happy aquarium hammerhead shark
Last week Happy Aquarium released the first in a series of BIG fish. The Giant Sunfish was almost ten times the size of Happy Aquarium's other fish. This week, they're gone the large route again with the Hammerhead Shark. This toothy, hungry and sometimes dangerous fish will also dominate your tank with its size. However, this fish is only available while supplies last so head over to Happy Aquarium if you're interested.
The Hammerhead Shark costs 79 Pearls or 66 Facebook Credits, making him quite the investment. On the other hand, it is pretty great having a huge shark in your tank. Regardless, there are only about 26,000 left, so if you're considering a purchase, don't wait too long.
Click here to play Happy Aquarium>
Thứ Hai, 13 tháng 2, 2012
Mafia Wars: Free gift RM Crumpet is a lemon
Mafia Wars released a new free gift, the RM Crumpet, for players to send to their friends. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, and since we aren't paying anything in this case, it's no surprise this vehicle qualifies as lackluster. The RM Crumpet certainly won't be turning the heads of those looking for powerful weaponry, but it may appeal to collectors.
The vehicle boasts 19 Attack and 15 Defense making it a lower-end item. Nonetheless, it is free, so you might consider taking a break from sending red or blue mystery bags, and send your buddy a RM Crumpet. Thanks Zynga.
Click here to play Mafia Wars>
The vehicle boasts 19 Attack and 15 Defense making it a lower-end item. Nonetheless, it is free, so you might consider taking a break from sending red or blue mystery bags, and send your buddy a RM Crumpet. Thanks Zynga.
Click here to play Mafia Wars>
Pet Society: Set out on an adorable Treasure Hunt for unique items
pet society digging
Earlier this week, Pet Society was hinting at a new feature. All they had released was a silhouetted image of a pet with a shovel. As many fans correctly predicted, the feature was treasure hunting. To go treasure hunting, from your home, click the Hunt for Treasure button at the bottom of your screen and select the Town Forest.
There are a total of 13 items to collect in the Town Forest. Continue reading to see a complete list.
pet society treasure hunting pet society hunt for treasure
Once at the forest, digging functions similar to a game of mine sweeper. If the treasure is more than 2 spaces in any direction from where you dug, it will say nothing found. If the treasure is 2 spaces away it will say, treasure nearby. Finally, if the treasure is one space away from where you dug, you will receive the message: treasure very close. Keep digging to hone in on that buried treasure. It is possible to find four items each session. Don't worry about running out of shovels, you can buy an additional five for 300 Coins.
forest aquarium pet society dinosaur skeleton
The treasures in the Town Woods are as follows:
Forest Aquarium
Summer Sofapet society treasure hunting
Divine Tiara
Blue Fossil Shell
Pink Monkey Plushie
Pink Snail
Running Pet Amphora
Flower Seed
Ancient Wall Painting
Ceramic Flute
Fish in a Jar
Big Stone Dino Fossil (Requires finding all seven parts)
Purple Mushroom
Everyone loves finding treasure and now you can carry out your treasure hunt right in Pet Society, no need to head over to Treasure Isle. The best part is: no Playfish Cash required. Head over to Pet Society to hunt for treasure yourself.
Click here to play Pet Society>
Earlier this week, Pet Society was hinting at a new feature. All they had released was a silhouetted image of a pet with a shovel. As many fans correctly predicted, the feature was treasure hunting. To go treasure hunting, from your home, click the Hunt for Treasure button at the bottom of your screen and select the Town Forest.
There are a total of 13 items to collect in the Town Forest. Continue reading to see a complete list.
pet society treasure hunting pet society hunt for treasure
Once at the forest, digging functions similar to a game of mine sweeper. If the treasure is more than 2 spaces in any direction from where you dug, it will say nothing found. If the treasure is 2 spaces away it will say, treasure nearby. Finally, if the treasure is one space away from where you dug, you will receive the message: treasure very close. Keep digging to hone in on that buried treasure. It is possible to find four items each session. Don't worry about running out of shovels, you can buy an additional five for 300 Coins.
forest aquarium pet society dinosaur skeleton
The treasures in the Town Woods are as follows:
Forest Aquarium
Summer Sofapet society treasure hunting
Divine Tiara
Blue Fossil Shell
Pink Monkey Plushie
Pink Snail
Running Pet Amphora
Flower Seed
Ancient Wall Painting
Ceramic Flute
Fish in a Jar
Big Stone Dino Fossil (Requires finding all seven parts)
Purple Mushroom
Everyone loves finding treasure and now you can carry out your treasure hunt right in Pet Society, no need to head over to Treasure Isle. The best part is: no Playfish Cash required. Head over to Pet Society to hunt for treasure yourself.
Click here to play Pet Society>
FarmVille Island Buildings: Tree Village, Island Resort, & Island Shanty
FarmVille Freak DarkFarmer's Island Resort
Three new limited edition Island themed buildings became available with tonight's FarmVille update.
The Tree Village, Island Resort, and Island Shanty can all be purchased with farm cash or coins during the next 12 days in the FarmVille Market.
FarmVille Island Shanty, Tree Villange, and Island Resort
FarmVille Island Buildings (June 10th 2010):
Tree Village – 42 FV$
Island Resort – 36 FV$
Island Shanty – 55,000 Coins
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Three new limited edition Island themed buildings became available with tonight's FarmVille update.
The Tree Village, Island Resort, and Island Shanty can all be purchased with farm cash or coins during the next 12 days in the FarmVille Market.
FarmVille Island Shanty, Tree Villange, and Island Resort
FarmVille Island Buildings (June 10th 2010):
Tree Village – 42 FV$
Island Resort – 36 FV$
Island Shanty – 55,000 Coins
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FarmVille Unreleased Oats Crop, Mastery Sign, Market Stall, & Bushel
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Farhan for finding these unreleased FarmVille Oats Seed, Oats Mastery Sign, Oats Market Stall, & Oats Bushel.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FarmVille Unreleased Lemon Balm Market Stall & Lemon Balm Bushel
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Farhan for finding these unreleased FarmVille Lemon Balm Market Stall & Lemon Balm Bushel.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Thứ Bảy, 11 tháng 2, 2012
FarmVille Unreleased Rappi Crop, Sugar Beets Crop, Triticale Crop, & Triticale Mastery Sign
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Shiori for finding these unreleased FarmVille Rappi Crop, Sugar Beets Crop, Triticale Crop, & Triticale Mastery Sign!
FarmVille Unreleased Rappi Crop, Sugar Beets Crop, Triticale Crop, & Triticale Mastery Sign
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Bookmark this site!
FarmVille Unreleased Rappi Crop, Sugar Beets Crop, Triticale Crop, & Triticale Mastery Sign
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Bookmark this site!
FarmVille Unreleased Swiss Ibex Goat Image & Animation
FarmVille Swiss Ibex Goat
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Dr. Green Thumb for finding this unreleased FarmVille Swiss Ibex Goat!
From its name, the Swiss Ibex Goat definitely seems to be part of the limited edition Swiss Alps theme. Perhaps, we can expect to see this new FarmVille Goat sometime this week.
Note: Unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market. Zynga is the sole owner of all their copyrighted images.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Dr. Green Thumb for finding this unreleased FarmVille Swiss Ibex Goat!
From its name, the Swiss Ibex Goat definitely seems to be part of the limited edition Swiss Alps theme. Perhaps, we can expect to see this new FarmVille Goat sometime this week.
Note: Unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market. Zynga is the sole owner of all their copyrighted images.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Nightclub City on Facebook connects players with real-life artists
You love the nightlife? You got to boogie? Then you're probably not spending your nights playing games on Facebook. But, during those off hours, you can keep the beats thumping by playing Nightlife City, a game on Facebook that lets you take a small club and turn it into an A-list nightlife destination by upgrading your digs, spinning tunes and building a rep which attracts more partying patrons.
The game from Booyah has actually been on Facebook since April 2010, and has been fairly popular, gathering a steady user base of 4.5 million fans. Nightlife City is a simulation game, and its strength lies in the fact that it's about music and dancing rather than farming or feeding virtual pets. One of the overlooked (and more interesting) parts of the game is that the music you play in the clubs is from real-life artists, many of which you haven't heard before if you aren't a club music aficionado. Even so, the artists are saying that being in this game has led new fans to them.
"Nightclub City has proven to be an amazing portal for me to uniquely engage with my fans. I've received tens of thousands of new Facebook fans that now connect with me and my music," says Miri Ben-Ari aka The Hip-Hop Violinist, Grammy Award Winner.
