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.

FrontierVille Oregon Ho! Goal is here: Ready yourself for the Oregon Trail and receive exclusive items

Unlike FarmVille, which left users eagerly anticipating the English Countryside expansion for weeks or even months, Zynga's team behind FrontierVille has started the festivities relating to the Oregon Trail just hours after releasing an official trailer for the new expansion. New content has launched in the game today, in the form of the Oregon Ho! goal that we told you about just this morning.

The goal contains the same three requirements that we told you about in our sneak peek: Collect nine pages from the Medical Journal, watch the Oregon Trail video, and collect 10 Snake Bite Kits. However, you'll receive a set of decorative items along the way that we didn't know about before (and that you can learn about behind the break). But first, the Snake Bite kits are earned through a general news post asking all of your friends for help, while the Journal pages are earned by "performing various actions on your Homestead."

Indeed, I received pages of the Medical Journal by simply accepting friends' help with feeding animals, and by clearing debris on my land. This is the same sort of setup as seen back in the Rango mission released back in February. That is, as you collect Journal pages, you won't just earn progress towards the Oregon Ho! goal, you'll also earn three exclusive items as prizes along the way.

Your three items are the Weiner Campfire, the Pelt Line (earned at six Journal pages) and the Paisley Medical Kit, which is received when you've found all nine Journal pages required. On top of all of this, for completing the Oregon Ho! mission itself, you'll also receive 100 coins, 300 XP and a Camp Pack, like the one seen at right (that normally costs more than 7,000 coins in the store).

As you're told at the beginning of this quest, Doc Auburn's nephew, Doc Paisley, is headed off to the Oregon Trail on May 30, presumably the day when the entire Oregon Trail expansion will launch. Sure, that's a long time away, but as we're already receiving tasks to work on related to the Oregon Trail, we can only imagine that the next few weeks in FrontierVille will be very interesting indeed.

What are you waiting for? You don't want to be left behind when Doc Paisley heads off on the Oregon Trail, do you? Complete this goal and then head back here to learn more of what to expect from the upcoming expansion, as we bring you all of the latest news as it becomes available. Or, you can just play the old Apple II version of the Oregon Trail that has inspired it all to pass some time. It's up to you.

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

Are you excited for the Oregon Trail's release in FrontierVille? Were you hoping that the Oregon Trail would work as the English Countryside in FarmVille, giving you an entire second Homestead to build on and grow?

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Moat Bridge, King's Castle, Brown English Spot Rabbit

A new trio of unreleased item images have appeared for FarmVille today, with two of these items filling in the blanks seen in the massive set of moat items we brought you a sneak peek of just this week. Now, with this Moat Bridge, and the King's Castle, we'll clearly be able to build an entire medieval expanse on our land, and will be able to rest easy knowing that our imaginary citizens can walk to and from the castle safely, without falling into the deadly waters below (ok, so I guess no one says the waters have to be deadly, but it makes it more dramatic that way).

The third item is a brown recoloring of the English Spot Rabbit. We're assuming he will be called the Brown English Spot Rabbit, although there's no telling whether or not he will be released for the same cheap price as his predecessor, of it this will be yet another Farm Cash animal users will have to splurge on.

Either way, we'll make sure to bring you all of the news about these new items as they officially launch in the game, so keep checking back.