FarmVille inspires price drop in console games; is this a new standard?

THQ, creator of the famous Saints Row and Red Faction franchises, has succumbed adapted to Facebook games like FarmVille. Escapist Magazine reports that THQ CEO Brian Farrell said that THQ is offering the racing game MX vs. ATV Alive for $40, and then supporting it with an aggressive DLC schedule. Why break the mold of $60 video games? Just look at the insane dough companies like Zynga are raking in with games that are free to play, but offer premium content for bits of cash. Inspired by this, Farrell is conducting an experiment with the newest MX vs. ATV game, according to Escapist.

"With MX vs. ATV Alive, we are experimenting with delivering a customizable experience for the player in a brand new pricing model," Farrell said to Forbes. "It's an innovative concept based on what we've seen in the free-to-play markets. We're delivering a premium game experience at an SRP of $39.99 in order to drive the installed base of users, and then digitally delivering over 100 pieces of downloadable content and an in-game store for micro-transactions, allowing the gamer to customize their experience and pay for the modes that they want to play."

Farrell's hope appears to be to change the way console games are priced to better compete with the microtransaction models of social games, MMOs and even PC-based first-person shooters. Players won't even have to buy content through the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live Marketplace. Though, we're certain that as soon as this trend catches fire, that policy will change faster than you can say, "30 percent cut."

[Image Credit: VZ Buzz]

Do you more developers will eventually conform to this model as social gaming gets more popular/profitable? Would you find yourself buying more console games if this were the case more often?

Zynga sends Mafia Wars on MySpace to sleep with the fishes

Hoping to escape the sinking ship, casual game developer Zynga has closed Mafia Wars on MySpace. While the app is still available to "add" to your account for first time players, upon entering, you'll be told that the "game" itself is no longer available to play, and you'll be asked to visit MafiaWars.com to play the game instead.

For those that have never visited the game's official site, you'll be able to connect to your Facebook account, where all of your stats (including your level and energy) and brought over. It's the same setup as playing FarmVille on its official website, rather than on Facebook, as you'll simply be playing on Zynga's proprietary websites, rather than on Facebook proper.

We'll make sure to let you know if Zynga closes more of its MySpace games, but for now, play all you can, while you can, to get the most out of your accounts. Either that, or you can take this as a warning to start fresh on those games' Facebook versions, which (most likely) won't close anytime soon.

[via TechCrunch]

Were you a big fan of Mafia Wars on MySpace? Has the game's closure made you choose to switch to other Zynga games on Facebook?

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash from Harry Potter promotion

If you're looking to earn a few free Farm Cash in FarmVille, FarmVille Freak has found a new promotion that Zynga has launched over the seventh Harry Potter film. This promotion can be found underneath the FarmVille gameplay area, in the Sponsored Link pictured at right.

All you'll need to do to earn your two free Farm Cash is answer a few questions about the newest movie in the Harry Potter franchise, but remember, this promotion may not appear on your own account right away. If you do see it, be sure to complete it as quickly as possible, as these promotions usually don't last very long.

[Image Credit: FarmVille Freak]

Have you found this promotion on your own account? What will you spend your two free Farm Cash on?

Enter CityVille's SugarVille contest for up to 500 free City Cash

While City Cash may be one of the cheaper premium currencies in Zynga's catalog, that doesn't mean we all wouldn't like to receive some for free. Enter Zynga's new contest in CityVille called the SugarVille contest. As tons of players are likely to be covered in candy come the Easter holiday, Zynga wants users to put some of that candy to good use, by creating a real world building out of candy, whether the candy is packaged or unwrapped. The building can be a recreation of a CityVille item, a building in your home town, or something entirely created by you - the possibilities are endless, but the prizes are unfortunately not.

The prizes for this contest range from 500 City Cash for grand prize, to 50 City Cash for the final runner up. There will be five winners in all, and as this contest will take lots of time and creativity for players to participate in, it's likely that there won't be as many entries as other contests, giving you a better chance at winning. For full details, head over to the game's official forums.

Will you enter the CityVille SugarVille contest? What sorts of candies will you use to build your creation?

CityVille Level Up Giveaway #2: Enter to win City Cash or MacBook Air

If you're not the kind that wants to build a city out of real-world candy, but you still want a chance at free CityVille City Cash, why not enter CityVille's Level Up Giveaway #2? This contest doesn't require any real effort on your part, but the prizes are significantly better than in the aforementioned SugarVille contest. If the name Level Up Giveaway sounds familiar to you, remember that CityVille help a similar contest at the beginning of the year.

This time around, Zynga is hoping to raise the number of Likes on the game's official fan page to the 30 million mark, and once they reach that number, one very lucky grand prize winner will receive a free 13-inch, 256 GB MacBook Air. To enter, you'll need to first like game's fan page, and then send an email to the email address listed on the game's official forums, giving Zynga your Facebook ID number, and a way to contact you about your prize should you win.

From there, it's just a waiting game. The more fans the app's page receives, the better the prizes that will be given away. the page currently has 14.4 million likes, and here's how things play out from that number until the 30 million mark:

15 million fans - 25 players will win 100 City Cash each
20 million fans - 25 players will win 250 City Cash each
25 million fans - 5 players will each win an 8GB iPod Nano and 500 City Cash
30 million fans - 1 player will win 1,000 City Cash and the MacBook Air

Luckily, this contest has an indefinite time limit, as it will last until the game's fan page has received 30 million fans, which could take weeks or even months. Make sure to enter sooner, rather than later, though, if you want the best chance at the most prizes.

Which of these prize packages would you most like to win in this contest? What you would do with 1,000 free City Cash?

FarmVille Craftshop Goals: Everything you need to know

Yes (bzzt) the Craftshop has landed (crackle). Over and out (buzz). Overnight, the Zynga team dropped the mother load of features, the Craftshop, onto FarmVille. Now, players can build new equipment and fix old stuff, but there are some Goals to complete before you can dive right into crafting. Don't worry, they're not too difficult and you're guaranteed some XP, coins and plenty of goodies along the way.

1. Workin' on the Craftshop

    Buy 1 Craftshop
    Fertilize plots on neighbors' farms 25 times.



You can either go to the Market yourself or through the Goal menu to buy the Craftshop, which costs zero coins. Place it down anywhere on your Home Farm and it will complete the requirement. (Pro Tip: These Goals are only on the Home Farm for the moment, though you can craft a second Craftshop in your English Farm for free.) Now, go visit at least five friends to complete this Goal for good, and enjoy these rewards: 100 XP, 2,500 Farm Coins, two Hammers, two Concretes and two Spools of Twine. Don't worry, those are all things you'll need very soon.

Shoulder the Plow
2. Shoulder to the Plow

    Get 6 Cans of Elbow Grease
    Harvest 100 Morning Glory



The six Cans of Elbow Grease are found by asking friends through the Goal's menu window. To harvest 100 Morning Glory, you'll need at least 6 thousand coins and 12 hours for them to ripen. Complete these tasks and enjoy 250 XP, 2 thousand coins and one Milk Jub Cart.

Finishing Touches
3. Finishing Touches

    Complete the Craftshop
    Harvest 100 Wheat



The final Goal in this series is fairly straightforward. Harvesting 100 Wheat will cost a total of 1,300 coins and take 12 hours to complete at least. All the while, you have to build your Craftshop. We'll have that guide for you all shortly, so sit tight. Completing this Goal will score players 500 XP, 5 Farm Cash and 7,500 coins. Completing the Goals also unlocks a teaser image displaying what the Craftshop will be capable of later on. Look forward to the ability to craft Fertilize All, Baby Bottles, Love Potions and decorations.

[Source and Image Credit: FarmVille Freak]

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

Have you started these brand new Goals yet? What are you most excited to craft in the new building?

Video: Moms, get off Facebook (games) and play with your kids

Mom, get off of FarmVille for five minutes--you're going to want to see this. TheLogoff.org has posted a viral video campaign against mothers who neglect their kids in favor of Facebook. The social network has not only become a place for some mothers to make long lost connections and find new friends, it has become the friend. While the video doesn't call out social games directly, for a large portion of women on Facebook, that friend is called FarmVille. Judging from the tone of the advertisement, we'd say that MomFilter.com would agree as well, the video's creator. This is far from the first time that the potentially deadly combination of mothers and Facebook games had been made aware to us. Let's all hope that this helps it be the last.

[Via All Facebook]

Are you a FarmVille playing mother? How do you balance your time in FarmVille with your children and family? Do you know of someone who visibly fails to balance the two?

Game of the Day: Pat Sajak's Trivia Gems

The Game of the Day is asking you to come on down (Wait, thats another game? Oh well). Pat Sajak's Trivia Gems:
Come back every day to play a new puzzle!
Answer questions from a wide variety of trivia categories and climb to the top of the trivia pyramid, play a quick and fun game of Trivia 10, or gather up some friends and family members for a round of Trivia Players.
Click --> Play Pat Sajak's Trivia Gems

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

Angry Birds flutters to the web with Google Chrome

The Angry Birds are officially everywhere (you can't escape), as it was announced today at Google's I/O Conference that the bird-slinging game is coming to the web through Google Chrome. No, these aren't extra details on Angry Birds coming to Facebook, Rovio, the game's creator, has brought a new version of the game to Chrome OS and the Chrome web browser through the Chrome Web Store.

