Sightings of the FarmVille Farmer's Market have been reported all week long, with only a lucky few who had access to this new features. Well, farmers, the wait is over. The Farmer's Market is now available to everyone.
The first mission is to open your Market, and that will require a Market Stall, which can be earned several ways: 1.) By planting and harvesting crops to get a bushel or 2.) By collecting Bushels from friends who are giving them away via their Facebook Walls. Once you have a bushel, the Market Stall will appear in your gift box. You can then place it on your farm and start learning more about how this stall will make it easier to run your farm with maximum success.
To learn more about how this new feature works, check out our FarmVille Farmer's Market: Everything You Need to Know guide.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
FarmVille Unreleased Wooden and Steel Underground Storage
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Bamooozle for finding these unreleased FarmVille Wooden and Steel Underground Storage.
Source:
FarmVille Unreleased Underground Wooden Storage – Zynga FarmVille
FarmVille Unreleased Underground Steel Storage – Zynga FarmVille
This article originally appeared on FarmVIlle Freak.
Source:
FarmVille Unreleased Underground Wooden Storage – Zynga FarmVille
FarmVille Unreleased Underground Steel Storage – Zynga FarmVille
This article originally appeared on FarmVIlle Freak.
FarmVille Feed & Publishing Post Glitches
farmville feed and post glitches
Tonight Zynga issued an error message above the FarmVille Game screen to let farmers know there are currently issues publishing FarmVille posts to the Facebook homefeed. As always, FarmVille Freak has elaborated on Zynga's instructions, making it easier for FarmVille Freaks everywhere!
Current Fix for future posts are as follows:
Go to "Account" (upper right corner of the page)
2. Click on "Edit Friends"
3. On the left hand navigation column under "Lists", click on "Friends"
4. Click on "Create List"
5. Create a new list called "Exclude"
6. IMPORTANT: DO NOT add anyone to this list
7. Click on "Create List" to finish creating the list.
8. In the upper right corner of the page, click on "Account"
9. Click on "Privacy Settings"
10. Click on "Personal Information and Posts"
11. For the "Posts By Me" setting, choose "Custom"
12. For "Make this visible to" choose the setting you want (I use "Friends Only")
13. For "Hide this from", type "Exclude" into the "These People" field.
14. Save Settings
15. You're done – you have new default settings. Your posts will again be available to the people you want to have access to them!
This article originally appeared on FarmVIlle Freak.
Tonight Zynga issued an error message above the FarmVille Game screen to let farmers know there are currently issues publishing FarmVille posts to the Facebook homefeed. As always, FarmVille Freak has elaborated on Zynga's instructions, making it easier for FarmVille Freaks everywhere!
Current Fix for future posts are as follows:
Go to "Account" (upper right corner of the page)
2. Click on "Edit Friends"
3. On the left hand navigation column under "Lists", click on "Friends"
4. Click on "Create List"
5. Create a new list called "Exclude"
6. IMPORTANT: DO NOT add anyone to this list
7. Click on "Create List" to finish creating the list.
8. In the upper right corner of the page, click on "Account"
9. Click on "Privacy Settings"
10. Click on "Personal Information and Posts"
11. For the "Posts By Me" setting, choose "Custom"
12. For "Make this visible to" choose the setting you want (I use "Friends Only")
13. For "Hide this from", type "Exclude" into the "These People" field.
14. Save Settings
15. You're done – you have new default settings. Your posts will again be available to the people you want to have access to them!
This article originally appeared on FarmVIlle Freak.
New FarmVille crop arrives in the Market - Ginger
A new permanent FarmVille crop has appeared in the Market -- Ginger. You'll have to be at least level 42 to plant the crop.
More info coming soon!
More info coming soon!
FarmVille Nursery Barn finally gets a purpose: Raising baby animals
FarmVille Nursery Barn also underwent a few changes in the May 28 update -- basically, now it's a building that does more than contain your wobbly legged livestock.
Now those doe-eyed baby calves and foals can now grow up in to adult animals. Each time you harvest the Nursery Barn, you'll have a chance that one of your animals will grow into an adult. You'll also get a baby animal that you can share with your friends.
Now those doe-eyed baby calves and foals can now grow up in to adult animals. Each time you harvest the Nursery Barn, you'll have a chance that one of your animals will grow into an adult. You'll also get a baby animal that you can share with your friends.
Monday, February 13, 2012
FrontierVille Sawmill: New building costs a pretty penny
A new building landed in the Market today: the Sawmill. This new structure costs 30,000 coins, 40 wood, and you'll get 27 XP if you decide to buy this luxury item (a luxury for pioneers anyway). Too rich for my blood -- for now, at least.
What do you think of the new Sawmill?
What do you think of the new Sawmill?
Take a gander at the new FrontierVille Goose and Goose Collection
frontierville goose collection
Got a picture of your geese? Send it to libe@games.com and I'll feature it here.
Bookmark this site!
Got a picture of your geese? Send it to libe@games.com and I'll feature it here.
Bookmark this site!
Wishlist: How FarmVille can take full advantage of the iPhone
Zynga's newly released iPhone version of FarmVille is a passable if flawed miniaturization of its popular PC cousin. But the move to Apple's popular mobile phone brings with it the opportunity to add some rather unique new gameplay to the familiar farming experience. Here are just a few ideas for how Zynga can take full advantage of the iPhone hardware to make a better (or at least a fresher) overall game.
Geo-location: Visiting your virtual neighbors in FarmVille is all well and good, but sometimes you want to see what's going on with your actual neighbors. With the iPhone's built-in GPS (and IP-based geo-location for iPod users), this should be easy enough to implement. Simply let players opt-in to share their locations, then let them visit other farms are being shared in a set radius (anywhere from a few feet to a few hundred miles should be available). In addition to helping people discover new FarmVille freaks in their area, this feature could also let businesses and attractions set up virtual farms that are only accessible by visiting their real-world locations.
Text message harvesting: The iPhone version of FarmVille finally brings push notification of harvesting times, a great boon for on-the-go farmers that can't keep track of their schedules. As it stands now, though, iPhone players still have to load up the game and go through the onerous process of tapping all of their crops -- a process that can take entire minutes. Who has that kind of time? This is the new millennium! Why not let people harvest all their crops with a simple text message to Zynga.
Yes, this feature would actively encourage people to neglect spending time in the game, but so do time-saving features like tractors and unwithers, and people pay good virtual money (and sometimes real money) for those features. I can just see the ads now: "Text 'harvest' to 01223 and get those pesky crops out of the ground. Texts cost 2 FV cash for the first and 1 FV cash for each additional harvest per week, plus your telephone provider's fees. Text NOW!
Tilt to plow: Some of the iPhone's best games don't use the touchscreen at all, instead letting players simply tilt their phones to control everything from spaceships to tiny ball bearings to... whatever this thing is. Surely it can be used to control a virtual tractor as well, no? Just thing of the wild farm designs that could easily be created with a few deft flicks of the wrist. Of course, as it stands the game's graphics might not be responsive enough to allow for easy tilting controls, so maybe Zynga should get to work on that problem first. It's OK, we'll wait.
Personalized photo crops: The iPhone camera has revolutionized many games, from... um... well... OK, there aren't that many great games that take good advantage of the iPhone's camera yet. But Farmville could be one of the first by letting players convert their photos into personalized crop images. Why just grow ears of corn when you could instead grow a picture of your significant other, or Barack Obama, or even Bishop Desmond Tutu (cutest crop ever!). True, there would be a small risk of visiting a friend's farm and seeing dozens of pictures of their junk sprouting out of the ground, but really, if that happens, well, maybe you need to find some new friends.
Augmented reality farming: While the personalized crops discussed above could theoretically be implemented on the PC version of Farmville, this next idea would be much harder to do without a smartphone. Augmented reality, in this case, simply means point your iPhone video camera at the nearest table, book or other flat surface and seeing your farm displayed on-screen resting on top of that surface. Just picture it -- wheat growing out of your homework! Cows mooing on top of your bedspread! A grove of trees on... the carpet! Yeah, OK, this is actually starting to sound pretty lame now that we type it out. NEXT!
Audio commentary: Letting your best friend know their farming skills are "teh lamez0rs" via a signpost comment is all well and good, but just imagine how much more fun it could be to use the iPhone's built-in microphone to actively curse out their farming skills with your own voice (or we guess you could leave a nice comment too. If you really wanted to). But why stop there? Why not let players record detailed audio commentaries that take visiting friends from your elegantly designed koi pond garden to the haybale picture of Justin Beiber. Zynga could even add complex editing tools to give your virtual tour that Ken Burns effect.
That's all we've got for now, but we're sure there's iPhone farming possibilities we've left out
Geo-location: Visiting your virtual neighbors in FarmVille is all well and good, but sometimes you want to see what's going on with your actual neighbors. With the iPhone's built-in GPS (and IP-based geo-location for iPod users), this should be easy enough to implement. Simply let players opt-in to share their locations, then let them visit other farms are being shared in a set radius (anywhere from a few feet to a few hundred miles should be available). In addition to helping people discover new FarmVille freaks in their area, this feature could also let businesses and attractions set up virtual farms that are only accessible by visiting their real-world locations.
Text message harvesting: The iPhone version of FarmVille finally brings push notification of harvesting times, a great boon for on-the-go farmers that can't keep track of their schedules. As it stands now, though, iPhone players still have to load up the game and go through the onerous process of tapping all of their crops -- a process that can take entire minutes. Who has that kind of time? This is the new millennium! Why not let people harvest all their crops with a simple text message to Zynga.
Yes, this feature would actively encourage people to neglect spending time in the game, but so do time-saving features like tractors and unwithers, and people pay good virtual money (and sometimes real money) for those features. I can just see the ads now: "Text 'harvest' to 01223 and get those pesky crops out of the ground. Texts cost 2 FV cash for the first and 1 FV cash for each additional harvest per week, plus your telephone provider's fees. Text NOW!
Tilt to plow: Some of the iPhone's best games don't use the touchscreen at all, instead letting players simply tilt their phones to control everything from spaceships to tiny ball bearings to... whatever this thing is. Surely it can be used to control a virtual tractor as well, no? Just thing of the wild farm designs that could easily be created with a few deft flicks of the wrist. Of course, as it stands the game's graphics might not be responsive enough to allow for easy tilting controls, so maybe Zynga should get to work on that problem first. It's OK, we'll wait.
Personalized photo crops: The iPhone camera has revolutionized many games, from... um... well... OK, there aren't that many great games that take good advantage of the iPhone's camera yet. But Farmville could be one of the first by letting players convert their photos into personalized crop images. Why just grow ears of corn when you could instead grow a picture of your significant other, or Barack Obama, or even Bishop Desmond Tutu (cutest crop ever!). True, there would be a small risk of visiting a friend's farm and seeing dozens of pictures of their junk sprouting out of the ground, but really, if that happens, well, maybe you need to find some new friends.
Augmented reality farming: While the personalized crops discussed above could theoretically be implemented on the PC version of Farmville, this next idea would be much harder to do without a smartphone. Augmented reality, in this case, simply means point your iPhone video camera at the nearest table, book or other flat surface and seeing your farm displayed on-screen resting on top of that surface. Just picture it -- wheat growing out of your homework! Cows mooing on top of your bedspread! A grove of trees on... the carpet! Yeah, OK, this is actually starting to sound pretty lame now that we type it out. NEXT!
Audio commentary: Letting your best friend know their farming skills are "teh lamez0rs" via a signpost comment is all well and good, but just imagine how much more fun it could be to use the iPhone's built-in microphone to actively curse out their farming skills with your own voice (or we guess you could leave a nice comment too. If you really wanted to). But why stop there? Why not let players record detailed audio commentaries that take visiting friends from your elegantly designed koi pond garden to the haybale picture of Justin Beiber. Zynga could even add complex editing tools to give your virtual tour that Ken Burns effect.
That's all we've got for now, but we're sure there's iPhone farming possibilities we've left out
FrontierVille Thorns and Cactus: Decorative but dangerous
If you were a little too vigilant with clearing your FrontierVille homestead and want to restore some of the land's wild side, thorns and cactus may now be purchased in the market. Both cost 8 Horseshoes and buying one will earn you 8XP.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
FrontierVille: Enter the Water Feature Contest to win 500 Free Horseshoes
Just in time to combat the scorching summer, FrontierVille opened the flood gates containing a batch of new water decorations. Among the newly released items were geysers, swimming holes, hot tubs, and all kinds of other wet decor.
Now, FrontierVille is holding a water decoration contest and will be awarding 500 free Horseshoes to the winner!
Ordinarily 500 Horseshoes would cost over fifty dollars, so this is not a contest you want to miss. Imagine, with that many Horseshoes you could buy either 125 Horses, 100 Dinner Bells, 50 All You Can Eat energy refills, 25 Fishing holes, or whatever else your FrontierVille spouse and child may desire.
Continue reading for details on how to enter to win 500 free Horseshoes in FrontierVille.
From the FrontierVille Forums:
"Howdy Pardners!
The FrontierVille team wants to see how creative you have been while decorating with the Water Features recently released. Post a screenshot of your homestead focusing on the water features and you can win 500 Horseshoes.
The winning entry will also be featured on FrontierVilles fan page!
The Rules:
One entry per person.
You must post your entry to this thread. You may use any free image hosting website to display the picture. Guide to posting screenshots of your homesteads.
Your image may be cropped and resized but you may not photoshop or otherwise edit the content of your image.
Your entry must be of your homestead you cannot enter a friend or neighbors homestead.
No insulting or making negative comments about other contest entries, this will not be allowed and may result in the disqualification of your entry.
All entries must be posted to the forums by
August 3rd 2010 8am PST and 11am EST
The Prize
500 Horseshoes goes to the top chosen homestead.
Please be aware that Facebook images will not post here on the forums if you have specific permissions set. We recommend uploading all images to an image host such as imageshack or Jing. Please see http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?p=5170289 for additional information.
Selection of Winners
The top 10 Homesteads will be selected by the FrontierVille team. A poll will then be created for you to vote for your favorite homestead out of the 10. The top choice will win 500 Horseshoes."
If you have any questions about the contest rules, please PM one of the moderators on the FrontierVille forums or post a comment here and we will try to answer any questions you may have.
A bunch of great submissions have already been posted so head to the official contest thread to check them out and enter to win the 500 free FrontierVille Horseshoes yourself.
Click here to view the contest entry page>
Now, FrontierVille is holding a water decoration contest and will be awarding 500 free Horseshoes to the winner!
Ordinarily 500 Horseshoes would cost over fifty dollars, so this is not a contest you want to miss. Imagine, with that many Horseshoes you could buy either 125 Horses, 100 Dinner Bells, 50 All You Can Eat energy refills, 25 Fishing holes, or whatever else your FrontierVille spouse and child may desire.
Continue reading for details on how to enter to win 500 free Horseshoes in FrontierVille.
From the FrontierVille Forums:
"Howdy Pardners!
The FrontierVille team wants to see how creative you have been while decorating with the Water Features recently released. Post a screenshot of your homestead focusing on the water features and you can win 500 Horseshoes.
The winning entry will also be featured on FrontierVilles fan page!
The Rules:
One entry per person.
You must post your entry to this thread. You may use any free image hosting website to display the picture. Guide to posting screenshots of your homesteads.
Your image may be cropped and resized but you may not photoshop or otherwise edit the content of your image.
Your entry must be of your homestead you cannot enter a friend or neighbors homestead.
No insulting or making negative comments about other contest entries, this will not be allowed and may result in the disqualification of your entry.
All entries must be posted to the forums by
August 3rd 2010 8am PST and 11am EST
The Prize
500 Horseshoes goes to the top chosen homestead.
Please be aware that Facebook images will not post here on the forums if you have specific permissions set. We recommend uploading all images to an image host such as imageshack or Jing. Please see http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?p=5170289 for additional information.
Selection of Winners
The top 10 Homesteads will be selected by the FrontierVille team. A poll will then be created for you to vote for your favorite homestead out of the 10. The top choice will win 500 Horseshoes."
If you have any questions about the contest rules, please PM one of the moderators on the FrontierVille forums or post a comment here and we will try to answer any questions you may have.
A bunch of great submissions have already been posted so head to the official contest thread to check them out and enter to win the 500 free FrontierVille Horseshoes yourself.
Click here to view the contest entry page>
Mafia Wars Cheats & Tips: How to find a Car Key Copy
One of the consumable items you're going to need to complete jobs in Mafia Wars Las Vegas is a Car Key Copy. Much like the Wire Tap Device or Untraceable Cell Phone in New York, you have to earn the Car Key Copy by doing a job -- specifically, the Blackmail A Car Dealer job in North Las Vegas (this is a job if you take the Energy path). It takes 9 energy to do the job, and you'll get a Car Key Copy (alternating with construction materials) every few times that you do the job.
blackmail a car dealer
The Car Key Copies are then used as a consumable item for the Secure Some Wheels job in North Las Vegas (again, only for the Energy path). I didn't have enough keys to complete the Wheels job, so had to go back and do the Blackmail A Car Dealer job again several times, even though it was already 100% mastered.
mafia wars secure some wheels
What do you think of Mafia Wars Vegas? Is it the best yet?
blackmail a car dealer
The Car Key Copies are then used as a consumable item for the Secure Some Wheels job in North Las Vegas (again, only for the Energy path). I didn't have enough keys to complete the Wheels job, so had to go back and do the Blackmail A Car Dealer job again several times, even though it was already 100% mastered.
mafia wars secure some wheels
What do you think of Mafia Wars Vegas? Is it the best yet?
Verdonia Cheats & Tips: Five easy ways to level up fast
Verdonia is a Facebook game developed by Playdom that throws you into the ancient time of knights and ladies. Your goal is to build your kingdom from the ground up and eventually amass enough resources to create your army and be the most dominant force among your circle of friends or allies. This quick start guide will provide you with tips to get started playing Verdonia.
Follow Suggested Quests
Once you start the game, you are given a handful of resources which are necessary for your advancement in the game (food, wood, iron, stone and gold.) You have a quest book which suggests the immediate quests for you to grow your town and kingdom. Do these quests first as they are designed to help you further grow your resources. This will also help you further understand how the game mechanics go.
Verdonia
Each quest has a corresponding reward upon completion. Some rewards could be a simple pile of wood, while some can be a combination of all resources used in the game (food, wood, iron, stone and gold). Once you finish a quest, go back to the quest book and collect your reward. If you forget to collect the reward, the book of quests will flash with a number in the toolbar.
