CityVille: Casa del Sol offers fun-in-the-sun living for a huge price

If you thought the Playa del Rey Apartments in CityVille were expensive, costing 75 City Cash for a population boost of 2,350 citizens (at least), try this newest building on for size. The Casa del Sol home is priced at 90 City Cash, and is also in the Mexican item theme, making it limited edition. Specifically, the Casa del Sol home will be in the game for 10 days (note that that's also one day less than the Playa del Rey Apartments).

Once you purchase the Casa del Sol, you'll have a home that starts with a whopping population of 3,000 citizens, and can be upgraded by collecting from the building (or your friends can collect from them as well; all upgrades drop randomly) to a staggering figure of 5,500 citizens. If you're looking for a quick way (albeit expensive way) to unlock that next expansion by reaching your next population goal without adding multiple homes to your town, this would definitely be an easy way to get that done. However, at a price this high, even I'm not sure it's worth it.

Still, I suppose the building's rent potential could raise its value. You'll receive 156 coins every hour if you're prompt enough to routinely collect your earnings, which would give you upwards of 3,000 coins daily, if you were really on top of things. Still, does that justify the current cost of over $11 US for this single building? I'll leave you to be the judge of that.

What do you think of the Casa del Sol in CityVille? Will you purchase one of the expensive homes for your city, or would you rather purchase multiple, cheaper buildings instead? Let us know in the comments.

Google+ releases API to developers, more social games incoming

Google+ Games is cool with its no-nonsense interface and all, but the sad fact is that it only has 16 games. Compare that to the thousands of Facebook games out there, and it's clear that Google has to do something to compete with that selection. Enter the Google+ API, which was just recently released to developers, and could lead to a plethora of more Google+ Games.

The acronym API is short for Application Programming Interface, meaning it contains the tools for developers to create new applications within a given framework--in this case being Google+. Wired reports that Google will steadily release its developer API, meaning that it will be some time before it's feature-complete. And the features not yet included are, well, kinda vital.

For instance, at the moment developers can only create apps that publish read-only public posts. For instance, if a developer like Zynga released a new social game today on Google+ Games, your friends would not be able to interact with the News Feed posts you create. You all already likely know that this is essentially the bread and butter of Facebook games. It's how things get done in-game aside from directly requesting help from friends.

The reasoning for the omission? According to PC World, Google's Eric Chabot explains that this is because the company would rather improve Google+ over time, rather open up a "vacuum" with too many features at once. I'm not sure adding simple post-sharing interactivity would create a vacuum for the platform, but it's a first step nonetheless. What Google+ Games has to deal with more in its competition with Facebook's wide offering of games is scale. The bell rings on Round 2.

[Source: Google+ Platform Blog]

Do you think developers will flock to Google+ Games, even with a limited API at launch? Does Google+ Games have a chance against Facebook's Canvas platform for games? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day: Play our Top Five pirate Facebook games

Is there any other way to being this feature than with a hearty "Yarrgg?" Probably not. (In fact, let's use this entire introduction to talk like pirates, eh?) In case ye hadn't noticed, mate, today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So, I ask ye landlubbers, what better way to honor this joyous, silly holiday than with five of the best pirate games around on Facebook?

Avast, ye swabs! Look no further than right here for the five best seafarin' and land lootin' games on Facebook. Oh, right, and remember to click on the headers to jump off the plank right into each Facebook game:

Mighty Pirates
This release (pictured below) by CrowdStar explores the two most important things in a pirate's life: exploring and fighting. Players create, maintain and upgrade their very own vessel of piracy. And it's all in the name of surviving your next fight with your fellow pirate.

Mighty Pirates handles battles in turn-based affairs that add a bit of strategy to burning your enemies to the blue depths. In your off time, explore islands to dig up buried treasure and other resources to boost your ship with.
Mighty Pirates
Treasure Isle
While it may not directly involve pirates, the swashbucklers have invaded the shores of Zynga's island exploration game more times than not. In fact, players can even embark on Voyages with their own vessels, though simply to explore even more. Treasure Isle has players aiming to complete island maps by digging and digging ... and digging. But judging from more experienced players' islands, it certainly pays off. (In other words, there's lots and lots of treasure in it for you.)

Battle Pirates
Want a more ... serious approach to high seas fighting and looting? Then Kixeye certainly has that in spades with Battle Pirates, its strategy Facebook game centered around modern day piracy. (You know, like those bad dudes off the coast of Somalia?) The game plays much like the developer's previous strategy offerings, giving you a week to prepare your base for incoming attack from anyone playing the game. If you want a pirate game that puts the battle first, then look no further.
Battle Pirates
Pirates Saga
In this take on everyone's favorite sea-faring antiheroes, Can't Stop Games focuses almost entirely on your ship. More importantly, it's concerned with how you navigate it through the deep blue sea ... and away from enemy gunfire. Another battle-focused pirates game, Pirates Saga allows players to interact with each other in real time. As you transport cargo and fight back the forces of the infamous Blackbeard, be wary at all times of opposing ships that may or may not be fellow players.
Pirates Saga
Pirate Legacy
A somewhat smaller game than the rest in terms of monthly players, this game by 6waves and Paprika Lab throws a heavy RPG (role-playing game) layer onto the pirate game aesthetic. Pirate Legacy enlists you, a new corsair, to explore the ocean around your home port and hunt for monsters like giant serpents and ghost ships to acquire materials for contractors. Everything about the game is turn-based, giving it an impressive layer of strategy that's a little lighter on the action.
Pirate Legacy
[Lead Image Credit: Disney]

How are you honoring this most awesome Talk Like a Pirate Day? Which of these pirate-themed Facebook games do you like most, and do you know of any you'd personally recommend? Share with us in the comments. 2 Comments

Capital One gets in Zynga's wallet with FarmVille, CityVille, Pioneer Trail

Capital One asks Zynga once again, "What's in your wallet?" To which the developer replies, "Why, FarmVille, CityVille and Pioneer Trail, of course!" Mashable reports that the national financial services firm has teamed up with Zynga again for three brand new in-game branding promotions involving Capital One's infamous goat character. Well, two outta three, at least.

