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?
Thứ Hai, 30 tháng 1, 2012
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.
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?
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?
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!
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!
Thứ Năm, 12 tháng 1, 2012
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
Thứ Ba, 10 tháng 1, 2012
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
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.
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?)
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.
"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.
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.
Thứ Hai, 9 tháng 1, 2012
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thứ Bảy, 7 tháng 1, 2012
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
Thứ Sáu, 6 tháng 1, 2012
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.
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?
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...
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?
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?
FrontierVille offers free Prairie Pox cure; no Goals necessary!
It seems that Zynga has seen the lack of pioneers that have completed the Prairie Pox Goals in FrontierVille (i.e. me) and decided to give them a freebie. Eucalypt, a FrontierVille forum contributor, was greeted by the above message upon logging in recently. Basically, taking the cure will relieve you and yours' Prairie Pox infection instantly, subverting the lengthy Goal series entirely. Several players have reported replying "No Thanks!" as they're either almost through the series or are simply purists. As for me, you better believe I'm pressing that green button!
[Image Credit: Eucalypt]
Have you seen this message appear on your homestead yet? Would you choose to take the cure or do it all the hard way?
[Image Credit: Eucalypt]
Have you seen this message appear on your homestead yet? Would you choose to take the cure or do it all the hard way?
Thứ Ba, 3 tháng 1, 2012
CrowdStar's Social Girl: An iOS game that is neither Top Girl nor social
Confusing, we know. CrowdStar recently released Social Girl for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. And no, this isn't an update for the developer's existing iOS and Android social game, Top Girl. This is a brand new game challenges players to become to most popular girl in town by making virtual friends and creating the boy toy of their dreams.
How this is any different from previous "Girl" games by CrowdStar, we haven't in the slightest. Nevertheless, Social Girl is the developer's most successful mobile game to date, garnering over 1 million downloads in the past week. Such numbers helped the girly game become the sixth most grossing game on the App Store this week, displacing the almighty Angry Birds.
In Social Girl, players befriend different cliques of up to 25 virtual friends and unlock new and special outfits for unique dates with a boyfriend of their own creation. Still, we're not seeing the differences. At any rate, this take on CrowdStar's successful "Girl" franchise seems to focus far less on social (that's strange) play between friends and more on a self-engineered experience.
Social Girl in action
The game is another phase in CrowdStar's Project Trident, its mission to gain foothold on Facebook, mobile and global platforms. But at first glance, Social Girl doesn't seem to live up to its title: The only remotely social feature found within is Game Center achievements. Perhaps these will come in a future update, but Social Girl could have used a more fitting name.
Click here to download Social Girl for Free Now >
Have you tried out Social Girl yet? What do you think of the game compare to previous "Girl" games from CrowdStar?
How this is any different from previous "Girl" games by CrowdStar, we haven't in the slightest. Nevertheless, Social Girl is the developer's most successful mobile game to date, garnering over 1 million downloads in the past week. Such numbers helped the girly game become the sixth most grossing game on the App Store this week, displacing the almighty Angry Birds.
In Social Girl, players befriend different cliques of up to 25 virtual friends and unlock new and special outfits for unique dates with a boyfriend of their own creation. Still, we're not seeing the differences. At any rate, this take on CrowdStar's successful "Girl" franchise seems to focus far less on social (that's strange) play between friends and more on a self-engineered experience.
Social Girl in action
The game is another phase in CrowdStar's Project Trident, its mission to gain foothold on Facebook, mobile and global platforms. But at first glance, Social Girl doesn't seem to live up to its title: The only remotely social feature found within is Game Center achievements. Perhaps these will come in a future update, but Social Girl could have used a more fitting name.
Click here to download Social Girl for Free Now >
Have you tried out Social Girl yet? What do you think of the game compare to previous "Girl" games from CrowdStar?
