Update: Due to technical issues, the Wheat Crop was not actually changed tonight. However, the changed mentioned below will be the anticipated changes made to the Wheat Crop as released by Zynga/FarmVille.
"Please note: Due to technical issues, this feature is not yet available. We sincerely apologize for any confusion or frustration this may have caused you. We will do our best to get this feature to you in the near future." (Official FarmVille Forum)
As mentioned via Monday's (June 14th) official FarmVille Podcast, changes have been made to the Wheat crop.
Because Wheat will be a key crop to the upcoming release of Crafting Cottages, FarmVille decided to lower the harvest time and Crop Mastery for Wheat.
Here is the new specifications for Wheat seeds:
Wheat
Hours: 12
XP: 1
Cost: 13 coins
Yield: 61 coins
Crop Mastery: 500, 1500, 3000
In addition, Whither for Wheat is being turned off until June 21st, this is to allow people to adjust to the new time line.
How do you feel about the new Changes made to the Wheat crop?
Monday, February 13, 2012
FarmVille Silo Home & Wind Turbine
farmville silo home
In addition to new coin purchasable animals, FarmVille has added two new expensive items- the Silo Home and the Wind Turbine.
If you are a high level farmer and looking for something to spend your coins on then you may want to consider this new building and decoration.
Silo Home – Level 65 required to unlock, costs 1,000,000 coins (1 million coins)
Wind Turbine – 1,500,000 coins (yes that is 1.5 million coins)
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
In addition to new coin purchasable animals, FarmVille has added two new expensive items- the Silo Home and the Wind Turbine.
If you are a high level farmer and looking for something to spend your coins on then you may want to consider this new building and decoration.
Silo Home – Level 65 required to unlock, costs 1,000,000 coins (1 million coins)
Wind Turbine – 1,500,000 coins (yes that is 1.5 million coins)
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FarmVille Black Stallion Mystery
Earlier today, June 15th, and prior to updates, FarmVille released the Black Stallion to the FarmVille Market for only a few minutes. It seems that this limited and unannounced release was unintentional and accidental.
Those farmers that were lucky enough to snag the Black Stallion were able to purchase it for reportedly 40,000 coins.The Black Stallion is able to be placed in the Horse Stable and some farmers are already yielding foals.
Currently, the Black Stallion is not available for purchase, but hopefully will be soon in the near future.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Those farmers that were lucky enough to snag the Black Stallion were able to purchase it for reportedly 40,000 coins.The Black Stallion is able to be placed in the Horse Stable and some farmers are already yielding foals.
Currently, the Black Stallion is not available for purchase, but hopefully will be soon in the near future.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
YoVille: New Summer Theme?
Hope you all are ready for Summer! Summer will kick off sometime this week in Yoville. The Hollywood Theme will be coming to an end with this last release. Platinum Ninja has posted on YoVille.com. Read her Official Blog after the jump.
Hey Guys,
We wanted to give everyone a heads up that the Hollywood Theme will be coming to an end later today with the Hollywood' Theme's last release of items. Hopefully you all are having fun decorating your homes and are getting creative with your Hollywood Sets and Hollywood Home Items! There were some pretty homes and sets that we saw posted on the forums with this release of items and we can't wait to see what you guys come up with next! Here is a sneak peek of some of the Hollywood Set items coming soon.
yoville moon landing
For those of you who were wondering we do not have any immediate plans to remove this Hollywood Theme from the Furniture Store. We will keep you updated if there are any changes to this but for now we plan to have this theme in the store for purchase for a while.
Later this week expect to see a new Summer inspired Theme to hit YoVille! Summer is almost officially here so it's time to celebrate it and have some fun in the sun! So stay tuned! Well that's about all folks make sure to keep your eyes out for more the rest of the Hollywood Sets coming hopefully later today the kick off of a new Summer theme later this week.
Hey Guys,
We wanted to give everyone a heads up that the Hollywood Theme will be coming to an end later today with the Hollywood' Theme's last release of items. Hopefully you all are having fun decorating your homes and are getting creative with your Hollywood Sets and Hollywood Home Items! There were some pretty homes and sets that we saw posted on the forums with this release of items and we can't wait to see what you guys come up with next! Here is a sneak peek of some of the Hollywood Set items coming soon.
yoville moon landing
For those of you who were wondering we do not have any immediate plans to remove this Hollywood Theme from the Furniture Store. We will keep you updated if there are any changes to this but for now we plan to have this theme in the store for purchase for a while.
Later this week expect to see a new Summer inspired Theme to hit YoVille! Summer is almost officially here so it's time to celebrate it and have some fun in the sun! So stay tuned! Well that's about all folks make sure to keep your eyes out for more the rest of the Hollywood Sets coming hopefully later today the kick off of a new Summer theme later this week.
Happy Birthday, Mafia Wars - Zynga's Facebook game turns two
Hard to believe that it was only two years ago that Mafia Wars launched on Facebook, and over that time the game has seen many incremental changes, which has both pleased and teed off devoted fans.
To celebrate this 24-month milestone, the mafioso game's offering double the loot for fighting for the next two days, plus a five free Throwing Knives (+65 attack skill) to help you hit rivals where it hurts. We're not exactly sure why this 'celebration' is focused fighting, though we suspect it might have something to do with the recent announcement that, in Mafia Wars Las Vegas, fighting will be "integral to conquering your enemies and completing your ultimate goal as the lord of the Las Vegas Underworld."
To celebrate this 24-month milestone, the mafioso game's offering double the loot for fighting for the next two days, plus a five free Throwing Knives (+65 attack skill) to help you hit rivals where it hurts. We're not exactly sure why this 'celebration' is focused fighting, though we suspect it might have something to do with the recent announcement that, in Mafia Wars Las Vegas, fighting will be "integral to conquering your enemies and completing your ultimate goal as the lord of the Las Vegas Underworld."
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Are social gamers messing up Facebook's user stats?
Much has been made in the press in the last few days about Facebook's imminent crossing of the 500 million user threshold. This seriously huge number suggests that nearly one in every 14 people in the world has a Facebook account -- a staggering yet not altogether unbelievable idea. However, there's some reason to believe the 500 million number is inflated by many Facebook users that hold multiple Facebook accounts. And many of those that open multiple accounts no doubt do so because of social games.
While having more than one Facebook account is technically a violation of Facebook's terms of service, countless people do indeed start secondary accounts for various reasons. Some do it for privacy; so they can post semi-public information that's still hidden from their wider social network. Others start pages for fake characters simply as a joke.
But many others start up their secondary Facebook accounts for gaming purposes. These multiple-account users can divided into two main groups. The first group creates multiple accounts to gain an edge in a game -- after all, it's a lot easier to get dozens of neighbors in Farmville if all those neighbors are actually you.
The second group simply starts up a secondary gaming Facebook account for convenience. Not only does this secondary account stop all those "free gift request" messages from clogging up the News Feeds of your real friends' News Feeds (who probably couldn't care less, if they don't play those games), but it also protects your "main" Facebook account from in-game neighbors who may be complete strangers in real life.
It's hard to determine exactly how many people have used multiple Facebook accounts for either of these gaming purposes, but the Facebook chatter about the problem is not insubstantial. Facebook's own official statistics show that only 50% of their users log in each day, though it's hard to extrapolate what that means to the "real" user count.
Still, as Facebook continues to grow as a gaming platform, it seems they're going to have to take some action on the multiple account problem. Either they'll have to get much more proactive about policing their one-person-one-account policy or loosen the regulations so users can easily separate out each facet of their online persona (such as their gaming persona) into its own unique account. Then, at least, Facebook can honestly say that their hundreds of millions of accounts each represent a unique personality, if not a unique person.
While having more than one Facebook account is technically a violation of Facebook's terms of service, countless people do indeed start secondary accounts for various reasons. Some do it for privacy; so they can post semi-public information that's still hidden from their wider social network. Others start pages for fake characters simply as a joke.
But many others start up their secondary Facebook accounts for gaming purposes. These multiple-account users can divided into two main groups. The first group creates multiple accounts to gain an edge in a game -- after all, it's a lot easier to get dozens of neighbors in Farmville if all those neighbors are actually you.
The second group simply starts up a secondary gaming Facebook account for convenience. Not only does this secondary account stop all those "free gift request" messages from clogging up the News Feeds of your real friends' News Feeds (who probably couldn't care less, if they don't play those games), but it also protects your "main" Facebook account from in-game neighbors who may be complete strangers in real life.
It's hard to determine exactly how many people have used multiple Facebook accounts for either of these gaming purposes, but the Facebook chatter about the problem is not insubstantial. Facebook's own official statistics show that only 50% of their users log in each day, though it's hard to extrapolate what that means to the "real" user count.
Still, as Facebook continues to grow as a gaming platform, it seems they're going to have to take some action on the multiple account problem. Either they'll have to get much more proactive about policing their one-person-one-account policy or loosen the regulations so users can easily separate out each facet of their online persona (such as their gaming persona) into its own unique account. Then, at least, Facebook can honestly say that their hundreds of millions of accounts each represent a unique personality, if not a unique person.
How social games can rewire our brains for the better
We've all heard the scolds talking about how games like Grand Theft Auto will turn a whole generation of kids into amoral killers. But that same concept can be used to explain how some social games are rewiring our brains to make us better people.
