FarmVille Tips & Tricks: Grow Royal Hops on your Home Farm

Less than a week ago, Zynga released the Royal Hops crop to FarmVille's English Countryside. The crop was, in theory, supposed to be locked to only being grown on the English Countryside, and only then after you've mastered at least the first star of the original Hops crop first (one crop that is officially locked to your second farm in England). Even looking at the crop in the game's store confirms this, as it has the English Countryside seal, indicating its "exclusivity."

Let's say, though, that you really want to grow some Royal Hops on your Home Farm. How would such a thing be possible? It's simple, really, as it seems that Zynga has overlooked the "locked" status of the crop on your Home Farm. We're not sure if this was intentional, is some kind of bug or glitch, or was just an oversight, but I can personally confirm from my own game [pictured above - note the "Home Farm" in the corner] that you can grow Royal Hops on your Home Farm, without a license, by simply going into the game and purchasing it as a normal crop.

To further confirm - this isn't an issue brought about by having specific bushels active, as I had a White Rose bushel activated on my Home Farm when I planted the Royal Hops, and I highly doubt the two are connected. If you'd like to grow both crops at once (say, growing Hops on your second farm and Royal Hops on your Home Farm) this is definitely your chance.

Looking for more FarmVille Tips & Tricks? Look right here.

Have you been able to grow other English Countryside-specific crops back on your Home Farm, while doing nothing to instigate this?

Redeem FrontierVille Game Card, receive free Easter Mystery Crate

Just as FarmVille is giving away free Spring Mystery Boxes to users who purchase Game Cards from now until April 24, so too is FrontierVille offering users a prize for doing the same (although you have less time to do so). From now until April 20, simply redeem a Zynga Game Card in FrontierVille, and you'll receive a free Easter Mystery Crate, which can contain one of the following items, or a large Easter Egg (the full contents are as-of-now unknown, but we'll make sure to update you):

Yellow Mallow Chick
Pink Mallow Chick
Green Mallow Chick
Bunny Ears Blonde
Bunny Ears Brown

To be clear, these "Mallow Chicks" are the game's representation of the "Peeps" Easter candy, although they of course couldn't use the name. The bunny ears, then, are avatar clothing items for your family to wear proudly around the Homestead. There's no word right now as to whether or not these crates will be available to purchase from the store, so if you've been saving up a Game Card for a good promotion, this is likely the best promotion you'll see for some time - (for now) exclusive items that you'll be proud to show off on your land.

Have you received an item that isn't on our list? Make sure to let us know which items you receive from this promotion! Are you happy with your prize(s)?

FrontierVille Tips & Tricks: Quickly finish the Bear Collection for Animal Ready Boosts

Don't you just hate receiving quests in FrontierVille that ask you to sell 50 Sheep, or sell 25 Oxen, only to have just finished a quest that required you to sell them all already? Now you're stuck purchasing and growing animals all over again, in what is undeniably a time consuming process (or an expensive one, if you choose to buy Boosts). Your pain can be lessened a bit, however, by simply completing the Bear Collection.

The Bear Collection gives you a free Animal Ready Boost when you turn it in, causing all of the animals on your Homestead to instantly become "ready" to be fed. But I know what you're thinking - "The Bear Collection is way too hard to complete! I never have enough trees around, and Bears never come out on my land!" While I unfortunately can't help you bring out more Bears on your land (other than suggesting to let your trees grow to maturity before you ever chop them), I can help you complete that Bear Collection all the same.

Meet us behind the break for a set of tips on how to complete the Bear Collection (believe me, it's a trick you may not know about), and earn those free Animal Ready Boosts for your land!


Step 1: Complete the Mystery Animal Collection

The Mystery Animal Collection can be completed by either tending to your own Mystery Animals, or by tending to your friends' Mystery Animals when you visit. Turning this collection in will reward you with a Stuffed Bear. This isn't just a regular decorative item, however, as this is actually the key to this entire method!

Step 2: Place the Stuffed Bear on your land

Once you have the Stuffed Bear on your land, you'll want to keep it out in the open - somewhere that you can easily click on it everyday, and won't forget to do so. That is, if you're like me, you won't want to put it in the far corner of your land, or else you'll forget it exists and miss out on these free items!

Step 3: Collect the Bonus from the Stuffed Bear once every day

You can collect a bonus from the Stuffed Bear just as you can collect a bonus from all of your buildings. Simply click on the Bear and then click on "Collect Bonus." This bonus can only be collected once every 24 hours, but you'll receive a free collectible item from the Bear Collection when you do so. Sure, you may not be guaranteed to receive the elusive Bear Claw (the rarest item in the collection) each time you collect your bonus, but if you've gone days or weeks without seeing an actual Bear varmint on your land, you'll likely be happy with any item that you can get!

And there you have it! An easy way to earn Bear Collection items, that doesn't require you to fill your land with trees, and hope to luckily receive a Bear while wasting all of your energy chopping them down. If you need help finishing the Mystery Animal Collection to receive a Stuffed Bear in the first place, remember to ask your friends if they have any spare items, as they'll likely be much more willing to share those with you than actual Bear Collection items.

For more of our FrontierVille Tips and Tricks, click right here.

Did you know that the Stuffed Bear item gave away free Bear Collection items? Have you been using this method to receive free Animal Ready boosts on your land?

iWin and Endemol to bring Deal or No Deal and 1 vs 100 to Facebook

After Microsoft removed 1 vs 100 from their Xbox Live service, I was more than a bit upset. I spent countless hours playing with friends and strangers alike from the comfort of my living room, all while trying to one-up my competitors with my pop culture know-how. That ship has sailed however, but the fun may soon be returning, as iWin and Endemol USA have announced a partnership (via company press release) that will bring not only 1 vs 100 back to life, but will bring Deal or No Deal with it, straight to Facebook.

Releasing later this Spring, the Facebook versions of both games will allow you to play with or against other Facebook members, whether they are your friends or strangers. In Deal or No Deal, you'll be playing against the Banker while opening cases and trying to keep the big numbers in play, but you'll also be able to add new "Sweeteners" to the deal, that add bigger valued cases to your particular episode, reveal low valued cases, or save the banker's offers for future use.

For 1 vs 100, you'll be able to invite your friends to join your own Mob and will compete against them in trivia questions across new gameplay modes designed specifically for Facebook. Should you make a mistake, you'll be able to invite your friends to "Right My Wrong," while you'll also be given the chance to climb to the top of the leaderboards by playing "Spin to Win."

We'll make sure to give you additional details about both of these games as we know more. Be on the lookout for both of these games on Facebook this Spring, and on PC this fall.

Will you play 1 vs 100 or Deal or No Deal on Facebook? What sorts of social features do you hope these games bring with them to the table?

Zynga (finally) drops FarmVille 'Beta' tag after nearly two years

After nearly two long years, Zynga has removed the "Beta" tag from the FarmVille logo. More specifically, it took one year and 10 months to raise the game up from beta status, but it begs the question: What pushed FarmVille over the edge? According to a production letter released by Zynga on the forums, all signs point to the release of English Countryside. After releasing an entire new farm, we think you're good on removing the Beta label.

The production letter contains a long list of changes and highlights from the past few months including the exciting removal of News Feed item throttling, or limiting players' ability to collect lots of items in a short amount of time. Now, there is a solid limit on the amount of items players can gather from News Feeds daily. Here's Zynga's official statement in full:

    The sun is back out (here in San Francisco, anyway) and the FarmVille Team is reinvigorated with the energy of the warmer weather, the English Countryside expansion and the fact that we have the best player base on the planet in all of you! Speaking of all of you, we have, as always, been listening to a great deal of your feedback and suggestions. We hope you'll echo our sentiment when we say that the past three months or so have brought many improvements to FarmVille. Let's take this moment to reflect on a few of the things we've accomplished together over the last quarter of a year...

    English Countryside: FarmVille players everywhere are discovering an all-new land with new adventures and benefits in FarmVille English Countryside! This has certainly been our largest feature effort since FarmVille first launched and it wouldn't have been possible without your ideas and imagination. We hope you're all enjoying it and are looking forward to the possibilities it brings as much as we are!

    Farm Switching and Pausing: We want to thank you all for expressing your opinions on this matter so articulately and persistently. As a result, we're recently implemented the ability to choose whether or not you want the farm you are not active on to pause while you are away. You will be prompted with this option each time to switch from one farm to another. We think this is a great addition to FarmVille and we hope it leads to your further enjoyment of having multiple farms!

    Bug Fix Output and Memory Issues: The development team has been extremely focused and dedicated to making FarmVille better. In addition to increasing our bug fix output significantly, we've also made a recent breakthrough on our memory usage and implemented changes that resulted in many players with heavily populated farms able to run FarmVille smoothly again. This isn't perfect yet, we're still diligently pursuing ways to keep up with your endlessly imaginative ways of beautifying and personalizing your farms, but we hope many of you are already seeing the benefits.

    Feed Reward Throttling: After extensive research and experimentation, we have decided to repeal the throttling of rewards collected through feeds. We want to thank you all for being so vocal throughout the process as it really helped us to pinpoint problem areas and react accordingly. For now, the throttling has been removed and we are enforcing a cap on the amount of rewards each player can claim per day. We are continuing to explore alternative means of keeping the FarmVille playing field even for all.

    Japan Relief: In yet another incredible example of humanitarianism and compassion, FarmVille players were one of the first groups worldwide to spring into action to help Japan in their hour of need. Words cannot express how fortunate the FarmVille Team feels to be involved with such a giving and helpful group of players. It adds an overwhelming sense of worth to the work we do here to know that the players who make our game great also strive at making the world a better place.

    The Beta Tag: You may have noticed that we removed the "Beta" tag from our logo with the release of the English Countryside. We felt this was the right time to remove that tag but we also want to be sure that this is not taken as a claim to a "bug-free" game. The internet is alive with changes stemming from every direction and FarmVille introduces new content multiple times per week. No game can avoid all of the growing pains that are inevitable with new content – especially on such a large platform, with so many players interacting with each other, in so many different ways. Rest assured that we are dedicated, now more than ever, to continuing to create new ways to ensure your game experience is everything it can and should be.

