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.

Squirtle, Sonic and The Sims Social: Tile Art makes great alliteration

And you know how we writers just love our awesomely addictive alliteration ... we'll stop now. The Sims Social Fansite has found two new pieces of Tile Art in The Sims Social crafted by Pokaymon and TeodorusFN. As with most Tile Art in Playfish's hit Facebook game, these two pieces are loving tributes to two retro gaming characters. The fact that we just called Squirtle "retro" really ages us, doesn't it?

That said, let's start with the little blue turtle from the land of Pokémon. Pokaymon--how fitting--has created a spitting image of Squirtle as he appears in the ubiquitous Game Boy game. However, the artist's only downfall may have been his excessive use of black tiles to outline the turtle's body. But from a distance, we're right back in 1998, throwing Poké Balls to catch 'em all.
Sonic the Hedgehog Tile Art
TeodorusFN has hit our nostalgia bone so hard, that we went and booted up any Sonic game we could get our hands on. (Seriously, Sonic CD is out on the iPhone today, and it looks all sorts of rosy.) Again, these pieces work best with pixelated characters and even better from a distance. Regardless, it looks as if we never left Green Hill Zone.

We have just one, small complaint: Sonic the Hedgehog is a bit of a deeper blue, no? At any rate, both of these pieces of Tile Art hit the inner child hard. Like, run to the nearest game store and pick up a copy--any copy--of Pokémon hard.

What do you think of these two pieces of Tile Art? What's the most impressive creation you've seen in The Sims Social thus far?

The Sims Social gets fancy, classes it up in Victorian Elegance Week

Mmm, yes. I do believe that The Sims Sooocial has finally become ... acceptable enough to be associated with "Victorian Elegance." Playfish's hit social game just got a wee bit pretentious, but don't worry: It'll only last a week, and at least you can get some sweet items out of it. It's Victorian Elegance Week in the game, and that means a slew of fancy decorations and attire have arrived.

Players can deck their Sims' houses out to look like something from the 1800s, complete with fine hardwood floors, canopy beds and phonograph record players. Based on the two screen shots provided by Playfish, players will get to transform their bathrooms into far classier restrooms, complete with gold-legged bathtubs surrounded by curtains and ornate tile. In short, you'll be the classiest dude or dudette in Little Haven with these items. We're getting the sense this was all to channel Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol."
The Sims Social Victorian Elegance 2
Playfish is also giving Hanukkah some love this week with four brand new decorations. Soon, players will be able to honor the eight day-long Festival of Lights with a golden menorah, blue and white ornaments, dreidels and a blue and green Hanukkah wreath. We're not really sure how Hanukkah fits in with Victorian design and architecture, but we'll take what we can get. Look out for these items (and likely a brand new quest) sometime this week.

Are you digging where The Sims Social is going with this theme? What other themes would you like to see the game take on?

The Sims Social Ebenezer Smooge Walkthrough: How to finish it fast

This week in The Sims Social, we celebrate how the holidays used to be in the good old days. Playfish has pushed the Victorian Elegance update to its hit Facebook game, and along with a number of of new decorations and outfits, a new quest has arrived. In "Ebenezer Smooge," you must help your Sim help a ghost warm the heart of Ebenezer Smooge, one curmudgeon of a Sim.

To succeed in this quest of six steps, you'll need at least six neighbors, 850 Simoleons, five Fury and eight Goodwill. Not too shabby for a six-part quest. However, you only have one week to complete it, so let's get right into how you can complete "Ebenezer Smooge" as quickly as possible:
Ebenezer Smooge 1
Ebenezer Smooge 1

    Have an item from the Victorian Elegance Theme
    Yell 'Bah Humbug at 2 Sims
    Have 5 Fury


To pick up an item from the Victorian Elegance theme, hit the Shop button and buy anything with the "New" label. Visit two of your friends' houses, click on them and select the "Bah Humbug" option. Fury is most easily found by being mean to friends or playing guitar.
Ebenezer Smooge 2
Ebenezer Smooge 2

    Write 3 Love Letters
    Try to kiss 3 Sims
    Read 3 Rejection Letters


To write three love letters, just choose the option on your Sim's home computer. Then, try and kiss three of your neighbors by visiting them, clicking on their Sims and choosing the option "Try to Kiss." (Protip: The attempts don't have to be successful.) Once you're done trying to kiss friends, check your mailbox for those rejection letters.
Ebenezer Smooge 3
Ebenezer Smooge 3

    Ask friends if they're going to be holding any parties over the holiday period
    Check Email for new invitations
    Go to bed alone


Asking friends if they're going to parties is as simple is clicking the option in the quest window. However, you will have to wait for responses from your friends through the Facebook Wall. To check for new email invitations, just choose the option on your Sim's computer. Going to be alone should be simple enough: Click the bed and choose "Sleep".

