New tiki theme begins in FarmVille with set of island items

Before the Tuscan decor has even left FarmVille, new tiki items have just stolen some Market space. A small set of island items have made their way into FarmVille, and we have the scoop. This all seems a little too familiar to us; not only are there dozens of island games out there already, but Zynga has their own in Treasure Isle. Perhaps this is the start of a Treasure Isle theme? These new items are only available for 9 days, so this could be a short-term theme that doesn't last as long as most of the other FarmVille themes. Here are the new items in the FarmVille store:

Tiki Mask I - 5,000 coins
Tiki Mask II - 25,000 coins
Outdoor Torch - 20,000 coins
Lychee Tree - 10,000 coins
Blue Macaw - 16 Farm Cash
Roast Pit - 14 Farm Cash
Pelican - 18 Farm Cash
Island Pig - 16 Farm Cash
Flamingo Flower - 35 coins
Giant Hut - 27 Farm Cash
White Sand Bar - 18 Farm Cash
Hut - 100,000 coins
The Flamingo Flower is a limited time seed that sells for 200 coins, harvests in 16 hours and grants 1 XP. The Island Pig has a harvest of 90 coins in 2 days, and the Pelican is 92 coins in 2 days. We know there will be more of these island items, because FarmVille's in-game popup stated that this is "the first" of their new island theme.

FarmVille Green Mystery Box: find out what's inside *Spoilers*

FarmVille has released yet another new Mystery Box, this one alongside the island themed items (though the items inside are not island themed). Like other Mystery Boxes, this one costs 16 Farm Cash and can be purchased for yourself or for a special friend. The Green Mystery Box is only available for 7 days, so you'll have to act quick if you want your hands on these mystery items. Let's take a peek at what is inside:

Lily Pad Bridge , 300XP
Froggy Pond, 300 XP
Leap Frog Well, 350 XP
Jade Victorian, 400 XP
Peeper Frog, 200 XP
Dream Patio, 500 XP

Read on for pictures (courtesy of the FarmVille official forums):
Farmville Green Mystery Box
Lily Pad, Dream Patio, Peeper Frog

Jade Victorian
Jade Victorian

Farmville Leap Frog Well
Leap Frog Well

FarmVille Froggy Pond
Froggy Pond

Which Mystery Gift are you most excited for?

FarmVille: All Crops Mastered!

farmville crop mastery
Congratulations to FarmVille players 1907fbcy and Andre C for completing every available mastery to date. Both have completed the 51 crops available in the Market as well as all three limited edition masterable crops.

Super Pumpkins were available for FarmVille Fans only, starting in late January and ending early February. To obtain mastery 5,000 crops had to be harvested in a very short time. Many people worked towards this but unfortunately missed out on completing because Super Pumpkins were removed from the Market early, brought back and removed again.
farmville crop mastery
The LE Tomatillo Mastery was offered as part of the FarmVille Cinco de Mayo celebration. This crop took 10 hours took mature and 480 crops had to be harvested to achieve mastery.

The Goji Berry crop is part of the current 7 Eleven Zynga promotion. To unlock the Goji Berry crop in the Market you must redeem a FarmVille 7 Eleven code. The 16 hour crop mastery levels are 80 for the first star, 160 for second and 240 final star – 480 total.

If you are unable to get a 7 Eleven FarmVille code, be sure to check out FarmVille Freaks latest contest! The first prize is a complete set of redemption codes- enough to receive the 200 $FV Uber Prize!

Congratulations again to FarmVille Freaks 1907Fbcy and Andre C, mastering all crops is quite a feat!

How many crops have you mastered?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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

FarmVille Unreleased White Apple Tree & Rainbow Apple Tree

    farmville rainbow apple tree
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Maria & Farhan for finding these unreleased FarmVille White Apple Tree & Rainbow Apple Tree.

Sources:

    FarmVille Unreleased White Apple Tree – Zynga FarmVille
    FarmVille Unreleased Rainbow Apple Tree – Zynga FarmVille


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille: New Button Collection

FarmVille Freak let you know last week that the Button Collection would be coming soon to FarmVille. There are now 6 Collections, the Button Collection can be found on the first page of your Collection Menu.

Keep in mind you only have a chance of finding collectibles, so try keep trying to follow the clues to complete them!

To complete the Button Collection you must collect:

    Check Button – Free Gift (Clue: Requires a little help from your friends)
    Brass Button – Found when fertilizing neighbors crops (Clue: Your friends won't notice when you find this in their crops)
    White Button - Found while plowing your farm (Clue: You need to get a little dirty)
    Jewel Button – Found when harvesting chickens (Clue: Cluck)
    Formal Button – Found while plowing your farm (Clue: You need to get a little dirty)
    Pearl Button – Found while plowing your farm (Clue: You need to get a little dirty)


Collections are valuable to farmers due to the great rewards, when trading in a collection you receive 250Xp, 5,000 coins and the oh so useful 5 Fuel Refills.

Have you found any Buttons yet?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

What Zynga's game closures say about the social gaming market

The recent hard times for the social gaming market have been harder on some games than others. Last week, social-gaming mega-publisher Zynga decided to shut down two well-established parts of its catalog. First, the servers for Roller Coaster Kingdom (RCK) were shut off, then Ponzi Inc., a promising game Zynga got as part of a Challenge Games acquisition less than a month ago, went dark for good.

So, what can we learn from the abrupt termination of these two games? Well, one lesson seems to be that the standards for success in social gaming are going to keep increasing -- at least for the big publishers. Despite their declining popularity, both Ponzi Inc. and Roller Coaster Kingdom had a relatively decent number of monthly active users when they were closed -- 221,000 players for Ponzi and 1.2 million players for RCK. That might not seem like much compared against Farmville's industry-leading 62 million monthly players, but it probably doesn't seem like chump change to many struggling social game makers just getting their start.

Obviously Zynga's resources are limited, and devoting resources to a game that attracts "only" one million players a month might not make sense -- especially when those resources could be put towards a more popular game. That said, I can't imagine letting the servers for these games limp along would have been a crushing expense for a company like Zynga. In fact, those costs would probably go down quickly as the player bases continued to shrink (although maybe not quickly enough -- a smaller user base probably eliminates some of the economies of scale that help amortize costs for mega-games).
Of course, there are other costs associated with keeping smaller games in a catalog -- technical support, ad sales, bug-catching programmers and database maintainers -- that were eliminated along with these games. Zynga likely saw the declining numbers for both games and decided these costs just weren't worth it anymore. Somehow, Zynga made the determination that the writing was on the wall for these games -- that the players had simply grown tired of playing and that it wasn't worth making the investment to draw them back with new content, new offers, and new advertising (We're guessing the ARPU numbers for both games may have played into this decision).

The implications of this kind of decision are pretty scary for Facebook games as a whole. Is there a time limit on how long shallow social games can survive without constant infusions of new content? Will players eventually get tired of even mega-popular games like Farmville and Treasure Isle and move on? Will companies abandon these games as soon as the numbers start to dip, or will they devote possibly futile time and effort into getting them to rebound? What happens to a game that attracts a lot of players but not many that actually want to pay money for virtual items?

Speaking of paying money, the shut down of Ponzi and RCK doesn't just represent the end of an amusing pastime for hundreds of thousands of people. It also means the destruction of a lot of virtual property that many players had invested real money in. Does Zynga just get to keep the money they pocketed from selling these ephemeral items, now deleted forever from some internal server bank?

From a legal standpoint, they probably do (let the EULA-signer beware), but from an ethical and player-relations standpoint, simply destroying people's virtual property is not a good move. Zynga obviously realizes this and is giving players some consideration for their in-game investments. Outstanding balances and recent purchases in Ponzi Inc. will be transferred to Frontierville credits, while Coaster Cash used in RCK will be converted to Favor Points in Vampire Wars.

Still, this seems like a less-than-ideal solution, especially if players don't want to play the game the new credits are being offered in. It seems doubtful that RCK players will be flocking to Vampire Wars, considering how different the two games are. Perhaps these kinds of problems will start to go away as the industry moves to a unified Facebook Credits model.

All in all, the closure of Ponzi Inc. and Roller Coaster Kingdom are barely going to send a ripple through the larger social gaming industry. But as more and more social gaming experiments are sacrificed to the altar of the bottom line, and as companies continue to consolidate their efforts towards a few mega-games, don't be surprised if the social gaming landscape of the near future starts to look very different from the one you see today.

Quote of the Moment: Breaking an appointment

"There are a number of reasons why I prefer Foursquare. One is that the Farmville compulsion loop is based on an 'appointment gaming' mechanism. Players must come back to the game at a certain time in order to harvest their crops (and get the reward) before the crops wither and die. This is known as a hard penalty. It seems so clear that a game designed to mimic my real-world life of appointments would seem like a chore. Working full-time and raising two small children with my even busier husband, I really don't need more appointments in my day. I don't want to log in and see that my raspberries have withered and died because I forgot to harvest them.

"The gaming mechanism in Foursquare is based on rewards, not penalties, and there is no appointment mechanism. I can check in as much or as little as I like. I was delighted when I got my Adventurer Badge. When I was mayor of my local café, I felt like I had finally arrived. (Mayors often receive special deals or discounts.) It's true there are some penalties. If I don't check in enough, I might lose my title of mayor–but it felt different then being greeted with a bunch of dead plants."

-Hot Studio Senior User Experience Architect Marsha Platt lays out why free-roaming gaming beats appointment gaming any day.

Treetopia introduces PvP card game in its questing system

Treetopia started out very similar to most social games - the game gave you an area to decorate, buildings to build, and a shop full of pretty things to buy. Over the last few months, it has been differentiating itself by adding some truly unique features. The introduction of questing made the game feel far more interactive, allowing players to take an active part in accomplishing tasks that earn them XP. Now, Treetopia have taken their questing system and stretched it into a PvP-lite experience that puts players in the hotspot of challenging virtual depictions of their friends in a card game.

The card game is accessed by the "Combat" button, which brings up a list of friends to battle (in a Mafia Wars style). You select the friend you wish to battle, and the card game will begin. Unfortunately, this isn't true PvP because you aren't actually playing with your friend. Your friend is controlled by the game's AI and you have to pick the best moves to defeat them. This isn't a simple game though, and Playdom have recognized this by making a guide to the new questing card game. You do have to use tactics and pick your damaging and healing abilities correctly in order to beat your friend in the card game.