Granted, keep in mind that these promotions are slowly rolling out to players, as I've yet to see most of them in my games. Starting with none other than FarmVille, Capital One returns (remember the Visigoths?) with its beloved goat to the game as a breedable animal, which comes just in time for the slew of Breeding Pens in the game.

CityVille, on the other hand, simply features a Capital One-branded Bank for players to use, and opening it offers players a bonus decoration as well as additional Coins, Energy and other resources. Pioneer Trail has its very own set of Goals to help the goat-on-arrival find his lost band mates, which ultimately reward players with a Capital One goat of their own.

This is the second time Capital One has worked with Zynga this year in a branding promotion, and it comes hot off of the heels of a Best Buy promotion conducted through CityVille. And this will be far from the last branded promotion to be featured in a Zynga game. (If anything, the work of Ecko|Code speaks to its popularity.)

The San Francisco-based (but global) developer is joining forces with Lucasfilm to bring Indiana Jones into Adventure World, Zynga Boston's debut Facebook game. Considering the game has been retitled, "Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game," it could be the first Zynga game built entirely around a brand. So yes, branded Facebook games are here to stay.

Are you psyched for these upcoming in-game promotions across the company's three most recognizable Facebook games? What do you think of the movement toward branding in Facebook games overall? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

MapleStory Adventures hits over 3M players, new classes coming soon

You'd think an astronomical divorce rate would scare players away, but nay. Nexon announced today that its first crack at Facebook games, MapleStory Adventures, has touched the chibi-loving hearts of over 3.2 million monthly players. While this number pales in comparison to the 100 million players that have jumped into the original game, it's impressive considering.

But not necessarily surprising. First of all, have you ever met a MapleStory fan ... or should I say fanatic? Second, the "click things and cute things happen" approach could certainly keep players hooked. Now that the Facebook version has roped in a few million, we imagine the Korean studio looks to bring its 414,000 daily players, according to AppData, up closer to six digits.

And what do you know, the company just announced that new classes are coming to MapleStory Adventures to give players more variety to work with than merely "Magician" and "Warrior." (Admittedly, classes are a bit lean at the moment.) While Nexon didn't reveal any specifics, we hope the new classes somehow involve adorable dragons ... somehow.

In addition to the recently-introduced Sky Scraper area, Nexon plans to add multi-character slots, personal spaces that players can customize and to localize MapleStory Adventures in Spanish, French, German, Chinese and more. In short, this is Nexon's way of saying: Stay tuned, because there is plenty more to come. We guess some 400,000 of you have no issue with that.

Have you been playing MapleStory Adventures on Facebook? What do you think of the game so far, and what classes do you hope Nexon adds to the game? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Cafe World High Tea Table: Everything you need to know

As we told you earlier today, the High Tea Table in Cafe World is but a small part in a much larger event in the game celebrating the two-year anniversary. Within this celebration are sections split into different countries, with the first destination being Great Britain. As part of the goal series for this section - Winston's Royals - you'll need to build the High Tea Table, so we're here to help you figure out how to do just that.

The High Tea Table's base can be added to your cafe for free by looking under the Specials tab of the Functional menu. Once placed, you'll have the expected task of gathering multiple building ingredients with your friends' help. You'll need eight Fancy Tea Pots, 10 Delicate Teacups, six Silver Platters and 6 sets of Cream and Sugar dishes. Only the Fancy Tea Pot is earned through a general news post - you'll need to gather the other three items either using Cafe Cash or by sending out individual requests to your friends for help.

Once completed, this table has more of a function that simply looking pretty, as it gives you extra mastery points when serving "British" dishes. Remember, you can sort your Cookbook by nationality, so if you're looking to quickly master some dishes, go for these British offerings as you'll earn +1 point of extra mastery each time you serve a British dish with this table out and active in your cafe.

What do you think of the High Tea Table? Are you looking forward to serving high tea to the "Royals" in your cafe, or are you tired of endless building projects? Sound off in the comments.

CityVille Neighborhoods: Everything you need to know

Here we go, mayors. A new feature has been launched in CityVille that will help one of the biggest concerns I personally have with the game (and I know I'm not alone). A new Neighborhoods feature has launched to players above level 30, with at least 620 population, that will allow you to move homes (including high rises) into smaller areas to save space. This feature, you guessed it, is similar to the Mall feature, but here's a complete rundown of how this works for homes.

First and foremost, yes, you can have more than one Neighborhood in your town, and there are different types of Neighborhoods depending on the kinds of homes you'd like to store. Gated Communities cost 10,000 coins and store up to 15 Family Residences. Uptown Estates cost 15,000 coins and store 15 Apartments and finally, Palm Towers cost 20,000 coins and store 15 Vacation Home.

For our example, let's say you wanted to build a Gated Community in your town. You'd go into the store to purchase the base, as seen below, and would then need to whack that base six times to build up the frame.

From there, you'll instantly have access to two storage spots, of a possible five on the first "block," or "floor," if we're comparing this to the Mall. To fill these spaces, simply click on your empty Neighborhood and then click on "Fill" under one of the empty spaces. This will cause all of the buildings that can fit inside to glow. Click on one and voila! It's stored inside your Neighborhood, which will change shape and complexity as new buildings are added to it.

To unlock additional space inside your Neighborhoods, you'll need to ask your friends to staff extra spots, as seen above. The rate of one user per one storage slot isn't bad, really. Once your first block is full, you'll have to go through the process of asking for building materials to open up the second block. In our particular example of the Gated Community, you'll need five each of Red Bricks, Crossing Signs, Roof Tiles, Cement and Lumber. These are earned either by purchasing them outright with City Cash, or by asking your friends to send them to you.

When you've unlocked your second block, the process will repeat (and so on until you've unlocked and filled all three blocks, with more building materials being required the second time). Again, at first, these Neighborhoods may be incredibly space-consuming, but once they're full, you'll find them to be fairly space-saving, especially if you choose to place the largest homes in each category into storage. Don't worry about losing their stats, though, as you'll be able to collect rent as normal while they're inside. That is, you'll be able to click on your Neighborhood, and will then be asked to spend a larger amount of energy to collect from all "ready" buildings inside, just as you collect profits from your Mall.