Buzz! maker Relentless Software snags EA staffer for social games
Are hits like The Sims Social and (supposedly) SimCity for Facebook on the way not enough? Another EA employee has left the nest to take a crack at social games elsewhere. Relentless Software, best known for the Buzz! quiz game series for consoles, announced that it has hired former EA staffer James Wright as executive producer of its new social games division.
"We're serious about social and mobile games and that's why we have taken the logical step to separate these activities from the console business," Relentless Software executive director Andrew Eades said. "We've hired James Wright as Executive Producer who has a decade of experience in developing and publishing mobile games and has been involved in a number of top ten tittles including Draw Race 2. Our original IP will be steered from the Digital division and already includes Blue Toad Murder Files and Quiz Climber."
In short, Relentless Software wants to get into social games in a big way, and it wants Wright at the forefront of its initiative. The UK-based developer already has brief experience on Facebook with games like Quiz Climber. "The formalization of the Digital Division is a valuable starting point to take over from Relentless' self-publishing strategy," Wright said. "It will bring more fun, accessible and ground-breaking titles across several platforms for non-gamers."
It's that "non-gamers" bit that hangs us up. Perhaps Relentless Software has a different view of the 300 some million social gamers on Facebook and even more on mobile devices. Are the games currently available on social and mobile platforms not really games in the studio's eyes? At any rate, Relentless might want to get Buzz! on Facebook and mobile fast--it would kill it.
Do you think a studio like Relentless Software find more success on Facebook and mobile with a dedicated division? Would you like to see Buzz! on social and mobile game platforms?
"We're serious about social and mobile games and that's why we have taken the logical step to separate these activities from the console business," Relentless Software executive director Andrew Eades said. "We've hired James Wright as Executive Producer who has a decade of experience in developing and publishing mobile games and has been involved in a number of top ten tittles including Draw Race 2. Our original IP will be steered from the Digital division and already includes Blue Toad Murder Files and Quiz Climber."
In short, Relentless Software wants to get into social games in a big way, and it wants Wright at the forefront of its initiative. The UK-based developer already has brief experience on Facebook with games like Quiz Climber. "The formalization of the Digital Division is a valuable starting point to take over from Relentless' self-publishing strategy," Wright said. "It will bring more fun, accessible and ground-breaking titles across several platforms for non-gamers."
It's that "non-gamers" bit that hangs us up. Perhaps Relentless Software has a different view of the 300 some million social gamers on Facebook and even more on mobile devices. Are the games currently available on social and mobile platforms not really games in the studio's eyes? At any rate, Relentless might want to get Buzz! on Facebook and mobile fast--it would kill it.
Do you think a studio like Relentless Software find more success on Facebook and mobile with a dedicated division? Would you like to see Buzz! on social and mobile game platforms?
Sojo Studios partners with Justin Bieber for "social good" Facebook games
Last month, we brought you an in-depth overview of Sojo Studios' WeTopia on Facebook, a game based on the concept of "Play[ing] for Good," where users earn currency called Joy that can be spent on real world charitable projects in both the US and other countries. While the game may not have shown up on everyone's radar just yet, that's likely to change as music phenom Justin Bieber has signed on to provide marketing support for Sojo Studios' lineup of games, starting with WeTopia.
"Playing online games is a lot of fun already, but WeTopia makes it better by helping children around the world. Some of these kids need to go to school or they need clean water," said Bieber in a company release. "I've been so lucky and blessed and that's why I believe so much in giving back, and I know my fans will feel the same way when they play WeTopia."
Combining efforts with the company's first celebrity partner Ellen DeGeneres, Sojo Studios hopes that the reach both entertainers have in their own areas will be enough to inspire fans to take action for great causes within WeTopia (and eventually other games that have yet to be released), such as Save the Children, buildOn and the Children's Health Fund.
"We're thrilled to partner with Justin Bieber, an amazing entertainer and someone who has emerged as one of the most prolific young philanthropists this world has seen," says Lincoln Brown, founder and CEO of Sojo Studios. "Justin is using his voice to inspire millions of fans around the world – including daughters and their moms – to give back. We can't think of a better way to bring the generations together than on WeTopia, which lets players do good while having fun."