It's not flawless, but this level of depth in a social game goes a long way to combat the negativity that surrounds these type of games - critics are constantly insulting them for being nothing but clicks, no depth, and no skill. The question is, do players want this? In the past month, Treetopia has been losing some momentum but still has over 2.3 million monthly players. Time will tell.

FarmVille Pregnant Pigs & Piglets!

FarmVille Pregnant Pig belongs to...
FarmVille Pregnant Pig
Remember the Pregnant Pig that Lexilicious mentioned in a past FarmVille Podcast, dated June 18th? FarmVille Freak also published the Pregnant Pig's Piglet as an unreleased item.

The Pregnant Pig is now "live" in FarmVille.

The Pregnant Pig works similar to adoptable animals in that you find one on your farm and share via FaceBook newsfeed. Each pregnant pig has a collar with one of your FarmVille neighbors name. Only this neighbor will have the opportunity to adopt the Pregnant Pig. You "return" the Pregnant Pig by posting the notice on the neihgbors farm listed on the collar.

Once adopted, if you provide a home for the Pregnant Pig and take good care of her, in 24 hours there will be a baby Piglets for you to share with your FarmVille neighbors!

Official word from FarmVille's Community Manager, Lexilicious:

    "Piglets!

    When tending your farm, you now have a chance to find a sow that is expecting piglets. This little lady will belong to one of your neighbors. The neighbor she belongs to is selected at random.

    If you find an expecting sow, she must be returned to her owner. You will receive a pop-up that will allow you to post to your friends wall informing them that you have found their pig.

    If a Neighbor has found a pig that belongs to you, you can claim your lost pig by clicking on the applicable feed that has been posted on your wall. After being taken to your farm, you will receive a pop-up that will prompt you to place your little lady on your farm. (After all, a gift box is no place for piglets!)

    After she is placed, you will see a message asking you to return in 24 hours. Upon your return, you will find that your pig gave birth to a healthy litter of piglets that you can now share with your friends!" (Source: Official FarmVille Forum)

Note, currently farmers are experiencing technical issues after finding Pregnant Pigs on their farms. Some of the errors include there is no or "?" neighbor listed on her collar and errors are occurring whenever you attempt to share the Pregnant Pig by posting on your neighbor's wall.

Also many are reporting that the Pregnant Pigs they are finding "belong" to inactive FarmVille neighbors who no longer seem to play FarmVille. Meaning, the name listed on the collar is that of an inactive farmer. Is this is a way for FarmVille to encourage inactive players to return to the farm life? What do you think?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Is FarmVille Replacing Black Stallion & Black Stallion Foals with Black Horses & Foals?

FarmVille Black Stallion on a Farm
Do you remember when the Black Stallion was mysteriously available in the FarmVille Market for only a few minutes? If not, read this FarmVille Freak Post, "FarmVille Black Stallion Mystery". Well, despite being released for only minutes in the FarmVille Market, some lucky farmers were quick enough to snag their own Black Stallion for 40,000 coins. This release was unintentional by FarmVille.

According to some farmers, Zynga is reportedly correcting their unintentional error by refunding the 40,000 coins and replacing Black Stallions and Black Stallion Foals with plain ordinary Black Horses and Black Foals.

FarmVille Freak has not confirmed that this is true and we are waiting a response from Zynga.

From FarmVille Freak Cecil:

    "Here is an email I recieved today regarding the Black Stallion and Black Stallion Foals.... makes me sick to my stomach... Oh and I am still missing my new Breton Horse!

    Hello Cecil,

    Thanks for contacting Zynga.

    We are aware that there was a glitch in FarmVille that allowed users to purchase the Black Stallion for coins in the Market for a very brief time. This was not intended. We have resolved the issue by removing Black Stallions and Black Stallion foals from the game.

    Users with Black Stallions received Black Horses, instead. Users with Black Stallions foals received Black Foals.

    If you purchased the Black Stallion from the Market, you were credited 40,000 coins for each purchase, which has automatically been added to your coin balance. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience and understanding.

    Kind regards,
    Lucas S
    Zynga Customer Support"


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille unreleased crops: Lots of pumpkins, flowers, heirloom vegetables

Looks like a slew of new crops and flowers are headed your way farmers, as this big bundle of 'unreleased' crops (which includes a lot of colorful pumpkins and some pretty flowers, like the Purple Coneflower) have been unearthed by FarmVille Freak.

The entire list of items is as follows: FarmVille Alpine Strawberries, Black Pumpkins, Carnival Squash, Green Pumpkins, Heirloom Asparagus, Hot Pink Asters, Leeks, Purple Sunflowers, Purple Coneflower, Red Cabbage, White Asters & White Pumpkins.

Of course, these items are 'unreleased,' meaning they're not live in the game, so keep in mind that these may or may not show up in the Market and currently do not have an official release date. Read

FarmVille Mystery Game item of the day: Southwestern animals

Every day this week, FarmVille is updating its Mystery game with a slew of new prizes. Play today (Wednesday), to win a menagerie of animals imported from the American Southwest. Each of these critters are limited edition items and the only way to get them (for now) is by shelling out 20 Farm Cash to play the FarmVille mini-game.

farmville mystery game southwestern animals

FarmVille Mystery Game LE SouthWestern Prizes (Released August 11, 2010):

* Appaloosa Horse (Rare)
* Bobcat (Rare)
* Roadrunner (Uncommon)
* Longhorn Cow (Uncommon)
* Jackrabbit (Common)
* Woody's Cactus (Common)

[Via FarmVille Freak]

Fifteen Facebook games headed for the chopping block

There are hundreds of games on Facebook, but only a select few have earned a spot on the social gaming red carpet. For every success story like FarmVille, Zoo World or Pet Society, there is a game that's broken, abandoned or just doesn't have that magical formula that will take it to the top.

We take a look at a handful of games that fit into the latter category (as in, we analyzed the monthly active users, update frequency and actual gameplay experience) to predict why they'll soon take a one-way trip to the chopping block.




The Agency: Covert Ops by Sony Online Entertainment

When we wrote a review of Agency Covert Ops in May, this game really looked promising. It had more polish than almost other Facebook games, has a big marketing push from SOE and did a good job at taking familiar social game mechanics to the next level.

Our theory is that SOE tried to do too much all at once with The Agency. Playing through the tutorial was an overwhelming clickfest, which left the player confused on what they were actually doing. The game tried to throw everything including the kitchen sink at the player, which made for a game that felt like it was too packed and not simple enough. There was so much reading involved, because there was too much story attempting to be told. And frankly, the game wasn't built with viral mechanics in mind, so it never spread to the masses. Taking a peek at the numbers from Appdata, it's easy to see that The Agency's players were purchased through marketing, and but aren't sticking around for the ride.

The Agency: Covert Ops is lingering at 87,123 Monthly Active Users (MAU), 8,853 Daily Active Users (DAU) and these numbers are rapidly falling. It's all-time high MAU was 391,216.



Purina Pet Resort by Playdom

If you thought Playdom could do no wrong, well, you're wrong. WIth top games like Social City, Bola, and Sorority Life, Playdom is normally on top when it comes to social games. With Purina Pet Resort, a branded pet themed advergamegame, it's clear they missed the mark. This advergame provides all fluff and no depth, and leaves players confused about what the point of the game actually is. We never did a full review of the game, but we mentioned that it had a different feel than other Playdom titles. So far, we have yet to see a branded game take off on Facebook, and Purina Pet Resort is no exception. Even with the powerhouse cross promotion capability of Playdom, this game is hanging out as a dismal 13,000 DAU and while it has 248,000 MAU, it lost 247,000 players in the last week alone. At its peak, it had 514,535 MAU.



City of Eternals by Ohai, Inc.

This game has a sad story, because it was a promising full MMO on Facebook that hasn't proven that complex games of its sort can be viable. At its peak, this game never went above 7,424 MAU and 954 daily actives. While the game does appear to do most of its traffic from the standalone game site, it uses Facebook Connect for logins which means that those people would be counted in the Appdata traffic stats. The game's blog hasn't been updated since May, and the company founder recently told a crowd of industry insiders that the game would not be getting any more updates. Yikes.



SPP! Ranch by Slide

This game that used to be leading the charts with almost 3 million monthly active players, and has slipped to 441,437. Slide's SPP! Ranch was using their SuperPoke IP and taking it to the farming/ranch decorating genre. Why isn't it doing so well? Frankly, it simply doesn't look as nice as the competitors any more. It's also simply a decorating game, and doesn't have the fundamental farming mechanics to keep players coming back. The Marketplace is small and hard to read, and nearly all the items are limited in quantity. SPP! Ranch might be an example of a game that's past its prime.



Little Rock Pool by Meteor Games

Little Rock Pool has a lot going for it - it's cute, and a new fun take on the fish-themed games. For some reason, the game peaked around 879,000 monthly players and has now fallen over the months down to 209,103. The game has regular updates, fan page engagement, and a seemingly passionate community. So what's wrong? Players say that they're bored because once you reach level 40, there's nothing else to do. The game is also super buggy. With so many Facebook gaming options out there, a game needs to be rock solid to stand out. Little Rock Pool simply isn't making the cut. Also worth not, Meteor's newer title Ranch Town doesn't seem to be faring much better.



My Casino by Rock You

Rock You has taken Facebook gaming by the horns with their popular game Zoo World, which is currently the 6th most popular Facebook game with almost 26 million monthly active players. However, Rock You haven't found the foolproof secret recipe yet. Their title My Casino, which launched in March, never really exploded the way Zoo World did. While it did reach 920,000 at one point, much of that was due to cross promotion with Zoo World. The game is now sitting at 389,000 MAU and 47,000 DAU. My Casino has a heavy Asian influence and style, which may have something to do with its lack of success in North America.



Epic Goal by Watercooler

This soccer themed game seemed promising when we reviewed it in early June, we even recommended it as the perfect balance of fun and complexity. The audience has never really caught on though, and Epic Goal has never gone above 364,000 MAU. It's been hovering around 315,000 for some time now and isn't growing. In contrast, Bola has been doing very well. However, another soccer game, Winning Goal, is doing even worse with only 7,593 MAU. Ouch. Looks like sports games still have to prove themselves on Facebook.



Poker Blitz by Zynga

Zynga is the juggernaut of Facebook games, but not everything they touch is gold. Poker Blitz was a very interesting title, with an easy to play Texas Hold 'Em gameplay with an adorable art style. The game felt like a winner out of the gate, but hasn't performed up to par. The game topped out at 1.3 million (low for a Zynga game) and is currently sitting at 434,000 MAU. A better indicator of the game's health is the fact that Zynga haven't updated the game's fan page since March. We predict this game will be folding 'em in the not-too-distant future.