All told, these are some fairly time consuming building projects, but if you're willing to go through with building them (and have plenty of friends around that are willing to help you out), you'll end up saving tons of space for future purchases, whether residential in nature or otherwise. We'll make sure to let you know when other kinds of Neighborhoods, for other kinds of homes are released, so keep checking back with us.

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

What do you think of the Neighborhoods feature? Is the space you saved substantial enough to warrant building them? Sound off in the comments.

CityVille Neighborhood Goals: Everything you need to know

To go along with the launch of the new Neighborhoods feature in CityVille, there's also a goal set to complete as well. If you remember, these Neighborhoods allow you to store homes for easier bulk access, and also just to generally save space (a huge factor in the game to this day). This goal series starts with one called Neighborhood Watch! (or, "On the House," if you prefer), which sees you simply placing a Neighborhood into your town to get used to the feature.

Neighborhood Watch!

    * Build a Neighborhood
    * Place 2 Residences into a Neighborhood


As we told you in our guide to Neighborhoods, they come in three varieties (currently) and range in price from 10,000 to 20,000 coins, depending on the kind of home you are trying to store (basic residences, apartments or vacation homes). Once you complete the construction of the Neighborhood, you'll be given these two storage spaces for free, so just fill them up and complete the goal! You'll receive a cute Garden Gnome decoration as a prize.

Block Party

    * Ask for 6 Neighborhood Event Posters
    * Place one more Residence into your Neighborhood
    * Place a Garden Gnome Decoration


Luckily, there's a "Place" button right next to this final task, so you don't have to search through your inventory to find the Garden Gnome manually. In the meantime, you'll need to ask a single friend to help you open up that new slot in your Neighborhood so that you can store your third residence. Finally, the Event Posters can be earned by posting a general news item to your wall. For finishing this second goal, you'll receive a Family Home residence, which gives you 90-170 population.

Movin' On Up

    * Unlock Block 2
    * Fill Block 2


As we told you in our guide, to unlock the next block of your Neighborhood, you'll need to collect building materials with the help of friends. Once you've unlocked the second block, you'll also need to gather more staff to unlock the final slots on that block, and then fill it completely with homes. Finishing this goal gives you the Neighborhood Watch item, a watch-tower that takes up a 2x2 area on your land and provides a 5% bonus to surrounding buildings.

Welcome Wagon

    * Ask for 8 Neighborhood Bake Sale Goodies
    * Build a second Neighborhood
    * Fill one Neighborhood


This goal will likely take you the longest to complete, as it requires collecting even more building ingredients than before, and even more staff to completely fill one neighborhood to its max of 15 houses. Finishing off this final goal of the series gives you the Deluxe Tree House.

All in all, these goals don't really require rushing, but as I'm sure most of you will likely want to build Neighborhoods for your own space-saving plans, you'll eventually finish them off with time.

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

What do you think of the Neighborhood feature in CityVille? Do you like the rewards for these goals? Sound off in the comments.

CityVille says Viva Mexico! with new Mexican themed items

To celebrate Mexican Independence, Zynga has launched a full theme of Mexican themed items in CityVille this afternoon. These items range from small decorations to large landmarks, so we'll make sure to give you a complete rundown on these items to know what to expect. Keep in mind, while they do have a longer time limit than usual at anywhere from 12-14 days (the usual being a week), they will eventually vanish from the store, so do some shopping sooner, rather than later. Here's what's available:

Ice Cream Cart (Decoration)

    * Costs: 5,000 coins
    * Payout Bonus: 3% to surrounding businesses and homes; bonus 3% to Mexico themed items


Guerrero Residence (Home)

    * Costs: 40 City Cash
    * Population: 600-1200
    * Rent: 296 coins every 18 hours


Sombrero Store (Business)

    * Costs: 6,800 coins
    * Requires: 170 Goods
    * Supplies: 1,024 coins


Garcia House (Home)

    * Costs: 13,500 coins
    * Population: 120-240
    * Rent: 18 coins every five minutes


Watch Tower (Decoration)

    * Costs: 24 City Cash
    * Payout Bonus: 24%; bonus 24% to Mexican themed items



Mayan Pyramid (Decoration)

    * Costs: 72,000 coins
    * Payout Bonus: 12%; bonus 12% to Mexican themed items
    * Not Limited Edition!


Morelos Fort (Community Building)

    * Costs: 70 City Cash
    * Allows: 2,000 citizens added to max population cap


Hacienda de Dolores (Home)

    * Costs: 65 City Cash
    * Population: 1850-3650
    * Rent: 451 coins every 3.1 days


House of Churros (Business)

    * Costs: 40 City Cash
    * Requires: 305 Goods
    * Supplies: 1648 coins


On top of all of this, there's also a Mexico Mystery Crate available for 40 City Cash that contains one of four items: the Morelos Fort, Hacienda de Dolores, Guerrero Residence or House of Churros. Sure, you'd get two items from this crate at a discounted price, but remember that there's no guarantee you won't receive duplicates when purchasing more than one crate. That is, if you're going for both the Hacienda and the Fort, you may very well end up with two House of Churros instead.

Either way, we'll make sure to let you know if other items are added in this Mexican Independence celebration theme, but we wouldn't be surprised if it's a one-time-deal.

What do you think of this new theme of items? Which ones have you purchased for your town and which ones will you skip? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille Livestock Pen: Everything you need to know

While we may already have a place to store our Sheep and Pigs, a new Livestock Pen has launched in FarmVille this evening giving you even more room to do just that (on top of storing other kinds of animals, of course). This Livestock Pen allows you to store animals like Goats, Alpacas and Llamas (on top of your Sheep and Pigs) but unfortunately won't let you store any Sheep or Pig that you've created or received by breeding.