    We're thankful for the strides you've helped us make this past quarter and are eager to share whatever the future brings with all of you. We have all sorts of surprises up our sleeves and the fact that we get to bring them to all of you drives us onward. Thank you for always being willing to share your ideas and opinions with us and for being the best player base in the world!

    -The FarmVille Team

These are all exciting developments, for sure. However, as Zynga said much needs to be done, like improving FarmVille for iOS. Sure, the game runs plenty faster than it ever did after the 2.0 update, but it still suffers from "Out of Sync" errors and could use some more functionality. We should be able to do more to our farms like interact with our buildings through mobile, but also take advantage of mobile's unique advantages like geolocation and Bluetooth.

Imagine booting up FarmVille mobile just before a movie starts and seeing that a few other movie goers are playing nearby. Request them using either Bluetooth or over 3G and WiFi and you can immediately start playing together ... just put it away when the movie starts. Everyone hates that.

[Source: FarmVille Freak]

Are you excited to see the improvements and changes Zynga has made to FarmVille in 2011 thus far? What else do you think needs improvement?

FrontierVille: Find Granny's Field Mice for three Tea Tables

As part of the Mother's Day celebration in FrontierVille, Zynga has launched a new activity in the game called "Find Field Mice for Granny's Kitty." You see, Granny would love to have a cat for Mother's Day, and you'll need to lure one onto the Homestead by finding Field Mice that can be...well... used to tame the cat (if you get my meaning). This activity is technically a sub-quest, released as part of Granny's Mother's Day goals, but it is its own feature, with its own rewards.

Similar to the Oregon Trail Medical Journal or Rango activities we've seen released in the past, you'll be able to find these field mice simply by completing normal tasks around your Homestead, like clearing debris or tending to fruit trees. You'll be able to collect nine Field Mice in all, with the Mice being split into three groups of three. Once you collect just three mice, you'll earn the Candlelit Tea Table. at 6 Mice you'll earn the Tea Set Tea Table, and when you've finished collecting all nine you'll earn the Floral Tea Table. What's interesting about these three items is that they are actually portions of a larger, completely round table, that should look quite impressive when placed appropriately on your Homestead. You'll likely only be able to collect Field Mice for a limited time, so start working on your Homestead now to earn them as fast as possible!

What do you think of the Field Mice activity in FrontierVille? Do you like these collection tasks in the game, or do you prefer more standard missions and goals?

FarmVille Mother's Day Seeds & Trees: Magnolia Trees & Pink Carnation Crop

As part of tonight's FarmVille update, we see the launch of the limited time Mother's Day item theme, which starts with two trees and a limited edition crop. The two trees are the Magnolia trees we've spoken of earlier. The Magnolia Tree costs 5 Farm Cash, while the Purple Magnolia costs just 10 Farm Cash. Remember though, if you'd rather just purchase the original Magnolia Tree, you'll be able to complete your set by finding a Purple Magnolia as a Mystery Seedling, saving you all of that Farm Cash for something else!

As for the new crop, the Carnation will be available to grow for the next month. While we first saw the Pink Carnation released as a crop during last year's Mother's Day event, it wasn't "masterable" at the time, so even veteran players have something to be excited about here (or am I the only one that likes collecting those neat mastery signs?!). the flowers themselves can be grown for just 11 coins per square, and you'll gain three experience points per square planted. I don't think I need to tell you how great those stats are, but if I do - they are! You'll be able to harvest the carnations a full day later to receive 111 coins per square.


If the trees are more your thing, make sure to shop fast, as they'll only be available for a week. And remember, if you're looking for a gift for your gaming mama, you can send either tree via an in-game gift by simply spending Farm Cash in the store.

Will you purchase either of these trees for your mothers, or are you saving them for your farms instead? Will you work to make sure you master the Pink Carnation in the time available?

FarmVille Mother's Day Animals: Kangaroo & Joey, Polar Bear Cub

While they may not immediately scream "Mother's Day" at first glance, two new animals have been added to FarmVille's equally new Mother's Day item theme, and they come in the form of the Kangaroo & Joey (both for the price of one!) and the Polar Bear Cub. So, how do these animals relate to Mother's Day? The Kangaroo & Joey is the more easily explainable item, as it clearly shows a mother protecting her baby - something that most of us can relate to from our childhoods. For the Polar Bear Cub, I think the connection is a bit more abstract. Perhaps this is a way for us to adopt a Polar Bear Cub and serve as its virtual mother?

Either way, these two items are cute as can be, but come at a high price point. The Kangaroo & Joey is surprisingly the cheaper of the two items, at 16 Farm Cash, while the Polar Bear Cub (which happens to be a re-released item from the Earth Day event of 2010) costs 22 Farm Cash. Luckily, this is the same price as when the cub was first released, so at least Zynga didn't pull a fast one on us there. Also, for those with a keen eye - yes, a Kangaroo was also released during the Earth Day event last year, but that was a solo Kangaroo (sans Joey), so they are technically different items.
If you plan on purchasing either one of these animals, you'll need to do so quickly, as the Mother's Day theme is set to expire from the store in just a week. Will we see more items released in the theme before all is said and done? We're not sure, but we'll make sure to let you know if we do.

Let us know what you think of these animals in the comments. Do you think they fit properly with a Mother's Day theme? What animals would have been better suited to celebrate a bond between a mother and her child?

FarmVille Mother's Day Building: Outdoor Spa

While tonight's FarmVille update may have brought with it plenty of items, perhaps none is more soothing than the Outdoor Spa building. This new structure costs 20 Farm Cash to add to your farm (or to send to your mother's farm, if she happens to play), and it is one of the most heavily detailed "cottages" we've seen released in some time.

The Outdoor Spa itself has a large outdoor, two-story patio connected to a larger building. On the top floor deck, you have two lounge chairs, while underneath lies a hot tub (what I wouldn't give to have one of those right now). If you're looking for other items to decorate with, alongside this new Outdoor Spa, why not try a few flowers, or even a Magnolia Tree, which can also be given to your mother to complete the package.

This lovely Mother's Day building will be available for the next seven days, so shop fast!

Do you know of a mother that deserves her own spa day (at least virtually)? Will you purchase the Spa for your own farm, or keep to the idea of giving it as a gift?

FarmVille Mother's Day Decorations: Dahlia Flowerbed, Mom Day Gnome, Mom's Gift Basket & More

While tonight's FarmVille update brought with it new animals, trees, a building and even a new crop, the largest set of items came to the store's decorations section, as six new items are available to purchase, either for your own farm, or as intended - giving them as a gift to the mothers in your life.

Four of the six items are premium, but not all of them actually scream "Mother's Day," giving you a chance to outfit your own farm with some lovely decorations in the process. For Gnome collectors, the Mom Day Gnome serves you breakfast in bed for just 10 Farm Cash (that's actually a cheap price, compared to the normal 15+ Farm Cash price of other Gnomes). If you're more of a gardener, you can also pick up the Humming Birds for 12 Farm Cash.

Meanwhile, the other two Farm Cash items are specific to the holiday, as a Mom's Day Sign costs just 2 Farm Cash and a Mom's Gift Basket costs just a single Farm Cash. Why so cheap? Well, the items must cost Farm Cash to enable in-game gifting, according to the current store setup. In this way, you'll be able to spend just a couple of Farm Cash at a time, and still give those mothers in your life something truly special (and exclusive in the game).


Interestingly, one of the most Mother's Day-centric items in tonight's theme goes for coins. While the Dahlia Flowerbed is another generic decorative item, going for 5,000 coins each, the Mom Day Sign II is mind-bogglingly priced at 80,000 coins. Don't get me wrong - the sign is lovely, and while it doesn't actively say "Happy Mother's Day," the sign does have "Mom" in bright red letters. I know my mother would love to have this sign on her farm, so why am I not allowed to give it to her? Yes, she could purchase it for her own farm (and likely will), but that just isn't as special, at least in my humble opinion.

Either way, whether you purchase these items for yourself, for your own mother, or just for your friends who happen to be mothers, you'll need to do so within the next week, as these items will expire (likely until next year) after that point.

PopCap goes Zen with Plants vs Zombies for iPhone update

Plants vs Zombies Zombotany
Haven't we pummeled, frozen and burned enough zombies already? PopCap seems to have been asking itself the same question, as it just released a huge update for Plants vs. Zombies on iPhone that will take players to the Zen Garden. This new feature allows you to create and water your own garden of plants, and harvest them for coins to buy new plants, traps and features in Crazy Dave's Shop, namely new mini games.

There are three mini games in all such as Zombotony (pictured), a new take on the traditional game in which the zombies have plants for heads and will shoot right back as they lurch toward your home. To go with the new mini games and Zen Garden, PopCap threw in more achievements to share on Apple Game Center, and promises to release the long-awaited "retina display" update to provide sharper graphics for iPhone 4 users. But before you do that, PopCap, how's about a Facebook PvZ?

[Via Pocket Gamer]

Have you tried the new features in the PvZ update for iPhone? Which of PopCap's game do you wish would come to Facebook next?

Scam Alert: 'Zynga Promotions' is not RewardVille, but another scam

And here we thought after the short lull in scammerous scammery that the scammers might have taken the hint. Nay, as Scribbal has found yet another scam revolving around FarmVille, CityVille and something called "Zynga Promotions." FarmVille and CityVille players have found a post in their News Feeds from their friends that reads, "FarmVille rewards to be had if you open this." First of all, the so-called promotion looks nothing like an official Zynga message much less one from either FarmVille or CityVille. But it gets better.

Clicking on the link, which you absolutely shouldn't do, takes players to a website that uses Zynga's RewardVille artwork, lettering and other assets. Then the website provides a link that claims, if you share the link enough times through not just Facebook, but Twitter and email, you will be rewarded with a unique expansion. Sharing it 100 times will reward you with a vehicle that plants faster than any other, or an Energy Cow that refills your Energy every 10 minutes. While those rewards sound totally awesome, they're totally fake, and should be avoided at all costs.