Towner by Metrogames

Metrogames saw early success with Towner, a city-building game. This game topped out at 2.3 million MAU, and is currently struggling at 512,867 MAU. The fan page for the game hasn't been updated since June, and that update was just to promote Metrogame's newest title Fashion World (which is faring better, especially with some cross promotion love from Playdom).

Honorable Mentions:

FarmVille revives Southwest-themed limited edition items for 24 hours

FarmVille's Seven Days of Summer Sale is reviving popular limited edition items from the past year every 24 hours, which means you get a second chance to buy limited edition items that you might have missed the first go-round. Today, FarmVille revisits the old Southwest, so if you want to give your farm a little Santa Fe flavor, this is your big chance.

Below find a complete list, courtesy of FarmVille Freak, of all the Southwestern themed items that you can spend your hard-earned Farm Cash and coins to purchase:

FarmVille Limited Edition SouthWestern Buildings/Decorations/Animals:

LE SouthWestern Buildings

* Comfy Casa – 38 FV$
* Adobe Mansion – 52 FV$
* Ranch Home – 36 FV$
* Prickly Eatery – 42 FV$
* Hacienda – 46 FV$
* Tourquoise Gallery – 46 FV$
* Crafts Shop – 42 FV$
* Adobe Home – 30 FV$
* Adobe Farmhouse – 34 FV$
* Adobe Barn – 30 FV$
* Adobe Shed – 24 FV$
* Adobe Plaza – 20 FV$
* Adobe Cottage – 150,000 Coins


LE SouthWestern Decorations

* Dust Devil – 12
* Window Rock – 3
* Campsite – 12
* Cowboy Gnome – 18
* Red Plateau- 4 FV$
* Rock Arch – 7
* Saguaro Cactus – 3 FV$
* Barrel Cactus – 2 FV$
* Rearing Horse – 8,000 Coins
* Hanging Chile – 3,500 Coins
* Hanging Garlic – 3,000 Coins
* Adobe Basket – 2,500 Coins
* Adobe Bench – 2,000 Coins
* Horse Post – 75,000 Coins
* Long Flat Rock – 10,000 Coins
* Hitching Post – 4,000 Coins
* Ranch Gate – 3,000 Coins
* Ranch Fence – 700 Coins
* Grand Wagon – 8,800 Coins
* Campfire – 6,000 Coins
* Adobe Gateway – 3,700 Coins
* Adobe Arch – 3,500 Coins
* Ball Cactus – 1,500 Coins
* Rocky Wheels – 12,000
* Short Palm – 2,700 Coins
* Tumbleweed – 800 Coins
* Giant Anthill – 3,500 Coins
* Cactus Cluster – 2,000 Coins
* Pinata – 6,000 Coins
* Prickly Pear – 3,200 Coins
* Adobe Wall – 900 Coins
* Adobe Ladder – 900 Coins

SouthWestern Animals:

* Desert Tortoise – 12 FV$
* Gila Monster – 12

What items, if any, will you buy from today's limited edition items?

Madden NFL 11 is everywhere...except on Facebook

Like clockwork, EA Sports' Madden NFL football yearly update has arrived, signaling not only the start of the football season, but also the kick-off of the video game holiday season. This year, Madden was released for six different platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP, iPhone and for the first time -- on Apple iPad. After EA Sports GM Peter Moore said Madden would be 'on Facebook going forward' earlier this year, so I was fully expecting to see a fully realized version of Madden on the social network we all know and love as well. So where the heck is Madden on Facebook?

If EA went to the trouble to purchase one of the leading Facebook game developers, Playfish, for $300 million dollars, it seems like a no-brainer that a socialized Madden would be one of the first collaborations out the door. I wonder if Madden will be arriving as a surprise in the next few weeks, or if EA -- not wowed by FIFA Superstars' performance -- decided to hold off on rushing such a valuable franchise to Facebook.
On the other hand, the console version of Madden seems to be taking notes from FarmVille and other Facebook games, bringing back Madden Coins -- a virtual currency introduced in last year's game -- which can be earned as achievement rewards (people who pre-ordered the game from Gamestop got 20,000 bonus coins) and then used to buy items that will give players a leg up in the game, such as Scouting Reports and boosts for the new 3-on-3 Online Team Play. Madden Coins can also be purchased using real-life cash, and even though it sounds crazy that someone would spend $60 for a game and then additional cash for coins, it must have worked if EA brought it back for a second season.

So, if you've been looking forward to hitting the gridiron with your pals on Facebook, looks like you'll have to wait anywhere from a few days to forever.

Madden on Facebook: Would you play it?
Yes!No wayDepends if it's any goodDon't play Facebook games
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YoVille: Two new Romantic Widget Collectibles available in the factory

yoville free sofa romantic widget collectibles
Two new items to build with Free Widgets were added to the YoVille Factory! Beautiful Romantic Sofas in black or aqua are waiting for you so keep on sending those widgets to your friends and get some in return!

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

YoVille Romantic House available for coins

New Romantic YoVille Garden Home has arrived to YoVille! Get it for 34 YoCash from the realtor office. Don't have enough YoCash? Then get it for 17,000 coins with the help of 10 of your friends who can co-sign it for you! Click the icon at the top right corner of the game screen to rally your friends.

Please note that this feature is only available for Facebook players. Myspace players will not be able to get the house for coins.

Continue reading for a quick tour of the house.
yoville romantic houseyoville romantic houseyoville romantic houseyoville romantic houseyoville romantic house
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

YoVille wishes you would slip into something more comfortable with the Blue Velvet Robe

Soon enough every YoVille player will be looking a lot more suave with this Blue Velvet Robe. However, there is a catch: YoVille needs to reach 6 million fans before Zynga gives one of these bad boys away to the citizens of YoVille.

The fan counter, already past 5.9 million, doesn't have much longer to go. So, tell your friends, your family or even complete strangers if you want to see this item appear in your wardrobe.

Unfortunately, the robe doesn't include an enlongated chin nor an elaborate, somewhat creepy bachelor pad (complete with hideaway bed and bar). Expect to hear a lot of folks shouting "giggidty" nonetheless once the game reaches its goal of 6 million fans.

Pirates Ahoy!: Create even more bubbles than normal with the Bubble Hull

In Pirates Ahoy, there is a lot to be said for its showboating factor (no pun intended, really) due to the game's pseudo 3D graphics and animation. This is exactly why you see a lot of "Special Effect" items in the game like the brand new Bubble Hull.

Attach this neon green hull to your ship for 15 Playfish Cash and your ship will leave massive bubbles in its wake. Wait, doesn't your ship already leave bubbles behind it by nature? Well, consider these extra bubbles.

Honestly, the Flaming Trail Hull that came before it was much cooler, but for a less cool 17 Playfish Cash. Bubbles are fun and all, but my ship already has those, thanks. Why not make a frosty trail hull or one that spouts rainbows or something? Now, that would be intense.

FarmVille Unreleased Rainbow Arch & Rainbow Lorikeet

Thank you to FarmVille Freak Jack Hong for finding these unreleased FarmVille Rainbow Arch & Rainbow Lorikeet items.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Scoreloop brings social gaming to Samsung TVs, where it all began

Samsung brings social gaming to TV
It's funny how things come full circle, isn't it? Scoreloop, a social gaming platform for mobile devices, is coming to bada, Samsung's mobile phone operating system, according to Venture Beat. The platform created by the Munich, Germany-based company allows developers to infuse social gaming elements like sharing, gifting and virtual goods to mobile games. Alright, you've heard this all before, so here's the real news: Scoreloop is coming to Samsung's internet-capable TVs.

Social gaming on your TV? Sure, you could probably do it with a standard video-out cable and a PC, but that's too much work. This will allow games that can be bought through Samsung's web-enabled TVs to use the same Scoreloop social network featured on Samsung phones.

If this idea catches on, what's to stop other developers from finding their way into your web-ready TV? Quite honestly, FrontierVille on a 42-inch LCD screen sounds pretty alluring to me, but unfortunately we're a ways away from that. But with TVs becoming as connected as our computers and phones are, it may be only a matter of time before the one genre that's shook the foundations of the industry makes it way to the screens that started it all.

Five things you need to know about social games [GDC Online]

This year's Game Developer's Conference Online in Austin brought together 3,000 people, including game developer wannabes and industry insiders from World of Warcraft-maker Blizzard and FarmVille-maker Zynga (among others) with talks on how to make good games and some of the larger trends in online games.

gdc online 2010Social gaming (on Facebook and otherwise) played a major role in the conference, with a series of sessions devoted to the topic, which included a standout talk from FrontierVille creator Brian Reynolds (our full interview with him is coming soon), Playdom's Raph Koster and the first-ever Game Developer Choice Online Awards, where Social City was honored as the Best Social Network Game of the Year.

After sitting through a slew of panels, lectures, roundtables (and heated conversations at during a series of evening events), here's a list of five social gaming trends you can expect to see in the coming year.

1. Social gaming is not going away anytime soon

Everyone's buzzing about how FarmVille and the other top games have been losing players faster than a cat sheds its winter coat. And while that is largely true for the top 20 games on Facebook, newer games have still managed to attract players at a respectable rate. Two prime examples of this are Booyah's Nightclub City (a nightclub management sim game with music from real-life artists) and Casual Collective's Backyard Monsters (a tower defense game), and that trend is expected to continue into next year. So instead of Facebook gaming dying, it sounds more like it's changing. People are growing tired of the same old farm and pet games and are ready for the next big thing.


2. Expect social games to look better and offer more original game experiences

FarmVille and the rest of the first-generation social games haven't exactly had the best-looking graphics or most sophisticated game experiences. And that has been OK until recently. Game-wise, FrontierVille set the bar in creating a very playable social game, infusing all of that gift giving and neighbor visiting with popular game elements borrowed from Mario (yes, that Mario), Sonic, Diablo and World of Warcraft. Social games like ngmoco's We Rule and We Farm on iOS devices have set a new standard for high production values, and we expect that social game makers will be upping the ante on their creations in the near future.

3. Social gaming is going mobile (for reals this time)

It's hasn't been easy to transport social games from Facebook to iPhone, but we predict that this will be the year that mobile social gaming will have its coming out party in the US. Whether its social games companies like Zynga and Playfish figuring out how to launch games on iPhone and iOS (as well as making the leap to Android) or some dark horse mobile game maker beating Zynga to the punch -- it's clear that social games will be a must-play on mobile in the near future.