After navigating all that Chrome, users will enjoy soaring through new levels with amusing nods to Chrome in surrounding flowers and wildlife. Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka made the announcement, and said, "Now we'll make those flights more bearable," showing off the offline mode of the game (game data is stored locally). According to Vesterbacka, this edition of Angry Birds runs on OpenGL web development technology. Come to think of it, this could be the same way Rovio is bringing its hit game to Facebook, though we'll soon enough.

The Angry Birds Online is available right now on the Chrome Web Store, so give it a fling.

[Source and Image Credit: Search Engine Land]

Have you downloaded the game using Chrome yet? Do you think the Facebook version of Angry Birds will run the same way?

Old FrontierVille Collections offer new rewards, lots of debris

Likely inspired by the FarmVille team's complete overhaul of its Collections system, FrontierVille developers Zynga have made a change to Collections on the homestead as well. Now, a few older Collections are rewarding players with new, more useful items. However, they're useful in a roundabout way. You'll see behind the break.

This is what the affected Collections now reward players with:

    The Cow collection now gives Skulls
    The Clearing collection now gives Rocks
    The Wheat collection now gives Grass
    The Cabbage collection now gives Thorns


As you can see, they're helpful inadvertently. More debris means more chances to find Critters, which are often required in Goals requirements. So, think of it as a way to complete kill quests more easily. And who knows, perhaps this changes comes in preparation for some future set of Goals or content update.

[Source: FrontierVille Info]

Have you made effective use of these new Collection rewards yet? If not, what would you rather them be?

Farming Games on Facebook: Seriously, we've had enough

If it isn't a game with the word "Farm" in the name somewhere, it's a game that just has to include the function. That's essentially the state of Facebook games today, sadly. And while it didn't take long to notice, I've tolerated it for long enough. It seems as if we've become surprised when a Facebook game doesn't include farming of some sort, and this is a serious problem. At least it is if you're in the camp that wants to see the genre grow. For instance, here are just a 10 highlights from the list of games with the "Farm" in its title that come back from a basic Facebook search:

    FarmVille
    Farm Town
    Zombie Farm (pictured below)
    Happy Farm
    Tiki Farm
    Green Farm
    Farm Country
    Farm Story
    Farm Land
    Farm Defense (really?)


And did you know that a developer out there had the chutzpah to somehow shoehorn drugs into the farming Facebook game fad? (It's called Pot Farm.) Now, trust me when I say this, the list goes on--try it for yourself. However, the worst part is that a majority of these games have thousands, if not millions, of monthly players. Aren't we sick of planting crops, harvesting them, and planting them again? Apparently not.

Even games that should have absolutely nothing to do with farming somehow find a way to make use of the tired mechanic like Zombie Lane, Empires & Allies and even Madden NFL Superstars. OK, that last one was a joke, but don't put it past any game at this point. With that, we're faced with an even more important question: How?

Zombie Farm
It's regretful to say, but we have FarmVille to blame for the state of the social game space. Zynga certainly did not invent the farming simulator on Facebook, but it sure as hell cultivated it (too easy) into the monster it is today. When you hear people talk about Facebook games, what is the first thing to come out of their mouths? FarmVille. When the industry is covered in mainstream media, what is the first game press outlets mention? FarmVille. For all intents and purposes, FarmVille is to Facebook games as Kleenex is to tissues. You can thank FarmVille's peak at 80 million plus players last year for that, especially as many major game companies just entered the ring. But why does the farming game frenzy persist?

Well, it all boils down to one basic, almost primal human dichotomy: risk versus reward. Simply put, developers just aren't willing to take the risks in making a Facebook game that breaks the mold. This is mainly because FarmVille has caused players to expect that type of gameplay from their social games. To more than I would like, farming has become synonymous with social gaming. According to Inside Social Games, 10 out of the top 25 social games in June either surround farming or have it as a tacked-on feature. (And this is scarcely representative of the list you'll find through Facebook.)

Monster Galaxy
In my perfect world, that number would be closer to, well, one. And unfortunately, the only way to escape this tired trend is to simply make games--impressive, appealing games, mind you--that drop farming altogether. Thankfully, there is hope in developers like PopCap that have turned their existing casual games into bite-sized, speedy and extremely competitive gaming sessions. But we also need new ideas, or at least more social adaptations of existing genres that we've all come to love.

Finally, we can enjoy trading and battling cute little monsters (Pokemon, anyone?) on Facebook, thanks to Gaia Online's Monster Galaxy (pictured above). These are just two examples of developers that are bringing new ideas (at least to Facebook) and turning them into successful games. And, guess what, not one crop was harvested in their creation. So let's keep it up, developers--our fingers have grown tired of clicking crops and cows.

Father's Day iOS Game Sale: Scratch dad's gaming itch on the go

Madden NFL 11 iOS
Alright, just admit it: Father's Day is less than two days away, and you still didn't get him something. (I got mine a grill ... shh!) Don't worry, we've got you covered--well, EA, Gameloft and Firemint do at least. We're just the messengers. All three iOS game creators have started Father's Day sales for tons of great games to give your pop on the cheap. With game's like Madden NFL 11, Real Racing and Real Soccer 2011 for just $.99, your dad is gonna' love these mobile gaming gifts. Here are the games you can find on sale in the Apple App Store (each link will direct you to the game's App Store page):

EA (Electronic Arts):

    Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – $.99
    Command & Conquer: Red Alert – $.99
    Command & Conquer: Red Alert HD – $1.99
    Dead Space – $2.99
    Dead Space HD – $4.99
    Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp – $.99
    FIFA 11 – $.99
    FIFA 11 HD – $4.99
    Fight Night Champion – $.99
    Madden NFL 11 – $.99
    Madden NFL 11 HD – $.99
    Monopoly – $.99
    NBA Jam – $.99
    NBA Jam HD – $4.99
    Need For Speed Hot Pursuit – $.99
    Need For Speed Hot Pursuit HD – $4.99
    Need For Speed Undercover – $.99
    Need For Speed Shift -$.99
    Need For Speed Shift HD – $4.99
    Reckless Racing – $.99
    Reckless Racing HD – $.99
    RISK – $.99
    RISK HD – $1.99
    Sim City Deluxe – $.99
    Sim City Deluxe HD – $.99
    Tetris – $.99
    Tetris HD – $1.99
    Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 HD – $2.99


Real Soccer 2011
Gameloft:

    Eternal Legacy – $.99
    Eternal Legacy HD – $.99
    Fast Five: The Movie: Official Game – $.99
    Fast Five: The Movie: Official Game: HD – $.99
    Fishing Kings – $.99
    Gangstar: Miami Vindication – $.99
    Gangstar: Miami Vindication HD – $.99
    NFL 2011 – $.99
    NFL 2011 HD – $.99
    Order & Chaos Online – $.99
    Real Soccer 2011 – $.99
    Real Soccer 2011 HD – $.99
    Spider-Man: Total Mayhem – $.99
    Spider-Man – Total Mayhem HD – $.99

Real Racing 2
Firemint:

    Real Racing -- $.99
    Real Racing HD -- $1.99
    Real Racing 2 -- $4.99
    Real Racing 2 HD -- $6.99


It's safe to assume that each of those games with the letters "HD" at the foot of its title are for iPad only. And while EA and Firemint hit it on the nose with games a dad would go gaga for, we're a bit confused by some of Gameloft's choices. Unless your dad is a major nerd (like us), we doubt he'll dig Order & Chaos Online. Though, at least this company is the only one to offer a soccer game, so kudos to them for that. And even if you're no baby's daddy, you're free to treat yourself--just don't forget to get a little something for who truly deserves it: old poppa dukes.

MapleStory Adventures on Facebook: Clicking cute creatures cheers us up

That's about all that you'll do in MapleStory Adventures for Facebook, and it's far more entertaining than it sounds. This social adaptation of the Korean MMO (massively multi-player online game) by Nexon has dumbed down what was once a deceivingly complex game into something that evokes a single feeling: cheer. This game will relax you so much that, like me, you'll forget that minutes are actually passing. If you're having a bad day at work or what have you, just click around at the adorable monsters for a few minutes and we can almost guarantee you'll feel better for it. However, remember those words "a few minutes," because that's about all you'll get out of a single play session in MapleStory Adventures.

The game, which is in closed beta testing as of this writing, simplifies the whole experience and lowers the barrier to entry so far that even the least-experienced MMO player can understand it. You have a choice between two classes, Magician and Warrior, and a small selection of avatar features. Regardless of whether you choose Magician or Warrior, the general hook of the game is unchanged: clicking to get things done. There is no keyboard movement in MapleStory Adventures despite its Mario-esque platformer appearance.

Gallery: MapleStory Adventures on Facebook

All you need to do is click on where you want your little fellow to go, and they'll figure out exactly how to get there. Click on an enemy, and your avatar will pummel it until it goes poof. Click on a character, and you'll receive his or her quest (which almost always leads to more clicking). Click on a portal, and your tiny friend will head there and teleport to the next area. Even travel between regions has been reduced to a single click through the in-game map system--visit an area in person, and you can one-click travel there via the map as much as you like. We think you get the idea.

Combat is pretty straightforward. In fact, it might a bit too direct for one's complex tastes. You do have access to new abilities as you level up, but they generally boil down to simple clicking. There's little to no strategy to fighting in MapleStory Adventures, but it's doubtful that tact was a goal in this version of the game. Nor is there much variety in this version of Nexon's flagship game. Every quest you will encounter for some time appears to either involve bashing so many monsters, or bashing them in hopes that they'll drop a collectible.