As usual, you'll be given the frame to your first Livestock Pen the next time you login to the game. From there, you'll need to collect some building materials, including 10 each of Water Pumps, Wires and Steel Beams. Yes, these Steel Beams are the same items you need to collect for the Lighthouse Cove repair project, so you'll need to prioritize which item you'll place these materials into first.

Once you've finished building the Livestock Pen, you'll be able to browse all of the animals that can possibly be stored inside by looking at the interior menu and then browsing through the 19 pages of animals inside. You'll be given a Red Goat for free when completing your Livestock Pen, and will then have 19 more spaces to fill with animals, for a full capacity of 20 as of this writing.

In terms of breeding, remember that you only need to have one of each kind of animal in your Livestock Pen in order to trigger "breeding." The cribs that you'll receive from your own Livestock Pens are guaranteed to be one of the animals currently placed inside, but when claiming them from friends, they can either be rare or common animals that can also be stored inside. To be specific, orange cribs contain common mystery babies, while purple cribs contains rare animals that may even include former limited edition animals that cost less than 15 Farm Cash when originally released in the store. As with other mystery babies, the common babies take 10 Animal Feed to grow, while rare babies take 30.

All in all, this new Livestock Pen is the fifth of seven eventual animal breeding habitats we'll see released in the game. While we don't have any specific details about what the next two buildings will be, we'll make sure to let you know what they are once they release in the game.

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

What do you think of the Livestock Pen? Do you think there was a need for another building that could store Sheep or Pigs? Sound off in the comments.

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? Sound off in the comments.

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.

What do you think of these two themes of trees? Do you like colorful trees like these maples and oaks? Sound off in the comments.

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? Sound off in the comments.

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? Sound off in the comments.

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? Sound off in the comments.

Building the Pioneer Trail Potting Shed: Everything you need to know

For releasing a brand new game complete with four massive maps worth of content, Zynga sure is focusing quite a lot of effort on our homesteads in Pioneer Trail. But rather than speculate on that, how's about we tell you just how to build this brand new feature to the game, the Potting Shed?

This new building, available to players Level 15 and higher, allows players to unlock two brand new crops and create a new item that's said to make planting crops far easier. The new feature is introduced through three new Goals that will slowly guide you through the Potting Shed's many features and eventually reward you with Cranberries and Pineapples to plant. Here's everything you need to know about the Potting Shed:

When you first log into the game, you will be greeted by a pop-up that explains that Granny has come down with the collywobbles (which is a real thing, mind you). Click on the "Let's Build" button to get started on creating your very own Potting Shed and this series of Goals.

A Cure For The Collywobbles

    * Place The Potting Shed
    * Clear 5 Rocks On Your Homestead
    * Collect 15 Ginger Ale


After placing the Potting Shed from that introductory pop-up, just click on five rocks to clear them. Then, the 15 Ginger Ale look like they're requested for through your friends. Once this simple Goal is complete, you'll score 250 XP and 250 Coins.

A Symbol Of Welcome

    * Craft 1 Multi-Planter
    * Clobber 5 Groundhogs
    * Collect 10 Pineapple Cuttings


The fastest way to clobbering five Groundhogs is to plant lots of Potatoes, which cost 90 coins and take four hours to harvest. The 10 Pineapple Cuttings seem to also come from friend requests, too. At this point, the Goals assume you've already built the Potting Shed, which, once placed, requires the following items to complete:
The top three items in the above image--10 Clay Pots, Bean Poles and Sittin' Stools--look to be sourced through general News Feed Posts, while the latter three seem to be found by asking friends for them directly. Once you've finished begging asking for the 75 items in total, click on the complete Potting Shed to open a brand new Crafting Bench.
Potting Shed Crafting 1     Potting Shed Crafting 2
Click on the images to make them larger.

This Multi-Planter requires several crafted items that are made through asking for the items above. For instance, you must ask for 15 Springs and 15 Pipes to make one Hinge Arm, which is required to make the Seed-O-Matic (along with one other item that's made in a similar fashion).

Then, that Seed-O-Matic and 15 Whirelygigs (found through asking even more friends) are used to craft the finished product, the Multi-Planter (pictured below). Once you finally finish this long and arduous Goal, 500 XP, 500 Coins and the Pineapples crop are yours.

Multi-PlanterCranberries

    * Harvest 30 Pineapples
    * Clear 15 Debris On Your Homestead
    * Collect 15 Buckets Of Bog Water


Now, this final is somewhat simpler. Simply plant and harvest 30 Pineapples, though information on the exact stats of this new crop are unavailable to us as of this writing. Then, simply click around on 15 Debris. The 15 Buckets of Bog Water most likely come from asking your friends, as per usual.

This final Goal, once completed, will reward you with 750 XP, 750 Coins and the Cranberries crop. Now, enjoy your new crops and the ability to plant eight crops at once with the Multi-Planter.

[Source and Image Credit: Zynga]

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

Have you already started on your Potting Shed? What tips do you have for completing these Goals, the new building and the Multi-Planter even more quickly? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment

FarmVille Pic of the Day: Hemi 426's zoo takes animal collecting to the next level

With recent FarmVille releases such as the Aviary Habitat, Zoo Habitat, Pet Run, and Wildlife Habitat, it was only a matter of time before awesome zoo farms came flooding in. But, after browsing through a few, there was no question that Hemi 426's zoo was the most impressive of them all. Folks, prepare yourselves, because this farm will blow you away.

Hemi 426's zoo spares no expense; there is a ridiculous amount of content for just one farm. The most impressive part is, the farm is all so well organized. Usually, this type of farm would look like a total mess, with animals, and buildings thrown all over the place. On the other hand, Hemi 426's zoo farm is beautifully designed, with areas for each exhibit. It even incorporates hay bale walkways and staircases to the petting zoo and lower levels. And of course, you have to respect the ridiculous amount of mastery signs Hemi 426 has accumulated. But words can't possibly do this epic creation justice, so take a look at the close up pictures below:
Click the images to see them larger.
farmville zoo Hemi 426 Trapped Area
    farmville zoo Hemi 426 Petting Zoo
farmville zoo Hemi 426 Masteries     farmville zoo Hemi 426 Foals
farmville zoo Hemi 426 Exotic Creatures
    farmville zoo Hemi 426 Sheep
farmville zoo Hemi 426 Zoo Area
    farmville zoo Hemi 426 Atrium
What do you think of Hemi 426's zoo farm? Which is your favorite exhibit?