Zynga promotions scam
The whole point of the scam is get you to download bot programs, or automated gameplay programs that run on repeating scripts, which more than likely are attached to malware that isn't worth the benefit. Not to mention it's cheating and in violation of Zynga's Terms of Service agreement. So, again, do your friends and yourself a favor and not only avoid this scam at all costs, but warn your friends and family, too.

[Image Credit: Scribbal]

Have you seen this scam circulating Facebook yet? What do you normally do when you come in contact with a scam?

Games.com Weekly Roundup: Spotlighting social games at E3 2011

Couldn't get your daily Games.com news fix and want to know what you've missed? Whether it's a major FarmVille guide or the launch of a new Facebook game, the Roundup will bring you up to speed on the most important or popular or just plain out amazing and weird social gaming stories of the week.

Monday:

    The Sims creator Will Wright is making a Facebook game, and it's not SimCity
    Instead, Wright is basing his new game on Bruce Sterling's short story "Maneki Neko".
    Want to work for Marriott Hotels? Play the Facebook game first
    "We had no idea there was such a demand for hotel employees, but alas, here we are, recruiting them through ... Facebook games."
    Zynga hangs on iPhone in Hanging with Friends: Fuhgettabout pen and paper
    "Developed by Texas-based Zynga subsidiary Zynga with Friends, Hanging with Friends is a mobile multiplayer take on the classic two-player puzzle game Hangman."
    Playdom's City of Wonder on iPhone: Conquer the world wherever
    "Playdom has released City of Wonder, it's Civilization-like empire-building Facebook game, to iOS devices. And better yet, it's absolutely free."
    The Sims Social: Yup, The Sims is finally coming to Facebook
    Were you as creeped out by the debut trailer as we were? Nonetheless, it's hard not to get excited.



Tuesday:

    Apple Game Center in iOS 5 mirrors Facebook gaming, coming this fall
    "Social gaming has effectively become mobile gaming in many a developer's eye, and Apple is poised to strike the competition this fall with the new Facebook games-inspired Game Center."
    'Arookoo: World Explorers' steps up social gaming, but stumbles on Facebook
    Reader's Digest Association and Vivity Labs' create a Facebook game to complement a free iPhone app that nabs you virtual perks for real world strolls.
    E3 2011: Prime World mixes free-to-play MMO with Facebook friend interaction
    "You'll be able to invite your Facebook friends to play the game with you . . . There's even a Zuma-inspired marble game for those that would prefer to match marbles than enter combat (at least temporarily)."
    E3 2011: Yoostar Playground puts you in the movies on Facebook
    "With Yoostar Playground, you're really given the opportunity for your 15 minutes of fame, as the company routinely holds contests over the best videos uploaded to the service."



Wednesday:

    Zynga celebrates FarmVille's 2nd Birthday with an explosion of items
    For the full scoop, check out our FarmVille 2nd Birthday Guide.
    E3 2011: Walking Dead game gets a Facebook tie-in
    "A few months ago, we learned that The Walking Dead, a hit TV series on AMC as well as a comic book series with a serious cult following, is getting the game treatment."
    Casino City, Bar World and Slot City get the axe
    "[A]s a result of Zynga's recent acquisition of DNA Games (its 14th purchase in just a year!), all three of the studio's games will shut down come July 8."



Thursday:


    E3 2011: Fruit Ninja Frenzy takes a slice out of Facebook this summer
    "In Fruit Ninja Frenzy, the same basic gameplay from the mobile version has been retained, but has been chopped (no pun intended) into 60-seconds of bite sized fruity goodness."
    E3 2011: Pet Society Vacation on iPhone takes your Facebook pet on a tropical trip
    Playfish fans are definitely excited, but the catch is this iOS game won't crossover with the one on Facebook except when it comes to porting over your pet.
    John Carmack: Facebook offers the 'Walmart experience of gaming' [Interview]
    "[Social games are] not a connoisseur experience, but it's important to recognize that most of what people consume in the world is not a connoisseur experience."
    E3 2011: Shooters, not social, are still king
    So how's E3 treating the social games scene? Our EIC, Libe Goad, spent the week over there and left us this thoughtful piece.
    The Amazing Spider-Man's Emma Stone was hooked on FarmVille
    "I got to level 42, and I wasn't doing anything else anymore, so I had to stop," Stone told ELLE.
    FrontierVille Oregon Trail becomes 'Pioneer Trail' after community vote
    Not that we thought anyone could confuse the official Oregon Trail with Zynga's FrontierVille expansion on Facebook, but that's lawsuits for ya.
    Scam Alert: 'Zynga Promotions' is not RewardVille, but another scam
    Dastardly!

E3 2011: Playdom's City of Might goes to war with Zynga's Empires & Allies this summer

Don't they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? I hope Zynga will feel mighty flattered then, as Playdom unveiled a new Facebook game at E3 this year - City of Might. During my limited demo of the game (I wasn't actually allowed to play, but rather was shown a scripted series of events), I learned that City of Might combines the city-building elements of City of Wonder with resource management and player-vs-player combat. Instantly, we're left with comparisons to Zynga's Empires & Allies which just launched days ago.

For City of Might, you'll need to collect resources to build more units, and can then use those units to plan and execute invasion strategies on other players. While combat is a bit interactive, it's mostly cinematic, and you'll only be able to place your units on the enemies' maps and then add more units mid-battle if your troops wind up defeated. From what I saw, it appeared that the rest of battle was automated, as each side shows their damage as small numbers that float rapidly up from the unit or building in question. If you don't succeed your first time in battle, you can call in the help of friends for a rematch. These friends will allow you to earn bonuses to your damage and armor stats, giving you a better chance at success. There are air and ground units to choose from, but this demo didn't make it clear as to whether naval units would complete the expected trio.

Where City of Might looks to have a one-up on Zynga is through the use of an in-game chat system, allowing you to interact in real time with other players, whether they are your Facebook friends or not. In this way, you won't have to have tons of personal friends playing the game on Facebook to actually play the game with other real people.

As for an expected launch, we can look to see City of Might drop its first bomb on Facebook later this summer. We know there are many more features still being completed that will eventually be added to the game, but details are heavily under wraps as of right now. You can see a small preview of what the game looks like at the top of this post, but we'll make sure to give you a more in-depth overview of the game as we get closer to launch.

What do you think of the idea of Playdom's City of Might? Do you think anything could have the power to defeat Zynga?

E3 2011: Playdom offers in-game bonus for Gardens of Time in activity book

The Disney booth at this year's E3 may have been filled to the brim with the brand's major stars like Cars' Lightning McQueen and Phineas and Ferb, but tucked away in a corner sat a demo station of Gardens of Time, Playdom's hidden object Facebook game. Next to the unassuming PC sat a Gardens of Time activity book, containing some stationary hidden object scenes, allowing visitors to see what the game was about without requiring them to actually sit down, mouse in hand.

While browsing through the book for new details or announcements, I found a bonus at the end. Disney and Playdom are offering users a free decoration for our gardens if you visit a particular link. Even if you didn't go to E3, you can still get your hands on this bonus item - just click right here. Once you visit this link, it appears that the bonus is the same regardless of visitor, and you'll receive a free Mandarin Ducks item.

We're not sure if this link will only remain active for a limited amount of time, but it does seem to be permanent. Either way, make sure you visit the link sooner, rather than later to claim your Mandarin Ducks decorative item while you know it's still available.

What do you think of your free Mandarin Ducks item? Are you happy Gardens of Time was shown off at the show?

Empires & Allies Cheats and Tips: Building a farm-less economy

If there's one thing more important in Empires & Allies than combat, it's resource management. But it's even more important to realize one extremely vital fact about resources: They always have a price tag. More times than not, you'll find that players are wiling to pay up in Coins for Oil, Wood and Ore rather than wait to create it themselves.

Since Coins are the most sought-after resource in the game, it's only natural for players to find the most effective way of acquiring them. As it stands, Farms are the only guaranteed source of Coins, but they're terribly inefficient. Thanks to Markets in E&A, it's entirely possible to create a sustainable empire with little to no Farms.

However, you must be a high-level player for this strategy to be effective. This is because the highest level Oil Wells, Lumber Mills and Ore Mines are the most efficient, and therefore will result in the highest profits. Here is what you'll need to create each of the buildings required for a Farm-less economy:

Oil Well III:

    13,500 Coins
    1,350 Wood
    40 Uranium
    1,800 Population


Lumber Mill III:

    15,750 Coins
    50 Wood
    45 Aluminum
    2,250 Population


Ore Mine III:

    26,750 Coins
    2,675 Wood
    65 Copper
    4,000 Population


Once you've reached the third tier of resource-generating buildings, it's time to mass produce them in order to produce both the amount of resources your empire personally needs, and excess resources to sell in your Markets. Generally speaking, you'll likely need 50 or more of each of these buildings to produce the resources needed, so the transition from a Farm-dependent economy to a Farm-less one will be slow. But the results are staggering, take a look:

Empires Allies spreadsheet
Click above for a larger image

According to this spreadsheet provided by an extremely skilled E&A player, chicharoncuneta, Farms provide marginal amounts of Coins at best compared to what you can make with a slew of Oil Wells and Lumber Mills by selling their spoils in the Market. We've omitted Ore Mines, because if you don't have an Ore like Gold or Uranium on your empire's land, profitability will be scarce. Sticking to Oil Wells and Lumber Mills is the best way to achieve complete independence from Farms.

Well, aside from the Goals that call for them--save a few for those. However, this approach to garnering Coins in the game relies on likely the most important resource of all: friends. Without active neighbors, you cannot sustain this economy. But between the Empires & Allies forums and its Facebook fan page, finding active friends shouldn't be an issue.

[Source and Image Credit: chicharoncuneta]

Check out the rest of our Empires & Allies Cheats and Tips right here.

FarmVille Pic of the Day: Fvbr's cherry tree vortex

Lately, we've been seeing a lot of interesting tree art in our FarmVille Pic of the Day posts. A few weeks ago we saw Jofrost's and Skya's designs that relied heavily on colorful trees to create fantastic effects. FarmVille Forum user, Fvbr, has also hopped on this hot trend by creating a pink vortex using only cherry trees.