Bernard the DogEbenezer Smooge 4

    Check Voice Mail and find if you had no calls
    Repair or Clean 3 items in your home
    Read the Obituaries


To check voice mail, just choose the option on your Sim's phone three times. If you have no broken or dirty appliances in your house, you'll have to keep using them in order to fix them. Finally, to read the obituaries, you must use your Sim's computer and the special option.

Ebenezer Smooge 5

    Become Inspired
    Have one clothe from this week new rang
    Give 5 Sims a festive hug


To become Inspired, your Sim must have the max level in all of its basic needs, including Social. The cheapest clothing item from the new Victorian Elegance theme is the Jinx Turkey Hat for 300 Social Points. In order to give your friends a Festive Hug, you must be wearing the special new piece of clothing.

Ebenezer Smooge 6

    Have 6 Goodwill
    Give 6 Sims a Holiday Gift
    Play holiday songs on instruments 5 times


Goodwill is most easily found by doing helpful or nice things for friends while visiting or by making beds, both yours and friends. The gift giving will become a new option when interacting with friends. To play holiday songs, you must do it on your own instruments at home. With that, you've successfully discovered why Smooge is so grouchy, and turned him around. Your reward for all of this is Bernard the Dog, a toy.

Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.

[Source: Aude06]

Have you started the Ebenezer Smooge quest yet? What tips do you have for completing it any faster?

The Sims Social Tile Art: Just in case you didn't know that was R2D2

We'd say that looks like the beepin' boopin' droid if it were ever in an 8-bit game, wouldn't you? Well, it's not: It's in The Sims Social, and player SamRi has created R2D2 from the classic film we shouldn't even have to name Star Wars. In case you haven't been following, it's called Tile Art, and all the rage in EA and Playfish's hit Facebook game. Rather than craft a retro video game character from the social simulator's myriad tiles, as so many are wont to do, SamRi opted to pay homage to a retro film character.

In fact, perhaps one of the most cherished retro movie characters of all time. And just in case you might not recognize it, the creator went ahead and labeled his or her creation for you. (Do people that haven't seen Star Wars exist?) What's most amazing about SamRi's creation is that it's both terribly accurate and interpretive at the same time.
Sims Social Tile Art Link
Next up is Link from the Legend of Zelda series, and tile for tile (or pixel for pixel), player Yngven93's rendition is picture perfect. This version of Link looks like it comes from one of the Zelda games released on the original Game Boy, but with some holiday chic. While this piece is brilliantly accurate to the original, it could probably do without the outline of black tiles. Regardless, we're suddenly wishing we had never traded in that old Game Boy to Funcoland. There we go aging ourselves again.

[Via The Sims Social Fansite]

[Image Credits: SamRi, Yngven93]

Are you impressed by these pieces of The Sims Social Tile Art? What's the most incredible piece of player-made artwork you've seen in a Facebook game?

Sims Social Revenge of the Simch walkthrough: How to finish it fast

The Simch is back and grouchier than ever. That's why, in the new Sims Social holiday-themed quest -- The Revenge of the Simch -- has you doing off the wall things like blowing on icy furniture and checking in fellow Sims' fridges for the cranky blue creature.

This quest is comprised of five parts and is one of the easier holiday-themed quests that have appeared in the game so far. The good news: You aren't required to spend oodles of Simoleons buying a bunch of holiday-themed items to complete this quest, but you will have to visit and perform action at quite a few friends' houses. (My advice? Visit your lower level friends who don't have big houses -- they tend to load much faster than those with sprawling estates).

Here's an overview of what you'll need to get the Revenge of the Simch Quest done quickly (and ride your way to fun and relaxation on a brand new Rockadeer).

2 Fury
8 Goodwill
Six Holly Wreaths
At least 5 Sims Social neighbors

Revenge of the Simch: Quest 1

sim social simch goal 1

- Check 3 frozen furniture for anything unusual

-Waft warm air on 3 ice furniture to melt it back

Head straight to Bella's house, which is decked out with all of the new ice furniture. Click on frozen funiture and select 'Waft Warm Air' action three times and the 'Check Anything Unusual' action three times. This takes six energy, but you'll only really use one energy unit from your own bar.

