia Wars Atlantic City on the iPhone.

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash from Microsoft Office 2010 promotion

Just in time for some last-minute holiday shopping in FarmVille, Zynga has given users another activity to participate in, rewarding them with 2 free Farm Cash for doing so.

The activity is one that advertises Microsoft Office 2010, and you can take part in it by looking for the "Sponsored Link" window below the FarmVille gameplay area - just look for an image like that at the right of this post and you'll know you've found it. Here's the link for those that don't see the activity on their account, but note that we can not guarantee that it will work for you - you may need to wait for it to actually appear on your own game before you can claim the two free Farm Cash.

Once you click on the link, you'll be shown a trailer for the computer program in a new window, and will be asked how you will "Make it great." You'll be able to choose from a variety of responses, and your answer will be submitted even before the trailer ends (if you're quick enough). Once you see the "You've earned your Farm Cash" text appear in the top right corner of the screen, you'll be able to freely close this new window.

Head back to your FarmVille game and you'll see that your Farm Cash total will have gone up by 2 Farm Cash, for just a couple of minutes (at most) of your time. How great is that?

Are you a veteran with these free Farm Cash opportunities, or is this one of the first you've completed?

FarmVille: Zynga fixes Snowman event issues, considers compensation for the affected [UPDATE]

If you're one of the many FarmVille players that were having a difficult time completing their Snowman in the newly released Snowball Fight feature in FarmVille, you'll be happy to know that the FarmVille team at Zynga has been hard at work fixing the issues that were previously present, and all things should be back to normal by this point.

For those that weren't affected, users had been having trouble when asking users directly for items (buttons, scarves, and the like), in that they could ask their friends via wall posts, their friends could respond to said request, and yet no item was being sent. This issue has been fixed, along with a much-needed change in the selection of friends whose walls you can post on to begin with.

For many farmers (myself included), the list of three friends that I could ask for Snowballs was static and didn't change. This wasn't how the feature was supposed to work, as the users available to ask should be rotating once every 24 hours. Now, this part of the feature apparently works as it was intended, so feel free to start checking to see if you have any FarmVille players in that list of three that you can ask.

As a result of the inconvenience players have suffered as a result of these unforeseen glitches, Zynga is "evaluating" the possibility of offering some form of compensation to those players that were affected by the above Snowman issues, or any others that they have now fixed. There has been no statement as to what compensation users would receive exactly, if it actually comes to that, but it is promising to hear that the team is at least considering it.

[UPDATE: Users that were affected by the issue have now been given 20 free Farm Cash, as seen in the pop-up below. You'll see this pop-up the next time you load FarmVille, after this update has rolled out to your game]

What do you think would be a fair "reward" for those that have been set back as a result of these glitches? Were you one of the players affected by these problems with the Snowman event?

Mafia Wars: Earn a free gift daily through the New Year from official fan page

Zynga is looking to end the year of 2010 with a bang in Mafia Wars, as they have launched a new gifting event in Mafia Wars, that will see Zynga gifting fans of the game on Facebook with a single free gift, once per day, from now until the New Year.

Zynga didn't exactly announce the range of gift types that we'd be receiving, but they did already give us our gift for today - a single Health Point. Sure, this may not seem like a lot, but now, you won't have to spend one of your hard-earned Skill Points to raise your health another point, and can use that Skill Point elsewhere, thanks to this free boost. To be clear, this is a permanent addition to your maximum amount of Health Points in the game, not a simple 1-point refill, making it a bit more worthwhile to claim.

What will tomorrow's gift be? How about the gift after that? Will these be status updates, or in-game items like weapons or vehicles? All of that remains to be seen at this point, but what is clear is how easy it is to earn these new items.

Simply become a fan of the official Mafia Wars fan page on Facebook. From there, you'll see your daily free gift via fan page posts, and can click on links provided to head to the game and claim your free gift. Told you it was easy!

Mafia Wars receives anti-cheating and speed updates

Mafia Wars has received two minor technical updates today. The first is an improvement to the anti-cheating measures, which seeks to cut down on the amount of bots that are automatically running the game for people. However, due to stricter guidelines, it's likely that there will be more false positives, which Zynga says they are working to minimize.

Alongside the new anti-cheating update comes a speed upgrade that (supposedly) makes Mafia Wars run much faster and without the errors that the previous update introduced. In order to use the update, users must have cookies enabled, as the game uses a cookie to increase the speeds of the game. Zynga says that the cookie will do no information gathering, as they respect the privacy of their users.

Battlefield Heroes increases store prices

Those looking to play the free online shooter Battlefield Heroes without paying any money will probably be disappointed. EA announced a few days ago that they are increasing all of the Valor Point (VP, the currency that is earned rather than bought) prices for goods as well as reducing the amount of time users get them. Instead of a week, users can only buy new items with VP for up to three days.

In contrast, the BatleFund (BF, the microstransaction money) prices for goods have dropped, including prices for the special skinned weapons. Note that the weapons you buy with BF can be bought permanently, and are often stronger than comparable VP weapons. Naturally, the community is in an uproar and there is even a petition with a thousand signatures. It's to be seen whether or not this will positively or negatively affect the game itself, as some people are bound to stop playing in protest.