At first glance, even the most knowledgeable FarmVille player might struggle to identify the item used to create the pink swirl. The cherry trees are so tightly packed together and hidden by other objects, that it creates a really unique, smooth, bright pink effect.

Unfortunately, Fvbr wasn't available to comment on their farm design. But I'm sure like all our featured farms, it was an epic undertaking requiring a great deal of time and effort. What I like most about Fvbr's farm is that it isn't anything in particular; it's simply a pretty design. Over the past few weeks we've seen farm artists create structures and landcapes, but it's nice to see something completely abstract for a change.

What do you guys think of Fvbr's cherry tree creation?

If you have an AWESOME FarmVille farm that you want to see featured on Games.com, please email a picture to editors@games.com, Include a few words about the inspiration for your design and maybe a few tips for people who need an assist!

Is CityVille headed to China, Egypt, Rome and more with Wonders?

Zynga is at it again with its consumer surveys. This time, it might be asking CityVille players what Wonders they would like to see in their cities. The survey doesn't mention "Wonders" specifically, the oft-teased and mysterious final tab on the Build menu. But the items mentioned, like the Eiffel Tower and Coliseum of Rome, are featured as silhouettes within the "Wonders" tab in-game.

The list ranges from The Great Wall of China to Machu Picchu and almost everything in between. However, the developer doesn't reveal any intent for how Wonders will operate in CityVille. Check out the list below:

    The Great Wall of China
    The Statue of Liberty
    Malaysia towers
    London Bridge
    Grand Bazaar
    Stone Henge
    Golden Gate Bridge
    Pantheon
    Coliseum of Rome
    Panama Canal
    Washington Monument
    Egyptian Pyramids
    Hoover Dam
    St. Louis Arch
    Taj Mahal
    Mayan Pyramids
    Dubai towers
    Sphinx
    Eiffel Tower
    Machu Picchu


Of course, of the 20 available options, players are restricted to three choices. If you had to force us, we'd love to see how Zynga handles Machu Picchu, the Egyptian Pyramids and the Pantheon. According to CityVille Wiki, which also somehow found images of two of the upcoming Wonders, these special buildings might increase the effects of Landmarks. Regardless of what we know, this survey (which you can answer here) is telling of the scope with which the developer is approaching the mysterious Wonders feature in CityVille. Let's just hope Wonders do not turn out like Landmarks did.

CityVille Eiffel Tower

[Sources and Image Credits: CityVille Fan Page, CityVille Wiki]

What do you expect from this upcoming feature? If you could choose any three Wonders to release first, what would they be?

CrowdStar hopes to strike mobile gold again with $10M StarFund

Since hitting the on the iOS App Store with Top Girl, CrowdStar looks like its hungry for another hit in the mobile games space. Well, another 40 hits, to be exact. The social game developer recently launched StarFund, a $10 million fund that the company will use to back independent mobile game developers, $250 thousand at a time, Mobile Entertainment reports.

StarFund has been made possible in part by YouWeb, the developer's original incubator, or a company that oversees a start up's first stages of life to ensure its survival with funding and other resources. Apparently, YouWeb has deep pockets, and is ready to lighten them on the burgeoning mobile games scene. And that's quite alright by CrowdStar.

"What we know is that great teams and products can still get to the top in mobile social gaming," CrowdStar head of mobile Blair Hamilton said. "With StarFund, we are looking to fund the next stars in mobile social games."

CrowdStar StarFund
Who knows, with 40 more mobile games slated to release with the help of CrowdStar and YouWeb, perhaps one of them will finally knock Angry Birds off of its feathery throne. Better yet, maybe this will help the It Girl creator to become a worthy opponent for Zynga and EA on the iPhone.

Do you think CrowdStar has a chance against the competition with its StarFund? What other types of games do you hope to see come from the company aside from It Girl and Top Girl?

Amazon will duel Zynga in the social games arena, recent hire suggests

Who else wants in on this? Linkedin? Twitter? It appears that gargantuan Internet retailer Amazon looks to enter the social games melee as well, as the company has hired veteran pen-and-paper (think Dungeons and Dragons) game designer Jonathan Tweet as Game Designer/Producer, according to his Linkedin page, IndustryGamers reports. There are no details regarding Amazon's first social game, but Tweet did confirm his new position to the website.

Tweet is best known for his involvement with Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition and RPGs (role-playing games) like Ars Magica and Everway. However, he has also worked most recently in Facebook games with Gamehouse, and considering Tweet will be leading the project, IndustryGamers guesses that the Amazon social game will have RPG elements. Will we have to swing a sword and fling spells for even better deals on Amazon? Probably not, but that'd be pretty darn cool.

This is far from the first time the Internet retailer has dived into gaming. Even before launching its own Android Appstore, through which PopCap has launched an Android game, the company bought Reflexive Entertainment in 2008 to sell its games online. It appears that, slowly but surely, Amazon is getting serious about gaming--just like everybody else. We've contacted Amazon for comment.

[Via VentureBeat]

Do you think Amazon can create a social game with the potential of a FarmVille or Bejeweled Blitz? How do you think the company will distribute this game, and will you be there to try it out?

Cafe World Designing Lisa Goals: Everything you need to know

A new goal series has shown up on the official Cafe World forums, but I personally don't have it in my game yet. Does this mean the goals are unreleased, or could they just be on a slow rollout? Either way, here's a look at the Designing Lisa goal series in Cafe World, which may or may not require you to cook different dishes than those listed here. If you're skeptical, just use these as a sort of outline, and wait until the goals actually show up in your game to take them seriously.

Designing Lisa 1

Ask for 8 Cloth Swatches
Serve 10 BBQ Chicken
Ask for 8 Paint Sample Cards

Apparently, Lisa is an interior design student, and wants to practice some of her skills inside your cafe. You'll need to help her do just that by asking your friends for the Swatches and the Paint Sample Cards, along with cooking BBQ Chicken, which takes five hours to cook.

Designing Lisa 2

Serve 30 Corndogs
Purchase 3 New Tables
Purchase 3 New Chairs

It doesn't look to matter which table or chair type you purchase, so feel free to purchase the cheapest ones available. Meanwhile, Corndogs take just one hour to prepare.

Designing Lisa 3

Purchase 3 New Floor Tiles
Ask for 8 Blue Rotini
Ask for 8 Red Farfalle

Don't worry about ruining your flooring, chefs. As soon as you purchase these floor tiles (perhaps after you finish this goal), you'll be able to swap them back out for your original floor tiles. Again, it doesn't seem to matter which floor tile you purchase, so save some coins and go cheap. For finishing this goal, you'll receive the Three-Color Pasta recipe for cooking in your cafe.

Designing Lisa 4

Serve Three-Color Pasta 12 Times
Ask for 6 Mixed Greens
Ask for 10 Dandelions

If you don't want to wait the six hours it takes Three-Color Pasta to cook, you can ask for these servings as well. For finishing this goal, you'll earn another new recipe: Dandelion Salad.

Designing Lisa 5

Purchase 3 New Wall Tiles
Serve 10 Kabayaki
Serve Dandelion Salad 40 Times

Kabayaki takes 12 hours to cook, but remember to bust out some spices or extra servings from your Gift Box if you're not in the mood to wait.

Designing Lisa 6

Ask for 10 Sea Scallops
Serve 16 Cranberry Casseroles
Ask for 8 Creme Fraiche

The Cranberry Casserole dish is earned by completing the Picnic at the Park catering order with a three star rating. It takes six hours to cook. Yet again, you'll be given a new recipe for completing this goal: Fancy Gourmet Sampler.

Designing Lisa 7

Serve Cup o' Joe 5 Times
Serve 12 Osso Bucco
Serve Fancy Gourmet Samplers 20 Times

The Osso Bucco takes 18 hours to cook. Meanwhile, you'll earn six servings of Cup o' Joe in a single preparation (costing nine energy), so just make it once and then serve five guests to finish that task off.

Designing Lisa 8

Buy any 3 Decor Items
Serve 45 Eggs Benedict
Master Dandelion Salad Through Level 1

Eggs Benedict takes six hours to cook. With this goal, you will have reached the end of the Designing Lisa series, but this one doesn't go out on a bang. That is, you aren't looking at another new recipe here; rather, just 3,000 coins and 300 Cafe Points.

And there you have it! A fairly standard goal series that will reward you with a couple of recipes for your time. There doesn't look to be a time limit on completing these goals, so feel free to finish that catering order or other goal series you're working on first.

What do you think of the Designing Lisa goals? Have they shown up in your cafe yet?

CityVille Most Valuable Palace allows your citizens to live like MVPs

It looks like one final item has been added to the sports theme of items in CityVille, in the form of a new house that's only available for a very, very limited time (we're talking less than a day). The MVP - Most Valuable Palace home costs a whopping 80 City Cash to add to your town, but it adds an equally large figure of 2,500 citizens to your town.

If you're lucky enough to have that number upgraded through random boosts (remember, your friends "tending" to the home can trigger those same boosts), you can eventually raise that 2,500 number to 4,500 citizens! That's a huge group of MVPs (how will they all share that tiny basketball court?)! Once you've built this one (it takes up just a 5x5 square), it will generate 494 coins and can be collected from once each day.

Again, this is an incredibly limited time offer. In the time you're reading this, the house is slipping farther and farther out of your grasp, so what are you waiting for?! If you have any interest in this one whatsoever, head into the store before it expires (perhaps for good).

Is 80 City Cash too much to pay for a single home, even one with such impressive stats? Will you purchase the MVP - Most Valuable Palace for your city in CityVille?

Kixeye's War Commander blasts onto Facebook for all to conquer

Hardcore gamers have established a beachhead on Facebook, and now can make their next offensive in War Commander. The next social strategy game by San Francisco-based Kixeye has entered public beta is now live and available for all would-be commanders on Facebook to dominate with. The game isn't a far cry from the studio's previous efforts, except for one thing.

Players can finally control individual units on the battle field in real time as they slaughter enemy units and demolish buildings. Clearly inspired by traditional strategy staples like Command and Conquer on the PC, War Commander continues the developer's tradition of real time gameplay with asynchronous interaction between friends ... or enemies.