4. The debate on whether FarmVille, et al, is 'evil' or 'really a game' continues

While it seems like a no-brainer that games like FarmVille and Pet Society appeal to mostly women gamers who may also play games like Bejeweled and Mystery Case Files, this doesn't seem to be common knowledge for everyone. This was most evident in a roundtable called 'Do Social Games Suck?" where there were far too many comparisons between FarmVille and Halo or FarmVille and World of Warcraft. There was no final conclusion if these games 'suck,' but there is still a perception that FarmVille and its ilk are 'evil,' 'addictive' and are 'not really games.' The 200+ million Facebook users who play social games might disagree.

5. Big brands will flood Facebook this coming year

A few big video games brands (Madden, FIFA) made the jump to Facebook this year, with marginal success, but big brands (as in, stuff that even your grandma would know) will be headed to Facebook. You can already spin the Big Wheel in a Price is Right Facebook game, and you'll soon be able to Pass Go and Collect $200 in a Facebook Monopoly game from EA/Playfish.

Gallery: Scenes from GDC Online 2010

Increase energy with Treasure Isle baby animal boats

Treasure Isle Baby Animal Boats
Treasure Isle sure is pulling our heart strings lately, with cute animals all over the place. The latest edition in the prettiest island pet shop is a set of absolutely adorable baby animal boats. These precocious pets don't exactly make a ton of sense, but we're not going to complain. These baby animal boats also increase your maximum energy from 1-3 total energy. Boats aren't a new addition to the game, but this is the first time we've seen little baby boats hit the store. It's not even springtime yet! Here is a glimpse at what you can expect to find if you check the Treasure Isle store right now.

Baby Bunnies - 65 Island Cash, +3 Energy
Baby Penguins - 65 Island Cash, +3 Energy
Baby Foxes - 55 Island Cash, +2 Energy
Baby Meerkats - 55 Island Cash, +2 Energy
Baby Polar Bears - 55 Island Cash, +2 Energy
Baby Owl - 45 Island Cash, +1 Energy

We're not sure exactly how long these will be in the store, but there is no expiration date on them as of yet. Check out the boat section of the store to find these new baby animal boats along with a slew of other boats.

Nightclub City gets spooky with Nightclub on Elm Street

Nightclub City is going all out for the Halloween season, with full Nightclub on Elm Street festivities. The game has released decorations, costumes, new parties, and whole new location. To get the 6 costumes and throw the Halloween parties, however, you'll need to shell out a lot of cash to unlock the Nightclub on Elm Street location, which costs 10 million cash or 30 Facebook Credits. For those of us who are still saving up every penny and can't afford it, we'll have to save up - because you can't even buy any Halloween decorations unless you have opened a Nightclub on Elm Street.

The Halloween themed parties are as follows:

Furry Fun Fest

Celebrity: Michael J. Wolf
Rewards: 25,000 cash, 40 Party Points
Planning: 4 hours
Collectible Rewards: Werewolf Costume, Bunny Costume, Halloween Club Decor

Sisterhood's Pledge

Celebrities: Agatha, Tabitha, Hagatha
Rewards: 40,000 cash, 60 Party Points
Planning: 12 hours
Collectible Rewards: Witch Costume, Halloween Decor

Sexy Sailors & Naughty Nurses

Rewards: 20,000 cash, 20 Party Points
Planning: 1 hour
Collectible Rewards: Sailor Costume, Nurse Costume, Halloween Club Decor

Halloween Costume Party

Rewards: 10,000 cash, 10 Party Points
Planning: 10 min.
Collectible Rewards: Ghost Costume, Schoolgirl Costume, Halloween Club Decor

Millionaire Masquerade

Celebrities: Masked YoBama, Masked Donald Hump, Masked G.W. Tush
Rewards: 100,000 cash, 90 Party Points
Planning: 24 hours
Collectible Rewards: Masquerade Masks (4), Halloween Club Decor


The store is also packed with new ways to decorate your club to get ready for Halloween, including Trick or Treat dance floors, Pumpkin decor, vampire casket, Witch's Brewpot, and Haunted Portraits. Unfortunately, not everyone can enjoy these creepy haunted decorations. Such a bummer, but we'll be saving up to buy the new location before it's gone.

Have you unlocked the Nightclub on Elm Street or are you still saving your cash?

Support Breast Cancer Awareness in Playdom's My Vineyard

My Vineyard Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Playdom's game My Vineyard is giving players a chance to show their support and honor their loved ones and friends who have suffered from breast cancer. Several items that have already been released in the game have received a fresh coat of paint and a few revisions, such as the hanging of a pink ribbon upon the door of the buildable cottages. There is also a new item, the Pink Ribbon Sign with the message "Hope, Love, Cure" displayed for all to see. Here are the new pink items:

Pink Buildable Cottage - 10,000 coins
Pink Picket Fence - 500 coins
Pink Picket Gate - 500 coins
Pink Ribbon Sign - 200 coins
Pink Streetlight - 5000 coins
Pink Umbrella - 6000 coins

Some players have made beautiful tributes to their lost family members and friends, which is truly touching. In a very gracious move by Playdom, none of these items require spending real life money, and they are all very affordable in coins. Kudos to My Vineyard for embracing a wonderful cause.

City of Wonder's Russia Week brings the Manifesto to your settlement

Russia Week
Players of City of Wonder have seen nearly every ancient civilization in world history from Mesopotamia to Egypt to Ancient Greece, but now it's time to enter the age of political upheaval and military might with Russia Week. In this seven-day event, you'll find several items inspired by the ancestors of the Mongols and the birthplace of socialism. Most importantly, this update includes a new legend, Beethoven, who will clean all of your cultural buildings.

But when it comes to buildings, Playdom has got you covered with structures like the brand new Marvel, St. Basil's Cathedral--the iconic church will boost your Happiness and Culture by three percent. There are other interesting items like the Gold Wall, which for one Gold a piece will "protect your city in style," and Cossack Calvary who are known for "their awesome hats." You can decorate your city with the Kremlin Clock, a Russian Church and Socialist Statue to finish off your settlement's religious and political personality. The Russian theme is only here for another six days, so get your Slav on before these items go way of the dodo.

Angry FashionWorld players demand better game with Care2 petition

Players of FashionWorld, a Facebook game developed by Buenos Ares-based Metro Games with over 4 million monthly players, are demanding their hard-earned Facebook Credits back after weeks of bugs and malfunctioning features, according to Social Times. A group of players have banded together to start a Care2 online petition seeking 1,000 signatures that they hope will sway Metro Games into either refunding their loyal players' Facebook Credits or improving the stability of its hit fashion game.

According to some players, gifting has been completely shut down for three weeks while others report lost items and some claim to have items they've just built disappear almost immediately, according to the petition. The complaint lists a litany of other problems from outright missing Facebook Credits to a lack of any explanation or tutorial on how to play the game to fundamental issues with the amount of space players have to dwell in. If these problems really have been occurring for nearly a month, we're surprised FashionWorld has more monthly users than some of Zynga's less popular games.

According the the Care2 petition that will be sent to both Metro Games and Facebook (not sure how far the latter will get them), the issue ultimately boils down to poor customer service. Considering this might be the first time players have attempted to petition a social game since the Zoo World incident, it will be interesting to see the results of this petition--which thus far has just 73 out of the 1,000 necessary signatures. God speed, disgruntled fashionistas.

Digital Chocolate launches Island God on Facebook - Not another Millionaire City clone!

We're three for three this week, in terms of new games being released by Digital Chocolate, creators of Millionaire City. Monday brought us Hollywood City, yesterday saw the launch of Vegas City, and today, we finally have something totally different (at least from the above), in the form of Island God.

Meet us behind the break for full details about this truly new game in the developer's lineup.

The story of Island God is a fairly simple one. On an island far away from your own, a group of peaceful villagers lived in prosperity. During a big party, however, a fire breaks out on their island, ruining their way of life. Many islanders fled their home altogether, and have come to call your island home. It's now up to you to rebuild their society and become their Island God.

The gameplay sees you building various structures (quarries, huts, and the like) which you can then assign individual workers to use. That is, regardless of how many structures you may have on your island, you will only be able to concurrently use (and therefore earn profits and experience points from) the same amount of buildings as you have citizens. Luckily, adding various Bungalows to your island allows you to earn more citizens.

Each item, whether it be a quarry, woodcutter's stump, religious totem or otherwise, can be scheduled to earn money over a varying amount of time. This is the main "contract" portion of the game, allowing you to assign your citizens to a particular structure from anywhere from 3 minutes to 2 days at a time. Of course, the longer your citizens stays, the more rewards you'll earn in the end.

Stones, wood planks, and vials all come into play when you want to add new structures to your island, as you'll need wood to build homes, and so on. You'll also need to purchase these buildings with coins, making the title a bit like FrontierVille, in that you have to worry about not only how many coins you have in your virtual pocketbook, but also how much wood you have as well. There is also a quest system, that like seen in FrontierVille, that asks you to perform certain tasks, purchase certain items, and more, all with the reward of more coins or experience points.

In addition, Island God contains an energy system, but instead of requiring energy to perform basic gameplay actions, here, you're allowed to spend the energy performing "Godly" tasks. These tasks can be lighting torches to bring fire to the island, or even blessing or smiting your villagers so that they'll instantly complete the job they are currently working on. It's in this that the game starts to take on a personality of its own.

Depending on whether or not you perform good, pure, blessing actions, or evil, smiting actions, your island will change in appearance as a response. You can also affect the growth and technological advancement of your island by researching tools, expansions and such from the Research Menu.

Some of the game's features are locked until you reach at least level 5, but we're guessing that the gameplay here is original enough to keep most players playing for that long (or longer). If you're interested in becoming an Island God, you can do so by heading over to the game's official page on Facebook.

Restaurant City's magical new recipes: Chocolate Toads & Butternut Squash

As we told you earlier today, this week's weekly theme in Playfish's Restaurant City is "Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem." The theme is a blatant nod to the Harry Potter line of books and movies, and in a typical move for the game, the theme's menu items have hit players' menus a bit in advance of the decorative items themselves.

The two new recipes are the Chocolate Toads dessert dish, and the Butternut Squash drink item (think a squash puree). As for the Chocolate Toads, you can learn this recipe by having one Chocolate, one Milk, and one Mint ingredient. The Butternut Squash recipe, then, interestingly requires one Soda, one Ice Cream, and one Butter.