MapleStory Adventures Map
While some might consider its lack of depth or complexity a drawback, what truly might turn out to be a major turn-off for players is its current Energy system. (Side note: Last time I checked, most folks like their social games as simple and direct as possible. At least most of us do in the office.) Since each enemy has a certain amount of hit points, and each of your attacks can only do so much damage that improves with Power Rating increases through skills and equipment, monsters take a few hits to go down. However, each and every strike your avatar makes costs one Energy.

This will almost certainly lead to you running dry in less than five minutes, considering every monster will take three to five whacks on average, it seems. Luckily, the friend system in MapleStory Adventures allows players to hire their friends--asynchronously, of course--to help them out with a few extra whacks before they disappear for a few hours.

MapleStory Adventures in action
So, like all Facebook games, it pays to have lots of friends in MapleStory Adventures. However, that doesn't exactly lend itself well to self sufficient play. Regardless, this Facebook adaptation of the Nexon mega hit looks seriously impressive already in both its adorable anime-style visuals and its laid-back, super simple gameplay. Once the game goes live, you'll see that a cheery smile just might be a few clicks away (perhaps too few).

FarmVille: Second free Birthday Gift offers Birthday Ewe, fireworks and more

While we previously saw a one-day-only Birthday Gift available on the FarmVille free gifts page to celebrate the game's second birthday, that box has been replaced with a second Birthday Gift - a seemingly more permanent one at that. While there's no reason to expect that this gift will be available after the birthday celebration is over, it doesn't currently have a time limit, so you can stock up on as many as you wish.

Unfortunately, all of this extra time won't let you earn more than the standard four items possibly found inside each gift, but at least you'll have time to open enough gifts that you'll likely receive at least one of each. Here's what to expect:

Durian Tree
Arborists
Birthday Ewe
B-Day Fireworks

While the Birthday Ewe is an actual, functional animal, the B-Day Fireworks are unfortunately a one-time-use item that will vanish from your farm after displaying a show of brightly colored shimmers and stars in your farm's sky. Still, Fireworks normally cost Farm Cash in the game, so I'm definitely happy to see a free option that I won't feel so bad about actually launching. Make sure to send these Birthday Gifts while we know they're still available - you won't want to miss out on these special items!

Check out the rest of our FarmVille Second Birthday coverage right here. >

Which of these four prizes is your favorite? Will you use the B-Day Fireworks, or will you save them and make a larger show by launching multiples at once?

FrontierVille Pioneer Camp: Everything you need to know

It looks like some travelers will be stopping by our Homesteads in FrontierVille, as Zynga has slowly started rolling out the Pioneer Camp to players this afternoon. This Pioneer Camp is a prelude to the upcoming Pioneer Trail expansion, and it introduces a new series of seemingly temporary characters to the game. The Camp itself is a building you must construct, and after, you'll be able to gather around the campfire with these weary travelers, learning stories about what to expect when the Pioneer Trail launches (but only if you help them out in some way first).

You'll know that this feature has rolled out to you when you see the window above, asking you to place the Pioneer Camp on your land. From there, you'll need to collect a series of parts to complete the Camp's construction, just as with other buildings. You'll need six each of Guylines, Kindling, and Tent Flies (all of which are earned through individual friend requests), along with five each of Tent Stakes, Weenie Roasts and Scary Camp Stories. These three items are earned via general wall posts that ask all of your friends to help you at once.

Once you complete the Campsite, you'll have access to helping up to five different travelers. As soon as you finish with one, you'll unlock the next story and the next traveler. Each traveler also brings with them a rare item, so you have extra incentive to finish helping all of these storytellers before the Pioneer Trail expansion launches, which will end this Pioneer Camp event, whether you've finished it or not.

Helping these travelers is accomplished through a series of six new goals, and we'll have a guide of those goals for you as soon as we can, so keep checking back. In the meantime, keep refreshing your game to see if this exciting new feature has rolled around to you! and you can find our complete guide to helping each of these travelers (the Doctor, Hunter, Carpenter, Trader, etc.) right here.

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

What do you think of the Pioneer Camp? Are you ready to listen to stories from the Pioneer Trail, or would you rather the expansion simply open now instead of making us wait at the expense of the story?

EA's John Riccitiello speaks out on The Sims Social Facebook launch date... or doesn't

In EA's most recent earnings / conference call, CEO John Riccitiello was questioned about the expected popularity of EA's upcoming (and highly anticipated) Facebook game, The Sims Social. While the game's Facebook fan page already has 868,000 Likes, Riccitiello still wouldn't reveal just what percentage of the franchise's user-base are predicted to make the transition to this new social version.

That's not all Riccitiello held back though, as a launch date will likely never be released before the game suddenly appears on the platform. Why? Competitive advertising. As reported by Gamasutra, Riccitiello explained the company's decision, both on the lack of an announced release date, and on withholding any predictions as to traffic:

"We aren't going to put out the stats. They're highly sensitive competitive comparisons, which is one of the reasons we're also not giving you a launch date. It's relatively easy for a competitor to buy all the relevant advertising, say 24, 36, 48 hours prior to a release."

This, says Riccitiello, would greatly impact (and not in a good way) EA's chances of marketing the game itself, as its competitors will have beaten EA to the proverbial punch. Alas, for now, that seems to be all we'll be told about the game's launch date beforehand, but you can be sure that we'll let you know when the Sims Social finally goes live. We can't wait!

Do you have a prediction for when the Sims Social will launch? How many of the franchise's established fans do you think will immediately jump on board with this Facebook version?

FarmVille 3 Comments Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash in new AT&T U-Verse promotion

It's actually been quite a while (in the world of Facebook gaming anyway) since we've seen a new free Farm Cash promotion being made available in FarmVille, but that has changed this evening, as FarmVilleFreak has reported the launch of a new promotion with AT&T U-Verse. Yes, there was another AT&T U-Verse promotion available in the past, but this one is new.

This promotion comes with the same ground rules as others: you'll find the sponsored link to the activity underneath the FarmVille gameplay area, but this promotion may not be available to all farmers, depending on where you live, even if you live in the United States. If you're lucky enough to have this promotion available to you, all you need to do is complete a short survey concerning AT&T's U-Verse service, and will be rewarded your free Farm Cash on the spot.

If your Farm Cash total doesn't automatically update with your new funds, try a refresh of the game to see if that sets things straight. To skip any issues though, make sure you stick around in the promotion's window until you see the familiar black text appear in the top right corner, letting you know you've actually earned your Farm Cash. After that point, you should be able to confidently close the window.

Don't have this promotion? I feel your pain farmers. Hopefully, this promotion will roll out to more users over time, so we can all have a chance at those free Farm Cash! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to rapidly refresh my game in the hope that it shows up.

[Via and Image Credit: FarmVilleFreak]

Have you received this Farm Cash promotion in your game? What will you spend your free Farm Cash on?

FarmVille: Parisian Bench free gift will let you sit in style

While there may not have been a large update added to FarmVille this evening, a new free gift did appear on the game's free gifts page, with this item going hand-in-hand with the recent Parisian limited edition item theme that some of you may have used to decorate your farms. The Parisian Bench II (not to be confused with the original Parisian Bench, which was released just a few days ago) is an ornate, dark brown bench with a mustard-colored pattern, and it can be sent yo your friends just as any other free gift: just pick the friends you'd like to give one to from a list and send away. On a side note, am I the only one that can see a face in the design of the bench and pattern? The back-rest contains the eyes and the curve in the seat is the mouth... oh, nevermind.

Where was I? Oh yes. If you'd like to make sure you receive one or more of these benches back, remember that you can always use the game's Wishlist feature to share a news feed item alerting your friends to your wishes, or you can just contact friends directly if you feel more comfortable. Either way, it's likely that this item won't stay around on the free gifts page forever; likely, once the Parisian theme expires from the store, so too will this item leave the game. Of course, stranger things have happened, but do you really want to rely on chance when these benches are so easy to earn as it is?

If you're looking for an intricately themed final touch to your Parisian area on your farm, make sure to take advantage of this freebie while you still can.

Do you like the look of the Parisian Bench II, or did you prefer the original Parisian Bench more? How many of the game's Parisian-themed items have you splurged on?

DeNA unleashes Mobage social games platform on U.S., China

And so, it begins. The first salvo hath been fired. The shooter: Japanese mobile social games giant DeNA. The ammunition: Mobage, its social games platform for smartphones now run by Ngmoco, creator of iPhone hit Godfinger. Pocket Gamer reports that the first phase of DeNA's conquest for global mobile games domination has begun with Mobage's release in the U.S, China and a list of English-speaking countries.

The platform, first released for Android phones, will expand into other countries "soon," according to Pocket Gamer. Mobage currently hosts 20 free games available to players in the states and China like Pocket God, We Rule and Zombie Farm. Many of which, according to Pocket Gamer, will debut on Android through Mobage.

"Mobage's release outside of Japan marks the next step in our company's global expansion," Neil Young, Ngmoco CEO and DeNA executive officer, said. "The opportunity in front of us is to build Mobage into the definitive destination for games and entertainment across territories and mobile operating systems."

The platform works a lot like Facebook does for web-based social games in that it handles the release and payment for games and virtual goods within the network. However, it's far more focused on those games, with support for chat, meeting friends through games and more. The platform releases just as Zynga ramps up its mobile gaming efforts with two releases, Hanging with Friends and CityVille Hometown, in just two months. (Though, Mobage will have the bloodiest social game ever among others from some legendary Japanese designers.) Mobage is available now for free in the Android Market, though no word on an iOS release ... yet.