Based on our time trying out the game's closed beta test, our very own Brandy Shaul found attacking and defending bases to be a largely passive experience, regardless of whether you can now directly control units. Personally, I find the choice to decide which unit gets fired at first by enemy defense turrets a strategic boost, though a small one.

Regardless, this marks Kixeye's next step in its ultimate goal to bring a true RTS (real time strategy) experience to Facebook, Kixeye CEO Will Harbin told VentureBeat. "It's the most advanced strategy game ever created for Facebook," Harbin said. "We're getting closer and closer to real-time strategy titles that you've seen on the PC."

Gallery: War Commander on Facebook
Based on my brief experience with the game, War Commander suffers from brief lag issues at the moment, with intermittent pauses during gameplay. However, Kixeye appears to be hard at work on optimizing the game already. (It is in "open beta," after all.) "We're learning from the past and optimizing the code base more and more," Harbin told VentureBeat.

While Kixeye mentioned that it's "waiting for an onslaught of competition" that it has yet to see, the company does have one worthy opponent that it has already exchanged stern words with over its most recent release, Kabam and Edgeworld. We're sure this rivalry is far from over, so why not check the latest traded blow right now?

Click here to play War Commander on Facebook Now >

Are you a fan of hardcore strategy games on Facebook? Regardless, what do you think of the growing hardcore scene on the platform traditionally dominated by mothers and other casual players?

Empires & Allies Red Tide Rising Goals: Everything you need to know

It looks like our very own little Cold War is about to erupt in Empires & Allies, as Zynga has introduced new Goals to the game to coincide with the Red Tide Rising item event. This long, limited edition series of a whopping seven Goals will send you on a hunt for the mysterious Element Z that ... doesn't seem to go much of anywhere. Hey, at least you'll score a sweet Tank and other rewards for your hard work. Here's everything you need to know about the Red Tide Rising Goals in E&A:

Come Together

    Harvest from 8 Neighbor Farms
    Revive 6 Neighbor Farms
    Collect from 20 Neighbor Houses


This is all about visiting friends. In fact, considering each friend visit grants you five friendly actions, it will take at least six visitations to complete this Goal. And once you do, an EMP power-up awaits as your reward.
Come Together
Capture Evidence

    Collect 5 Defecting Scientists


In this simple Goal, all you need to do is ask your friends for this item, which we'd imagine you're all familiar with by now. Once you do, enjoy a free 1,000 Coins.

The More the Merrier

    Have 2 New Friends Play E&A


Alright, now this is just downright mean. Apparently, it's up to you to be an ambassador for Zynga's strategy game. You must invite two friends who have yet to play E&A, so have fun with that. Hey, you could always just make two mock accounts, have them befriend your real one, install the game via an invite from the real account and finally delete them. But you didn't hear that from us. Your reward for this Goal is a limited edition Sputnik Statue.
Red Tide Rising items
Tooling Up

    Have 10 Army Upgrades
    Build 8 Army Units
    Place 8 Army Units


To upgrade your Army or Land units, use the Army Research Lab (find out how in our guide right here). Then, the next two Goals are simple: Just build some throwaway units like Cadet Soldiers, which cost 100 Coins apiece, and place them. For completing these tasks, enjoy a free 100 Oil.

Release the Hounds

    Use Upgraded Army Units to Destroy 22 Enemy Units
    Use Upgrade Army Units to Inflict 1,000 Damage


This Goal doesn't dictate where exactly you have to destroy or damage said units, so try just entering a low-level Campaign battle and wreaking havoc on Captain Krunsch. You can also retreat from battles to avoid losing any of your precious upgraded Army units. This Goal, once completed, will reward you with 100 Wood.
Red Tide Rising items 2
Disposal!

    Collect 5 Bomb Disposal Robots


This simple Goal requires that you ask friends for the Robots, so ask away and be done with it. You'll score another 1,000 Coins for completing this Goal.

Shared Meal!

    Harvest 24 Red Onions
    Harvest 12 Neighbors' Farms
    Collect 250 Oil


To harvest 24 Red Onions, you will need a total of 9,216 Coins, and each crop takes 1 day and eight hours to complete. To harvest 12 Neighbor Farms, you will have to visit at least three friends. Your reward for completing this Goal is a limited edition Tank, the SU-122 with an impressive 200 Health.

[Source: Empires and Allies Base]

Check out the rest of our Empires & Allies Cheats and Tips right here.

Have you started these new Russian-themed Goals yet? What do you think of the rewards at stake, and what tips might you have for completing these Goals even faster?

No More Heroes creator to spit out three more Mobage social games

And only one of which will actually involve grasshoppers. Grasshopper Manufacture, the Japanese developer responsible for stylish, gory hardcore games like No More Heroes, revealed just before the Tokyo Game Show that it will release three mobile social games through the now-global Mobage network, Kotaku reports.

The first game to be released internationally under this new deal between the developer and DeNA, which runs the Mobage network with recent acquisition ngmoco, is Frog Minutes. The game already released in Japan back in March, so this will likely just be a localized version for Mobage on Android phones in the U.S. and abroad.

In Frog Minutes, players disturb parts of a forest scene to stir up various insects and feed them to frogs. The more quickly players do this, the higher their score will climb, it seems. Ribbeting, isn't it? (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Not much was revealed about Grasshopper Manufacture's other two Mobage projects other than their titles: Humans vs Zombies and Alien Busters.

The developer plans to show more of those games at a later date, according to Kotaku. Grasshopper Manufacture is placing big bets on social games with a mobile social version of No More Heroes, which designer Suda 51 said he hopes it will be bloodiest social game around.

While it's interesting to see a Japanese developer known for taking risks with unique games major consoles that (unfortunately) sell poorly hop into the low-risk, high-profit world of social gaming, it wasn't hard to see this one coming. And considering the effect social games has had on traditional American developers, we doubt this is the last news like this we'll hear from Japan.

Are you excited to see Grasshopper Manufacture go full-bore into social gaming? What other Japanese developers do you expect to see enter the space?

Karma Kingdom looks to combine social good, social fun on Facebook

A Facebook game that can score us some good karma points--where do we sign up? We've seen games like FarmVille and CityVille run social good campaigns, but Singapore-based developer Asvathaa has a made an entire game of the idea. The developer just released Karma Kingdom on Facebook, a quest-driven game that looks to help you "Create Your Better World," according to its tag line.

Karma Kingdom integrates Indian mythology into modern lessons of doing good for others. It does this by allowing players to curate an island nation and maintain their citizens' happiness using the three tenants of happiness: health, community and knowledge. You will be guided by several Indian gods and goddesses in your efforts to keep the people happy through quests.

You do this through creating homes for your people to live in, and then surrounding those homes with decorations that promote Health, Community and Knowledge. It seems as if it's important to keep that balance in the decorations you place. Otherwise, your citizens will quickly become unhappy and provide less Goodwill, the resource you need to provide for your people.

Players can plant crops to provide more Goodwill, and the game doesn't seem to be governed by any energy system. (Now, that's something fresh.) But what's more important is the real goodwill Asvathaa aims to create with Karma Kingdom. The Singapore developer has promised to donate a 10 percent of its income through Facebook Credits to non-profit charities. (However, Asvathaa doesn't say which charities it will donate to exactly.)
Karma Kingdom in action
The more happiness-generating decorations you buy in the game using Facebook Credits, the more Asvathaa will donate ... somewhere. "We want to offer a personal CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) platform for every individual as the desire to give back exists in each one of us," Asvathaa CEO and founder Ashok Desai said in a release. If anything, the game looks to be a fresh take on the genre given that it doesn't limit your play time through energy, and maybe it will do some good, too.

Click here to play Karma Kingdom on Facebook Now >

Have you tried this new Facebook game yet, and what do you think of the fact that it doesn't limit you via energy? Would you ever pay up in the game, not knowing exactly where your Facebook Credits are going?

Game of the Day: Madpet Half-Pipe

Help the Madpets tear up the half-pipe in this cute skateboarding game. Choose between cute foxes, pigs, bunnies, and more. Then select between Free Ride, Challenge, or Big Air; and you're ready to hit the pipe. Think you've mastered the half-pipe and have what it takes to be a pro skater? Then open up the combo list and attempt some of the more advanced tricks. Complete them all and you've earned yourself a place amongst the best of the Madpet skaters.

Click here to play Madpet Half-Pipe!
madpet half pipe game of the day     madpet half pipe game of the day
Pro Tips:

    To execute the harder tricks, press the combo buttons at the same time, that way your pet won't preemptively do a different trick.
    Practice in free mode before attempting challenge and big air. That way you can learn some of the higher scoring tricks before taking them to competition.
    Even if your trick looks as though it has completed by the time you land, if you cut it close, often your pet will fall and lose all momentum. Play it safe and finish your tricks well before the landing.


Click here to play Madpet Half-Pipe!

What did you think of Madpet Half-Pipe? Were you able to execute all the tricks?

Club Penguin fires a salvo of fun with Puffle Launch for iPhone [Video]

Parents, secure the iPhones and iPads. If Club Penguin isn't going to slide onto Facebook anytime soon, we'll take the next best thing: the iPhone. Puffle Launch, first released as a mini game within the kids world of Club Penguin over a year ago, launches onto iPhone tomorrow, Sept. 15. The game, which will be available for the paltry price of $.99, puts players in control of Daredevil, one of the many Puffles available in the existing Disney-owned web game.

Just like in Club Penguin, kids can fire Daredevil from a cannon, careening into obstacles and collecting Coins. Better yet, those Coins can be transferred to kids' existing Club Penguin accounts to buy new items from the web game's store. As players advance through the game's many daring and dangerous aerial courses, they will eventually have to face the Crab Boss.

According to a Club Penguin representative, Puffle Launch is already played by 150,000 kids daily, and a new Puffle is adopted every second in the kid-friendly virtual world. (That amounts to more than 20 million of the little balls of love adopted in 2011 already!) With statistics like that, color us baffled as to why Club Penguin has yet to hit Facebook, especially considering the amount of preteens that are already active on the social network.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning of Club Penguin's expansion beyond its little home on the web and onto new platforms (aside from Nintendo's stable of consoles). Check out the game's trailer below, but you might not want to show the kids just yet, unless you're willing to buy it on every iOS device in the house.


