FrontierVille Cheats & Tips: Building Materials Quick Links

Why, hello Facefolks! It's Mr. Cheats here with the down-low on the things you shouldn't know.

By now I'm sure you've heard about FrontierVille, a Wild West themed game, where you play a pioneer and turn a humble plot of land into a bustling town. Oh yeah, in this game you can get married and have pioneer babies, too! Before you start a family, however, you have to create a place for everyone to live -- a staple of pioneer living -- a cabin. And to build that cabin you're going to need friends to give you supplies.

In an attempt to make things easier, you can sent building materials to your friend using this list of quick links. IMPORTANT: There's a catch, you can only send materials that are available in your free gifts section (each person can send two different types of materials at a time, these rotate week to week).

Long gone are the days when you could send any type of supply to friends when you want. Sigh. But you will have access to all these materials at some point or other, and these are the links required to get them going. So find out which items you can send, and then click on those items below and start delving out building materials like you're some kind of old timey Home Depot.

frontierville building supplies- bricks     frontierville building materials -- hammer     frontierville building materials -- nails
frontierville building materials - paint bucket     frontierville building supplies -- hand drill    

BONUS TIP: If you're on the hunt for supplies, you can send a link like this to your friends. http://apps.facebook.com/frontierville/gifts.php?giftRecipient=YOUR FACEBOOK ID NUMBER. All you need to do is add your 15-digit Facebook ID number at the end of the URL and copy and paste it on your friends' Facebook walls/email/in the comments below to let them know that you are on the hunt for supplies.

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

The Pool Party House Has Arrived To YoVille

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It's Summer time!! The New Pool Party House has been released in YoVille (36 YoCash). A perfect home for entertaining in the warm summer months. Head on over to the YoVille Realtor's Office to take a tour of this special home! Goodbye Hollywood, Hello Malibu!!! Time for fun under the sun!

front

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Social game currency increasingly popular for crowdsourcing payments

Social game players are used to doing virtual work (i.e. harvesting fake crops) for virtual money (i.e. Farmville cash). But that concept has taken a strange twist recently: players exchanging real work for virtual cash.

The fake-money-for-real-work idea is becoming increasingly popular, according to a recent San Francisco Chronicle profile on crowdsourcing company Crowdflower. The company offers its proprietary Swag Bucks as payment for a variety of menial, hard-to-automate tasks such as verifying and categorizing search results or evaluating tweets as "positive" or "negative."

Those Swag Bucks can then be exchanged for everything from cash and gift cards to, increasingly, virtual currency for use in social games. In fact, CrowdFlower CEO Lukas Biewald says he expects virtual currency payments to reach $1 million this year -- up from a mere $50,000 last year.

That's a bit surprising, since the company's virtual currency offers aren't nearly the best deals on offer. For the same "Swag Buck" price as a $10 Farmville gift card, you could get almost $15 in PayPal cash or over $20 in Amazon gift cards. The fact that more people are taking the social gaming currency instead says something about the addictive appeal of these games, I think.

New Facebook game seeks to manage real-world diabetes risks

Using virtual Facebook games to improve your real life is getting dangerously close to becoming a trend. First it was The Life Game, which linked in-game success to user-defined real-world goals. Now it's HealthSeeker, a just-announced game focused on healthier eating and lifestyle choices.

While HealthSeeker is focused on helping and educating people with Diabetes (it's sponsored by the Diabetes Hands Foundation) the introductory video stresses that anyone can benefit from the healthy changes encouraged by the game. As in The Life Game, gaining experience points in Healthseeker involves accepting and performing "missions" that involve simple changes in your everyday life -- such as using vegetable oil instead of butter in cooking, for instance.

The social element comes in via "kudos" that you can send to friends to encourage them on their missions or "challenges" that you can issue to urge friends to become healthier. Ideally, the social pressure will make you more likely to stick with the changes than if you were just "playing" alone. Of course, there's always the risk you'll just lie about your success online instead of admitting your failure to your friends. Stay strong, health warrior. Stay strong!

Quote of the Moment: WoW without the "WOW!"

"Using Farmville as an example, I only needed to play it for a couple of hours to realise how closely it's modelled on an MMO framework. Everything from the grinding 'quests' and achievements system, through to peer competitiveness and in-world currency. The trouble is, Farmville doesn't quite have the thrill factor of a hard core MMO. It's not a fair comparison, but the point is that it's hard for Farmville to keep innovating so that the endless tasks don't seem frustrating or even pointless.

I've spent many an hour doing pointless / frustrating things in World of Warcraft for example – but it didn't seem that way as there was always an enticing goal at the end of it. Sure, Farmville offers bigger an better houses / sheds / farming equipment but it wears thin pretty quickly. The challenge for social virtual worlds, like gaming more broadly, is keeping it interesting, and it seems there's still some work to do. There's also the issue these social worlds aren't truly socially interactive: when my avatar can chat and farm with my neighbour, then I'm starting to get interested again."

- The Metaverse Journal Blogger Lowell Cremorne discusses one of three reasons social games don't interest him as much as traditional massively-multiplayer games

Recently, Sushi gave his friend Jossie a Cleopatra wig from the Ancient Egyptian Treasure Hunt in Pet Society. Jossie replied with this funny note (above).

This inspired Sushi to try on the Cleopatra wig himself. (Note to new readers: Sushi is a boy, but he cross-dresses and acts like a girl sometimes.) He wasn't sure if the glossy black wig suited him, but he had fun trying on some other wigs as well.

Which one do you think suits him best?

This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

YoVille newly released Moroccan Bathroom furniture

New Moroccan Bathroom Items have been added to the YoVille Furniture Store. Items include Moroccan Bath Tub (9 YoCash), Sconces (2 YoCash), Bathmats (300 Coins), Tissue Boxes (200 Coins), Toilet Paper Holder (200 Coins), Bath Cabinets (850 Coins), Standing Sinks (4 YoCash), and much much more! Head on down to the Furniture Store and create yourself a Wellness Bathroom Suite Moroccan style!

Take a look at the complete selection after the jump.
yoville moroccan bathroom furnitureyoville moroccan bathroom furnitureyoville moroccan bathroom furnitureyoville moroccan bathroom furnitureyoville moroccan bathroom furnitureyoville moroccan bathroom furnitureyoville moroccan bathroom furnitureyoville moroccan bathroom furniture
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

YoVille summer outfit designs and Moroccan Clothing arrive

New Moroccan Items have arrived in YoVille along with Summer Outfit Designs by Angela_tiredmom76 and PMTown in the Fashion Store. Beaded Tops, Skirts, and Sandals to name a few for the Gals, and Jeweled Hats, Capes, and Gold Trimmed Outfits for the Guys. Head on down to the Fashion Store to spice up your look and add to your wardrobe!

Take a look at the full array of items after the jump.
yoville moroccan clothingyoville moroccan clothingyoville moroccan clothingyoville moroccan clothingyoville moroccan clothingyoville moroccan clothingyoville moroccan clothingyoville moroccan clothing
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

New YoVille Rares in Mystery Packs

    yoville rares     yoville rares
Feeling lucky today? Head to the YoVille Furniture Store and get a couple of mystery packs. Both coins and YoCash packs were updated with new rares. The 4 YoCash pack now has a golden piano while the 2500 coin pack has a magic crystal ball. Remember that opening a mystery pack doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to get a rare item. Go ahead and tell us what you got from your pack.

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

YoVille: New way to grab the Free Blue Balloon

This is an official post by Zynga's Platinum Ninja.

We saw that there was some confusion about how to get the exclusive handheld blue balloons so we will be making it easier to rally your friends through a discoverable balloon in YoVille. You may find a wandering blue balloon floating around town! It's known to hang out at the stores, your friends homes, or even your own.

Once you click on the balloon you will be given the chance to then "Rally your Friends" as before. Click the "Rally your Friends" option and then share and a Feed will be posted to your wall. Remember rallying your friends and posting this feed not only brings more awareness to the cause but also increases your chances on getting your hands on this exclusive Handheld Blue Balloon. If you get 10 friends to click in on this feed you'll receive a handheld balloon to keep and wear as much as you want!
yoville free blue balloonyoville free blue balloon
So don't forget to click on this balloon when you find it around YoVille and Rally your Friends!

- Platinum Ninja

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Twilight theme arrive in Cafe World & PetVille -- Is YoVille next?

Zynga updated Cafe World with items from the vampire movie, Twilight. The items that were added are kind of similar to the ones that are usually released on Halloween. They also include decorations like the Twinkling Vampire (Edward) and Transforming Werewolf (Jacob). PetVille players are also expecting a coming soon Twilight theme.

I'm sure you've guessed where this is going. Do you think a Twilight theme is coming soon to YoVille? We're talking about modern houses, werewolves and who knows, maybe fancy cars?

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Social Game Fads: Enough with the cute lost animals already!

Social Game Fads is a new series where we take a look at some of the unoriginal game mechanics that are being reused over and over again in our favorite Facebook games. Are you getting bored of the same ole' thing? We are too, and we're exposing some of the copycats who are to blame.

Just about every game on Facebook does this, regardless if it's an animal game or not. "Oh no! This adorable little baby sad crying animal has been abandoned on your farm/zoo/island and needs your friend's help in order to rescue it!". Whether your play Facebook goes or not, you've seen this. The animals started out looking like regular animals, and over time the eyes have gotten bigger and bigger, the baby animals are getting cuter and cuter, and they're all looking sadder and sadder.

In this mechanic, the game will tell you that a lost/hurt/abandoned/wandering animal has appeared and you need to ask friends to rescue her. When friends click on the wall post that you make, they will get to claim the pet. Basically, the player gets nothing out of this except the gratification of 'saving' this poor adorable little critter and the feeling of helping their friends get a new animal. It seems like animals are constantly finding themselves lost and in trouble and in need of your help. Where do they come from?

In fact, Zoo World is built almost entirely on this concept. Animals are always appearing on your zoo and in need of rescue, and there is even a reward for having tons of people rescue your animal. Virtually every game is to blame for pulling on our heart strings and using the power of adorable sad animals to get us to post to our wall.