Verdonia
Acquire Allies
Getting allies is another big factor in this game. There are some scenarios that pop up during game play where announcing it to your circle of friends (allies) will help you amass resources. The more allies you have, the better chance that someone will help and reward you.
Verdonia
Visiting your allies also help gain resources. As you visit, scenarios also appear in the town of your ally wherein you are asked to help out. Accepting the task will reward you with more resources. This can however only be done ONCE a day, so the more allies you can visit means more resources.
Spend your Resources to Level Up
In order to level up in this game, you need to get GLORY points (experience points). The easiest way to get glory points is to simply spend your resources. Anything you do in the game requires spending resources – a mix of wood, iron, stone, food and gold. Building structures is the most common way to spend these items. Building a cottage, one of the first structures you need to build, will earn you 1 glory point.
Upgrading the structures earns even bigger glory points. That same cottage that earned you 1 point will earn you 3 points when you upgrade it to a level 2 cottage. Upgrading it to level 3 will earn you 6 glory points and so on.
How to Earn More Resources
Since you want to spend to gain glory points, you need to earn more of those resources to actually keep on spending. Make sure that the buildings which produce those resources are producing enough to sustain your expenses. Although all the five resources are earned as rewards for quests are done, you need a steady inflow of them.
Remember not to spend your limited resources at the start of the game on buildings in your town. Go to your field and upgrade your Farm (producing food), Mine (producing iron), Logging Camp (producing wood) and Quarry (producing stone). This will not only boost your production of their respective products but the process of upgrading them will also earn you glory points. And remember, upgrading actually earns you more points.
Verdonia
Earning gold however is a different process. This resource is earned from the taxes you impose on the citizens of your kingdom. This means the more people you have, the more taxes you will be able to collect. So aside from maintaining good producing farms, mines, quarries and logging camps in your field, maintain a number of cottages in your town proper to assure a large enough population that will pay the taxes. And remember to upgrade these cottages too to earn those extra glory points.
The faster you can build and upgrade these important structures, the sooner you can actually forget about your resources getting depleted and start focusing on recruiting and training your army for world domination.
Upgrade your Town Center
Aside from your resource buildings, try to upgrade your town center as soon as possible. The town center is your City Hall and the higher the level of this building, the more possibilities open up for you, such as constructing other building types and acquiring other towns.
Verdonia
From this building, you can see your whole kingdom and all your possessions at a single glance. This allows you to see what buildings you have and which need upgrading.
This article originally appeared on Gamezebo >
Follow Suggested Quests
Once you start the game, you are given a handful of resources which are necessary for your advancement in the game (food, wood, iron, stone and gold.) You have a quest book which suggests the immediate quests for you to grow your town and kingdom. Do these quests first as they are designed to help you further grow your resources. This will also help you further understand how the game mechanics go.
Verdonia
Each quest has a corresponding reward upon completion. Some rewards could be a simple pile of wood, while some can be a combination of all resources used in the game (food, wood, iron, stone and gold). Once you finish a quest, go back to the quest book and collect your reward. If you forget to collect the reward, the book of quests will flash with a number in the toolbar.
Verdonia
Acquire Allies
Getting allies is another big factor in this game. There are some scenarios that pop up during game play where announcing it to your circle of friends (allies) will help you amass resources. The more allies you have, the better chance that someone will help and reward you.
Verdonia
Visiting your allies also help gain resources. As you visit, scenarios also appear in the town of your ally wherein you are asked to help out. Accepting the task will reward you with more resources. This can however only be done ONCE a day, so the more allies you can visit means more resources.
Spend your Resources to Level Up
In order to level up in this game, you need to get GLORY points (experience points). The easiest way to get glory points is to simply spend your resources. Anything you do in the game requires spending resources – a mix of wood, iron, stone, food and gold. Building structures is the most common way to spend these items. Building a cottage, one of the first structures you need to build, will earn you 1 glory point.
Upgrading the structures earns even bigger glory points. That same cottage that earned you 1 point will earn you 3 points when you upgrade it to a level 2 cottage. Upgrading it to level 3 will earn you 6 glory points and so on.
How to Earn More Resources
Since you want to spend to gain glory points, you need to earn more of those resources to actually keep on spending. Make sure that the buildings which produce those resources are producing enough to sustain your expenses. Although all the five resources are earned as rewards for quests are done, you need a steady inflow of them.
Remember not to spend your limited resources at the start of the game on buildings in your town. Go to your field and upgrade your Farm (producing food), Mine (producing iron), Logging Camp (producing wood) and Quarry (producing stone). This will not only boost your production of their respective products but the process of upgrading them will also earn you glory points. And remember, upgrading actually earns you more points.
Verdonia
Earning gold however is a different process. This resource is earned from the taxes you impose on the citizens of your kingdom. This means the more people you have, the more taxes you will be able to collect. So aside from maintaining good producing farms, mines, quarries and logging camps in your field, maintain a number of cottages in your town proper to assure a large enough population that will pay the taxes. And remember to upgrade these cottages too to earn those extra glory points.
The faster you can build and upgrade these important structures, the sooner you can actually forget about your resources getting depleted and start focusing on recruiting and training your army for world domination.
Upgrade your Town Center
Aside from your resource buildings, try to upgrade your town center as soon as possible. The town center is your City Hall and the higher the level of this building, the more possibilities open up for you, such as constructing other building types and acquiring other towns.
Verdonia
From this building, you can see your whole kingdom and all your possessions at a single glance. This allows you to see what buildings you have and which need upgrading.
This article originally appeared on Gamezebo >
Is Disney's big splurge on Playdom a smart move?
Yesterday, Disney announced that it was spending more than half-a-billion dollars to buy Playdom, the third largest social game publisher responsible for Facebook games, such as Social City, Sorority Life and Wild Ones.
While this move makes it clear that Disney's ready to get elbow-deep in social gaming, one analyst tells Gamasutra that Disney's latest acquisition is looking "very expensive," and that the Mouse House might not get a good return on investment for several reasons, including the fact that social games are losing players by the week. For instance, the most popular Facebook game, FarmVille, dropped roughly 20 million players in a matter of months, and lesser games haven't fared much better.
"We believe the dynamics of the social gaming space are becoming increasingly commoditized and fad-based, and attracting gamers could become an exercise in increasingly aggressive marketing budgets, impacting the economics of the social gaming model," warns the analyst.
Other reasons for questioning Disney's big splurge are historical. The company bought the kid's social gaming site Club Penguin for the same deal several years ago -- offering a huge chunk of cash plus bonus performance incentives. And, the analyst says, Club Penguin never met Disney's expectations, and missed out on banking a few million dollars. Why would Playdom be any different? He also wonders why Disney paid double what EA paid for Playfish last year,. even though Playdom's monthly active user base is 15% smaller -- a great question which I don't expect have answered anytime soon.
Right now, what Disney's plans are with Playdom are still unknown, though I'll speculate Disney will let Playdom keep on with its more successful social games, close Playdom's lesser social games, launch the ESPN games the two companies were already working on together and then start looking in-house at existing brands to see if any of them would work on Facebook.
Games.com blog readers (yes, you!) have not been enthusiastic about the Playdom takeover by Disney. From the Games.com Facebook fanpage:
"Judging from how Disney manages to rewrite (and IMO RUIN) stories for animation, charge too much for their @#$% merchandise which is marketed directly to CHILDREN, I do not want Disney to take over the world or have more social networks or more of anything," one reader says.
"[Disney] just likes to, steal, and buyout other peoples success. Its a very cut throat company, who dosent care about the people who support it," says another.
Disney buys Playdom: Good move or bad?
Great!BadDon't think it will make a differenceDon't really care
VoteView ResultsShare ThisPolldaddy.com
While this move makes it clear that Disney's ready to get elbow-deep in social gaming, one analyst tells Gamasutra that Disney's latest acquisition is looking "very expensive," and that the Mouse House might not get a good return on investment for several reasons, including the fact that social games are losing players by the week. For instance, the most popular Facebook game, FarmVille, dropped roughly 20 million players in a matter of months, and lesser games haven't fared much better.
"We believe the dynamics of the social gaming space are becoming increasingly commoditized and fad-based, and attracting gamers could become an exercise in increasingly aggressive marketing budgets, impacting the economics of the social gaming model," warns the analyst.
Other reasons for questioning Disney's big splurge are historical. The company bought the kid's social gaming site Club Penguin for the same deal several years ago -- offering a huge chunk of cash plus bonus performance incentives. And, the analyst says, Club Penguin never met Disney's expectations, and missed out on banking a few million dollars. Why would Playdom be any different? He also wonders why Disney paid double what EA paid for Playfish last year,. even though Playdom's monthly active user base is 15% smaller -- a great question which I don't expect have answered anytime soon.
Right now, what Disney's plans are with Playdom are still unknown, though I'll speculate Disney will let Playdom keep on with its more successful social games, close Playdom's lesser social games, launch the ESPN games the two companies were already working on together and then start looking in-house at existing brands to see if any of them would work on Facebook.
Games.com blog readers (yes, you!) have not been enthusiastic about the Playdom takeover by Disney. From the Games.com Facebook fanpage:
"Judging from how Disney manages to rewrite (and IMO RUIN) stories for animation, charge too much for their @#$% merchandise which is marketed directly to CHILDREN, I do not want Disney to take over the world or have more social networks or more of anything," one reader says.
"[Disney] just likes to, steal, and buyout other peoples success. Its a very cut throat company, who dosent care about the people who support it," says another.
Disney buys Playdom: Good move or bad?
Great!BadDon't think it will make a differenceDon't really care
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FarmVille Bakery Crafting Building: How to go from farmer to master baker
FarmVille Crafting Buildings have finally made their way to the game. Farmers level 25 and up have access to three crafting buildings -- a Winery, Spa and Bakery. What's the purpose of these buildings? In addition to giving you something to do with all those bushels you've been getting from you and your friends' Farmers Market, the main motivation is fuel. That's right, make stuff in your Bakery, and you'll ultimately be rewarded with sweet fuel to power your tractor and other farming equipment.
Most of my fellow farmers chose the Winery (says a lot, doesn't it?), so I decided to play contrarian and pick the Bakery as my crafting building. After all, who doesn't love a nice baked good, even virtual ones? To start on your way to becoming a master baker, choose the bakery from the Crafting is Here! pop-up window. I previously chose the bakery, so I just had to click the 'Yes Place' button to set the bakery on my farm.
bakery crafting
A Tip: Make your you clear out some room for your new crafting building -- it might require a little more space than you might expect. Once the Bakery is placed, you can get to work, well, baking.
If you didn't select the bakery several weeks ago, and you want to make the switch, click 'Choose Another' and then pick the building you want. farmville bakery inside
To get a better idea at what bushels you'll need to craft items for your bakery, take a look at the recipes and bushels required to make each:
Pumpkin Bread
- 4 Pumpkin Bushels
- 4 Wheat Bushels
Strawberry Shortcake
- 4 Strawberry Bushels
- 4 Wheat Bushels
Spicy Muffins
- 3 Carrot Bushels
- 1 Pepper Bushel
- 3 Ghost Chili Bushels
Pattypan Tart
- 3 Pattypan Squash Bushels
- 2 Onion Bushels
- 3 Rice Bushels
There are several ways to get the bushels you need. You can plant and harvest crops and hope you get bushels from there; you can shop at a friend's Farmer's Market and buy bushels from them using coins or you can snag bushels for free from friends' Facebook Wall posts.
Once you have the right ingredients you can choose to make a good, and like all things in FarmVille, you'll then have to wait a certain amount of time for it to be complete.
farmville bakery
You have the option to cook multiple recipes at a time, and the more you level up your bakery, the more ovens you unlock.
Once your goods are ready, you can sell them (there's also a sales report to let you know what friends have been buying), which will help you level up your recipe.
farmville bakery goods for sale
You also have the option to trade in goods for gas (and other rewards later on). To trade in goods, click the 'Use' button (see image below).
farmville bakery use items and trade them in for fuel
Like the rest of the Crafting Buildings, the Bakery can be leveled up using Farm Cash or coins. As the Bakery gains more stars, it's appearance will start to change, and the modest Bakery that you started out with in the beginning will get more frills the higher its star rating.
farmville bakery
After you're all set, just keep on baking until you reach five stars. Best part about this Bakery? You can bake to your heart's content and won't be tempted by yummy treats.
Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.
Most of my fellow farmers chose the Winery (says a lot, doesn't it?), so I decided to play contrarian and pick the Bakery as my crafting building. After all, who doesn't love a nice baked good, even virtual ones? To start on your way to becoming a master baker, choose the bakery from the Crafting is Here! pop-up window. I previously chose the bakery, so I just had to click the 'Yes Place' button to set the bakery on my farm.
bakery crafting
A Tip: Make your you clear out some room for your new crafting building -- it might require a little more space than you might expect. Once the Bakery is placed, you can get to work, well, baking.
If you didn't select the bakery several weeks ago, and you want to make the switch, click 'Choose Another' and then pick the building you want. farmville bakery inside
To get a better idea at what bushels you'll need to craft items for your bakery, take a look at the recipes and bushels required to make each:
Pumpkin Bread
- 4 Pumpkin Bushels
- 4 Wheat Bushels
Strawberry Shortcake
- 4 Strawberry Bushels
- 4 Wheat Bushels
Spicy Muffins
- 3 Carrot Bushels
- 1 Pepper Bushel
- 3 Ghost Chili Bushels
Pattypan Tart
- 3 Pattypan Squash Bushels
- 2 Onion Bushels
- 3 Rice Bushels
There are several ways to get the bushels you need. You can plant and harvest crops and hope you get bushels from there; you can shop at a friend's Farmer's Market and buy bushels from them using coins or you can snag bushels for free from friends' Facebook Wall posts.
Once you have the right ingredients you can choose to make a good, and like all things in FarmVille, you'll then have to wait a certain amount of time for it to be complete.
farmville bakery
You have the option to cook multiple recipes at a time, and the more you level up your bakery, the more ovens you unlock.
Once your goods are ready, you can sell them (there's also a sales report to let you know what friends have been buying), which will help you level up your recipe.
farmville bakery goods for sale
You also have the option to trade in goods for gas (and other rewards later on). To trade in goods, click the 'Use' button (see image below).
farmville bakery use items and trade them in for fuel
Like the rest of the Crafting Buildings, the Bakery can be leveled up using Farm Cash or coins. As the Bakery gains more stars, it's appearance will start to change, and the modest Bakery that you started out with in the beginning will get more frills the higher its star rating.
farmville bakery
After you're all set, just keep on baking until you reach five stars. Best part about this Bakery? You can bake to your heart's content and won't be tempted by yummy treats.
Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
FarmVille Recycling coming soon
Based on these unreleased items and ribbons, it seems that FarmVille is getting set to roll out a new recycling feature.
In addition to a new cursor, recycling boxes, ribbons, and a recycling bar, one of the unreleased images is of two people sharing a blue recycling box which implies that players will be able to recycle or share gifts with their neighbors.
farmville recycling center
There are also a number of ribbons that are tied to the new recycling feature. They will probably be rewarded based on the recycling center bar above, one being awarded at each benchmark. The final ribbon, Recycle Swapper, poses more of a mystery. My guess is that it is linked to the neighbor recycling feature. The ribbons are as follows:
recycle army
Recycle
Army
farmville recycle humanitarian
Recycle
Humanitarian
farmville recycle munificent
Recycle
Munificent
farmville recycle swapper
Recycle
Swapper
Stay tuned to The Blog as we track all the news surrounding this new environmentally friendly FarmVille recycling feature.
In addition to a new cursor, recycling boxes, ribbons, and a recycling bar, one of the unreleased images is of two people sharing a blue recycling box which implies that players will be able to recycle or share gifts with their neighbors.
farmville recycling center
There are also a number of ribbons that are tied to the new recycling feature. They will probably be rewarded based on the recycling center bar above, one being awarded at each benchmark. The final ribbon, Recycle Swapper, poses more of a mystery. My guess is that it is linked to the neighbor recycling feature. The ribbons are as follows:
recycle army
Recycle
Army
farmville recycle humanitarian
Recycle
Humanitarian
farmville recycle munificent
Recycle
Munificent
farmville recycle swapper
Recycle
Swapper
Stay tuned to The Blog as we track all the news surrounding this new environmentally friendly FarmVille recycling feature.
FarmVille Unreleased Modern Cottage, Train Crossing, Train Tracks, & Train Tracks v2
FarmVille Train enthusiasts will be happy to know that Train Tracks may be coming to FarmVille. We've seen FarmVille Freaks build their own roads using haybales and other creative material to give their farm some transportation infrastructure, but this will be the first time that FarmVille has offered them in the Market.
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Modern Cottage, Train Crossing, Train Tracks, & Train Tracks v2 items!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Modern Cottage, Train Crossing, Train Tracks, & Train Tracks v2 items!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FarmVille iPhone App Updated v.1.05
farmville iphone update
Today Zynga released an update for its FarmVille app for iPhone.
Continue reading to see what's new.
The September 1st 2010 update, version 1.05, includes fixes for the following:
Fixed loading issues and crashes for large farms.
Fixed "Out of Sync" error when sending iPhone exclusive gifts.
Fixed crash when ignoring pending gifts.
Fixed crash when visiting multiple neighbors.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Have you noticed an improvement with your mobile farming with this update?
Today Zynga released an update for its FarmVille app for iPhone.
Continue reading to see what's new.
The September 1st 2010 update, version 1.05, includes fixes for the following:
Fixed loading issues and crashes for large farms.
Fixed "Out of Sync" error when sending iPhone exclusive gifts.
Fixed crash when ignoring pending gifts.
Fixed crash when visiting multiple neighbors.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Have you noticed an improvement with your mobile farming with this update?
YoVille: Get a sneak peek at the new Romantic House!
Take a tour through the Romantic House now available at the Realtor Office.
When you walk into the living room there is a door to the bathroom and a door to the kitchen. From the kitchen are two doors one leading to the bedroom and the other to the backyard. The stairs off the living room lead to the landing and there are 2 doors one leading to master bathroom the other to master bedroom. From master bedroom is a Balcony.
Continue reading to embark on a tour of the new YoVille Romantic House.
yoville romantic house
Front Yard
yoville romantic house
Fountain Area
yoville romantic house
Living Room
yoville romantic house
Back Yard
yoville romantic house
Balcony that's off of the Master Bedroom
yoville romantic house
Kitchen
yoville romantic house
Green House in the backyard
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
When you walk into the living room there is a door to the bathroom and a door to the kitchen. From the kitchen are two doors one leading to the bedroom and the other to the backyard. The stairs off the living room lead to the landing and there are 2 doors one leading to master bathroom the other to master bedroom. From master bedroom is a Balcony.