Pete Cashmore lists 10 Web trends, social gaming one of them

Pete Cashmore is probably best known for his work on Mashable, where he is the founder and CEO. He knows quite a bit about the social media scene, and in a column for CNN, predicted the top ten trends on the internet to watch out for in 2010. They range from real-time applications (Twitter being an example) to cloud computing, but one of the more interesting is that social gaming will continue to be a trending topic come the new year.

It hard to disagree with the numbers or Cashmore's prediction. With approximately a sixth of Facebook's users playing FarmVille, and other social Facebook games approaching that status, social gaming took off in 2009 like never before, partially due to the arrival of better designed social games. There's nowhere to go but up, and we should expect an explosion of social gamers in the year ahead.

NPD: 82% of kids below 18 are gamers

A few years ago, it was a common conception that teens played the most videogames, social or otherwise. That number is dropping, however, according to NPD. A recent research study concluded that a full 82% of people aged 2 to 17 play in the United States videogames. Out of that, the most amount of gamers are in the age group of 9 to 11 with a whopping 12.4 million playing games on a regular basis.

While the total amount of gamers in their teens and young adulthood years have declined due to competing interests, they still hold the largest amount of playtime per week, with an average of 10.6 hours for those aged between 12 and 14. Not only that, but over half of those that responded to the research panel played online.

PetVille nears 1 million players in four days

PetVille, the new Facebook game from Zynga, quietly launched on December 3. The pet simulation game lets you custom create a pet, their home and then set out to earn as many coins as possible by performing different tasks, such as cleaning your pet and visiting neighbors.

petville zynga reaches 1 million players in four days

Over the weekend, we noticed that Zynga turned on the publicity machine, running ads for the game on Facebook and in its other games, and the number of players climbed from a modest 22K to nearly one million in the past few days, according to AppData.

appdata

The question remains, will this game take over Pet Society's position as top pet game on Facebook? The rival Facebook game has been holding steady at around 21 million players for the past month, so PetVille still has a ways to go before it's in barking distance.

Class action lawsuit brought against Zynga

Zynga may be one of the larger social gaming companies, but that doesn't make it immune from the judicial system. A class action lawsuit has been brought against the company at the behest of Rebecca Swift, a 41-year old resident of Santa Cruz, California. Rebecca has stated that Zynga charged her $200 over a period of time through "special offer" ads without her knowledge or consent.

Zynga has yet to provide a response to the class-action lawsuit, but Facebook has come into the fray, calling the lawsuit "frivolous," as the ads come from a third-party service. This is true, as the lawsuit is undoubtedly over the Offerpal service, which Zynga dumped after it became apparent that users were being taken in by the scam-like behavior of different offers and that in order to go public, they would have to brush it under the rug. For those that do not know about trial/offer-based services, here's the low-down: they give you incentives to visit ads and participate in different trials or subscriptions to get microtransaction money in different games or sites. Offerpal is one of these, with TrialPay being another big name (as well as one used by Zynga's main rival, Playfish).

As a word of warning, do not assume that TrialPay or Offerpal will be free services. Many of the offers that give you microtransaction coinage cost something and give little in return. All of the offers require personal information, which might include your credit card or mobile phone numbe,r which then allows the company to charge you without you noticing. There are some legitimate, useful services bundled in amongst the potential scams, including Netflix, but as a whole one should be very cautious of any trial-based incentive. Scams abound in TrialPay and Offerpal, so your best bet is to not use them whatsoever.

Source

The Sims Social is live on Facebook; kiss your (real) social life goodbye

UPDATE: 3:30 P.M. EST: And Sims Social is down again. A Sims rep says this is because the game is "not officially launched" and is in open beta, so the people behind the scenes are still running tests on the game. So, take that to mean that the game could be fairly unstable until ... well, it's not. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Sims Social seems to be up and running again. Sims Social was live earlier today, but is now having connection problems. More news as soon as we got it.

The day has finally come to retreat to the comfort of your computer from the heat ... and other people. Well, at least in the flesh, as EA and Playfish London have launched The Sims Social on Facebook. First revealed officially at this year's E3, the game takes the classic "god game" play style that made the PC versions of The Sims so insanely popular and injects some interesting social features never before seen in a Facebook game.

The game features an incredible amount of character customization from head to toe, as well as some interesting character archetypes that will somehow play a role in how you interact with your friends. But the unique social interactions go farther than that. As we learned yesterday, friends can become "frenemies" and eventually transform into archenemies, but can just as easily become lovers and later make "WooHoo," as Playfish London GM John Earner put it to us in a recent exclusive interview.

The Sims Social, like almost all Facebook games, uses an Energy system to govern how long players can enjoy the game for free daily. However, you can visit your friends and perform unique helpful or harmful actions to their Sims any time you wish. Keep in mind, though, that Sims have a mind of their own--just like in the original games--and will ultimately decided for themselves whether to listen. There are a number of interesting things to do in The Sims Social already, and as Earner told us recently: "We're just getting started."

Gallery: The Sims Social on Facebook

Spil Games CEO: Games will be less important for Facebook [Interview]

Did you know that people play social games elsewhere than Facebook? Yes, it's crazy, but true. While many of you living in the states wouldn't know it, the social gaming landscape is vastly different even just across the Atlantic. Spil Games, a social and casual games platform launched in the Netherlands in 2004, brings over 50 different social and casual games websites under a single umbrella. Through this, the company reaches a cool 130 million monthly players.