Do you post every sad animal you see to your wall? Do you like saving animals, or are you sick of this in Facebook games?

Gallery: Save The Lost Animals

Happy Aquarium releases new decor to get your sharks in the mood

Happy Aquarium Shark tank decor
After a very sharktastic week in Happy Aquarium, where Crowdstar gave away a Rare Rainbow Shark, and then put out four friendly Limited Edition sharks in the store (which has since, sold out), there's now shark decor.

You can find the Beware of Shark sign as a freebie on the gifts page. As for tank ambiance, the Deep Blue gravel costs 35 Pearls or 21 Facebook Credits ($2.10 USD, which is currently a 63% discount), while the tank wallpaper Deep Blue costs 36 Pearls or 30 FB Credits ($3 USD).

Bejeweled Blitz fans say 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!'

Bejeweled Blitz new stats screen
Bejeweled Blitz 600k noviceEvery time a game makes a change, it's not without controversy. The puzzling basics of PopCap Games' Bejeweled Blitz was a winner three years before Facebook itself came into existence in 2004. Players of the game have also been climbing steadily this past week.

Well, today, PopCap whipped out a new acheivements system with a flourish, which features 131 ranks, where the first hundred have corresponding badges, the oldest being the "Elder Bejewelian". (But you can go higher than Rank 131, since PopCap admits they simply "ran out of cool names at that point.") Even without checking out the revamped game, the first thing I knew was that the change will upset veteran players.

When Bejeweled Blitz finally got the 25k bar to work, it meant that people had to deliberately play badly to fill it up again. Another issue was when they allowed players to hit beyond 500k, but didn't introduce the 500k Star Medal 'til much later, prompting players to try again. All these things happened because the new features couldn't be applied retroactively. And then they had to go and introduce the Boosts system, which injected the game with a freshness we didn't think was possible, but it definitely lowered the bar for newbies to score higher than previously before.

The immediate reaction by fans to this latest change is that the screen has SHRUNK. By this, I doubt they mean the play area. Because I've noticed that the player roster on the right has this unpleasant varnished look to it, indicative of a smaller screen size. And yet, this isn't so important as how silly it is for a player like me, to have scored over 620,000 points at one point, reduced to the rank of Novice. Oh well, at least the race to the top will be fun.

FarmVille Potato Onion Bread recipe change

In another minor update tonight, the Potato Onion Bread Recipe time has been changed.

The time of the Recipe has increased from previously 30 minutes to now the cook time of 6 hours.

This originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Mafia Wars Secret Drops: Gift random bonuses and rare loot from these hidden briefcases

A new, unannounced feature had been found in Mafia Wars called "Secret Drops." These little briefcases, much like the Secret Stash, allows players to send random, rare items and bonuses to their friends after finding a secret drop location through random activities.

So far, we've only been able to find Secret Drops through robberies, but according to Mafia Wars Maniac, this feature can be dug up through doing jobs and collecting from properties as well. Unfortunately, there has been no official word from Zynga yet, so these Secret Drops could appear anywhere.

Find out what these new Secret Drops could reward you and your friends with after the break.
As for what your friends can find after you send out a Secret Drop, the image above suggests they'll have a chance at finding boosts to robbery success rates, double XP bonuses, Reward Points, increases to Attack and Defense and increases to cash drop rates. As for loot items, here's what some tipsters to Mafia Wars Maniac have found:

Knockout

Knockout: 51 Attack, 23 Defense

Blue Sky

Blue Sky 55: 25 Attack, 50 Defense

Love Sick

Love Sick: 27 Attack, 51 Defense

[Image Credit: Mafia Wars Maniac]

FarmVille: Send one billion gifts and Zynga will donate another $100k to Haiti

In just four days, FarmVille's School of Choice campaign for Haiti has reached its goal of 400 million virtual gifts exchanged. These gifts were part of a Limited Edition collections feature, where no purchases were required. By simply playing FarmVille, players were able to contribute. Zynga will now fulfill its promise to send $100,000 USD to "L' Ecole de Choix", a new K-12 school and community center that they're building in Mirebalis, Haiti. Additional funding will also be provided from sales of the virtual Sweet Beets; plus, Facebook is willing to give up their earnings from those sales as well, and as you can see in the above image, the total of player donations has risen to $561,461 USD.
FarmVille The School of Choice Haiti donation reaches 40 million
Now Zynga has set a new benchmark -- if players reach the exchange of 1 billion virtual gifts, then Zynga will sent another $100,000 USD to the school.

Facebook is down, then back up, then down again today

Facebook has been going down, then coming back up and then down again -- for the second day in a row. There were reports of a similar outage yesterday, which was blamed on a "third party networking provider."

If you desperately need a FarmVille Fix, you can point your browser to FarmVille.com instead, which seems to be working just fine.

facvebook slow or unavailable twitter

Update (4:12 p.m.): Facebook Twitter post says the social network "maybe be slow or unavailable for some people because of site issues."

Update (5:45 p.m.): Facebook is back (for now) - you may resume your regular farming activities. For those of you worried about your virtual farms, crop withering and puppy hunger was turned off during the down time.

FarmVille fan site drama! FVFan takes on FarmVille Feed

Running and hosting a fan site dedicated to a favorite game can be a lot of fun, but when the game in question is one as popular as FarmVille, situations can escalate quickly. Like when FVFan.com owner Kendall wrote a post today in response to what he says are personal attacks from Dan Farthing, owner of FarmVilleFeed.com.

Within the post, Kendall explains his reasons for leaving FarmVille Feed (emphasized later as FarmvilleFEEEd, for whatever reason) and later starting FVFan, most importantly Farthing's constant pleas for donation money to keep the site running. Kendall, "called him out on making donation threads" and was banned from posting to the site. Since he began his one-man show, Kendall claims that Farthing has threatened him with attempts to take down FVFan for using images that were also found on FarmVille Feed.

"A little lesson in copyright law, he doesn't own any images that he publishes," Kendall said. "Zynga owns them all. He can put his little FarmvilleFEEEd [watermark] all over them, but Zynga owns the images."

Since that rebuttal, the FVFan owner claims that it hasn't stopped, "SOMEONE from making fake account[s] up and saying HORRIBLE things..."

Kendall's next step? Considering his legal options (yikes!). Geez, can't we FarmVille fanboys just get along?

Mafia Wars God Father Title Glitch: A sneak peek at future content?

In what has been nothing short of a storm of hot tips, hidden features and now glitches in Mafia Wars, a tipster to Mafia Wars Maniac has found himself with a title that currently doesn't exist in the game: "God Father." While glitches like these happen more often than players run out of energy, this particular error could hold quite a lot of meaning for the future of Mafia Wars.

Normally, title glitches occur when someone receives or loses a title that already exists in the game, but this situation involves content that doesn't exist... yet.Could this be a leak of future content, such as the area that is set to release some time after the Mafia Wars: MADE event in Las Vegas (remember, attendees are getting early access to that content)? This could also be one of the special items attendees receive for going to the event or it could just be another meaningless glitch.

Zynga has been contacted for comment. Stay tuned for possible updates.

Mafia Wars Italy Achievements are merely a game of numbers

Mafia Wars Italy Achievements
When a new city come to Mafia Wars, every digital mobster knows what that means: Achievements. Italy is no exception with nine new displays of prowess to obtain. On a boring note, these achievements are generally connected to things you're going to accomplish in Italy through normal play anyway, though there are a few gems that will require some serious effort. You'll gain Achievements like "Viva Italia!" by simply playing through Italy's five Regions, but "Bread and Circuses" is going to take quite a while and an obscene amount of Stamina.

Find the last five Mafia Wars Italy Achievements behind the break.
Mafia Wars Italy Achievements
The numbers game continues with the next five Achievements, some of which aren't even possible to tackle yet like "Rome is Burning." (We'll have to wait until Robbery in Italy goes live before that happens.) Unfortunately, the other Achievements require either simple albeit tedious tasks like upgrading properties and completing Ruby Mastery of Regions 1 through 5 or accumulating lots of Lira to finish Centurion. It's too bad that most of these Achievements require little to no effort aside from those that can't even be accomplished yet. Hopefully in Regions 6 through 8 we'll find tasks that require more effort or are at least more interesting.

CSI: Crime City on Facebook: CSI goes social in new Ubisoft game

Although CSI: Crime City on Facebook is still officially in beta, it may well be one of the best uses of a licensed property in casual gaming. The game focuses on the original CSI series set in Las Vegas. Several characters make an appearance to help you along the way. Including Dr. Raymond Langston (Laurence Fishburne).

Crime City begins with a tutorial case, called "Sweet Revenge," that introduces you to the tools of your detective trade as well as the game's interface. Each case starts out with an animated scenario to set up the crime scene. The tutorial actually shows you who committed the crime, but leaves you without the motive. Later cases will be much more ambiguous, only introducing you to the characters before presenting the crime scene.

Each crime scene is laid out like a grid, with several squares that you can investigate. Typically, crime investigations like this would force your to click over every thing aimlessly. This grid system serves as an excellent guide, which helps to keep tedium down and fun levels up. Although squares may have blood, fibers or prints on them, they may not necessarily hold pieces of evidence. The game employs an energy meter. Depending on what kind of square you investigate, ranging from a blank square to a square with blood spatter, you will have to pay an energy cost. You only get 1 extra energy point every minute and thirty seconds so you will want to make your investigations count.
On a positive note, even if your search comes up empty, you will still gain experience points regardless of what square you click on. Gamers can uncover clues during their search, which are arrows pointing them in the direction of evidence. Each crime scene tells you just how much evidence there is to be found. However, it behooves you to search the entire area so that you can get more experience points and uncover special funding (extra cash) and energy boosts.

Energy boosts come in the way of focus challenges for special items like coffee. In these mini games you will have to match several patterns while racing against a clock. It's extremely difficult to make over four matches. If you get two matches, you will earn yourself a small coffee that gives you an extra 20 energy points. Four matches will earn you a medium coffee that gives you an extra thirty energy points.

Each location has milestones, like searching a certain percentage of the location for evidence. Every time you cover an additional 25% of the scene, you will get a bonus for added experience points.