Ayogo founder Michael Fergusson recently talked about that very idea in a Fast Company interview. As one of the guiding forces behind diabetes-prevention game Healthseeker, Fergusson knows that games can subtly influence our behavior. "We're not trying to do huge things like make smokers into non-smokers, or basketball fans into soccer fans," he said. "We're trying to motivate very small actions by giving very small rewards, and design those rewards to leverage what we understand about how our brains work."
Historically, our brains have rewarded us for using past experience (seeing a predator every ten minutes) to predict future rewards (anticipating when the predator will return). Fergusson said these and other insights into how our brains work can be used in game design to create "compulsion loops" to do things that are good for us. "The idea we were designing around is that instead of making the primary goal getting one person to do a thousand healthy things, we would focus instead on getting a thousand people to do one healthy thing," he said.
Fergusson even sees these concepts extending outside the gaming world and into the real world of government policy. "What if process of getting a healthy snack from a vending machine was more fun than for getting a chocolate bar?" he asked. "I know there's a lot of talk about taxing junk food to discourage consumption, especially by kids. I would love to see some thought put into making healthy food more enjoyable through play." Yum!
Ayogo founder Michael Fergusson recently talked about that very idea in a Fast Company interview. As one of the guiding forces behind diabetes-prevention game Healthseeker, Fergusson knows that games can subtly influence our behavior. "We're not trying to do huge things like make smokers into non-smokers, or basketball fans into soccer fans," he said. "We're trying to motivate very small actions by giving very small rewards, and design those rewards to leverage what we understand about how our brains work."
Historically, our brains have rewarded us for using past experience (seeing a predator every ten minutes) to predict future rewards (anticipating when the predator will return). Fergusson said these and other insights into how our brains work can be used in game design to create "compulsion loops" to do things that are good for us. "The idea we were designing around is that instead of making the primary goal getting one person to do a thousand healthy things, we would focus instead on getting a thousand people to do one healthy thing," he said.
Fergusson even sees these concepts extending outside the gaming world and into the real world of government policy. "What if process of getting a healthy snack from a vending machine was more fun than for getting a chocolate bar?" he asked. "I know there's a lot of talk about taxing junk food to discourage consumption, especially by kids. I would love to see some thought put into making healthy food more enjoyable through play." Yum!
Pet Society: Huge Park Mascot and the Essentials of Cute
Pet Society Fun Park Mystery Eggs Park Mascot
Can you believe how big this guy is? He's a Park Mascot who comes in the Fun Park Mystery Eggs for 600 coins. My pet Sushi and I like the balloons he's holding–they bob up and down–but we're daunted by his size.
This led me to do a little research on park mascots. Turns out some people have a real fear of them. On unusualphobias.com, I found several interesting comments:
...People dressed as big characters or animals are just really freaky. I have thought that they were since I was little, and I'm not really sure why. If I see one I get all scared and just try not to look at them, but I still know they're there and it's horrible. I'm 15 now and it was so embarrasing on the school trip to Disneyland, because I couldn't tell anybody and I insisted that we took the longer routes around to avoid those creepy things! It's their faces, they're so scary! And they don't speak either, that's creepy too.
Here's another comment on the same forum:
I have many phobias, but the most prevalent is my fear of costumed characters. You know, like Chuck E. Cheese. To me, going to Disney World is like going to hell.
All of this makes me wonder if something that's bigger than yourself goes against the essence of being cute. Check out this article on Ars Technica about scientists studying why some things are considered cute. Basically, it boils down to our evolutionary love of babies. If something resembles a baby in any way, we are programmed to think of it as cute:
Scientists who study the evolution of visual signaling have identified a wide and still expanding assortment of features and behaviors that make something look cute: bright forward-facing eyes set low on a big round face, a pair of big round ears, floppy limbs and a side-to-side, teeter-totter gait, among many others.
Cute cues are those that indicate extreme youth, vulnerability, harmlessness and need.
The Park Mascot in Pet Society has a friendly face, but it's too large and imposing. It doesn't fit these definitions of cute. I think if it were smaller than my pet, it would have a much better chance at being cute. What do you think?
This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.
Can you believe how big this guy is? He's a Park Mascot who comes in the Fun Park Mystery Eggs for 600 coins. My pet Sushi and I like the balloons he's holding–they bob up and down–but we're daunted by his size.
This led me to do a little research on park mascots. Turns out some people have a real fear of them. On unusualphobias.com, I found several interesting comments:
...People dressed as big characters or animals are just really freaky. I have thought that they were since I was little, and I'm not really sure why. If I see one I get all scared and just try not to look at them, but I still know they're there and it's horrible. I'm 15 now and it was so embarrasing on the school trip to Disneyland, because I couldn't tell anybody and I insisted that we took the longer routes around to avoid those creepy things! It's their faces, they're so scary! And they don't speak either, that's creepy too.
Here's another comment on the same forum:
I have many phobias, but the most prevalent is my fear of costumed characters. You know, like Chuck E. Cheese. To me, going to Disney World is like going to hell.
All of this makes me wonder if something that's bigger than yourself goes against the essence of being cute. Check out this article on Ars Technica about scientists studying why some things are considered cute. Basically, it boils down to our evolutionary love of babies. If something resembles a baby in any way, we are programmed to think of it as cute:
Scientists who study the evolution of visual signaling have identified a wide and still expanding assortment of features and behaviors that make something look cute: bright forward-facing eyes set low on a big round face, a pair of big round ears, floppy limbs and a side-to-side, teeter-totter gait, among many others.
Cute cues are those that indicate extreme youth, vulnerability, harmlessness and need.
The Park Mascot in Pet Society has a friendly face, but it's too large and imposing. It doesn't fit these definitions of cute. I think if it were smaller than my pet, it would have a much better chance at being cute. What do you think?
This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.
Furniture From The Exotic Kingdom Now In YoVille
New Moroccan Furnishings have been released in YoVille. Deck your new Palace with the rich colors and distinct geometric designs of exotic Moroccan furniture. Items include Pillars in white and gold capped, Moroccan Arched Doorways, Sconces, Floor Lights, Chairs, Sittable Pillows, Loungers, Ottomans, Fireplaces, Couches, and much, much more!
8
View the complete array of items after the jump. Thank You Angiebaby and Spiralda!
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Bookmark this site!
8
View the complete array of items after the jump. Thank You Angiebaby and Spiralda!
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Bookmark this site!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
My Sweet Shop: New confectionary game is anything but sweet
my sweet shop on facebook
When I logged into Ranch Town today, I noticed a new game on the Meteor Games toolbar. My Sweet Shop is a brand new game in beta testing that brings a familiar farming and harvesting mechanic to building a bakery.
At first glance, My Sweet Shop has an appealing aesthetic with a peaceful color palate and crisp interface. When you really look twice, however, the game has an odd top-down camera angle and the game isn't all that fun to play. It's basically Ranch Town, but instead of a ranch, you're in a candy shop. Instead of clicking on stoves and ovens to make your dishes such as Cafe World, you actually have to farm your ingredients and combine them in machines. There is really no difference to this game over Ranch Town, aside from displaying your resulting products on a counter for guests to purchase. My Sweet Shop has a grid that the mouse snaps to while planting and harvesting, and it feels more like a clickable game board than a typical farming game. Personally, I just wasn't a huge fan of the gameplay.
My Sweet Shop
It seems that My Sweet Shop is in very early beta, because there are some missing pieces. First of all, avatar customization is non-existent. You pick male or female, and that is it. Secondly, there is no decoration whatsoever. The only thing the shop contains is ingredients and machines. You cannot make your shop "your own" at all, which is a big missing feature as personalization in social games is a huge driver for retention. The game just doesn't feel 'complete' or fun yet.
There are plenty of bakery and sweet themed games that are doing this right. Baking Life, Cafe Life, and Chocolatier are three that come to mind. Our recommendation is to skip this game and try one of the others, and just give it time to mature and evolve into a game that that will be as sweet as its name implies.
Play My Sweet Shop on Facebook >
When I logged into Ranch Town today, I noticed a new game on the Meteor Games toolbar. My Sweet Shop is a brand new game in beta testing that brings a familiar farming and harvesting mechanic to building a bakery.
At first glance, My Sweet Shop has an appealing aesthetic with a peaceful color palate and crisp interface. When you really look twice, however, the game has an odd top-down camera angle and the game isn't all that fun to play. It's basically Ranch Town, but instead of a ranch, you're in a candy shop. Instead of clicking on stoves and ovens to make your dishes such as Cafe World, you actually have to farm your ingredients and combine them in machines. There is really no difference to this game over Ranch Town, aside from displaying your resulting products on a counter for guests to purchase. My Sweet Shop has a grid that the mouse snaps to while planting and harvesting, and it feels more like a clickable game board than a typical farming game. Personally, I just wasn't a huge fan of the gameplay.
My Sweet Shop
It seems that My Sweet Shop is in very early beta, because there are some missing pieces. First of all, avatar customization is non-existent. You pick male or female, and that is it. Secondly, there is no decoration whatsoever. The only thing the shop contains is ingredients and machines. You cannot make your shop "your own" at all, which is a big missing feature as personalization in social games is a huge driver for retention. The game just doesn't feel 'complete' or fun yet.
There are plenty of bakery and sweet themed games that are doing this right. Baking Life, Cafe Life, and Chocolatier are three that come to mind. Our recommendation is to skip this game and try one of the others, and just give it time to mature and evolve into a game that that will be as sweet as its name implies.
