Thứ Hai, 30 tháng 1, 2012

FrontierVille Caroling Collection: Harvest things at random for success

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

    Sheet Music
    Tuning Fork
    Caroling Candle
    Hand Bell
    Music Stand


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

[Via FrontierVille Wiki]

[Image Credit: Zynga]

Find the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.

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

Mafia Wars Atlantic City pillages Android, Blackberry and webOS

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

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

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash from Microsoft Office 2010 promotion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.