Neither of these dishes are labeled as only being available for a limited time, which, along with the fact that they are buried quite deeply within their respective sections of the menu (limited dishes tend to show up first in line), leads us to believe that they are permanent additions to the game. Still, it couldn't hurt to learn these dishes now, even if you don't master them right away, just to make sure you have them for future use in your catalog.

Cast a spell with new Restaurant City decorative items

While Playfish might have initially claimed that the new Harry Potter "Magic, Mystery & Mayhem" items would be launching in Restaurant City on Thursday, it appears that some lucky chefs are already getting their hands on the items in the theme, as the game updated just a few minutes ago to launch them in the store.

The theme contains all of the items you'll need to create both a magically themed restaurant, but also give off the feeling of walking into Hogwarts, with wooden school benches and desks, a blackboard, globe, and a school dining table, along with all sorts of decorative items, like giant spiders, potion bottles and racks, castle pillars, arches, and other architectural details. You can even purchase a Floating Car or a quartet of Floating Candles to really add the feeling of magical amazement to your restaurant.

What makes the theme so blatantly Harry Potter-oriented are the two figures available to purchase from the Decorations portion of the store - Ham-oniony and Harry Butter, who are clearly molded after Hermione and Harry from the insanely popular series. It makes sense that Playfish would go down this route, especially right now, as the newest film in the series will be released later this month in the US.

For now, if you'd like to add a magical flair to your restaurant, be sure to pick up these items while they are easily available in the game's store. Also, for a larger look at all of the available items, check out the official Restaurant City blog.

FarmVille Winter Holiday Decorations: Lighted Train, Candy Gate, Arch & Fence

What better way to begin the winter holiday celebration than to purchase some new decorative items in FarmVille? There are four new decorations, to be exact, with most of these items allowing you to create a completely separated, yet themed area on your farm this winter.

First, though, there is the Lighted Train, a individual item that costs 22 Farm Cash. If you have the Lighted Gift Box from last year's celebration, you'll recognize the design of the train (which comes with the engine, one car and a caboose connected), as it is bright blue, with animated flashing lights that make it appear as though the train is moving, just as the Lighted Gift Box flashes lights on its ribbon.

The other items are those I spoke of earlier - those items that will help you truly set your other Winter Holiday items apart, in the form of fences and other dividers. It should be noted, though, that these items will be familiar to those who were playing FarmVille at this time last year, as they were available then as well. The items are the Candy Gate, which costs 7 Farm Cash, the Candy Arch, priced at 2,000 coins, and a single piece of Candy Fencing, which costs just 800 coins.

Take special note of the Candy Fencing price - normally, themed pieces of fencing cost at least 5,000 coins per square, so this is a definite bonus for those who want to create an expansive Winter / Christmas themed area on their farms this winter.

Mafia Wars Don's Dinner - Invite your friends for a "wild" good time

While Thanksgiving may be over in the real world, it is still days from completion in the world of Mafia Wars, as Zynga has announced the launch of a small feature in Mafia Wars entitled "Don's Dinner."

This feature will pop up the next time you log into the game, and will be available to complete for almost the next four days (give or take a few minutes). The event is simple - your task is to invite nine of your friends to join you at Don's Dinner. This is done by posting invites directly to your mafia members' Facebook profile walls. You can do so by clicking on the Post Invite buttons you see under the "Pick Mafia to Invite" section. For a bit of clarity, our screenshot above has been altered to protect our neighbors' privacy, but in your own game, there will be a friend's name and profile picture above each "Post Invite" button.

Once you successfully invite nine friends (that is, once nine friends click on the invite on their walls), you'll receive a free "Wild Turkey" animal item. This Wild Turkey has some really impressive stats, especially when considering how little you actually need to do to receive it. If you have lots of active mafia members, you'll receive this 79 Attack and 65 Defense point animal in no time flat - it's a good thing too, as there are only a few days left before this bird, and the event, fly away for good.

RockYou CEO steps down as part of company restructuring

TechCrunch has reported that Lance Tokuda, CEO of RockYou, has stepped down from his role in the company. RockYou are best known for their Birthday Cards application and social game Zoo World, but also have several other successful applications on Facebook such as Hug Me and Pieces of Flair.

Tokuda will be staying with the company, but is changing to a new role in which he is working on 'innovation and strategic initiatives'. This is all part of the corporate restructuring that has taken place after the company laid off around 30% of their staff in mid-October. Tokuda bas been a CEO and founder of RockYou since January of 2006 and clearly has played a big role in the company's success up until now.

RockYou are now going to be focusing heavily on their social game strategy, however their latest title Toy Land doesn't look like it's doing so hot.

Unseating FarmVille: Have social games seen better days?

We reported earlier this week that FarmVille has been ousted as the top Facebook application, with the Phrases application coming out on top as of this week. For those of us who work with these games day after day, we know that FarmVille falling to 54 million players from 84 million players isn't the end of the world. An article posted today in PC World claims that this is a sign of general social gaming woes:

    It's like Zynga is scrambling to add more sources of air to a deflating bubble. The fact that a random quiz app could unseat Farmville from its top spot, even temporarily, shows that social games have seen better days.

    [Source: PCWorld]

We think that this article was a bit sensational and overblowing the situation. Many articles on the web talk about social games as if there is only one game (FarmVille) or only one company (Zynga) who are playing a part in the massively popular gaming trend. What these articles fail to mention is that smaller developers are now showing huge successes, and that there are many more companies out there making social games. There are currently 10 social game developers with over 10 million monthly active users across their games. Another 12 with over 5 million MAU. And over 75 other lesser-known social game developers who have games with over 1 million players combined. This is no easy feat, and nothing to sneeze at.

Social games are diversifying. The days of Zynga not only ruling the roost but also being the only major player are dead. There are up-and-coming developers such as Digital Chocolate that are pumping out high quality games at an unbelievable pace. Massive brands such as Google (who purchased Slide), EA (who purchased Playfish), and Disney (who purchased Playdom) are coming in and putting existing IP and familiar faces into new and existing games.

Social games aren't dying, by any means. The loss in numbers of FarmVille is an indicator of the game's age and lifecycle, and the vast number of new games by new companies that are being released weekly. It's never looked better for social game players, nor social game developers. Using FarmVIlle as an indicator of social game health as a whole is a rookie mistake that many journalists are making, but at Games.com - The Blog, we know better because we are completely immersed in Facebook games.

CausePlay aims to create games for good causes with Hospitopia

Hospitopia
One of the more interesting ideas coming out of the social gaming space is the idea of using games to raise money for real life charities. We've seen Zynga do quite a bit of this with their Sweet Seeds for Haiti FarmVille partnership, or their new Candy Cane campaign to donate 100% of their proceeds to the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. Sony Online's latest game, Wildlife Refuge, is donating profits from cheetah sales to the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Now, a new company aims to create social games for social good on a regular basis.

CausePlay is a new social games developer founded by Jonas Hudson that aims to create games that benefit a worthy nonprofit organization. They clearly see the potential due to millions of players enjoying social games, and want to revolutionize the way that people donate to their favorite causes. The company aims to create a marketing tool within their games called Cause Integration, which allows brands to plug in their promotions easily within their social game titles.

The first game by CausePlay will be released in January 2011, and is titled Hospitopia. The game sounds similar to Simply Hospital, in which players will manage their own hospital and take care of patients. The big difference is that 10% of all game revenue will be going to the Children's Miracle Network hospitals to care for children in need. You can become a fan of the game's Facebook page for more news as the game gets closer to its release date.

CausePlay, based out of Manhattan Beach, CA, aims to release at least three more social game titles in 2011, and also will be holding a vote on Facebook to have people choose which cause their next game will be developed to support. As of right now, the company appears to only have a Facebook page set up. We'll be keeping our eyes closely on Hospitopia and can't wait to see how CausePlay raises money through social gaming.

Zynga's CityVille could overthrow FarmVille tomorrow, reporter claims

Remember when we mentioned that CityVille was dangerously close to beating FarmVille as the top Zynga Facebook game? Well, it could happen as early as tomorrow, according to a speculative report by Social Times. If true, this could drastically change the playing field, with FarmVille living in the shadow of a far more current social game with enhanced visuals and more streamlined progression.

Social Times cites AllFacebook's recent findings that CityVille is, as of this writing, sitting at 54.7 million monthly players while FarmVille waits for what seems to be inevitable at 56.6 million. With Zynga's other games below second place trailing behind by as much as 20 and 30 million fewer players (Zynga Poker, FrontierVille and Mafia Wars, respectively), CityVille could be number one for a long time. We'll see if Zynga, and the CityVille team especially, get their early Christmas gift tomorrow.

While this news is huge, here's the next $1 million question: what new game could beat CityVille? Could the rumored sequel to Mafia Wars do the trick?

FrontierVille 12 Days of Christmas Goals: Everything you need to know for Day 10

On the Tenth Day O' Christmas
The FrontierVille advent calendar has opened yet another of its doors and inside is today's 12 Days of Christmas Goal, "On the Tenth Day O' Christmas." On a surprising note, this Goal is considerably easier than yesterday's, but only for you seasoned pioneers.

While anyone can buy, raise and sell 10 Adult Goats, which would take about 100 Energy and 1,950 coins total to do from scratch, only players who have reached and completed the Jackalope Lodge will be able to complete this Goal in a timely fashion. But do this and collect from the Lodge twice to be two steps closer to completing Day 10 of this 12-mission series. Lastly, all you need to do is buy and build the Snowman, which I imagine most of the game's dedicated have already accomplished.

But for those of you that haven't, the Snowman costs 100 coins from the Market to place. From there, you'll need to collect several items from friends to complete the Snowman after whacking it a few times. Finally, players can customize their Snowman with different arms, faces, hats and scarves. Constructing the Snowman will complete this Goal and inch you one day closer to that Partridge in a Pear Tree. No matter how you slice it, this Goal will take a few days to complete, but check out our guides for the Jackalope Lodge and Buildable Snowman for some tips on how to get those done quickly.

Find the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.

Have you tried or completed this Goal yet? What tips might you have to help your fellow pioneers to finish this quickly?