Will this turn into a system of themed virtual items, giving Bieber's fans even more incentive to play these Facebook games? That much remains to be seen, but with the ever-increasing power of social media, anything is possible.
Will you play WeTopia because it is now being endorsed by Justin Bieber? Do you need any extra incentive to play a game focused on helping those who otherwise go without?
"Playing online games is a lot of fun already, but WeTopia makes it better by helping children around the world. Some of these kids need to go to school or they need clean water," said Bieber in a company release. "I've been so lucky and blessed and that's why I believe so much in giving back, and I know my fans will feel the same way when they play WeTopia."
Combining efforts with the company's first celebrity partner Ellen DeGeneres, Sojo Studios hopes that the reach both entertainers have in their own areas will be enough to inspire fans to take action for great causes within WeTopia (and eventually other games that have yet to be released), such as Save the Children, buildOn and the Children's Health Fund.
"We're thrilled to partner with Justin Bieber, an amazing entertainer and someone who has emerged as one of the most prolific young philanthropists this world has seen," says Lincoln Brown, founder and CEO of Sojo Studios. "Justin is using his voice to inspire millions of fans around the world – including daughters and their moms – to give back. We can't think of a better way to bring the generations together than on WeTopia, which lets players do good while having fun."
Will this turn into a system of themed virtual items, giving Bieber's fans even more incentive to play these Facebook games? That much remains to be seen, but with the ever-increasing power of social media, anything is possible.
Will you play WeTopia because it is now being endorsed by Justin Bieber? Do you need any extra incentive to play a game focused on helping those who otherwise go without?
Get your (legal) gambling fix on the go with GSN Digital's GSN Casino
It's a wonder anyone has cash to spend on Christmas, what with the myriad casino games on Facebook and elsewhere. The next game maker to take a crack at the gorged gambling genre is GSN Digital with GSN Casino for iPhone, iPad and Android. This free parlor game by Game Show Network's interactive division offers three of the most popular games on GSN.com: Undersea Treasure Slots, Outlaw Video Poker and Video Bingo.
And these three (digital) coin-eaters are just the beginning, as GSN Digital plans to introduce more casino-themed games to the app throughout 2012. When players first join the game and connect it to either their GSN.com or Facebook account, they'll receive 12,500 tokens for free and more to bet with daily. And thanks to this connection, the tokens you earn within GSN Casino can be used in the games offered on GSN.com.
"Our new GSN Casino mobile offering is the first major step in our commitment to bringing exciting games to our players where, when and how they want them," GSN Digital SVP Mark Cullinane said in a release. "Our success on GSN.com and Facebook provides a fantastic foundation to build off of for the launch of this product. We're excited to drive a whole new wave of GSN consumers as well as extend our mobile offering to the millions of players we entertain every day on existing GSN platforms."
GSN Casino Slots
GSN Digital beats a few of the big time social game makers in getting a suite of casino games onto iPhone and Android, namely Zynga and supposedly PopCap. Players can buy more tokens from withing GSN Casino, but like all online casino games, they cannot win actual money from playing. And yet, somehow, these games make money like gang busters.
Click here to download GSN Casino for Free on the App Store or here on the Android Market >
Are you an online casino game fan? If so, what's the draw for you (we really want to know)? If not, why do you stay away?
And these three (digital) coin-eaters are just the beginning, as GSN Digital plans to introduce more casino-themed games to the app throughout 2012. When players first join the game and connect it to either their GSN.com or Facebook account, they'll receive 12,500 tokens for free and more to bet with daily. And thanks to this connection, the tokens you earn within GSN Casino can be used in the games offered on GSN.com.
"Our new GSN Casino mobile offering is the first major step in our commitment to bringing exciting games to our players where, when and how they want them," GSN Digital SVP Mark Cullinane said in a release. "Our success on GSN.com and Facebook provides a fantastic foundation to build off of for the launch of this product. We're excited to drive a whole new wave of GSN consumers as well as extend our mobile offering to the millions of players we entertain every day on existing GSN platforms."