While that's half of what Facebook reigns in, it's nevertheless impressive considering what Facebook has at its disposal. Spil Games CEO Peter Driessen, who just oversaw the company's games distribution partnership deal with German online game developer and publisher Bigpoint (known for Battlestar Galactica Online and RamaCity most recently), has big plans for his European alternative to Facebook. But if you ask him, Facebook isn't even a concern.

"We are not so much competing with Facebook, because we do offer a variety of different user experiences," Driessen tells us. "For example, people nowadays are playing many more social games, but still in that there are a lot of single player or real time multiplayer games. These kinds of games aren't possible on Facebook, because they don't have a very strong [virtual goods] business model, and without that you can't survive on Facebook anyway."

The company first started out as strictly a casual games publisher and developer, but around 2007--the dawn of the social game--Driessen had to make a choice. Would Spil Games ride on the success of Facebook, and bring its then 80 million players there, or would it grow on its already healthy legion of gamers? Of course, the company went with the latter, and added more features to its platforms like cross-game avatars, leaderboards and friends lists. As for Bigpoint, it's one the first big time developers to join the Spil Games platform, and Driessen has no intention of stopping there.

But while Spil Games has a different strategy than Facebook, it's only a slight difference. For instance, the company will handle the payments that come through all of its developers' games. Though, compensation is handled in a revenue sharing model rather than the rigid 30 percent cut Facebook takes from all Facebook Credits transactions. Driessen tells us that Spil Games will bring in 60 percent of net revenues from its developers, though it offers services that Facebook does not like community management and localization. If developers choose to handle those services themselves, then that revenue percentage decreases. It's because of this distinction that Driessen sees Facebook as less of a games platform than what it started out as: a social network.

"I really see Facebook as a social network first and foremost," Driessen says. "I'd guess that in five years most of their money will come from that payment option. I think that maybe they will do Facebook Credits outside of Facebook. It could be that they're really transforming into this social network into one of the biggest payment platforms in the world, which would give them a tremendous position. I reckon that games for them, in the future, will be less important than it is nowadays."

Zoomumba
Zoomumba, the first Bigpoint social game brought into the Spil Games family.

The difference, according to Driessen, is that Spil Games only focuses on games. That's all the company knows, and that's all it's concerned with. And it's thanks to that focus that Driessen sees the company becoming a consolidator in the games space, and that its reach could grow even longer and wider in the future. But how?

As it turns out, Spil Games's future strategy isn't far different from other online game developers and platforms. Mobile games are going to be a large focus for the company moving forward, as is HTML5 gaming, the unofficial messiah for mobile and social gaming. But having been around not much longer than three years, social gaming is still a nascent genre, and Driessen thinks this is just the beginning.

"I think [this is the] natural path in how that world is evolving," Driessen says. "Mostly you see some things start like a mixed market, but as developers come out, you see companies positioning themselves in some niches." Driessen may be right, but one question still remains: If Facebook will not provide that niche for American social games in the future, then who will? With companies like Japan's DeNA and Tencent in China on the rise, perhaps the next big battle in social games doesn't concern the U.S. at all.

King's Bounty: Legions exerts its rule on Facebook; enters open beta

Warriors, demons and monstrous plant creatures at your command? Check. All within a beautiful-looking strategy game that's free to play on Facebook? Double check. Nival has announced that the social adaptation of the classic turn-based strategy game King's Bounty has graduated from closed beta to open beta on Facebook.

In other words, King's Bounty: Legions, developed by Russian studio KranX Productions under a license by 1C Company, is live and available for all strategy fans on Facebook. Hey, we all know how long some games (ahem, FarmVille) like to keep the "beta" subhead.

The game throws players into a war-torn world of magic, monsters and mayhem--eh, you get the idea. There's certainly a sprawling storyline involving warlords in defense of an ancient kingdom, but we know what you really care about: the combat.

And boy, does this new Facebook game has it in spades with more than 30 units spanning the three factions of the Kingdom, Chaos and Beasts ready to duke it out in hexagonal battles through both a single-player adventure and multiplayer duels. And Nival has high expectations for the socially revived franchise.

King's Bounty Legions in action
"It was recently reported 80 million Facebook users are playing strategy games," Nival GM and lead producer on King's Bounty: Legions David D Christensen said in a release. "I'd play matches against all 80 million to demonstrate King's Bounty: Legions is the best strategy gaming experience on Facebook." (Would that be considered overtime?)

Activision: Call of Duty more engaging than Facebook's top three games

Really, Activision? Then why are you working on Facebook games as we speak? Gamasutra reports that Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said during the 13th Annual Pacific Crest Global Technology Leadership Forum that Call of Duty players are more engaged in the company's games than the players of the top three Facebook games are. Hirshberg went on to say that Call of Duty (CoD) gamers put up more cash than Facebook gamers.

"Call of Duty has more players who pay-to-play online than any Facebook game," Hirshberg said, "and our players pay more per player on average than any Facebook game." Um ... duh? Hirshberg fails to make the distinction that Facebook games are free to play, and triple-A franchise games like Call of Duty cost $60 per copy. In other words, of course more CoD gamers are paying to play than Facebook gamers--they're all paying to play the game. (Well, aside from the pirates, which is sort of a given.)