Gamers have an array of investigative tools at their disposal including the luminol tool to investigate traces of blood and tweezers to pick up fibers. Once you find evidence you will need to take it back to the crime lab for analysis. Your crime lab starts off completely barren, except for a workbench manned by Dr. Langston. You have to save up funding to buy a Chemical, Light table, DNA, Ballistics and Microscope station. These can all be upgraded at a later time.

What's a very nice social tool in this game is the ability to travel to your friends' crime labs in order to use their investigation stations. Instead of doing all the work in your office, or exerting all of your funds at once, you and your friends can divide up different crime stations. That way you can work your way up the levels faster and marshal out the analysis work. Gamers can also purchase UbiCredits (Ubisoft money) for quick in game boosts.

At the end of every case, gamers will click "turn in case" when they have amassed enough evidence. You also get a speed rating so if you're doing this at work you probably wont earn as much. After you complete your first case you will open up the rest of the cases in Case Set 1. Gamers will also see at least three more case sets that can be unlocked. Now, you can work on multiple cases simultaneously as you wait for evidence to be analyzed in your crime lab.

Several options are still unavailable in this beta release. You can't customize your agent or view your collections yet. Also, game items coming soon include memorabilia, insects, supplies and cold cases.

CSI: Crime City is definitely one game worth checking out on Facebook. In each case, the story also gives you the occasional witty remark moments, as characters make light of the case. This added touch helps to bolster the overall experience of being an online CSI detective.

Mafia Wars Italy Mastery Rewards: Defeat the bosses for powerful items

Boss Di Rossi
Di Rossi's ShotgunWhile Zynga might have outdone itself with the new job paths, properties system and boss fights in Mafia Wars Italy, we know that all you really want to see is the new Mastery Items. The proverbial carrot on a stick, the Mastery Items are the ultimate goal in the new Mafia Wars cities. So, here's a sneak peek at all five Mastery Items obtained by beating the pulp out of their owners.

Let's begin with Roma's Mastery Item, Di Rossi's Shotgun, an attack-heavy weapon:

    Bronze: 75 Attack, 51 Defense
    Silver: 85 Attack, 57 Defense
    Gold: 96 Attack, 63 Defense
    Ruby: 107 Attack, 69 Defense


Find the rest of Italy's drool-worthy Mastery Items after the break.
Boss Aldo Adriano
Aldo's Palermitan HorseTo lay your filthy mitts on Palermo's Mastery Item, Aldo's Palermitan Horse, you'll have to take down the scheming, manipulative Boss Aldo Adriano:

    Bronze: 55 Attack, 82 Defense
    Silver: 64 Attack, 95 Defense
    Gold: 73 Attack, 108 Defense
    Ruby: 82 Attack, 121 Defense




Don Del Brenta
Del Brenta Cane SwordIn Venzia, you'll need to defeat Don Del Brenta in a duel before swiping his Del Brenta Cane Sword, a defense-heavy weapon:

    Bronze: 48 Attack, 88 Defense
    Silver: 56 Attack, 103 Defense
    Gold: 64 Attack, 118 Defense
    Ruby: 72 Attack, 133 Defense



Volovino Twins
Italiano GazzettiMastering Milano and defeating the Volovino Twins will reward you with the Italiano Gazzeti, an attack-heavy Italian police cruiser:

    Bronze: 96 Attack, 71 Defense
    Silver: 111 Attack, 79 Defense
    Gold: 133 Attack, 89 Defense
    Ruby: 148 Attack, 98 Defense



Don Enzo Casazza

Enzo's MonacleLastly, in Napoli you'll have to pummel Don Enzo Casazza for Enzo's Monocle, which oddly enough is a high-defense piece of armor:

    Bronze: 74 Attack, 104 Defense
    Silver: 84 Attack, 121 Defense
    Gold: 94 Attack, 138 Defense
    Ruby: 104 Attack, 155 Defense




All in all, these Mastery Reward are impressive, but we expected some higher stats considering Las Vegas rewards like the Experimental Exosuit had over 200 Attack power at Ruby Mastery. While this is most likely because these are the earlier Regions in Italy, slightly higher stats would give even better reason to pick up these items .

Treasure Isle Halloween Spirit Maps have seven spooky isles to explore

Treasure Isle Halloween Spirit Maps
New decorations and a giant pumpkin for our home islands was fun and all, but what a true treasure hunter really wants is uncharted lands to explore. Finally, you can have just that with seven new isles added to Treasure Isle in the Halloween Spirit map. These brand new islands not only bring fresh adventures, but new collections of treasures as well.

There are four new collections to complete, but you'll have to search beyond the break to find a list of them.
Butterscotch Drop     Candy Apple     Candy Corn     Chocolate Bar     Peanut Butter Cup
This first collection, the Candy Cauldron, is a common one that will reward you with 1,000 coins and 100 XP once completed. Not to mention it'll rot your teeth right out:

    Butterscotch Drop
    Candy Apple
    Candy Corn
    Chocolate Bar
    Peanut Butter Cup



Big ears     Funny Eyes     Health Mask     Red Nose     Plastic Teeth
Altering Accents is an uncommon collection filled with goofy Halloween costume accessories that once completed will net you 10,000 coins and 100 XP:

    Big Ears
    Funny Eyes
    Health Mask
    Red Nose
    Plastic Teeth



Black Cat     Rat     Snake     Spider     Worm
The third, rare collection is Creepy Crawlies, which consists of enough critters to give you shivers ten times over. Once you face your phobias (wimp), enjoy another 10,000 coins and 100 XP:

    Rat
    Black Cat
    Snake
    Spider
    Worm



Eggs     Firecracker     Flaming Bag     Smoke Bomb     Toilet Paper
Finally the ultra rare collection is known as Petty Pranks, though depending on the context we wouldn't consider Firecrackers "petty." Here are the five treasures:

    Eggs
    Firecracker
    Flaming Bag (of what?)
    Smoke Bomb
    Toilet Paper

Free Gifts
To keep treasure hunters going on the seven new isles, there are also four new Free Gifts available that will each give a small Energy boost.

Social City Raffle Offers Spooky Mystery Manor, Halloween Prizes

A spooooooky new Halloween Raffle has been added to Social City, offering you a chance to grab a total of nine different Halloween-themed buildings and decorations for use in your town! Like other raffles, this one will cost you City Bucks, at a cost of 8 City Bucks per spin. For that price, you'll earn one of eight different decorations or buildings, and if you manage to collect all eight, you'll earn the especially spooky Mystery Manor as a final prize.

This Mystery Manor offers 50,000 Happiness Points to your town, and is animated with creepy bats flying around the home's tower and flashing lights that illuminate the windows. In addition, placing the Manor in your town will generate small vans that will drive around your city's streets, with these vans resembling the Mystery Machine of Scooby Doo fame.

Remember, each and every spin offers the same chance at any one of the eight items, so there is a big possibility for duplicates once you've started to build up your collection of Halloween themed items.

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash from Best Buy promotion

Along with the Office for Mac promotion now available in FarmVille (your mileage may vary), all users can now get their hands on an extra 2 Farm Cash, absolutely free, just for taking part in the new Best Buy holiday shopping survey.

As usual, this cross-promotion activity can be found underneath the FarmVille gameplay area. You'll click on the "Sponsored Link" window, as seen at right, and will then be shown a new window, where you'll answer a series of survey questions about holiday shopping and deals on various electronics. At the end of the two question survey, you'll receive your two free Farm Cash.

Reload your game, and you should see your virtual wallet increase by two. If you are one of the lucky farmers that play FarmVille on a Mac, as mentioned in the last promotion, this could mean a possible 4 free Farm Cash overall, for little more than a few minutes of your time.

Let the new Happy Pets Kangaroos hop into your life

Hey Happy Pets players! Are you an exotic pet owner in Happy Pets? Do you like being of the first to get your hands (or paws) on the newest species of animals released in the game? If so, you'll want to pull out your pocketbook to get ahold of one of the game's newest Kangaroo pets.

There are six new Kangaroos available to purchase from the store, and lucky for all of us, they are permanent additions to the game. That's right - no limited edition quantity limits or time limits to worry about. Take your time saving up the 60 Facebook Credits ($6.00 US) to purchase one of these cute little hoppers.

The Kangaroos come in basic colors: Grey, Orange, Yellow, Black, White, and Brown, and all of them grow to adulthood in a matter of 7 days, so long as they are fed regularly, at a rate of at least once every 16 hours.

Unfortunately, if you're wanting a bright and colorful Kangaroo, this release doesn't have you're looking for. However, knowing CrowdStar, we wouldn't be surprised if another wave of Kangaroos was released some time in the future that will provide more variety to those who want it.

It Girls releases new limited edition Couture fashions

Hey It Girls! Do you like collecting the latest in limited edition fashions in CrowdStar's It Girl? If that's the case, then you should head over to the game's catalog, as you can now find five new clothing pieces available to purchase with Facebook Credits.

The items are fairly varied, in terms of theme, are are simply called "Couture" fashions. Here's the list of newly released items, along with their stats.

Cobalt Romance Dress - 34 points - Classy Casual / Night Life / Black Tie appropriate - 57 Facebook Credits ($5.70 US)
Silver Lining Hot Pants - 21 points - all but Black Tie - 48 Facebook Credits ($4.80)
Dreaming in Pink Skirt - 21 points - Outdoor / Casual / Classy Casual / Night Life - 48 Facebook Credits ($4.80)
Black Bon Jovi Tee - 17 Points - Beach / Outdoor / Casual / Night Life - 41 Facebook Credits ($4.10)
White Bon Jovi Tee - 17 Points - Beach / Outdoor / Casual / Night Life - 41 Facebook Credits ($4.10)

The items will only be available until they sell out from stores, but as of this writing, there are at least 1,300 of each left, so it seems like you'll have plenty of time to decide. Still, it's better to be safe than sorry, so you might consider shopping now, just to be sure.

While not in any particular theme, these items should be more than enough to help you win any Showdowns you might find yourself in, especially for lower level players.