GSN Casino Slots
GSN Digital beats a few of the big time social game makers in getting a suite of casino games onto iPhone and Android, namely Zynga and supposedly PopCap. Players can buy more tokens from withing GSN Casino, but like all online casino games, they cannot win actual money from playing. And yet, somehow, these games make money like gang busters.
Click here to download GSN Casino for Free on the App Store or here on the Android Market >
Are you an online casino game fan? If so, what's the draw for you (we really want to know)? If not, why do you stay away?
Shocker: Zynga didn't have the most popular Facebook game in 2011?
Finding things that are hidden was the most popular game activity on Facebook this year, followed by controlling a person's every move and running an entire city. Facebook has released its take on the most popular social games of 2011, and Playdom's Gardens of Time beat out both The Sims Social by Playfish and Zynga's CityVille for the number one spot.
Facebook organized the list based on "which [games] drew the most active users and received the highest user recommendations," according to a post on the Facebook blog. Other than that, it's not 100 percent clear how Facebook came to its conclusions, as AppData's findings (as of this writing) are quite different. Perhaps user recommendations were weighed more heavily in Facebook's list. It's also possible that the recent change to how Facebook calculates monthly active players in its games affected this list.
With The Sims Social and CityVille in second and third place, respectively, the list contains a number of unexpected winners. For instance, DoubleDown Casino, Bingo Blitz and Slotomania all made the overall top 10 list. This isn't to say that these games aren't deserving of such acclaim, but none of these games performed as well as, say, Zynga Poker in 2011.
This leads us to believe that user recommendations were weighed more heavily than active players in Facebook's calculations. Who knows, perhaps recommendations are a better metric than simply the number of players when rating a game's popularity. Facebook made a point to include a bunch of other notable mentions from 2011, so check out the full list below:
Most Popular Games in 2011:
Gardens of Time (By Playdom)
The Sims Social (By EA)
Cityville (By Zynga)
DoubleDown Casino (by DoubleDown Interactive)
Indiana Jones Adventure World (By Zynga)
Words With Friends (By Zynga)
Bingo Blitz (By Buffalo Studios)
Empires & Allies (By Zynga)
Slotomania-Slot Machines (By Playtika)
Diamond Dash (By wooga)
Top Up-and-Comers:
Battle Pirates (By Kixeye)
Dragons of Atlantis (By Kabam)
Gourmet Ranch (By RockYou!)
Top Games with 50,000-100,000 Users
Super Slot Machines (By Davy Campano, David Livingston Kirby and Robby Campano)
WestWars (By Innogames)
MouseHunt (By HitGrab)
Top Casino Games in 2011
Zynga Poker (By Zynga)
Slotomania – Slot Machines (By Playtika)
DoubleDown Casino (By DoubleDown Interactive)
Top Sports Games in 2011
TopEleven – Be a Football Manager (By Nordeus)
Pool Live Tour (By Geewa)
EA Sports: FIFA Superstars (By EA)
Top Fashion Games in 2011
Mall World (By 50 Cubes)
ItGirl (By CrowdStar)
Coco Girl (By Metrogames)
Do you think Gardens of Time deserves to be on top? What do you think of the conclusions Facebook came to?
Facebook organized the list based on "which [games] drew the most active users and received the highest user recommendations," according to a post on the Facebook blog. Other than that, it's not 100 percent clear how Facebook came to its conclusions, as AppData's findings (as of this writing) are quite different. Perhaps user recommendations were weighed more heavily in Facebook's list. It's also possible that the recent change to how Facebook calculates monthly active players in its games affected this list.
With The Sims Social and CityVille in second and third place, respectively, the list contains a number of unexpected winners. For instance, DoubleDown Casino, Bingo Blitz and Slotomania all made the overall top 10 list. This isn't to say that these games aren't deserving of such acclaim, but none of these games performed as well as, say, Zynga Poker in 2011.