Are you excited that Club Penguin has finally made it to iOS? Where or how else would you like to see the Club Penguin franchise go?

FarmVille Pic of the Day: Yesn's flower bouquet forest

After featuring Hemi 426's zoo farm yesterday, I decided to feature something a bit more abstract today. Yesn's FarmVille tree bouquet is exactly that. Yesn seems to have thrown out the structure, thrown out the organization, and settled with a very organic, fun, and ultimately beautiful design.

If you've ever read any of my FarmVille Pic of the Day posts, you know I love seeing art created with items other than the usual hay bales. I'm especially fond of tree art, and this is an excellent example of how to flawlessly execute it. I'd say this FarmVille design is on the same level as the fire-breathing dragon and giant Lady Gaga, two tree art masterpieces. In addition to the wild design, the arrangement of flowers itself is very nice. Yesn seems to have worked hard to ensure the bouquet doesn't feature any flower repeats, each one is unique.

Great job Yesn, and here's to hoping you have plenty of arborists!

What do you think of Yesn's FarmVille flower arrangement?

If you have an AWESOME FarmVille farm that you want to see featured on Games.com, please email a picture to editors@games.com, Include a few words about the inspiration for your design and maybe a few tips for people who need an assist!

Google: Games platform 'is not ready to handle' opening up to creators

There's a reason that Google+ Games has been a slow burn since its launch this summer: It can't handle much more. Speaking exclusively with Gamasutra, Google+ game developer advocate Todd Kerpelman said, "And that is our larger goal, to bring in more developers, and eventually open it up to anybody that wants to develop on Google+. Just right now the system is not ready to handle that."

Google has been quite exclusive with which developers it allows to bring their games onto Google+ Games, working with only the biggest names in casual and social games like Rovio, Zynga, PopCap and Kabam to name a few. (Well, there aren't many more than that, really.) While this is partially due to the fact that Google+ would likely be crushed if the gates were opened to everyone at once, the company is still working out how exactly it wants to handle developers.

"I'm not sure what our plans are - to be completely open versus something like an Apple-style, curated business - that's still to be determined, and we're still working it out," Kerpelman said to Gamasutra. "...The platform has only been out a couple of months, so we've got a way to go."

Gamasutra notes that, if Google opted to open up Google+ Games like it has the Android Market--which is essentially a wild west of games and apps--it would almost certainly have to handle counterfeit games. And that's something, according to Kerpelman, Google simply doesn't want in its online marketplaces anymore. (Who else just screamed hallelujah?)

This news comes just as a Google engineer name-dropped the Google+ Games platform specifically in a rant, implying that the initiative was an afterthought for Google. We're impressed by the platform's pristine presentation (and we're sure game makers love that tiny 5 percent price tag), but Kerpelman's right: Google's got a way to go, and updates like this are certainly steps.

Have you tried playing social games on Google+ yet? What do you think of the experience compared to Facebook and other networks, and what do you think it needs?

Sky Pirates of Neo Terra soars through Facebook and iOS this fall

Your straddling pod racer territory rather closely there, Day 21--we're keeping an eye on you. The Vancouver, B.C.-based social game developer announced Sky Pirates of Neo Terra, a futuristic racing game based on a graphic novel of the same name, set to hit Facebook and iOS this fall.

The game is displayed in full 3D, though players will need to download Unity in order to join the fun. Sky Pirates hands players the reins of sky-bound racing vehicles and pits them against the online competition in real time.

According to Day 21, this is a first for Facebook. (At least the "racing" part is.) Designed for players aged 10 and up--we all know kids are on Facebook already--the characters and artwork in Sky Pirates is by comic and pop surrealism artist, Camilla d'Errico. In the magic-meets-machine world of Neo Terra, Glidewing racing is the most popular sport, but this year the evil Pirate King just might and get the chance to name the next leader of the tribes ... did we get that about right?
Sky Pirates in Action
Players get to choose between a number of racers and vehicles, and compete with five of their friends in races on over a dozen different tracks. Once they get the hang of piloting a Glidewing, players can customize their very own and take flight against the ruthless Pirate King. And if you happen to win one of the Great Races, you will get the chance to be immortalized in the accompanying web comic. A full 3D racing game on Facebook that's attached to an ongoing web comic? We're intrigued.

Do you think Day 21 will find success on Facebook with Sky Pirates? What do you think of 3D gaming on Facebook so far, and do you think it has a place on the platform?

Row Sham Bow CEO: 'This isn't just a profession' [Interview]

For Phil Holt (pictured), CEO of Orlando-Fla.-based social game start-up Row Sham Bow, social games have been a part of his professional life for far longer than the nearly seven months since he co-founded the studio. During his second, 5-year stint with EA at its Tiburon studio, also in Orlando, Holt has seen the company adapt to social gaming's effects on the industry at large.

Only little more than six months before Row Sham Bow released its first game, Woodland Heroes, Holt realized that social games are the future of the industry. We sat down with Holt recently to find out what specifically drove him to co-found his own studio, what he hopes Row Sham Bow will change about these games and where Woodland Heroes goes from here.

On the company website it seems that the team disappointed with the state of social games. If that's the case, what is it about the space that has drawn you in?

I think it's a fascinating space. I was trying to describe this to somebody the other day: You have zero barrier to entry on an open platform-anybody can develop for it. You don't have to become a licensed developer, nobody is reviewing your content--approving or not approving it. Literally, if you've got the wherewithal to deploy on the platform you can.

It's measured in hundreds of millions of people, and the technology everyone uses is off-the-shelf. It's widely available. That I think is unique in the history of technology: That a marketplace that is that big, is that wide open and has such a low barrier to entry has never happened before. To me it's like, "Holy crap, that's a massive audience." The innovation in the social space is more focused around how data can drive design decisions.
Woodland Heroes concept art
What is it about social games industry specifically that you hope to change with Row Sham Bow?

We hope that we're going to go into this space and learn very rapidly, and use the trail blazed as way of not repeating a lot of the mistakes. With that said, we feel like the games are more--if you talk to people that play a lot of social games, you listen to the way they describe their experience. They're like, 'Yeah, I'm still playing Game X.' They sort of sheepishly admit the fact that they're playing.

You start digging deeper and it's like, 'Well, I can't really tell you why I'm playing.' And they never use the words like, 'I'm having a blast.' It's more like, 'I just can't stand leaving whatever I'm building alone.' It's a compulsive experience. It's more akin to the people you see in a casino late at night still dropping nickels in the slot machine--it's the psychological compulsion that drives people to play these things rather than, 'I'm playing it, because I'm having a blast.' That pure entertainment and pure fun I think is really lacking in the space, and that's the kind of thing we're trying to bring. At the same, we want to learn from the people who came before us.

Do you think that the Facebook platform is capable of merging compulsion and joy of play?

Absolutely. I can't think of anything that would prevent it. I'm a child of the '70s, and I spent a lot of my youth in the arcades. Those games, from a technology standpoint, are so primitive by comparison to any of the games out there today. Yet they got a few simple things right: The games are instantly learnable--you learn how to play and arcade game with one quarter. [They're] instantly accessible and impossible to master. Brilliant game design.

That's a very rewarding experience. Now, arcade games are based on dexterity. The Facebook platform I don't think is going to reward that type of play mechanic, at least I'm not going to do it. The thing that we try to do is that you need to make decisions in the game, and things need to have consequences. At its base terms, I think is the foundation of creating strategy. And that I think creates a compelling experience.

I think that what you do, as a designer, is create an emotional attachment to the experience--you've got some level of commitment to the game. I think that one of the ultimate challenges in the free-to-play space is there is no financial commitment. So, the design has to create the commitment, and one of the ways to do that is you become emotionally invested in the characters or your progress or the purchases you've made. And if you feel like, if the stakes are high enough, that you're going to lose something like that, then you're going to care.
Gallery: Woodland Heroes on Facebook
What are Row Sham Bow's goals as a studio? Do you hope to take the fight to Zynga and EA, so to speak, or carve out a niche for yourself in the space, and what's your battle plan?

Well, you can never out-Zynga Zynga and out-EA EA. That is a losing strategy. No matter how big you are, I think you have the define your way into the world. We certainly feel like there are some under-served parts of the market. I think it has to do with blending more traditional game mechanics with the data-driven design that's prevalent on the platform. What I think the existing players have done so well is ease-of-use, a good first-time user experience and really ramping people up.

The thing I haven't talked about is that the art in our game--I would put it up against any game on the platform. I think it's stellar, and that used to be a huge motivation for people playing. The reason I loved games like Diablo 2 is because you wanted to see the next character, the next level. That sense of discovery through art is a major play motivation, and again most people have glossed over that.

Where did the team come up with the idea for Woodland Heroes?

When we started the company, many of us had experience in the space, and quite a few of us didn't. We wanted to create an environment that would get us up to speed quickly. So literally the first thing we did was release a game. And if you searched for it, you're not going to find it--it was a rock, paper, scissors game. We just wanted to go through the exercise of start-to-finish. And we learned a lot.

The other thing we did was play like literally everything out there in a very guided way. We sort of broke down the competitive titles. We also had a number of concepts that we had come to the company with. I didn't want us to be the kind of company that sat around and talked about ideas, but I wanted us to react to stuff that we could actually play with. So, we prototyped.

We spent about three week wherein anyone in the company could work on any idea and every few days we would get together and review what we had done. We slowly kind of whittled down to two ideas: Woodland Heroes was one of them, but it was called some different at the time. Woodland Heroes initially started as a space conquest type game. Somebody in the studio said, 'If we want this to be a little more broadly accepted, why not animals instead of space?'

The thing that we liked about it was the battle mechanic. We thought it was a great mechanic that we could build from. We started at the center of the game with what was going to be a fun, core loop that players would be involved in, and we built outward from there.

Woodland Heroes characterI haven't seen many social features in the game, so is there anything particularly compelling about them, as opposed to most social games?

Probably not yet, but today is actually our six-month anniversary. I'm just damn proud of the fact that in six months we were able to start a company, and hire a team. We opened our code editors and literally the first line of code was written six months ago. From zero to game launch in six months I think is pretty cool. So, we've got lots of ideas about what we want to do with social features, visitation and interactions with friends.