Click here to download Mobage for Android Now >

Are you psyched to see Mobage release on Android? How do you think DeNA will fare against the likes of Zynga and EA in the mobile games space, and how will these companies respond?

FrontierVille Yosemite Honeymoon Goals: Everything you need to know

Sure, FrontierVille's Hank and Fanny are celebrating their honeymoon--whoop dee doo. Wait, you mean if I help, I could win a trip for two worth $5,000 from Zynga? How many bears do I have to clobber? The Yosemite Honeymoon Goals have arrived in FrontierVille along with the Honeymoon Sweepstakes. If you're doubting your chances at that coveted trip for two, 100 first prize winners can score the entire Mystery Animal Collection and 250 more second prize winners will net 200 Horseshoes.

However, players must complete these repeatable Goals as often as possible to increase their chances of winning any of the three prizes. Getaway Passes are rewards from all four Goals, and they're each worth one entry into the contest. Better start stocking those Getaway Passes now, as the contest ends Aug. 7, so here's everything you need to know:

See Em Off!

    Have or Collect 6 Stagecoach Tickets
    Collect the General Store Daily Bonus
    Talk to Hank



The first Goal of this series starts with the infamous pop-up window. Click it, and on Hank on your Homestead, to get started. The Stagecoach Tickets come from friend requests. From this Goal forward, Hank and Fanny will send players postcards through Frontier Jack, but players can revisit these Goals by click the "View Postcards" option on the Wedding Wagon. Your reward for completing this Goal is 250 XP, 500 Coins and your first of (hopefully) many Getaway Passes.

FrontierVille Yosemite Honeymoon Goals repeat
Her Sunny Disposition

    Harvest 30 Sunflowers
    Have or Collect 10 Wine Bottles
    Have 2 Cherry Pies



To harvest 30 Sunflowers, you'll need 9,300 Coins and at least 18 hours to grow them. The 10 Wine Bottles come from friend requests, while the Cherry Pies are part of the Cherry Collection completed through tending Cherry Trees. Finish these tasks, and 500 XP, a Yosemite Flower Crate and another Getaway Pass are yours.

FrontierVille Wedding Wagon MenuHome on the Range

    Have or Collect 10 Bait
    Craft 3 Trapping Nets
    Have 3 Feed Pans


The 10 Bait will be found through asking friends on your News Feed, while the three Trapping Nets can be crafted in the Wedding Wagon using 10 Strong Twine and five Ropes per three Trapping Nets. The Strong Twine comes from friend requests, while the Rope is part of the Flax Collection, completed when tending to Flax crops. Another 500 XP, a Yosemite Animal Crate and another Getaway Pass await those who complete this Goal.

Hacker's Delight

    Have or Collect 10 Hacksaw Blades
    Chop Trees 20 Times on your Neighbors Homesteads
    Have One Arrowhead



The 10 Hacksaw Blades come from more friend help requests, while the Arrowhead used to be the reward for the Clearing Collection. Our guess is that now it's become either a Market item or another requested from friends. This simple Goal rewards players with 750 XP, a Yosemite Crate and one Getaway Pass.

Yosemitrees!

    Have or Collect 10 Burlap Sacks
    Craft Two Large Spades
    Clear 25 Debris on your Neighbors Homesteads


Finding the 10 Burlap Sacks for this Goal is as simply as pressing the "Ask Friends" button. The two Large Spades are also crafted in the Wedding Wagon, and require Sheet Steel and 10 Wood a piece. The Sheet Steel comes from friend help requests as well, so ask away. Complete this final Goal for another 750 XP, a Yosemite Tree Crate and one Getaway Pass.

FrontierVille Wedding Wagon Crafting
Win Your Own Vacation for Two!

    Collect All Four Postcards from Hand and Fanny
    Restart a Yosemite Honeymoon Mission
    Collect Ten Getaway Passes


This Goal appears only after completing the other four found in Postcards, it seems. To restart a Honeymoon Goal, click on the Wedding Wagon and then "View Postcards." A menu will appear with flavor text for each of the four repeatable Goals--just click on one to get started all over again. Collect another 10 Getaway Passes doing this, and 500 XP, a Soapstone Carving and one more Getaway Pass are yours.

[Source and Image Credit: Zynga]

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

Have you started the FrontierVille Yosemite Honeymoon Goals yet? What do you think of Zynga attaching real world prizes to in-game content?

MapleStory Adventures arrives on Facebook today

If you're hopelessly addicted to games with adorable, wide-eyed characters, then you won't want to miss out on the new Facebook rendition of MapleStory Adventures from Nexon, set to launch on Facebook later today.

The game, which has been in a closed beta for several months, is a stripped down version of a popular Korean MMO (massively multiplayer online game), where you create an avatar and then traverse various landscapes, carrying out quests that often involve whacking cute, but aggressive, monsters in exchange for experience points and -- if you're lucky -- sweet loot. Questers can hire Facebook friends to help them take down enemies, so the more friends you have, the faster you'll progress in the game.

Gallery: MapleStory Adventures on Facebook


The real question is -- is there enough game here to satisfy tried-and-true MapleStory fans? We'll find out after the game goes public on Facebook starting at 7 p.m. EST.

Kixeye calls Kabam a copycat; Kabam says, 'Am not!'

Alright, so it's more serious than that, but we just can't help but envision these debates happening in schoolyards rather than public forums. Gamasutra reports that Kixeye has publicly accused Kingdoms of Camelot creator Kabam of copying the hit Kixeye game Backyard Monsters in creating EdgeWorld, Kabam's brand new Facebook strategy game. Of course, Kabam firmly denies the allegations.

"There is no question that the engineers of EdgeWorld had Backyard Monsters open in one window while they coded the copy in another," Kixeye CEO Will Harbin said in a statement. "It's not detrimental to Kixeye in the short term, but this kind of practice is bad for all of us in the gaming industry - it will eventually sour users and it certainly does the opposite of proving that Facebook can be a legitimate gaming platform."

Whoa, those are some pretty harsh--and specific--claims. Kixeye went even further, according to Gamasutra, to compare Kabam's hit Kingdoms of Camelot with fantasy strategy game Evony as evidence that Kabam "is wasting talent and resources on cloning games that already exist."

Kabam CEO Kevin Chou said in response that Edgeworld, which hovers at about 200 thousand monthly players since its launch, draws inspiration from "movies, pop culture, science fiction, literature, history and, most importantly, from our players." That's in addition to borrowing ideas and techniques from its previous four games. (In other words, "Am not!")

Keep in mind that these sort of exchanges aren't uncommon to Facebook games. In fact, Zynga--which has a lawsuit on its plate from SocialApps over allegedly misused source code from its game myFarm that led to FarmVille's inception--knows the feeling very well. We've contacted both developers for comment.

Do you think Kixeye has a case against Kabam? How or when do you think Facebook developers will rise from this level of interaction and give up on the copycat games?

FarmVille: Free Crab Shack with any Farm Cash purchase

While the "free-gift-with-purchase" feature in FarmVille has continued to grow, giving users a way to stock up on extra animals that they may have missed in their original releases in the game, until recently, that's all the feature has been: a way to earn animals. Now, though, we're starting to see trees and even buildings come into the mix.

For example, the latest offering is the Crab Shack, which was originally released during the New England event way back in July of 2010, and then again in the Birthday Classics even earlier this year. Interestingly, this is one building that cost coins during its previous releases in the game, but if (for whatever reason) you never picked one up, here's a chance to earn one for as little as $1. For that price, remember you'll also earn 4 Farm Cash.

The reason this building is so significant is that it basically screams to be added to the Lighthouse Cove farm, which all players were given access to earlier this week. And since we can't (as of this writing) pull items out of storage from our others farms into the Lighthouse Cove, this is as close as you're going to get to having any of this theme on your land for the foreseeable future.

As usual, this free Crab Shack offer will only be around for a limited time, so make sure to login to your farm sooner, rather than later, if you want to take advantage of this deal.

Will you purchase a Farm Cash bundle as part of this free-gift-with-purchase giveaway? Would you pay Farm Cash to access your "other farm" storage in the Lighthouse Cove?

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash in Yahoo promotion

It looks like we're seeing a change for the better in terms of free Farm Cash promotions in FarmVille, as there's another available this afternoon, from Yahoo. Technically, this promotion is encouraging users to add Yahoo! as their browser homepage, but as usual, there's a way around that (that still allows you your free Farm Cash)!

To start, you'll need to click on the sponsored link window displaying the Yahoo "Y" and then wait for the window to load (it might take a bit longer than normal, as the promotion has to decide which browser you're using to access it). From there, you're given instructions on how to make Yahoo! your homepage on that particular browser, but at the bottom of the window sits a countdown timer that starts at 30 seconds and slowly counts down (much more slowly than 30 seconds, that is). When it finally does run out, you can click on the "Finish" button to end the promotion and receive your two Farm Cash.

As usual, your Farm Cash should automatically update into your account upon closing this activity window, but if it doesn't, a simple refresh of the game should do the trick. Either way, make sure to complete this activity the very first time you see it appear under your FarmVille gameplay area, as these cross-promotions tend to be incredibly fast-moving, and may disappear even after refreshing the page.

Were you able to earn your free Farm Cash from Yahoo, or has the promotion not appeared for you yet?

FarmVille Capital One Free Gift: What's inside?