Play My Sweet Shop on Facebook >
Revive a planet with Terranova: a new environmental space game
Here at Games.com - The Blog! we are always scouring through Facebook looking for what could be the next great undiscovered game. Today, we unearthed a true gem in Terranova, an environmentally friendly space game where you can save your planet from biohazardous threats. This game is developed by Atakama Labs and is being promoted by Playdom (who are also hosting the game's official forums). Launched just two days ago, this game is one to keep an eye on.
In Terranova, you play a little astronaut who has been charged with reviving and tending to a hazardous planet. Your goal is to clean up and remove waste, plant new life, explore undiscovered lands, and make the planet a better place. Right away, you'll notice that the game looks beautiful. The art is a fun vector style with a very stylized environment, and the avatars are highly customizable and adorable. The game walks you through a precise tutorial that shows you the basics of zapping harmful hazards, planting, watering, and growing flowers and vegetation, and cleaning up and recycling garbage. This isn't a simple farming game by any means.
For those who have played FrontierVille, you'll notice some similarities. Mostly around the questing system. Terranova keeps players entertained with a seemingly endless list of things to do. From planting flowers with pollen, then placing a beehive near them in order to attract honey, to finding boards in order to rebuild bridges - there is plenty to do in this game. Instead of giving you one simple map like farming games do, there is tons of exploration that can be done through clicking on portals on the ground or using the interactive minimap to travel from place to place. Not all areas are unlocked from the start however, you need to unlock them by buying tools or tasking part in tasks in order to gain access to new places.
Terranova uses the familiar energy mechanic that FrontierVille, Treasure Isle, and other games are using nowadays. A major difference is that as a player, you can regenerate your own energy using machines that will replenish all of your energy periodically. There are other machines too that will gain you benefits, such as Water Pods that allow you to collect more water in order to keep your plants growing, or filters for rivers that have become polluted. Advanced players will run into Genelabs that allow you to discover rare plants.
A strength of Terranova is the decorating aspect of the game. With so many areas to explore and the ability to freeform decorate, players can really make their planet their own. There is a huge opportunity for true creativity here in this game. When you visit a neighbor's planet, you can navigate through all of the areas that they have customized. There is an endless amount of creativity and things to do in this game.
If we had to find a fault, it might be that there is TOO much to do. An easily evident gameloop isn't immediately apparent to the player, much the same as FrontierVille and Playdom's new game Fanglies. It's very cute, much more complex than most social games, a new theme that hasn't been done well yet, and has a ton of potential - but it might not grow as fast as the simpler games. The micromanagement aspects actually remind us a bit of MyTribe, which had an environmental feel to it as well.
So far, we're loving the game. There are only 8,000 players enjoying it so far, and it appears to be plagued by some resetting glitches - but it's definitely a top contender out of the new and up-and-comings.
Play Terranova on Facebook >
In Terranova, you play a little astronaut who has been charged with reviving and tending to a hazardous planet. Your goal is to clean up and remove waste, plant new life, explore undiscovered lands, and make the planet a better place. Right away, you'll notice that the game looks beautiful. The art is a fun vector style with a very stylized environment, and the avatars are highly customizable and adorable. The game walks you through a precise tutorial that shows you the basics of zapping harmful hazards, planting, watering, and growing flowers and vegetation, and cleaning up and recycling garbage. This isn't a simple farming game by any means.
For those who have played FrontierVille, you'll notice some similarities. Mostly around the questing system. Terranova keeps players entertained with a seemingly endless list of things to do. From planting flowers with pollen, then placing a beehive near them in order to attract honey, to finding boards in order to rebuild bridges - there is plenty to do in this game. Instead of giving you one simple map like farming games do, there is tons of exploration that can be done through clicking on portals on the ground or using the interactive minimap to travel from place to place. Not all areas are unlocked from the start however, you need to unlock them by buying tools or tasking part in tasks in order to gain access to new places.
Terranova uses the familiar energy mechanic that FrontierVille, Treasure Isle, and other games are using nowadays. A major difference is that as a player, you can regenerate your own energy using machines that will replenish all of your energy periodically. There are other machines too that will gain you benefits, such as Water Pods that allow you to collect more water in order to keep your plants growing, or filters for rivers that have become polluted. Advanced players will run into Genelabs that allow you to discover rare plants.
A strength of Terranova is the decorating aspect of the game. With so many areas to explore and the ability to freeform decorate, players can really make their planet their own. There is a huge opportunity for true creativity here in this game. When you visit a neighbor's planet, you can navigate through all of the areas that they have customized. There is an endless amount of creativity and things to do in this game.
If we had to find a fault, it might be that there is TOO much to do. An easily evident gameloop isn't immediately apparent to the player, much the same as FrontierVille and Playdom's new game Fanglies. It's very cute, much more complex than most social games, a new theme that hasn't been done well yet, and has a ton of potential - but it might not grow as fast as the simpler games. The micromanagement aspects actually remind us a bit of MyTribe, which had an environmental feel to it as well.
So far, we're loving the game. There are only 8,000 players enjoying it so far, and it appears to be plagued by some resetting glitches - but it's definitely a top contender out of the new and up-and-comings.
Play Terranova on Facebook >
FrontierVille Storage Shed: Everything you need to know
There's s a new way to keep your homestead from getting too cluttered. No, it's not the sassy dames from the BBC's 'How Clean is Your House' or your mommy dearest -- it's a new FrontierVille Storage shed that will hold up to 20 decoration items.
Before you get too excited, you can't just go buy the shed and start storing stuff like you're some kind of squirrel getting prepped for winter. You will actually have to put in some digital elbow grease (figuratively and literally) to get the job done.
To get started, head to the in-game market and purchase the Storage Shed frame. You can find it under the Buildings tab in the Market. The frame costs 20,000 coins and 20 wood, and once you place it on your property, you'll have to spend 10 energy and a total of 100 pieces of wood to whack it.
frontierville storage shed
Once all of the whacking is done, then you'll have to start collecting materials to complete the building. You'll have to collect 35 items in all, a list which consists of the following:
5 Windows
5 Cement
5 Pegs
5 Mallets
5 Singles
10 Elbow Grease
These materials can be acquired by requesting them from friends, and that is the only way you can get these materials right now -- you can't buy them in the store and they are also not available for everyone to send items as free gifts. That means that unless you have very active neighbors, building this shed could be quite difficult. Hopefully this will change over the next few days.
There's a new achievement that comes along with the Storage Shed -- the 'Saving Space' achievement. To complete this achievement, you will have to build the storage shed, customize it and buy one farm rake from the market (which costs 2,000 coins and 5 wood, located under Decorations in the market). frontierville storage shed achievement
I haven't finished my shed yet, mostly because the only way you can get the materials needed is by begging friends, there is no option to buy them in the store (not yet, at least). Here's the rest of the details from the official FrontierVille forums:
"Building itself costs 120 Wood and 20,000 gold totally. Rare piece drops only on complete and daily bonus. Daily bonus contains random item from basic decorations: Cobblestones, Fences, Flowers, Chairs, Stools, Firewood, Benches, Crates, Shovels, Pitchforks and much more but no expensive or Horseshoe item."
storage shed collection
In addition to the achievement, there is also a new Storage Collection which consists of the following items:
* Door Hinge
* Spider
* Step Stool
* Toolbox
* Vice Clamp
Once you've collected all of these items, you will be able to turn them in for a free Work Bench decoration.
Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.
Before you get too excited, you can't just go buy the shed and start storing stuff like you're some kind of squirrel getting prepped for winter. You will actually have to put in some digital elbow grease (figuratively and literally) to get the job done.
To get started, head to the in-game market and purchase the Storage Shed frame. You can find it under the Buildings tab in the Market. The frame costs 20,000 coins and 20 wood, and once you place it on your property, you'll have to spend 10 energy and a total of 100 pieces of wood to whack it.
frontierville storage shed
Once all of the whacking is done, then you'll have to start collecting materials to complete the building. You'll have to collect 35 items in all, a list which consists of the following:
5 Windows
5 Cement
5 Pegs
5 Mallets
5 Singles
10 Elbow Grease
These materials can be acquired by requesting them from friends, and that is the only way you can get these materials right now -- you can't buy them in the store and they are also not available for everyone to send items as free gifts. That means that unless you have very active neighbors, building this shed could be quite difficult. Hopefully this will change over the next few days.
There's a new achievement that comes along with the Storage Shed -- the 'Saving Space' achievement. To complete this achievement, you will have to build the storage shed, customize it and buy one farm rake from the market (which costs 2,000 coins and 5 wood, located under Decorations in the market). frontierville storage shed achievement
I haven't finished my shed yet, mostly because the only way you can get the materials needed is by begging friends, there is no option to buy them in the store (not yet, at least). Here's the rest of the details from the official FrontierVille forums:
"Building itself costs 120 Wood and 20,000 gold totally. Rare piece drops only on complete and daily bonus. Daily bonus contains random item from basic decorations: Cobblestones, Fences, Flowers, Chairs, Stools, Firewood, Benches, Crates, Shovels, Pitchforks and much more but no expensive or Horseshoe item."
storage shed collection
In addition to the achievement, there is also a new Storage Collection which consists of the following items:
* Door Hinge
* Spider
* Step Stool
* Toolbox
* Vice Clamp
Once you've collected all of these items, you will be able to turn them in for a free Work Bench decoration.
Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.
FrontierVille: Barns for animals and new quests coming soon?
This week, FrontierVille released a new storage shed that lets players -- once they've put some elbow grease into it -- store up to 35 decorations. That's right, emphasis on the decorations. If you try to stick an animal in your shed, you'll get a message saying that animal barns are coming soon, according to this player. Have you seen this as well?
If we've learned about social games, if you find a big poll in their official forums, you can bet that the powers that be are deciding what new features to roll out next. We spotted this new FrontierVille poll that asks players if they've completed all of the quests in the game, and considering that 64% of the people who responded have ... I'm guessing we're going to see a slew of new quests in the not-so-distant future.
frontierville poll
If we've learned about social games, if you find a big poll in their official forums, you can bet that the powers that be are deciding what new features to roll out next. We spotted this new FrontierVille poll that asks players if they've completed all of the quests in the game, and considering that 64% of the people who responded have ... I'm guessing we're going to see a slew of new quests in the not-so-distant future.
frontierville poll
FarmVille official podcast (8/20): Pigpens, truffle hunting & new charity event on the way
This week's FarmVille podcast has arrived and community manager Lexi 'Lexilicious' Smith goes over the new FarmVille storage cellar in details and talks about two of the next big releases in everyone's favorite farming game -- pigpens and a new charity event for Haiti. See the Games.com recap below:
Storage Cellars
Lexilicious spends the bulk of the podcast going over the new storage cellar in detail. That includes the stuff we already know -- how to build it and expand it. And the stuff we didn't already know, i.e. how the storage cellar works with your existing storage barns. The cellar, which has a capacity of 500 items, will not allow you to store an additional 500 items. Instead, it will increase your existing storage limit to 500, so if you already have 100 items stored on your farm, you will only be able to store an additional 400 additional items.
Pigpens
Pigpens will be arriving in FV in the "very near future."
Will arrive in two separate phases
The pigpen will be a buildable item
New truffle hunting feature will be introduced after pigpen is done
Feed pigs slop (made from bushels) and they will hunt for truffles on neighbors farms
Truffles can be traded for prizes, including new types of pigs.
Haiti Charity event:
New charity event coming to help Haiti in a few weeks, and you will be able to participate without having to pay money. No word on whether this will involve a special crop or will be something completely different.
Below is the complete transcript of this week's podcast from the FarmVille forums:
FarmVille Podcast - August 20th:
Hey Farmers and welcome to this week's installment of the Official FarmVille Podcast. My name is Lexilicious and I am here to bring you all of the latest news and information from around the Farm. This week, we will be discussing our latest releases, and you guys will all be getting a sneak peek of what is coming to FarmVille in the near future.
So this week, the long awaited Storage Cellar finally made an appearance, bringing with it some well deserved leg room. We have already seen some initial questions from players about how the new Storage Cellar feature works, so I am going to quickly go over some of the details of this feature for all of our listeners.
The new storage cellar will allow you to store up to 500 items on your Farm once it is fully expanded. If you are level 16 or above, The Storage Cellar can be found in your Gift Box, or it can be purchased from the Market for 10,000 coins. To get started with this feature, open your gift box and place the Cellar on your farm.
To expand your Storage Cellar, you will need to collect shovels from your friends. Each Shovel that you collect will count as 1 storage space in your new Cellar.
Neighbors can send you the Shovels you need to expand your storage from the Free Gifts Page, or you can click the "ask for more" button from the Cellar's menu. Each gift sent to you from your Neighbors will grant you two Shovels. When neighbors send you Shovels, it works exactly like any other free gift. After you accept the gift it will appear in your gift box. After clicking the "use" button under the gift it will automatically be added to your Storage Cellar.
Alternatively, if at any time during your construction process you decide that you'd rather simply purchase the Shovels required for the Cellar, you can do so by clicking the "Buy Shovels" button from the Cellars's menu. You can purchase Shovels in packs of 10 for 5 Farm Cash.
As I said earlier, with the release of the Storage Cellar, we have increased the total storage capacity to 500.
As all storage on your Farm is part of one shared inventory, if you already have items stored in other buildings, they will count towards the new 500 limit. For example, if you already have 100 items stored on your Farm in existing Storage Buildings, you will only be able to store 400 additional items in the Cellar once it is fully expanded.
If you choose to not use the Storage Cellar, your Storage limit will still have increased to the new limit of 500. However, using the Storage Cellar will take up less room and provide more storage than using existing Storage Buildings.
If you wish to transfer your items from your other Storage Buildings into the Cellar, you will first have to increase the capacity of the cellar to make room for the items. If you have enough room in your Cellar, you can simply delete your other Storage Buildings and the items will automatically be placed in your Cellar. However, you will not be able to delete a Storage Building if the number of items stored within is greater than the number of spaces you have available in your Storage Cellar.
In addition to storage, you can unlock new items by obtaining shovels. As you collect Shovels, you will also gain "points". As you gain points for trading in Shovels, you will be able to unlock new items. Clicking the "progress" tab in your Cellar's information page will show you what items you can redeem with your points. As you collect points, each item you can unlock will be revealed as you collect the proper amount, and the "redeem" button will become available for each item. Clicking "Redeem" will award you the gift in return for the proper amount of points.
One important thing to know about the Cellar is that once it is placed on your Farm, the Cellar cannot be sold or deleted. It can still be moved, but once you place the storage cellar on your farm it will be a permanent addition.
In addition to the Storage Cellar, our new Summer Theme also made an appearance this week, bringing with it all kinds of great new Limited Edition items for your Farm. Many of these new Limited Edition items have great animations and fit wonderfully with anyone who may have a New England Farm or a Beach themed Farm. If you are interested in purchasing any of these great new items, please make sure to head to the Market before they disappear.
Alright! And since this week was jam packed with new releases, we want to know what you think of our latest updates. The FarmVille team is always interested to hear your feedback, so if you have any opinions you would like to share with us, please make sure to visit the Official FarmVille Forums or www.farmville.com.
Alright! On that note, let's go ahead and get into the coming soon segment of today's podcast.
First up is a feature our community already seems very excited about. Pigpens will be making an appearance in FarmVille in the very near future. Now, Pigpens will be released in two separate phases. The first version of the Pigpens will introduce a constructible building that will offer you storage for any of those poor, homeless pigs you may have running around your farm. The second version of this update will introduce truffle hunting, a feature that will allow you to trade in truffles for new items. To gain truffles, you will have to feed your pigs slop, which can be made from bushels. Once your pigs eat their slop, they will hunt for truffles on your Neighbors Farms. These truffles can be traded for exciting new prizes, including new types of pigs!
In addition to this, I am very happy to announce that FarmVille will be doing another charitable campaign for the wonderful people of Haiti. This upcoming event will allow our users to help build a much needed school for the children of Haiti, and there will be opportunities for players to participate to this noble cause without having to pay money. The FarmVille Community Team will be providing more information about this campaign in the coming weeks, so please make sure to stay tuned for updates.
Storage Cellars
Lexilicious spends the bulk of the podcast going over the new storage cellar in detail. That includes the stuff we already know -- how to build it and expand it. And the stuff we didn't already know, i.e. how the storage cellar works with your existing storage barns. The cellar, which has a capacity of 500 items, will not allow you to store an additional 500 items. Instead, it will increase your existing storage limit to 500, so if you already have 100 items stored on your farm, you will only be able to store an additional 400 additional items.
Pigpens
Pigpens will be arriving in FV in the "very near future."
Will arrive in two separate phases
The pigpen will be a buildable item
New truffle hunting feature will be introduced after pigpen is done
Feed pigs slop (made from bushels) and they will hunt for truffles on neighbors farms
Truffles can be traded for prizes, including new types of pigs.
Haiti Charity event:
New charity event coming to help Haiti in a few weeks, and you will be able to participate without having to pay money. No word on whether this will involve a special crop or will be something completely different.
Below is the complete transcript of this week's podcast from the FarmVille forums:
FarmVille Podcast - August 20th:
Hey Farmers and welcome to this week's installment of the Official FarmVille Podcast. My name is Lexilicious and I am here to bring you all of the latest news and information from around the Farm. This week, we will be discussing our latest releases, and you guys will all be getting a sneak peek of what is coming to FarmVille in the near future.
So this week, the long awaited Storage Cellar finally made an appearance, bringing with it some well deserved leg room. We have already seen some initial questions from players about how the new Storage Cellar feature works, so I am going to quickly go over some of the details of this feature for all of our listeners.
The new storage cellar will allow you to store up to 500 items on your Farm once it is fully expanded. If you are level 16 or above, The Storage Cellar can be found in your Gift Box, or it can be purchased from the Market for 10,000 coins. To get started with this feature, open your gift box and place the Cellar on your farm.
To expand your Storage Cellar, you will need to collect shovels from your friends. Each Shovel that you collect will count as 1 storage space in your new Cellar.
Neighbors can send you the Shovels you need to expand your storage from the Free Gifts Page, or you can click the "ask for more" button from the Cellar's menu. Each gift sent to you from your Neighbors will grant you two Shovels. When neighbors send you Shovels, it works exactly like any other free gift. After you accept the gift it will appear in your gift box. After clicking the "use" button under the gift it will automatically be added to your Storage Cellar.