Booyah is best known for another app that intersects the real world with the virtual -- an iPhone app called MyTown. My Town is a cross between Foursquare and social game and, as of May 2010, crossed the 2 million user milestone. Nightclub City is only available on Facebook for now, but Booyah hints that the club game might migrate to other apps in the not-too-distant future. See you on the virtual dance floor.
Play Nightclub City on Facebook >
The game from Booyah has actually been on Facebook since April 2010, and has been fairly popular, gathering a steady user base of 4.5 million fans. Nightlife City is a simulation game, and its strength lies in the fact that it's about music and dancing rather than farming or feeding virtual pets. One of the overlooked (and more interesting) parts of the game is that the music you play in the clubs is from real-life artists, many of which you haven't heard before if you aren't a club music aficionado. Even so, the artists are saying that being in this game has led new fans to them.
"Nightclub City has proven to be an amazing portal for me to uniquely engage with my fans. I've received tens of thousands of new Facebook fans that now connect with me and my music," says Miri Ben-Ari aka The Hip-Hop Violinist, Grammy Award Winner.
Booyah is best known for another app that intersects the real world with the virtual -- an iPhone app called MyTown. My Town is a cross between Foursquare and social game and, as of May 2010, crossed the 2 million user milestone. Nightclub City is only available on Facebook for now, but Booyah hints that the club game might migrate to other apps in the not-too-distant future. See you on the virtual dance floor.
Play Nightclub City on Facebook >
Pet Society Blooper: Pumpkinhead
Pet Society Layering Issues
Recently, as I was visiting a friend, I ran into this funny situation. Pet 1, whose name is Poopy (I kid you not) is wearing an invisible ring and a pumpkin mask. Pet 2 is my pet peering through the pumpkin's eyes.
This bizarre moment is due to the layering issues of the game. If you've been playing Pet Society for some time, you've probably encountered a layering problem, when you see one thing on top of another that just doesn't look right. Sometimes, this is annoying, as it can mess up the design of your room. Other times, it can be a funny accident.
Credits: Poopy is owned by Rayan. Pet 2 is Sushi trying to imagine what his dad might look like.
Recently, as I was visiting a friend, I ran into this funny situation. Pet 1, whose name is Poopy (I kid you not) is wearing an invisible ring and a pumpkin mask. Pet 2 is my pet peering through the pumpkin's eyes.
This bizarre moment is due to the layering issues of the game. If you've been playing Pet Society for some time, you've probably encountered a layering problem, when you see one thing on top of another that just doesn't look right. Sometimes, this is annoying, as it can mess up the design of your room. Other times, it can be a funny accident.
Credits: Poopy is owned by Rayan. Pet 2 is Sushi trying to imagine what his dad might look like.
Hi5 raises $14 million, Prez tells Facebook to bring it on
You may be familiar with Hi5, unless you live in Thailand or South America, but the social network continues to bring in the bucks -- 14 million in this latest round -- to put toward its strategy of moving from a plain Jane network to one that embraces social gaming, including a built-in e-commerce system and the promise of free promotion to developers who upload their games to the network.
"This round of financing will fund our continued project development, investment in our commerce platform and gaming partnerships," says a Hi5 source.
The network is working furiously to compete with market leader Facebook, and Hi5 President and CTO Alex St. John (a former Microsoft exec and Wild Tangent founder) throws down the gauntlet in this recent Financial Times interview: "Facebook will make missteps because it wants to be a general-purpose social network and will not focus properly on gaming, leaving it to more specialised [sic] companies like his own Hi5 to produce winning models." Them's fighting words, but we're fairly certain the outspoken St. John is always game for a good fight.
"This round of financing will fund our continued project development, investment in our commerce platform and gaming partnerships," says a Hi5 source.
The network is working furiously to compete with market leader Facebook, and Hi5 President and CTO Alex St. John (a former Microsoft exec and Wild Tangent founder) throws down the gauntlet in this recent Financial Times interview: "Facebook will make missteps because it wants to be a general-purpose social network and will not focus properly on gaming, leaving it to more specialised [sic] companies like his own Hi5 to produce winning models." Them's fighting words, but we're fairly certain the outspoken St. John is always game for a good fight.
Thứ Năm, 9 tháng 2, 2012
Happy Pets new Random Cat and the Price of Being Unique
Happy Pets Random Cat notice
Happy Pets Random Cat is unpleasedWow, 150 Facebook Credits for a Random Cat is akin to $15 USD! Can anyone be that determined to own the most unique kitty on Happy Pets? And just to make it clear, the Random Cat isn't as random as you forking over the $15 for whatever appears. You get to click the randomizer as many times as you want until you settle on a kitty that doesn't look like a glop of colorful goo and cobbled together by a mad scientist.
Right now, the jury is out on how good this option is. Because for 150 FB Credits, you can just get a cat with features you do like, and perform your own mix-and-match for free, which is what the game is set up for anyway.
I think Crowdstar would've made more people happy and still made some money if they put the Crowdstar Cat up for sale, instead of re-releasing for free it to promote their Gamebar. (Not that I'm complaining about that! Cause I'm glad I got a second chance at it.) it might even be better if they gave this option for horses or dinosaurs. They're so new, there's currently a dearth of designs for those animals.
Happy Pets Random Cat is unpleasedWow, 150 Facebook Credits for a Random Cat is akin to $15 USD! Can anyone be that determined to own the most unique kitty on Happy Pets? And just to make it clear, the Random Cat isn't as random as you forking over the $15 for whatever appears. You get to click the randomizer as many times as you want until you settle on a kitty that doesn't look like a glop of colorful goo and cobbled together by a mad scientist.
Right now, the jury is out on how good this option is. Because for 150 FB Credits, you can just get a cat with features you do like, and perform your own mix-and-match for free, which is what the game is set up for anyway.
I think Crowdstar would've made more people happy and still made some money if they put the Crowdstar Cat up for sale, instead of re-releasing for free it to promote their Gamebar. (Not that I'm complaining about that! Cause I'm glad I got a second chance at it.) it might even be better if they gave this option for horses or dinosaurs. They're so new, there's currently a dearth of designs for those animals.
FishVille Flash Sale offers discounts for today only
FishVille has launched a sale today that offers 20% of Sand Dollars, discounts on premium items in the FishVille store, and also a points system that allows you to unlock exclusive fish by purchasing Sand Dollar items. This sale only lasts for another 4 hours as of this writing, so you'll have to hop aboard quick if you want a chance to partake in the sale.
Here is how the sale works. When you log in to FishVille, there is a button for the Flash Sale on the left side of your screen. If you click this button, you will see a button to gain a 20% discount on Sand Dollars. There is also a Reward Earning Meter that shows your progress towards unlocking the special fish. These fish have been available exclusively in the past, so they are rare but not brand new to the game.
In the Store, the prices have been slashed on plants, decorations, and creatures that cost Sand Dollars. Almost all of these items have received discounts ranging from 10% - 20%. Even the new Bayou themed items are included in the sale!
Log in to FishVille to take part in the Flash sale for the next four hours only.
Here is how the sale works. When you log in to FishVille, there is a button for the Flash Sale on the left side of your screen. If you click this button, you will see a button to gain a 20% discount on Sand Dollars. There is also a Reward Earning Meter that shows your progress towards unlocking the special fish. These fish have been available exclusively in the past, so they are rare but not brand new to the game.
In the Store, the prices have been slashed on plants, decorations, and creatures that cost Sand Dollars. Almost all of these items have received discounts ranging from 10% - 20%. Even the new Bayou themed items are included in the sale!
Log in to FishVille to take part in the Flash sale for the next four hours only.
InstantJam taps into Rock Band and Guitar Hero lovers on Facebook
Yesterday, our sister site Joystiq reported that InstantAction has just debuted a "Rock Band-style music game" called InstantJam onto Facebook.
We last heard of InstantAction in March, where the company hoped to revolutionize online gaming by giving games the versatility and portability of YouTube videos. InstantAction's embed technology would allow people to play games without the need for logging into games portals or sites like Facebook, in a way similar to how viewers can place and load YouTube videos anywhere on the web.
At the time, the company's passenger for this flagship project was The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition, which set sail on the Facebook seas for $9.99 USD back in April. But now, it seems that InstantAction is sold on developing its own online music game.
But the company isn't exactly blazing a new trail here -- similar games such as Foo Brew's JamLegend and Acclaim's RockFREE were reported closed last week. What InstantJam promises are special features, such as using songs from your computer and synching up with iTunes and Amazon to let you purchase music. You can also hook up a guitar controller to play the game instead of using a keyboard.