Love Mafia Wars? Then prove it and join the "I Love Mafia Wars" Family

Well, do you? Then Zynga is asking you to prove your devotion and join the brand new "I Love Mafia Wars" Family for exclusive benefits. However, signing up requires what some players would deem the unthinkable: providing your e-mail and mailing address to Zynga (especially since the fiasco earlier this season). For those who are OK with giving that information up, enticing benefits await them like:

    Beta access to new features and releases (you'll be one of the first)
    Exclusive Contests and Prizes for members
    Email notifications of upcoming features
    Priority registration to MW Fan events
    Periodic "Member Only" promotions
    Other Benefits to come!


To guaranteed access to beta content before anyone else is certainly appealing, but is worth giving up your e-mail much less you mailing address? That's up for you to decide, but mobsters who are already interested can sign up right here. Now, if only a program like this was around when those premium MADE in Vegas tickets were still on sale. As for some of the "other benefits to come," how does early access to this supposed Mafia Wars 2 sound?

Have you decided to join the I Love Mafia Wars Family yet? Do you think the perks are worth giving up that information?

Cookie Monster YouTube game asks 'Will it Sink or Float?'

Our beloved blue fur ball from the around the corner on Sesame Street, Cookie Monster, has become somewhat of a YouTube sensation lately. And his most recent outing on the ubiquitous video site is, thankfully for you parents' sake, much more educational. In the "Sink or Float" YouTube game, Cookie Monster and his friend Emma ask for your help in testing whether five different objects will either sink or float in a tank of water.

Like most standard interactive YouTube games, clicking on one of the four options will jump you to the result, which will have another set of options toward the end of the video. More specifically, your task is to answer whether one of five items, Ernie's rubber ducky, a lemon, a lime, a coconut or a rubber band ball, will sink or float in water. The game's primary goal is to give kids a crash course in the scientific method. But if you have a fish tank (or in my case an aquatic turtle tank), just remember to keep it firmly sealed in case the little ones get any smart ideas.

With the bonafide blue beast recently attracting over 1.5 million people to his Saturday Night Live audition tape, a regularly updated video blog on Facebook and a his own Tumblr, we doubt Cookie Monster will be leaving the internet behind anytime soon. Let's just hope his future exploits are as fun as this one.

FarmVille Clumsy Reindeer available as Free Gift for limited time

Thanks to our good friends at FarmVille Freak, we're happy to bring the news that the Clumsy Reindeer has returned to FarmVille as a free gift. For a short time (most likely through Christmas), players can send one another as many of these doofy reindeer as they like. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a reindeer that could potentially sabotage Santa Claus' midnight mission on Dec. 25 without even knowing it.

Check out our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.

Have you seen the Clumsy Reindeer in your game as a free gift yet? How many do you plan to send to your friends?

CityVille killer? Zynga's Empires & Allies rockets to 23 million players

For all intents and purposes, it's crazy town at Zynga HQ right now. Empires & Allies, the studio's newest Facebook game, has reached over 23 million monthly players in just over two weeks since June 1, according to AppData. Actually, we're getting an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu in the office--oh yeah, CityVille enjoyed the same insane growth in almost exactly the same time frame.

In December of last year, the city-builder soared to 22 million players in less than two weeks. And we all know what happened afterward: The game continued to reign in players until it peaked at 101 million this January. (CityVille now enjoys a healthy chunk of that with over 90 million players.)

With the way Empires & Allies is going, this new strategy combat game could enjoy the same success as CityVille, if not eclipse it considering its potential hardcore appeal. In fact, the game has already accumulated nearly half of its predecessor's daily players with 7.7 million, though it's too early to tell whether that number will sustain over time. It's already clear that Zynga has struck gold yet again, as E&A has eclipsed several of the company's offerings that have been around for some time including FrontierVille, Mafia Wars and Cafe World. E&A could even be the second game to surpass FarmVille. Now isn't that a scary thought?

So, how did Zynga do it? Well, with promotions in FarmVille and CityVille regarding Empires & Allies, it's no surprise that the game has gotten this far. Not to mention that the game already is featured in RewardVille and above every Zynga game out there via the bar that sits above each of them. However, what we think is truly going to hook more gamers is its target demographic--those 90 million plus CityVille fans.

Much of the game is quite similar it is to its predecessor, softening the barrier to entry that the game's combat might present. Either way, with two new mobile games in Hanging with Friends and CityVille Hometown, and now another mega hit Zynga just might be able to afford that vacation to Mars for its staff. Oops, did we ruin the surprise?

Steam goes social (and free) with Spiral Knights by Sega and more

Spiral Knights in action
You know this whole social games thing those whippersnappers are talking about is big when Steam gets into the game. The premier PC games distribution platform from Valve, creators of the Left 4 Dead and Half-Life (read: hardcore) franchises, has just signed on five free-to-play games for gamers to enjoy for, well, free! The games include hits like Forsaken World and Champions Online. But most notable of which is Spiral Knights, a brand new casual online role-playing game, or RPG, published by Sega and developed by San Francisco-based Three Rings. Did we mention it's free? Because it totally is.

Spiral Knights is a top-down, hack 'n slash RPG that isn't a far cry from games like The Legend of Zelda. Players assume the role of a Spiral Knight (no way, really?) as they delve deeper into the "Clockworks" of an unknown planet named Cradle. Your mission? Find a way home for your people by harvesting new materials to repair their busted spacecraft. You'll do just that through countless ever-changing dungeons presented in a style that harkens back to the good old days of gaming. And you can dungeon crawl with up to four friends at a time, create guilds, and craft your own armor and weapons with what you find.

Spiral Knights on Steam
"A game with strong co-operative and social elements like Spiral Knights is, put simply, a great fit for Steam," said Three Rings CEO Daniel James in a statement. "Beyond the convenience of automatic game updates and easy Energy purchases through Steam, our players will be able to enjoy their time in the Clockworks with their existing Friends List members, aided by built-in voice chat and instant messaging."

The game, since it is free to play (we hope that's sunken in by now), is supported by micro-transactions for new duds and the like, but most important is Crystal Energy. As you dive deeper into the Clockworks, you will need more of this Energy to operate the gates that unlock those dungeons. Luckily, just like in your favorite Facebook games, that Energy refills over time. You can check out the lot of Steam's new free-to-play games right here, and get to playing some Spiral Knights already ... we could always use more dungeon buddies.

Zynga slaps Brazilian social game creator Vostu with lawsuit for copycatting

Zynga vs Vostu
Look, we all know Zynga has been pegged before for, how do you say, being inspired by their competitors' works. But that pales in comparison to what Vostu, a Brazilian social game publisher has done with popular games like CityVille and PetVille. The developer south of the equator has essentially copied several Zynga games wholesale--mistakes and all, as TechCrunch reports--into games like Mega City and Pet Mania. Lo and behold, Zynga has slapped Vostu with a big ol' lawsuit for, you guessed it, infringement. Zynga had this to say in its lawsuit:

    Vostu has brazenly appropriated the copyright-protected aspects of Zynga's games(as well as almost every other aspect of Zynga's business) – with scant effort to mask their strategy– and then offered games virtually identical to Zynga's games to prospective players in the United States and elsewhere.

Basically (and based on its previous run-ins with companies), Zynga sees drawing inspiration from and downright copying the opposition verbatim, as two different things. Though, again, that's also a slippery slope. The lawsuit, which Zynga filed in a San Francisco court (and TechCrunch has in full right here), displays detailed comparisons between its games and Vostu's, clearly supporting its case. It's a shame, too, because we'd love to see Vostu's take on games like FarmVille for iPhone--mistakes and all.

FarmVille web is coming to iPhone? Maybe, thanks to Facebook's 'Project Spartan'

Will we soon be able to play stock FarmVille on iOS devices? Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but Zynga is involved in a project that could take Facebook for iOS from the App Store to its Safari mobile web browser. It's called "Project Spartan," and it's Facebook's HTML5-based answer to avoiding Apple's control over app distribution through its App Store. Zynga is reported by TechCrunch to have joined 80-or-so other developers on the massive project that will essentially bring all of Facebook and its Flash-based apps into HTML5, and thus mobile--and that includes games.

So, if Zynga is reportedly working on games to work directly within Facebook (most likely its existing games--just in a different code base), what does this mean for not only its existing games in the App Store, but those that are likely on the way? Will Zynga have any reason to support those games if its web-based games like CityVille and FarmVille, which bring in a major chunk of its 264 million players, will be right in Safari?

Facebook still has plenty of work to do when it comes to monetization, which by July 1 will likely be solidified when Facebook Credits becomes the currency of choice, or lack thereof, for developers and us gamers alike. Oh, and did we mention that Android will be included in this as well, as TechCrunch reports? With 'Project Spartan,' the future of Zynga's mobile games is uncertain, but either way the results will certainly be interesting. We've contact Zynga for comment, so stay tuned.

EA takes The Sims Social down, puts 'Coming Soon' sign up

It looks like the town of Littlehaven is having a power outage. Since around 2 a.m. Aug. 10, The Sims Social, EA's brand new ambitious attempt to bring its mega hit casual franchise to Facebook, has been out of commission.

When players head to the app through Facebook, they're greeted with an admittedly misleading sign that reads, "Coming Soon! Undergoing beta testing." However, The Sims Social is clearly already here, and is, according to EA, in its open beta. (Or, if you ask us, its release.)

EA and Playfish have clarified on The Sims Social forums that the game is currently down for repairs, and that it will not reset players' progress, as many fans already fear. Here's the full statement from Playfish Community Manager Lady Coconut:

"The Sims Social is currently in Open Beta, which means we're calibrating and fine-tuning to ensure you will have the best playing experience possible. Please bear with us while we fix some of the issues that some of you have been having, during which time the game may be unavailable from time-to-time. Rest assured that we will not be resetting the game during this maintenance period, so you won't lose any progress, SimCash or relationships that you have built up so far."

We're sure that The Sims Social would prove to be an impressive addition to the company's Facebook catalog, if we could just play it already. (Based on my brief, brief experience with the game, I'm actually enjoying it, mind you.) Yesterday, the game suffered a number of issues regarding performance, and our guess is that this is the result of those frequent crashes, freeze-ups and other errors players have been struggling to play the game through. No ETA has been given on The Sims Social's return, so I guess you could go play the original Sims games while you wait. Just remember to check back ...

Kixeye CEO: 'CityVille is a good game,' but its 'exact opposite audience'

The real question is, however, is would Kixeye CEO Will Harbin (pictured) call Empires & Allies, the number one strategy game on Facebook, a good strategy game? During an interview with Gamasutra, Harbin got into his company's struggles to prove that Facebook truly is a legitimate gaming platform. He mentioned that, based on his first interactions with FarmVille that he "wouldn't call it a game." However, when CityVille released in late 2010, Harbin was visibly impressed.