Again, we think there's more than just 'go visit your buddy's farm.' We want meaningful interactions that take place between friends, and whether that's cooperative or head-to-head, we've got plenty of ideas. We're going to try some stuff and see how the audience reacts. This is the fun part: Now really a key partner at the table is the audience, so we're going to build a game that the audience is reacting to. Ultimately, the audience is going to determine what the game becomes.

Does the game's strategy gameplay and setting set a precedent for Row Sham Bow, or will the studio pursue different genres and themes in the future?

I think one of the things that really is appealing to all of us is just how much creative freedom we have. Being a start-up, being in a space where you can build a game in six months you can just take a lot more creative risks. I don't think we're going to be bound by any set of genres, settings, character styles or art types. So, we're just going to use the same process that we used to create this game.
Woodland Heroes environment
Can you talk about any future plans for Woodland Heroes, or future Row Sham Bow games?

Right now, we're on a weekly cadence of major content updates. We're trying to push new things to the game every Tuesday. So, we're going to be on that cadence for awhile, continuing to add to the game and responding to the major issues that we see. There's some stuff we want to do around the world map where I think that usability is a little on the low side.

Ultimately, it's going to be where the audience is playing, what the data tells us about the audience and how we think we can best engage them. From the get-go, our focus has been on, 'How do we build a game that we've always wanted to play ourselves?' It's not that we've sat for years thinking, 'Man, it would be great to be a raccoon and fight some bears,' but just make a really fun experience. We're gamers ourselves--this isn't just a profession.

Thanks for taking to time to talk with us, Phil.

[Home Page Image Credit: Orlando Business Journal]

Have you tried Woodland Heroes on Facebook yet? What do you think of Row Sham Bow's strategy and goals, and can the company carve out a niche for itself amongst the mob of social game makers?

Capcom CEO: Social games had 'earth-shattering' effect on industry

But the guy means more than, "Holy moley, these things are money machines!" During an interview with Bloomberg Japan, Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto likened the rise of social gaming to when pinball machines were overrun in arcades by game cabinets, according to Serkan Toto. If there's one company to make that point, it's certainly Capcom.

The company behind horror and action franchises like Resident Evil and Street Fighter has enjoyed more international success in mobile social games than even Japanese giants like DeNA and Gree. Of course, that's thanks to its Beeline Interactive subsidiary, which is responsible for the wildly successful Smurfs Village (and Smurfs Grabber, sort of) on U.S. iPhones. In fact, the game was so ... compelling to consumers that Capcom had to rework how it handled in-game purchases.

Speaking with Bloomberg Japan, Tsujimoto said that social games make up about 6.6 percent of Capcom's profits, but he expects that to explode to about 30 percent "in a few years." But despite the wild profits Capcom expects to make from social games, Tsujimoto said to Bloomberg Japan that he's still excited about Nintendo's upcoming console, the Wii U. Well, here's to hoping the console has some sort of social gaming support, but we're sure the company has wised up by now.

Is it fair to compare social games' effect on the game industry to that of arcade games on pinball machines in the late '70s and early '80s? What company will get into social gaming next?

Collapse! Blast, UNO Boost burst onto GameHouse games portal

Between its new mobile platform and now this, Facebook looms like the spaceship from Independence Day over the Internet. Casual and social game creator GameHouse announced that both of its Facebook games, Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost, are now available on GameHouse.com. The games are playable on GameHouse's home turf through Facebook Connect.

This allows players to switch between platforms with the same scores and gameplay data. More importantly--if not for GameHouse, then the Internet on the whole--this marks a creative partnership between Facebook and GameHouse that brings Facebook Credits to GameHouse.com. This is a first for Facebook that allows users to make purchases on third-party websites, games and apps using its exclusive currency, namely Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost.

According to GameHouse, this is currently in the test phase, allowing players to buy virtual goods using Facebook Credits within Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost on the GameHouse website slash games portal. The process of buying virtual items using Facebook Credits outside of Facebook is seamless. "We truly believe that every game will be social someday, whether it's played on Facebook, Google+, or at GameHouse.com," the company wrote in a blog post.
GameHouse social games
This news follows GameHouse's recent reveal of Bayou Blast, the developer's next game in the Blast series of social games. The game looks to be an arguably fresh take on the match-three genre that PopCap popularized with Bejeweled. As for Facebook Credits appearing outside of Facebook, this could have massive implications not only for social games, but the commerce on the web across the board.

Click here to play Collapse! Blast and here to play UNO Boost on GameHouse.com Now >

Will Facebook Credits' availability through other online game platforms will change anything about online games? Is this indicative of all online games ultimately attaching to social networks?

Former Playdom GM takes the reins of social game start-up 519 Games

Hey, at least it's not another traditional game exec jumping ship. Former Playdom GM Lloyd Melnick (pictured) left the Disney-owned social game maker earlier this summer for 519 Games, a social game start-up that plans to release its first game in 2012. Melnick announced the move on the down-low through his personal blog on his first day as CEO, Aug. 29.

The studio is a joint venture between EW Scripps Company and Capitol Broadcasting. But more importantly, the GM-turned-chief has big ambitions for 519 Games. (Like, massive, turn-the-industry-on-its-head ambitions.) "We are currently building a fantastic team and will be one of the top five social gaming companies (both social web and social mobile) by the end of 2012," Melnick wrote in a blog post. "More details will emerge over the next few weeks."

Those details haven't exactly emerged yet, but it's only a matter of time. Melnick, who worked for Disney International as Playdom's head of international operations, had nothing but thanks and praise for the company. "It was this great collection of people that helped me learn and grow professionally that I can now move on to the biggest opportunity I have ever had," Melnick wrote. "Again, thank you all."

Melnick left Playdom and Disney just as doubts grew as to whether the latter could properly use the former to succeed in social games. Since then, Playdom has finally moved to take advantage of Disney's immense branding support, first slapping "Disney's" onto Gnome Town. A number of Playdom games featuring the company's properties will see the light in 2012. Playdom also announced Secret Agent X, a Facebook game shrouded in secrecy that lives up to its title--very sneaky, sis.

[Via Gamasutra]

Is it unwise or admirable for Melnick to challenge the top five before his first game hits? Can Disney and Playdom chomp on an even bigger chunk of the top five with Disney-branded games?

The Killer Pumpkin assaults Pocket God on Facebook this Halloween

Do not under any circumstances mistake this for The Great Pumpkin. A killer pumpkin beast has attacked everybody's favorite pygmies in Pocket God on Facebook. Quebec-based Frima Studio has released a Halloween update to its social rendition of Pocket God, complete with new quests and powers, which means new ways (and reasons) to send pygmies to their doom.

While the game is down for maintenance as of this writing, a new Global Challenge awaits the game's 190,000 monthly players. The Great Jack-o'-Pygmy wants pumpkins everywhere this Halloween, and has granted players with the power to summon a giant pumpkin that transforms pygmies into pumpkins. And when those gourds grow to gigantic proportions, they can even be used to crush more pygmies.

A healthy seven solo quests have been introduced in honor of the costume and candy-filled day. Alright, we know all you care about is how you're going to squish more pygmies. Does this top a unicorn that farts radioactive rainbows? Not by a long shot, but hey, it's the Halloween season, and pumpkins just work. Besides, to best the unicorn, Frima would have to make a unicorn that farts double rainbows--that's still hip, right?

Check out the rest of our Halloween coverage right here >

Have you played Pocket God on Facebook before? What do you like about the game's social edition, and what would you do to change it?

Triple Town, 'Civilization of match-3 games', goes Kindle to Facebook

Triple Town is a new puzzler on Facebook that had its start on the Amazon Kindle last October, where it flourished in popularity. It was created by Spry Fox, a game studio founded by Daniel Cook, the co-creator of Realm of the Mad God, and David J. Edery, a former Worldwide Portfolio Manager for Xbox Live Arcade. After a spiffy makeover, Triple Town made its debut on Facebook and Google+ Games earlier this month, with plans to go mobile. According to AppData, it's now attracted 190,000 monthly players on Facebook.

Hailed by one reviewer as "the Civilization of match-three games," Triple Town is a unique title with familiar aesthetics. Spry Fox originally chose the Kindle as the game's platform, which was explained as "an interesting emerging opportunity" by Edery. But as the game grew popular, Spry Fox wanted to spread the love around. Citing a lack of Bejeweled Blitz-type games on Facebook, Spry Fox decided to push for Triple Town's launch on the social network, as well as make it available in both English and Spanish.
Triple Town merge objects
A basic principle to understanding how to play Triple Town is the following idea: "Grass turns into bushes, bushes into trees, trees into huts, and so on." When you start a round, you're presented with a grid in a woodland theme. There are no time limits and no energy limit. Though you do run out of moves eventually, the creator made sure that you get so many moves that any average player would be able to earn enough virtual currency to buy more moves through play alone.
Triple Crown Double Combos
Like most match-3 games--Bejeweled Blitz and Diamond Dash, for instance--you'll receive random pieces one at a time, but you get to control where they go on your grid. But unlike those traditional games, matching stuff doesn't make it disappear. Instead, matching stuff creates other stuff that's worth a lot more, thereby, netting you more points. The goal of the game is to get as high a score as possible by continuing to merge objects and not running out of space to put things.
Triple Town bears church
The game also throws in some monkey wrenches in the form of Bears and Ninja Bears to make things more challenging. These are pieces that will move around the grid even after you've put them down. Despite having evil, beady and glowing red eyes, the bears are pretty adorable. They'll totter about, roar, and make grumbly ursine noises as you play. On the flip side, other pieces will be there to help you, like the Blue Crystal and Imperial Bot.
Triple Town gameplay
You can see how all these elements can make the game simple, yet surprisingly complex. Every time you move objects on the grid and a match occurs, you've altered the playing field. I thought I'd jump in for a few minutes for one round, but the better of a player you are, the longer you can last, and this game can easily suck up an hour.