Facebook users can click here to check out the game, but be warned, the title is currently in closed beta, so there's a waiting list to get in. For those without Facebook, you can get a visual tour on InstantJam's official website.
We last heard of InstantAction in March, where the company hoped to revolutionize online gaming by giving games the versatility and portability of YouTube videos. InstantAction's embed technology would allow people to play games without the need for logging into games portals or sites like Facebook, in a way similar to how viewers can place and load YouTube videos anywhere on the web.
At the time, the company's passenger for this flagship project was The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition, which set sail on the Facebook seas for $9.99 USD back in April. But now, it seems that InstantAction is sold on developing its own online music game.
But the company isn't exactly blazing a new trail here -- similar games such as Foo Brew's JamLegend and Acclaim's RockFREE were reported closed last week. What InstantJam promises are special features, such as using songs from your computer and synching up with iTunes and Amazon to let you purchase music. You can also hook up a guitar controller to play the game instead of using a keyboard.
Facebook users can click here to check out the game, but be warned, the title is currently in closed beta, so there's a waiting list to get in. For those without Facebook, you can get a visual tour on InstantJam's official website.
Treasure Isle heats up with new Volcano Isles maps
Treasure Isle Volcano Isles map
It has been awhile since Treasure Isle released plain old regular maps, so players should be excited to see that a new set of seven volcano-themed maps have been launched today. These new maps are named the following:
Burning Phoenix - 15 Island Cash
Imp Fort
Old Gem Mine - 10 Island Cash
Phoenix Roost
Jeweled Palace
Fairy Castle - 5 Island Cash
Wrong Turn!
Players will be disappointed to see that three of the new maps require Island Cash to unlock, but that is the nature of these types of games. A post on the Treasure Isle Official Forums has explained that the new maps contain Phoenix Gates that need to be unlocked. These gates can be unlocked by digging up Phoenix Feathers in the Fire God Mountain, or buy purchasing them for 5 Island Cash each. It's interesting that gems don't seem like they will be important in these new maps, especially with the new Gem Mine that has been released.
What do you think of the new Volcano Isle maps?
It has been awhile since Treasure Isle released plain old regular maps, so players should be excited to see that a new set of seven volcano-themed maps have been launched today. These new maps are named the following:
Burning Phoenix - 15 Island Cash
Imp Fort
Old Gem Mine - 10 Island Cash
Phoenix Roost
Jeweled Palace
Fairy Castle - 5 Island Cash
Wrong Turn!
Players will be disappointed to see that three of the new maps require Island Cash to unlock, but that is the nature of these types of games. A post on the Treasure Isle Official Forums has explained that the new maps contain Phoenix Gates that need to be unlocked. These gates can be unlocked by digging up Phoenix Feathers in the Fire God Mountain, or buy purchasing them for 5 Island Cash each. It's interesting that gems don't seem like they will be important in these new maps, especially with the new Gem Mine that has been released.
What do you think of the new Volcano Isle maps?
Is Zynga about to rock Facebook with a new music game?
FarmVille maker Zynga purchased the Boston-based Conduit Labs, the creators of Super Dance and Music Pets on Facebook, on August 17. Neither of these games reached critical mass on Facebook (and in fact, Music Pets and Super Dance are now both officially closed), but this does seems like a possible indication that the Big Z is preparing to kick off the music game revolution on Facebook.
Think about it -- some of the the most popular social games outside of Facebook are music games. For years, many iterations of Rock Band and Guitar Hero have brought groups of people together to jam out on plastic instruments to hits from the past several decades. The games have brought in billions of dollars, and have helped make games more accessible to the masses. We've seen this music phenomenon translate fairly well onto iPhone with Tap Tap Revenge, Rock Band for iPhone and several other games, but we haven't seen a music game rock the Facebook gaming world.
That's starting to change, though. Booyah's Nightclub City, a nightclub simulation game that features dance music from real-life indie artists, broke into the top 25 Facebook games this past month. Heatwave's Platinum Life Web Edition, a hip-hop superstar sim game with licensed music and cartoon likenesses of real-life artists like Ludacris, has also been growing at a steady pace. The Las Vegas based Instant Action just launched a beta of its new music game Instant Jam -- a Guitar Hero clone that lets you play along to music in your personal digital library.
No one is better situated than Zynga to create a music game using the talent at Conduit Labs (now renamed Zynga Boston), launch it and then crank it up to 11 using the all-powerful game cross-promotion bar that sits atop FarmVille, Mafia Wars and all of Zynga's other wildly popular games, which means millions of guaranteed eyeballs for any new game.
Of course, this is all wild speculation, but just in case Zynga is on the hunt for a few ideas, these are mine: Mafia Wars: The Musical and The FarmVille Follies. What those would actually be like, I don't know -- I'll just leave it to the pros at Zynga to fill in the blanks.
Think about it -- some of the the most popular social games outside of Facebook are music games. For years, many iterations of Rock Band and Guitar Hero have brought groups of people together to jam out on plastic instruments to hits from the past several decades. The games have brought in billions of dollars, and have helped make games more accessible to the masses. We've seen this music phenomenon translate fairly well onto iPhone with Tap Tap Revenge, Rock Band for iPhone and several other games, but we haven't seen a music game rock the Facebook gaming world.
That's starting to change, though. Booyah's Nightclub City, a nightclub simulation game that features dance music from real-life indie artists, broke into the top 25 Facebook games this past month. Heatwave's Platinum Life Web Edition, a hip-hop superstar sim game with licensed music and cartoon likenesses of real-life artists like Ludacris, has also been growing at a steady pace. The Las Vegas based Instant Action just launched a beta of its new music game Instant Jam -- a Guitar Hero clone that lets you play along to music in your personal digital library.
No one is better situated than Zynga to create a music game using the talent at Conduit Labs (now renamed Zynga Boston), launch it and then crank it up to 11 using the all-powerful game cross-promotion bar that sits atop FarmVille, Mafia Wars and all of Zynga's other wildly popular games, which means millions of guaranteed eyeballs for any new game.
Of course, this is all wild speculation, but just in case Zynga is on the hunt for a few ideas, these are mine: Mafia Wars: The Musical and The FarmVille Follies. What those would actually be like, I don't know -- I'll just leave it to the pros at Zynga to fill in the blanks.
Thứ Hai, 6 tháng 2, 2012
Deadliest Catch coming to Facebook, developer sees future in branded social game
The hit TV series from Discovery Channel, Deadliest Catch, will soon go viral with an unnamed Facebook game developed by Hive Media. According to Hive Media CEO Brian Laing, the game will allow players to navigate treacherous waters while crab fishing on the Bering Sea, complete with a "crab count leaderboard."
Laing hopes that the brand attachment will help Hive Media's game turn out to be a winner on Facebook. "I think you can still be successful on other platforms, but Facebook is the one place to start, Laing said to Brand-e. "Once you have a winning game there, you can look to bring it out on other platforms."
As for the future of social gaming, Laing thinks, "[more branded social games will] bring in new game types and game mechanics that will be specifically tied to those brands." "I think when this happens we will start to see game mechanics combined to form very interesting games."
Deadliest Catch for Facebook is slated for a November 2010 release and will show up after the release of Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos November 9, 2010 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii.
While branded Facebook games surely are taking off, whether they'll drive innovation has yet to be seen. Hopefully there is still room for originality in social games, but don't tell Zynga that.
Laing hopes that the brand attachment will help Hive Media's game turn out to be a winner on Facebook. "I think you can still be successful on other platforms, but Facebook is the one place to start, Laing said to Brand-e. "Once you have a winning game there, you can look to bring it out on other platforms."
As for the future of social gaming, Laing thinks, "[more branded social games will] bring in new game types and game mechanics that will be specifically tied to those brands." "I think when this happens we will start to see game mechanics combined to form very interesting games."
Deadliest Catch for Facebook is slated for a November 2010 release and will show up after the release of Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos November 9, 2010 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii.
While branded Facebook games surely are taking off, whether they'll drive innovation has yet to be seen. Hopefully there is still room for originality in social games, but don't tell Zynga that.
Wild Ones Flying Pig Mini Pet soars into battle [video]
Wild Ones' new Flying Pig Mini Pet is so fast, no one has been able to capture him on film...until now. After tracking the Flying Pig for three weeks through the treacherous Andes Mountains, I was able to snap the picture above, just as the Flying Pig screamed past me at ludicrous speeds.
Okay so maybe that's not exactly true, but the picture above is not fake. The Flying Pig is real and it is most certainly ludicrous. In fact, Wild Ones' newest Mini Pet is the most powerful mini pet yet.