If you've played FarmVille at all in the last 24 hours, you're likely aware that a Capital One cross-promotional farm has appeared in the game, giving you a chance to earn a free Capital One Goat and some "Capital One" instant grow. What you might have missed, however, is the release of a Capital One Gift on the game's free gifts page. This box can be thought of as a mystery box, as you'll never know which item you'll receive when opening one.

There are quite a few items that can be found inside each Capital One Gift, but unfortunately only a few are really "exciting." Here's a list of items that we've received from those boxes so far:

Pygmy Goat
Animal Feed
Passion Fruit Tree
Flower Sheep
Farmhand

While the Pygmy Goat and Farm Sheep are cute little animals, we've easily received an overwhelming amount of Passion Fruit Trees, and little of everything else. Whether that means those are the most common prizes, or we're just "unlucky" remains to be seen. This Capital One gift will only be available to send for the next nine days, so make sure to send some now while you still can (and ask for some in return!).

Facebook game lets you solve anagrams to save Canada's forests

True to its name, in order to play Donate2Play Media's first new game, you're going to have to pony up some change. Wordraiser is an anagram game that has players make as many words as possible out of one word.

If you manage to guess the key word, you get to level up. After leveling up a few times, you'll be asked to buy "Karma Points" that enable you to play more games.

Donation packages range from $1 to $20 USD, where $1 USD equals 10 Karma Points, which is good for buying one game. But right now, it seems that there's nothing stopping you from playing as much as you want. We're not sure if this is a bug, as the game just launched during the previous weekend.

While Wordraiser is supposedly free-to-play, it's also the offspring of Donate2Play's partnership with The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), a Canadian grassroots organization devoted to finding the balance between forestry jobs and preserving British Columbia's ancient woodlands (defined as tree populations that are over 120 years old). So half of the money given to Wordraiser will be split between AFA and Donate2Play.

Gallery: Wordraiser

Lastly, there's a top ten high scores leaderboard that displays players' names followed by their levels, and two of AFA's founders, TJ Watts and Ken Wu, are currently on the board in ninth and third place, respectively. According to its Facebook page, Wordraiser currently has 202 monthly users.

Keep in mind, though, that Donate2Play is doing all the heavy lifting here, with no risk or prior investment from AFA. Outreach for the game is done via automatic Facebook wall posts. Players will also receive facts about British Columbian forests during load screens and photos of these forests by TJ Watt.

[Hat-tip: Times Colonist]

Click here to play Wordraiser on Facebook now >

Would you rather donate to a charity directly than through a Facebook game?

Adventure World: Redeem a Zynga Game Card for 15 free energy packs

If you've become a fan of Zynga's newest Facebook game Adventure World (now Adventure World - An Indiana Jones Game), and are ready to lay down some real-world money in the game, you now have some extra incentive to do so. For every Game Card redeemed in the game, you'll receive 15 Energy Packs.

Unfortunately, we're not sure exactly what that means. We'd love for it to mean 15 full energy refills, but if you look inside the game, a 30 Energy pot of coffee costs a whopping 30 Adventure Cash. Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like something Zynga would just give away for free, especially in bulk. This leaves us with another option, the single cup of coffee, which gives you just five energy points. This would be a decent boost, since we're talking about a "free" prize after all, but even then, it still likely won't take you long to burn through all of those bonus energy points.

What's worse, there's yet another option for energy refills: a Bolt that gives you just one energy point. Surely this isn't the "Energy Packs" Zynga is talking about, but it's something to keep in mind all the same. We're working on discovering just which kind of "Energy Pack" you'll receive when redeeming a Zynga Game Card, but for now, why not take a look at our tools upgrade guide, so you'll be able to upgrade your tools to do more work for less energy to make all of your points go that much further.

Will you redeem a Zynga Game Card to earn 15 free Energy Packs? If you have, which specific kind of pack did you receive?

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!

Kinect Sports: Season Two ready to win big this holiday season

Last year's enjoyable launch game, Kinect Sports, was a critically acclaimed showpiece for Microsoft's motion sensing camera. It was so good, that consumers snatched up over three million copies, prompting the billion dollar company to green light a sequel.

The result, Kinect Sports: Season Two, appears to be every bit as good as its predecessor.

Rare's latest features six new sports to enjoy, each one more addictive than the last.

The game's most impressive activity, Darts, almost perfectly mimics the real deal, minus the occasional finger prick and the numerous holes in the wall.

Players stand in front of their televisions, hold an imaginary dart and watch as an on-screen hand appears. From there, it's as simple as making a throwing motion to send that dart to its intended location.

Matches support up to four players offline and one-versus-one via Xbox Live. From there, everyone competes to reduce their individual scores from 501 to zero.

More interesting, though, is Pop Darts, one of Season Two's three Challenge Play Modes that let users send high scores to friends via Xbox Live. Here, the object is to pop as many balloons as possible before time expires, where destroying said balloons adds precious seconds to the clock.



Another sport, Skiing, provides a more intense workout, as players pull into a tuck position and lean right or left to pass through gates. Similarly, they can fire up this event's Challenge Mode, Downhill Dodge, and tackle progressively difficult courses, jumping and ducking over obstacles to outscore their opponents.

Baseball, meanwhile, has a Challenge Mode all its own in the form of Homerun Hero, allowing gamers to blast pitches out of the park. On top of that, they can compete against the computer/other players in a more traditional three-inning game.

As for Golf, players should expect to retire their Wii Remotes, as the Kinect Sports: Season Two iteration is without question superior. Up to four players can hit the links, choosing between different clubs and taking practice swings before sending their golf balls into orbit.



The coolest feature is the ability to place one's hand over his or her eyes, prompting the game to offer a bird's eye view of the course.

Rare also put Nintendo's Wii Tennis to shame with a more advanced offering, where wannabe stars step into balls (on offense and defense) before hitting them with imaginary rackets, instead of just standing still the whole time.

Finally, there's American football. Although we don't expect it to replace Electronic Arts' Madden NFL anytime soon, Rare has done a great job capturing the thrill of being a quarterback and throwing a long bomb to a wide open receiver, or running in place to take the ball 100 yards to pay dirt. Quarters end too quickly, but at the very least, it's cool kicking field goals and dodging defensemen.



To compliment this impressive package, Rare included more mascots as well as 300 plus voice commands that put further distance between players and those plastic controllers. In fact, they can control much of the experience without pressing a single button.

Although there's still work to do (we encountered a couple minor glitches), Kinect Sports: Season Two should not only compliment its prequel, but surpass it. Most importantly, the game's a lot of fun, and further proof that Microsoft's Kinect has a bright future.

Kabam on Edgeworld's release and what battles lie ahead [Interview]

Even at first glance of its war-torn landscape filled with futuristic buildings blasted to bits by the laser weapons of alien and mechanized armies, it's clear that Edgeworld is San Francisco-based developer Kabam's most ambitious project yet. Formerly known as Watercooler, the studio and publisher is filled with fans of traditional strategy PC games. Even CEO Kevin Chou was a world-ranked StarCraft player back in the day.

Inspired by sci-fi staples like Star Wars, Star Trek and even the Halo series of shooter games, Edgeworld is the culmination of Kabam's ongoing mission to bring a true 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) game experience to Facebook. Since the game's "open beta" release in August, the team is hard at work to make that vision a reality as it claims to have in previous games. (As of this writing, the game enjoys over 858,000 monthly players, according to AppData.)

We sat down with Edgeworld Producer James Holloway recently to hear his thoughts on the game post-release, and what plans he and the rest of the Kabam team have for the strategy game in the future.
Edgeworld in action
Now that Edgeworld has released, what are your knee-jerk reactions? What do you love about the game at release, and what would you like to fix most?

We're really pleased with the release so far. We're seeing a lot of people come back to play the game--it has a really high retention. A lot of people are joining Alliances and engaging with each other. In every sector, I see chat is very active. But this is just the beginning.

The biggest thing that I think we're missing is that our Alliance feature is pretty lean right now. The thing that we would like to emphasize more is a cooperative play of the game. I think we have just the basics right now. The new Maps feature is going to integrate very tightly with alliances--you work together [with Alliances] to conquer territory.

We have about four unique turrets and nine units, and that's just the beginning. We're working on a new unit and a new turret that we're really excited about, and those are going to launch in the next month. We'll be introducing higher levels of our buildings. So, there's a lot more content that we need to create, and we're just getting started.

What's the most interesting thing you've seen players do in the game since release--something that never happened during testing?

One thing that we sort of didn't anticipate was that some Alliances and players are attacking each other for resources. At one point we didn't have inter-Alliance resource sharing, so right now you can actually send resources to other players to help them out. So, we didn't have that feature [originally].

But what people were doing was working around that by setting up their Command Centers, which are what contain your resources, outside the perimeter of their turrets. [Players would then] leave their Alliance, cook it, and then attack them and take their resources. So, they were doing resource transfers before the feature was even allowed.

Do you have any interesting or helpful gameplay tips for the players to get ahead in Edgeworld?

Certainly! If you're just starting out, we give every player two days of starter protection wherein no other player can attack you. That's a free few days of protection, and use that time wisely to build up your base and experiment with different configurations. Allow the Factions to attack your base. There's a lot of experimentation with the units.

Players are posting on the forums, talking with each other and also within their Alliances about the best combinations of units to deploy when attacking a base. There are a lot of combinations of tanks and DPS [damage per second] units you can deploy. Rhinos, or other types that have a lot of hit points, can take a lot of fire, and then you can deploy units with longer range or higher DPS behind them.
Edgeworld blast
Depending on what your goals are--like, you might want as many resources as possible--you might want to deploy the Raiders. The Rhinos draw fire from the turrets, while the Spectres sit outside and fire away at the turrets. You really want to upgrade your Spectres to give them a longer range.