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!

The Sims Social: Grab free fan gifts with our links roundup

Update: On 9/19 at 1:19 p.m., the Sims Social official fan page announced that the following links will be expiring soon, but didn't specify when. For more freebies, you can also try grabbing the exclusive Dunkin' Donuts Lawn Chair (announced 9/15) and the Pogo Arcade Machine (discovered yesterday).

After a botched attempt at granting free fan freebies for The Sims Social last month, Playfish and EA have begun rolling out free fan gifts again so players can get a second chance.

Also, if you were one of the lucky players who did manage to grab those free gifts the first time around, you're still eligible to grab more! (Hey, you can always sell them to make some Simoleons.)

Anyway, these gifts were released one at a time, spaced over several consecutive days, so to make it easier for you guys, we've rounded up the links in one post.

Here's what you need to do:

Step 1: Log into Facebook.

Step 2: You still have to 'Like' the official fan page in order for these to work.

Step 3: Click on the item you want in the chart below. (Note: Each link will open a New Window.)

       
       
       

Below is a list of what's been given out so far, and when they did it. This page will be updated as the freebies continue.

    * Liebefunkenmann SS-10 Keyboard (Sept. 6)
    * CharKoohl Black BBQ (Sept. 7)
    * Still Life Easel (Sept. 8)
    * Basix Bookshelves (Sept. 9)
    * Neukum Classic Guitar (Sept. 10)
    * Llamark Chillblast Fall (Sept. 11)
    * PerpetuLux-Sable (Sept. 12)
    * Rub-A-Dub-Tub (Sept. 13)
    * Pompeii Fireplace (Sept. 14)


Which is your favorite free gift? Did you know that aside from looking pretty, some of these are important to completing certain missions in the game? Sound off in the comments. 7 Comments

Angry Birds is the top game on Google+ Games, Rovio exec says

Where else will the Angry Birds crash land into and dominate? Nintendo 3DS? Xbox 360? Your scientific calculator? Who knows, but according to All Things Digital, Rovio SVP of brand advertising and analytics Wibe Wagemans said yesterday at the Mobile Future Forward conference in Seattle, Wash. that Angry Birds is the number on game on Google+ Games.

Granted, that's out of all 16 games on the platform right now, but some of those games were put there by the likes of major social game creators like Zynga, Wooga, EA and Playdom. Wagemans, formerly an executive on Microsoft's Bing team, went on to say that Rovio has grown faster in the past two years than companies like MySpace, YouTube, Amazon and Skype. He also said, "We are now the fastest-growing consumer brand in history," ATD reports.

When you think about it, though: Not only is the Angry Birds game on nearly every gaming platform under the sun, but the little wingless cartoons and their amorphous green piglet enemies have been transformed into plush toys, t-shirts, board games, cook books, a feature film--need I go on?

During his talk in Seattle, Wageman revealed that Rovio welcomes over 120 million monthly Angry Birds players across the myriad of platforms the game is available on. Simply put, the western world is hooked on Angry Birds (it's science, remember?) and soon so will the East, if Rovio has any say in it. Sure, that's less than half of the 273 million or so monthly players Zynga caters to on Facebook alone, to which Wageman said, "We haven't even launched on Facebook yet." Oh ... oh, no.

[Image Credit: FuckYeahAlbuquerque]

Are you one of the 120 million or more devoted Angry Birds fans? Do you think Rovio could compete directly with Zynga when Angry Birds launches on Facebook? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment

Survey: Bejeweled Blitz could sharpen old noggin in baby boomers

For the young, and now the old, it looks like PopCap games are good for everyone. In a survey of over 10,000 U.S. residents conducted by researcher Susan K. Whitbourne, Ph.D., 47 percent of older adults who play Bejeweled Blitz regularly reported feeling sharper while performing tasks.

Whitbourne, a psychology researcher at University of Massachusetts Amherst, presented her findings at this year's American Psychological Association's (APA) convention in Washington D.C. According to PopCap, Whitbourne believes that Bejeweled Blitz could be a viable platform for improving cognitive skills in older adults because it involves several of the skills that have been shown the be improved after playing video games.

Designed to see whether Whitbourne's inklings checked out, the survey found that 22.4 percent of participants aged 65 and over found their ability to see patterns improved. A small 23.9 percent of the same group reported that they could perform timed tasks more quickly after playing the game regularly. While the survey consisted of 10,331 adults aged 18 to 80-years-old, 41 percent of those were 50-years-old and over (and 83 percent total were women). And it's worth nothing that over 78 percent of participants reported to have a college degree.

Nearly half (47.5 percent) of adults aged 50 and older said that they paid no attention to the 60-second countdown timer in Bejeweled Blitz, and 52.9 percent of those 65-years-old and over reported the same reaction. Both groups of older folks were less likely than those 18 to 24-years-old to report feeling anxious because of the timer. Overall, a whopping 66.4 percent said that the game's multiplier gems were positively motivating.

Whitbourne's findings were well-received by some at the convention, like Dr. Walter Boot, director of the Attention and Training Lab of the Department of Psychology at Florida State University. "I believe the work Dr. Whitbourne and her colleagues are doing, using Bejeweled Blitz, is both critical and exciting, and that more research like this needs to be done exploring not only the types of games that bring about cognitive benefits, but also the types of games older adults are willing to play and why," Boot said. "The best cognitive aging intervention in the world is useless if older adults aren't willing and able to engage in it."

Of course, PopCap has a vested interested in the various applications of its hit games. But these findings are interesting, nevertheless. Well, there you have it: It looks like PopCap games like Bejeweled have become the proverbial Coca-Cola of the games industry--not only are they delicious fun, but they're good for you, too!

Do you believe that games like Bejeweled could be good for your cognitive health? What games do you or older folks in your life play to keep the brain in tip-top shape? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Will Lighthouse Cove cost 45 Farm Cash?