Alternatively, if at any time during your construction process you decide that you'd rather simply purchase the Shovels required for the Cellar, you can do so by clicking the "Buy Shovels" button from the Cellars's menu. You can purchase Shovels in packs of 10 for 5 Farm Cash.
As I said earlier, with the release of the Storage Cellar, we have increased the total storage capacity to 500.
As all storage on your Farm is part of one shared inventory, if you already have items stored in other buildings, they will count towards the new 500 limit. For example, if you already have 100 items stored on your Farm in existing Storage Buildings, you will only be able to store 400 additional items in the Cellar once it is fully expanded.
If you choose to not use the Storage Cellar, your Storage limit will still have increased to the new limit of 500. However, using the Storage Cellar will take up less room and provide more storage than using existing Storage Buildings.
If you wish to transfer your items from your other Storage Buildings into the Cellar, you will first have to increase the capacity of the cellar to make room for the items. If you have enough room in your Cellar, you can simply delete your other Storage Buildings and the items will automatically be placed in your Cellar. However, you will not be able to delete a Storage Building if the number of items stored within is greater than the number of spaces you have available in your Storage Cellar.
In addition to storage, you can unlock new items by obtaining shovels. As you collect Shovels, you will also gain "points". As you gain points for trading in Shovels, you will be able to unlock new items. Clicking the "progress" tab in your Cellar's information page will show you what items you can redeem with your points. As you collect points, each item you can unlock will be revealed as you collect the proper amount, and the "redeem" button will become available for each item. Clicking "Redeem" will award you the gift in return for the proper amount of points.
One important thing to know about the Cellar is that once it is placed on your Farm, the Cellar cannot be sold or deleted. It can still be moved, but once you place the storage cellar on your farm it will be a permanent addition.
In addition to the Storage Cellar, our new Summer Theme also made an appearance this week, bringing with it all kinds of great new Limited Edition items for your Farm. Many of these new Limited Edition items have great animations and fit wonderfully with anyone who may have a New England Farm or a Beach themed Farm. If you are interested in purchasing any of these great new items, please make sure to head to the Market before they disappear.
Alright! And since this week was jam packed with new releases, we want to know what you think of our latest updates. The FarmVille team is always interested to hear your feedback, so if you have any opinions you would like to share with us, please make sure to visit the Official FarmVille Forums or www.farmville.com.
Alright! On that note, let's go ahead and get into the coming soon segment of today's podcast.
First up is a feature our community already seems very excited about. Pigpens will be making an appearance in FarmVille in the very near future. Now, Pigpens will be released in two separate phases. The first version of the Pigpens will introduce a constructible building that will offer you storage for any of those poor, homeless pigs you may have running around your farm. The second version of this update will introduce truffle hunting, a feature that will allow you to trade in truffles for new items. To gain truffles, you will have to feed your pigs slop, which can be made from bushels. Once your pigs eat their slop, they will hunt for truffles on your Neighbors Farms. These truffles can be traded for exciting new prizes, including new types of pigs!
In addition to this, I am very happy to announce that FarmVille will be doing another charitable campaign for the wonderful people of Haiti. This upcoming event will allow our users to help build a much needed school for the children of Haiti, and there will be opportunities for players to participate to this noble cause without having to pay money. The FarmVille Community Team will be providing more information about this campaign in the coming weeks, so please make sure to stay tuned for updates.
Monday, February 6, 2012
FrontierVille: "Build a Water Tower!" asks a lot for a little
Added on September 17, the goal titled "Build a Water Tower!" in FrontierVille asks for quite a lot of materials. The goal doesn't come as part of any particular theme, but maybe it's here to douse the flames from the recent item updates. All you'll need is less than three open goals for this one to appear and it doesn't seem to have a time limit. We would hope not for what it requires:
Gather 1,000 lumber (!)
Receive 5 Survey Authorizations
Receive 5 Water Rights Agreements
Here's the clincher: all of these items, including the 1,000 lumber, will be used in completing this goal. Now, while receiving a nifty-looking decoration for 250 XP is nice, it can't be worth a whopping 1,000 lumber! Though, it does sell for 2,500 coins.
Anyway, you can get all 10 pieces of paper work by requesting them as gifts from friends or you can buy them outright for 10 Horseshoes per requirement, which amounts to about less than $3. What's going to eat up most of your time is gathering 1,000 pieces of wood for this goal, which is a little unreasonable. Enjoy mowing down the rest of your homestead for the next week or so.
Gather 1,000 lumber (!)
Receive 5 Survey Authorizations
Receive 5 Water Rights Agreements
Here's the clincher: all of these items, including the 1,000 lumber, will be used in completing this goal. Now, while receiving a nifty-looking decoration for 250 XP is nice, it can't be worth a whopping 1,000 lumber! Though, it does sell for 2,500 coins.
Anyway, you can get all 10 pieces of paper work by requesting them as gifts from friends or you can buy them outright for 10 Horseshoes per requirement, which amounts to about less than $3. What's going to eat up most of your time is gathering 1,000 pieces of wood for this goal, which is a little unreasonable. Enjoy mowing down the rest of your homestead for the next week or so.
Happy Aquarium Anniversary Event offers free exclusive fish next week
Happy Aquarium anniversary Crowdstar Fish
Happy Aquarium anniversary CrowdStar FishHappy Aquarium is going to be giving out a free, new CrowdStar Fish on Wednesday, September 29th.
Crowdstar's favorite colors are still yellow and orange, and while its first fish resembled a five-pointed star, this newest fish comes bursting with fins like a bright sunflower. Fans in the forums are eager for a name, but for now, we'll have to wait until next week, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Daylight Time/PDT) for more details of this pretty piscine blossom.
If you don't want to forget to grab your fish during the 1-hr window of its availability, the game gives you the option to let Happy Aquarium add the anniversary date to your Facebook events calendar. All you have to do is wait for the event window to pop up in your game and answer "Yes", "Maybe", or "No" on whether you'd attend. To reach their events page directly, log into Facebook and click here.
Happy Aquarium anniversary CrowdStar FishHappy Aquarium is going to be giving out a free, new CrowdStar Fish on Wednesday, September 29th.
Crowdstar's favorite colors are still yellow and orange, and while its first fish resembled a five-pointed star, this newest fish comes bursting with fins like a bright sunflower. Fans in the forums are eager for a name, but for now, we'll have to wait until next week, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Daylight Time/PDT) for more details of this pretty piscine blossom.
If you don't want to forget to grab your fish during the 1-hr window of its availability, the game gives you the option to let Happy Aquarium add the anniversary date to your Facebook events calendar. All you have to do is wait for the event window to pop up in your game and answer "Yes", "Maybe", or "No" on whether you'd attend. To reach their events page directly, log into Facebook and click here.
Cafe World One-Year Anniversary dishes and catering mission coming soon
It's hard to believe that Cafe World launched a year ago on September 30 -- it feels like I've been running my virtual restaurant much longer than that. In honor of the cafe simulation game's one-year anniversary, everyone will be invited to celebrate via a series of limited time Anniversary Dishes and an Anniversary Catering Mission.
cafe world one-year anniversary dishes
The Catering Mission will have 'amazing rewards,' and it sounds like you'll need to get the existing catering missions done before you are able to take this one one.
cafe world one year anniversary menus
There's no official word on when these anniversary items will arrive in-game, but September 30 is coming up shortly, so keep your eyes open and birthday hats at the ready.
cafe world one-year anniversary dishes
The Catering Mission will have 'amazing rewards,' and it sounds like you'll need to get the existing catering missions done before you are able to take this one one.
cafe world one year anniversary menus
There's no official word on when these anniversary items will arrive in-game, but September 30 is coming up shortly, so keep your eyes open and birthday hats at the ready.
FrontierVille "Swap Meet" goals: for newbies only!
In light of recent advanced goals, two new, potentially unreleased goals may be floating about right now in FrontierVille for newer players. Showing them the ropes of the gifting and helping mechanics in the game, the new series of goals, "Swap Meet," have no prerequisites nor do they have a time limit. They're also pretty simple for you newbies to grasp, which is why we assume that if they are currently live in the game, they're only visible to new players. Now, don't you feel special?
Find the new goals and their requirements after the break. The first goal, "Prairie Swap," rewards 55 XP and requires players to:
Add three items to their Wishlist
Remove one item from their Wishlist
Tend to five neighbor crops
Sounds simple enough, right? After completing this, newbies will be tasked with "Buyer Beware!," which asks players to learn about the gift of giving. Here's what you'll need to do for the goal's 25 XP and 200 coin reward:
Send two items to your neighbors through their Wishlist
Chop down five Pine Trees
Finish one Collection
FrontierVille Buyer BewareAgain, these are all tasks you would probably do in normal play, anyway. The idea here is to get you used to using the gifting system effectively to complete your collections and later goals.
Using the new Wishlist system is easy. Just mouse over your friends' portraits and their five wanted items will appear. If you own one or more of those, the option to send that item will be visible underneath the icon. Click that icon and follow the steps.
Putting items into your Wishlist is a little more cryptic at the moment. Once you build a cabin (one of your first missions), just click on the cabin and choose to go inside. Your Wishlist--which you wouldn't know was there unless you scoured a forum or something--rests above your creation tools and you can edit and share it at any time. In later goals, the quickest way to complete them is to put the required items in your Wishlist, so enjoy the crash course.