"When more of the traditional game guys came into Zynga, you started seeing more original titles," Harbin told Gamasutra. "CityVille is a good app, it's a good game! They kind of took like the interesting parts of, say SimCity, combining with the harvesting mechanics of FarmVille. I was pretty surprised when Zynga launched that game; it was a lot better than I expected of what they could do."

It's interesting that Harbin makes this point considering Zynga's CityVille has under fire from companies like Brazilian developer Vostu, which claims that the big time creator has copied other games while designing its own city-builder. But more importantly, Harbin makes a distinction between his audience and the FarmVille crowd: They're not the same at all. Harbin has no interest in catering to this audience, and that approach has apparently done Kixeye quite well. (And the company likely hopes it will do even better with its upcoming game, War Commander.)

"... Battle Pirates launched about a little while ago, and it's doing super well, it's very sticky in terms the users that are playing," Harbin gushed to Gamasutra. "That game was really driven by us wanting to make cool games that we wanted to play that aren't on Facebook. That's the bottom line. I'm on Facebook hours a day, and all these people are playing games are putting stupid crap on my wall. There's something to this, but there's no content that appeals specifically to me."

While Harbin goes on to elaborate, which you can read here, the main takeaway is this: Harbin and Kixeye claim to attract an audience that is not your average social gamer, and they're doing quite well at it. In fact, players of games like Kixeye's Battle Pirates--the company's most recent real-time strategy game--are coming from their Starcraft's and Call of Duty's for a hardcore experience on Facebook, according to Harbin. So, will the existing nearly 80 million hardcore Facebook gamers grow? If Harbin and Kixeye have anything to do about, then absolutely.

Portal creator takes hint from Zynga, updates Steam with game, item gifting

Well, imitation is the finest form of flattery. GamePro reports that Valve, the creator of hit shooters like Portal, Team Fortress 2 (TF2) and the popular online game store slash community Steam, has introduced out-of-game hat trading to TF2. Better yet, Steam users can trade and gift full games with one another, though they must be brand new, never-before-played copies.

Now, a little background: As players bust a cap into numerous enemies in TF2 they accumulate or buy hats, cosmetic items that change their characters' headdress into slightly more unique designs (usually in humorous ways like so). Before today, players could only trade hats within the game, but now players can trade and gift these items from Steam client. The feature is called Steam Trading, and it sure sounds a lot like gifting in games like FarmVille and Empires & Allies.

In Facebook games, gifting can be done both in an outside of the game through either each game's gifting page or by responding to News Feed posts that friends provide. Since this Steam Trading system works within its Group Chat and Steam Friends list, we're gonna go out on a limb and say that this is less coincidence and more ... adaptation.

While trading full games to other players is certainly new regardless, it's the fact that Steam is opening itself up to this new layer of friend interaction normally reserved for social games that's interesting. This is far from the first move Valve has made with its Steam platform toward social game-like tendencies. First, the company brought in free-to-play games like Spiral Knights--of course, social games are free-to-play as well. Then, Valve introduced a free component to TF2, allowing players to enjoy a somewhat limited version of the game for no upfront cost, though it was sure to keep those micro-transactions open.

Now, players can send each other gifts without even opening TF2, and can send each other full games from the Steam client (as long as they're brand new copies, like leftovers from a bundle purchase). And Valve has even introduced Friend Tagging to the service to more easily organize and search for your friends--likely those who gift often.

Steam Trading is currently in beta testing--and we all know what sometime implies--but this feature won't stop here. According to GamePro, Steam Trading will cross over into Portal 2 and later the developer's third-party game offerings. Valve games like Team Fortress 2 are tightrope-walking the line between hardcore and Facebook game, and we have a good feeling of which way they're going to fall in the future. To learn more about Steam Trading, check out the FAQ here.

FarmVille-creator Zynga acquires new target: Angry Birds

After the acquisition hungry Zynga lost out on Bejeweled creator PopCap (which was purchased by Electronic Arts for $750M), AllThingsD says that the social game maker has purportedly set Angry Birds maker Rovio in its sights. The two companies have purportedly been talking about a deal, though official sources are staying mum for now.

There are plenty of reasons that these two companies would make fine-feathered friends, mostly a combination of the fact that Rovio has ambitious plans for Angry Birds, aiming to hit 1 billion downloads (what better way to do that than by harnessing the power of Zynga's existing audience) and that Zynga has been focusing more on its mobile games business of late (maybe as a way to stop relying too much on Facebook for its success).

If Zynga does manage to capture Angry Birds, our first bet will be on just how soon the company would migrate the mobile gaming hit to Facebook, much like it recently did with another big mobile 'get,' Words with Friends.

Zynga, Treasure Isle GM leaves social games for social love, joins eHarmony

Sometimes ... you just have to follow your heart. TechCrunch reports that Zynga executive Jeremy Verba (pictured far right) has left his position as GM of hit game Treasure Isle to become the CEO of eHarmony, the ubiquitous online dating service. (I think we've all seen that old white guy tout the service enough on TV.) Confirmed on his Linkedin profile, Verba worked with Zynga since December 2009.

While Treasure Isle certainly isn't Zynga's most popular, it's still worthy of "hit" status at 5.6 million monthly players and over 1 million of those being daily players, according to AppData. The timing sounds even more odd when you consider that the company could go public any day now, raising another cool $1 billion and realizing a potential $20 billion valuation. Perhaps it was simply the title of CEO that lured him in. (Though, I'd personally want to be with the potentially most valuable games company ever.)

As Verba leaves the company, Zynga is reportedly reeling in a number of execs from other games companies, namely EA. Just this year, former EA CCO John Schappert has joined Zynga. It's also rumored that Jeff Karp, VP of the publisher's EA Play division, has left for Zynga along with Mark Turmell, creator of NBA Jam and formerly senior creative director at EA Sports.

According to TechCrunch, eHarmony has enjoyed growth through its mobile apps and generally across its web offerings, and operates in 16 countries. Hey, maybe the guy just got bored of being on top in the games biz. But considering the guy has a wife and kids, according to his Twitter profile, we seriously doubt he's looking for anything more than prestige and a pay upgrade.

Bejeweled Blitz tutorial video says, 'Multiplier cubes are your friend'

Want to rake in those high scores in Bejeweled Blitz like those friends of yours who seem to have way too much time on their hands? Well, listen to this guy and you might be well on your way. YouTube user bejeweledtips, who claims his real name is Wladscaw, posted a highly educational and even more entertaining video describing the power of what he calls "multiplier cubes." First, Wladscaw demonstrates a normal level in which he manages to achieve Blazing Speed, but still comes away with under 100 thousand points.

Enter the "multiplier cube." In his second round, Wladscaw scores over 300 thousand points with relative ease using multiplier cubes. And thankfully, this well-informed and articulate fellow goes into detail of just how he did it. Apparently, blowing up 12 jewels in a row will multiply your score for every subsequent set of jewels destroyed. When you reach upwards of seven multiplier cubes, that turns out to be a ton of points. But we'll admit, Wladscaw's enchanting Russian accent does a much better job of explaining than my hideous Philadelphian accent ever could, so enjoy. Check out his YouTube channel for even more tutorial videos. Now, if only our friend Wladscaw would start producing Zuma Blitz tutorials.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Fiorland Penguin, Koala, Caribou and more

    Fiorland Penguin     Caribou     Koala
See, I told you it wouldn't be long before Zynga thought up some more stuff. Soon, there will be a whole new set of animals and decorations to play around with in FarmVille. Thanks to FarmVille Freak, we have images of four new animals that may or may not appear in the game sometime soon. This time around a Fiorland Penguin might join us as well as a Koala, a Caribou and a Prz Foal.

While all four of these critters are equally adorable, that Prz Foal is most intriguing. Why? Well, because I previously had no idea where in the world it came from. As it turns out, its full name is the Przwalski's Horse and it currently reigns from Mongolia and China, but that's only after the breed was declared extinct for time. Thankfully, it was declared "critically endangered" by the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species in 2008 thanks to the reintroduction efforts by wildlife organizations in Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan. And soon, you might be able to raise one of your on your farm. Isn't digital life great?

FarmVille Cheats and Tips Guide

farmville cheats
These FarmVille Cheats & Tips have helped many farmers through the hardships of FarmVille on Facebook. Farming can be frustrating, time-consuming, and often dangerous, but with our extensive FarmVille Cheats & Tips guide, you'll be able to farm with ease. You're bound to learn a new cheat or tip from our FarmVille Cheats & Tips Guide.

Browse our FarmVille Cheats & Tips Guide below.


Note: The newest FarmVille Cheats & Tips Guides are at the top.
farmville cheats horse paddockgoalsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Horse Paddock Goals     farmville cheats horse paddockFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Horse Paddock Guide
farmville cheats cow pastureFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Cow Pasture Goals Guide     farmville cheats cow pastureFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Cow Pasture Guide
farmville lighthouse cove cheats restaurantFarmVille Lighthouse Cove Cheats & Tips:
Restaurant Guide     farmville lighthouse cove cheats bonus challenge goalsFarmVille Lighthouse Cove Cheats & Tips:
Bonus Challenges Goals
farmville lighthouse cove cheats repair lighthouseFarmVille Lighthouse Cove Cheats & Tips:
Repairing the Lighthouse Guide     farmville lighthouse cove cheats help guideFarmVille Lighthouse Cove Cheats & Tips:
Getting Started Guide
farmville aviary habitat cheats goalsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Aviary Habitat Goals     farmville cheats aviary habitatFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Aviary Habitat
farmville cheats zoo habitatFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Zoo Habitat Guide     farmville cheats zoo habitat goalsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Zoo Habitat Goals Guide
farmville cheats pet run goalsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Pet Run Goals Guide     farmville cheats pet run guideFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Pet Run Guide
farmville wildlife habitat guideFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Wildlife Habitat Goals Guide     farmville cheats wildlife habitatFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Wildlife Habitat Guide
farmville cheats raffle boothFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Raffle Booth Guide     farmville cheats raffle booth goalsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Raffle Booth Goals Guide
farmville cheats super cropsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Super Crops     farmville cheats sheep breeding patternsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
New Sheep Breeding Patterns
farmville water wheel gift linksFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Water Wheel Guide & Gift Links     farmville sheep breedingFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Upgraded Sheep Breeding Goals Guide
farmville cheats craft shopFarmVIlle Cheats & Tips:
Craft Shop Guide     craft shop goals guide farmville cheatsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Craft Shop Goals Guide
farmville royal wedding party guideFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Royal Wedding Party Guide     farmville cheats pig breedingFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Pig Breeding Guide
farmville spring basketFarmVille Cheats & TIps:
Spring Basket Guide     farmville cheats spring gardenFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Spring Garden Guide
farmville english countryside FarmVille English Countryside: The Complete Guide
farmville cheats greenhouse goalsFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Greenhouse Goals Guide     farmville cheats gnomeFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Gnome Guide
farmville cheats greenhouse guideFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Greenhouse Guide     farmville cheats greenhouse breeding guideFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Greenhouse Crop Breeding Guide
farmville cheats ducklingFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Duckling Guide    
farmville cheats breedingFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Breeding Guide
farmville cheats duck pond
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Duck Pond Guide
   