City of Wonder will soon leap into the Atomic Age!

In an announcement this afternoon, City of Wonder developer Playdom announced a hotly anticipated content expansion in the popular title. This announcement concerns the future addition of the Atomic Age in City of Wonder, a new age of technological advancement and breakthroughs, that will be accompanied by quite a few new items and features.

For those that are unfamiliar with the term, the "Atomic Age" or "Atomic Era" are terms used to describe the time period following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb in 1945.

So far, we know that there will be more than 30 new buildings released (apparently) at launch of the Atomic Age, along with new technologies (things to research in the Research Tree), new Marvels and more!

Could this mean we see the addition of an Atom Bomb to the military battles between civilizations? Could we see space flight as an option in the research tree? The options seem to be limitless for how far the game could advance in the future, but we're definitely looking forward to seeing this newest set of items and features, when it launches in the game "soon."

FarmVille Fun House: Everything you need to know

For the past week, we've known that a Fun House would soon be coming to FarmVille, and we've been speculating for some time as to what the item would actually do.

Tonight we find that out, as the frame for the Fun House is now available to purchase from the store. Meet us behind the break for a full look at how you can make your own Fun House on your farm.

The Fun House frame can be purchased from the store's Buildings tab for 5,000 coins. The base is quite large, so you might have to move some things.

From there, you'll be able to build the Fun House by collecting the three major building ingredients: 18 each of Wooden Boards, Nails, and Bricks. To be clear, if you click on the "What is this?" button on the Fun House in the market, you are told that the building only requires 10 of each item, but as we can clearly see below, the requirement is 18.

You'll start out with just one ingredient as a boost to get you going, and can then click on the "Ask for More" button associated with each item to be sent to a reverse of the game's free gifts page, where you can send a request to your individual FarmVille friends, in the hopes that they will answer your call for help and send you the item you need. Remember, this only allows you to send requests to those who have that particular ingredient available to send in the first place, so don't worry about not getting what you want.

As usual, if at any time you'd like to stop waiting for your friends to send you items, you can purchase the rest of the required ingredients for 1 Farm Cash each. That's 53 Farm Cash in all, if you chose to only go that route.

Once completed, the Fun House will add a ...unique decorative touch to your farm, but as of this writing, it unfortunately doesn't serve any other purpose rather than being a decoration.

All told, with the recent release of the Turkey Roost, and the release of Orchards, many users already had one or two items on their "To-Build" lists. With the Fun House only making that list longer, it's not surprising why some users are already lashing out at Zynga for making a building that requires so many ingredients, yet serves no purpose.

Either way, if you're the type that simply can't let a building pass you by unfinished, or perhaps you simply really like the look of the completed building, you'll want to make sure to start building the Fun House now, as it will only be available until the end of the game's Country Fair celebration - just 17 days.

With the FarmVille Fun House already causing a bit of a controversy among users, we'd love to hear your opinions on the item. Will you take the time to build the Fun House, or will you save your building ingredients for the Turkey Roost or extra Orchards?

Mafia Wars Secret Santa mission ushers in the Holidays for a limited time

For the next five days, Zynga will be ushering in the holiday season in Mafia Wars via the Secret Santa limited time mission. This mission will be available to complete for the next 5 days, however, your own time limit for completing mission will likely not match this overall time limit, so as to allow you to complete the mission multiple times if you so choose (and have time to do so).

The mission requires you to find four mafia members to help you, and you can ask for their help by simply posting a news item to your wall. The possible rewards for this mission are quite varied and are high in number. There are two "Grand" or "rare" prizes associated with this event - a D-07 Proximity Mine worth 70 Attack and 39 Defense points, and a Field Rider motorcycle which has 21 Attack and 71 Defense stats.

There are six uncommon items and six common items available to win. For those unfamiliar with these kinds of special event or timed missions, once it is successfully completed, your pool of participating mob members can receive multiple items from this prize pool, with you earning a slightly bigger portion, since you were the leader, or initiator of the mission.

We're sure this won't be the last time we see something related to the holidays released in Mafia Wars, but it is a nice teaser to tide us over until (if) something bigger does come along.

FarmVille Holiday Tree looks to be returning for 2010

During the Winter Holiday event in 2009, FarmVille players were able to build and expand their very own Holiday Tree in a collection event with friends that saw users passing around wrapped Christmas presents through free gift requests and wall posts. Only once the holidays actually hit did those presents become available for unwrapping, and they account for the many Reindeer, Ornaments, Snowflakes and other decorations that you might have noticed on your veteran friends' farms - those items that aren't available in the store currently.

With the winter holiday season now firmly in place, the question becomes whether or not we'll see a new Holiday Tree released in the game, or whether the tree from 2009 will be making a return. We can now make a pretty strong guess that the latter is indeed the case, as something very interesting has happened to the Holiday 2009 trees that are still on users' farms.

Regardless of how much progress you made on your tree last year (that is, whether or not you reached the 100 present limit), all of that progress has been erased, and removed from the tree, reverting it back to its original state (that being the tree image in this post). Hovering over the tree still shows your present progress from last year (in my case "0/100 Presents Inside"), but the tree is simply tiny.

As of this writing, the tree is unable to buy in the store, if you're a new player who doesn't yet have one, and there are no gifts to be found to send on the free gifts page. So for now, this all seems to just be a preliminary step by Zynga to prepare the game for the "re-release" of the tree, so that all users are on an even footing.

We'll be sure to let you know when the Holiday Tree 2010 collection event starts in the game, so keep checking back with us for more.

UPDATE: After reporting on this development yesterday, we've heard reports, and have witnessed personally, the Holiday Trees from 2009 going through seemingly random bouts of being complete, and being small (as in the picture above). We'll be sure to let you know when there is a definitive answer to this conundrum, so keep checking back.

FrontierVille Sneak Peek: Winter Holiday Pink Tree, Happy Holidays Sign, & Sad 'Lil Tree

If you thought the first real wave of Winter Holiday decorations in FrontierVIlle would be the end of the game's celebration for this year, think again, as we've come across some new leaked images, revealing a trio of additional decorations that may or may not be coming to FrontierVille in the near future.

The items are the Pink Tree (similar to FarmVIlle's Pink Tree decoration), a lighted Happy Holidays Sign (which will match nicely with the lights that can be placed on the ground, or with the lighted "Tend Here" sign), and a Sad 'Lil Tree, giving a nod to Charlie Brown's classic tree with a single red ornament.

No word yet as to whether or not these items will officially be released in the game, or where you'll be able to find them. They could be mission rewards, they could be available to purchase in the store, or they could even be free gifts (granted, that's highly unlikely) - so keep that in mind.

Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.

FrontierVille Sneak Peek: Axe Target, Spittoon, Varmint Targets & More

Today has been a great day for leaked images from FrontierVille, as we've come across another set of items, this time (apparently) unrelated to the current Winter Holiday theme in the game.

These items appear to all be decorative, and come in the form of an Axe Target, a Spittoon, a log with Varmint Targets attached to the top, a Sewing Machine, and a Duck Pinwheel that will likely spin in the "wind" of the game as an animated item.

Will these be the items that are released after the Winter Holiday theme and season as a whole comes to a close in the game? Or, could these be the rewards we'll receive from some new, as of yet unknown mission - perhaps timed missions, even? It's all very up-in-the-air at this point, so your guess is as good as ours.

Remember, there is no guarantee that these items will officially be launched in the game, or how they will be earned, or their prices (where applicable), so keep that in mind.

Warimals brings the browser-based war of cats vs dogs to Facebook

Rocket Pack, the creators of Warimals have brought what was once just a browser-based game detailing the "only war that ever mattered", the one between cats and dogs, to Facebook. You'll play the game by choosing your side - whether you'd like to be a Cat and fight the Dogs, or vice versa. Choice made, you'll be allowed to customize your in-game avatar, or "General" in your army from a selection of options, and will be able to jump head-first into the fight for dominance over the enemy species.



Gameplay itself begins by being informed that the enemy has stolen your backyard, and you need to reclaim it. For the sake of the argument, I chose to side with the Cats, so your own experience may look a bit different if you choose to play. This portion serves as the tutorial, getting you up to speed about the game, and ends with you reclaiming the backyard as your own home base.

As Warimals truly is about fighting a war against the enemy, you'll be able to enter into battles by choosing your units (up to four per battle to start) and then sending an all-out-attack on the enemy fortifications. Battles take energy to start, which refills over time. Once in a battle, you'll click on your units' pictures to send them into the battle.

Battles are waged in a "tower defense" fashion against other real world players, with most involving a set path that your troops can walk on, that the enemy has defended with various military equipment - in this case troops of their own, or even mouse traps or beehives (and other wacky items). They can even place buildings that spawn new troops over time. Once your army comes upon an enemy unit, or even just a building, they will automatically begin to attack, slowly draining the life bar of the item until the enemy is defeated.

You'll gain cookies for your victories, with cookies being the main currency in the game. You'll use these Cookies to add defensive and offensive items to your own backyard. In this way, you'll be required to continue fighting the enemy in order to earn supplies that can be used to defend your base.

There are also quests that you'll complete over time by simply playing the game. These can be anything from placing a certain defensive item in your backyard, or attacking a certain number of enemies. These quests will reward you typically with more cookies, experience points, and even items you can put in your backyard.

As you level up, you'll gain the ability to attack certain bosses, and if you win, you can claim their land for yourself (this land will have a different design, and a different path for your troops to defend). Of course, bosses will typically be a higher level than you are, and they won't just let you walk into their land without a fight, so you'll need to prepare for battle before sending your troops in. Once you move to a new Backyard, the items in your current base will be added to your inventory, so you don't lose anything in the process.

As Warimals is still in its Alpha state, you may have to fight some bugs, along with fighting either cats or dogs, but the game looks to have a lot of polish and replayability, which is something every Facebook game definitely needs.

If you'd like to start your own war against cats or dogs, head over to the Warimals page on Facebook.