Continue reading to embark on a tour of the new YoVille Romantic House.
yoville romantic house
Front Yard
yoville romantic house
Fountain Area
yoville romantic house
Living Room
yoville romantic house
Back Yard
yoville romantic house
Balcony that's off of the Master Bedroom
yoville romantic house
Kitchen
yoville romantic house
Green House in the backyard
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
YoVille Romantic Living Room items added in the furniture store
yoville romantic living room items
New Romantic living room furniture was added to the YoVille Furniture Store. Different sets are available in white, brown, purple and red. Ten new wallpapers, beautiful new doors, pillars as well as the new romantic window and plants will add a nice touch to any room.
Check the full list of items and prices after the link.
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
New Romantic living room furniture was added to the YoVille Furniture Store. Different sets are available in white, brown, purple and red. Ten new wallpapers, beautiful new doors, pillars as well as the new romantic window and plants will add a nice touch to any room.
Check the full list of items and prices after the link.
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
yoville romantic living room items
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
FrontierVille says 'You can play in a tree house if you give us your email'
FrontierVille wants to stay in touch so much that players who allow the game to email 'em news are now rewarded with a free Tree House. The Tree House originally appeared in stores as a Limited Edition item back in July, and cost 20 Horseshoes. All you've gotta do is click on the "Yes", and the Tree House will be in your inventory and ready to be placed anywhere on your homestead.
Past game offers for ponying up your e-mail included a free horse, and even free meals for your daily energy needs! The latter offer is still currently available at the "Special" and "Energy" sections of the in-game store. Just click on the "Market" icon to get there, then look for "Meal Deal".
Past game offers for ponying up your e-mail included a free horse, and even free meals for your daily energy needs! The latter offer is still currently available at the "Special" and "Energy" sections of the in-game store. Just click on the "Market" icon to get there, then look for "Meal Deal".
FrontierVille Cafe World Mission: Plant tomatoes to score free spices
FrontierVille really seems to be getting around this week. First, the Wild West game launches a cross promotion with FarmVille, then Mafia Wars and now with Cafe World. So, if you think spice is nice (especially Instant Spice that eliminates cooking time for dishes), then you'll want to take on FrontierVille's Cafe World Mission.
cafe world instant spices
To get started, open Cafe World and you will see a pop-up that will take you to FrontierVille.
frontiervillle cafe world quest
You'll see the Cafe World icon on the left-hand side of your screen (or go to the new Missions menu), click on it and it will open the Quest. There is only one part to this quest that actually requires you to do anything, and it's pretty simple to get done. Here's what you need to do:
frontierville cafe world tomatoes1. Clear Five Grass
If you already cleared your grass today, just wait until tomorrow.
2. Plant Ten Tomatoes
Buy tomatoes in the Market. They cost 25 coins each, and will be ready to harvest in 15 minutes.
3. Harvest Ten Tomatoes
After the 15 minutes are up, harvest the tomatoes. You'll get 2 XP, and 30 coins for harvesting each plant.Don't do what I did and walk away from your computer and forget about these tomatoes -- they wither quickly.
After this is complete, you'll be presented with the Cafe World Quest II, which is simply, to claim your reward. To do that --
cafe world frontierville quest
After you click the button, you'll be taken back to Cafe World where you will see the following notification. When you're ready to use your Instant Spice, open your Spice Rack and they should be there waiting for you.
cafe world frontierville spice reward
cafe world instant spices
To get started, open Cafe World and you will see a pop-up that will take you to FrontierVille.
frontiervillle cafe world quest
You'll see the Cafe World icon on the left-hand side of your screen (or go to the new Missions menu), click on it and it will open the Quest. There is only one part to this quest that actually requires you to do anything, and it's pretty simple to get done. Here's what you need to do:
frontierville cafe world tomatoes1. Clear Five Grass
If you already cleared your grass today, just wait until tomorrow.
2. Plant Ten Tomatoes
Buy tomatoes in the Market. They cost 25 coins each, and will be ready to harvest in 15 minutes.
3. Harvest Ten Tomatoes
After the 15 minutes are up, harvest the tomatoes. You'll get 2 XP, and 30 coins for harvesting each plant.Don't do what I did and walk away from your computer and forget about these tomatoes -- they wither quickly.
After this is complete, you'll be presented with the Cafe World Quest II, which is simply, to claim your reward. To do that --
cafe world frontierville quest
After you click the button, you'll be taken back to Cafe World where you will see the following notification. When you're ready to use your Instant Spice, open your Spice Rack and they should be there waiting for you.
cafe world frontierville spice reward
The Easiest Free Playfish Cash You'll Ever Earn
Playfish Add Playfish Cash window
Compared to Zynga and Crowdstar, Playfish is incredibly stingy with offering free premium cash to its players. Zynga games like PetVille and Cafe World, always have free Pet Cash or Cafe Cash giveways on their official Facebook fanpages, and even through in-game activities (e.g. Cafe World's Scratch Lotto and PetVille's Daily Clean Pet Bonus). Zynga also supplies plenty of simple and easy activities from sponsors that allow players to earn premium cash through answering questions and viewing videos. Even Crowdstar lets players earn one free premium cash every time they level up in their games, but Playfish only did that once, back when they were busy promoting Hotel City in April.
Earn Playfish Cash
It's true that when you click on "Add Playfish Cash" in the Playfish games, you'll see a swarm of survey options from TrialPay. But I've reviewed these survey offers here, and concluded that they often end up wasting their time and those of the players'.
Free Playfish Cash from Kia Motors, Sony Ericsson, and VH1
Well, finally, there's a chance to snag some simple, fuss-free, no-giving-over-your-personal-info or emails or paying-real-cash or subscribe-to-random-things for free PFC! Because right now, there's three video-watching offers from Kia Motors, Sony Ericsson, and VH1 in TrialPay that'll net you 1 PFC each. Players who know how hard it is to get PFC would understand how rare an opportunity this is. All PFC earned here is good for use in Restaurant City, Hotel City, Pirates Ahoy!, Pet Society, et al. And even if you don't play any Playfish games, it's best you don't miss out.
Compared to Zynga and Crowdstar, Playfish is incredibly stingy with offering free premium cash to its players. Zynga games like PetVille and Cafe World, always have free Pet Cash or Cafe Cash giveways on their official Facebook fanpages, and even through in-game activities (e.g. Cafe World's Scratch Lotto and PetVille's Daily Clean Pet Bonus). Zynga also supplies plenty of simple and easy activities from sponsors that allow players to earn premium cash through answering questions and viewing videos. Even Crowdstar lets players earn one free premium cash every time they level up in their games, but Playfish only did that once, back when they were busy promoting Hotel City in April.
Earn Playfish Cash
It's true that when you click on "Add Playfish Cash" in the Playfish games, you'll see a swarm of survey options from TrialPay. But I've reviewed these survey offers here, and concluded that they often end up wasting their time and those of the players'.
Free Playfish Cash from Kia Motors, Sony Ericsson, and VH1
Well, finally, there's a chance to snag some simple, fuss-free, no-giving-over-your-personal-info or emails or paying-real-cash or subscribe-to-random-things for free PFC! Because right now, there's three video-watching offers from Kia Motors, Sony Ericsson, and VH1 in TrialPay that'll net you 1 PFC each. Players who know how hard it is to get PFC would understand how rare an opportunity this is. All PFC earned here is good for use in Restaurant City, Hotel City, Pirates Ahoy!, Pet Society, et al. And even if you don't play any Playfish games, it's best you don't miss out.
FarmVille: How to get the adoptable Himalayan cat
FarmVille Himalayan Cat
In tonight's FarmVille update, one unannounced addition is the new Himalayan Cat. Like all adoptable animals, occasionally you will be prompted to share this cat with your friends on your Facebook wall. To get your own Himalayan Cat, scour your newsfeed for a cat from your friends, and be one of the first to click on it to claim it.
The Himalayan Cat is harvestable once every day, and gives a coin bonus for clicking on it. It's an adorable little kitty cat, so you know you want one!
FarmVille Himalayan Cat
Have you received a Himalayan Cat yet from your friends?
In tonight's FarmVille update, one unannounced addition is the new Himalayan Cat. Like all adoptable animals, occasionally you will be prompted to share this cat with your friends on your Facebook wall. To get your own Himalayan Cat, scour your newsfeed for a cat from your friends, and be one of the first to click on it to claim it.
The Himalayan Cat is harvestable once every day, and gives a coin bonus for clicking on it. It's an adorable little kitty cat, so you know you want one!
FarmVille Himalayan Cat
Have you received a Himalayan Cat yet from your friends?
FarmVille Oktoberfest continues with new decor and animals
FarmVille is continuing the Oktoberfest celebration with a set of new animals, decorations, and buildings to celebrate this German holiday. With 7 FV Cash items and 2 expensive coins items, there isn't really something here for everyone. Even the little goat and big will set you back over 13 Farm Cash. If you haven't rushed to log in to the game yet to see what's new, read below for the full list of new items.
Buildings:
Festival Wheel - 38 Farm Cash
Festival Tent - 34 Farm Cash
Animals:
Alpine Goat - 14 Farm Cash
Black Pied Pig - 18 Farm Cash
Decorations:
Festival Gnome - 18 Farm Cash
Festival Pavilion - 240,000 coins
Cider Stand - 120,000 coins
Festival Carriage - 22 Farm Cash
German Gnome - 18 Farm Cash
These items are available for only 10 days, which is when we can presume the Oktoberfest event will be ending in FarmVille.
What do you think of the new Oktoberfest items? Which is your favorite?
Buildings:
Festival Wheel - 38 Farm Cash
Festival Tent - 34 Farm Cash
Animals:
Alpine Goat - 14 Farm Cash
Black Pied Pig - 18 Farm Cash
Decorations:
Festival Gnome - 18 Farm Cash
Festival Pavilion - 240,000 coins
Cider Stand - 120,000 coins
Festival Carriage - 22 Farm Cash
German Gnome - 18 Farm Cash
These items are available for only 10 days, which is when we can presume the Oktoberfest event will be ending in FarmVille.
What do you think of the new Oktoberfest items? Which is your favorite?
Friday, February 3, 2012
CrowdStar launches Facebook's next pirate adventure, Mighty Pirates
Mighty Pirates
If you've yet to get your fill of "yarrg's," cannon blasts and buried treasure from games like Pirates Ahoy!, then you might enjoy Mighty Pirates, the newest game form CrowdStar. Still in its (open) early alpha phase, Mighty Pirates lets players assume the role of a swashbuckler on the high seas as they search for buried treasure and a good fight.
You're able to approach other islands and search them for treasure much like in Zynga's Treasure Isle, though there is also the option to get into turn-based scraps with other ships, if you so desire. Your crew leader will level up over time, increasing stats and opening avenues to new abilities and items. Mighty Pirates might also mark a first for social games: the possibility of losing experience points. A now-dated feature of traditional role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, fleeing or losing fights will cause players to actually lose some experience points they've gained.
Mighty Pirates looks like a bold move by CrowdStar into the realm of--dare we say--hardcore Facebook games. But because the game just released, expect bugs and possibly crashes. For example, as of this writing we can't even get into the game. Such is life in live alpha testing.
If you've yet to get your fill of "yarrg's," cannon blasts and buried treasure from games like Pirates Ahoy!, then you might enjoy Mighty Pirates, the newest game form CrowdStar. Still in its (open) early alpha phase, Mighty Pirates lets players assume the role of a swashbuckler on the high seas as they search for buried treasure and a good fight.
You're able to approach other islands and search them for treasure much like in Zynga's Treasure Isle, though there is also the option to get into turn-based scraps with other ships, if you so desire. Your crew leader will level up over time, increasing stats and opening avenues to new abilities and items. Mighty Pirates might also mark a first for social games: the possibility of losing experience points. A now-dated feature of traditional role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, fleeing or losing fights will cause players to actually lose some experience points they've gained.
Mighty Pirates looks like a bold move by CrowdStar into the realm of--dare we say--hardcore Facebook games. But because the game just released, expect bugs and possibly crashes. For example, as of this writing we can't even get into the game. Such is life in live alpha testing.
Restaurant City's Mad Scientist says goodbye with a free 1,000 Coins
Week of the Living Dead is coming to an end in Restaurant City, and that means the Mad Scientist is packing his bags at the Restaurant City Facebook fanpage too. As a goodbye present, he's giving out 1,000 Coins to fans here, and the game itself is already advertising the new upcoming Trick or Treat theme that's set to hit this Thursday! Check the official Restaurant City blog for a full preview. (Note: Item prices are never listed there, so you'll have to wait until the goods hit the store for the costs.)
Social City Update: New terrain items transform cities into mountain valleys
While the Halloween festivities are, of course, still among us, Playdom continues to push tiny updates to Social City much like today's terrain update. Players can finally terraform their cities into bustling mountain valleys with five new terrain options:
Spencer's Butte: 15 City Cash, 10,000 Happiness and 325 XP
Skinner's Butte: 50,000 coins, 5,500 Happiness and 170 XP
Autumn Hills: 15,000 coins, 1,500 Happiness and 60 XP
Snowy Peak: 40 City Cash, 40,000 Happiness and 1,850 XP
Stony Peak: 2.5 million coins, 40,000 Happiness and 5,370 XP
While these new terrain items are horribly expensive, they will both grant your people mounds of happiness and you gobs of precious XP. In addition to the new land masses, there is also a limited edition Garden Center building that the Playdom community team announced was included in the update, though it's nowhere to be found. Hopefully the item is included in the game shortly. In the meantime, enjoy saving up for your not-so-quite mountain town.
Spencer's Butte: 15 City Cash, 10,000 Happiness and 325 XP
Skinner's Butte: 50,000 coins, 5,500 Happiness and 170 XP
Autumn Hills: 15,000 coins, 1,500 Happiness and 60 XP
Snowy Peak: 40 City Cash, 40,000 Happiness and 1,850 XP
Stony Peak: 2.5 million coins, 40,000 Happiness and 5,370 XP
While these new terrain items are horribly expensive, they will both grant your people mounds of happiness and you gobs of precious XP. In addition to the new land masses, there is also a limited edition Garden Center building that the Playdom community team announced was included in the update, though it's nowhere to be found. Hopefully the item is included in the game shortly. In the meantime, enjoy saving up for your not-so-quite mountain town.
Happy Aquarium Halloween Gifts, Pirate Shark and Vampire Puppy join the celebration
Halloween Gifts
For our friends under the sea, or rather in the tank, Halloween is a long-winded celebration of costumes, decorations and now free gifts. Through Halloween, there are three new decorations in CrowdStar's Happy Aquarium that friends can send amongst each other for free. (Man, we love that word.) These three items would fit perfectly with the recently released Halloween background and bedding set, but a living tree would lend charm to almost any arrangement. Come on, who didn't love the Ents?
Join us behind the break for a look at two limited, costumed additions to the Happy Aquarium family.
Vampire Puppy Pirate Shark
Taking a Sandy Cheeks approach to the water is the Vampire Puppy, an adorable costumed dog for 35 Facebook Credits or $3.50. For 48 Facebook Credits, or $4.80, the Pirate Shark--complete with goofy hat, eye patch and hook-- can be yours. While the Pirate Shark fits in right at home, we can't really see a Vampire Puppy in our tanks no matter how cute it is. Land animals in Happy Aquarium need to at least be funny like the Edward and Jacob nods, which were hilarious.
For our friends under the sea, or rather in the tank, Halloween is a long-winded celebration of costumes, decorations and now free gifts. Through Halloween, there are three new decorations in CrowdStar's Happy Aquarium that friends can send amongst each other for free. (Man, we love that word.) These three items would fit perfectly with the recently released Halloween background and bedding set, but a living tree would lend charm to almost any arrangement. Come on, who didn't love the Ents?
Join us behind the break for a look at two limited, costumed additions to the Happy Aquarium family.
Vampire Puppy Pirate Shark
Taking a Sandy Cheeks approach to the water is the Vampire Puppy, an adorable costumed dog for 35 Facebook Credits or $3.50. For 48 Facebook Credits, or $4.80, the Pirate Shark--complete with goofy hat, eye patch and hook-- can be yours. While the Pirate Shark fits in right at home, we can't really see a Vampire Puppy in our tanks no matter how cute it is. Land animals in Happy Aquarium need to at least be funny like the Edward and Jacob nods, which were hilarious.
Pet Society Treasure Hunt: New Graveyard and updated Lost Treasures maps hide Halloween items through Oct. 31
Lost Treasures Map
Just in time for the rest of Pet Society's Halloween events and items comes two (sort of) new Treasure Hunt maps: the brand new Graveyard map and the updated Lost Treasures map, which will exclusively yield Halloween items through Oct. 31. Players will get five free shots at buried Halloween treasure a day on each map, just like always.
However, the selection of Halloween items in the Lost Treasures map will randomize on a timer just to mix things up. For the next two and a half hours as of this writing, it looks as if you'll be able to find a jack-o-lantern candy basket, a black couch, a trick-or-treat bag, a wreath of garlic, a shaking tile, an orange balloon, a pinup of a ghostly pet that looks an awful lot like Marilyn Monroe and what appears to be a vanity for what we'll assume is costume make up. (Say that five times fast.) So, act quickly if any of those items sound enticing to you before they change again.
Check after the break for a look at the new Graveyard Treasure Hunt map.
Graveyard Map
The brand new Graveyard map is located just to left of the snowy peaks and thankfully contains a specific set of Halloween-themed items (pictured below) in addition to a chance to yield one of seven parts of the Spooky Halloween Graveyard Decor set. This set of items will grow as one as you collect its seven pieces, creating a sort of super item when you've completed it.
Graveyard Items
While that Luminous Cute Halloween Ghost is adorable, we know that you're all going to go gaga over that Monster Under the Bed. Though, that might be a bit too much for the little one to handle. We imagine these items will be available for some time after Halloween considering the new map just released on Oct. 14, but anything is possible. So get to digging--and be smart about your moves--before the big night is upon us.
Just in time for the rest of Pet Society's Halloween events and items comes two (sort of) new Treasure Hunt maps: the brand new Graveyard map and the updated Lost Treasures map, which will exclusively yield Halloween items through Oct. 31. Players will get five free shots at buried Halloween treasure a day on each map, just like always.