Continue reading to see the Wild Ones Flying Pig Mini Pet in action.
wild ones flying pig mini petAs seen above, the Flying Pig strikes only at close proximity. However, what it lacks in range, it certainly makes up for with its power. When you move into attack, the otherwise harmless looking pig snaps into action, pounding it's calloused snout into the sternum of it's foe. As if that doesn't sound painful, remember a Wild Ones battle pet has no doubt just hurled a bomb your way. And as you lay in the rubble after the explosion, in severe pain, burned, wondering how your life could get any worse... BAM! A flying pig smashes into your chest. Talk about a night-ruiner.
To get your own Flying Pig, head to Wild Ones and check out the shop. The Mini Pets can be found in the accessories section with the clothes and other such items. You can even "try on" a Flying Pig before buying. So if you play Wild Ones, you may as well go check it out. See how the Flying Pig looks next to your pet and if it strikes you, purchase that sucker for 16 Treats.
But be warned, next time you run into me on the battlefield you may run into a team of battle pets, me and my new friend Sir Francis Bacon Esquire, the honorable Flying Pig.
Click here to play Wild Ones>
Okay so maybe that's not exactly true, but the picture above is not fake. The Flying Pig is real and it is most certainly ludicrous. In fact, Wild Ones' newest Mini Pet is the most powerful mini pet yet.
Continue reading to see the Wild Ones Flying Pig Mini Pet in action.
wild ones flying pig mini petAs seen above, the Flying Pig strikes only at close proximity. However, what it lacks in range, it certainly makes up for with its power. When you move into attack, the otherwise harmless looking pig snaps into action, pounding it's calloused snout into the sternum of it's foe. As if that doesn't sound painful, remember a Wild Ones battle pet has no doubt just hurled a bomb your way. And as you lay in the rubble after the explosion, in severe pain, burned, wondering how your life could get any worse... BAM! A flying pig smashes into your chest. Talk about a night-ruiner.
To get your own Flying Pig, head to Wild Ones and check out the shop. The Mini Pets can be found in the accessories section with the clothes and other such items. You can even "try on" a Flying Pig before buying. So if you play Wild Ones, you may as well go check it out. See how the Flying Pig looks next to your pet and if it strikes you, purchase that sucker for 16 Treats.
But be warned, next time you run into me on the battlefield you may run into a team of battle pets, me and my new friend Sir Francis Bacon Esquire, the honorable Flying Pig.
Click here to play Wild Ones>
Football Games on Facebook: Which one should you play?
As of last Sunday, the 2010 NFL Season has officially begun. Fans around the nation held parties complete with chips, dip, beer, soda and whatnot to huddle around the HDTV and watch in awe as their favorite team dominated the field (or got creamed in Philly's case). But something... different was going on alongside just watching the games this year.
Amongst the chest bumping and high-fives, there were a select few clicking away on their mouses to the first football-themed Facebook games. But were they playing the good ones? Here we'll rate five of the newest Facebook games all about one of America's favorite sports: football. Join us after the break to find out which games make the cut or will end up on the sidelines.
Ultimate Fan Match
Ultimate Fan
Features:
Prove that your favorite team has the most fans each week through Boost Meter
Win Fan Points and Tickets to make the best tailgate party and rate others' parties
Predict the outcome of this season's games to win more Fan Points
Rate members of the team before and during every NFL game on several criteria
Recommended: No. While Ultimate Fan has fun visuals and exciting music, there isn't much else here than showing your home team pride. "Boosting" a team doesn't have any consequences other than being able to say you were right or the other team's fans got served, so to speak. Simply creating the most intense tailgate party isn't going to make itch for more. Wouldn't you rather play football instead?
Play Ultimate Fan Now >
NFL Superstars Gameplay
Madden NFL Superstars
Features:
Manage a team of NFL players to greatness by playing fun, interactive cut-scene-style season matches
Train your team through practice drills to keep your rating at its maximum
Buy Player Packs for more players and rare high-level players
Play in the NFL Pro League against the real teams of the NFL to win the Super Bowl
Predict every week's real NFL matches for points, player cards and free games
Recommended: Yes! Madden NFL Superstars has the most enduring franchise in football video games to live up to. And EA Sports keeps the Madden name strong with entertaining visual, music and gameplay. While we've yet to see a real time, fully controllable football game on Facebook, this gem gets close with Game Changers. These one-time-use power ups can be used at any time during a game and add a layer of strategy that has yet to be seen in a football game on Facebook. Not to mention that NFL Superstars doesn't forget everyone's favorite management elements with Practice Mode and the ability to upgrade your stadium. Honestly, if you consider yourself a Madden fan, you need to at least give this one a shot.
Play Madden NFL Superstars Now >
Franchise Football win
Franchise Football
Features:
Manage your own NFL team in a league populated entirely by Facebook players
Win games against real players to entice free agents to sign on to your team
Winning games also earns you draft picks to participate in the ongoing NFL draft
Earn or buy Reputation Points to boost your team's stats
Join discussions with other players in the in-game forum, Sports Bar
Recommended: No. CBS Sports came out strong with a football simulator that brings on the features. Personally, hardcore stat crunching was never my thing and Franchise Football has it in spades. Nearly every aspect of the game boils down to a statistic, from team ratings to Reputation Points to team worth. Now, don't misunderstand, we all know sports are driven by statistics. The game cannot be faulted on revolving around them, but when there is quite literally nothing else to look at on the screen but numbers, eyes begin to glaze over and that "Back" button is pressed on the browser before you can even yawn.
Play Franchise Football Now >
Title Town Football Screen
Title Town Football
Features:
Raise revenue and fan numbers for your team by completing daily tasks like conducting interviews
Upgrade your playing grounds from a forgettable field to a spectacular stadium
Manage a team of real NFL players by maintaining a salary cap and signing exempt contracts
Participate in the "Tailgate," and in-game forum designed to connect players without having to leave
Recommended: No. Essentially, Title Town Football is your standard football manager game with cheeky dialog and hilarious animations. However, once the charm of the quirky characters wears off, all you'll see is your run-of-the-mill team management game. While it wins bonus points for realism, players won't exactly be waiting anxiously to gather enough stamina to do the next menial task that will boost his salary cap. Not many people that I know want to play a football game without actual football.
Play Title Town Football Now >
SI Fantasy Football Live Scoring
Sports Illustrated Fantasy Football
Features:
Join a create a public or private fantasy league right within the game
Participate in live, scheduled drafts within your league
The Sport Illustrated Draft Kit available for download
Live scoring during football games, no need to refresh
Get fantasy football news from within the game
Recommended: Yes! While all of the other football games on Facebook feature fantasy football elements, this game is a fully fledged fantasy league backed all of your friends on the network. You can do everything in SI Fantasy Football from hold a live draft to watch your scores update live during the real games. While it has a ways to go before it can replace the titans of the genre like ESPN and Yahoo, this fantasy football game shows promise if only because of where it's located. If you're looking for the true fantasy football experience on Facebook, come to a game that's at least taking it seriously.
Play SI Fantasy Football Now >
Treasure Isle: Davy Jones' Locker doubles as storage and decor
Mafia Wars Armory
Hot on the heels of the Las Vegas updates, Zynga will be adding another property to your sprawling array of New York real estate in Mafia Wars. Set to sit between the Chop Shop and the Weapons Depot, the Armory will be able to produce Defense items for your mafia.
Like the Chop Shop before it, the Armory will require a list of unannounced items to construct it. Unfortunately, these construction items will not drop from jobs or fights like the Weapons Depot or the Chop Shop. You'll have to ask your friends to gift you the parts or buy them with Reward Points.
This new piece of property will have 10 levels of progression and will be able to make one Defense item daily. Stay tuned to Mafia Wars as the Armory is scheduled to release later tonight!
Hot on the heels of the Las Vegas updates, Zynga will be adding another property to your sprawling array of New York real estate in Mafia Wars. Set to sit between the Chop Shop and the Weapons Depot, the Armory will be able to produce Defense items for your mafia.
Like the Chop Shop before it, the Armory will require a list of unannounced items to construct it. Unfortunately, these construction items will not drop from jobs or fights like the Weapons Depot or the Chop Shop. You'll have to ask your friends to gift you the parts or buy them with Reward Points.
This new piece of property will have 10 levels of progression and will be able to make one Defense item daily. Stay tuned to Mafia Wars as the Armory is scheduled to release later tonight!
Mafia Wars: Armory Property coming to New York soon
Mafia Wars Armory
Hot on the heels of the Las Vegas updates, Zynga will be adding another property to your sprawling array of New York real estate in Mafia Wars. Set to sit between the Chop Shop and the Weapons Depot, the Armory will be able to produce Defense items for your mafia.