According to an unreleased market image, that answer is yes. Before we start panicking, let's dig a little further into this. The folks at FarmVille Masters came across this image, which looks to say that a single ticket into Lighthouse Cove in FarmVille costs 45 Farm Cash. The Farm Cash option isn't a shocker, as we saw the same thing happen with the launch of the English Countryside earlier this year.

What will be interesting is whether or not the free tickets to Lighthouse Cove (assuming they exist, and the third farm isn't solely open to paying players) will launch at the same time as Farm Cash tickets, or if non-paying players will have to wait for the third farm to open up to them at a later date, in the same way we see expansions taking weeks or even months to be released for coins after they've launched for Farm Cash.

Either way, this 45 Farm Cash price tag opens up a whole list of possibilities for debate. Is that too expensive, or a fair price? What if non-paying players really are left out of this farm, even if temporarily, until Zynga decides to let them in for free? How will users react to such a setup? There's potential for conflict and drama here, farmers, and we'll make sure to stay on top of things as we see just how it all plays out.

[Image Credit: FarmVille Masters]

Share your thoughts with us on this potential Lighthouse Cove price tag. Is 45 Farm Cash an acceptable amount to pay for access to a third farm, or will you be patient and wait for the free tickets that will likely come? Sound off in the comments.

Contra creator Konami welcomes over 10 million social gamers

Does this mean we'll get to blast alien scum with giant guns on Facebook anytime soon? Probably not, but Konami sounds quite proud of itself, regardless. Siliconera reports that the creator of hit franchises like Contra and Castlevania welcomed its 10 millionth social gamer just this past August, thanks to its games on smartphones and Japanese social networks like Gree.

Specifically, Konami cited games like Dragon Collection, a game available over Gree and on smartphones that has over 4 million players collecting Dragon Cards and battling their friends with them. The game has been so successful that it has been inducted into the Gree Hall of Fame for apps, and has its very own weekly manga (Japanese take on comic books) serialization.

Other social hits published by Konami include Sengoku Collection, which sounds similar to Dragon Collection only set during Japan's Warring States period, with over 2 million registered players. Another, according to Siliconera, is Professional Dream Baseball Nine, a game that has held the number 2 spot on Gree's app rankings for 17 weeks running with over 1 million players. According to Siliconera, the game is even licensed by Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League.

This is pretty stellar news for Konami, who, like many Western game companies including EA, THQ and Ubisoft, has social gaming in its cross hairs more so than ever. In fact, Konami even recently reworked Hudson Soft, its subsidiary responsible for popular franchises like Bomberman, into a social games division for the publisher. (This 10 million players mark could include games the company has already released on Facebook like Viva Mall!.) Imagining the amount of yen being thrown at the company in games like Dragon Collection, we doubt this will be the last we hear of Konami's social soirée.

[Image Credit: Konami Digital Entertainment]

Do you think Konami was smart in focusing this much attention on social games? Which of the publishers famous franchises do you wish were interpreted for Facebook or other social platforms? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

FIFA Superstars on iPhone yanked from App Store due to 'server issues'

EA is sitting pretty on Facebook at the moment, but on smartphones ... not so much. Mobile Entertainment reports that that the publisher has been forced to remove its recently-released iPhone version of Facebook soccer (football) hit FIFA Superstars from the App Store due to "server issues."

The game, released in late August, provides the 2.8 million monthly players of the Facebook version of FIFA Superstars a near-identical representation of what they're used to seeing in their browsers. However, the game suffered login issues from the get-go, it seems. Players have been unable to access the game after logging into the company's new Origin service.

"We are currently experiencing server issues with FIFA Superstars mobile that have required us to temporarily take the game down," EA told Mobile Entertainment. "This is not a data security-related issue. We are implementing a solution that will ensure users have the best gameplay experience, and will provide an update soon as to when the game will be live again."

According to Mobile Entertainment, EA stresses that this issue does not affect the Facebook version of the game, and that players can still enjoy the game there for now. (When we tried to log into the game, we didn't encounter any issues either.) It's comforting to see that EA is more vocal with the issues it has encountered in this game than it has been with social games in the past.

When its hyper popular Facebook version of The Sims, The Sims Social, suffered launch issues, the company was mum on the details for days before it released a message to its players with an explanation (and later threw them a bone). Since then, the game has enjoyed incredible growth, so hopefully FIFA Superstars for iPhone can bounce back from these hiccups just as well.

[Via Pocket Gamer]

Did you have trouble logging into FIFA Superstars for iPhone, too? What are you doing to scratch the social soccer itch while you wait for the game to return to the App Store? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Social game makers Gree, DeNA to take spotlight at Tokyo Game Show

Social games will go toe to toe with the hardcore scene at this year's Tokyo Game Show, Reuters reports. Gree, the 26 million player-strong mobile and social games creator hailing from Japan, will have one of the largest booths at Japan's equivalent of E3 this year, according to Reuters. In fact, both Gree and its competitor DeNA will conduct keynote addresses at the event, which runs Sept. 15 through 18.

Reuters reports that several game companies aside from DeNA and Gree, including famed creator of games like Contra and Castlevania (some of the most hardcore franchises around) Konami, are shifting resources toward social games. While the biggest Japanese games company, Nintendo, lags behind as it continues to focus on games created deliberately to take advantage of its hardware. Unfortunately, that hasn't been working out so well for the company as of late.

"Nintendo has done some pretty awful things - no software, poor pricing, poor PR, no sign of a sustainable turnaround, software support dropping like flies," JP Morgan analyst Hiroshi Kamide told Reuters, referring to the failed 3DS launch (and resultant massive price drop).

On the other hand, competitor Konami recently welcomed over 10 million players to its social games. "You can make serious returns with social games in Japan if done well - and that is exactly what they have done," Kamide said to Reuters about Konami.