Triple Town is truly unlike any game I've ever seen before, for Facebook or otherwise. The closest comparison I can think of is Scott Brodie's Hero Generations, which also involves manipulating an evolving grid-based landscape with a fantasy setting. But Brodie's game is more like an old-fashioned, 8-bit role-playing adventure game. Triple Town also isn't a social game at all, since the only element is a weekly leaderboard, though Spry Fox has plans to expand the game in the future, hinting that it's only a small aspect of a larger Triple Town universe.

'Zynga is making games for accidental gamers,' studio VP says

Look, nobody gets hooked on FarmVille by accident--there's always that friend. Zynga studio VP Bill Mooney (pictured) recently spoke to students at The University of California at Santa Cruz during its Research Review Day about the company's design philosophy. During his talk, titled "Social Games: An Overview and Exploration," Mooney said, "Zynga is making games for accidental gamers," according to IndustryGamers.

The studio head was implying that Zynga doesn't create video games for hardcore or traditional gamers. Sure, that's stating the obvious, but it's vitally important to remember when looking at Zynga's games. They're not exactly technological marvels, accessible to those who just don't get the complexity of controllers and traversing 3D space. But as players progress, they become well-versed in increasingly complex interfaces, thus becoming, well, gamers.

Regardless, social gamers still aren't the same as traditional game fans, and probably never will be. (At least until another friend introduces them to something new.) And because of these "accidental gamers" have a different understanding of what a game should be, Zynga says it caters to that understanding. "You're not shipping a product, you're running an amusement park," Mooney told the students.

And traditional game companies are trying to keep up with that philosophy, wary that even hardcore gamers might yearn for that experience. (Just look at Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty Elite.) "Don't be like work, don't ask too much, be social, help me connect," Mooney said. That, ironically enough, might be the burgeoning industry's greatest challenge, if you ask the right folks.

[Image Credit: Josh Lowensohn (CNET)]

What do you expect from your social games these days? Have you come to expect this level of "connectedness" from other games or services, too?

Zynga studio VP Lou Castle leaves for Las Vegas casino games maker

Hey, look on the bright side, Zynga: At least the guy didn't leave for a competitor. IndustryGamers reports that former Zynga studio VP Lou Castle (pictured) left for Shuffle Master, a Las Vegas-based creator of various casino game products like shufflers. According to IndustryGamers, Castle's move was purely for personal reasons, just months after joining the social game giant.

"The Zynga gig was clearly a 5 day a week, 24/7 requirement," Castle told IndustryGamers. "[I have] twins in senior year of high school and [Shuffle Master's] a local job. Life's too short, so I couldn't resist." Quite the noble move, eh? Well, Castle had already served on Shuffle Master's board of directors for six years before becoming the company's CSO, or chief strategy officer. Castle opted to resign from his position on the board as Chairman of the Audit Committee before taking on the job.

Castle is best known for his contributions in creating the famed strategy game series, Command & Conquer, as co-founder of Westwood Studios. The former Zynga executive most recently joins Treasure Isle GM Jeremy Verba in leaving the company. Verba also entered a completely different industry, becoming the CEO of famous (or infamous?) online dating website eHarmony.

These recent departures from Zynga aren't to other game companies, but away from the games industry entirely. Whether Zynga proves to be the video game swan song for industry veterans has yet to be seen. But the San Francisco-based social games maker presses on, with almost too many games announced recently.

Why do you think folks are leaving Zynga, but for companies in completely different industries? Is this the start of a trend of the social game maker?

Facebook has more gamers than Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo combined?

Facebook games are big, but they might not be that huge just yet. At the company's London edition of the F8 conference, Facebook director of partnerships Ethan Beard said that it has more gamers than Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft combined, TechRadar reports. We're not exactly certain what measure Beard was referring to, because our math adds up a bit differently.

"Social design inside social gaming has driven fantastic growth," Beard told F8 conference-goers. "It's revolutionising gaming. We have over 200 million social gamers on Facebook every month; that's more Facebook gamers than the Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo combined."

But after looking at the number of units sold by each company, compared to Facebook's reported 200 million monthly players, we're not 100 percent on board with that call. Nintendo has shipped over 87 million Wii units and over 147 million Nintendo DS systems to date, as of June 30. And Microsoft has sold over 57 million Xbox 360 consoles as of Sept. 30, while Sony sold nearly 52 million PlayStation 3 rigs as of July 31.

Social games have no doubt garnered more players in such a short amount of time than any gaming platform to date. But, if you look at the amount of consoles shipped and sold by all three major manufacturers, Beard's claim appears to fall a bit short. That is, unless Beard is talking online gamers. Then Facebook just might have the big three beat, to which Beard said, "These aren't games with friends sprinkled on top; it's more about social interactions with gaming on top."

Do you think there are more Facebook gamers than there are of all three major game consoles combined? Will there be a time when social gaming is bigger than traditional gaming across the board?

'Like' CastleVille by Zynga if you like donating to charity, in-game items

Zynga's spurring its horse-drawn wagon with CastleVille in tow, as the company announced a new Zynga.org initiative. The first charitable promotion attached to a Zynga game that isn't even out yet, the San Francisco-based social game maker will donate some hefty chunks of cash to Direct Relief, Save the Children and Water.org. But only if enough of you "Like" CastleVille.

When five million players click the "Like" button on the official CastleVille fan page right here, Zynga will donate $40,000, $30,000 and $20,000 to the three organizations. However, the company will leave it up to the players to decide which organization receives the largest sum of the three. As more fans "Like" the fan page, more in-game items will unlock for release when CastleVille finally launches. (See the CastleVille Like Meter below.)

But don't worry if you don't reach the 5 million "Likes" in time, as Zynga plans to donate $10,000 to Direct Relief's Community Health Clinic in Dallas, Tex. to celebrate CastleVille, the debut game from Zynga Dallas. With promises of an engaging fantasy storyline with playful and memorable characters that, detailed art and animation and an original music score recorded with a 75-piece orchestra and full choir, you can at least "Like" CastleVille for how it sounds on paper.
Do you plan on jumping in on the "Like" race that's about to begin surrounding CastleVille? Which organization do you think should receive the most cash, and should it even be up to us? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments
CastleVille Like Meter

Dick Clark stars in Retro World, a social game featuring Elvis, Belushi

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more studded with stars (or weirder), Dick Clark revealed his video game debut in Retro World, Entertainment Games' upcoming Facebook game, according to Hollywood Reporter. You know, the same social game that looks to somehow bring Elvis, John Belushi and classic cars to Facebook, Google+ and smartphones?

Yeah, that one. Now that Entertainment Games's first social endeavor is out in the open, Clark said that his likeness from the '70s and '80s will serve as the game's tutorial. Of course, Retro World is looking to hit the growing 40 plus demographic of social gamers.

"The idea of using past images of myself to guide players through a current online social game is a very innovative approach that I found intriguing," Clark said. "I look forward to serving as your host on this nostalgic and ground-breaking gaming experience."

According to Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Games president Gene Mauro said Clark might even become a playable character in the game along with Elvis, Belushi and more retro celebrities down the line. Because this was made possible through a licensing deal with Dick Clark productions, the company will sell Dick Clark-themed items to players within the game. We've certainly heard of social games centering around a single brand or even a single celebrity, but a project that looks to capture the power of numerous celebs from the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s at least gets points for originality on paper.

Would you dig a game that took you back through the years of your youth? With so much nostalgia and star power, could Retro World make a dent in the success of the top social game makers?

With PlayJam, Flash-based social games could hit your HDTV in 2012

Games like Zynga's Adventure World and Vostu's GolMania sure look nice in full screen, but how about in a really full screen? That's what London, England-based PlayJam looks to make possible. The company just announced an agreement with Adobe, the creator of Flash (the most common technology behind social games), to bring Flash-based social games to Internet-connected HDTVs.

PlayJam, which works with social game developers to bring social games to HDTVs from Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Sony, will bring both 2D and 3D-based Flash games to said flat screens. "Features such as billing, leader-boards, tournaments and integration with third party social networks and TV programming can be seamlessly integrated via PlayJam's SDK," PlayJam said in a release.

The developer tools are said to release in the second quarter of 2012, so between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2012. PlayJam currently has deals with developers like Relentless--the studio behind console quiz game series Buzz--but these tools will be up for grabs from any developer. And the fact that the company just scored another $5 million funding from investors like GameStop Digital Ventures and Adobe Ventures should nudge social game makers along.

With social game makers including Zynga looking to branch off of Facebook and onto new platforms, it's easy to see a day when we could manage our metropolises in CityVille on the old 55-inch plasma. And when you consider the imminent advent of 3D graphics through Flash, thanks to Unreal, (in theory) PlayJam offers an intriguing prospect. Well, at least the potential end of click-and-drag navigation.

Would you play your social games on the big screen in the living room? What Facebook game would you want to play on a 55-inch screen the most?

King.com hits top 10 Facebook developers, 1B games played a month

But wait, there's more: the company has also opened offices in San Francisco and Romania. King.com, London, England-based creator of hit Facebook games like Bubble Saga, announced it is now a top 10 Facebook app developer, according to AppData. The social game maker and games portal chalks the accomplishment up to reaching 1 billion games played monthly.

While that measure is across all King.com game platforms, the developer welcomes 17.6 million monthly and 4.2 million daily players on Facebook. Of course, the top performing King.com game is Bubble Saga. The company's Romania office will handle its mobile efforts, while North American business development will be led by former Gamelab president Jong Woo, King.com's new senior business development director in San Francisco.

"We are ecstatic to have not only reached a billion monthly gameplays, but to also become a top 10 Facebook developer. It's rewarding to see our games gain so much interest and excitement among our players–across all platforms," King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi said in a release. "We are taking this recent momentum and expanding our reach through North America by adding an office in San Francisco and new employees to that region so we can more closely connect with our partners and gamers there."

Most recently, King.com released Bubble Witch Saga to Facebook, which boasts more daily players than the company's top game at 1.7 million. Perhaps most importantly, this news confirms King.com's plans to strengthen its mobile presence, as social game makers are so wont to do these days. And something tells us those bubble-loving witches might get the treatment next.

Have you played either of the Bubble Saga games on Facebook yet? Which King.com game do you hope gets a mobile version next?