Lord of the Rings arrives on Facebook with Aragorn's Quest advergame

Lord of the Rings advergame
Before making the journey to various consoles and handheld gaming systems, Aragorn will take his quest to Facebook in a social adventure... of sorts. To help create some buzz of his next adventure in The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, Warner Bros. have created a small (alright, it's minuscule) Facebook game for fans to enter. Players can take four of their friends along for the ride, filling the roles of The Wizard, The Hobbit, The Dwarf and The Elf. (If you can't figure out who they represent, then you must be new to this.)

After choosing a friend for each role, well, that's it really. The only purpose this serves is to enter you and your friends into the various contests that will take place on the game's fan page. Though, you can make alternate teams with more of your friends to increase your chances of winning the grand prize, a massive prize pack including an HDTV, a Sony Playstation 3 with MOVE motion controller starter pack and a copy of The Lord of The Rings: Aragorn's Quest.

All in all, it's a pretty big let down and a horribly missed opportunity at crafting what could have been an epic Facebok adventure. What's even worse is this sweepstakes is only open to our friends across the pond in the U.K., but at least Lord of the Rings fans across the globe can play the advergame and mark their friends as either Gandalf, Samwise, Legolas or Gimli in weekly quests. (Though, it seems somewhat wasteful at that point, really.) Act quickly, our British friends, as your journey for the grand prize will end on Jan. 14.

CityVille blasts past FrontierVille with 47.9 million players, could outgrow FarmVille in days

CityVille, for all intents and purposes, is the new ish on Facebook. It's been reported by AppData and VentureBeat that the game, after grabbing a massive 47.9 million monthly players in just 18 days, could easily soar high above FarmVille in days. Think about it: the game made mincemeat of FrontierVille's 30.9 million with ease. With the farming sim sitting at 56.3 million players after a significant drop from its peak of over 80 million players earlier this year, Zynga is apparently in competition with itself. Now that FarmVille is frighteningly close to being finally dethroned, we ask, "Could anyone else have done it but Zynga?"

Probably not.

While we've already explored what might have contributed to the insanely rapid growth of the city-growing sim, it's about time we ask another question: What could this mean for FrontierVille and FarmVille? First off, they won't be going anywhere soon. But they could very well become less profitable over time, with fewer items asking for paid currency and inversely more items that cost City Cash popping up in CityVille. We doubt Zynga's focus would shift too dramatically from game to game--heck, the company is still trying to get Warstorm off the ground--but anything is possible. Here's one last question: Can CityVille return Zynga to its former glory of raking in over 80 million souls players in a single game? Stay tuned to see if CityVille trumps the farm in time for Christmas.

FarmVille Silly Bandz Sponsored Link offers 25 Farm Cash

You could call the two mirrors, FarmVille and SillyBandz. One is a money-sucking phenomenon in the real world while the other serves that exact purpose in the digital world. So, it's only fitting that Zynga puts out a Sponsored Link to help merge the two wallet-incinerating hobbies. Though, this promotion goes one interesting step further.

Clicking on this Sponsored Link below your FarmVille game will take you to a purchase link to the SillyBandz website. Clicking on "Place Order Now" will redirect you to where you can buy FarmVille-inspired SillyBandz. However, to get the 25 Farm Cash you'll have to spend $8 on the mysterious wrist bands that somehow maintain their shape. In the special FarmVille pack of SillyBandz for $5.95, you'll find cows, tractors and even everyone's favorite sheep. While it's not free Farm Cash, at least you're getting it for less than paying directly and something tangible along with the 25 smackers to boot. And remember: only trust FarmVille Sponsored Links for ways to get free or discounted Farm Cash.

Game of the Day: Aloha Solitaire

Bringing back the game of the day is always a good thing. Today's game is Aloha Solitaire. Take a peaceful trip to the gorgeous Hawaiian Islands and play solitaire on your way across the archipelago. Relaxing screens and unlimited Mai Tai's await on your Hawaiian game expedition.

Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.

Play Aloha Solitaire Now >

Bejeweled 2, Angry Birds for iPhone violate your privacy, WSJ reports

Zynga and LOLapps may not be the only ones after your personal information for an extra buck. In a report published by the Wall Street Journal today, complete with flashy infographic breaking it down for reader, reporters found that games like Bejeweled 2 and Angry Birds for the iPhone and Android phones may be sending your private data such as contacts, your phone's unique ID number and even your phone number to third party marketing and advertising firms.

The report encompassed 101 of the most popular apps and games on both platforms and, more specifically, found that Rovio, the developer of Angry Birds, knows your phone's unique ID number, contacts and location thanks to you playing the game. Worse off, WSJ suspects that the company is sending that information to third parties. In a reaction statement made today by the developer, Rovio denied all allegations that it is sending this information to anyone other than Crystal, the social network that supports its games, and uses Flurry, an analytical software.

"Crystal does not store any personal information, as insinuated by the WSJ article, nor does it utilize any data without the user's explicit knowledge," a Rovio spokesperson told gaming news site Develop. "Flurry collects analytical data to display numerical data such as numbers of users per different countries based on Phone ID and general location. This information is only displayed as aggregate statistics - Flurry never stores or displays any data pertaining to an individual."

As for Bejeweled 2, WSJ found in its research that PopCap, the game's developer and publisher, knows your user names, passwords and phone number. And yes, it too is sending that information to third parties, according to the Journal report. PopCap has yet to make a statement confirming or denying the claims made by WSJ.

And don't think these are the only games and apps that could be making some coin off your private information. The chart and infographic go on to mention that Doodle Jump, Ninjump, Paper Toss, Foursquare and even Tweet Deck are having their way with a least a sliver of your personal data. While the report does point a few fingers, its true purpose is to raise awareness to the fact that our personal data may not be safe even on our smartphones.

The report ends with a poll asking whether readers feel that games and apps should notify them of when they're accessing their information. A whopping 66 percent seem to feel that it should be done every time. And if the Journal's findings turn out to be true, well, I'd have to agree.

Facebook games move to Requests 2.0, or one-click requests, next year

The FarmVille fans are just gonna' love this one. Facebook announced that Requests 2.0, a feature that will allow users to opt into one-click requests in their favorite Facebook games with specific friends, will become the standard starting Jan. 1, 2012. The upcoming change was announced on the Facebook Developers Blog, but don't fret just yet, privacy watchdogs.

Actually, this feature already exists on Facebook in games like EA and Playfish's The Sims Social. We're all familiar with the pop-ups that require us to click "Share" in order to send direct requests to our friends, but you may have noticed some with a checked box and a message that reads, "Don't ask again before sending requests to Joe Shmoe from this app." While perhaps the box shouldn't already be checked, removing the check will force Facebook to continue requesting for your permission.

Honestly, after Facebooks' Mark Zuckerberg revealed at the annual f8 Conference that games will automatically post certain data to the new universal Ticker, it's hard not to wonder why players would be scared of a feature like this. This change is much different than Zynga's approach, which essentially makes all sharing automatic and barred players from choosing who to send what items. Requests 2.0 gives players to option to activate automatic sharing with whomever they want on an individual basis.

Facebook Games Platform developer Derek Brandao then revealed how this new change--that will remove support for the old requests model come Jan. 1, 2012--could make Facebook game requests much faster for players. Brandao then starts speaking developer, to which many of your eyes (including mine) will begin to glaze over.

This change doesn't seem to affect public game shares like "I need 17 pickles in FarmVille," but could make sharing between friends much smoother. Giving players the choice to opt out of the feature protects Facebook somewhat from anti-privacy claims, but there's still something about Facebook reporting on every game we play that's just a tiny bit disconcerting.

Kevin James visits the critters of Zoo World 2 in Zoo Keeper promotion

After watching Kevin James bumble around as a firefighter feigning a domestic partnership and later as a blundering mall cop, I wasn't so keen on watching him play a clumsy zoo keeper. But hey, maybe it'll make for a fun Facebook game event, and RockYou seems to agree, as it announced that Zoo World 2 will honor James's comedic, klutzy exploits in Zoo Keeper.

Zoo Keeper has come and gone in theaters, but picking up the Blu-ray or DVD release of James's summer comedy will score Zoo World fans 12,500 Zoo Bucks (normally $10) to blow in Zoo World 2. Of course, digital zoo keepers will be joined by characters from the movie including Griffin (Kevin James's character), Bernie the Gorilla, Joe the Lion, Mollie the Giraffe and Barry the Elephant.

Zoo World 2 will feature several goals involving the cast of the film, and players will net extra rewards when taking care of the critters from the movie. Leveling up during this promotion will produce customizable, Zoo Keeper-inspired notifications that players can share with each other. The original game gets some love, too, with four Zoo Keeper-themed animals.
Gallery: Zoo World 2 Zoo Keeper Promotion
RockYou has finally caught wind that, hey, branding is where it's at right now in Facebook games. (And perhaps a big name will give the game's 370,000 daily players a boost.) Not only has Enrique Iglesias landed in Zynga's CityVille, but studios like Ecko|Code have launched full-blown branded games like Dexter Slice of Life. And, if big time social game execs have anything to say about it, this trend isn't going anywhere. Let's just not make an entire game surrounding a Kevin James flick, kay?

Scott Steinberg: Facebook could be in music games' future [Interview]

"It was too many games in too short a time, playing to too niche of an audience at too high a price--in the middle of the worst recession possible." According to technology analyst and public speaker Scott Steinberg, this was what essentially killed the enormous music gaming franchises, Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The age of sitting around your living room with three friends, plucking and fiddling with plastic instruments to Rush's Tom Sawyer is all but over ... for now.

Well, at least those exorbitant pieces of plastic are through. Steinberg details the rise, fall, and imminent resurrection of music-based video games in his new novel, "Music Games Rock: Rhythm Gaming's Greatest Hits of All Time," which you can read for free right here. (If you're so inclined to support the guy, it's also available on iBooks, Kindle and in paperback.)

According to Steinberg, music games inspired by Guitar Hero and Rock Band's wild success will get their second shot in the limelight on Facebook and in your smartphones. We recently sat down with Steinberg to hear his thoughts on just how Facebook games can take advantage of this golden opportunity, why it hasn't happened just yet and what the killer Facebook music game might be like.

What advantages would you say social games have to capitalize on the downfall of music games?