Not to mention that close to 12 million Facebook gamers in the U.S. alone pay for digital goods in their favorite social games monthly, according to a PayPal study. Better yet, about 1 million of those are paying at least $50 monthly for virtual horses and other boosts. While those folks are special cases, games like Call of Duty lack the payment structure for such dedication.

Hirshberg continued to elaborate on the fact that CoD players are more engaged than Facebook gamers: "They're also more engaged - the percentage of Call of Duty's monthly unique players that play the game every day is higher than that of the top three Facebook games."

Call of Duty Elite
We all know at this point that Hirshberg is referring to Zynga, though he does raise a good point with his use of the word "unique." Many of the monthly players of Zynga's games play more than one of them, hence the overlap and the fewer unique monthly players. The Activision exec makes these claims after the company revealed recently that it is, in fact, working on social games. Not to mention that its number on competitor, EA, is investing heavily in Facebook and mobile gaming. Furthermore, Activision is building a social overlay (though sans Facebook) to support its upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. So, we're not sure just where the Activision exec is coming from on this one.

Anonymous vows to destroy Facebook (and your games) this Nov. 5

Remember, remember the Fifth of November? It's the hacker group Anonymous' favorite day of the year, and this time around, it's going for the largest target of them all: Facebook. The Village Voice reports that the international collective of nameless hackers has declared war on the 750 million-strong social network, and that it will take down the website this Nov. 5 over issues it has with the company's supposedly lax commitment to privacy.

Anonymous has already attacked the Pentagon, News Corp and other major organizations in response to events like the WikiLeaks scandal and the recent News International phone hacking dilemma, respectively. This time Anonymous claims, "Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world."

The group goes on to point out that deleting a Facebook account is "impossible," and that the website's privacy options are "a delusion." It's funny that Anonymous mentions this, as many social gamers have had issues with Facebook games and privacy, namely due to how the website handles app permissions.

Of course, this is far from the first time Anonymous has spoken out, and threatened to act, on the behalf of the public's privacy. Just recently, Anonymous vowed to create its own social network in response to Google essentially kicking the group out of its Google+ service. (If Facebook actually does go down, perhaps Google+ Games will have a better chance at beating Facebook than we thought.) Take a listen to the full message here and, well, expect them.

Wishful Features: A FrontierVille animations toggle button

FrontierVille is intense
Ever visit that one Neighbor in FrontierVille who happens to be somewhat of an overachiever? You know who I'm talking about. Almost everyone has that one friend who is Level 150 with the biggest homestead available, every animated decoration out there and his legion of Chickens (see above) for all to see. Did I say "for all to see?" Sorry, what I meant to say was, "for all to cringe in horror as their browsers freeze and processors melt through the surface of their four-year-old laptops."

At least the first part of that vision should be familiar with a good lot of you. And it isn't just the sharp visuals in FrontierVille that are to blame. It's the animations. If you haven't noticed, just about every animal, building and holiday item slash decoration has an animation attached. Sure, most animations are simple one-second-long loops, but multiply that by the amount of items that litter most veteran players' homesteads and it's enough to send the average computer into hiding.

Sure, that Graphics Quality toggle helps a bit, but for those who have yet to--bear with me here--upgrade their primary Facebook-gaming machine in the past few years, Flash-based games (i.e. almost all Facebook games) are going to punish the average computer. It might sound ridiculous that we're talking about computer upgrades on Games.com, but rest assured this is all coming from someone who easily falls into the camp of "average computer" face first with a three-year-old HP Pavilion laptop. I will be the first to tell you that computers do not age like sharp cheese or fine wine, but more like mold on bread or Keith Richards.

With 250 million players, it should be safe to assume that the majority of social gamers are probably in the same boat. So, Zynga, why not add a similar option to the Graphics Quality toggle in FrontierVille? Make it so that players with less-than-favorable computing situations can actually pay their more technologically advanced friends a visit every once in a while. If players are already making liberal use of the Graphics Quality toggle in nearly every game they play (at least I need to), then turning off a few idle character animations isn't going to make the visual FrontierVille experience that much worse. Your fellow pioneers seem to agree.

FrontierVille Playtime II Timed Mission now available

Way back on the 17 of December, we brought you a sneak peek of a then unreleased time mission in FrontierVille that we believed would be coming to the game in the future. Well, the future is now, as the Playtime II Timed Mission is now available to complete for a limited time.

As we told you last month, you'll have just two days after accepting this mission to complete it on your Frontier. the mission requires three tasks to be completed:

Craft 20 Planks
Collect 10 Metal Bars
Collect 10 Wood Rasps

You must accept this mission by January 14 in order to be able to complete it in your game, and you'll receive a See-Saw decorative item, 250 XP, and 1,000 coins for completing the mission before your two days are over.

You'll of course need to have plenty of help from friends in order to finish this mission on time, but it definitely isn't impossible. Happy gaming!

Chinese FarmVille players receive exciting new gifts

If you've become one of the many FarmVille players that have taken on managing two farms since the release of Chinese FarmVille, you'll be happy to know that you're about to be rewarded for your devotion to the game. While this reward is available even to those that are just trying FarmVille for the first time, it's always nice to have a little something special appear in your gift box.

Be on the lookout for an email from Zynga, rewarding you with a Giant Panda and a "Care Package" for use in Chinese FarmVille. The Care Package contains 1 Unwither, 1 Fuel, 3 Farm Cash, and 1 White Goat. Both this and the Giant Panda were made available in the standard version of FarmVille in the past, but are currently unavailable, so it's interesting to see them show up here.