However, the selection of Halloween items in the Lost Treasures map will randomize on a timer just to mix things up. For the next two and a half hours as of this writing, it looks as if you'll be able to find a jack-o-lantern candy basket, a black couch, a trick-or-treat bag, a wreath of garlic, a shaking tile, an orange balloon, a pinup of a ghostly pet that looks an awful lot like Marilyn Monroe and what appears to be a vanity for what we'll assume is costume make up. (Say that five times fast.) So, act quickly if any of those items sound enticing to you before they change again.
Check after the break for a look at the new Graveyard Treasure Hunt map.
Graveyard Map
The brand new Graveyard map is located just to left of the snowy peaks and thankfully contains a specific set of Halloween-themed items (pictured below) in addition to a chance to yield one of seven parts of the Spooky Halloween Graveyard Decor set. This set of items will grow as one as you collect its seven pieces, creating a sort of super item when you've completed it.
Graveyard Items
While that Luminous Cute Halloween Ghost is adorable, we know that you're all going to go gaga over that Monster Under the Bed. Though, that might be a bit too much for the little one to handle. We imagine these items will be available for some time after Halloween considering the new map just released on Oct. 14, but anything is possible. So get to digging--and be smart about your moves--before the big night is upon us.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
FarmVille: Snow Cone and Cottoncandy Trees no longer limited time
In tonight's FarmVille update, along with the massive features comes a couple of minor changes that will make players happy. Two trees from the Country Fair theme, the Snow Cone Tree and the Cottoncandy Tree have now been made not limited time. Previously, they were set to expire before the theme ended, but now the expiration has been removed.
This is actually a huge help to players because they now have the option to finish their mastery in those trees before they are taken away. Nothing is more annoying than being so close to mastering something and having it removed just before you can finish.
Additionally, the Bubble Gum Tree has now been made an addition to the store. This expensive 30 Farm Cash tree was only available as a seedling from having Cottoncandy or Snow Cone trees in your orchard. You can now buy this tree outright, which is great because it definitely stands out from all other trees.
This is actually a huge help to players because they now have the option to finish their mastery in those trees before they are taken away. Nothing is more annoying than being so close to mastering something and having it removed just before you can finish.
Additionally, the Bubble Gum Tree has now been made an addition to the store. This expensive 30 Farm Cash tree was only available as a seedling from having Cottoncandy or Snow Cone trees in your orchard. You can now buy this tree outright, which is great because it definitely stands out from all other trees.
FarmVille Mystery Game offers "Best Of" items this week
This week's Mystery Game in FarmVille is a bit of a throwback, being comprised of a "Best of" theme of items - those items that are apparently some of users' favorites, which have made a quick, week-long comeback to the game.
The prizes for this week's Mystery Game are the Antique Home, Red Squirrel, Backyard Pool, Raccoon, Pied Peacock, and Panther Cub. These items, as usual, range in rarity from Common to Rare, and you'll have to pay 16 Farm Cash per go at the game to get any of these items that you want.
This "Best Of" Mystery Game will only be available until next Tuesday night, when another round of the game, filled with different (perhaps even new) items will take its place, so play fast if you want a chance at collecting all six of this week's items.
The prizes for this week's Mystery Game are the Antique Home, Red Squirrel, Backyard Pool, Raccoon, Pied Peacock, and Panther Cub. These items, as usual, range in rarity from Common to Rare, and you'll have to pay 16 Farm Cash per go at the game to get any of these items that you want.
This "Best Of" Mystery Game will only be available until next Tuesday night, when another round of the game, filled with different (perhaps even new) items will take its place, so play fast if you want a chance at collecting all six of this week's items.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
FishVille releases round two of Thanksgiving decorations
Just a few days ago, FishVille released a small set of Thanksgiving decoration which we weren't too impressed with. Tonight, another round of decorations has hit the FishVille store, and we think these ones are a bit better. They will cost you some Sand Dollars though, as just about every new item available requires you to pay with the hard-to-get currency. These items do not have an expiration date, but we imagine they won't be around much longer after Thanksgiving next Thursday. Here are the new items that you can find:
Diving Turkey - 14 Sand Dollars
Green Maple Tree - 10 Sand Dollars
Mayflower - 8 Sand Dollars
Table Sandbenches - 5 Sand Dollars
Turkey Gun - 4 Sand Dollars
Mashed Potatoes - 10,000 coins
Pilgrim Hat - 20,000 coins
That is about it, bringing the grand total of Thanksgiving items to 13. It's still possible that we'll see more as there is over a week left until Thanksgiving.
Diving Turkey - 14 Sand Dollars
Green Maple Tree - 10 Sand Dollars
Mayflower - 8 Sand Dollars
Table Sandbenches - 5 Sand Dollars
Turkey Gun - 4 Sand Dollars
Mashed Potatoes - 10,000 coins
Pilgrim Hat - 20,000 coins
That is about it, bringing the grand total of Thanksgiving items to 13. It's still possible that we'll see more as there is over a week left until Thanksgiving.
Cafe Life: Adopt Gobbles the Turkey in time for Thanksgiving
Cafe Life has released yet another adoptable pet, and this one is just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Gobbles the Turkey is available by clicking on the sidebar icon, and can be purchased for 50 Facebook Credits or you can ask your friends for help. If you don't want to pay, you can send a message out to your friends on your wall asking for references. If you collect 5 references, you can unlock this pet. You can only work on one pet at a time, so if you're still working on another pet you will have to wait.
This little Gobbles is cute, because he's actually wearing a costume. It is only available for a limited time. The other available pets currently in Cafe Life are the Witch Cat and the White Puppy, but you can only have one pet at a time.
Are you trying for Gobbles the Turkey? What other pets do you want to see in Cafe Life?
This little Gobbles is cute, because he's actually wearing a costume. It is only available for a limited time. The other available pets currently in Cafe Life are the Witch Cat and the White Puppy, but you can only have one pet at a time.
Are you trying for Gobbles the Turkey? What other pets do you want to see in Cafe Life?
FrontierVille Care Packages: Get the items you need soon
Use our free Care Package gifting links to get started with FrontierVille Care Packages.
Care PackageFinally, something I actually need. FrontierVille is next in line to receive Zynga's adaptation of FarmVille's Special Delivery: the Care Package. This new, intelligent item will only be giftable through homestead visits and will grant players with items they actually need. Whether it contains building materials, school supplies, mission items and even collectibles, whatever is in that Care Package will always contribute to something you're currently working toward.
Again, only visiting a friend's homestead will give you the option of sending them a Care Package. However, you can only access these gifts through the traditional Game Requests page on Facebook and only then will the item appear in your inventory, but that's not all. You'll then have to take the package from your inventory and then open on the homestead to see what's inside. While it's a bit of work, at least everyone gets extra Cloth, Energy and items they'll need out of the deal. Care Packages are going to be a fun time when this thing catches on, let me tell you.
Care PackageFinally, something I actually need. FrontierVille is next in line to receive Zynga's adaptation of FarmVille's Special Delivery: the Care Package. This new, intelligent item will only be giftable through homestead visits and will grant players with items they actually need. Whether it contains building materials, school supplies, mission items and even collectibles, whatever is in that Care Package will always contribute to something you're currently working toward.
Again, only visiting a friend's homestead will give you the option of sending them a Care Package. However, you can only access these gifts through the traditional Game Requests page on Facebook and only then will the item appear in your inventory, but that's not all. You'll then have to take the package from your inventory and then open on the homestead to see what's inside. While it's a bit of work, at least everyone gets extra Cloth, Energy and items they'll need out of the deal. Care Packages are going to be a fun time when this thing catches on, let me tell you.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
LOLapps reveals secrets to Ravenwood Fair success
Ravenwood Fair Stats
In just the two short months that LOLapps' Ravenwood Fair has been in town it's garnered 4.7 million monthly players, according to AppData's findings. And for a company to round up and maintain this many users in the midst of a Facebook privacy crisis that crippled the game for days is certainly impressive. So, how did they do it? LOLapps recently released a cutesy yet informative set of graphs and pie charts breaking down not only exactly how they approach players like you and I, but how they keep us coming back for more carnie craziness.
While we won't bore you with too many specifics, there are some interesting facts here. For example, LOLapps relies heavily on cross promotion (60 percent)--much like the recent CityVille sign that's plopped itself in your farms--and far less on ads (eight percent) and 32 percent viral promotion (i.e. lots of News Feed messages making their way into your Feed and more) in its first phase. But then something changes in their strategy, which is when you'll see plenty more advertisements on your Facebook pages as they jump to 30 percent while cross promos and viral marketing level out.
Find the full chart and even more interesting (and hilarious) statistics behind the break.
What's most interesting is LOLapps' gender breakdown. According to the company, 60 percent of Facebook gamers are women, beating out men in every age bracket by huge margins. So, thank you, ladies, for keeping the genre alive. But don't think that the recent privacy incident didn't effect Ravenwood Fair at least a little bit. You'll see a significant drop in the game's player base right around the end of October into the beginning of November, but luckily it bounced right back and it appears even more gamers are enjoying building their own spooky carnivals today.
It's rare that a social game developer is this open about its numbers and reach, so gobble this info up while you still can. Not to mention that a lot of this information could be indicative of how other social game developers handle bringing in new users and keeping them there.
Now, 4.4 million players sure is a lot, but what does mean for the citizens Ravenwood Fair specifically? It means 15 million hot dogs eaten, 10 million spooked guests, 6.5 million trees chopped and, as LOLapps puts it so quaintly, "5 million NPCs who took a crap in the thunderbox." And with no signs of Ravenwood Fair stopping, it might be time to build some more outhou--er, we mean thunderboxes.
Expanding Boundaries of Facebook Games.
What do you think of LOLapps suddenly revealing many of their secrets? Is it time that more social game developers do the same?
In just the two short months that LOLapps' Ravenwood Fair has been in town it's garnered 4.7 million monthly players, according to AppData's findings. And for a company to round up and maintain this many users in the midst of a Facebook privacy crisis that crippled the game for days is certainly impressive. So, how did they do it? LOLapps recently released a cutesy yet informative set of graphs and pie charts breaking down not only exactly how they approach players like you and I, but how they keep us coming back for more carnie craziness.
While we won't bore you with too many specifics, there are some interesting facts here. For example, LOLapps relies heavily on cross promotion (60 percent)--much like the recent CityVille sign that's plopped itself in your farms--and far less on ads (eight percent) and 32 percent viral promotion (i.e. lots of News Feed messages making their way into your Feed and more) in its first phase. But then something changes in their strategy, which is when you'll see plenty more advertisements on your Facebook pages as they jump to 30 percent while cross promos and viral marketing level out.
Find the full chart and even more interesting (and hilarious) statistics behind the break.
What's most interesting is LOLapps' gender breakdown. According to the company, 60 percent of Facebook gamers are women, beating out men in every age bracket by huge margins. So, thank you, ladies, for keeping the genre alive. But don't think that the recent privacy incident didn't effect Ravenwood Fair at least a little bit. You'll see a significant drop in the game's player base right around the end of October into the beginning of November, but luckily it bounced right back and it appears even more gamers are enjoying building their own spooky carnivals today.
It's rare that a social game developer is this open about its numbers and reach, so gobble this info up while you still can. Not to mention that a lot of this information could be indicative of how other social game developers handle bringing in new users and keeping them there.
Now, 4.4 million players sure is a lot, but what does mean for the citizens Ravenwood Fair specifically? It means 15 million hot dogs eaten, 10 million spooked guests, 6.5 million trees chopped and, as LOLapps puts it so quaintly, "5 million NPCs who took a crap in the thunderbox." And with no signs of Ravenwood Fair stopping, it might be time to build some more outhou--er, we mean thunderboxes.
Expanding Boundaries of Facebook Games.
What do you think of LOLapps suddenly revealing many of their secrets? Is it time that more social game developers do the same?
CityVille Update: Much needed storage, decorations, homes and crops
CityVille Items
Not even a week in and we're already seeing bug fixes and now content updates to the next big city builder, CityVille. This week, Zynga has introduced not only decorations, but a a good amount of items that will contribute more than just Happiness for our beloved, random citizens.
Flower Pot: 100 coins, 1% payout
Fall Tree: 2 City Cash, 1% payout
Sturdy Fence: 75 coins, 1% payout
Cranberries: 49 coins, 80 Goods in 12 hours
Lake House: 10 City Cash, 90 Population, 180 coins every 2 hours
Cargo Shed: 20 City Cash, 1,000 Storage
Finally, a new storage option. While it does a good amount of City Cash, this item may actually be worth the cost--1,000 Storage will keep you set for a long time. Cranberries are a good, high-yield crop that will perfect for players to plant before they go to sleep or early on the morning the harvest when they come back home from a long day at work. With the Holidays soon upon us, we'll see if the CityVille team can come up with some wintry items in time for the big events.
Not even a week in and we're already seeing bug fixes and now content updates to the next big city builder, CityVille. This week, Zynga has introduced not only decorations, but a a good amount of items that will contribute more than just Happiness for our beloved, random citizens.
Flower Pot: 100 coins, 1% payout
Fall Tree: 2 City Cash, 1% payout
Sturdy Fence: 75 coins, 1% payout
Cranberries: 49 coins, 80 Goods in 12 hours
Lake House: 10 City Cash, 90 Population, 180 coins every 2 hours
Cargo Shed: 20 City Cash, 1,000 Storage
Finally, a new storage option. While it does a good amount of City Cash, this item may actually be worth the cost--1,000 Storage will keep you set for a long time. Cranberries are a good, high-yield crop that will perfect for players to plant before they go to sleep or early on the morning the harvest when they come back home from a long day at work. With the Holidays soon upon us, we'll see if the CityVille team can come up with some wintry items in time for the big events.
FarmVille Bunny Slope: Best item ever?
Released last night alongside other Holiday items, was the FarmVille Bunny Slope. Many immediately passed the Bunny Slope off as merely another boring Farm Cash item. However, not only is the Bunny Slope a clever joke (because a bunny is riding the Bunny Slope), it is also potentially the best FarmVille item ever (in my opinion of course).
farmville bunny slope
farmville bunny slope best itemOnce placed on your farm, a bunny rabbit with an orange sled continually climbs up the Bunny Slope and then slides back down. Could it get any cuter? Many FarmVille players don't think so. Some have even lined up their other cute animals at the bottom of the hill, waiting their turn to ride the FarmVille Bunny Slope (though of course, they can't actually ride it). I might even keep my farm holiday themed all year around, just so I can display my favorite FarmVille item: the Bunny Slope.
Unfortunately, the FarmVille Bunny Slope costs a massive 28 Farm Cash. But for one of the best FarmVille items ever, it might be worth it.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
What is your favorite FarmVille item? What item are you most proud of?
farmville bunny slope
farmville bunny slope best itemOnce placed on your farm, a bunny rabbit with an orange sled continually climbs up the Bunny Slope and then slides back down. Could it get any cuter? Many FarmVille players don't think so. Some have even lined up their other cute animals at the bottom of the hill, waiting their turn to ride the FarmVille Bunny Slope (though of course, they can't actually ride it). I might even keep my farm holiday themed all year around, just so I can display my favorite FarmVille item: the Bunny Slope.
Unfortunately, the FarmVille Bunny Slope costs a massive 28 Farm Cash. But for one of the best FarmVille items ever, it might be worth it.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
What is your favorite FarmVille item? What item are you most proud of?
CityVille Cheats and Tips: A Goods Management Guide
CityVille Goods
Now that you've expanded your Franchise empire along with the boundaries of your booming town in CityVille, it's time to get those Goods in line. I don't know about you, but I often find myself maxed out on Goods upon logging into the game. In fact, it's gotten to the point where, at times, I can't even harvest my crops before somehow getting rid of my gobs of Goods. However, there are a few ways to optimize your Goods management so that you don't run into the same problem.
1. The Right Crops for the Right Time
The number one way to control the amount of Goods you produce is planting smart. This isn't FarmVille anymore where the motto normally goes, "The more crops, the better!" Remember to be sure of the yield of each crop and its harvest time before planting. Now, you don't have to break out the calculator or anything (well, unless you're that intent on efficiency), but an idea of how many Goods are waiting for you in a few hours or days is good to keep in mind. For instance, I would strongly recommend against planting a field full of corn when you already have half of your Goods limit in storage.
Jump behind the break for four more tips on how effectively manage your Goods.
CityVille Storage
2. You're Gonna' Need a Bigger Boat
Or in this case, a bigger barn. There are currently only four storage solutions in the game and they're as follows:
-Silo: 250 coins; 100 Storage
-Red Barn: 1,000 coins; 415 Storage
-Sticks: 1,125 coins; 485 Storage
-Cargo Shed: 10 City Cash; 1,000 Storage
While it is mighty tempting to just say, "Forget it," and put up for the Cargo Shed, smart buys and even smarter positioning can help you avoid paying real dollars just to keep your Goods in safe keeping. While Silos are the cheapest solution to Storage, they're not exactly efficient. A much better strategy, although more expensive, would be to line up multiple Barns and Sticks adjacent to one another facing your farmland. In fact, the best way to build in CityVille is in a grid format similar to this, though it's not 100 percent necessary. The bottom line here is that if you place Barns and Sticks intelligently along the borders of your farmland or city, letting Silos fill in any unavoidable blanks, you should be fine when it comes to Storage.
3. Time is Money (and Goods)
Say it with me: Collect from and supply businesses as often as possible. Actually, collecting from Businesses should hold a much higher priority than collecting rent, taxes and free from residential buildings. Here's a scenario: if you only have a few Energy left, yet both your Businesses and Housing are ready to be collected from, which would spend your remaining Energy on? If your answer was cutting down Trees, you're are not even close to getting it. All kidding aside, just collect from the Businesses. This way, you'll get both coins and will be able to supply those Businesses, which costs nothing but Goods--and that's exactly what we want to get rid of.
Franchise Supply
4. Meet Expanding Demand with Expanding Supply
Franchises are a funnel for Goods. Every day, you'll be able to supply a huge portion of your Goods to your Businesses in other cities. And it only gets better with the more places your Businesses pop up. As soon as you're able to, open another Franchise as soon as possible. (Second and third Franchise opportunities open up at Levels 10 and 20.) With two Franchises running Businesses in multiple cities you could easily unload 75 percent of your Goods the moment you log in and click the "Supply" button a few times.