Like the Chop Shop before it, the Armory will require a list of unannounced items to construct it. Unfortunately, these construction items will not drop from jobs or fights like the Weapons Depot or the Chop Shop. You'll have to ask your friends to gift you the parts or buy them with Reward Points.
This new piece of property will have 10 levels of progression and will be able to make one Defense item daily. Stay tuned to Mafia Wars as the Armory is scheduled to release later tonight!
Hot on the heels of the Las Vegas updates, Zynga will be adding another property to your sprawling array of New York real estate in Mafia Wars. Set to sit between the Chop Shop and the Weapons Depot, the Armory will be able to produce Defense items for your mafia.
Like the Chop Shop before it, the Armory will require a list of unannounced items to construct it. Unfortunately, these construction items will not drop from jobs or fights like the Weapons Depot or the Chop Shop. You'll have to ask your friends to gift you the parts or buy them with Reward Points.
This new piece of property will have 10 levels of progression and will be able to make one Defense item daily. Stay tuned to Mafia Wars as the Armory is scheduled to release later tonight!
Thứ Sáu, 3 tháng 2, 2012
More FarmVille Halloween items sneak into the game
FarmVille has been updated tonight, and the shop is now featuring a few more Halloween items to add to the existing items with a spooky theme. What a surprise for your Thursday night! Of course, we already have a list of the new items for you so you can decide if you want to buy these Halloween items before they leave the game when the season is over. Without further ado, here are the new Halloween items!
Caramel Apple Tree - 5 Farm Cash
Count Duckula - 14 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Home - 38 Farm Cash
Pumpkin Tower - 18 Farm Cash
Giant Spider Web - 8 Farm Cash
Spooky Bush - 4 Farm Cash
Witch Scarecrow - 80,000 coins
Cat-O'-Lantern - 40,000 coins
Plant Monster - 30,000 coins
Right now, many players are reporting that the game is getting stuck at 98% and will not allow them into the game. We do not have screenshots of the new items for this reason. A few players have reported that they were able to get in to the game just fine, but the forums are filled with posts from angry FarmVille players who want their farm.
Caramel Apple Tree - 5 Farm Cash
Count Duckula - 14 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Home - 38 Farm Cash
Pumpkin Tower - 18 Farm Cash
Giant Spider Web - 8 Farm Cash
Spooky Bush - 4 Farm Cash
Witch Scarecrow - 80,000 coins
Cat-O'-Lantern - 40,000 coins
Plant Monster - 30,000 coins
Right now, many players are reporting that the game is getting stuck at 98% and will not allow them into the game. We do not have screenshots of the new items for this reason. A few players have reported that they were able to get in to the game just fine, but the forums are filled with posts from angry FarmVille players who want their farm.
FarmVille farmers go from frumpy to fab with new clothing options
FarmVille has started to roll out a revamped customization system for your farmer, which will make it a billion times easier to change your farmer's hair and facial features on a win. But the coup de grace of the new customization system is the 'Clothing' tab, which will allow you to trade in your farmer's dusty overalls for something a little more fashion forward.
Only a few farmers have access to the new clothing options right now, but based on the image above, it looks like you'll be able to buy new types of clothes (like button-down shirts or a hoodie) for either Farm Cash or coins.
This new fashion feature will presumably roll out to everyone else pretty quickly, because this is clearly how you'll be able to dress up your avatar in these FarmVille Halloween costumes that we've been eyeballing for weeks.
Only a few farmers have access to the new clothing options right now, but based on the image above, it looks like you'll be able to buy new types of clothes (like button-down shirts or a hoodie) for either Farm Cash or coins.
This new fashion feature will presumably roll out to everyone else pretty quickly, because this is clearly how you'll be able to dress up your avatar in these FarmVille Halloween costumes that we've been eyeballing for weeks.
FarmVille brings back in-game gifting (hopefully for good this time)
The long awaited in-game FarmVille gifting center has finally gone live! The center can be accessed by simply clicking on FarmVille Requests in the upper right hand corner.
farmville in-game requests
The in-game gifting center is much quicker than accepting and sending gifts through the Facebook Game area. For example when your neighbors request an item, sending it is now only one click. After accepting a gift you do have the option to return it in-game through the regular Facebook pop-up window.
farmville gift requests
You can also access your other Zynga game requests with a simple click.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
farmville in-game requests
The in-game gifting center is much quicker than accepting and sending gifts through the Facebook Game area. For example when your neighbors request an item, sending it is now only one click. After accepting a gift you do have the option to return it in-game through the regular Facebook pop-up window.
farmville gift requests
You can also access your other Zynga game requests with a simple click.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Mafia Wars Las Vegas items now giftable, but not very useful
Mafia Wars Las Vegas
You know, Zynga could have really wowed us with the new set of giftable items the team alluded to yesterday in Mafia Wars, changing the way Trading was done to increase its usefulness. Unfortunately, a list of weapons, armor, vehicles and animals were made available for Trading that will almost certainly become obsolete once Italy hits by the end of this month. We expected Las Vegas job unlock and Collection items and to help the stragglers finish this content before everyone makes the big trip, but nay. (Though, we were right on target with Mystery Animals.)
Well, check behind the cut nonetheless to see what soon-to-be aged junk you can now gift along with official rules from Zynga and our explanation of how all this works.
Trading
Zynga needs to make up its mind on what's Gifting and what is Trading in Mafia Wars. To clear up the company's usual cryptic fashion and lack of desire to explain anything, these are items that are gifted to others from your own loot. Just click the "Gifting" button on the navigation bar, then click the "Trading" tab. From there, you can now gift items from Las Vegas loot and more, in addition to what was already giftable, directly from your loot to your mafia. Gifting like this thankfully doesn't affect your Free Gifting totals.
If only being able to gift dated items wasn't enough, there are three stipulations to this new feature. First off, if an item was bought for Reward Points, it cannot be traded. Second, unique items like boss fight and challenge mission rewards cannot be traded. Lastly, energy boosts of any kind cannot be gifted. Now that the official rabble is through, here's a full list of what can be gifted.
Vegas Weapons:
Carver
24k Chainsaw
Biohazard
El Escorpión
Pump Shotgun
Gilded RPG
Belt Fed Shotgun
Two Pair
Precision SMG
Range Finder Rifle
Arcturion Assault Rifle
Pitbull Sentry Gun
Ripper Assault Rifle
Vegas Armor:
Football Jersey
Rhinestone Cowboy
Reinforced Boots
Reinforced Tuxedo
Motorcycle Helmet
Femme Fatale
Ventilated Blast Cap
Biker Leathers
Police Riot Helmet
Reinhardt & Otto
Ares Power Armor
Hopped-Up Thug
Cooling Vest
Vegas Vehicles:
Moving Truck
All Terrain
Road Tractor
Sand Storm
Highrise Sport
Classic Convertible
High Society
Hard Four
Dune Buggy
Mojave Mike
Performance Sports Car
Goldsmobile
X-22 Peregrine
Foo Fighter
Ballista Missile Launcher
Amphiquad
Vegas Animals:
Bison
Bark Scorpion
Bighorn Ram
Gila Monster
Diamondback
Pronghorn Antelope
Bighorn
Bangkok Animals:
Attack Cobra
Riding Elephant
Komodo Dragon
Forest Scorpion
Chain Viper
Mystery Animals:
Arabian Leopard
Badger
Buffalo
Dingo
Cassowary
Piranha
Electric Eel
Kangaroo
King Cheetah
It's unfortunate that more useful items weren't made available for trade like Collection and job unlock items, but these might be useful to players trying to get through the tougher boss fights and survive high-level fights in Las Vegas. But don't worry, it'll all be useless when we make the move to Italy. Hey, at least Zynga can always update it.
You know, Zynga could have really wowed us with the new set of giftable items the team alluded to yesterday in Mafia Wars, changing the way Trading was done to increase its usefulness. Unfortunately, a list of weapons, armor, vehicles and animals were made available for Trading that will almost certainly become obsolete once Italy hits by the end of this month. We expected Las Vegas job unlock and Collection items and to help the stragglers finish this content before everyone makes the big trip, but nay. (Though, we were right on target with Mystery Animals.)
Well, check behind the cut nonetheless to see what soon-to-be aged junk you can now gift along with official rules from Zynga and our explanation of how all this works.