What's more - these items are available to all FarmVille Chinese players through universal links, so click here for the Giant Panda, and here for the Care Package, if you have yet to receive an email about receiving them in your own FarmVille Chinese game.

Could Zynga be using Chinese FarmVille as a sort of testing ground, to see if standard FarmVille users would be interested in seeing a re-release of such items? Keep checking back with us for more as we find out.

MyBookie for Facebook allows for make-believe, real sports bets

If you're into sports - NFL, NCAA Football, NBA, NCAA Basketball, NHL or MLB - you might want to check out MyBookie, a new Facebook "game" from the folks at Psydian Interactive. The game combines the real with the imaginary, by allowing you to bet fake money on real world games.

Depending on the sport you choose, you'll be able to view upcoming games, the spreads, over-unders and other general betting information, just as if you were betting on the games in Vegas, but from the comfort and (and monetary safety) of your own home. In no way are you playing with real money, and that's something your imaginary bookie will make incredibly clear to you as your first step in gameplay. From there, the game is incredibly simple. Pick a sport, pick a particular game, choose your bet type, and then choose which team you think will win. What happens in the real world affects what happens in the game, so the more you know about the real-world sports, the better you'll likely do with these fake bets (that is, unless you're generally really lucky at guessing games).

You'll be able to alter your winnings by allowing MyBookie to automatically post your bets to your wall (a permission you have to grant the game upon sign-up, but which can be revoked just as easily), and you'll earn bonuses just for logging in. As you continue to play the game, your Reputation level will also rise, allowing you access to "Favor" items, which can also alter your winnings should you correctly place a bet.

MyBookie is both a simplistic and a complex sports-betting game that we're guessing most sports fans would appreciate, so if you'd like to take a look, make sure to play MyBookie on Facebook.

FarmVille Holiday Tree, Gifting events end tomorrow

No more Holiday Gifts for you
If you've yet to finish that Holiday Tree in FarmVille, you better gift and beg your fingers off today, because tomorrow it will all be gone. FarmVille Freak reports that on Jan. 6 Holiday Gifts will be removed from the Free Gifts page. Furthermore, the "Ask for Parts" button within the Holiday Tree menu will be disabled and the Holiday Tree itself will disappear from the Market tomorrow.

Well, it was fun (for most) while it lasted. Hey, at least the New Year's events will still be around for a bit. But then it's back to the doldrums of being between holidays. Unless Zynga thinks some stuff up for Valentines Day, Easter/Passover and more. Who are we kidding? I can almost bet that they will (but no promises), so sit tight farmers.

Zuma Blitz Valentine's Day Board filled with hearts and sweet gap shots

Not to mention it can be extremely confusing. PopCap has released a Valentine's Day-themed game board to Zuma Blitz this week. Of course, it's shaped like a heart, but the developer did someone interesting with this heartfelt level that makes for some interesting gameplay. Aside from your favorite frog resting on a heart-shaped rock, the board features two tracks, but only a single skull mouth. This is because the paths intersect at the top of the board through, again, a heart-adorned tiki log.

As your session progresses (and gets crazier) there will be plenty of opportunities for Gap Shots and even Double Gap Shots, if you're willing to risk them. It can get pretty confusing if you're focus on where the balls are headed. I'm no expert, but I'd recommend just ignoring their general path of the balls and simply search for big point opportunities. The rest should fall into place.

Zuma Blitz Heart Board
As for powers, I've always been a big fan of the Bombs, especially on boards with overlapping tracks. The Last Hurrah is a good filler power as always, but Inferno Frog and Chrono Balls are also good go-to powers. The Cannon Ball could easily increase your chances of Gap Shots as well. Regardless of the powers you choose, this is one of Zuma's more inventive boards and is just asking to be mastered.

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

Have you played the new Valentine's Day board yet? What's your strategy to score 2 million plus points on this level?

CityVille Cheats and Tips: How to be a good Neighbor

Who knew that being someones neighbor in CityVille could mean so much? Well, according to CityVille forum user pupitza, it most definitely does. The disgruntled mayor details in a lengthy forum post the things to do and not to do as a CityVille neighbor. Pupitza mentions that most of his neighbors do nothing but send buses to his city and that this needs to stop. (Really? I thought that's what we were supposed to do.)

The other thing that seems to grate on pupitza's nerves is collecting from neighbors' houses and Community Buildings. In his opinion, this doesn't help him much at all, and he kind of has a point. But here's what pupitza thinks would help neighbors more than just sending legions of tour buses:

    - Revive/water/harvest my crops. (especially to those that takes longer to grow, like peas, wheat, pumpkins or corn)
    - Salvage/guide/empty my boats (guide especially those that last longer to arrive like Dubai and empty those that are closer like New York, for them to not vanish)
    - Build levels to unfinished buildings (it takes too long to a level to build and the bonus bar is gone until it is build)

That all sounds pretty reasonable, especially since Zynga recently changed things so that friends can help complete your Goals by harvesting crops and completing your buildings during visits. Guiding players' boats would also be more helpful than just collecting coins and goods. However, there are other ways that you can be fine and dandy neighbor than just paying your friends a helpful visit.