5. All Aboard!
While we've touched on Shipping before, we didn't exactly touch its importance when it comes to Goods management. And the reason why it's at the end of this list is because, frankly, it's a last resort. But don't think it's not equally as important. To put it into perspective, shipping Goods via Train can rid you of up to 700 Goods in an instant. While many of us haven't expanded to a local waterway to give international shipping a go, surely that will provide an even better way of dumping excess Goods elsewhere while making some money in the process. So, when you're at a loss of where to put the rest of those Goods after everything else has been taken care of, send them off on a train and make a few friends happy.
Check out the rest of our CityVille Cheats & Tips right here.
Now that you've expanded your Franchise empire along with the boundaries of your booming town in CityVille, it's time to get those Goods in line. I don't know about you, but I often find myself maxed out on Goods upon logging into the game. In fact, it's gotten to the point where, at times, I can't even harvest my crops before somehow getting rid of my gobs of Goods. However, there are a few ways to optimize your Goods management so that you don't run into the same problem.
1. The Right Crops for the Right Time
The number one way to control the amount of Goods you produce is planting smart. This isn't FarmVille anymore where the motto normally goes, "The more crops, the better!" Remember to be sure of the yield of each crop and its harvest time before planting. Now, you don't have to break out the calculator or anything (well, unless you're that intent on efficiency), but an idea of how many Goods are waiting for you in a few hours or days is good to keep in mind. For instance, I would strongly recommend against planting a field full of corn when you already have half of your Goods limit in storage.
Jump behind the break for four more tips on how effectively manage your Goods.
CityVille Storage
2. You're Gonna' Need a Bigger Boat
Or in this case, a bigger barn. There are currently only four storage solutions in the game and they're as follows:
-Silo: 250 coins; 100 Storage
-Red Barn: 1,000 coins; 415 Storage
-Sticks: 1,125 coins; 485 Storage
-Cargo Shed: 10 City Cash; 1,000 Storage
While it is mighty tempting to just say, "Forget it," and put up for the Cargo Shed, smart buys and even smarter positioning can help you avoid paying real dollars just to keep your Goods in safe keeping. While Silos are the cheapest solution to Storage, they're not exactly efficient. A much better strategy, although more expensive, would be to line up multiple Barns and Sticks adjacent to one another facing your farmland. In fact, the best way to build in CityVille is in a grid format similar to this, though it's not 100 percent necessary. The bottom line here is that if you place Barns and Sticks intelligently along the borders of your farmland or city, letting Silos fill in any unavoidable blanks, you should be fine when it comes to Storage.
3. Time is Money (and Goods)
Say it with me: Collect from and supply businesses as often as possible. Actually, collecting from Businesses should hold a much higher priority than collecting rent, taxes and free from residential buildings. Here's a scenario: if you only have a few Energy left, yet both your Businesses and Housing are ready to be collected from, which would spend your remaining Energy on? If your answer was cutting down Trees, you're are not even close to getting it. All kidding aside, just collect from the Businesses. This way, you'll get both coins and will be able to supply those Businesses, which costs nothing but Goods--and that's exactly what we want to get rid of.
Franchise Supply
4. Meet Expanding Demand with Expanding Supply
Franchises are a funnel for Goods. Every day, you'll be able to supply a huge portion of your Goods to your Businesses in other cities. And it only gets better with the more places your Businesses pop up. As soon as you're able to, open another Franchise as soon as possible. (Second and third Franchise opportunities open up at Levels 10 and 20.) With two Franchises running Businesses in multiple cities you could easily unload 75 percent of your Goods the moment you log in and click the "Supply" button a few times.
5. All Aboard!
While we've touched on Shipping before, we didn't exactly touch its importance when it comes to Goods management. And the reason why it's at the end of this list is because, frankly, it's a last resort. But don't think it's not equally as important. To put it into perspective, shipping Goods via Train can rid you of up to 700 Goods in an instant. While many of us haven't expanded to a local waterway to give international shipping a go, surely that will provide an even better way of dumping excess Goods elsewhere while making some money in the process. So, when you're at a loss of where to put the rest of those Goods after everything else has been taken care of, send them off on a train and make a few friends happy.
Check out the rest of our CityVille Cheats & Tips right here.
Game of the Day: Winterbells
winterbells
winterbellsNeed a holiday game that's quick and cute? Winterbells is the game for you.
Winterbells, created by Orisinal, is one of the most beautiful Games of the Day ever. It follows a cute white bunny rabbit who embraces his curiosity of the heavens. Taking to the sky with a giant leap, he bounds from winter bell to winter bell, exploring the endless night. You can almost smell the cool, crisp, fresh winter air. Eventually, the mischievous bunny's ascent is cut short by a mistimed jump, and he glides back down to the earth, caught by the fresh snowfall.
Hint: Jumping on a bird doubles your score!
Click here to Play Winterbells >
winterbellsNeed a holiday game that's quick and cute? Winterbells is the game for you.
Winterbells, created by Orisinal, is one of the most beautiful Games of the Day ever. It follows a cute white bunny rabbit who embraces his curiosity of the heavens. Taking to the sky with a giant leap, he bounds from winter bell to winter bell, exploring the endless night. You can almost smell the cool, crisp, fresh winter air. Eventually, the mischievous bunny's ascent is cut short by a mistimed jump, and he glides back down to the earth, caught by the fresh snowfall.
Hint: Jumping on a bird doubles your score!
Click here to Play Winterbells >
Friday, January 13, 2012
CityVille Collections Guide: Where to find items, and the rewards you'll receive
As most CityVille players have picked up on by now, there is a huge section of CityVille dedicated to the completion of item collections. Similar to the collections found in other Zynga games (FarmVille and FrontierVille, as examples), these collection items can be earned by simply playing the game. Collections are themed, and if you can find all five items in a particular collection in CityVille, you'll be able to trade those items in for a helpful goodie(s) in the game. These prizes can be Experience Points, Energy Refills, or even exclusive items businesses, and houses that can only be earned through trading in collections, among other things.
Meet us behind the break for a complete list of the current collections available in CityVille, including the buildings that you'll need to collect from to earn these items, and the prizes you'll receive if you complete the collections.
Collection items usually have about a 3 percent chance of being dropped when you collect rent from a business or house, or harvest a crop. Of course there are exceptions such as the Danish from the Desserts Collection which has a 13 percent chance of being dropped. We'll go through the collections in the Collections Menu, which can be accessed by clicking on the Present / Cardboard Box icon in the bottom right corner of the CityVille gameplay screen, and clicking on the Gold Collections trophy.
Retail Collection - Earned from Tofu Burger, Grocery Store (City Supermarket), Department Store
Reward: 3 Energy & 25 Goods
Houseware Collection - Earned from Appliance Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 25 Goods
Home Furnishings Collection - Earned from Furniture Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins
Home Entertainment Collection - Earned from Music Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins
Bookworm Collection - Earned from Bookstore
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Peaceful Living Collection - Earned from Cozy Cottage, Lake House, and Country Home
Reward: White Picket Fence (1% Bonus item)
Suburbia Collection - Earned from Family Townhouse, Suburban House
Reward: Red Dog House (1% Bonus item)
Main Street Collection - Earned from Loft Apartments, Stylish Contemporary Home
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
City Life Collection - Earned from Terraced Apartments, Apartment Complex
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Rural Collection - Earned from Newlywed House, Ranch House, Rita's Country Home
Reward: 3 XP & 25 Goods
High Society Collection - Earned from Colonial Chalet, Modern Chateau, Sprawling Mansion
Reward: Driveway Gate (2% Bonus item)
Down Town Collection - Earned from Hotel Suites, Upscale Condos
Reward: Tavern (Building requiring 80 Goods; rewards 352 Coins by default)
Jet Setter Collection - Earned from Skyscraper Condos, Glass Condos, Atrium Lofts, Penthouse Tower
Reward: Tuxedo Rental (Building requiring 125 Goods; rewards 575 coins by default)
Just Desserts Collection - Earned from Bakery
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Garden Collection - Earned from Flower Kiosk
Reward: Purple Flowers (1% Bonus item)
Early Riser Collection - Earned from Coffee Shop, Hot Cocoa Shop
Reward: 3 Energy & 50 Goods
Game Collection - Earned from Toy Store, Video Game Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 Energy
Fast Food Collection - Earned from Burger Joint
Reward: Gray Hen (1% Bonus item)
Comfort Food Collection - Earned from Diner
Reward: Hot Dog Cart (1% Bonus item)
Forever Young Collection - Earned from Cosmetic Store
Reward: Pink Flowers (1% Bonus item)
Watering Hole Collection - Earned from Pool Hall, Tavern
Reward: 3 Energy & 3 XP
Fitness Collection - Earned from Bike Shop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Designer Collection - Earned from Shoe Store, Sunglasses Store, Handbag Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
French Cuisine Collection - Earned from French Restaurant
Reward: Bird Fountain (9% Bonus item)
Surf and Turf Collection - Earned from Seafood Restaurant, Tower Eats
Reward: Black Cow (1% Bonus item)
Asian Cuisine Collection - Earned from Sushi Bar
Reward: Japanese Maple Tree (4% Bonus item)
Bridal Collection - Earned from Wedding Store, Tuxedo Rental
Reward: Newlywed House (Home offering 100 Population)
Silver Screen Collection - Earned from Cinema
Reward: Highway Billboard (9% Bonus item)
Convenience Store Collection - Earned from Corner Store
Reward: 3 Energy & 3 XP
Perfect Fit Collection - Earned from Seasonal Clothing Store, Chic Boutique, Laundromat
Reward: 50 Coins & 25 Goods
Bling Collection - Earned from Jewelry Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins
Corn Collection - Earned from Harvesting Corn Crop
Reward: White Goat (1% Bonus item)
Strawberry Collection - Earned from Harvesting Strawberry Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Watermelon Collection - Earned from Harvesting Watermelon Crop
Reward: 3 XP & 25 Goods
Pumpkin Collection - Earned from Harvesting Pumpkin Crop
Reward: 3 XP & 3 Energy
Carrot Collection - Earned from Harvesting Carrot Crop
Reward: Gray Bunny (1% Bonus item)
Wheat Collection - Earned from Harvesting Wheat Crop
Reward: White Chicken (1% Bonus item)
Eggplant Collection - Earned from Harvesting Eggplant Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Pea Collection - Earned from Harvesting Pea Crop
Reward: Corner Store (Building requiring 60 Goods; rewards 270 coins by default)
Cranberry Collection - Earned from Harvesting Cranberry Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Lunar New Year Collection - Earned from Fireworks Shop, Noodle Shop, Martial Arts School (Dojo)
Reward: Country Pagoda
Remember, these collections are subject to change at any time, meaning that you may not always be able to find these items from the listed buildings - they might start randomly appearing from others. If / as things change with these collections, we'll make sure to update this space to ensure that you have the best possible information when trying to complete your own collections in the game. Happy collecting!
Meet us behind the break for a complete list of the current collections available in CityVille, including the buildings that you'll need to collect from to earn these items, and the prizes you'll receive if you complete the collections.
Collection items usually have about a 3 percent chance of being dropped when you collect rent from a business or house, or harvest a crop. Of course there are exceptions such as the Danish from the Desserts Collection which has a 13 percent chance of being dropped. We'll go through the collections in the Collections Menu, which can be accessed by clicking on the Present / Cardboard Box icon in the bottom right corner of the CityVille gameplay screen, and clicking on the Gold Collections trophy.
Retail Collection - Earned from Tofu Burger, Grocery Store (City Supermarket), Department Store
Reward: 3 Energy & 25 Goods
Houseware Collection - Earned from Appliance Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 25 Goods
Home Furnishings Collection - Earned from Furniture Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins
Home Entertainment Collection - Earned from Music Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins
Bookworm Collection - Earned from Bookstore
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Peaceful Living Collection - Earned from Cozy Cottage, Lake House, and Country Home
Reward: White Picket Fence (1% Bonus item)
Suburbia Collection - Earned from Family Townhouse, Suburban House
Reward: Red Dog House (1% Bonus item)
Main Street Collection - Earned from Loft Apartments, Stylish Contemporary Home
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
City Life Collection - Earned from Terraced Apartments, Apartment Complex
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Rural Collection - Earned from Newlywed House, Ranch House, Rita's Country Home
Reward: 3 XP & 25 Goods
High Society Collection - Earned from Colonial Chalet, Modern Chateau, Sprawling Mansion
Reward: Driveway Gate (2% Bonus item)
Down Town Collection - Earned from Hotel Suites, Upscale Condos
Reward: Tavern (Building requiring 80 Goods; rewards 352 Coins by default)
Jet Setter Collection - Earned from Skyscraper Condos, Glass Condos, Atrium Lofts, Penthouse Tower
Reward: Tuxedo Rental (Building requiring 125 Goods; rewards 575 coins by default)
Just Desserts Collection - Earned from Bakery
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Garden Collection - Earned from Flower Kiosk
Reward: Purple Flowers (1% Bonus item)
Early Riser Collection - Earned from Coffee Shop, Hot Cocoa Shop
Reward: 3 Energy & 50 Goods
Game Collection - Earned from Toy Store, Video Game Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 Energy
Fast Food Collection - Earned from Burger Joint
Reward: Gray Hen (1% Bonus item)
Comfort Food Collection - Earned from Diner
Reward: Hot Dog Cart (1% Bonus item)
Forever Young Collection - Earned from Cosmetic Store
Reward: Pink Flowers (1% Bonus item)
Watering Hole Collection - Earned from Pool Hall, Tavern
Reward: 3 Energy & 3 XP
Fitness Collection - Earned from Bike Shop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Designer Collection - Earned from Shoe Store, Sunglasses Store, Handbag Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
French Cuisine Collection - Earned from French Restaurant
Reward: Bird Fountain (9% Bonus item)
Surf and Turf Collection - Earned from Seafood Restaurant, Tower Eats
Reward: Black Cow (1% Bonus item)
Asian Cuisine Collection - Earned from Sushi Bar
Reward: Japanese Maple Tree (4% Bonus item)
Bridal Collection - Earned from Wedding Store, Tuxedo Rental
Reward: Newlywed House (Home offering 100 Population)
Silver Screen Collection - Earned from Cinema
Reward: Highway Billboard (9% Bonus item)
Convenience Store Collection - Earned from Corner Store
Reward: 3 Energy & 3 XP
Perfect Fit Collection - Earned from Seasonal Clothing Store, Chic Boutique, Laundromat
Reward: 50 Coins & 25 Goods
Bling Collection - Earned from Jewelry Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins
Corn Collection - Earned from Harvesting Corn Crop
Reward: White Goat (1% Bonus item)
Strawberry Collection - Earned from Harvesting Strawberry Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Watermelon Collection - Earned from Harvesting Watermelon Crop
Reward: 3 XP & 25 Goods
Pumpkin Collection - Earned from Harvesting Pumpkin Crop
Reward: 3 XP & 3 Energy
Carrot Collection - Earned from Harvesting Carrot Crop
Reward: Gray Bunny (1% Bonus item)
Wheat Collection - Earned from Harvesting Wheat Crop
Reward: White Chicken (1% Bonus item)
Eggplant Collection - Earned from Harvesting Eggplant Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Pea Collection - Earned from Harvesting Pea Crop
Reward: Corner Store (Building requiring 60 Goods; rewards 270 coins by default)
Cranberry Collection - Earned from Harvesting Cranberry Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP
Lunar New Year Collection - Earned from Fireworks Shop, Noodle Shop, Martial Arts School (Dojo)
Reward: Country Pagoda
Remember, these collections are subject to change at any time, meaning that you may not always be able to find these items from the listed buildings - they might start randomly appearing from others. If / as things change with these collections, we'll make sure to update this space to ensure that you have the best possible information when trying to complete your own collections in the game. Happy collecting!
FrontierVille glitch rewards mass amounts of random items
This is one glitch we'd actually be ok with accepting in the long-term (or even permanently) in FrontierVille. Over the last few days, we've seen more and more reports from users on the official FrontierVille forums who have received mass quantities of seemingly random objects in their inventory.
At first, we thought perhaps this glitch was just that - a one-off experience from one or two particular players, until we experienced it ourselves. In a particular example on the forums, users are now reporting (complete with screenshots) that their inventory is filled with 440 Dried Fruit, or even 740! For the record, I have 293, also as part of this glitch, so we know these users can't be lying. Dried Fruit was released as part of a 12 Days of Christmas mission in the game, so could this be a new glitch that has come along with this item?
Perhaps that is the case, but that doesn't explain my own particular experience, which has resulted in 121 Ink Wells appearing in my inventory at random. I haven't received these items as a gift (you can see who sent you items via your Gift Box when you login to the game), I didn't ask for them on my wall. One day I had less than ten Ink Wells, and now, as you can see from the image at the top of this post - I have 121. And 68 Chalks to boot!
Where are all of these items coming from? We're not exactly sure at this point, but the items do appear to function as normal all the same. That being the case, if you see a mass amount of a particular item having appeared in your inventory, it might be in your best interest to use all you can before Zynga fixes the glitch and removes the excess items.
At first, we thought perhaps this glitch was just that - a one-off experience from one or two particular players, until we experienced it ourselves. In a particular example on the forums, users are now reporting (complete with screenshots) that their inventory is filled with 440 Dried Fruit, or even 740! For the record, I have 293, also as part of this glitch, so we know these users can't be lying. Dried Fruit was released as part of a 12 Days of Christmas mission in the game, so could this be a new glitch that has come along with this item?
Perhaps that is the case, but that doesn't explain my own particular experience, which has resulted in 121 Ink Wells appearing in my inventory at random. I haven't received these items as a gift (you can see who sent you items via your Gift Box when you login to the game), I didn't ask for them on my wall. One day I had less than ten Ink Wells, and now, as you can see from the image at the top of this post - I have 121. And 68 Chalks to boot!
Where are all of these items coming from? We're not exactly sure at this point, but the items do appear to function as normal all the same. That being the case, if you see a mass amount of a particular item having appeared in your inventory, it might be in your best interest to use all you can before Zynga fixes the glitch and removes the excess items.
FrontierVille Gingerbread House changed - CityVille cross-promo removed
If you're one of the many FrontierVille players that are struggling to finish your Gingerbread House (either the first or the second time), due to a glitch with the CityVille cross promotion that doesn't give you a Chocolate Bar in FrontierVille after finishing the branded CityVille mission, you'll be happy to know that Zynga has listened to your concerns and has removed the CityVille cross-promotion from the Gingerbread House in FrontierVille altogether.