- Have 2 Fury

If you don't have Fury, you can get them by performing mean actions to other Sims. They don't appear every time you perform a mean action, so you might have to be a bigger meanie than you want to be to get them (Note: Your Sim can always apologize and make up for it later).


Revenge of the Simch: Quest 2

sims social simch 2

Ask 3 different Sims where the Simch is
Research Simch homes on computer 5 times
Check 3 different fridges for Simches

Pro tip: When you visit friends to ask them where the Simch is, also be sure to check their fridges for Simches as well. It'll save you some time.


Revenge of the Simch: Quest 3
sims social revenge of the simch

- Be inspired
Fulfill all of your Sim's needs to be inspired (I like to do that in the following order: feed, relieve, shower, sleep + fun, if sleep doesn't also fill your fun meter).

- Thank about nice holiday gifts on 3 different sofas or armchairs
Thinking about nice holiday gifts can be done at home or at friends' homes. Click on sofas or chairs with arms (hence, armchairs) and select the "Think about... " option. Chairs without arms will not give you the option to sit and think, so consider yourself warned.

- Deliver gifts to 5 different fridges
Gifts must be delivered to five different friends' fridges. Visit friends' homes, click on their refrigerator and select the 'Deliver Gifts' action.

Revenge of the Simch: Quest 4

sims social revenge of the simch 4

- Deliver a nice letter to Simch from 5 mailboxes
Visit 5 different friends' mailboxes, click on them and select the 'Delivery Letter to Simch' action.

- Phone the Simch to make him feel wanted
This can be done on your home phone or on friends' phones.

- Have 8 Goodwill
If you don't have enough goodwill, you can earn some by performing 'nice' actions to friends. You won't score Goodwill every time you perform a nice action, so prepare to do lots of nice things to get the job done.

Revenge of the Simch: Quest 5

sims social revenge of the simch 5

Give gifts to 4 different sims
Visit four different friends, click on them and select the 'A gift from the Simch!" action

Spread the Simch's season's greetings to 1 friend
Select the 'Ask Friends' button, which will post a request in your Facebook news feed. Only one person needs click the feed post to help.

Have 6 Holly Wreaths
Holly wreaths can be found by taking pictures of snow rabbits, cardinals and clearing pine cones in your own yard. You can also request them from others via the friend selector.

Revenge of the Simch: Final

sims social revenge of the simch final

Once you're done with the quest, you will be rewarded with a shiny, new Rockadeer -- a reindeer rocking horse
that's worth 3,500 Simoleons and will increase the value of your Sims' home by 2,700 Simoleons.


sims social revenge of the simch rockadeer

Once you place the Rockadeer on your property, you can perform two actions by clicking on it: Reindeer rock, which will increase your Sims' fun meter and Gentle Rock, which will increase your Sims' sleep meter.

sims social revenge of the simch rockadeer in action
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.

Got any other tips on how to finish the Revenge of the Simch quest in record time?

Zynga buys 12 companies for fraction of what Disney spent on Playdom

Has Disney been shopping in the wrong places? VentureBeat reports that Zynga spent a total of $123 million in cash and stock for 12 companies over the past year.

That number is about a seventh of what Disney paid--around $763 million--for a single company, Playdom. Not to mention that it's a third of what EA paid for Playfish in 2009: around $400 million.

Of course, Zynga has bought considerably smaller companies, but it's also a sign that Zynga has been far more savvy in its purchases (and its uses for them) than its competitors. The most it paid for a studio was $53 million for Newtoy, the creators of Words with Friends and now Hanging with Friends under the big red dog.

Zynga just filed for IPO last week, valuing the company at nearly $20 billion, which is far more than the two most valuable gaming companies in the world, EA and Activision Blizzard. These small time purchases-turned-big time hit machines is surely a lynch pin in Zynga's strategy--though snagging a few major league execs helps, too. Perhaps the competition should consider going small instead of, say, eying up PopCap for $1 billion.

[Image Credit: Mashable]

Do you think Zynga's strategy for acquiring companies is more sound than the competitions? How do you think EA and Disney will respond to Zynga's IPO?

Top 25 Facebook Games - July 2011: Zynga's Empires & Allies conquers (almost) all

Hear ye, hear ye -- the numbers are in and it looks like Zynga's Empires & Allies has successfully arrived and conquered the competition since its launch last month, bumping its sibling FarmVille out of its #2 spot and possibly looking to overtake CityVille this summer.

Empires & Allies, often described as a combination of Risk and CityVille, seems to have struck a chord with social gamers who are hungry for something different. Instead of a standard simulation game where you tend a farm or build a city -- this new Zynga game adds a little more risk and competition than the usual Facebook fare, requiring players to grow their empires by building armies, managing resources, and then go to battle to keep their empires safe from invasion.