Pupitza points out that replying to +3 Energy batteries sent through the Zynga Message Center will send back only a +1 Energy. So, replying to these gifts manually through the Free Gifts page would result in more Energy sent than normal. (Granted, this is something Zynga should look into.) In fact, responding to most requests through the Free Gifts page seems to be more effective, according to pupitza. While a lot of what pupitza is asking for doesn't necessarily help visitors, it's something to consider next time you visit a friend in need.

[Image Credit: Fred Rogers Company]

Check out the rest of our CityVille Cheats & Tips right here.

What do you normally do when visiting a friend in CityVille? What do you think of these more helpful neighborly duties?

Are mobile social games in trouble as OnLive comes to HTC phones?

And you thought the retailers were scared? The server-based games service OnLive just sealed a $40 million funding deal with smartphone manufacturer HTC, VentureBeat reports. The OnLive subscription service streams graphically intense, HD video games through your wired or wireless broadband Internet connection to your computer or through its $99 mini console. What this does is essentially eliminate the need for a pricey gaming computer or even an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 in replace for a subscription fee, and now that power will be on your HTC smartphone.

HTC EVOAnd while no official statements have been made, this could be scaring the bejeezus out of social game creators like Zynga and Playdom who have just broken into the mobile scene. While their efforts have certainly been impressive, making effective use of Facebook Connect and the HTML5 format, they don't hold up very well to full-blown HD games. Sure, social games have their own unique qualities. But the runaway success of high-caliber mobile games like Infinity Blade for iPhone is a sign that there's a large audience for this type of game. Some of which who might have once been social gamers.

Not to mention HTC is on nearly every major cellular carrier in the nation from AT&T to Verizon and Sprint. Of course, Apple and other smartphone manufacturers like Motorola, Samsung and LG haven't made any public offers to OnLive yet. But what if HTC's deal with the company is non-exclusive? OnLive could potentially spread like wildfire. Movie fans already pay for mobile Netflix, so why wouldn't gamers pay for mobile OnLive too? Worse even, imagine if OnLive could implement Facebook Connect into its service, adding a social layer to all of its games.

Of course, this is all speculation. But OnLive on mobile phones--like this HTC EVO 4G rumored as the first to get OnLive, according to VentureBeat--poses a serious threat to the mobile social gaming movement. Could hardcore and social gamers coexist on mobile? Sure, but I'm willing to bet OnLive is after a good amount of the audience that just happens to dabble in both worlds.

[Image Credits: Amazon and Platform Nation]

Would you be interested in playing full-blown HD video games on your HTC phone? Which would you prefer more: mobile hardcore games or mobile social games?

FrontierVille Hearts and Flowers Missions: Everything you need to know

With Valentine's Day now only days away, it only makes sense for Zynga to truly start celebrating the season in FrontierVille by releasing a new mission series. Appropriately enough, Zynga has now released a five-part "Hearts and Flowers" goal set, which will automatically be added to your account (that is, you don't have to purchase it from the store), but can only be finished for a limited time - until February 28, according to our research.

Since these missions are limited, let's not waste any time in completing them, shall we? The first step of this mission series is called "A Romantic Rendezvous" and it will ask you to complete three, fairly simple, tasks.

Plant 30 White Roses
Have or Craft Two Presents
Harvest 25 Peach Trees on your Homestead

As you can see, these three steps likely won't take you very long. White Roses can be harvested after 10 hours, and Peach Trees are ready to harvest from every three hours. Meanwhile, Presents can be crafted inside the General Store for 2 Ribbon and 5 Cloth each. Your rewards for finishing this first step of five are 25 XP and 1 White Rose Collectible (from the White Rose Collection).

Meet us behind the break for a look at the rest of this love-filled mission series.

Part II of V asks you to collect quite a few items, so I hope you have some active neighbors on your account.

Buy the Old Time Camera
Visit 10 Neighbors
Collect 10 Handkerchiefs

As of this writing, you'll be able to receive Handkerchiefs by posting a general request to your news feed, asking your friends to send them to you. Also, it's presumable that the Old Time Camera can simply be placed from storage (where applicable) to make this part of the quest pop, so it's worth a shot doing this first to save some coins. Otherwise, you'll need to spend 1200 coins and 10 Wood to purchase one from the store. Your rewards for this part of the goal series are 50 XP and 30 food.

Part III of V might take some users a bit of time to complete, depending on whether or not you are the type of person to hold onto your coins, or sell them.

Clear 20 Wildflowers on your Neighbors' homesteads
Harvest 30 Pink Roses
Collect 10,000 coins

Unfortunately, the 10,000 coins will be taken from you at the completion of this quest, but you will make a bit of profit from harvesting those 30 Pink Roses (which take 14 hours to grow), so at least you don't be losing exactly 10,000 coins out of pocket. Finishing Part III will reward you with a new decorative item in the game called the Heart Tree, along with 25 XP.

Part IV of V is a bit of a hodgepodge of tasks, but luckily, none of them seem overly complicated, so long as you have a few friends to call on for help.

Collect 10 Valentine Cards
Tend 30 Geese
Collect 15 Ink

The Valentine Cards can be received via a wall post asking your friends for help, while it appears that you'll be able to send individual gift requests to friends for the Ink. Geese, meanwhile, can be fed once every 30 minutes - 3 hours, depending on the animal's age on your Homestead (that is, the younger the Goose, the more often it can be fed, and vice versa). Your final rewards before the finale of this mission series are 1 Hope Chest and 50 XP. The Hope Chest is a part of the Family Collection.