This leads us to believe that user recommendations were weighed more heavily than active players in Facebook's calculations. Who knows, perhaps recommendations are a better metric than simply the number of players when rating a game's popularity. Facebook made a point to include a bunch of other notable mentions from 2011, so check out the full list below:
Most Popular Games in 2011:
Gardens of Time (By Playdom)
The Sims Social (By EA)
Cityville (By Zynga)
DoubleDown Casino (by DoubleDown Interactive)
Indiana Jones Adventure World (By Zynga)
Words With Friends (By Zynga)
Bingo Blitz (By Buffalo Studios)
Empires & Allies (By Zynga)
Slotomania-Slot Machines (By Playtika)
Diamond Dash (By wooga)
Top Up-and-Comers:
Battle Pirates (By Kixeye)
Dragons of Atlantis (By Kabam)
Gourmet Ranch (By RockYou!)
Top Games with 50,000-100,000 Users
Super Slot Machines (By Davy Campano, David Livingston Kirby and Robby Campano)
WestWars (By Innogames)
MouseHunt (By HitGrab)
Top Casino Games in 2011
Zynga Poker (By Zynga)
Slotomania – Slot Machines (By Playtika)
DoubleDown Casino (By DoubleDown Interactive)
Top Sports Games in 2011
TopEleven – Be a Football Manager (By Nordeus)
Pool Live Tour (By Geewa)
EA Sports: FIFA Superstars (By EA)
Top Fashion Games in 2011
Mall World (By 50 Cubes)
ItGirl (By CrowdStar)
Coco Girl (By Metrogames)
Do you think Gardens of Time deserves to be on top? What do you think of the conclusions Facebook came to?
An Angry Birds 'social' game (and three others) is in the works for 2012
Angry Birds Facebook
So, we're just going to assume that by "social", Rovio game designer Jaako Iisalo means "Facebook". During the Social Games and Virtual Goods World conference in London, England, the Angry Birds designer told Pocket Gamer that four new Angry Birds games will launch next year. More specifically, one of them will be a "social" game.
And, will you look at that, Angry Birds is already on Google+. Granted, there are versions of the iconic everywhere mobile game on Facebook, but none of which seem legitimate. (One even seems to stream the Google Chrome version of Angry Birds through to Facebook.) While this could just as easily mean an Angry Birds game on a mobile platform with heavier social features, the developer has said in the past that the franchise will hit Facebook.
Honestly, how Angry Birds is available on the Intel AppUp store and in retail stores across Europe before officially on Facebook is beyond us. At any rate, we can likely expect these other three Angry Birds games to tap into new genres, since Rovio has expressed interest in exploring new types of games for its irate avian creatures. And just when you started to grow bored of it.
Would you play Angry Birds on Facebook more than elsewhere? What other genres would you like to see the Angry Birds characters take a part in?
So, we're just going to assume that by "social", Rovio game designer Jaako Iisalo means "Facebook". During the Social Games and Virtual Goods World conference in London, England, the Angry Birds designer told Pocket Gamer that four new Angry Birds games will launch next year. More specifically, one of them will be a "social" game.
And, will you look at that, Angry Birds is already on Google+. Granted, there are versions of the iconic everywhere mobile game on Facebook, but none of which seem legitimate. (One even seems to stream the Google Chrome version of Angry Birds through to Facebook.) While this could just as easily mean an Angry Birds game on a mobile platform with heavier social features, the developer has said in the past that the franchise will hit Facebook.
Honestly, how Angry Birds is available on the Intel AppUp store and in retail stores across Europe before officially on Facebook is beyond us. At any rate, we can likely expect these other three Angry Birds games to tap into new genres, since Rovio has expressed interest in exploring new types of games for its irate avian creatures. And just when you started to grow bored of it.
Would you play Angry Birds on Facebook more than elsewhere? What other genres would you like to see the Angry Birds characters take a part in?
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