Whether you're on your first or second go around with the Gingerbread House, there are now just two cross-promotional activities that you'll need to take part in: one for Mafia Wars and one for Treasure Isle. To earn the Chocolate Bars, you'll now have to simply click on the "Ask for More" button from within the Gingerbread House's menu. This will allow you to post a news item to your wall, asking friends to send you a Chocolate Bar. This is a "Give one, get one" situation, so your friends will earn a Chocolate Bar in return, if they help you out.
The rest of the Gingerbread House building requirements remain unchanged, but as the cross-promotional links have now been fixed, this is one feature that now looks to be running fairly smoothly, all things considered.
Whether you're on your first or second go around with the Gingerbread House, there are now just two cross-promotional activities that you'll need to take part in: one for Mafia Wars and one for Treasure Isle. To earn the Chocolate Bars, you'll now have to simply click on the "Ask for More" button from within the Gingerbread House's menu. This will allow you to post a news item to your wall, asking friends to send you a Chocolate Bar. This is a "Give one, get one" situation, so your friends will earn a Chocolate Bar in return, if they help you out.
The rest of the Gingerbread House building requirements remain unchanged, but as the cross-promotional links have now been fixed, this is one feature that now looks to be running fairly smoothly, all things considered.
FrontierVille Hilarious Mission Series makes a game of Zynga's game
Bull@%!#
While these missions aren't actually in FrontierVille, you'll probably wish they were after taking a look at a few of them. A friend and fan of FrontierVille Info, Alexander Cain, employed some Photoshop magic to the standard FrontierVille Goal window for some gut-splitting albeit potentially offensive parodies of the game. Take Cain's first mission, "Bull@%!#," for example. It's description reads, "Trying to sort through all of the connection problems, begging requests, missed quests, crashes and overpriced decorations is sure a load of you-know-what! See if you can come up with a load of you-know-what on your own!"
To complete the Goal, you would fittingly enough have to collect 10 Meadow Muffins, sell 20 Adult Oxen and buy 10 Shovels. Another funny Mission, titled "Quit Arson Around," is described as, "Suspicious fires have been popping up all around your frontier lately; no one seems to know who is responsible. Maybe if you bought more Horseshoes, these things wouldn't happen." Thankfully, Zynga isn't that vindictive, but if they were at least we happen to have the tools to put them out.
Some of the more potentially offensive Missions include "Alone at Last," which reads, "A nice neighbor has taken the kids off your hands for the evening, leaving just you and your spouse. Search your homestead and your heart for some appropriate items for both fun AND pleasure," and "Cruci-fix'un!" We'll leave that last Goal to your imaginations, but check out the original post for even better laughs.
While these missions aren't actually in FrontierVille, you'll probably wish they were after taking a look at a few of them. A friend and fan of FrontierVille Info, Alexander Cain, employed some Photoshop magic to the standard FrontierVille Goal window for some gut-splitting albeit potentially offensive parodies of the game. Take Cain's first mission, "Bull@%!#," for example. It's description reads, "Trying to sort through all of the connection problems, begging requests, missed quests, crashes and overpriced decorations is sure a load of you-know-what! See if you can come up with a load of you-know-what on your own!"
To complete the Goal, you would fittingly enough have to collect 10 Meadow Muffins, sell 20 Adult Oxen and buy 10 Shovels. Another funny Mission, titled "Quit Arson Around," is described as, "Suspicious fires have been popping up all around your frontier lately; no one seems to know who is responsible. Maybe if you bought more Horseshoes, these things wouldn't happen." Thankfully, Zynga isn't that vindictive, but if they were at least we happen to have the tools to put them out.
Some of the more potentially offensive Missions include "Alone at Last," which reads, "A nice neighbor has taken the kids off your hands for the evening, leaving just you and your spouse. Search your homestead and your heart for some appropriate items for both fun AND pleasure," and "Cruci-fix'un!" We'll leave that last Goal to your imaginations, but check out the original post for even better laughs.
Mafia Wars 50,000 Feet Mission: Everything you need to know
While Challenge Missions in Mafia Wars normally take us to new locales, the sixth mission in the series, "50,000 Feet," will take us mobsters far above any location we've ever been to. This new Mission spanning three Chapters will only be around for another five days, so you better get to hijacking those planes and those three new Mastery items before you're out of time. And we want to help make that happen.
Check behind the break for our detailed guide on how to finish 50,000 Feet within the next 120 hours.
50,000 Feet Home Screen
To access this special event, find it under the Travel drop down box as if you're traveling to another location. This is where you can always find the Mission should you have to close the game. Thankfully, 50,000 Feet doesn't require players to recruit a new member to start the event nor is each Chapter locked behind a timer--just complete the first Chapter to access the next.
Reserve ChuteLike other Challenge Missions, a special item will be required to complete each job, which in this case is the Reserve Chute. You can collect up to 12 Reserve Chutes right from the Mission menu every 12 hours (depending on what Chapter you're on), but you'll probably need more sources of this item if you want to finish in time considering a total of 311 Reserve Chutes are required to finish the Mission. While it's not required, you'll be granted three extra Reserve Chutes for recruiting a new mafia member up to seven slots available. Better yet, Reserve Chutes are available in the Free Gifts page, so send away to complete these Jobs in good time.
Again, there is a Job Heat Meter that will increase as you complete Jobs, but unlike other Challenge Missions, this meter will only increase the Energy required to complete each Job and not the amount of Reserve Chutes needed. The Job Heat Meter will reset every eight hours , but don't push it--the meter will rest back to eight hours if you do a Job before it resets completely.
Mach-4 Halo Wingsuit Laser Rifle Prototype
Mastering each Job in a Chapter will reward players with one Skill Point and mastering all three will unlock the coveted Mastery Item. Here are all three Mastery Items for Chapters One, Two and Three:
Chapter 1: Mach-4 (Attack 66 Defense 48)
Chapter 2: HALO Wingsuit (Attack 88 Defense 51)
Chapter 3: Laser Rifle Prototype (Attack 114 Defense 63)
And there you have it. Since recruiting new players has been seriously downplayed this time around, gifting is essentially the fastest way to get this Challenge Mission completed in time. However, don't ignore the seven available Recruit slots as that's also a good source of 21 more Reserve Chutes. So, get back to gifting, respect that Job Heat Meter and you should nab that Laser Rifle Prototype in no time. Well, at least in five days, right?
Check behind the break for our detailed guide on how to finish 50,000 Feet within the next 120 hours.
50,000 Feet Home Screen
To access this special event, find it under the Travel drop down box as if you're traveling to another location. This is where you can always find the Mission should you have to close the game. Thankfully, 50,000 Feet doesn't require players to recruit a new member to start the event nor is each Chapter locked behind a timer--just complete the first Chapter to access the next.
Reserve ChuteLike other Challenge Missions, a special item will be required to complete each job, which in this case is the Reserve Chute. You can collect up to 12 Reserve Chutes right from the Mission menu every 12 hours (depending on what Chapter you're on), but you'll probably need more sources of this item if you want to finish in time considering a total of 311 Reserve Chutes are required to finish the Mission. While it's not required, you'll be granted three extra Reserve Chutes for recruiting a new mafia member up to seven slots available. Better yet, Reserve Chutes are available in the Free Gifts page, so send away to complete these Jobs in good time.
Again, there is a Job Heat Meter that will increase as you complete Jobs, but unlike other Challenge Missions, this meter will only increase the Energy required to complete each Job and not the amount of Reserve Chutes needed. The Job Heat Meter will reset every eight hours , but don't push it--the meter will rest back to eight hours if you do a Job before it resets completely.
Mach-4 Halo Wingsuit Laser Rifle Prototype
Mastering each Job in a Chapter will reward players with one Skill Point and mastering all three will unlock the coveted Mastery Item. Here are all three Mastery Items for Chapters One, Two and Three:
Chapter 1: Mach-4 (Attack 66 Defense 48)
Chapter 2: HALO Wingsuit (Attack 88 Defense 51)
Chapter 3: Laser Rifle Prototype (Attack 114 Defense 63)
And there you have it. Since recruiting new players has been seriously downplayed this time around, gifting is essentially the fastest way to get this Challenge Mission completed in time. However, don't ignore the seven available Recruit slots as that's also a good source of 21 more Reserve Chutes. So, get back to gifting, respect that Job Heat Meter and you should nab that Laser Rifle Prototype in no time. Well, at least in five days, right?
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Capcom CEO: Social games had 'earth-shattering' effect on industry
But the guy means more than, "Holy moley, these things are money machines!" During an interview with Bloomberg Japan, Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto likened the rise of social gaming to when pinball machines were overrun in arcades by game cabinets, according to Serkan Toto. If there's one company to make that point, it's certainly Capcom.
The company behind horror and action franchises like Resident Evil and Street Fighter has enjoyed more international success in mobile social games than even Japanese giants like DeNA and Gree. Of course, that's thanks to its Beeline Interactive subsidiary, which is responsible for the wildly successful Smurfs Village (and Smurfs Grabber, sort of) on U.S. iPhones. In fact, the game was so ... compelling to consumers that Capcom had to rework how it handled in-game purchases.
Speaking with Bloomberg Japan, Tsujimoto said that social games make up about 6.6 percent of Capcom's profits, but he expects that to explode to about 30 percent "in a few years." But despite the wild profits Capcom expects to make from social games, Tsujimoto said to Bloomberg Japan that he's still excited about Nintendo's upcoming console, the Wii U. Well, here's to hoping the console has some sort of social gaming support, but we're sure the company has wised up by now.
The company behind horror and action franchises like Resident Evil and Street Fighter has enjoyed more international success in mobile social games than even Japanese giants like DeNA and Gree. Of course, that's thanks to its Beeline Interactive subsidiary, which is responsible for the wildly successful Smurfs Village (and Smurfs Grabber, sort of) on U.S. iPhones. In fact, the game was so ... compelling to consumers that Capcom had to rework how it handled in-game purchases.
Speaking with Bloomberg Japan, Tsujimoto said that social games make up about 6.6 percent of Capcom's profits, but he expects that to explode to about 30 percent "in a few years." But despite the wild profits Capcom expects to make from social games, Tsujimoto said to Bloomberg Japan that he's still excited about Nintendo's upcoming console, the Wii U. Well, here's to hoping the console has some sort of social gaming support, but we're sure the company has wised up by now.
Collapse! Blast, UNO Boost burst onto GameHouse games portal
Between its new mobile platform and now this, Facebook looms like the spaceship from Independence Day over the Internet. Casual and social game creator GameHouse announced that both of its Facebook games, Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost, are now available on GameHouse.com. The games are playable on GameHouse's home turf through Facebook Connect.
This allows players to switch between platforms with the same scores and gameplay data. More importantly--if not for GameHouse, then the Internet on the whole--this marks a creative partnership between Facebook and GameHouse that brings Facebook Credits to GameHouse.com. This is a first for Facebook that allows users to make purchases on third-party websites, games and apps using its exclusive currency, namely Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost.
According to GameHouse, this is currently in the test phase, allowing players to buy virtual goods using Facebook Credits within Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost on the GameHouse website slash games portal. The process of buying virtual items using Facebook Credits outside of Facebook is seamless. "We truly believe that every game will be social someday, whether it's played on Facebook, Google+, or at GameHouse.com," the company wrote in a blog post.
GameHouse social games
This news follows GameHouse's recent reveal of Bayou Blast, the developer's next game in the Blast series of social games. The game looks to be an arguably fresh take on the match-three genre that PopCap popularized with Bejeweled. As for Facebook Credits appearing outside of Facebook, this could have massive implications not only for social games, but the commerce on the web across the board.
This allows players to switch between platforms with the same scores and gameplay data. More importantly--if not for GameHouse, then the Internet on the whole--this marks a creative partnership between Facebook and GameHouse that brings Facebook Credits to GameHouse.com. This is a first for Facebook that allows users to make purchases on third-party websites, games and apps using its exclusive currency, namely Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost.
According to GameHouse, this is currently in the test phase, allowing players to buy virtual goods using Facebook Credits within Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost on the GameHouse website slash games portal. The process of buying virtual items using Facebook Credits outside of Facebook is seamless. "We truly believe that every game will be social someday, whether it's played on Facebook, Google+, or at GameHouse.com," the company wrote in a blog post.
GameHouse social games
This news follows GameHouse's recent reveal of Bayou Blast, the developer's next game in the Blast series of social games. The game looks to be an arguably fresh take on the match-three genre that PopCap popularized with Bejeweled. As for Facebook Credits appearing outside of Facebook, this could have massive implications not only for social games, but the commerce on the web across the board.
Capcom CEO: Social games had 'earth-shattering' effect on industry
But the guy means more than, "Holy moley, these things are money machines!" During an interview with Bloomberg Japan, Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto likened the rise of social gaming to when pinball machines were overrun in arcades by game cabinets, according to Serkan Toto. If there's one company to make that point, it's certainly Capcom.
The company behind horror and action franchises like Resident Evil and Street Fighter has enjoyed more international success in mobile social games than even Japanese giants like DeNA and Gree. Of course, that's thanks to its Beeline Interactive subsidiary, which is responsible for the wildly successful Smurfs Village (and Smurfs Grabber, sort of) on U.S. iPhones. In fact, the game was so ... compelling to consumers that Capcom had to rework how it handled in-game purchases.
Speaking with Bloomberg Japan, Tsujimoto said that social games make up about 6.6 percent of Capcom's profits, but he expects that to explode to about 30 percent "in a few years." But despite the wild profits Capcom expects to make from social games, Tsujimoto said to Bloomberg Japan that he's still excited about Nintendo's upcoming console, the Wii U. Well, here's to hoping the console has some sort of social gaming support, but we're sure the company has wised up by now.
The company behind horror and action franchises like Resident Evil and Street Fighter has enjoyed more international success in mobile social games than even Japanese giants like DeNA and Gree. Of course, that's thanks to its Beeline Interactive subsidiary, which is responsible for the wildly successful Smurfs Village (and Smurfs Grabber, sort of) on U.S. iPhones. In fact, the game was so ... compelling to consumers that Capcom had to rework how it handled in-game purchases.
Speaking with Bloomberg Japan, Tsujimoto said that social games make up about 6.6 percent of Capcom's profits, but he expects that to explode to about 30 percent "in a few years." But despite the wild profits Capcom expects to make from social games, Tsujimoto said to Bloomberg Japan that he's still excited about Nintendo's upcoming console, the Wii U. Well, here's to hoping the console has some sort of social gaming support, but we're sure the company has wised up by now.
Collapse! Blast, UNO Boost burst onto GameHouse games portal
Between its new mobile platform and now this, Facebook looms like the spaceship from Independence Day over the Internet. Casual and social game creator GameHouse announced that both of its Facebook games, Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost, are now available on GameHouse.com. The games are playable on GameHouse's home turf through Facebook Connect.
This allows players to switch between platforms with the same scores and gameplay data. More importantly--if not for GameHouse, then the Internet on the whole--this marks a creative partnership between Facebook and GameHouse that brings Facebook Credits to GameHouse.com. This is a first for Facebook that allows users to make purchases on third-party websites, games and apps using its exclusive currency, namely Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost.
According to GameHouse, this is currently in the test phase, allowing players to buy virtual goods using Facebook Credits within Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost on the GameHouse website slash games portal. The process of buying virtual items using Facebook Credits outside of Facebook is seamless. "We truly believe that every game will be social someday, whether it's played on Facebook, Google+, or at GameHouse.com," the company wrote in a blog post.
GameHouse social games
This news follows GameHouse's recent reveal of Bayou Blast, the developer's next game in the Blast series of social games. The game looks to be an arguably fresh take on the match-three genre that PopCap popularized with Bejeweled. As for Facebook Credits appearing outside of Facebook, this could have massive implications not only for social games, but the commerce on the web across the board.
This allows players to switch between platforms with the same scores and gameplay data. More importantly--if not for GameHouse, then the Internet on the whole--this marks a creative partnership between Facebook and GameHouse that brings Facebook Credits to GameHouse.com. This is a first for Facebook that allows users to make purchases on third-party websites, games and apps using its exclusive currency, namely Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost.
According to GameHouse, this is currently in the test phase, allowing players to buy virtual goods using Facebook Credits within Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost on the GameHouse website slash games portal. The process of buying virtual items using Facebook Credits outside of Facebook is seamless. "We truly believe that every game will be social someday, whether it's played on Facebook, Google+, or at GameHouse.com," the company wrote in a blog post.
GameHouse social games
This news follows GameHouse's recent reveal of Bayou Blast, the developer's next game in the Blast series of social games. The game looks to be an arguably fresh take on the match-three genre that PopCap popularized with Bejeweled. As for Facebook Credits appearing outside of Facebook, this could have massive implications not only for social games, but the commerce on the web across the board.
Former Playdom GM takes the reins of social game start-up 519 Games
Hey, at least it's not another traditional game exec jumping ship. Former Playdom GM Lloyd Melnick (pictured) left the Disney-owned social game maker earlier this summer for 519 Games, a social game start-up that plans to release its first game in 2012. Melnick announced the move on the down-low through his personal blog on his first day as CEO, Aug. 29.
The studio is a joint venture between EW Scripps Company and Capitol Broadcasting. But more importantly, the GM-turned-chief has big ambitions for 519 Games. (Like, massive, turn-the-industry-on-its-head ambitions.) "We are currently building a fantastic team and will be one of the top five social gaming companies (both social web and social mobile) by the end of 2012," Melnick wrote in a blog post. "More details will emerge over the next few weeks."
Those details haven't exactly emerged yet, but it's only a matter of time. Melnick, who worked for Disney International as Playdom's head of international operations, had nothing but thanks and praise for the company. "It was this great collection of people that helped me learn and grow professionally that I can now move on to the biggest opportunity I have ever had," Melnick wrote. "Again, thank you all."
Melnick left Playdom and Disney just as doubts grew as to whether the latter could properly use the former to succeed in social games. Since then, Playdom has finally moved to take advantage of Disney's immense branding support, first slapping "Disney's" onto Gnome Town. A number of Playdom games featuring the company's properties will see the light in 2012. Playdom also announced Secret Agent X, a Facebook game shrouded in secrecy that lives up to its title--very sneaky, sis.
The studio is a joint venture between EW Scripps Company and Capitol Broadcasting. But more importantly, the GM-turned-chief has big ambitions for 519 Games. (Like, massive, turn-the-industry-on-its-head ambitions.) "We are currently building a fantastic team and will be one of the top five social gaming companies (both social web and social mobile) by the end of 2012," Melnick wrote in a blog post. "More details will emerge over the next few weeks."