For your final part of this goal series, Part V of V will require you to plant the final kind of roses in the game, the Red Rose.

Harvest 50 Red Roses
Buy 1 Dinner
Have / Craft 2 Fancy Clothing

Red Roses are currently available to grow in the market, and take 1 Day and 12 Hours to grow. Dinners can be purchased for 320 Food, and finally, Fancy Clothing can be crafted inside the General Store using 2 Ribbon and 2 Clothes each. Clothes themselves are also a crafting item, available to create in the Cabin for 500 coins and 6 Cloth each. Finishing this final step in the Valentine's Day mission set will reward you with 100 XP and a Heart-Shaped Garden, another exclusive decoration that is new to the game.

And there you have it - a relatively simple mission set (all things considered - especially when compared to the newest Land Expansion goals), that rewards you with some truly lovely items for completing them. Remember, you only have a limited time to finish these missions, so start soon to ensure you'll have enough time!

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

What do you think of this newest mission set? Are you going to jump right into completing these limited time missions, or are you still trying to expand your land first?

New FrontierVille Mystery Animal Crate contains kissing animals for Valentine's Day

If you're into Valentine's Day, or just enjoy cute animals in general, be sure to check out FrontierVille new Valentine's Day themed Mystery Animal Crate, full of kissing animals (yes, I said kissing - now can I get an "awwwwww?").

This time around, there are three pairs of kissing animals available to win from each Mystery Animal Crate, with each crate being available to purchase from the store for 45 Horseshoes. For each crate you purchase, you'll have a chance of scoring either Kissing Swans, Kissing Rabbits, or Kissing Sheep.

The Kissing Animal Mystery Crate will only be available int the game's store for the next 20 days. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that you won't receive duplicates, however, so keep that in mind before going in to purchase a second crate.

Check out the rest of our Valentine's Day coverage right here.

Will you purchase a Kissing Animal Mystery Animal Crate? Which of these animal pairs are you hoping to win?

FarmVille English Countryside first look!

FarmVille, now Zynga's second largest game on Facebook, is still, well, mind-numbingly popular despite the fact that it has been around since June 2009. Some other fun facts about FarmVille: 14 million people checked into their virtual farms yesterday, the game's Facebook page has 30 million fans (that beats out Justin Bieber's Facebook page, with 22.8 million fans) and there are more tractors in FarmVille than there are in the entire world. Not bad for a farming simulation that some (cranky) people hesitate to classify as a 'game.'

Now FarmVille is getting ready to release its biggest update in its two-year history -- the FarmVille English Countryside. Zynga gave Games.com a first look at the new expansion, which will give players level 20 and up access to a brand new farm in England. This second piece of virtual farmland will have new crops, new activities (like breeding sheep and running a pub) and a new, more directed game experience culled from other popular Zynga games like FrontierVille and CityVille.

"This is a whole new idea of giving people a fresh start, rather than just adding more space to their current farms," FarmVille General Manger Todd Arnold says." It's also a great way for friends to re-sync their social game experience together. Friends might be involved in different aspects of the the game, but [the English Countryside] will give all players a fresh start, and allow them to reconnect with friends who are also playing FarmVille."

Probably one of the biggest changes you'll notice in the English Countryside expansion is what I'm calling the "Frontierville-ification" of FarmVille. Put simply, this add-on will include more characters, more missions and a more in-depth storyline.

When the English Countryside launches, you'll be introduced to 'Duke,' who needs help repairing his airship. After collecting crates from friends and growing cotton, among other things, the airship will be up and running, and after throwing a Bon Voyage party, you'll be able to take your first excursion to the English Countryside. Once your there, you'll undertake a series of missions to return the farm to its former glory.
farmville english countryside quest map

As for syncing up with friends, the new game will have a brand new 'Quest Map' that will let you a visual representation on your FarmVille friends' progress and enable you to jump in and help them (and vice versa) with whatever missions they might be currently working on.

In addition to a more formalized mission structure, Arnold says that the expansion will still have some of the free-form gameplay from the original FarmVille. You'll be able to grow and master crops (faster than before), you'll have a sheep pen that will allow you pair different breeds of ewes and rams to come up with "endless" varieties of sheep. There will also be a English Pub, which will be a new form of crafting building, and you'll be able to make cheese, etc etc.
farmville english countryside sheep breeding
Once you venture into the English Countryside, you will be free to visit your original farm via airship whenever you please. The two areas, will mostly offer separate experiences, so that means you don't be able to use items you might have in storage in England and vice versa. Your avatar will look the same (with more decidedly English wardrobe options), though, and you will have access to certain items in your gift box in either location.

But you won't exactly be starting the game over from scratch. For those of us who remember the pain of building and upgrading our horse barns and combine tractors -- the expansion will show players mercy, says Arnold. Instead of building another new combine tractor, he says you'll "restore the old combine on the farm." Similarly, the horse barn will be "a little bit broken down, and you'll fix it up." Phew.

farmville english countryside uk sheepVisiting friends farms will also change a bit. When you decide to visit a friend, you'll land on whatever farm they tended during their last play session. So, if my friend Sharon was working on her English farm most recently, then when I visit her, I will land on her English farm. If she worked on her original farm last, then I would land on her original farm.