We have two different types of units in the game right now: infantry units and mechanized units. It's not necessarily that the mechs are more powerful than the infantry--we're still constantly balancing the game to make sure every unit has its role.

Another thing is that the Warp Gates are really important as far as attacking goes. As you upgrade those, you increase their capacity so that you can actually deploy more units on the ground [at once]. As you unlock more units, the more powerful units will start to consume more of the [Warp Gates'] bandwidth, so you want to upgrade those to deploy the biggest army that you can.

Thanks for talking with us (and for the tips), James.

Territories Could Blow Alliance Play Wide Open

During our chat, Holloway had something brand new to show coming soon to Edgeworld. (Though, it's still in the concept phase, so weren't provided images.) It's a feature tentatively known as "Territories," and the game's producer hopes that it will expand Alliance play into something even more meaningful.

"We haven't seen a past feature like this that I can think of, and we all play a lot of games," Holloway gushes about what he's about to show me. "We're trying to make this a deeper, more robust 4X or empires building game."

As it relates to the game's story, many of the Galactic Union's outposts have been abandoned during the war for Cerulea IV, and they're ripe for the taking. The Territories feature will provide you with a map of the entire planet Cerulea IV, with your home base appearing in the center as a star. Your home base will be surrounded by either hostile, Alliance or neutral territories marked in red, green or simply displayed as abandoned outposts, respectively.
Edgeworld concept art
It's up to you to work with your Alliance to invade either hostile (controlled by enemy Alliances) or neutral outposts, and keep them under your control for as long as possible to reap their benefits, which weren't revealed to us. (Our best guess is additional resources to keep your home bases going.) Players will individually attack outposts just as they would enemy bases, and can call on their Alliance for help asynchronously.

However, players cannot build on these outposts, only bolster their existing defense turrets with their own resources to maintain control of the benefits they provide. This will make it more difficult for enemies to invade. Speaking of invading, players can only enter outposts that are adjacent to their own base or controlled outposts. Eventually, we see the Territories feature becoming a constant struggle between opposing Alliances, and hopefully something for us to work toward.

"This is very different from our other strategy games," Holloway says. "In most cases you individually own tiles on the map, but in this case you kind of need an Alliance to own territory. This is something we're really excited about. We're still working on it and prototyping it, but hopefully we'll have something out in the next four weeks."

[Image Credit: Kabam]

What are you impressions of Edgeworld so far? Are you excited about the upcoming Territories feature coming to the game, and what else do you hope to see from developers like Kabam?

CityVille Doggie Daycare Upgrades: Everything you need to know

CityVille Doggie Daycare Upgrades
Sometimes, we forget about the citizens of CityVille that aren't the people. And that's OK, because they don't really matter Zynga looks to remind us with the next big Community Building upgrade: the Doggie Daycare. This Community Building, released back in April, will grant you a boost in population and don a palette swap once upgraded.

However, you must be at least Level 18 to access the new Doggie Daycare. Once you reach that point, you'll notice that the building has a green arrow floating above it. Click on the Doggie Daycare to open its upgrade page. Here are all the items you'll need to upgrade the Doggie Daycare:
Ugrade Doggie Daycare
Doggie Daycare UpgradedUnfortunately, it looks like you'll have to ask you friends for each and every one of these items. Zynga claims you can also post the requests to your News Feed. Once you receive one of each item, we imagine you can also post the items to your Wish List. Once you acquire all 25 items, you can click "Finish Building" to boost the Doggie Daycare's allowed population to 540.

For the Level 3 Doggie Daycare, you'll need to ask for the same items using the same process. But this time, you will need eight of each item for a total of 40. This will boost the building's total allowed population to 1,080, and give it a fresh look. Now, you can forget all about the puppies of CityVille all over again--we kid ... sort of. Poor guys.

[Source and Image Credit: Zynga]

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

Have you started upgrading the Doggie Daycare yet? What do you think of how Zynga handles building upgrades in CityVille?

Adventure World Safari Showdown Expedition: Everything you need to know

By the time you reach Level 10 in Adventure World, you will have unlocked the first five Expeditions in the game, with this fifth Expedition being called Safari Showdown. This one comes with the tagline: "Face off with Queen Coral and move her nest to safety." While that may not do much to describe exactly what you'll be facing, you are told a few details about what to expect from the technical side of the things.

You'll need to have 450 Supplies to spare, along with two units each of Food, Fuel and Water. In terms of a time limit, you're limited to finishing this entire Expedition in a single 24 hour period. Your maximum rewards are 2,350 coins and 3 Food, on top of the XP and coins (among other items) you'll earn from simply completing the Quests therein. Here's a complete guide to finishing Safari Showdown from start to finish.

Stop Queen Coral!

Defeat the Queen Coral
Get Queen Coral's Eggs and Nest
Place Queen Coral's Eggs and Nest across the river

Apparently, a mama coral snake has formed a nest too close to a small village, and she's scaring the children. In this Expedition, your overall goal is to eliminate her from the area and move her next across the river where it can remain undisturbed and the children can go back to playing. Queen Coral's next is located in a fairly secure location, surrounded by shrubs and thorns. There are traps between you and she, and the snake itself has 12 hit points. Once you defeat the snake, you'll see the nest sitting nearby. It has three "points," so you'll need to eliminate those before you can pick it up. Finally, the bridge across the river is blocked by a boulder, requiring dynamite to remove. Dynamite costs 1,000 coins to purchase in the Tool Shop back in your Base Camp.



Find Them a New Home

Collect 5 Bundles of Grass
Plant 5 Bundles of Grass around the snake's new home

Since your ultimate goal is to remove the threat to the village by moving the nest across the river, you'll need to create a new home for the Queen Coral's nest by collecting and planting Bundles of Grass on this map. The bundles of grass can easily be mistaken for shrubs, so make sure to look for them at every corner. Meanwhile, the Bundles of Grass can be planted on the far side of the river, in the area clearly set aside as their new home.


Build Them a Sanctuary!

Collect 10 Cotton
Collect 4 Hardened Vines
Use 10 Soils Piles to build a fence around the snakes' new home

Of course, you're going to "remove" the snake and nest as harmlessly as possible, so you'll need to first make sure that the new home for these snakes is as comfortable as possible. After all, you wouldn't want the snakes to get bored and head back into the village, now would you? Vines themselves come from clearing out thorns (you tend to get around four hardened vines per thorn removed), while cotton is found in the far right side of the map, growing in a make-shift farm setup (apparently) by the villagers. I'm sure they won't mind you taking some of that cotton to build this new home, so long as it means they're free of the snakes. Finally, the Soil Piles are found around the outside edge of the marked area above. Here are some pictures of what you're looking for in this quest.

Once you finish these three tasks, you will have finished the fifth Expedition in Adventure World, and will be one step closer to fame and fortune within the Adventure Society. Good luck!

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

What did you think of this Expedition? Which of the game's Expeditions has been your favorite thus far?

Zynga, Playdom, EA and Bioware vets cause a Rumble with new freemium studio

While many a story has come to light recently, detailing high-level game designers jumping ship to Zynga, here's one where a fairly big gun under the big Z's umbrella has left for new pastures. To be specific, John Yoo, lead designer on CityVille, is one of a few industry veterans that have joined with Greg Richardson [pictured], of former BioWare/Pandemic fame, in the creation of a new freemium (free-to-play) game studio by the name of Rumble.

After speaking with Rick Thompson, the founder of another major social games company - Playdom - the two partnered to form Rumble. Rounding out this new package are former EA employees Mark Spenner and David O'Connor. With these big names in their camp, Richardson's goal with Rumble is to create games that are free to play (supported with paid add-ons), but lie somewhere in between the expensive world of high-end PC games and the extremely casual games represented by many Facebook titles.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Richardson has faith that this middle ground holds a lot of merit. "We saw this third hill, and we think it's the biggest of the three hills," he says. This isn't to say, though, that Facebook games are out of the picture, as Richardson confirmed that they will use the social service, but will also focus on mobile devices and PCs through the browser.

In addition to developing its own games, Rumble will publish other developer's titles. While no specific details were announced about any of Rumble's specific games (we can expect the first sometime early next year), Richardson did list many of the company's areas of inspiration, which lie anywhere from Zelda and Super Smash Bros. to Diablo and Civilization. Regardless of the game in question, he says that Rumble looks to avoid overly complex gameplay. With this many areas of inspiration, we're definitely interested in seeing what Rumble comes up with, but for now - the possibilities are endless.

Are you excited in trying out this apparent middle-ground of freemium games that aren't too challenging, but aren't too basic either?

FarmVille Animal Sanctuary & Lighthouse Cove Trees: Sugar Maple Tree, Painted Bamboo Tree and more

With tonight's update, we see a ton of new trees being released in FarmVille, in both the Animal Sanctuary theme, and in the new Lighthouse Cove limited edition themes. That's right - a Lighthouse Cove theme has launched in the store, full of items that can be purchased for other farms, or for your Lighthouse Cove if you so choose (that is, if you choose to pay to get in this early). Here's a full rundown of these trees.