There's a number of advantages, right? Free-to-play and incredibly low barriers to entry. You certainly don't have high-end system requirements, and you don't have to buy pricey plastic peripherals. They can tap into your existing music collection or stream it live, and you have millions of players connected to a platform that's uniform.

You don't have to worry, for the most part, about bugs or errors, because everybody is playing the same thing at the same time. So, what you have is a ready made audience, say, on Facebook alone of 800 million people who are incredibly connected. [They] used to playing with one another and are taking part in a platform that's uniquely tailor-made to take advantage of digital music--and oh, by the way, it's completely free to play.

When you take it in this context, coupled with the fact that every human being on this planet is hardwired to enjoy music, that really is the common unifier. Social games really are uniquely poised to take the genre to the next level.

Music Games RockIn your book, you mention that the music genre has enjoyed a revival on social networks through Facebook games like Nightclub City and Dirty Dancing--largely simulator games. But what about games that more closely resemble the now-defunct rhythm games like Pump It? Which of the two do you think has a better chance at thriving on Facebook?

Actually, I would argue that some of the better ones that have a chance of surviving may not even be traditional games at all. Look at a service like Turntable.fm: Wouldn't consider it a game per se, except it's powered completely by gamification elements. You're creating custom play lists, you're interacting with other players in a social environment and ultimately you're competing for the approval of other users by liking the songs.

Or, if you look at other games like YooStar Playground or apps like VidRhythm--these are the titles that are to do particularly well. That said, simulation titles [have a] strong audience for them and proven capability, and certainly because that's where so many games got their roots [on Facebook]. There's likely to be a lot of people interested. I've even seen a number of unreleased games that are in prototype that essentially allow you to take on the role of managing or performing in a rock band--I think they're uniquely well-suited.

I think what's not going to translate over well is simply the standard tap in time with the on-screen indicator type games. Though, these can continue to succeed on mobile platforms, because in the mobile context you're typically looking to play maybe with one hand in a span of five or six minutes. Whereas social games may only be a 15-minute spurt, you're sitting down in front of a PC and you're typically more engaged.

There are some music creation social games on the fringe already, like BreakOutBand, that rely on players to share content to succeed. How important would that be in a social game centered around music?

I think user-created content, as it relates to social games, is massively important, because at the end of the day the developers can only take a game so far. And it's the players' ability to interact with and reshape that music or related content that really creates a sense of community, and allows a title to constantly keep feeling fresh and people coming back for more.

It's essentially a win-win, because for the developer it's a very affordable way to keep adding content to the game and keep people talking about it, and coming back after weeks and weeks. Players aren't constrained by office politics, licensing issues, and--to be frank--everybody loves to mix and mash creations.

But how much of that is going to be super-high quality, or chart-topping hits shall we say, versus underground little diddies? This is social interaction at its core, right? So, if you don't have that level of user interactivity, at the end of the day what you have is essentially a game with a bunch of canned content. And not much reason--unless it's saying you need to recruit other players to earn money for your band or unlock new stuff--there's not much incentive to pass it along.

A good amount of music games already exist on Facebook, but none are taking off like music games did before the turn of the decade. What do you think it would take for a music-based social game to enjoy success and notoriety like Guitar Hero?

You need to have a concept with extremely wide appeal that allows players to enjoy rock star wish fulfillment in a matter of minutes without the painful side effects. What also is important is to have recognizable band scenarios, you know, licensed music. But also the ability for players to put their own spin on it and a reason for them to engage with one another.

The problem is, to succeed on social networks where you literally have thousands of titles competing, dozens of them coming out every single week--all of which are completely free to play versus Guitar Hero, which was completely brand new. To have that success on Facebook or another social network, I almost think what you're going to see is a title that's going to have to align itself with Spotify or another one of these streaming services to tap into a massive database of real-world artists and then finds new ways for you to interact with that music.
Dirty Dancing Facebook game
Back to the branded music games like Dirty Dancing (pictured). As you know, they're reaching critical mass, so what do you think is the likelihood of a monster brand like Guitar Hero or Rock Band appearing on Facebook?

Oh, it's a certainty. It's not a question of 'if,' but just a question of 'when.' I think a lot of that is because the game makers aren't unawares. Activision, Harmonix, Mad Catz: They understand the power of social networks as a platform. The problem is that their business has been thus far founded in either selling peripherals--good mark up on those plastic guitars--or selling software for 60 bucks a pop.

They haven't had as much incentive to scurry and think, 'How do we make a free-to-play platform where we're probably going to make a lot less money in the immediate?' But slowly and surely, as so many game players are migrating to these platforms, convenience is winning. It's almost as if they're being forced to acknowledge it. It's a completely new approach to game design--Wal-Mart's not going to order a million units. They'll embrace it; it's just a question of 'when.'

Try to describe your dream music-based Facebook game to me. In other words, what do you think would be the ultimate approach to a music game on Facebook?

The ultimate Facebook music game would not only be able to tap into your full library of digital music, but also stream millions of songs on demand. [It would] allow you to set up on stage custom concerts for your friends, featuring this music or original music you created. [You would] style your avatars, build your own bands, create your own followings, sell your own virtual merchandise and connect over shared love of music with millions of players across the world.

It would effectively recreate the rock and recording industry experience, only in a virtual setting. What I mean is a combo listening service, social network, slash simulation game that effectively allows you to build a rock band and recording industry career from the ground up. I don't see any reason why you couldn't create avatars for your band--it's own look, logo, virtual stickers, t-shirts. You could buy branded gear like Gibson's or Marshall's, earn cash from touring, build your own virtual labels. I don't see any reason why a platform wouldn't be able to break new artists.

Will Elvis Presley become 'The King' of Facebook gaming, too?

Who knows, but it looks like Pennsylvania-based Entertainment Games will everything it can to make that happen. (Screaming happily and bouncing at this news might be totally appropriate.) The social game creator and casual games portal announced that it has reached a licensing agreement with Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE). The King himself will be featured as a main character in an upcoming game for Facebook, Google+ , mobile devices and open web.

Entertainment Games has yet to announce a release date, but did say that many celebrities along with Presley will be featured in the "soon-to-be launched, story-driven online game" in a release. The developer's Heyday platform will be the basis for the game's creation, and photographs from the archives at Graceland will be featured in the Facebook game. And, of course, Entertainment Games will include a copious amount of Elvis-themed virtual goods for purchase.

"Entertainment Games' mission is to create a totally unique social game experience in which players engage in rich, interactive stories and games that evoke the spirit of past decades and are brought to life by authentic photos and nostalgic celebrity imagery," Entertainment Games CCO F.J. Lennon said in a release.

The news follows the hire of soap opera guru Michael Fairman, and before that a deal that Entertainment Games struck with intellectual rights firm CMG Worldwide to use pictures of celebrities for a "retro-based social game for Facebook, Google+, mobile devices and the open web." Sound familiar? We thought so. Based on these recent reports it looks as if Entertainment Games is building one giant nostalgia bomb for Facebook gamers, and we can't wait to see it explode.

DeNA gobbles up Chilean Little Cave Hero maker Atakama Labs

The Little Cave Hero just moved on to a much bigger cave. VentureBeat reports that DeNA has acquired Chilean social game developer Atakama Labs for an undisclosed amount, though the website recalls that the price might be around $6 million. Atakama Labs is best known for quirky Facebook games like Little Cave Hero and artsy iPhone games like Today I Die Again.

It appears that this acquisition was made with specific interest in Atakama, founded by Esteban Sosnik and Tiburcio de la Carcova after fleeing to Santiago, Chile in search of political and economic stability, helping DeNA's mobile efforts. Namely, Atakama Labs will work with DeNA-owned Ngmoco to support the Mobage mobile social game network.

The mobile scene will likely be the next major battlefield for social game creators, especially as social game developers and publishers focus more and more resources on creating the next top 10 app. Most recently, Zynga revealed that it's working on another mobile version of Mafia Wars after shuttering its existing HTML5 endeavor. This question remains, however: Will it be quality games or robust networks that will decide who wins the mobile social gaming wars?

Chess Attack on Facebook: Refreshing, but rushed approach to a classic

Chess Attack
Classic board games are so easy to create on Facebook. I can't imagine how many renditions of tic-tac-toe, checkers and Mahjong there are on the website much less chess. That's why developer Sweet Robot and publisher Funcom decided to mix things up a bit with Chess Attack on Facebook. By shrinking the playing field from an 8x8 to a 6x6 grid, Sweet Robot has made for a much faster-paced version of the iconic board game. However, games tend to feel too rushed for such a thinker as chess--games will automatically end in a draw if a checkmate isn't reached in enough time.

Find out of Chess Attack makes the right moves after the break.

Aside from the change to the game board, Chess Attack is essentially chess on Facebook, so there's no need to get into all of the rules. Admittedly, it must be tough to make a game of chess interesting in a social game format, but Sweet Robot pulls it off with smooth animations and a slew of cosmetic features. Note the word "cosmetic." Thankfully, the developer didn't get too crazy with paid transactions and limited them to new chess sets and game boards.

Chess Attack gameplay
While players can practice with the AI opponent set to "Easy" "Standard" and "Difficult," the core of Chess Attack is competing with other players in real time. Unfortunately, the game launched today, so it's going to be a rough time finding opponents for a little while. (As of this writing, the game has just over 600 users.) From playing both against the AI and real players, you will advance in level and earn coins for every move made on the board. Your level doesn't serve much of a purpose aside from making proper matchmaking simple. The coins, of course, will be used to buy new items in the shop. There is also a list of achievements, or "Medals," to considering when playing Chess Attack, which also unlock new items in the shop.

Chess Master for Facebook is one fine social game. Thanks to real time gameplay and a 6x6 game board, this game is an interesting take on what could have been a yawn-inducing, standard chess game. However, the game tends to rush players through in respect of time, which is not good new for amateurs like myself. Not to mention that finding real people to play with at the moment is a challenge given the fact that Chess Attack just launched. If you want to see an inventive take on chess take off on Facebook, spread the word and give that AI opponent a whipping for me in the meantime. Seriously, it beats me every time.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: RewardVille items unearthed from the farm

RewardVille Rewards FarmVille
It looks like RewardVille is slowly being made available to players (finally), because FarmVille Freak has uncovered a long list of rewards that FarmVille players can enjoy by increasing their zLevel through the new RewardVille program. Some of the items are brand new, others revisit previous themes and some are just plain useful. The items below are mostly decoration, but the Lychee Tree makes a return for those who missed out before.