Trading
Zynga needs to make up its mind on what's Gifting and what is Trading in Mafia Wars. To clear up the company's usual cryptic fashion and lack of desire to explain anything, these are items that are gifted to others from your own loot. Just click the "Gifting" button on the navigation bar, then click the "Trading" tab. From there, you can now gift items from Las Vegas loot and more, in addition to what was already giftable, directly from your loot to your mafia. Gifting like this thankfully doesn't affect your Free Gifting totals.
If only being able to gift dated items wasn't enough, there are three stipulations to this new feature. First off, if an item was bought for Reward Points, it cannot be traded. Second, unique items like boss fight and challenge mission rewards cannot be traded. Lastly, energy boosts of any kind cannot be gifted. Now that the official rabble is through, here's a full list of what can be gifted.
Vegas Weapons:
Carver
24k Chainsaw
Biohazard
El Escorpión
Pump Shotgun
Gilded RPG
Belt Fed Shotgun
Two Pair
Precision SMG
Range Finder Rifle
Arcturion Assault Rifle
Pitbull Sentry Gun
Ripper Assault Rifle
Vegas Armor:
Football Jersey
Rhinestone Cowboy
Reinforced Boots
Reinforced Tuxedo
Motorcycle Helmet
Femme Fatale
Ventilated Blast Cap
Biker Leathers
Police Riot Helmet
Reinhardt & Otto
Ares Power Armor
Hopped-Up Thug
Cooling Vest
Vegas Vehicles:
Moving Truck
All Terrain
Road Tractor
Sand Storm
Highrise Sport
Classic Convertible
High Society
Hard Four
Dune Buggy
Mojave Mike
Performance Sports Car
Goldsmobile
X-22 Peregrine
Foo Fighter
Ballista Missile Launcher
Amphiquad
Vegas Animals:
Bison
Bark Scorpion
Bighorn Ram
Gila Monster
Diamondback
Pronghorn Antelope
Bighorn
Bangkok Animals:
Attack Cobra
Riding Elephant
Komodo Dragon
Forest Scorpion
Chain Viper
Mystery Animals:
Arabian Leopard
Badger
Buffalo
Dingo
Cassowary
Piranha
Electric Eel
Kangaroo
King Cheetah
It's unfortunate that more useful items weren't made available for trade like Collection and job unlock items, but these might be useful to players trying to get through the tougher boss fights and survive high-level fights in Las Vegas. But don't worry, it'll all be useless when we make the move to Italy. Hey, at least Zynga can always update it.
Mafia Wars Natural Disaster Crates have catastrophic loot inside
The Zynga team have added yet another set of Crates to Mafia Wars with Natural Disaster Crates. For 12 Reward Points each or 35 Reward Points for three (around $3 and $7, respectively), you'll have a chance at one of eight disaster-themed weapons, vehicle and armor. Like the usual loot crates, each Natural Disaster Crate will have a 60 percent chance of containing a common item, a 30 percent chance for uncommon items and just a 10 percent chance of holding a rare item.
Check behind the break for a full list of the items you can win by picking up a few of these new crates. Here's a full preview of what you have to look forward to finding inside the Natural Disaster Crates:
Landslide Avalanche Lightning Strike
Common Items (60 percent chance)
Tornado Eruption Famine
Uncommon Items (30 percent chance)
Tsunami Earthquake
Rare Items (10 percent chance)
These new crates have cool looking items, but whether they're worth buying when more powerful items can be found in Las Vegas jobs alone should be taken under serious consideration. But hey, if you're a collector, there's no stopping you anyway.
Check behind the break for a full list of the items you can win by picking up a few of these new crates. Here's a full preview of what you have to look forward to finding inside the Natural Disaster Crates:
Landslide Avalanche Lightning Strike
Common Items (60 percent chance)
Tornado Eruption Famine
Uncommon Items (30 percent chance)
Tsunami Earthquake
Rare Items (10 percent chance)
These new crates have cool looking items, but whether they're worth buying when more powerful items can be found in Las Vegas jobs alone should be taken under serious consideration. But hey, if you're a collector, there's no stopping you anyway.
Thứ Năm, 2 tháng 2, 2012
It'sa Mario Party!
One of the world's most popular characters is turning 25, and our friends at Nintendo invited us to a party at the Nintendo World Store this weekend to celebrate with Mario and his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto.
Hundreds of Nintendo fans lined up in front of the newly-relaunched Nintendo World Store, some donning costumes from Mario to Luigi, Princess Peach and even Fire Mario. Nintendo treated their devoted fans to a cake-cutting ceremony with Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime who had the crowd rocking as he introduced Nintendo's famed developer and father of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, to take the first slice of the Super Mario-inspired cake.
Miyamoto and his Mario games have sold over 210 million units, and still has games coming out on the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, including the upcoming Super Mario All-Stars on Wii.
It's always great to see the smiles and throngs of fans come out for a gaming event, and we hope more gaming companies take a cue from this Mario party. Head over to Joystiq for more coverage of Mario's 25th Anniversary party!
Hundreds of Nintendo fans lined up in front of the newly-relaunched Nintendo World Store, some donning costumes from Mario to Luigi, Princess Peach and even Fire Mario. Nintendo treated their devoted fans to a cake-cutting ceremony with Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime who had the crowd rocking as he introduced Nintendo's famed developer and father of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, to take the first slice of the Super Mario-inspired cake.
Miyamoto and his Mario games have sold over 210 million units, and still has games coming out on the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, including the upcoming Super Mario All-Stars on Wii.
It's always great to see the smiles and throngs of fans come out for a gaming event, and we hope more gaming companies take a cue from this Mario party. Head over to Joystiq for more coverage of Mario's 25th Anniversary party!
FarmVille My Mastery function tracks farming prowess
farmville mastery page
farmville my masteryFarmVille has placed a new button in our toolboxes. Under the Ribbons menu, you can now find a button for Mastery. The icon pictured at the right has three stars and will bring up a new page titled: My Mastery.
The new function will show you all your crop and tree mastery levels, all in one simple window. Unfortunately, most of my crop mastery levels are super low, making this page a bit demoralizing. As you can see, I usually just stick to Watermelon farming (Yum!), so my own My Mastery page is pretty boring at the moment.
I think it's great that FarmVille has adding more stat tracking features, but there are bigger fish to fry. What FarmVille really needs is some much needed performance improvements.
farmville my masteryFarmVille has placed a new button in our toolboxes. Under the Ribbons menu, you can now find a button for Mastery. The icon pictured at the right has three stars and will bring up a new page titled: My Mastery.
The new function will show you all your crop and tree mastery levels, all in one simple window. Unfortunately, most of my crop mastery levels are super low, making this page a bit demoralizing. As you can see, I usually just stick to Watermelon farming (Yum!), so my own My Mastery page is pretty boring at the moment.
I think it's great that FarmVille has adding more stat tracking features, but there are bigger fish to fry. What FarmVille really needs is some much needed performance improvements.
Zynga versus DeNa : A new challenger approaches, ready... fight!
Zynga
While Zynga has been the king of the social gaming ring in the U.S. for some time now, across the Pacific social gamers answer to a different ruler: DeNa. The Tokyo-based Japanese social gaming company has amassed $336.4 million just this quarter and aspires to over $1.4 billion in total revenue by the end of the year, Gamezebo reports. Compared to Zynga's expected $700 million, according to Softpedia, DeNa is quickly on their way to ousting the current social games titan.
Not to mention that DeNa claims to make 30 times more revenue per user than Zynga, which basically means that players within the Japanese network on average spend that much more than players of Zynga games. Gamezebo speculates that the reason why DeNa would frame its quarterly earnings like this is because the company is more than willing to take Zynga head on as the number one social games creator around the globe. And we can't blame it when the current wearer of the crown is buying up studios left and right in the U.S. and internationally. Not to mention Zynga has also made large investments in Japan, which DeNa surely finds more than threatening.
Though, DeNa isn't scot-free; just this year the company took Ngmoco, a U.S.-based mobile gaming company, under its wing. With both players aiming for the same territory (i.e. the world), it looks like the battle for social gaming supremacy isn't going to take place in just U.S. pipelines, but in tubes and cellular towers around the globe. The year before the end just got even more interesting.de
While Zynga has been the king of the social gaming ring in the U.S. for some time now, across the Pacific social gamers answer to a different ruler: DeNa. The Tokyo-based Japanese social gaming company has amassed $336.4 million just this quarter and aspires to over $1.4 billion in total revenue by the end of the year, Gamezebo reports. Compared to Zynga's expected $700 million, according to Softpedia, DeNa is quickly on their way to ousting the current social games titan.