Lighthouse Cove

Sugar Maple Tree - 7 Farm Cash
Japanese Maple Tree - 15 Farm Cash
Bur Oak Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Pin Oak Tree - 12 Farm Cash

Here's a case where I think some price testing might be taking place. The 8 and 12 Farm Cash prices seem incredibly out of place, so if they happen to be different in your own store, that would be why. As for Mystery Seedlings, you can purchase just the Bur Oak and Sugar Maple Trees, and will (hopefully) receive the other two through mystery seedlings.

Animal Sanctuary

Painted Bamboo - 5 Farm Cash
Umbrella Bamboo - 15 Farm Cash

Again, these prices seem incredibly strange, so don't be alarmed if they're different (even potentially costing less) in your own game when you happen to check. It's a (now) normal Zynga practice to see which prices uses respond to with purchases, and we unfortunately can't prevent it from happening. Of course, the Painted Bamboo is the Level 1 tree here, while you can receive the Umbrella Bamboo from Mystery Seedlings.

Overall, the Sugar Maple and Japanese Maple Trees will be in the game for the next 11 days, while the other four trees will be around for two weeks. Keep those time limits in mind if you don't have the Farm Cash on hand to shop just yet - they won't be around forever.

FarmVille Animal Sanctuary & Lighthouse Cove Animals: Canada Lynx, Morgan Stallion and more

As was the case with trees this evening, tonight's FarmVille update has seen the launch of not only new Animal Sanctuary items, but also animals in the Lighthouse Cove limited edition theme. These Lighthouse Cove items can be purchased for other farms, not just your Lighthouse Cove farm, if you wish to carry the theme throughout your properties. This is also a great way for those who choose not to pay to get into Lighthouse Cove early to add to their animal collections while they wait.

Lighthouse Cove

Canada Lynx - 12 Farm Cash
Standardbred Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Bufflehead Duck - 18 Farm Cash
Morgan Stallion - 35 Farm Cash

With these animals, we see two horses for collectors that cost the expected high numbers, and reward appropriate XP in exchange: 2,600 for the Standardbred and 3,500 for the Morgan Stallion. The Canada Lynx and Standardbred Horse will only be in the game's store for the next 11 days, while the other two animals will be around for a full two weeks, to give you an idea of when you really need to shop.

Animal Sanctuary

Clouded Leopard - 15 Farm Cash

Unfortunately, that's the only animal released in the theme this evening, but at least it isn't so expensive that it's guaranteed to break the bank. For purchasing this little fella, you'll receive 1,500 experience points, and will be able to harvest him every two days. He'll be available in the game's store for the next two weeks.

Regardless of which animal you choose, remember that (again), these Lighthouse Cove animals can be placed in other farms, so if you'd like to place them inside your Horse Stables and the like (where applicable), go right ahead and do that. Just make sure to not let these guys expire from the store before you have a chance to shop.

Which of these animals is your favorite? What do you think of the Lighthouse Cove theme of items so far?

FarmVille Animal Sanctuary & Lighthouse Cove Buildings: Asian Gazebo, Seaside Cottage and more

Continuing in the double-item update in FarmVille, tonight's release brought us new buildings not only in the previous Animal Sanctuary item theme, but also in the Lighthouse Cove theme. These Lighthouse Cove items are available to purchase in other farms, so keep an eye out for them in the store when hanging out at Home or in the English Countryside as well.

Lighthouse Cove

Seaside Cottage - 25 Farm Cash
Village Store - 25 Farm Cash
Coastal Farmhouse - 25 Farm Cash
Coastal Restaurant - 30 Farm Cash

As usual, buildings in FarmVille are some of the most expensive things you can purchase, and these are no exception to that rule. The Seaside Cottage and Village Store have shorter time limits at 11 days, while the Coastal Farmhouse and Coastal Restaurant (not to be confused with the Restaurant Crafting Cottage you can purchase on your new farm for coins) will be around for the next two week.

Animal Sanctuary

Asian Gazebo - 10 Farm Cash

This building is fairly small, looking more like a lawn ornament than a full sized building, but I suppose that helps explain the cheaper price tag. If you're interested in purchasing this one, you'll need to do so within the next two weeks, before it expires form the store.

Will we see these items again after they expire? It's likely, but in the off chance that they don't, make sure to purchase any you feel you just can't live without during this first release.

Which of these new buildings is your favorite? Are you more of a fan of the Lighthouse Cove theme or the pre-existing Animal Sanctuary theme?

FarmVille Animal Sanctuary & Lighthouse Cove Decorations: Sea Lavender, Panda Arch and more

While decorations may be the last items we've discussed in tonight's FarmVille update, that doesn't mean they're the least important. These decorative items come from both the Animal Sanctuary and Lighthouse Cove themes, and there are actually quite a few coin items in this set for those shopping on a budget. As a note, these Lighthouse Cove items are available not just in your Lighthouse Cove farm, so if you chose not to buy your way in, you don't have to worry about missing out (on these items, anyway).

Lighthouse Cove

Beach Tent - 2 Farm Cash
Beach Grass - 4,000 coins
Beach Chair Set - 20,000 coins
Coastal Planter - 8,000 coins
Dark Wood Fence - 5,000 coins
Field Stone Bridge - 15 Farm Cash
Nelly Moser - 50,000 coins
Boreal Owl - 18 Farm Cash
Sea Lavender - 5,000 coins
Maple Leaf Gnome - 15 Farm Cash

You'll need to pay special attention to these items in the store, as some of them expire in 11 days, while others are around for two weeks. Overall, there are a surprisingly large amount of coin-only items here, so if you've already spent all of your Farm Cash in simply getting into Lighthouse Cove, you'll receive a break there.

Animal Sanctuary

Panda Arch - 2 Farm Cash
Cockatiel - 10 Farm Cash

As you can see, the Lighthouse Cove side of the store definitely has more items, but you can still splurge a bit of Farm Cash on these two items if you choose. They'll both be available in the store for the next two weeks.

What do you think of this pile of new items? Have you already created a retreat on your farm with these Lighthouse Cove items, or are you just starting to decorate with them this evening?

Bubble Witch Saga pops on Facebook, King.com hits 900M gameplays

If games like Bubble Bobble have taught us anything, it's that sometimes there's nothing more relaxing than popping bubbles. Casual and social game developer King.com knows this all too well, and has released its second bubble-bursting game on Facebook, Bubble Witch Saga. This new game is a socially-enhanced port of one of the top five most popular games ever on King.com (the casual games website of the same name), King.com Director of Product Performance, Social and Mobile, Lars Jornow told us.

The game features more levels than ever with 70 unique stages, new booster power-ups available for Facebook Credits and a deeper storyline than before. Players assume the role of an aspiring witch who wishes to join the proverbial circle of three. In order to impress the witches, you must burst the bubbles by matching three of the same color to fill their cauldron with magic goop. I mean, who knows what witches put in those things?

Bursting the bubbles will get the cauldron below bubbling, as witches are so wont to do. Each successful match causes spiders to drop from the ceiling. The more spiders you have when you burst enough bubbles, the more points you'll get (and hopefully stars), as the spiders will act as bumpers for the remaining bubbles and increase your chances of scoring big.
Buggle Witch Saga concept art
Completing each level with the most stars possible will help you reach new uncharted parts of a vast forest in your quest to become the fourth witch of the circle. Players can invite their friends to the game to help restore their lives if they fail to clear a difficult level, and later in the game they will need more friends to unlock new levels to play.

Bubble Witch Saga takes an interesting spin on the bubble-bursting sub genre of casual and social games, with its semi-realistic art style that's delightfully reminiscent of the unforgettable Halloween flick Hocus-Pocus. While the game already has six episodes (with about 10 levels each) of content, Jornow tells us that more content is already in the works.
Bubble Witch Saga gameplay
Not to mention that the game will hit mobile devices later this year. King.com also announced that it has surpassed 900 million monthly gameplay sessions across all of its platforms. Granted, that's thanks to its over 200 games total, but an impressive feat nonetheless--though, the company does say that it has beat PopCap in monthly players on Facebook, according to AppData. Bubble Witch is available for play now on Facebook, so have at those bubbles, my pretties. (I promise that's the last time I say "my pretties" here ... whoops, done it again!)

Click here to play Bubble Witch Saga on Facebook Now >

Are you excited to kick back and blow up some bubbles once again? What do you think of this game so far, and the bubble-bursting sub genre of casual or social games?

OpenFeint co-founder leaves, Gree International head becomes CEO

Well, that sure was quick. Just months after Japanese social game network Gree acquired OpenFeint (for a cool $104 million, mind you), the latter's co-founder and CEO has left the company, VentureBeat reports. The Burlingame, Calif.-based mobile social game network's 26-year-old co-founder Jason Citron has moved on to new opportunities, and has been replaced by Gree's head of international operations Naoki Aoyagi (pictured).

"In just over 24 months, OpenFeint has grown to over 120 million users across 7,000 games," Aoyagi said in a release. "I thank Jason for his leadership growing the company and wish him well in his new adventures." But, according to VentureBeat, the old switcheroo might not have been so cut and dry.

VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi reports hearing rumors that Citron had been fired from the company before contacting OpenFeint and Citron, both of which declined to comment on the news until Aoyagi made the above statement in a release. However, both companies aim to announce their plans for integration between the U.S. operations of both companies in the coming weeks.

In other words, Gree's westward expansion into the U.S. through OpenFeint is imminent, and Gree will likely have even more of a say in how OpenFeint handles things now with a former Gree executive at the reins. Gree hopes to turn U.S. mobile gamers into the apparently wild spenders that Japanese mobile gamers tend to be.