Both DeNA (which enjoys 3 million more monthly players than its rival) and Gree have major ambitions of becoming global competitors in the social games space to companies like Zynga and EA, which have blazed the trail for Facebook and mobile social game in the western world. Just this past year, both Gree and DeNA made huge purchases to make global headway in the space with mobile social game network OpenFeint and mobile games developer Ngmoco, respectively.

Just as some social game makers invaded this year's E3 event in the states, it looks like the ballooning sub genre will fill up the streets of Tokyo this week, too. Whether the two companies will fill the conference halls with hot air has yet to be seen. But considering Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley analyst Masato Araki expects Japan's social games industry to grow to about 400 billion yen ($5.1 billion) by 2013 from 106 billion yen in 2011, according to Reuters, you can bet everyone will be all ears.

Do you think Gree and DeNA will have some new, interesting things to say about social games at this year's TGS? How do you think traditional Japanese gaming companies will respond? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Very Good Grief: Snoopy's Street Fair is Charlie Brown's iPhone debut

Nope, no dogfights between Snoopy and The Red Baron just yet. And based on the title of Beeline Interactive's (Capcom's mobile games arm) iPhone game surrounding The Peanuts, Snoopy's Street Fair, we doubt there will be any. But that's OK, because based on these brand new screens that were just released, it looks like the game might be a hoot regardless.

It appears that this freemium iPhone game adaptation of the iconic comic strip (and don't forget those ABC specials!) will take the property management approach in its homage to Snoopy and the gang. It looks like players will guide Charlie Brown as he builds a bustling street fair from scratch, adding new booths, carnival games and kitschy attractions to level up.

Basically, judging from these images, Snoopy's Street Fair won't be a far cry from one of the studio's first releases under Capcom, Smurfs' Village. Players will be given hints or quests on how to advance their little fairs from supporting characters in the Peanuts world like Peppermint Patty through classic phone call gags. If you notice, the characters still don't own cell phones, a welcome touch of authenticity to the world Charles Schulz created.

Gallery: Snoopy's Street Fair on iPhone
In fact, the entire game embodies the late and great cartoonist's artwork so well, that it looks like one of Sunday's Peanuts strips come to life. In addition to running their fair, players will partake in mini games like roasting marshmallows against a timer to sate Snoopy's sweet tooth. According to Capcom, Snoopy's Street Fair is slated for a November release. So, hopefully by then Beeline can somehow squeeze in a mini game involving Snoopy piloting his dog house ... somehow.

Are you psyched for Snoopy and the gang's iPhone game debut? Are you interested in how the game is looking to play out so far--a property management game? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Pioneer Trail: Zynga offers a week of freebies in thank you letter to fans

Tonight, Zynga sent out an email to all Pioneer Trail players announcing a week-long, in-game giveaway to all its loyal fans. This email is signed by the John Osvald, the General Manager of FrontierVille, and carries the subject heading of "Been havin' trouble? Let us make it right as rain."

While he doesn't mention any specific performance issues with the game aside from success in being able to "cut the load times in half", he did very clearly acknowledge that "there have been more issues in the game than you're used to, and for that, I sincerely apologize." And just to show how sorry he is, players now have a week's worth of daily freebies to look forward to!

    From tomorrow, Saturday, September 10th through Saturday, September 17th, we'll be giving away a special present for every day you log into The Pioneer Trail, from horseshoes, to mystery crates... even the book of experience (which grants the holder a full level up!) We've also created a forum topic for discussion at forums.zynga.com. If you'd like to participate, I'll be reading! :)

You can see a copy of the official email for yourself below. (Click on the image if you need to make it bigger.)
FrontierVille Pioneer Trail Zynga fan letter from John Osvald
Will you be logging into Pioneer Trail daily next week for your free goodies? Sound off in the comments. 12 Comments

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Black Necked Swan and other birds ready to take flight

If you've already become a big fan of the Aviary animal habitat in FarmVille, you'll be happy to know that new birds are ready to take flight into the game sometime soon, that is, if new unreleased images spotted by FarmVille Freak are anything to go on. These images show us five new birds, but we're not entirely sure how they'll be released. Before we get into the speculation, however, let's take a look at their expected names:

Blue Sumatra Rooster
Black Necked Swan
Sebastopol Goose
Dabbler Duck
Ancona Duck

While the Sebastopol Goose might seem like one heck of a name (alright, it is), it does refer to a real breed of domestic Goose. As for how these animals will launch in the game, we have a couple of options. They could either launch as a fairly large update to the game's store, which will likely see these birds priced in the 15-25 Farm Cash range, or they could be new birds that will be found inside Eggs that we'll hatch over time by collecting from our Aviaries (or claiming them from friends' wall posts).

Either way, there are some real lookers in this update (just look at the Rooster's beautiful coloring!), so I'm personally excited to see how and when they'll launch. Experience tells us that the earliest we can expect them would be sometime this weekend, so keep checking back with us for more.

[Image Credit: FarmVille Freak]

Which of these birds is your favorite? Would you pay Farm Cash to add any to your farm / Aviary? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: FarmVille Friends feature finally detailed

While the FarmVille Friends feature has yet to go live in FarmVille (we're told that it's still a "couple of weeks" away), Zynga has finally detailed just how it will work. Not entirely unlike the Cafe World Chef Circle (which, again, is still unavailable to the mass public), you'll be able to browse through a list of FarmVille players that aren't your Facebook friends, and can send them neighbor requests. In this way, you'll be able to access some of the social features you can take part in with actual Facebook friends with these strangers.

Unfortunately, your interaction with these new FarmVille neighbors will be limited to simply visiting their farm or sending them free gifts. It doesn't look like we'll be able to see any of their News Feed requests or bonuses, which diminishes the value of this update immensely, if you ask me. To actually add these folks, you'll simply visit the "Add Neighbors" tab at the top of the screen. From there, you'll see five players at a time, and can see their names, current profile picture, country, in-game level, and when they last played. In this way, you can pick and choose the best "crop" of neighbors to help you out. You'll have to send a neighbor request to this individual, and they'll have to accept on their end for this to work. On that same token, you may find yourself swamped with neighbor requests if you continually show up in players' results when using this new feature. Note: You can remove yourself from the pool if you don't care to be found by strangers.