Not to mention that DeNa claims to make 30 times more revenue per user than Zynga, which basically means that players within the Japanese network on average spend that much more than players of Zynga games. Gamezebo speculates that the reason why DeNa would frame its quarterly earnings like this is because the company is more than willing to take Zynga head on as the number one social games creator around the globe. And we can't blame it when the current wearer of the crown is buying up studios left and right in the U.S. and internationally. Not to mention Zynga has also made large investments in Japan, which DeNa surely finds more than threatening.
Though, DeNa isn't scot-free; just this year the company took Ngmoco, a U.S.-based mobile gaming company, under its wing. With both players aiming for the same territory (i.e. the world), it looks like the battle for social gaming supremacy isn't going to take place in just U.S. pipelines, but in tubes and cellular towers around the globe. The year before the end just got even more interesting.de
Happy Aquarium Wizard Items honor Harry Potter, make tanks magical
Just in time for the release of the seventh Harry Potter flick (well, the first of two at least), Happy Aquarium is celebrating with a few Hogwarts-inspired items like the Wizard Boy ($3.30) who surprisingly looks nothing like old Scar Face. There is also a new background for players' tanks called "Wizard's School" as well as the Flying Sphere (pictured), which for 22 Facebook Credits, or $2.20, looks an awful lot like the infamous Golden Snitch from the popular game of Quidditch from J.K. Rowling's universe.
Lastly, the Magical Wizard Fish for 57 Facebook Credits, or $5.70, is said to perform a magic trick when the glass is tapped in your tank. So, if you're looking for yet another place to get hyped up for the new movie (as if some of us need it), you could always bring the excitement underwater.
Lastly, the Magical Wizard Fish for 57 Facebook Credits, or $5.70, is said to perform a magic trick when the glass is tapped in your tank. So, if you're looking for yet another place to get hyped up for the new movie (as if some of us need it), you could always bring the excitement underwater.
Restaurant City: Bust some ghouls for free Halloween Mystery Boxes
No one told the ghouls that the Halloween party was over, but no one's complaining, because ghouls-busting still remains a daily treat in the game.
Case in point, for the next four hours, you can earn the much coveted Halloween Mystery Box from Restaurant City for free as today's ghouls-zapping Gold Award. (Today's Bronze Award is 150 Coins, while the Silver Award is a free Milk ingredient.) After you get your free Halloween Mystery Box, you should post about it on your Facebook Wall, cause the first friend lucky enough to see your link can click it to nab a free box of his or her own!
After you've earned your free box, click on the Halloween Mystery Box icon floating on the left side of your game screen to access it. (Note: It's the gray box with the green question marks on it.) From there, you can open your box, to see what you got, or send the box to a friend. I received a Wizard Recipe Master from the Witchy Wonders Series box set, which is one of three themes available. (The other two are Paranormal Series and the Trick or Treat Series.) It's also the one set that best matches the currently running Harry Potter -- er, I mean, Wizard School theme.
Case in point, for the next four hours, you can earn the much coveted Halloween Mystery Box from Restaurant City for free as today's ghouls-zapping Gold Award. (Today's Bronze Award is 150 Coins, while the Silver Award is a free Milk ingredient.) After you get your free Halloween Mystery Box, you should post about it on your Facebook Wall, cause the first friend lucky enough to see your link can click it to nab a free box of his or her own!
After you've earned your free box, click on the Halloween Mystery Box icon floating on the left side of your game screen to access it. (Note: It's the gray box with the green question marks on it.) From there, you can open your box, to see what you got, or send the box to a friend. I received a Wizard Recipe Master from the Witchy Wonders Series box set, which is one of three themes available. (The other two are Paranormal Series and the Trick or Treat Series.) It's also the one set that best matches the currently running Harry Potter -- er, I mean, Wizard School theme.
Thứ Tư, 1 tháng 2, 2012
FarmVille New Co-Op Farming Job: Candy Canes for the Kids
If you're one of the many FarmVille players that have purchased the Candy Cane permit to grow Candy Canes to help support the UCSF Benoiff Children's Hospital, then you might want to take a look at a new Co-Op Farming job that was released in association with this limited time charity crop.
The job is called "Candy Canes for the Kids" and it asks you to grow 1000 Candy Canes within a 3 day time limit. Three days gives you the bronze medal, while finishing the job in less than a day will earn you the Gold medal, and a Candy Cane Sheep as the reward.
If you're interested in tackling this job with a few of your friends, you'll all need to start within the next 13 days and 3 hours, from the time of this writing, before the job expires, likely for good.
The job is called "Candy Canes for the Kids" and it asks you to grow 1000 Candy Canes within a 3 day time limit. Three days gives you the bronze medal, while finishing the job in less than a day will earn you the Gold medal, and a Candy Cane Sheep as the reward.
If you're interested in tackling this job with a few of your friends, you'll all need to start within the next 13 days and 3 hours, from the time of this writing, before the job expires, likely for good.
Game Studio Story is Game Dev Story, only on Facebook, and free
Back in October, Kairosoft launched Game Dev Story on the iPhone, a simulation game that allows users to run their very own gaming studio, creating video games from the ground up, making sure they have great sound design, pleasing graphics, an instant fun factor and overall polish. The game was an instant hit among hardcore gaming fans, and with the blessing of Kairosoft, Drecom is hoping to find the same success with a Facebook version of the game, aimed at the social audience.
Drecom's Facebook version is entitled Game Studio Story, and we've taken some time to go hands-on with the game to let you know what to expect from this version of the formula.
Meet us behind the break for all of the details.
Thankfully, Game Studio Story plays very much like Game Dev Story on the iPhone. You'll start by choosing your own gender, and will then be introduced to gameplay by your personal secretary.
From there, you'll go through a tutorial laying out the basics of gameplay. Basically, you'll need to start development of each game individually, first choosing the console that they game will be released for, from options like the PC, and imitation versions of some of the industry's popular consoles, spanning the generations.
Next, you'll choose the genre and theme of the game, with different genres and themes adding to the time limit that you'll need to wait for the game to complete. In this is the biggest difference from the iPhone version, in that you'll likely need to come back to the game after a few hours to check on the status of your game, whereas in the original game, you can finish an entire game in a matter of minutes.
You'll be limited to the themes and genres you can choose based on the amount of money you currently have in your account, but you are more than welcome to create as outlandish or as safe a theme for a game as you'd like. For instance, you can make a Reversi Table game, which would be a logical choice, or you can create an Educational Robot game, which wouldn't fit as well.
In order to set the game's development into motion, you'll need to let your staff (your Facebook friends that you can hire into the shop) know how hard to work - whether they should just take the development casually, or go all out with research, etc. At certain intervals you'll also earn Direction Points, which affect the rest of your time with the Facebook game, and not just a particular title that you'll be creating. These Direction Points can go to help the originality of your titles, the details, the reality, the elaboration (the game's depth) and so on. It's a completely customizable set of stats, making your own experience unique.
As you play the game, your experience making each genre of game will increase as you create them repeatedly, and you'll be able to hire staff with better stats (better graphic design capabilities, better sound design abilities and so on), create higher quality games, and therefore earn more funds in the process.
It's entirely understandable if the gameplay sounds a bit complex, as there is a lot going on in the development process of each game, but just like Game Dev Story on the iPhone, Game Studio Story looks to offer the same intuitive user interface that makes the game very easy to dive into.
If you've ever wanted to try your hand at game development, head over to the Game Studio Story page and jump right in (note, the game is in Alpha, meaning bugs and a few English translation issues are present as of this writing).
Drecom's Facebook version is entitled Game Studio Story, and we've taken some time to go hands-on with the game to let you know what to expect from this version of the formula.
Meet us behind the break for all of the details.
Thankfully, Game Studio Story plays very much like Game Dev Story on the iPhone. You'll start by choosing your own gender, and will then be introduced to gameplay by your personal secretary.
From there, you'll go through a tutorial laying out the basics of gameplay. Basically, you'll need to start development of each game individually, first choosing the console that they game will be released for, from options like the PC, and imitation versions of some of the industry's popular consoles, spanning the generations.
Next, you'll choose the genre and theme of the game, with different genres and themes adding to the time limit that you'll need to wait for the game to complete. In this is the biggest difference from the iPhone version, in that you'll likely need to come back to the game after a few hours to check on the status of your game, whereas in the original game, you can finish an entire game in a matter of minutes.
You'll be limited to the themes and genres you can choose based on the amount of money you currently have in your account, but you are more than welcome to create as outlandish or as safe a theme for a game as you'd like. For instance, you can make a Reversi Table game, which would be a logical choice, or you can create an Educational Robot game, which wouldn't fit as well.