For international players who might have been miffed this week about missing out on the FarmVille Stouffers promotion, Arnold assures me that will not be the case with the expansion. The FarmVille English Countryside will roll out internationally. People who play FarmVille primarily on iPhone or iPad will not have access to the new expansion, though Arnold says it's a "possibility" sometime in the future.

After getting a demo of all these features yesterday, I have to say that I going back and tending my regular farm didn't seem nearly as exciting, and it was impossible not to daydream about my brand new farm. I'll guarantee this new expansion will -- at the very least -- reignite players' passion for virtual farming far more than any other add-on we've seen in the past few years.

CityVille Police Station Upgrades: Everything you need to know

It's time to play Cops and Robbers in CityVille with a massive overhaul to the Police Station community building. Now, players have the opportunity to upgrade their Police Station, but they will have to request from their friends five different items to complete it. Once players finish these upgrades by either asking friends or sending them out through the free gifts page, the second level of the Police Station will be complete and little police officers will begin patrolling the streets. And here's the best part: They're your friends!
Items Required for Level 2
Items Required for Police Station Level 2:

    5 Sirens
    5 Balls and Chain
    5 Badges
    5 Whistles
    5 Outfits


Police Station Level 2 will unlock a whole new feature to CityVille: Cops and Bandits. Once you collect from businesses after upgrading the Police Station, Bandits will have a chance of appearing in your city. While they won't actually reduce your collection values, catching Bandits will earn you rewards. However, catching Bandits requires Police Officers, two of which you receive immediately upon upgrading.

Police Station Menu
Types of Bandits to Capture:

    Billy the Bandit
    Meowing Marauder
    Couture Criminal
    Pie-faced Pete
    Mommy and Clyde
    The Heartbreaker


While all Bandits supply rewards, some will even provide new Businesses upon capture. Police Officers can apprehend one Bandit at a time, and need to eat Donuts (how mildly offensive of you, Zynga) before catching more criminals. These can be requested from friends through the brand new Police Station menu or bought for City Cash. Also, these Police Officers have titles, though they don't seem to effect anything. As you upgrade the Police Station beyond Level 2, your squad will grow by one for each increase. And, of course, catching more Bandits leads to upgrades for your building.

Police Station Upgrades
Police Station Upgrade Requirements:

    Level 3: Capture 10 Bandits or 60 City Cash
    Level 4: Capture 30 Bandits or 120 City Cash


When you upgrade to Level 3, Police Officers will capture Bandits in a patrol car, but at Level 4 they will break onto the scene in SWAT vans. Rewards are automatically thrown into your inventory upon catching Bandits, but those Bandits can also escape your Police Station. However, if your Cops are "Sleeping," or in between Donuts, you will not be able to capture the Bandit until you wake them up again. According to these screen shots, it looks as if there is room for upgrades beyond Level 4, so there will be a lot more Bandit bustin' where this came from.

[Source and Image Credit: CityVille Goals]

Check out the rest of our CityVille Cheats & Tips right here.

Have you started the Police Station upgrades yet? What tips do you have for getting this feature going even faster?

Poll: Is the FarmVille Pot of Gold full of cheaters?

After seeing an image of FarmVille forum contributor Grazy197's Pot of Gold, players appear to be split down the middle on the issue. Some of his friends have amassed over 30 thousand pieces of Gold for their Pots, which appears to be impossible. Sure, the players could, in theory, gather this much Gold through the News Feed, their own Leprechaun Cottage, their friends' Cottages and the Free Gifts page. Though, according to some players, that would take entirely too much time for these players to not be using a third party application like Bonus Clicker. So, we want to hear it from you:

Is the FarmVille Pot of Gold full of cheaters?
Isn't it obvious? Just look at those numbers!No. I could get that much Gold through dedication and more friends.I'm not friends with cheaters, so it doesn't matter me none.Look, just leave these players alone. I'm no cheater or anything...

FrontierVille Coyote and Chickens Eaten Collections arrive early

Coyote Collection
Two new Collections have snuck their way into FrontierVille today. The Coyote and Chickens Eaten Collections should be in your Collections menu right about now, but the Coyotes are nowhere to be found. This seems part of Zynga's usual strategy of leaking new features rather than releasing them all at once upon the millions of pioneers. The Coyote Collection calls for Mangled Feathers, Coyote Howling, Coyote Pelt, Coyote Pendant and a Coyote Tail. Since the Coyote feature isn't even here yet, our best guess is that we'll receive these items for fighting back against the Coyotes. Turn in all five items to receive a Stuffed Coyote.

Chickens Eaten Collection
Chickens Eaten, the second Collection, is definitely more confusing. While it's still too early to tell, we're going to say that this Collection has to do with picking up the pieces of dead Chickens. Or perhaps we're forced to use some unfortunate Chickens as bait to trap the Coyotes! Too dark? Moving right along, this Collection requires Chicken Beak, Chicken Comb, Chicken Feet, Chicken Skull and a Chicken Wing. Turning in the Collection apparently involves some sort of necromancy, because the reward is one live Chicken. Can I get a "hooray" for dark magic?

Have you seen these Collections in your game yet? When do you think the Coyotes will arrive and how will we retrieve these dead Chicken parts?