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Pigpen Expansion Guide
farmville cheats gifting links
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Gifting Links
    farmville cheats turkey roost
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Turkey Roost Guide
farmville cheats tree orchard
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Tree Orchard Guide
    farmville cheats feed trough
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Feed Trough Guide
farmville cheats haunted houe gifting links
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Haunted House Gifting Links
    farmville cheats combine
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Combine Vehicle Guide
farmville cheats truffles
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Truffles Guide
    farmville cheats pc world guideFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
PC World Guide
farmville cheats crafting masteryFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Crafting Mastery Guide     farmville cheats storage cellar
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Storage Cellar Guide
farmville cheats garage materials
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Garage Materials Gifting Links
    farmville cheats garage
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Garage Guide
farmville cheats bakeryFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Bakery Guide     farmville cheats crafting recipe
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Crafting Building Recipe Guide
farmville cheats crafting building
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Crafting Building Guide
    farmville cheats queen bee
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Queen Bee Guide
farmville cheats beehive
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Beehive Materials Gifting Links
    farmville cheats biplane
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Biplane Cost Formula
farmville cheats level guideFarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Level 90-999 Guide     farmville cheats crop mastery
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
All Crops Mastered
farmville cheats farmers market
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Farmer's Market Guide
    farmville cheats lost dog
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Keep Your Dog From Running Away
farmville cheats botanical garden
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Botanical Garden Guide
    farmville cheats nursery links
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Nursery Barn Gifting Links
farmville cheats nursery barn
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Nursery Barn Guide
    farmville cheats puppy kibble
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Puppy Kibble Gifting Links
farmville cheats puppy links
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Puppy Kibble Guide
    farmville cheats hay bale stacking
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Extreme Hay Bale Stacking
farmville cheats hay bale stacking
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Fence & Hay Bale Stacking Guide
    farmville cheats topiary
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Topiary Guide
farmville cheats trees
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Top 5 Trees
    farmville cheats crops
FarmVille Cheats & Tips:
Top 10 Cash Crops

Check out our other guides:
cityville cheats guide
CityVille Cheats & Tips Guide
    frontierville cheats guide
FrontierVille Cheats & Tips Guide

Do you have any more FarmVille Cheats or Tips?

FarmVille Sneak Peek: CityVille promotion coming to your farm soon?

FarmVille will soon get another taste of the city in one of Zynga's infamous cross promotions. While we covered this still unreleased item a few weeks ago, our friends at FarmVille Freak have found more images confirming that this CityVille promotional item will more than likely hit FarmVille soon. In addition to an image of the item itself, the blog found promotional artwork that will likely be placed in the game as pop ups.

However, we still haven't an idea in the slightest as to when or how this item will be implemented. But if you look closely at the item, it looks as if the Cow and Chicken are plotting a building design. With that said, we can imagine that players will be sent into CityVille on a quest that involves either what FarmVille players know best, farming, or creating a building of some sort. However, this is purely speculation. We'll have to wait and see what Zynga has cooking for another journey into the city.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Ski Shop, Alaskan Totem Pole, Resort Firepit

    Alaskan Totem Pole     Resort Firepit
Soon, players could be taking the farm to the North, if FarmVille Freak's most recent findings are any indication. The FarmVille fan blog recently found two unreleased decorations and one building that may or may not make their way into the game. But if they do, it appears that FarmVille is headed to Alaska for its next theme update. All three items have a decidedly northern look, but it's the word "Alaskan" in the title for the Alaskan Totem Pole item that's a dead giveaway.

Also included in what FarmVille Freak dug up is a Ski Shop and Resort Fire Pit. We can only hope that the Ski Shop becomes a functional building, if only a place to find new decorations much like the recent Holiday Tree. We'll see what comes of these items soon enough, but for now let's revel in the possibilities.

Earn 100 Free FrontierVille Horseshoes for buying from Pro Flowers

Flowers are crazy!
The Valentine's Day fever has caught up with FrontierVille now too? Is anyone safe? No, not really. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, because when you buy from Pro Flowers for that special lady through FrontierVille's Sponsored Link you'll earn a sweet 100 Horseshoes.

Just click on the banner ad beneath your game screen and then the big ol' green button to be redirected to Pro Flowers' website. From there, just order whatever you darn well please (but be generous, she deserves it) and allow about 30 minutes for the Horseshoes to post to your account. Now, how does it feel making both yourself and your loved one happy in a single purchase? Actually, that sounded kind of selfish--you better grab them some chocolates too.

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

Have you taken advantage of this offer yet? What do you plan to do for that lucky loved one this Valentine's Day?

Play social, casual games for cash in YooMee Games Arcade

Sure, you can play games like FrontierVille for Horseshoes, but how would you like to play for higher stakes? YooMee Games has launched its arcade platform of the same name where players can connect via Facebook and play adaptations of social and casual games for real cash money. Some of the launch games include established Facebook games like Bubble Town and classics like Pac Man and Frogger. All the while, the dollars just rack up, but there's a small catch.

By creating an account with Facebook Connect, you can immediately start playing games for cash through ongoing tournaments. However, you will have to make wagers to enter tournaments, which is where the prize money is drawn from. More players within a tournament means a higher cash pool, but it also means a higher chance of you losing to someone else. Wagers range from just $.50 to nearly $100, and the amount of potential gamers out there means those wagers could add up fast.

"More than fifty million people in the US are playing casual games online at least once a month, and they're spending more than $500 million per year on virtual goods and currencies," says YooMee Games CEO Prita Uppal. "YooMee is all about giving people a similar social gaming experience with the ability to win real-world cash and prizes."

Yoo Mee Games
But players don't earn cash or prizes directly. The arcade operates in a currency known simply as Gold, but it essentially represents American dollars. However, a player would have to turn in Tickets, another currency, for that cold hard cash. Tickets are earned through player wager games for Gold. Confused yet? I figured as much.

Basically, you will have to buy Gold with real cash via debit or credit before wagering it in tournaments. Then, winning high-stake tournaments will yield even more Gold and Tickets, which can be redeemed for cash and other prizes like digital cameras and iPod Touches. Sure, it all sounds like quite a gamble, but if you're the best Pac Man player you know it wouldn't hurt to give it a go.

[Source: The Next Web]

Would you be willing to bet on your Asteroids skills with the promise of real cash? Do you see this type of gaming platform taking off?

CityVille Valentine's Day mini-game + prizes: Everything you need to know

In honor of the day of love, CityVille on Facebook has rolled out a new Valentine's Day mini-game, where you create custom virtual cards and send them to friends. Of course, what good is sending cards if you don't get any in return. You'll also collect as many custom V-day cards from your fellow CityVille players, which will give you access to a slew of V-day themed prizes -- all of which, IMHO, are pretty freakin' adorable.

cityville valentine

To get started spreading the love around, click on the red heart that's on the right hand side of the game screen. The number in the middle heart shows how many admirers you have (in my case, that's 26) -- more about this soon.

valentines day make card tab

After you click on the heart you will open a pop-up window with three tabs -- Make Card, Your Admirers and Prizes.

The first tab that says 'Make Card' is the card creator, and you will be able to custom create a V-day greeting which you can send to your friends. You have the option of changing the text message at the top, the two characters on the card and the gift in the middle. Once you've come up with your favorite combo, hit 'Send Valentine.'

cityville send valentine friends list

The friend selector will appear and you can choose the lucky few who will receive your V-day card.

On the 'Your Admirers' tab, you'll see a list of friends who have sent you V-day wishes. Note that you can have several pages of admirers, so you might have to use the left and right arrows to scroll through them all.

cityville valentines day admirers
From this screen, you can view each of the customized cards by clicking on an admirer's picture. I found this one rather amusing. If you want to be polite, you can hit the 'Share Thanks' button and post a message on your admirer's Facebook Wall that says, well, thanks!

cityville admirers card


The last tab in the CityVille Valentine's minigame is Prizes. Basically, the more admirers you collect as well as the variety of cards you receive, the more Valentine's Day themed prizes you will be able to call your own. If you don't want to wait until you have all of the admirers/cards you need, you can also buy each item using City Cash. You are also able to ask friends for help with you collection by posting a message to your Facebook wall. Note: Each prize can only be collected once AND you need to be at least level 5 to collect them.

cityville valentine prizes


Below is a list of the prizes and what you need to snag 'em all:

Cupid Statue: 1 Admirer
Photo Booth: 5 Admirers
Cupid Fountani: 15 Admirers
TK: 30 Admirers
Bed & Breakfast: 50 Admirers

cityville valentine day prizes

As I mentioned before, you can also get prizes based on the types of virtual cards you receive from friends. There are six types of Valentine's Day cards and you can tell which one belong to which category by the icon that appears at the bottom right of the card. The card in the image below is a 'Tough Love' card, denoted by the crab icon. Tough, indeed! Icons for the other cards (as well as the prizes for each card) are listed below.

citville vday card

Pink Heart Topiary: Return to Sender card
Pink Cupid Topiary: Tough Love card
Red Cupid Topiary: Love Hurts card:
Red Heart Topiary: Feather Friends card:
Yellow Heart Topiary: Food Fight card
Yellow Cupid Topiary: Secret Admirer card
Spa Business: Collect Them All
cityville valentines day admirers

cityville valentines day prizes

JUST ADDED! If you are wondering how to create a certain type of card, take look at the six images below.

cityville valentine day card types

And, that's it for the CityVille Valentine's Day mini-game!

We need your help! We're missing a few names of the prizes above. If you know what they are, please leave 'em in the comments below.

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