In order to set the game's development into motion, you'll need to let your staff (your Facebook friends that you can hire into the shop) know how hard to work - whether they should just take the development casually, or go all out with research, etc. At certain intervals you'll also earn Direction Points, which affect the rest of your time with the Facebook game, and not just a particular title that you'll be creating. These Direction Points can go to help the originality of your titles, the details, the reality, the elaboration (the game's depth) and so on. It's a completely customizable set of stats, making your own experience unique.
As you play the game, your experience making each genre of game will increase as you create them repeatedly, and you'll be able to hire staff with better stats (better graphic design capabilities, better sound design abilities and so on), create higher quality games, and therefore earn more funds in the process.
It's entirely understandable if the gameplay sounds a bit complex, as there is a lot going on in the development process of each game, but just like Game Dev Story on the iPhone, Game Studio Story looks to offer the same intuitive user interface that makes the game very easy to dive into.
If you've ever wanted to try your hand at game development, head over to the Game Studio Story page and jump right in (note, the game is in Alpha, meaning bugs and a few English translation issues are present as of this writing).
FarmVille New Winter Holiday Items: Dancing Snow Lady, Winter Cafe, Candy Cane Cow & Much More
In tonight's FarmVille update, Zynga has expanded the Winter Holiday theme by leaps and bounds, adding a new series of animals, buildings and decorations to the game's store. Some of these items we've seen coming via Sneak Peeks, while other are brand new.
Meet us behind the break for a complete look at these new items.
First, the animals. There are two new animals available to purchase, and they come in the form of the Snow Goose and the Candy Cane Cow. Both are premium items, meaning that you can purchase them either for your own farm, or you can make them an early holiday present by sending them to a friend. The Snow Goose costs 16 Farm Cash and can be harvested every 2 days, while the Candy Cane Cow can be harvested once per day and can be purchased for 24 Farm Cash.
In terms of new buildings, there are also two new items to choose from. These buildings are the Toy Shop and the Winter Cafe. The Toy Shop is a premium item, available for 20 Farm Cash, while the Winter Cafe is available for 250,000 coins.
Finally, we come to the decorations, with five new items to choose from, three of which are premium. The first is the Dancing Snow Lady, a very animated snow woman that shakes her snow-hips to music only she can hear, and can be purchased for 20 Farm Cash. A Mrs. Claus Gnome and an Eggnog Fountain round out the premium options at 18 and 15 Farm Cash each, respectively.
The other two items are the Pink Holiday Tree, which is priced at 80,000 coins, and the Holiday Planter (full of three colors of Poinsettias) which costs 5,000 coins.
All of these items are marked with a time limit of 23 days from this writing, giving you plenty of time to not only purchase these fun decorations, but also have time to enjoy them before the holiday season ends.
Meet us behind the break for a complete look at these new items.
First, the animals. There are two new animals available to purchase, and they come in the form of the Snow Goose and the Candy Cane Cow. Both are premium items, meaning that you can purchase them either for your own farm, or you can make them an early holiday present by sending them to a friend. The Snow Goose costs 16 Farm Cash and can be harvested every 2 days, while the Candy Cane Cow can be harvested once per day and can be purchased for 24 Farm Cash.
In terms of new buildings, there are also two new items to choose from. These buildings are the Toy Shop and the Winter Cafe. The Toy Shop is a premium item, available for 20 Farm Cash, while the Winter Cafe is available for 250,000 coins.
Finally, we come to the decorations, with five new items to choose from, three of which are premium. The first is the Dancing Snow Lady, a very animated snow woman that shakes her snow-hips to music only she can hear, and can be purchased for 20 Farm Cash. A Mrs. Claus Gnome and an Eggnog Fountain round out the premium options at 18 and 15 Farm Cash each, respectively.
The other two items are the Pink Holiday Tree, which is priced at 80,000 coins, and the Holiday Planter (full of three colors of Poinsettias) which costs 5,000 coins.
All of these items are marked with a time limit of 23 days from this writing, giving you plenty of time to not only purchase these fun decorations, but also have time to enjoy them before the holiday season ends.
New FarmVille Crop: Winter Holiday Poinsettia
If you decided to pass on the Candy Canes in FarmVille, but still want to grow a holiday-themed crop this December, you can now do so with the re-release of the limited edition Poinsettia crop in the game's store. Farmers that were playing the game last year will remember this crop from last year's Winter Holiday event.
Like last year, the Poinsettia can be grown for just 45 coins per square, and you'll gain 3 experience points for each square planted, which is actually a large number when compared to other crops. The Poinsettia grows for a full day and is then sold for 126 coins. It can be mastered, with the first star of mastery coming at 500 harvests.
If you did choose to purchase the Candy Cane permit in FarmVille, however, don't worry about running out of time to master this crop, as the Poinsettias will be available in the store until the end of January, giving you plenty of time to master both crops with little trouble.
Like last year, the Poinsettia can be grown for just 45 coins per square, and you'll gain 3 experience points for each square planted, which is actually a large number when compared to other crops. The Poinsettia grows for a full day and is then sold for 126 coins. It can be mastered, with the first star of mastery coming at 500 harvests.
If you did choose to purchase the Candy Cane permit in FarmVille, however, don't worry about running out of time to master this crop, as the Poinsettias will be available in the store until the end of January, giving you plenty of time to master both crops with little trouble.
FarmVille Gingerbread House: Everything you need to know
A new Winter Holiday building has been released in FarmVille, but unlike all of the others, this is actually a buildable project that can be completed with the help of friends.
What's the building, you ask? Why, it's the Gingerbread House, and we have everything you need to know about this new building behind the break.
The Gingerbread House project must be purchased from the game's store for 5,000 coins. This will give you a plain brown and white iced Gingerbread House, without any of the decorations you would expect from the finished product.
From there, you'll need to collect ingredients with friends in order to add these finishing touches to the house. You'll need to collect 18 each of Wooden Boards, Nails and Bricks, with one ingredient (most likely a Brick) being given to you automatically upon purchase of the base to get you started.
To collect the other ingredients, you can click on the "Ask for More" button underneath each of them to be taken to a reverse of the game's free gifts page, where you are shown the friends that currently have that particular item available to send, and you can then ask them specifically to send you that part.
Once you finish collecting all of one particular item, you'll be able to post a few extras to your wall for your friends to collect. If at any time you'd like to finish the building without waiting for your friends to help, you can do so by purchasing the remaining ingredients for Farm Cash at a rate of 1 Farm Cash per individual item. To be clear, that would be 18 Farm Cash to complete all of the bricks, as an example.
Once you have finished gathering the necessary parts, your Gingerbread House will expand into a much larger version of itself, and will become covered with bright candy pieces and other assorted goodies to make it truly look like a gingerbread house. As of this writing, it seems as though the Gingerbread House will serve no real purpose, other than being a decorative item, just like the Fun House released in the game during the Country Fair theme.
Many farmers chose not to build the Fun House due to its "decoration-only" status, but it will be interesting to see if the Gingerbread House faces equal boycotting since it is a Winter Holiday item, which should sit better with the community.
What's the building, you ask? Why, it's the Gingerbread House, and we have everything you need to know about this new building behind the break.
The Gingerbread House project must be purchased from the game's store for 5,000 coins. This will give you a plain brown and white iced Gingerbread House, without any of the decorations you would expect from the finished product.
From there, you'll need to collect ingredients with friends in order to add these finishing touches to the house. You'll need to collect 18 each of Wooden Boards, Nails and Bricks, with one ingredient (most likely a Brick) being given to you automatically upon purchase of the base to get you started.
To collect the other ingredients, you can click on the "Ask for More" button underneath each of them to be taken to a reverse of the game's free gifts page, where you are shown the friends that currently have that particular item available to send, and you can then ask them specifically to send you that part.
Once you finish collecting all of one particular item, you'll be able to post a few extras to your wall for your friends to collect. If at any time you'd like to finish the building without waiting for your friends to help, you can do so by purchasing the remaining ingredients for Farm Cash at a rate of 1 Farm Cash per individual item. To be clear, that would be 18 Farm Cash to complete all of the bricks, as an example.
Once you have finished gathering the necessary parts, your Gingerbread House will expand into a much larger version of itself, and will become covered with bright candy pieces and other assorted goodies to make it truly look like a gingerbread house. As of this writing, it seems as though the Gingerbread House will serve no real purpose, other than being a decorative item, just like the Fun House released in the game during the Country Fair theme.
Many farmers chose not to build the Fun House due to its "decoration-only" status, but it will be interesting to see if the Gingerbread House faces equal boycotting since it is a Winter Holiday item, which should sit better with the community.
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