To be especially clear, these new FarmVille neighbors will have no additional access to any information you have made private on your profile, and do not have to be your Facebook friends. If, however, you find that they are incredibly helpful when it comes to visiting your farm, tending your crops or Chicken Coop, and you wish to add them as a real Facebook friend to open up further interaction, you can do that as well. Again, this feature has yet to launch, but we'll make sure to let you know when it does over the next couple of weeks.

What do you think of these details about the FarmVille Friends feature? Should Zynga create a way for us to be able to activate these new neighbors' wall posts, in addition to simply visiting their farms? Sound off in the comments.

CityVille: 3x XP on Neighbor Visits this weekend only

If you're looking for a way to quickly reach the next level in CityVille (ok, so maybe it won't speed you up that much), you'll want to play as much as you can this weekend. Why? Zynga is holding a triple XP event for this weekend only, that will see you earning 3x the amount of XP when visiting and helping neighbors. Sure, it would be great if this event swept across the entire game, allowing you to have triple XP on businesses and homes as well, but I suppose we can't really complain when we're receiving something for nothing here.

If you play your cards right, and visit all of your friends both days this weekend, you can of course earn double the amount of bonuses, but it's understandable if you don't think the bonus XP received is really worth it. Hopefully, if this event goes over well enough, we'll receive even more bonuses in the future. Perhaps a bonus amount of XP for each home collected from? Each business? That sounds like a great way to pull in players, if you ask me, but we won't hold our breath. In the meantime, I hope you earn more bonus XP through this event than me, as I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it...

What do you think? Will you take the time to visit all of your friends for 3x XP this weekend? Sound off in the comments.

Adventure World FAQs: Zynga answers our first questions

Just as was the case for the launch of the Pioneer Trail on Facebook, Zynga has taken the time to answer some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding its newest game: Adventure World. While we've already brought you a detailed look at the overall game, along with its first few expeditions, you might still be left with questions. Luckily, we're able to show you Zynga's answers to these questions, as they were posted on the game's official forums, so read on to learn a bit more about the game.

    If I don't pick-up coins/xp/etc, will they still be added? Yes, everything that drops is added automatically, you don't have to pick it up; but it's very easy to do so by just hovering over the dropped "doobers".

    How do I gain experience (XP)? XP can be gained by performing various actions in the game. When an action grants you XP, you will see it drop in the form of a star "doober". Completing quests will also grant you XP bonuses. You can check your XP progress by hovering over your XP bar; you might also note what can be unlocked by reaching the next level.

    How can I buy new decorations for my Base Camp? Click on the "Build" button, then navigate to "Décor"; make sure you also meet all the requirements to buy it (such as coins and level).

    How do I move, rotate or delete/remove an object? Click on the "Build" button, navigate to "Décor", then select the desired tool.

    How can I place more dig sites? Click on the "Build" button, navigate to "Sites", then select the desired Dig Site.

    Where can I find my inventory? You can access your inventory by clicking on the "Inventory" button, which is located to the right of your neighbor ladder.

    How can I go on expeditions? Once you have unlocked new locations, you can travel there by clicking on the "Map" button then selecting a destination. Make sure you have plenty of supplies.

    How can I hire friends for Expeditions? You can hire friends for your expedition crew by first clicking on an "Add Bonus" button, located on the bar near the bottom of your screen, and then by clicking on an "Ask for Help" button on the screen that comes up.

    Why do I lose extra energy when fighting creatures? When fighting you may lose one extra energy point every time you attack or get hit with an attack from the creature. There is a chance you can dodge the attack, or stun them when you attack, and avoid getting hit.

    How can I get more resources? You will be able to produce one (1) of the three (3) resources, the other two (2) you can collect either by visiting friends with that specific resource and harvesting it, or by requesting them from your friends. You could also gain resources from completing expeditions.

    How quickly do supplies spoil? Supplies will spoil at 4 times their harvest time. So if you send out a boat that will be ready in 8 hours it will spoil 32 hours after you have supplied it (or 24 hours after it came back).

    How can I get more energy? Your energy will refill according to the timer on your energy bar, every time the timer counts down to 0 you will receive 1 energy point up to your max energy. You can also receive more energy by visiting your neighbors, as a random bonus drop for various actions, and you can purchase more energy with Adventure Cash by clicking on your energy bar. In addition, energy can be gifted from the free gifts page. When you reach the next level your energy bar will be fully refilled and your maximum energy is increased by 1 (up to the current maximum energy limit).

    While on Expeditions, icons for my completed quests are not being removed, is this normal? Yes it is. You will always be able to see quest icons during expeditions, even after you have completed them. Quest icons in your base camp, however, will be removed as you complete the associated quests.

    How does Expedition Mastery work? You can gain expedition mastery levels by replaying expeditions you have already completed. Rewards for every expedition increase with the mastery level.

    What do I get from completing a collection? Each collection has a different reward; these rewards are shown on the collections page and are often needed to complete quests.

    How do you obtain collection items? Collection items have a chance to drop as you perform various tasks in the game.

    How many game levels are there? Currently, 40 is the maximum level achievable, but more levels are added periodically.

    What is the maximum amount of neighbors you can have? The maximum number of neighbors you can have is 150.


If you don't want to read the entire series of questions, keep these particular facts in mind: you can currently have 150 Adventure World neighbors, and can level yourself up to Level 40 before reaching the current level cap. It's very likely that the Level cap will be increased within the next couple of months (depending on how quickly power users make their way to the top), so don't be discouraged if that seems like that game is limited in its content.

Additionally, it's great to see such a long spoil time on supplies: four times their harvest time. If you want to only play the game once or twice a day, you can still send out for the smaller supply bundles, and can be sure that they'll still be fresh when you come back to the game later that day.

All in all, Adventure World is a fairly complex experience that will likely take some getting used to, but hopefully, with these answers, you'll have an easier time of acclimating. We'll make sure to continue our coverage about the game to get you up to speed even quicker, so keep checking back.

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

What do you think of Adventure World so far? What level have you already reached? Sound off in the comments.