That, plus the fact that Empires & Allies launched simultaneously in 12 languages and Zynga's impressive cross-promotional marketing powers, have helped ensure that the game starts strong. Now it's most likely a matter of time until we see the empire builder's popularity peak and then -- if it follows the same trajectory as CityVille and FarmVille -- drop and level off after a few months for a more realistic picture of its success.

top 25 facebook games july 2011

Other big Facebook game winners for June 2011 include Gaia Online's Pokemon-inspired Monster Galaxy (gaining an awe-worthy 6.6 million players), Playdom's hidden object game Gardens of Time (up 1 million players) and Wooga's Bejeweled clone Diamond Dash (up 800k players).

Other Zynga games, in the meantime, did not have as spectacular a showing as Empires & Allies in June. FarmVille hemorrhaged another 6 million players, 1 million players went missing from Mafia Wars and YoVille has dropped off the top 25 list completely. This highlights the fact that social games need to innovate or die -- and it'll be interesting to see how upcoming brand-name games, such as Sid Meier's Civilization World and Playfish's Risk Factions, will shake things up in the next few months.

Three lessons social games can learn from Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the mother of all go-anywhere, do-anything role-playing games, arrives on store shelves today, and you can bet there are a more than a few people ditching work due to a sudden bout of the Skyrim flu. With all of the buzz surrounding this new game (and the fact that not too many people seem willing to skip work to play a new Facebook game), here's a few lessons social game makers can adopt.

1. Let the players pick their own style

One of the things Skyrim does best is throw away boundaries found in most games and let the player dictate their own experience. That includes everything from your avatar's physical details (right down to nose length and chin width) to what type of player they want to be. Do you want to rush into battle wielding an axe? Shoot magic spells from your hands? Both? You can do it all. There's also the option to jump headfirst into the main action or dabble with alchemy, which involves collecting plants and other items, mixing them together and watch the results. It would be interesting to see more social games give players more freedom to craft the entire experience. Imagine being able to mix a purple cow with a certain type of tractor in FarmVille for some interesting results.

2. Make the game feel expansive

Skyrim offers players a big expansive world to play in, and that's one of the biggest selling points in the game. You can literally walk dozens of square miles in the game, while taking in the vast landscape around you. There's something about being given a wide-open playground that lends to the fun, as if anything can happen at any given moment. Games like FarmVille, CityVille and The Sims Social tend to take place in a small, confined area that the player can claim as his/her own. There's the option to visit your friends' homes/farms/cities, but that is also in the same confined area and there's nothing connecting the various locations, taking away from that go-anywhere, do-anything sense of adventure.

skyrim dragon

3. Don't ignore the story

Story is an essential element in Skyrim and helps you pull you into the game from the very beginning. And, as any good game storytelling should, it keeps you playing just to see what happens next. In social games, story is still mostly an afterthought. FrontierVille/Pioneer Trail was the first big social game to take a stab at having a central story to back up the action -- and other games, such as Playdom's Deep Realms, have followed suit -- but there is still plenty of room for social games that take storytelling seriously.

What other lessons can social games take from more traditional video games? What would you like to see?

Want exclusive freebies in The Sims Social? Register on the forums

I'd put away that credit card, if I were you, at least for the moment. I know, it's burning a hole and blah, blah, blah, but Playfish recently announced that it will give The Sims Social players exclusive freebies on a regular basis, but under one condition: You have to register on the Playfish forums. In fact, the game's community team created a new forum category just for this purpose.

Starting last week, Playfish gave away some free Relaxation--an ingredient used in crafting Fun Potions--in a short 24-hour window. So, it looks like, if you do decide to partake in the freebie-fest, you'll have to visit the Playfish forums on a regular basis to catch the next free giveaway that pops up. Perhaps eventually the developer will start to dole some beefier prizes like decorations for your Sim's house or straight-up Simoleons and Social Points.

EA and Playfish have been on a freebie frenzy as of late for all The Sims Social players. Just recently, the developer announced a week-long event in which it will post even more handouts on its Facebook page. At this point, we can't help but ask: Why? Well, considering just how close The Sims Social is to overtaking Zynga's CityVille as the number one game on Facebook in daily players, we're not surprised that Playfish would be pulling all the stops. To register on the Playfish forums, click right here.

Have you been reaping the rewards from Playfish on the forums and on The Sims Social Facebook page? What do you think of the game so far? Share with us in the comments. 1 Comment