Those details haven't exactly emerged yet, but it's only a matter of time. Melnick, who worked for Disney International as Playdom's head of international operations, had nothing but thanks and praise for the company. "It was this great collection of people that helped me learn and grow professionally that I can now move on to the biggest opportunity I have ever had," Melnick wrote. "Again, thank you all."
Melnick left Playdom and Disney just as doubts grew as to whether the latter could properly use the former to succeed in social games. Since then, Playdom has finally moved to take advantage of Disney's immense branding support, first slapping "Disney's" onto Gnome Town. A number of Playdom games featuring the company's properties will see the light in 2012. Playdom also announced Secret Agent X, a Facebook game shrouded in secrecy that lives up to its title--very sneaky, sis.
The Killer Pumpkin assaults Pocket God on Facebook this Halloween
Do not under any circumstances mistake this for The Great Pumpkin. A killer pumpkin beast has attacked everybody's favorite pygmies in Pocket God on Facebook. Quebec-based Frima Studio has released a Halloween update to its social rendition of Pocket God, complete with new quests and powers, which means new ways (and reasons) to send pygmies to their doom.
While the game is down for maintenance as of this writing, a new Global Challenge awaits the game's 190,000 monthly players. The Great Jack-o'-Pygmy wants pumpkins everywhere this Halloween, and has granted players with the power to summon a giant pumpkin that transforms pygmies into pumpkins. And when those gourds grow to gigantic proportions, they can even be used to crush more pygmies.
A healthy seven solo quests have been introduced in honor of the costume and candy-filled day. Alright, we know all you care about is how you're going to squish more pygmies. Does this top a unicorn that farts radioactive rainbows? Not by a long shot, but hey, it's the Halloween season, and pumpkins just work. Besides, to best the unicorn, Frima would have to make a unicorn that farts double rainbows--that's still hip, right?
While the game is down for maintenance as of this writing, a new Global Challenge awaits the game's 190,000 monthly players. The Great Jack-o'-Pygmy wants pumpkins everywhere this Halloween, and has granted players with the power to summon a giant pumpkin that transforms pygmies into pumpkins. And when those gourds grow to gigantic proportions, they can even be used to crush more pygmies.
A healthy seven solo quests have been introduced in honor of the costume and candy-filled day. Alright, we know all you care about is how you're going to squish more pygmies. Does this top a unicorn that farts radioactive rainbows? Not by a long shot, but hey, it's the Halloween season, and pumpkins just work. Besides, to best the unicorn, Frima would have to make a unicorn that farts double rainbows--that's still hip, right?
Triple Town, 'Civilization of match-3 games', goes Kindle to Facebook
Triple Town is a new puzzler on Facebook that had its start on the Amazon Kindle last October, where it flourished in popularity. It was created by Spry Fox, a game studio founded by Daniel Cook, the co-creator of Realm of the Mad God, and David J. Edery, a former Worldwide Portfolio Manager for Xbox Live Arcade. After a spiffy makeover, Triple Town made its debut on Facebook and Google+ Games earlier this month, with plans to go mobile. According to AppData, it's now attracted 190,000 monthly players on Facebook.
Hailed by one reviewer as "the Civilization of match-three games," Triple Town is a unique title with familiar aesthetics. Spry Fox originally chose the Kindle as the game's platform, which was explained as "an interesting emerging opportunity" by Edery. But as the game grew popular, Spry Fox wanted to spread the love around. Citing a lack of Bejeweled Blitz-type games on Facebook, Spry Fox decided to push for Triple Town's launch on the social network, as well as make it available in both English and Spanish.
Triple Town merge objects
A basic principle to understanding how to play Triple Town is the following idea: "Grass turns into bushes, bushes into trees, trees into huts, and so on." When you start a round, you're presented with a grid in a woodland theme. There are no time limits and no energy limit. Though you do run out of moves eventually, the creator made sure that you get so many moves that any average player would be able to earn enough virtual currency to buy more moves through play alone.
Triple Crown Double Combos
Like most match-3 games--Bejeweled Blitz and Diamond Dash, for instance--you'll receive random pieces one at a time, but you get to control where they go on your grid. But unlike those traditional games, matching stuff doesn't make it disappear. Instead, matching stuff creates other stuff that's worth a lot more, thereby, netting you more points. The goal of the game is to get as high a score as possible by continuing to merge objects and not running out of space to put things.
Triple Town bears church
The game also throws in some monkey wrenches in the form of Bears and Ninja Bears to make things more challenging. These are pieces that will move around the grid even after you've put them down. Despite having evil, beady and glowing red eyes, the bears are pretty adorable. They'll totter about, roar, and make grumbly ursine noises as you play. On the flip side, other pieces will be there to help you, like the Blue Crystal and Imperial Bot.
Triple Town gameplay
You can see how all these elements can make the game simple, yet surprisingly complex. Every time you move objects on the grid and a match occurs, you've altered the playing field. I thought I'd jump in for a few minutes for one round, but the better of a player you are, the longer you can last, and this game can easily suck up an hour.
Triple Town is truly unlike any game I've ever seen before, for Facebook or otherwise. The closest comparison I can think of is Scott Brodie's Hero Generations, which also involves manipulating an evolving grid-based landscape with a fantasy setting. But Brodie's game is more like an old-fashioned, 8-bit role-playing adventure game. Triple Town also isn't a social game at all, since the only element is a weekly leaderboard, though Spry Fox has plans to expand the game in the future, hinting that it's only a small aspect of a larger Triple Town universe.
Hailed by one reviewer as "the Civilization of match-three games," Triple Town is a unique title with familiar aesthetics. Spry Fox originally chose the Kindle as the game's platform, which was explained as "an interesting emerging opportunity" by Edery. But as the game grew popular, Spry Fox wanted to spread the love around. Citing a lack of Bejeweled Blitz-type games on Facebook, Spry Fox decided to push for Triple Town's launch on the social network, as well as make it available in both English and Spanish.
Triple Town merge objects
A basic principle to understanding how to play Triple Town is the following idea: "Grass turns into bushes, bushes into trees, trees into huts, and so on." When you start a round, you're presented with a grid in a woodland theme. There are no time limits and no energy limit. Though you do run out of moves eventually, the creator made sure that you get so many moves that any average player would be able to earn enough virtual currency to buy more moves through play alone.
Triple Crown Double Combos
Like most match-3 games--Bejeweled Blitz and Diamond Dash, for instance--you'll receive random pieces one at a time, but you get to control where they go on your grid. But unlike those traditional games, matching stuff doesn't make it disappear. Instead, matching stuff creates other stuff that's worth a lot more, thereby, netting you more points. The goal of the game is to get as high a score as possible by continuing to merge objects and not running out of space to put things.
Triple Town bears church
The game also throws in some monkey wrenches in the form of Bears and Ninja Bears to make things more challenging. These are pieces that will move around the grid even after you've put them down. Despite having evil, beady and glowing red eyes, the bears are pretty adorable. They'll totter about, roar, and make grumbly ursine noises as you play. On the flip side, other pieces will be there to help you, like the Blue Crystal and Imperial Bot.
Triple Town gameplay
You can see how all these elements can make the game simple, yet surprisingly complex. Every time you move objects on the grid and a match occurs, you've altered the playing field. I thought I'd jump in for a few minutes for one round, but the better of a player you are, the longer you can last, and this game can easily suck up an hour.
Triple Town is truly unlike any game I've ever seen before, for Facebook or otherwise. The closest comparison I can think of is Scott Brodie's Hero Generations, which also involves manipulating an evolving grid-based landscape with a fantasy setting. But Brodie's game is more like an old-fashioned, 8-bit role-playing adventure game. Triple Town also isn't a social game at all, since the only element is a weekly leaderboard, though Spry Fox has plans to expand the game in the future, hinting that it's only a small aspect of a larger Triple Town universe.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Funtank promotes good breath with Dentyne advergame
Dentyne Ice and Fire game
A brand new game by Funtank (who are owned by the Publishers Clearing House) has just released to the wild, and it's a branded advertising game for Dentyne Ice and Dentyne Fire chewing gum. Sounds like a stretch, right? The game is a simple one that won't take you too long to master (or get bored, for that matter).
In Ice & Fire, you are shown a quick Flash cutscene of your male avatar on a date with a woman. When you lean in to give her a kiss, she refuses to kiss you because you don't have a piece of chewing gum. You then have to run quickly and race the clock in a side-scrolling game to try to find gum in time. The screen scrolls on its own, and you have to use the up arrow on your keyboard to jump and double-jump over items. Hitting the junk on the ground makes you fall and lose your progress, and jumping to collect starts gives you a bonus.
There are two modes. Story Mode allows you to practice games on your own, and Epic Run Mode allows you to compete with your friends. You can share stories to your newsfeed with your score, and see your progress on a leaderboard. That's about it for this shallow advergame. It isn't too impressive, but it did provide 10 minutes of enjoyment (and frequent swearing) for me. Perhaps your mileage will vary.
Would a game like this inspire you to buy Dentyne chewing gum?
A brand new game by Funtank (who are owned by the Publishers Clearing House) has just released to the wild, and it's a branded advertising game for Dentyne Ice and Dentyne Fire chewing gum. Sounds like a stretch, right? The game is a simple one that won't take you too long to master (or get bored, for that matter).
In Ice & Fire, you are shown a quick Flash cutscene of your male avatar on a date with a woman. When you lean in to give her a kiss, she refuses to kiss you because you don't have a piece of chewing gum. You then have to run quickly and race the clock in a side-scrolling game to try to find gum in time. The screen scrolls on its own, and you have to use the up arrow on your keyboard to jump and double-jump over items. Hitting the junk on the ground makes you fall and lose your progress, and jumping to collect starts gives you a bonus.
There are two modes. Story Mode allows you to practice games on your own, and Epic Run Mode allows you to compete with your friends. You can share stories to your newsfeed with your score, and see your progress on a leaderboard. That's about it for this shallow advergame. It isn't too impressive, but it did provide 10 minutes of enjoyment (and frequent swearing) for me. Perhaps your mileage will vary.
Would a game like this inspire you to buy Dentyne chewing gum?
Take a trip on the Wild West Express on Facebook
A recent theme found in many Facebook games is that of trains. From games like Train City and Lucky Train, which are focused solely on trains, to titles like CityVille, which relies on a train system to exchange goods between users, it's clear that developers are happy to release games themed around the railroad. So too was Vivo, Inc. who decided to go back to the wild west with their train-themed Facebook game, appropriately titled Wild West Express.
Led through the game by Railroad Bill, you'll be able to turn a once desolate stretch of railroad, in the middle of the hot desert into a sprawling, bustling western town. The goal of the game is to add "facilities" or businesses to your growing town that will produce goods. Goods are then sent along the railroad to other towns, with every shipment you send out making you more more, and giving you experience points used to level you up.
To see just what makes Wild West Express tick, hop on board and meet us behind the break.
While the concept of simply producing goods and shipping them off down the line sounds simple enough, Wild West Express actually has a fairly complex transportation system. You'll be able to own multiple trains, and you can send trains full of supplies to different towns. Of course, different towns will be different distances away from your own town, so the farther away a town is, the longer your train will take to travel and return.
You'l also need to buy specific kinds of cars for your trains to hold the various goods you produce. For instance, your starting Farmhouse will produce Grain, and you'll need to purchase a Grain Hopper for your train in order to transport the grain safely to a neighboring town.
Other businesses include Horse Stables, Ranches, Bakeries, Butcher Shops, Post Offices, and the like - things that you'd expect to see in any town of the old west. Depending on the item, you'll produce different goods. The Horse Stable produces Horses, obviously, while the Butcher Shop and Bakery produce general food items, as examples. You'll unlock more and more kinds of businesses as you level up in the game.
Wild West Express contains an energy system of sorts, that is instead called your "Water Supply." Being in the middle of the dry desert, you'll need water to grow your crops, power your trains and so on. You'll only have a certain amount of water to spend in every play session, with water regenerating slowly over time. You can also purchase water outright for premium currency.
All told, there are 13 different items your town can produce, and 13 different items that you can receive (you can send trains to and from your friends' towns, as well as the CPU controlled towns). As you send different items, and collect your profits successfully, your stock ticker will increase, showing your overall successfulness in the game. This stock ticker serves as a way for the game to compare you to all of the different players on Facebook via an in-game leaderboard.
There is also a light quest system in Wild West Express, that serves to help you become more acquainted with the gameplay by having you purchase specific businesses, collect their goods multiple times, and so on. You'll receive experience point rewards for completing them, so they aren't a waste of time, especially since they are likely tasks you would be completing on your own anyway.
Unfortunately, Wild West Express looks to be one of those titles that forces you to level up a bit too far before unlocking other game features, as you'll need to be at least level 9 to be able to hire a sheriff for your town, giving you the ability to add security to your trains. You can, however, purchase any locked item early for premium currency, which is an expected addition here.
If you've yet to try a train-themed Facebook game, why not hop on board with the other 11,000 players that have already tried this new game?
Led through the game by Railroad Bill, you'll be able to turn a once desolate stretch of railroad, in the middle of the hot desert into a sprawling, bustling western town. The goal of the game is to add "facilities" or businesses to your growing town that will produce goods. Goods are then sent along the railroad to other towns, with every shipment you send out making you more more, and giving you experience points used to level you up.
To see just what makes Wild West Express tick, hop on board and meet us behind the break.
While the concept of simply producing goods and shipping them off down the line sounds simple enough, Wild West Express actually has a fairly complex transportation system. You'll be able to own multiple trains, and you can send trains full of supplies to different towns. Of course, different towns will be different distances away from your own town, so the farther away a town is, the longer your train will take to travel and return.
You'l also need to buy specific kinds of cars for your trains to hold the various goods you produce. For instance, your starting Farmhouse will produce Grain, and you'll need to purchase a Grain Hopper for your train in order to transport the grain safely to a neighboring town.
Other businesses include Horse Stables, Ranches, Bakeries, Butcher Shops, Post Offices, and the like - things that you'd expect to see in any town of the old west. Depending on the item, you'll produce different goods. The Horse Stable produces Horses, obviously, while the Butcher Shop and Bakery produce general food items, as examples. You'll unlock more and more kinds of businesses as you level up in the game.
Wild West Express contains an energy system of sorts, that is instead called your "Water Supply." Being in the middle of the dry desert, you'll need water to grow your crops, power your trains and so on. You'll only have a certain amount of water to spend in every play session, with water regenerating slowly over time. You can also purchase water outright for premium currency.
All told, there are 13 different items your town can produce, and 13 different items that you can receive (you can send trains to and from your friends' towns, as well as the CPU controlled towns). As you send different items, and collect your profits successfully, your stock ticker will increase, showing your overall successfulness in the game. This stock ticker serves as a way for the game to compare you to all of the different players on Facebook via an in-game leaderboard.
There is also a light quest system in Wild West Express, that serves to help you become more acquainted with the gameplay by having you purchase specific businesses, collect their goods multiple times, and so on. You'll receive experience point rewards for completing them, so they aren't a waste of time, especially since they are likely tasks you would be completing on your own anyway.
Unfortunately, Wild West Express looks to be one of those titles that forces you to level up a bit too far before unlocking other game features, as you'll need to be at least level 9 to be able to hire a sheriff for your town, giving you the ability to add security to your trains. You can, however, purchase any locked item early for premium currency, which is an expected addition here.
If you've yet to try a train-themed Facebook game, why not hop on board with the other 11,000 players that have already tried this new game?
Cafe World Salad Bar Goals: Everything you need to know
Along with the release of the new Cafe World Salad Bar construction project, Zynga has also launched a new series of goals in the game dealing with this new item. Appropriately, this new set of five goals is called "Salad Bar," with each particular step being called Salad Bar I, Salad Bar II, and so on.
For the first step of this mission series, you'll need to go about the actual process of placing and building the Salad Bar in your Cafe. For a complete look at how to do that, make sure to check out our complete guide to building the Salad Bar in Cafe World, which includes a look at its form and function, and how to upgrade the item.
Specifically, the first part of this goal series asks you to:
Place your Salad Bar
Complete the Salad Bar
Stock your Salad Bar
The Salad Bar item itself can be found under the Special items portion of the store's functional menu. From there, simply complete the Salad Bar and then stock it (using any coin or Cafe Cash amount you'd like) and voila - your first prize of 100 Cafe Points and 100 coins will be yours.
Meet us behind the break for a look at the rest of this five-part Salad Bar goal set.
Part two of this five part series asks you to complete another three tasks, with these not being entirely inclusive on the Salad Bar itself:
Serve 5 Voodoo Chicken Salad
Earn 1000 coins
Restock Salad Bar 2 times
The Voodoo Chicken Salad is a 12 hour dish, so your best bet would be to start some of these before calling it quits the for night, and then serving them before you start your day in the morning. You can, of course, also complete any of these steps with Cafe Cash, with the Voodoo Chicken Salad being completed instantly for 5 Cafe Cash, and the restocking of your Salad Bar costing 4 Cafe Cash.
The rewards for finishing this second step are 200 coins and 200 Cafe Points.
Finishing part 2 unlocks the third step in this five part series, called "Salad Bar III." This quest asks you to complete an upgrade on your Salad Bar, unlocking a new ingredient (which makes your Salad Bar earn more money per salad sold).
Unlock Cucumbers in the Salad Bar
Earn 5000 coins
Restock Salad Bar 5 Times
Unlocking the Cucumbers in the Salad Bar is an entire goal in and of itself, and requires you to Cook French Onion Soup 10 times, Clean 10 Stoves, and Spice 5 Friend Stoves. Each of these goals are quite simple actually, as you'll be able to clean the stoves and spice friends' stoves by simply playing the game (your stoves count as being cleaned even if you have the No Clean Fairy in your Cafe). Cooking the French Onion Soup is also simple, as it says nothing of "Serving," and requires you to only set the dishes into the motion of cooking, and not actually wait for them to finish.
The rewards for part III are 300 coins and 300 Cafe Points.
Part IV or V asks you to unlock yet another ingredient in the Salad Bar, this time the Yellow Onions.
Unlock Yellow Onions in the Salad Bar
Earn 10000 coins
Restock Salad Bar 10 times
The Yellow Onions have their own three steps to unlock, just as the Cucumbers do, as they require you to Serve Spitfire Roasted Chicken (a 24 hour dish) two times, Serve 10 cups of Cup O' Joe from the Coffee Machine, and collect 10 onions from friends. Yes, this is a collection event - click on the "Ask for it" button to ask your friends for help in collecting the onions you need to move on.
Finishing Part IV of this mission gives you 600 coins and 600 Cafe Points.