    Mt. Duckmore: 72 zCoins
    Blue Birdhouse: 58 zCoins
    Lychee Tree: 48 zCoins
    Matterhorn: 96 zCoins
    Stagecoach: 80 zCoins
    Adobe Cottage: 77 zCoins
    Horse Post: 80 zCoins
    Porch Home: 120



FarmVille RewardVille rewards

This second set of items contains several more buildings, but also a set of 50 Fuel Tanks is available to get some better use from your zCoins.

    Bamboo Bridge: 100 zCoins
    Fire Station: 110 zCoins
    Large Fuel: 130 zCoins
    Covered Bridge: 120 zCoins
    Lighthouse: 120 zCoins
    Curiosity Shop: 140 zCoins
    Coastal Hideaway: 150 zCoins
    Tree Mansion: 200 zCoins


As you might be able to tell in these screen shots, there will be at least a zLevel cap of 70 to start. It's unsure when the RewardVille program will be available to all farmers, but as soon as we get access you'll be the first to know.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Valentine's Day items in the market

Recently, we started bring you a few Sneak Peeks of items that we think will be coming to FarmVille in the near future, as part of the game's upcoming Valentine's Day theme. Turns out that most of our assumptions were correct, as today FarmVille Pro has stumbled upon some Market Screenshots of these unreleased items, as they will appear in the market, including suspected prices and experience point rewards for purchasing them.

There are items of all kinds being shown off here, including animals, buildings, decorations, and even a couple of trees and a limited edition crop. It appears that there will also be something available for every budget, to make sure there will be plenty of "love" to go around in the game.

Meet us behind the break for a look at these new items.

The items are as follows, and they will apparently be released either on January 24, or before then:

Valentine Cow - 24 Farm Cash
Valentine Duck - 16 Farm Cash
Valentine House - 20 Farm Cash
Cupid Gnome - 18 Farm Cash
Heart Fence - 10,000 coins per single piece of fencing
Love Arch - 22,000 coins
Rose Bush - 1,200 coins
Swan Fountain - 20 Farm Cash
Giant bubblegum (tree?)- 30 Farm Cash
Pink Bubblegum Tree - 5 Farm Cash
Fire and Ice Roses (Crop) - 100 coins to plant / sells for 190 coins in 8 hours

We know that this won't be the entire selection of Valentine's Day items in the game, since the recent Valentine's Day Showcase video included at least a Gazebo and Sheep that haven't been included in this leaked market preview. These items may never be released in the store, however, and may launch instead through an updated Mystery Game, or even as free gifts. Hopefully, there are at least twice as many items as those listed here - and that hope comes from me - I just love all things pink!

Remember, these are preview images only and the prices and other statistics for these items may change before they are released in full.

FrontierVille Fanny's on the Prowl Missions: Everything you need to know

In honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday, Zynga has launched a new series of missions in FrontierVille surrounding the school teacher, Ms. Fanny Wildcat and her search for love out on the great frontier. This mission series contains three new quests to complete, and is called "Fanny's on the Prowl." For some time now, we've been wondering whether or not Fanny would make her feelings for Hank (revealed during the New Years Party even) known, and boy howdy, it looks like she just might.

These missions will have you clearing trees, collecting fire, collecting items with friends, planting crops, and buying decorations, so make sure you've saved up a little bit of everything (wood, coins, food, etc.) before taking them on, to have as little trouble as possible when completing them. As usual, we're here to help you along the way, so meet us behind the break for a full look at these new missions and how to complete them.

The first mission of this three part set is called "A Stinky Situation." Apparently, someone tossed a live skunk onto the school grounds, and you'll need to clear out the smell before things get worse. There are three tasks here, which are fairly easy for those who have a few trees on hand.

Chop Down Five Trees
Have or Get Five Fire
Customize the Schoolhouse

You'll be able to craft Fire in the Covered Wagon for 7 pieces of wood and 5 Cloth each. As for the trees, you can simply chop down saplings that only require a single chop for them to count. Remember, if you need trees, rather than paying for them in the store, go into your Collections menu and turn in the Pine Tree or Oak Tree Collections - each rewards you with a free sapling.

The rewards for finishing Part 1 are 1,000 XP, a Basketball Hoop Decoration and 500 coins. You'll be able to share free fire with your friends as a bonus.

Part II of III is called "Get the Lady a Drink" and it asks you to help Ms. Fanny Wildcat kill some time while waiting for the Skunk smell to disperse from the previous mission. You'll have to collect some items, and harvest some corn in order to do this.

Collect 10 Birch Barks
Harvest 20 Corn
Have One Stove

The stove is a collectible item from the Cabin Collection, and the corn can be harvested after eight hours. Remember though, you can also ask four of your friends to come over to your Homestead and water your 20 planted Corn - simply come back to your own Homestead and accept their tending to your crops and this will count as harvests, even though the crops are still growing (it may take a bit of coordination on the part of yourself and your neighbors, but it can help you save some time all the same). Finally, the Birch Barks are received by posting a general wall post to your news feed asking your friends for help.

The rewards for Part II are 1,000 XP, a Birch Beer Barrel decorative item and 500 coins.

Finally, Part III of this set asks you to decorate your land for a bit of an impromptu party.

Place 5 Hay Decorations
Collect 10 Jig Music's
Collect 1 Schoolhouse Bonus

After finishing this final mission, you'll receive 1,000 XP, a Banjo (formerly a Horseshoe only item costing 48 Horseshoes) and 500 coins.

And there you have it! Three missions will apparently help Miss Fanny Wildcat get one step closer to finding love out on the prairie. Do you think these missions are too difficult - the reward too little?

FrontierVille Mystery Animal Crate reveals Seals, Swans, and Frogs, oh my!

It's been a while since the FrontierVille market has been updated with anything other than new buildings, but luckily, we have a new item to purchase (if you're willing to shell out some Horseshoes to do so). The new item is a new round of the Mystery Animal Crate, with this crate offering you a chance at winning one of nine animals; three each of Seals, Swans, and Frogs.

Each animal is available in three colors - here's the rundown:

Seals: Brown, White, and Gray
Swans: White, Black, and Pink
Frog: Marigold (yellow), Lilac, and Green

Each individual crate can be purchased from the store for 35 Horseshoes. As usual, it is entirely random as to which animal you'll receive from purchasing a single crate, and if you're hoping to receive more than one of these animals, keep in mind that you may end up with duplicates, before you receive a new animal. I hope you have a lot of Horseshoes to go around!

This Mystery Crate will be available in the store for the next 10 days. Good luck if you try to collect them all!

Which of these three animals are you hoping to receive from the Mystery Crate? And in which colors?

Husband of 20 years is 'Fed Up with a FarmVille Fanatic'

Social games can get pretty romantic, help you find true love, and embolden people into forming relationships. Moreover, our partner site FarmVilleFreak.com, is run by the lovely couple Angela & Michael Morales. But one man (who's probably had a terrible Valentine's Day) is learning what's it like to be married to a FarmVille addict. Yesterday, 'Fed Up with a Farmville Fanatic' sought advice from the Annie's Mailbox advice column for help with his wife's ceaseless FarmVille gaming.

His letter started off innocently enough, where his wife would choose to go online instead spending her usual evenings with him or the television. Later on, it gets worse, where 'Fed Up' claims that their "house is a disaster", his wife is too distracted to help out with chores, and he has taken matters into his own hands to get the game to stop working on his wife's computer. But instead of using the downtime as an excuse to stop playing, his wife used every means to get the game running again. The one line that indicates that his wife may have a problem is that "In a single day, she spent eight hours on this site. I've caught her online at 3 a.m."

I have to wonder if 'Fed Up' has ever considered playing FarmVille with his wife. Or jokingly ask him if she's demanded an Unwither Ring yet. He seems to be dealing with this problem rather passive-aggressively, and frankly, his wife just sounds bored of their routine. On top of that, Fed Up's secret sabotage attempts to "monitor, limit or block access" on her computer comes off as creepily excessive, when you consider the fact that she's an adult. There seems to be a lot more going on here than what we can see. After two decades of marriage, you'd think that he can talk something out. But we're also aware of how real addiction can be, and it's not just a problem with social games either, as Annie helpfully responds:

    Dear Fed Up: These online games encourage constant participation, and many provide virtual social communities. Your wife fears that if she stops playing for an extended period, she will lose out. She doesn't realize that she is already losing out - with you. Like any addiction, your wife may need professional help to stop. In the meantime, insist that she shut off the computer at a specified time each day. Plan dates that will interest her enough to get out of the house. She needs to get back into the real world.

So what do you guys think is going on here? Did the husband cross the line with his admittedly "clandestine" monitoring? Is the wife addicted, or for the more imaginative of you out there, do you think she's using her addiction as an excuse to do other things online?

FrontierVille Buildin' a Snow Fort Timed Goal now available

A week ago, we gave you the heads-up that a new timed mission would be coming to FrontierVille in the form of the "Buildin' a Snow Fort" Timed Goal. If you used our guide to stock up on Adult Sheep, save some debris or even stock up on extra FrontierVille neighbors, you'll be happy that you did, as the mission has officially been launched in the game today.

As a reminder of the three tasks required:

Clear 25 Debris from Your Homestead
Sell 20 Adult Sheep
Get 5 Snowballs from Your Friends

The Snowballs are earned via a general wall post, that is set up as a "give one, get one" scenario - your friends will receive a free Snowball for their own game when helping you, so we think you'll have no problem gathering the help of friends on this one.

For the complete details on this mission, make sure to check out our guide. Note that the Snowball requirement has been changed from needing ten Snowballs to just five, making this step even easier.

Do you think you'll be able to finish this mission in time required?