However, direct Japanese competitor DeNA has already launched its Mobage mobile social games platform in the U.S. through recent acquisition ngmoco, and already has support of major U.S. carrier AT&T (though, it is AT&T). It looks like this holiday season will prove whether Gree and OpenFeint can catch up to their new rivals, not to mention existing western competitors like Zynga and EA, both of which have global and mobile ambitions. At any rate, it's going to be a very merry Christmas for mobile gamers.

[Image Credit: VentureBeat]

Do you think Gree and OpenFeint can catch up to DeNA under its new management? What do you hope to see from Citron now that he's freed himself from the company he helped bring up to this point?

Scrabble gets ridiculously meta in Scrabble Showdown [Video]

We think it's official: Scrabble is now available on every game platform ever--even cable TV. What if we told you that, while playing Scrabble on Facebook against your friends playing on their smartphones, you could watch folks play on TV? (Now, if that's not meta, we don't know what is.) Scrabble Showdown, a new game show on The Hub cable TV network produced by Hasbro Studios, will debut this Saturday, Sept. 17, at 6:30 p.m. EST. (Check here to see where it will play in your area.)

In the half-hour long game show, families compete in a variety of Scrabble games including Scrabble Babble, Slam, Flash and the Final Lightning Round (you know, because it wouldn't be a game show without one of those). Of course, there are major prizes at stake like vacations to "anywhere in the world," according to a release. At this point, you really will have zero excuse to not own your friends in Scrabble on Facebook.

This show, hosted by Justin Willman of The Food Network's Cake Wars, is bound to get intense. I mean, have you seen professional Scrabble players? They'll be flocking to this new battlefield in no time. Check out a preview of the show below, and if you tune in this weekend--who knows--you might learn a trick or two to school your friends with on Facebook.


Do you plan on tuning into Scrabble Showdown this weekend? What other Facebook or casual games do you think would make a fun game show?

Plants vs Zombies's Crazy Dave finds his calling: hip hop music [Video]

Unintelligible stammering backed by some smooth zombie croons, but hip hop nevertheless. In this new video by PopCap, Crazy Dave (you know, the guy who sells you stuff?) from Plants vs Zombies takes a shot at making a hip hop video. Of course, you'll never know what the guy is spitting out rhymes about, as he can't say much more than "wabby" and "wabbo."

In fact, that's exactly the title of Cray-Z's--Crazy Dave's most fitting stage name--debut video, "Wabby Wabbo." According to its description, Ded Jam Records decided that the world deserved to hear Crazy Dave's mindless blabbering in a more appropriate format: rap music. (Let the flaming in the comments commence!)

We don't want to ruin all the surprises, but just know this: Cray-Z, like just about all successful hip hop artists, seriously loves his bling, expensive cars and collaborating with back-up vocalists for seconds at a time. Oh, and a fan-favorite zombie makes a show-stopping vocal contribution ... literally.

Considering all the work PopCap has been up to on the game already, we're guessing this is just how the team prefers to spend their free time. And please, guys, if your free time results in more comedy gold like this, definitely squeeze in more of that free time. Check out the video below.


[Video Credit: PlantsVsZombies]

Are you a fan of Plants vs Zombies? What about PopCap's hilarious videos surrounding its games?

Get your booze on in Malibu Rum's Beach Club on Facebook

If developers can make Facebook games in which you grow and sell a certain controversial plant and not hear "boo," I guess a game revolving around the firewater can slide. Because the sales of Malibu Rum tend to dip ... a lot in the colder months, Pernod Ricard, the company behind Malibu Rum, created a Facebook game to promote the awareness of its brand.

The game, which launched today, is known simply as Beach Club, and frankly, it's a pretty impressive branded Facebook game. (Look, more and more companies are going to be up to this in the future, and the games are only becoming more detailed, elaborate and visually impressive.) The game, which has Malibu Rum branding aplenty, tasks players with running their very own beach island.

Beach Club, developed by Aegis Media Group's Isobar, is said to block underage Facebook users from playing by relying on both the birth dates in their profiles and an age verification immediately after installing the app. They're not exactly airtight methods of keeping the kiddies out, but do more to keep the game in front of 21 to 35-year-olds than other Facebook games surrounding questionable topics.

According to AdAge, Malibu made a conscious effort to keep the game geared toward adults through more than just age verification. The game makes liberal use of more mature-looking artwork than other games aimed at the same crowd. "In our game the drawing of the avatars are more mature, they are clearly adults walking around this beach," Malibu senior brand manager AnnaMarie Battiloro told AdAge.
Beach Club overview
Oddly enough, the game isn't governed by an energy system or much of anything that limits your play time, unlike most games. While the game is available globally on Facebook, U.S. players earn points that go toward a vacation to Barbados, the rum's birthplace, that Malibu is giving away through Beach Club.

You'll earn these valuable points by keeping the guests of your resort happy through landscaping and adding new attractions to your tropical getaway. The most notable of which is a beach-side bar. Guests will approach the bar, and clicking on it unveils a mini game of sorts in which players have to bartend a series of Malibu Rum-themed drinks. You'll take guests' orders and have to fill them accordingly and quickly by clicking and dragging various ingredients.
Beach Club bartending
And it's all done to the sound of a 30-minute long club soundtrack with some of this past summer's most popular original tracks. Battiloro told AdAge that Malibu doesn't want Beach Club to be "overtly tied to the brand." "We actually are not trying to earn fans from this at all, Battiloro said. "We are trying to earn more brand loyalty, recognition and association."

But when a beach comber drives past our beach resort, leaving the Malibu Rum logo in its wake, we seriously doubt that. But you know what, this is one of the more full-featured, smoothly-animated branded games we've seen in awhile on Facebook. And if this is the direction brands will go when making games on Facebook, I'm not sure I mind that much.

Click here to play Beach Club on Facebook Now >

After hopping into the game, what do you think of Beach Club so far? What do you think of branded games on Facebook? Could they ever reach the quality of original Facebook games?

Game of the Day: Bookworm

Today's Game of the Day is a modern classic mixing a match-three game with Text Twist. You'll have to help the Bookworm chomp letters to make words and score points. Just look out for the burning letters and be sure to snatch up those bonuses. Try gobbling up the fast-paced action mode, making massive words up to 12 letters long.

Folks, I'll be honest, though it is possible, I was never able to make a word even close to twelve letters long. I fancy myself to be pretty decent with words, but most of the time I had to stick to just three or four letter combinations. Bookworm is hard! But don't let that discourage you, a little practice and you guys will be spelling out monster words and feeding that worm till he's full to bursting.

Click here to play Bookworm!
bookworm game of the day     bookworm game of the day
What level were you able to get to in Bookworm?

FarmVille Pic of the Day: Roads to Duckula's Castle at Als2417's farm

Have you ever heard of the proverb or idiom, "All roads lead to Rome"? Well, folks used to mean it literally too, as the Romans had built more than 250,000 miles of roads to carry trade and troops across their once mighty empire. Here, on Als2417's FarmVille farm, it's clear that all roads lead to Count Duckula's Castle.

This incredible farm, which seems to be divided into five to six separate provinces, has the Count Duckula Castle at its heart. To the north is a fairy town that appears to be populated by fairy land and Lady Gaga items ruled by the King Castle (from the English Countryside event). Northeast of the castle, you've got the snowy peaks of last summer's Swiss Alps. To the west (where you can see a Dutch Windmill and three tall Candy Corn Trees) is a small, bustling town full of warm autumn colors, where even the buildings have brown to orange roofs. The ones with the darkest brown roofs -- Flower Cafe, German Home, and Clock Tower 2 -- are from the Germany event. Bordering the Germany town is a train and railroad tracks from the Wild West event. Below that, you'll find a fully built Haunted Mansion from last year's Halloween, including this year's Kraken Lake. And when you round that bend, you'll find an entire line of farm animals and what appear to be gnomes, lined up to the castle, possibly there to bring tribute to their quacking, blood-sucking feathered lord.

Did you know that "Count Duckula" is also the name of a 1980s British cartoon series? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

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!

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?

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?

Pioneer Trail Player Conference: Visit Zynga HQ and discuss the game

So, you feel gypped that Zynga Unleashed didn't touch on your favorite Facebook game? (Greedy, aren't we?) Well, Zynga fine-tuned its ESP--or perused the forums--and learned that you want to talk more Pioneer Trail. Enter The Pioneer Trail Player Conference, a day-long event on Nov. 11 in which Zynga will host six hours of discussions, lunch and a tour of its shiny new San Francisco office to the most dedicated of fans.

The lucky few who get to hang at Zynga HQ talking Pioneer Trail will be chosen at random by the community team, led by Stumpgrinder. But those willing to travel to contribute to the discussion are certainly dedicated, especially considering Zynga will not cover travel and lodging for the event. (The company is calling primarily for folks situated in the Bay Area.)

The Zynga community team will review applicants that provide the following: forum name, real name, Facebook User ID, Pioneer Trail Level, t-shirt size (you'll get a shirt!) and their like and dislikes regarding the game. We imagine that players' proximity to Zynga headquarters will be a deciding factor, too. But why would Zynga hold such an event all about one of its least popular games?

Since its release earlier this summer, Pioneer Trail has been in decline, according to AppData. That's despite some hefty updates pushed to the game like the massive Ghost Town. Our guess is that Zynga is looking for answers as to why what was once one of its most popular games has lost its luster after what was supposed to be its revival. Check out the forum post here for all the details.

Why do you think Zynga is holding such a Pioneer Trail conference? Do you plan on applying to get a seat?