Find the new goals and their requirements after the break. The first goal, "Prairie Swap," rewards 55 XP and requires players to:
Add three items to their Wishlist
Remove one item from their Wishlist
Tend to five neighbor crops
Sounds simple enough, right? After completing this, newbies will be tasked with "Buyer Beware!," which asks players to learn about the gift of giving. Here's what you'll need to do for the goal's 25 XP and 200 coin reward:
Send two items to your neighbors through their Wishlist
Chop down five Pine Trees
Finish one Collection
FrontierVille Buyer BewareAgain, these are all tasks you would probably do in normal play, anyway. The idea here is to get you used to using the gifting system effectively to complete your collections and later goals.
Using the new Wishlist system is easy. Just mouse over your friends' portraits and their five wanted items will appear. If you own one or more of those, the option to send that item will be visible underneath the icon. Click that icon and follow the steps.
Putting items into your Wishlist is a little more cryptic at the moment. Once you build a cabin (one of your first missions), just click on the cabin and choose to go inside. Your Wishlist--which you wouldn't know was there unless you scoured a forum or something--rests above your creation tools and you can edit and share it at any time. In later goals, the quickest way to complete them is to put the required items in your Wishlist, so enjoy the crash course.
YoVille Twitter Contest has players tweeting the deets to win big
Like any social gaming company should, Zynga understands the power of social media, which it hopes to display in the YoVille Twitter Contest during Player Appreciation Month. The contest is going on now through September 23 with 10 tweeters a day to win 100 YoCash and a Grand Prize winner to receive a massive 1,000 YoCash when the event ends.
All you need to do is follow "@yoville" on Twitter and tweet the following messages each day:
Day One: "I want to win 1,000 YoCash! Join in on Player Appreciation Month on @yoville#YoVille!"
Day Two: "Player Appreciation Month Rocks on @yoville#YoVille! I want to win 1,000 YoCash!"
Day Three: "I want to WIN 1,000 YoCash! Player Appreciation Month going on now @yoville#YoVille!"
For each day, you can send out the above messages five times; that's 15 chances to win either 100 or 1,000 YoCash. You have until midnight of each day to submit your five tweets and the random winners for each day will be announced the following morning. With over 7.8 million users, we just can't wait to see how many times the fail whale makes a visit this week.
All you need to do is follow "@yoville" on Twitter and tweet the following messages each day:
Day One: "I want to win 1,000 YoCash! Join in on Player Appreciation Month on @yoville#YoVille!"
Day Two: "Player Appreciation Month Rocks on @yoville#YoVille! I want to win 1,000 YoCash!"
Day Three: "I want to WIN 1,000 YoCash! Player Appreciation Month going on now @yoville#YoVille!"
For each day, you can send out the above messages five times; that's 15 chances to win either 100 or 1,000 YoCash. You have until midnight of each day to submit your five tweets and the random winners for each day will be announced the following morning. With over 7.8 million users, we just can't wait to see how many times the fail whale makes a visit this week.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Treasure Isle: New Boosts up for sale, dig, cut and mine more than ever
New Boosts
Still waging the endless war of opinion that is Pirates vs. Ninjas? Zynga has added new Boost items to Treasure Isle that should help with coming to that conclusion. Each of the three Boosts, Shovel, Machete and Pickaxe will cause the tools to use one less Energy per task and go for varying amounts of Island Cash. Oddly enough, there is also a bundle option that pretty much trivializes the idea of buying them separately. The items' asking prices go a little something like this:
Shovel Boost: 50 Island Cash (about $9)
Machete Boost: 20 Island Cash (about $4)
Pickaxe Boost: 15 Island Cash (about $3)
Boost Bundle: 50 Island Cash (wait a second...)*
*While you can buy these Boosts separately, a bundle of all three costing the price of just the Shovel Boost is quite a deal. Considering the Shovel is the most widely used tool in the game--who's Boost will most likely sell the most--just buying a Shovel doesn't make much sense. If you're going to invest in these at all, save yourself the $7 and go in on the bundle.
Still waging the endless war of opinion that is Pirates vs. Ninjas? Zynga has added new Boost items to Treasure Isle that should help with coming to that conclusion. Each of the three Boosts, Shovel, Machete and Pickaxe will cause the tools to use one less Energy per task and go for varying amounts of Island Cash. Oddly enough, there is also a bundle option that pretty much trivializes the idea of buying them separately. The items' asking prices go a little something like this:
Shovel Boost: 50 Island Cash (about $9)
Machete Boost: 20 Island Cash (about $4)
Pickaxe Boost: 15 Island Cash (about $3)
Boost Bundle: 50 Island Cash (wait a second...)*
*While you can buy these Boosts separately, a bundle of all three costing the price of just the Shovel Boost is quite a deal. Considering the Shovel is the most widely used tool in the game--who's Boost will most likely sell the most--just buying a Shovel doesn't make much sense. If you're going to invest in these at all, save yourself the $7 and go in on the bundle.
More YoVille Halloween Costumes now available
yoville halloween costumes
The second installment of Halloween costumes has arrived to YoVille. Head over to the clothing store and check out this set of spooky fashion. Dress as a devil, mummy or even a pumpkin and scare your friends. Body costumes also have matching accessories. Check them all after the link.
If you are looking for a cheaper costume, check this post about the new 30 coin costume!
yoville halloween costumesyoville halloween costumesyoville halloween costumes
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Find more stories on our 2010 Halloween Guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars & more.
The second installment of Halloween costumes has arrived to YoVille. Head over to the clothing store and check out this set of spooky fashion. Dress as a devil, mummy or even a pumpkin and scare your friends. Body costumes also have matching accessories. Check them all after the link.
If you are looking for a cheaper costume, check this post about the new 30 coin costume!
yoville halloween costumesyoville halloween costumesyoville halloween costumes
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Find more stories on our 2010 Halloween Guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars & more.
Restaurant City offers ghoul-busting action and free treats for Halloween
Restaurant City Halloween Horrors Unleashed
As though Midnight Week and the currently running Transylvannia Week weren't enough, Restaurant City has unleashed a neighborhood invasion where players can nab Halloween ghouls to earn points for daily awards. These awards are divided into three tiers: Bronze (requires 150 points), Silver (400 points), and Gold (800 points).
Restaurant City Ghoul Meter
Each of these tiers also gets its own ghoul meter so you can keep track of how many points you have.
Restaurant City Unleashed Ghouls Awards
Today's Gold Award is the discontinued Brain Jar (a premium item that was originally available in July for 15 Playfish Cash). Bronze and Silver prizes tend to be free coins or rare ingredients. Be sure to post to your Facebook profile when you collect your prizes because it'll give other players the chance to share in your winnings!
As though Midnight Week and the currently running Transylvannia Week weren't enough, Restaurant City has unleashed a neighborhood invasion where players can nab Halloween ghouls to earn points for daily awards. These awards are divided into three tiers: Bronze (requires 150 points), Silver (400 points), and Gold (800 points).
Restaurant City Ghoul Meter
Each of these tiers also gets its own ghoul meter so you can keep track of how many points you have.
Restaurant City Unleashed Ghouls Awards
Today's Gold Award is the discontinued Brain Jar (a premium item that was originally available in July for 15 Playfish Cash). Bronze and Silver prizes tend to be free coins or rare ingredients. Be sure to post to your Facebook profile when you collect your prizes because it'll give other players the chance to share in your winnings!
Vampire Wars' Bear Familiars and Parisian sets are filled with Energy
With the events in Paris unfortunately come to a close, Zynga has added some items to Vampire Wars for us to remember our adventures with. There are new Bear Familiars that grant the same bonuses as those before them, which, quite frankly, is kind of boring. Can't these creatures be a bit more interactive? Couldn't they, say, grant a new Familiar-centric ability when purchased? It seems like Familiars have solidified themselves as a staple for Energy boosts and as cosmetic accessories. These are the three Bears you can buy from the Avatar Shop:
Grizzly Bear: 40 Favor Points, grants 25 Energy
Polar Bear: 60 Favor Points, grants 40 Energy
Zombie Bear: 80 Favor Points, grants 55 Energy
Again, you'll have to buy these Familiars in order from top to bottom, which will run you the expected total of 180 Favor Points, or around $25. While the Energy is a permanent addition, there isn't much motivation to buy the Familiars unless you're either a collector or want to make a cosmetic change. Check behind the break for the other new items in Vampire Wars.
Parisian Avatar Sets
Next is our reminder of time spent in a distant land filled with delicious crepes and brilliant artwork, the Parisian Avatar sets. Fortunately, each gendered set offers the same bonuses this time around with each granting 2 Defense and 16 Energy. Each set, Female and Male, cost 35 Favor Points, or around $4. Again, the Avatar sets seem to give more for the money with more variety in their stats, but if raw Energy is what you're looking for, then the Familiars are unmatched if a little pricey.
Grizzly Bear: 40 Favor Points, grants 25 Energy
Polar Bear: 60 Favor Points, grants 40 Energy
Zombie Bear: 80 Favor Points, grants 55 Energy
Again, you'll have to buy these Familiars in order from top to bottom, which will run you the expected total of 180 Favor Points, or around $25. While the Energy is a permanent addition, there isn't much motivation to buy the Familiars unless you're either a collector or want to make a cosmetic change. Check behind the break for the other new items in Vampire Wars.