Take on the T.O.O.L. with Gun Bros on Facebook

Hit Point Studios and Glu Games' have officially launched Gun Bros on Facebook. For those that are unfamiliar, the Gun Bros are a pair of soliders with super powers and attitudes, and their outing on iOS has been viewed pretty favorably by both critics and with the general public). With this Facebook version, you'll get to jump into the established game world, where you'll need to combat the evil "Tyrannical Opressors of Life," or T.O.O.L. for short (clever, that).

The Facebook game drops you onto a mission map in outer space, where there is currently only one planet to explore (more will be added in the future; in fact, there are already place-holders for at least four more planets). This first planet is Cerberus Prime, a T.O.O.L. stronghold. You'll need to start a revolution on the planet, with each individual revolution being comprised of different levels or waves.

Once you start a level, you'll find that this isn't any ordinary Facebook game, as it's as action-oriented as they come. You'll have two control configurations to choose from, either moving your Gun Bros with the arrow keys or the WASD keys, as in many popular PC games. The mouse is used to fire your gun, and you can even use the Space Bar to auto-aim your weapon, if you're not used to this type of potentially hectic gameplay.

You'll be able to walk freely around the map, either shooting all manner of enemies directly, or shooting explosive canisters, causing large blasts that take out (or at least highly damage) anything in the surrounding area. Each kill earns you experience points and an element called "Xplodium," which is converted into coins after each level. As you level up, your Gun Bros will become stronger, receiving health boosts, and you'll also be able to unlock new items in the store.

For each wave, there will only be a certain number of enemies to defeat on the map. You might have to walk around the entire map to find them, though, as their spawn locations appear to be random. You'll earn more coins the longer you stay alive, via the Xplodium multiplier. Again, Xplodium is converted to coins, so you want as much as you can get. You can increase your rate of coin production even further at the actual Xplodium conversion screen, as you can either trade all Xplodium for the mineral's exact value in coins, or you can purchase better conversion pods, giving you, say, 120% of 150% in coins.

Items in the store include health refills, new guns, armor and power-ups (shields, instant damage items, etc.). Guns have damage ratings, while different pieces of armor (helmets, pants, vests and so on), each come with different defense stats, and can also have an affect on your attack and speed stats, either raising or lowering them. It's in finding the right balance of different stats that you'll have the best chance of surviving. Unfortunately, however, there seems to be a heavy reliance on Facebook Credits as a premium currency, as many of the most worthwhile armor items and guns cost real-world money to purchase.

In terms of social features, you can track your progress against your friends via the provided leaderboard, which shows off your overall level, and which wave you've reached in which particular Revolution. As of right now, there doesn't appear to be many other ways to interact with friends, other than simply inviting them to play the game altogether, but it will be interesting to see if a sort of co-op mode is added in the future, replacing the AI controlled Bros on screen with a real friend, or at least giving you a boost if you partner is represented by a real friend.

All told, the game's high production values show that Glu is serious about making Gun Bros. a success not only on iOS, but on Facebook as well. If you'd like to help them out, give this one a shot.

Gnome-centric Facebook game Odd Manor coming soon - register for advance access

KingX Studios have announced that they will be bringing a new game to Facebook called Odd Manor. Seemingly inspired by the recent film Gnomio and Juliet (which sees garden gnomes taking on lives of their own, growing gardens, and causing all sorts of mischief), the game is called Odd Manor, and it will see players working their way through (to start) five "magical gardens filled with faeries, charmed plants, and mystical creatures."

According to a company press release, the game will ask players to solve the mystery of a missing uncle (whether this is an Uncle Gnome or a human that owns these Gnomes wasn't made clear) by creating their gardens and becoming masters of something called "botanical alchemy," a process that will apparently involve chemical reactions and imagination to create new plants.
What makes Odd Manor worth looking forward to, according to KingX Studios, is the fact that the game will apparently provide a "console game experience in a social media environment." Does this mean we'll navigate through a fully 3D environment, using the arrow keys to navigate and interact with other gnomes and plants? Or, will the game be more like an MMO, offering more menus than freedom of movement?

If you're looking to learn more about Odd Manor before it launches this Spring (an exact release date is unknown as of this writing), you can do so by heading over to the game's official website, where you can register for updates. This will also grant you access to exclusive items in the game and "other unique benefits."

We'll make sure to give you a full rundown of Odd Manor's final product, when the game launches on Facebook later this year, so keep checking back.

Is Odd Manor something that intrigues you enough to give it a try once it launches later this year? What do you think of a Gnome-themed Facebook game?

FarmVille: Could the English Countryside launch at the beginning of March?

While browsing the FarmVille forums this afternoon, I came across a new post from Community Manager "Stumpgrinder" that caught my attention. The thread is called "FarmVille English Countryside Questions," and it asks users to post any and all questions they may have concerning the upcoming English Countryside in FarmVille to the thread, so that the FarmVille team may answer them.

Via this question and answer (mostly question) session, the FarmVille team will pick the very best questions to answer, with those answers being published the week of February 28. Questions, then, must be received by February 28 for consideration. Is this date purely a coincidence, or does it coincide with the week of the English Countryside's release in the game? After all, what better way to hype your players up for such a large expansion (new crops, a second farm, new NPCs, etc.) than to publish some new tidbits about the expansion via these questions - get players back into playing the game regularly, and then release the expansion to the masses!

Of course, there is a second, darker possibility to this event - that being that Zynga is looking for a way to postpone the release for as long as possible, and are using this Q&A session as a way to keep excitement high, but we're really hoping its the former.

While we can speculate all day, we'd like to know what you think about this new development. Does February 28 mark the week of the English Countryside's release, or do you think we'll have to wait much longer than that?

Zynga will launch FarmVille English Countryside next week

That's right, be excited. All of your Special Delivery stockpiling has come to this. Zynga has just announced that the English Countryside expansion to FarmVille will launch next week. While no specific date and time was mentioned, the company made the announcement on the game's official Facebook page. So, if you're not Level 20 yet, get to it as its required to travel to the EC. Zynga dropped this hint as to how to level up quickly: Strawberries and Aloe Vera are especially great for gaining XP. Not to mention that if you throw down a few Fertilize Alls this weekend, your experience gains will increase as well. If you want to be even more prepared for the release, check out these guides on Traveling to England, Sheep Breeding, Farming the English Countryside and Working with Two Farms. We'll see you on the other side of the pond next week.

[Via FarmVille Feed]

[Image Credit: My Disguises]

Check out the rest of our FarmVille English Countryside coverage right here.

March Madness Facebook Game Showdown: Round 1

Every March, the college basketball season ends with its NCAA Basketball tournament. Sixty-eight college basketball teams qualify for a frenzied rush to be named the best team in the nation. The tournament is a single elimination tournament, one loss and your team goes home. Due to the crazed nature of the games and frenetic pace the tournament has been given the name "March Madness."

At the Games.com - The Blog!, we are just as passionate about Facebook games as some people are about basketball. So -- we thought -- what the heck! Let's make a tournament of Facebook games.

Here's how its going to work:

We chose the top 16 games by daily active users and seeded them by their total number of players as of March 17 (St. Patrick's Day felt like a good day to get the numbers.)

All the first round match-ups have been listed in this post.
Vote which game you think should advance. It's that easy!
Vote early and vote often.

We'll tally all the votes over the weekend and set up out second round match ups based on which games got the most votes. It's win or go home time for you favorite Facebook games! Let the madness begin!


In our first match up we have a real David vs. Goliath. Can the upstart Car Town of Cie Games hang in there verses the hulking behemoth of a game in Zynga's CityVille? Car Town has been on the decline for the last month but has retained its most loyal players. Can it hang with the monster of CityVille?

(1) CityVille vs. (16) Car Town
CityVilleCar Town
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The number two seed is Zynga's (You're going to see Zynga a lot) FarmVille. If this had been last year, FarmVille would have been a clear number one. FarmVille has drawn the Games.com Blog's favorite game, Popcap's Zuma Blitz. This is really a match up of two contrasting styles and has different types of players. There is no way FarmVille can lose is there?

(2) FarmVille vs. (15) Zuma Blitz
FarmVilleZuma Blitz
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Our third match-up brings to wildly different styles to the floor. Zynga's Poker, the granddaddy of all Facebook games is taking on the cute bastion of feminine fashion, CrowdStar's It Girl. The audiences for these two games could not be more different. Could this be our first upset match-up?

(3) Zynga Poker vs. (14) It Girl
Zynga PokerIt Girl
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Zynga's FrontierVille locks horns with LOLApps's RavenWood Fair. Two games so similar could really battle to the very end. FrontierVille has the advantage in age but Ravenwood Fair has the leg up on beauty. Could this be an age before beauty situation? It could be a toss up.

(4) FrontierVille vs. (13) RavenWood Fair
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Popcap's second entry Bejeweled Blitz is the favorite in the dreaded 5 vs. 12 match-up. Wooga's Monster World has history on it's side. In the NCAA basketball tournament the 5 seed is upset more by the 12 seed than an other seeding in tournament history. Could this be Monster World's chance to shock the world?

(5) Bejeweled Blitz vs. (12) Monster World
Bejeweled BlitzMonster World
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Two older games go head to head next Zynga's Cafe World battles Playfish's Pet Society. Both games harken way back to 2009 when Playfish and Zynga were still vying to supremacy for which company would be the biggest on Facebook. (Wow,things have changed)

(6) Cafe World vs. (11) Pet Society
Cafe WorldPet Society
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Zynga's Treasure Isle attempts to vanquish Playfish's Restaurant City in the next match up. Playfish and Zynga have a long history of going head to head and each had a game in nearly every genre in the early days of the Facebook game market. They both be itching to eliminate the other!

(7) Treasure Isle vs. (10) Restaurant City
Treasure IsleRestaurant City
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The dude match-up of the tournament is Zynga's Mafia Wars verses Digital Chocolate's Millionaire City. Both these games have a bit more of an edge and man-centric feel to them. We'll see if they come out fighting.

(8) Mafia Wars vs. (9) Millionaire City
Mafia WarsMillionaire City
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