At this point, you'll unlock the fifth and final mission in the Salad Bar series which asks you unlock yet another ingredient in the Salad Bar:
Unlock Baby Carrots
Earn 20,000 coins
Restock the Salad Bar 20 times
Not only will unlocking the Baby Carrots require you to complete another three tasks (Serve Tikka Masala Babobs 10 times, Spice 5 Friend Stoves, and Get 20 Baby Carrots by asking friends), but you'll also have to restock the Salad Bar quite a few times, making this the most time consuming step of them all. Luckily, by the time you finish these two tasks, you should have easily earned your 20,000 coins, and you'll finally be able to say goodbye to this quest set, and move on to others.
For the first step of this mission series, you'll need to go about the actual process of placing and building the Salad Bar in your Cafe. For a complete look at how to do that, make sure to check out our complete guide to building the Salad Bar in Cafe World, which includes a look at its form and function, and how to upgrade the item.
Specifically, the first part of this goal series asks you to:
Place your Salad Bar
Complete the Salad Bar
Stock your Salad Bar
The Salad Bar item itself can be found under the Special items portion of the store's functional menu. From there, simply complete the Salad Bar and then stock it (using any coin or Cafe Cash amount you'd like) and voila - your first prize of 100 Cafe Points and 100 coins will be yours.
Meet us behind the break for a look at the rest of this five-part Salad Bar goal set.
Part two of this five part series asks you to complete another three tasks, with these not being entirely inclusive on the Salad Bar itself:
Serve 5 Voodoo Chicken Salad
Earn 1000 coins
Restock Salad Bar 2 times
The Voodoo Chicken Salad is a 12 hour dish, so your best bet would be to start some of these before calling it quits the for night, and then serving them before you start your day in the morning. You can, of course, also complete any of these steps with Cafe Cash, with the Voodoo Chicken Salad being completed instantly for 5 Cafe Cash, and the restocking of your Salad Bar costing 4 Cafe Cash.
The rewards for finishing this second step are 200 coins and 200 Cafe Points.
Finishing part 2 unlocks the third step in this five part series, called "Salad Bar III." This quest asks you to complete an upgrade on your Salad Bar, unlocking a new ingredient (which makes your Salad Bar earn more money per salad sold).
Unlock Cucumbers in the Salad Bar
Earn 5000 coins
Restock Salad Bar 5 Times
Unlocking the Cucumbers in the Salad Bar is an entire goal in and of itself, and requires you to Cook French Onion Soup 10 times, Clean 10 Stoves, and Spice 5 Friend Stoves. Each of these goals are quite simple actually, as you'll be able to clean the stoves and spice friends' stoves by simply playing the game (your stoves count as being cleaned even if you have the No Clean Fairy in your Cafe). Cooking the French Onion Soup is also simple, as it says nothing of "Serving," and requires you to only set the dishes into the motion of cooking, and not actually wait for them to finish.
The rewards for part III are 300 coins and 300 Cafe Points.
Part IV or V asks you to unlock yet another ingredient in the Salad Bar, this time the Yellow Onions.
Unlock Yellow Onions in the Salad Bar
Earn 10000 coins
Restock Salad Bar 10 times
The Yellow Onions have their own three steps to unlock, just as the Cucumbers do, as they require you to Serve Spitfire Roasted Chicken (a 24 hour dish) two times, Serve 10 cups of Cup O' Joe from the Coffee Machine, and collect 10 onions from friends. Yes, this is a collection event - click on the "Ask for it" button to ask your friends for help in collecting the onions you need to move on.
Finishing Part IV of this mission gives you 600 coins and 600 Cafe Points.
At this point, you'll unlock the fifth and final mission in the Salad Bar series which asks you unlock yet another ingredient in the Salad Bar:
Unlock Baby Carrots
Earn 20,000 coins
Restock the Salad Bar 20 times
Not only will unlocking the Baby Carrots require you to complete another three tasks (Serve Tikka Masala Babobs 10 times, Spice 5 Friend Stoves, and Get 20 Baby Carrots by asking friends), but you'll also have to restock the Salad Bar quite a few times, making this the most time consuming step of them all. Luckily, by the time you finish these two tasks, you should have easily earned your 20,000 coins, and you'll finally be able to say goodbye to this quest set, and move on to others.
FarmVille Valentines Mailbox: Everything you need to know
In a late night update this evening, Zynga has launched the Valentines Mailbox in FarmVille. As we've been speculating for some time now, this mailbox functions in much the same way as the Mailbox from last year, in that you'll be able to collect various Valentine-themed collectible objects with the help of your friends, with these items being redeemable for prizes in the game.
This year's Mailbox sees a re-release of five of the six prizes included inside, which may make quite a few veteran farmers more than a bit upset. After all, if you played the game during February of last year, you'll likely have these five items (at least four of them - one was only available in a Mystery Box) on your farm, giving you very little in the way of new incentive to work towards. It's possible (and in fact very likely) that this first set of six rewards might be just the first of many items added (like with the Winter Holiday event), as the most expensive prize right now costs 50 Valentines, and the meter goes to 300+. Either way, whether you start collecting Valentines now or later is up to you.
Of course, whether you already have these items or not, the only way you'll be able to afford them now is by gathering Valentines, and there are many methods (as usual) of going about that task.
First and foremost, you'll be able to earn Valentines mostly from your friends. You'll be given you Valentines Mailbox for free upon entering the game. Once placed on your farm, you'll have access to the trade-in window, where you'll see the standard meter that keeps track of your progress and the prizes that you can earn. It's here that you can click on the "Ask for More" button to be sent to a reverse of the game's free gifts page, where you can send individual requests to your neighbors, asking them to send you a valentine.
Your friends can also initiate this process entirely by heading to the FarmVille Free Gifts page and choosing one of the five items that are available to send to. These items are the Rose Vase, Baby's Breath (flowers), Valentine Chocolates, Stuffed Cow, and Love Letters.
You can purchase Valentines from the store at a rate of 5 Valentines per 5 Farm Cash. It doesn't appear as though there's a way to purchase an individual Valentine, so you'll need to spend 5 Farm Cash, or none at all. Finally, remember that if you have built your Cupid's Castle, that Valentines will now spawn from this item daily (so long as you collect from it once everyday), and you'll be able to receive up to three Valentines every day, depending on how far you've gone in the construction of the castle.
As you start to accumulate Valentines, you'll be able to trade them in for the following rewards (the first five are re-releases from last year):
Red Heart Hay - 1 Valentine
Yellow Rose Stand - 3 Valentines
Fancy Carriage (formerly a Mystery Box item) - 10 Valentines
Luv Ewe - 20 Valentines
Giant Teddy - 30 Valentines
Valentine Ram - 50 Valentines
Again, it seems as though Zynga will likely add more items to the prize list in the future, as we doubt they would allow users to accumulate over 300 Valentines and only leave the most expensive item at a cost of 50.
In addition to all of these methods of Valentine collection, remember that you'll frequently be asked to share free Valentines on your wall, and that your friends will be posting the same, so keep an eye out for free Valentines on your news feed to really boost your total.
farmville valentine mailbox
This year's Mailbox sees a re-release of five of the six prizes included inside, which may make quite a few veteran farmers more than a bit upset. After all, if you played the game during February of last year, you'll likely have these five items (at least four of them - one was only available in a Mystery Box) on your farm, giving you very little in the way of new incentive to work towards. It's possible (and in fact very likely) that this first set of six rewards might be just the first of many items added (like with the Winter Holiday event), as the most expensive prize right now costs 50 Valentines, and the meter goes to 300+. Either way, whether you start collecting Valentines now or later is up to you.
Of course, whether you already have these items or not, the only way you'll be able to afford them now is by gathering Valentines, and there are many methods (as usual) of going about that task.
First and foremost, you'll be able to earn Valentines mostly from your friends. You'll be given you Valentines Mailbox for free upon entering the game. Once placed on your farm, you'll have access to the trade-in window, where you'll see the standard meter that keeps track of your progress and the prizes that you can earn. It's here that you can click on the "Ask for More" button to be sent to a reverse of the game's free gifts page, where you can send individual requests to your neighbors, asking them to send you a valentine.
Your friends can also initiate this process entirely by heading to the FarmVille Free Gifts page and choosing one of the five items that are available to send to. These items are the Rose Vase, Baby's Breath (flowers), Valentine Chocolates, Stuffed Cow, and Love Letters.
You can purchase Valentines from the store at a rate of 5 Valentines per 5 Farm Cash. It doesn't appear as though there's a way to purchase an individual Valentine, so you'll need to spend 5 Farm Cash, or none at all. Finally, remember that if you have built your Cupid's Castle, that Valentines will now spawn from this item daily (so long as you collect from it once everyday), and you'll be able to receive up to three Valentines every day, depending on how far you've gone in the construction of the castle.
As you start to accumulate Valentines, you'll be able to trade them in for the following rewards (the first five are re-releases from last year):
Red Heart Hay - 1 Valentine
Yellow Rose Stand - 3 Valentines
Fancy Carriage (formerly a Mystery Box item) - 10 Valentines
Luv Ewe - 20 Valentines
Giant Teddy - 30 Valentines
Valentine Ram - 50 Valentines
Again, it seems as though Zynga will likely add more items to the prize list in the future, as we doubt they would allow users to accumulate over 300 Valentines and only leave the most expensive item at a cost of 50.
In addition to all of these methods of Valentine collection, remember that you'll frequently be asked to share free Valentines on your wall, and that your friends will be posting the same, so keep an eye out for free Valentines on your news feed to really boost your total.
farmville valentine mailbox
FarmVille Unwither Rings return for Valentine's Day
Unwither Ring in the MarketAs if you didn't already have every jeweler in the country telling you that diamonds are the ultimate Valentine's gift, now FarmVille has caught the fever too. Unwither Rings have returned to the Market for just 17 more days and, yes, they still cost 250 Farm Cash. In case you were wondering, that's just under $50.
Unwither Rings have been the subject of nearly limitless scrutiny and criticism. The fact that players can simply purchase unlimited wither protection just makes some farmers' skin crawl. Though, if you find it a worthwhile purchase, then by all means buy it. I'm not here to judge, but I never said anything about jealousy, bitterness or outright envy.
Unwither Rings have been the subject of nearly limitless scrutiny and criticism. The fact that players can simply purchase unlimited wither protection just makes some farmers' skin crawl. Though, if you find it a worthwhile purchase, then by all means buy it. I'm not here to judge, but I never said anything about jealousy, bitterness or outright envy.
Friday, January 6, 2012
LOLapps' Ravenwood Fair nears 11M monthly players, but how?
LOLapps is not afraid to display its methods of success. In fact, it flaunts them in adorable infographics involving flagship game, Ravenwood Fair. This time around, the company is done educating the masses and shows that since Jan. 2011, the forests of Ravenwood have exploded with over 10 million monthly players and over 1 million daily players. However, the LOLapps may have unintentionally revealed how it achieved this milestone.
Then again, it could have been 100 percent intentional. Toward the end of the infographic, the company shows that the game has launched on three other platforms than Facebook: StudiVZ, Orkut and Imvu. Not to mention that Ravenwood Fair will soon launch on Mixi. (You mean other social networks exist?) Developers have a hard time getting close to even Zynga's worst-performing games. So, how does a game that suffered controversy and even a shut down short after its launch just explode in an instant? Alright, maybe not an instant, but it sure feels that way in social games at times.
All kidding aside, players from these networks could have easily migrated from their native social networks to Facebook, where the game was originally developed and released. Perhaps payments are complicated on these networks, as opposed to the simplified Facebook Credits method. Perhaps the game simply runs more smoothly on Facebook. Most importantly, perhaps there are more players already on Facebook. Granted, this is all conjecture, but let's be honest here: How many Ravenwood Fair players could there be on Orkut when compared to Facebook?
Social games require friends to succeed. It's plain and simple, and social gamers are privy to that. Is it possible that LOLapps intentionally released the game on other platforms to increase its player base inversely on Facebook? Perhaps this is too tin-foil-hat for some, and it could just as easily have been a pleasant mistake. But will this same thing happen again to the Mixi players? LOLapps said it themselves: A large reason why Ravenwood Fair and social gaming work is because of the nature of friend networks. Why do you think FarmVille isn't popular on its own website? Because that's not where the friends are, silly. You'll see if we're right in a few months.
Do you think this could be the reason for Ravenwood's rapid growth, intentional or otherwise? How long do Aside from being a well- designed game, how else do you think LOLapps achieved this success? Sound off in the comments. 5 Comments
Full infographic
Then again, it could have been 100 percent intentional. Toward the end of the infographic, the company shows that the game has launched on three other platforms than Facebook: StudiVZ, Orkut and Imvu. Not to mention that Ravenwood Fair will soon launch on Mixi. (You mean other social networks exist?) Developers have a hard time getting close to even Zynga's worst-performing games. So, how does a game that suffered controversy and even a shut down short after its launch just explode in an instant? Alright, maybe not an instant, but it sure feels that way in social games at times.
All kidding aside, players from these networks could have easily migrated from their native social networks to Facebook, where the game was originally developed and released. Perhaps payments are complicated on these networks, as opposed to the simplified Facebook Credits method. Perhaps the game simply runs more smoothly on Facebook. Most importantly, perhaps there are more players already on Facebook. Granted, this is all conjecture, but let's be honest here: How many Ravenwood Fair players could there be on Orkut when compared to Facebook?
Social games require friends to succeed. It's plain and simple, and social gamers are privy to that. Is it possible that LOLapps intentionally released the game on other platforms to increase its player base inversely on Facebook? Perhaps this is too tin-foil-hat for some, and it could just as easily have been a pleasant mistake. But will this same thing happen again to the Mixi players? LOLapps said it themselves: A large reason why Ravenwood Fair and social gaming work is because of the nature of friend networks. Why do you think FarmVille isn't popular on its own website? Because that's not where the friends are, silly. You'll see if we're right in a few months.
Do you think this could be the reason for Ravenwood's rapid growth, intentional or otherwise? How long do Aside from being a well- designed game, how else do you think LOLapps achieved this success? Sound off in the comments. 5 Comments
Full infographic
FarmVille Cheats & Tips: Leprechaun Cottage gifting links
Hello Farm-folks, It's Mr. Cheats here with the down-low on the things you shouldn't know.
Today's gifting links are for the FarmVille Leprechaun Cottage. This mighty St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Cottage tree fort is going to require a ton of nails, bricks, and wooden boards so you best get started using my Leprechaun Cottage gifting links below to get a head start on construction. To use the Leprechaun Cottage part links, simply click on the image to open up the gifting page, then select the friends you'd like to send the Leprechaun Cottage part to.
To complete each stage of the Leprechaun Cottage you will need:
Level 1 - 12 parts total: 4 Wooden Boards, 4 Nails and 4 Bricks
Level 2 – 48 parts total: 16 Wooden Boards, 16 Nails and 16 Bricks
Level 3 – 90 parts total: 20 Wooden Boards, 20 Nails and 20 Bricks
So what are you waiting for? Get started using my FarmVille Leprechaun Cottage gifting links to send the parts to your neighbors, then link them to this page so they can return the favor. Using these gifting links, you'll finish your castle in no time.
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Click on an image to send the part as a gift to your friends.
Need to know more about the Leprechaun Cottage? Find out everything you need to know.
Check out our St. Patrick's Day coverage right here.
Were you able to finish Cupid's Castle before Valentine's Day?
Today's gifting links are for the FarmVille Leprechaun Cottage. This mighty St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Cottage tree fort is going to require a ton of nails, bricks, and wooden boards so you best get started using my Leprechaun Cottage gifting links below to get a head start on construction. To use the Leprechaun Cottage part links, simply click on the image to open up the gifting page, then select the friends you'd like to send the Leprechaun Cottage part to.
To complete each stage of the Leprechaun Cottage you will need:
Level 1 - 12 parts total: 4 Wooden Boards, 4 Nails and 4 Bricks
Level 2 – 48 parts total: 16 Wooden Boards, 16 Nails and 16 Bricks
Level 3 – 90 parts total: 20 Wooden Boards, 20 Nails and 20 Bricks
So what are you waiting for? Get started using my FarmVille Leprechaun Cottage gifting links to send the parts to your neighbors, then link them to this page so they can return the favor. Using these gifting links, you'll finish your castle in no time.
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Click on an image to send the part as a gift to your friends.
Need to know more about the Leprechaun Cottage? Find out everything you need to know.
Check out our St. Patrick's Day coverage right here.
Were you able to finish Cupid's Castle before Valentine's Day?
Runes of Magic is Facebook-bound, decrypts the future of MMOs
Frogster's premiere free-to-play MMO, Runes of Magic, is headed to Facebook in the second quarter of 2011. Runes of Magic will be the first major massively mutliplayer game to be released on the platform through Kalydo, but will unlikely be the last. Kalydo provides existing MMO games with a browser plug-in for the them to be played through networks like Hi5, Friendster and namely Facebook. According to the company (and us), its first effort with Godswar Online was a success, so it will be interesting to see how a major player in the genre fares with the transition.
Andreas Weidenhaupt, Chief Licensing Officer of Frogster Interactive, expects to see an increase in user numbers due to the simplified process of playing MMOs through Kalydo technology. However, Kalydo CEO Doki Tops has even higher expectations for his company's work:
This is the future of gaming. Players enter the game with a single click of the mouse instead of spending hours on a download and installation and get the exact same experience. We praise Frogster for recognizing this potential and taking a leading role with us in pioneering this massive new style of gaming.
The future of gaming? Possibly in the free-to-play MMO space, but certain game genres just wouldn't fit on Facebook. However, the guy has a point. How much longer are we as players going to pay monthly for persistent online gaming? The amount of free-to-play MMOs that take this route in 2011 could be staggering. Just watch out for those Facebook Credits.
Andreas Weidenhaupt, Chief Licensing Officer of Frogster Interactive, expects to see an increase in user numbers due to the simplified process of playing MMOs through Kalydo technology. However, Kalydo CEO Doki Tops has even higher expectations for his company's work:
This is the future of gaming. Players enter the game with a single click of the mouse instead of spending hours on a download and installation and get the exact same experience. We praise Frogster for recognizing this potential and taking a leading role with us in pioneering this massive new style of gaming.
The future of gaming? Possibly in the free-to-play MMO space, but certain game genres just wouldn't fit on Facebook. However, the guy has a point. How much longer are we as players going to pay monthly for persistent online gaming? The amount of free-to-play MMOs that take this route in 2011 could be staggering. Just watch out for those Facebook Credits.
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