Parisian Avatar Sets
Next is our reminder of time spent in a distant land filled with delicious crepes and brilliant artwork, the Parisian Avatar sets. Fortunately, each gendered set offers the same bonuses this time around with each granting 2 Defense and 16 Energy. Each set, Female and Male, cost 35 Favor Points, or around $4. Again, the Avatar sets seem to give more for the money with more variety in their stats, but if raw Energy is what you're looking for, then the Familiars are unmatched if a little pricey.
Jay-Z and Microsoft's Bing use social game to promote autobiography
Decoded page appears on a pool table
We've seen rappers use the power of social games before, but this is just nuts (and he won't even have to blow something up). Esteemed rapper, clothing company CEO, record executive and now author Jay-Z is promoting his new autobiographic novel, "Decoded," with... a social game.
The lyricist-turned-businessman-turned-author teamed up with Microsoft's Bing Team and marketing firm Droga5 to make an online scavenger hunt of sorts starting today. The hip-hop maestro has spread 200 pages from his new book across the world from L.A. to London, asking his loyal fans to find them all before "Decoded" hits shelves Nov. 16. The pages will be displayed on everything from billboards to pool tables to the inner lining of designer jackets, according to The New York Times.
Players can discover the pages on their journeys into the real world or do it all from the comfort of their own computer chair using the game's website. All you need to do is register using your Facebook information (you know they had to fit it in there somewhere) and start searching through the website's built-in Bing Maps feature. Of course, you'll be given clues as to where the next page might appear and a proximity meter will help, but the rest is up to you.
Oh yeah, everyone who finds a page will be entered for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas to see Jay-Z perform live with Coldplay on New Year's Eve 2010. Now that is social gaming.
We've seen rappers use the power of social games before, but this is just nuts (and he won't even have to blow something up). Esteemed rapper, clothing company CEO, record executive and now author Jay-Z is promoting his new autobiographic novel, "Decoded," with... a social game.
The lyricist-turned-businessman-turned-author teamed up with Microsoft's Bing Team and marketing firm Droga5 to make an online scavenger hunt of sorts starting today. The hip-hop maestro has spread 200 pages from his new book across the world from L.A. to London, asking his loyal fans to find them all before "Decoded" hits shelves Nov. 16. The pages will be displayed on everything from billboards to pool tables to the inner lining of designer jackets, according to The New York Times.
Players can discover the pages on their journeys into the real world or do it all from the comfort of their own computer chair using the game's website. All you need to do is register using your Facebook information (you know they had to fit it in there somewhere) and start searching through the website's built-in Bing Maps feature. Of course, you'll be given clues as to where the next page might appear and a proximity meter will help, but the rest is up to you.
Oh yeah, everyone who finds a page will be entered for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas to see Jay-Z perform live with Coldplay on New Year's Eve 2010. Now that is social gaming.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
New FarmVille.com Free Gift: Yellow Mums
Yesterday, we gave you a sneak peek at some of the upcoming "Mum" items that we believe would be coming to FarmVille in the near future. Tonight, one of those items has indeed launched in the game, in the form of a FarmVille.com exclusive free gift.
The Yellow Mums can now be gifted by players who travel away from Facebook (it'll be ok, I promise), and head to FarmVille.com, where they can then send them to their friends back on Facebook.
As a refresher for those who haven't dealt with FarmVille.com exclusive gifts before, it's smart to keep in mind that once the gift is "on Facebook," it can be sent back to you instantly by those friends without they themselves having to travel to FarmVille.com themselves. Convenient, no? Just have them click on the "Send a gift back" link, and voila - instant Yellow Mums for both of you.
We'll be sure to let you know when and if the other styles of Mums are launched in the game.
The Yellow Mums can now be gifted by players who travel away from Facebook (it'll be ok, I promise), and head to FarmVille.com, where they can then send them to their friends back on Facebook.
As a refresher for those who haven't dealt with FarmVille.com exclusive gifts before, it's smart to keep in mind that once the gift is "on Facebook," it can be sent back to you instantly by those friends without they themselves having to travel to FarmVille.com themselves. Convenient, no? Just have them click on the "Send a gift back" link, and voila - instant Yellow Mums for both of you.
We'll be sure to let you know when and if the other styles of Mums are launched in the game.
New FarmVille Animals: Pinto Pony & Dwarf Goat
In tonight's FarmVille update, we see the release of some sneak peek items that we told you about last week. The items then were called the Spotted Pony and the Spotted Pony foal, but due to tonight's store update, we now know that the Pony is actually called the Pinto Pony (and presumably, the Foal would be the Pinto Foal).
The Pinto Pony has been released alongside the Dwarf Goat. Both of these animals are available for Farm Cash, and we can see Zynga taking part in a promotion that hasn't been seen before with Limited Edition item launches. For the next two days, these two animals will be available at a 50% off introductory price of 12 Farm Cash for the Pony and 7 Farm Cash for the Goat.
After the two day introductory period, the prices for both will double, to 24 and 14 Farm Cash, respectively, so shop fast!
The Pinto Pony has been released alongside the Dwarf Goat. Both of these animals are available for Farm Cash, and we can see Zynga taking part in a promotion that hasn't been seen before with Limited Edition item launches. For the next two days, these two animals will be available at a 50% off introductory price of 12 Farm Cash for the Pony and 7 Farm Cash for the Goat.
After the two day introductory period, the prices for both will double, to 24 and 14 Farm Cash, respectively, so shop fast!
New FarmVille Country Fair Buildings: Festival Band and Garlic Stand
Tonight's FarmVille update sees two new buildings being released in the Country Fair theme, but this release is actually a bit more complicated than others.
The two items are the Festival Band and the Garlic Stand. However, as the Festival Band is a Farm Cash item, it is being celebrated as part of Zynga's 50% off introductory pricing, meaning that for the next 2 days, you'll be able to pick up the item for 21 Farm Cash. After the two day time limit, we're assuming the price will jump up to 42 Farm Cash, if our experience with math hasn't failed us.
The other item, the Garlic Stand, is a coin item, available for 250,000 coins. Unfortunately, as we said, it isn't part of the 50% off promotion, but you will gain a nice sum of 2,500 experience points for purchasing it, if you choose to make the splurge. The Garlic Stand will be available for the next two weeks, and we're assuming that the Festival Band will be as well (that is, 12 days after the introductory price expires, but that remains to be seen).
The two items are the Festival Band and the Garlic Stand. However, as the Festival Band is a Farm Cash item, it is being celebrated as part of Zynga's 50% off introductory pricing, meaning that for the next 2 days, you'll be able to pick up the item for 21 Farm Cash. After the two day time limit, we're assuming the price will jump up to 42 Farm Cash, if our experience with math hasn't failed us.
The other item, the Garlic Stand, is a coin item, available for 250,000 coins. Unfortunately, as we said, it isn't part of the 50% off promotion, but you will gain a nice sum of 2,500 experience points for purchasing it, if you choose to make the splurge. The Garlic Stand will be available for the next two weeks, and we're assuming that the Festival Band will be as well (that is, 12 days after the introductory price expires, but that remains to be seen).
FarmVille Country Fair Decorations: Carousel, Giant Slide, Racing Booth, & Cotton Candy
As part of Zynga's extensive FarmVille update this evening, we've seen the launch of four new decorations in the ongoing Country Fair limited edition item theme.
The four items are the Deluxe Carousel, the Giant Slide, the Racing Booth, and the Cotton Candy machine. While the Giant Slide is a Farm Cash item, and is being offered at a 50% off introductory price of 15 Farm Cash for the next two days, it's really interesting (read: strange) to see that another Farm Cash item, the Deluxe Carousel, isn't also discounted. Either way, you can pick up the Carousel for 35 Farm Cash, while the Giant Slide's price will double to 30 Farm Cash in two days' time.
As for the other decorations, the Racing Booth (think a midway game where you try to win stuffed animals), and the Cotton Candy machine are both available for coins, at 3,000 and 2,000 coins, respectively - bargain basement prices, considering the fact that they are limited edition.
Aside from the Slide, these items are marked with a time limit of 14 days, so you still have a bit of time to shop before selling out becomes and issue. Still, if you're actively participating by decorating in this theme, we won't blame you for spending your cash / coins on them right now.
The four items are the Deluxe Carousel, the Giant Slide, the Racing Booth, and the Cotton Candy machine. While the Giant Slide is a Farm Cash item, and is being offered at a 50% off introductory price of 15 Farm Cash for the next two days, it's really interesting (read: strange) to see that another Farm Cash item, the Deluxe Carousel, isn't also discounted. Either way, you can pick up the Carousel for 35 Farm Cash, while the Giant Slide's price will double to 30 Farm Cash in two days' time.
As for the other decorations, the Racing Booth (think a midway game where you try to win stuffed animals), and the Cotton Candy machine are both available for coins, at 3,000 and 2,000 coins, respectively - bargain basement prices, considering the fact that they are limited edition.
Aside from the Slide, these items are marked with a time limit of 14 days, so you still have a bit of time to shop before selling out becomes and issue. Still, if you're actively participating by decorating in this theme, we won't blame you for spending your cash / coins on them right now.
FarmVille decorations & animals find permanent home in the store
Zynga has released tons of new content in FarmVille this evening, but perhaps none is more interesting than the addition of some new (and returning) permanent items to the game's store.
The selection includes a Forest Horse and Autumn Horse, both of which cost 30 Farm Cash, as well as a Wild Turkey, available for 18 Farm Cash (the perfect way to start the Thanksgiving season off right).
In terms of decorative items, you can now purchase the parts to an Evergreen Train. Simply scroll past all of the currently available Country Fair items, and you'll see the three-piece set of Evergreen Train engine, Car and Cart (caboose), available for 20 Farm Cash, 120,000 coins, and 7 Farm Cash, respectively.
Sure, any of these items would be fairly expensive additions to your farm, but with no time limit, you'll have plenty of time to save up the coins or Farm Cash necessary to purchase one or all of them.
It's great to see Zynga bringing back some of our old favorites to the store (like the Wild Turkey), as well as offering these new items like the Train for our shopping pleasure.
The selection includes a Forest Horse and Autumn Horse, both of which cost 30 Farm Cash, as well as a Wild Turkey, available for 18 Farm Cash (the perfect way to start the Thanksgiving season off right).
In terms of decorative items, you can now purchase the parts to an Evergreen Train. Simply scroll past all of the currently available Country Fair items, and you'll see the three-piece set of Evergreen Train engine, Car and Cart (caboose), available for 20 Farm Cash, 120,000 coins, and 7 Farm Cash, respectively.
Sure, any of these items would be fairly expensive additions to your farm, but with no time limit, you'll have plenty of time to save up the coins or Farm Cash necessary to purchase one or all of them.
It's great to see Zynga bringing back some of our old favorites to the store (like the Wild Turkey), as well as offering these new items like the Train for our shopping pleasure.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Madden NFL Superstars adds Team Packs and Cyber Monday Deal
Team Card Packs
Putting those Collections together is a pain, isn't it? Playfish and EA want to help with that through their most recent update to Madden NFL Superstars. Players can now buy NFL Team Packs in the Store for various Playfish Cash prices. These Team Packs will contain a mix of players of each NFL team and require various levels to access. These packs should make completing particular Collections that much easier considering you can aim toward completing a specific team's Collection through buying Team Packs.
Also included in the update is a huge Cyber Monday Deal. For the rest of the day as of this writing, players can buy an Ultimate Card Pack bundled with 20 Game Day Tickets for 90 Playfish Cash or about $18. At just 10 Playfish Cash more than a normal Ultimate Card Pack, this deal will have you set for a long time. Not to mention that for a short while all the previous Players of the Week can be found in both Ultimate and Platinum Card Packs and they're more common than ever. You only have a few hours left, so take advantage of this update while you still can.
Putting those Collections together is a pain, isn't it? Playfish and EA want to help with that through their most recent update to Madden NFL Superstars. Players can now buy NFL Team Packs in the Store for various Playfish Cash prices. These Team Packs will contain a mix of players of each NFL team and require various levels to access. These packs should make completing particular Collections that much easier considering you can aim toward completing a specific team's Collection through buying Team Packs.
Also included in the update is a huge Cyber Monday Deal. For the rest of the day as of this writing, players can buy an Ultimate Card Pack bundled with 20 Game Day Tickets for 90 Playfish Cash or about $18. At just 10 Playfish Cash more than a normal Ultimate Card Pack, this deal will have you set for a long time. Not to mention that for a short while all the previous Players of the Week can be found in both Ultimate and Platinum Card Packs and they're more common than ever. You only have a few hours left, so take advantage of this update while you still can.
Social City: Save the Windows Phone promo link for 2 free City Bucks daily
Social City: You got more City Bucks!
If you remember the Windows Phone 7 promotion in Social City, you'll recall that players are suppose to get a free City Buck for every time they viewed a Windows Phone commercial, and are allowed up to "2 video views per day." This ensured 2 free daily City Bucks, but the video was only advertised on Page C (the Financial News section) of the Social City in-game newsletter. And then, shortly after, the advertisement disappeared, and with it, we assumed the freebie deal was gone too.
But that freebie offer is back today! And following the return of the offer is a hot tip from a game-savvy and generous player, Nunofrc, who left a comment saying that all you need to get the free daily City Bucks offer, is to save and run the link to the videos -- here's that link.
Click on the link when you're already playing Social City. Doing so will launch a Windows Phone commercial in the form of a YouTube video. After the video has played all the way through, you'll get a message from the game that your free City Buck has arrived. Repeat this, and you've got 2 free City Bucks!
If you remember the Windows Phone 7 promotion in Social City, you'll recall that players are suppose to get a free City Buck for every time they viewed a Windows Phone commercial, and are allowed up to "2 video views per day." This ensured 2 free daily City Bucks, but the video was only advertised on Page C (the Financial News section) of the Social City in-game newsletter. And then, shortly after, the advertisement disappeared, and with it, we assumed the freebie deal was gone too.
But that freebie offer is back today! And following the return of the offer is a hot tip from a game-savvy and generous player, Nunofrc, who left a comment saying that all you need to get the free daily City Bucks offer, is to save and run the link to the videos -- here's that link.
Click on the link when you're already playing Social City. Doing so will launch a Windows Phone commercial in the form of a YouTube video. After the video has played all the way through, you'll get a message from the game that your free City Buck has arrived. Repeat this, and you've got 2 free City Bucks!
Zynga: FarmVille Unicorns will soon offer Unicorn foals
One of the most hotly anticipated items in FarmVille over the last few weeks was the Unicorn. Luckily, we were finally given the Unicorn as part of the Mystery Game last week, but even then, users weren't fully satisfied. What was missing from the equation? The simple ability for Unicorns to produce foals.
Luckily for all of you, our inside source at Zynga has confirmed to us that in the future, Unicorns will be able to breed foals. Now, don't get too excited just yet, as this feature might take a few weeks to come to the game. Why, you ask? According to our source, it has to do with the fact that December will simply have so much stuff going on in FarmVille, that they won't be able to fit it into the normal development schedule. Rest assured though, it will happen in the future.
If you missed out on the White Unicorn that was inside last week's Mystery Game, feel free to try this week's version, as it contains a chance to win a Candy Cane Unicorn from the Winter Holiday theme.
Luckily for all of you, our inside source at Zynga has confirmed to us that in the future, Unicorns will be able to breed foals. Now, don't get too excited just yet, as this feature might take a few weeks to come to the game. Why, you ask? According to our source, it has to do with the fact that December will simply have so much stuff going on in FarmVille, that they won't be able to fit it into the normal development schedule. Rest assured though, it will happen in the future.
If you missed out on the White Unicorn that was inside last week's Mystery Game, feel free to try this week's version, as it contains a chance to win a Candy Cane Unicorn from the Winter Holiday theme.
New FarmVille Winter Animal: Gypsy Horse
There had been talk for some time about the release of a Gypsy Horse in FarmVille, but after seeing leaked images of the horse, we weren't sure when exactly (if ever) the animal would actually be coming to the game.
In a rare non-Tuesday/Thursday update, however, Zynga has officially launched the Gypsy Horse in the game, as part of the current Winter Holiday limited edition item theme. For those that are simply amused by the name, know that the Gypsy Horse is an actual variety of horse - meaning that real-world horse lovers will probably be more than willing to purchase one of these beautiful animals for the game's asking price of 26 Farm Cash.
What's more, we have it on good authority that the Gypsy Horse will be able to produce a Gypsy Foal, if placed inside the Horse Stable and given the chance to breed.
The Gypsy Horse will be available for the next 26 days.
In a rare non-Tuesday/Thursday update, however, Zynga has officially launched the Gypsy Horse in the game, as part of the current Winter Holiday limited edition item theme. For those that are simply amused by the name, know that the Gypsy Horse is an actual variety of horse - meaning that real-world horse lovers will probably be more than willing to purchase one of these beautiful animals for the game's asking price of 26 Farm Cash.
What's more, we have it on good authority that the Gypsy Horse will be able to produce a Gypsy Foal, if placed inside the Horse Stable and given the chance to breed.
The Gypsy Horse will be available for the next 26 days.
New FarmVille Mystery Game for the week of November 28
In a rare move, Zynga has updated the FarmVille Mystery Game before the regular Tuesday night time limit. Fear not, however, if you didn't have a chance to pick up one of the White Unicorns available in the previous Mystery Game, as this week offers something that you might like even better.
The contents of this week's Mystery Game are all about the new Winter Holiday season, and contain some items that we talked to you about as sneak peeks. The contents of the Mystery Game have been confirmed as the following:
Candy Unicorn
Winter Reindeer
Winter Ferris Wheel
Winter Sleigh
Winter Fountain
Arctic Hare
All of these items seem to be exclusive to the Mystery Game, which costs a whopping 24 Farm Cash to play this week, up from the 16 Farm Cash price you might have been expecting. Still, with the chance at another Unicorn, and the news that Unicorns will soon be breedable, it might be worth the expense. You'll have the next 6 days to decide that for yourself, before this round expires from the store.
The contents of this week's Mystery Game are all about the new Winter Holiday season, and contain some items that we talked to you about as sneak peeks. The contents of the Mystery Game have been confirmed as the following:
Candy Unicorn
Winter Reindeer
Winter Ferris Wheel
Winter Sleigh
Winter Fountain
Arctic Hare
All of these items seem to be exclusive to the Mystery Game, which costs a whopping 24 Farm Cash to play this week, up from the 16 Farm Cash price you might have been expecting. Still, with the chance at another Unicorn, and the news that Unicorns will soon be breedable, it might be worth the expense. You'll have the next 6 days to decide that for yourself, before this round expires from the store.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)