Games.com Blog: “Cafe World goes down to the 1950's drive-in” plus 19 more | |
- Cafe World goes down to the 1950's drive-in
- New York Times says FarmVille players should try growing "actual plants"
- Crowdstar Gamebar grants exclusive freebies from Happy Pets, Zoo World, and more
- Pet Society Oversized Week: Supersize it with giant cereal bowls, light bulbs
- Pet Society 'Fashionista' contest is giving away a free iPad and 500 Playfish Cash
- Mafia Wars rep says big gifting changes are in the works
- Yoville: Free Golden Yo-Statue when you redeem a Zynga Game Card
- Mafia Wars fan page contest: Enter to win an iPod or Mafia Wars swag
- YoVille goes Camping: Marshmallow Stick, Camo Shirts & More
- YoVille: Camp Yo Bedroom Furniture Arrives
- YoVille: More Premium Permanent Hairstyles in Salon
- City Story brings Facebook-style city builder to iPhone
- FarmVille freak hooks up computer to treadmill
- FarmVille 'Love is in the Air' brings back Valentine's Day items
- FarmVille: What is Spirit Level?
- FarmVille Mystery Game New Prizes: White Stallion, White Owl, Peacock and more
- FarmVille Unreleased Western Theme Tool Shed & General Store
- FarmVille Unreleased Recycling Ribbon, Recycling Army, Humanitarian Ribbon, & Swapper Ribbon
- FarmVille: Signs of a wet and wacky summer still ahead in new unreleased items
- FarmVille Official Podcast - August 13th, 2010
| Cafe World goes down to the 1950's drive-in Posted: 16 Aug 2010 12:35 PM PDT Filed under: Cafe World  Cafe World is rocking it 50's style with a new drive-in decor set for your outdoor area! There are a ton of new items now available in the Outdoor store. To access it, simply go outside of your Cafe and and then "Decorate Your Block". You will then see a huge variety of new rockabilly 1950's themed stuff. Here is the list of items that are now available for a limited time: Flying Fin Car - 12 Cafe Cash Drive in Sign - 14 Cafe Cash Rocket Red Car - 14 Cafe Cash Drive-In Bay - 16 Cafe Cash Diner Sign - 16 Cafe Cash Hot Rod - 18 Cafe Cash Drive-In Movie - 26 Cafe Cash Ice Cream Shoppe - 35 Cafe Cash Classic Gazebo - 45 Cafe Cash Turquoise Fin Car - 750,000 coins Roller Waitress - 50,000 coins Burger Girl Sign - 150,000 coins Doggie Coffee Sign - 450,000 coins What do you think of these new Cafe World items? We think they're quite a bit expensive, especially for new players. All of the best items require Cafe Cash, and the coins items will break the bank! If you're a fan of the Rockabilly style, you will enjoy this theme at a hefty cost.
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| New York Times says FarmVille players should try growing "actual plants" Posted: 16 Aug 2010 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Farmville, Mafia Wars  FarmVille naysayers -- they're everywhere. They come in the form of Facebook friends who are tired of being spammed with game-related with quests on their wall, people who think games in general are a waste of time, and they also, apparently, write for The New York Times. Over the weekend, The Gray Lady (my hometown newspaper) ran an editorial that talks about the surprise move made by Disney over the past two weeks: selling Miramax Films and buying social gaming company Playdom. It's certainly a point worth making, and the perfect way to launch into a larger article on how the movie industry is facing serious competition from all forms of media -- HBO, Showtime, Hulu, video games and, now, Facebook games. Instead, the article skips this conversation and jumps into hating on (for lack of a better term) FarmVille and social games in general. Following are a few choice quotes from the piece:
I have to question how much time this author spent playing FarmVille or any of the other games mentioned in this piece. Case in point, this quote: "The game involves starting a farm. You get your friends to help you water and fertilize crops and harvest them, earning play money to spend on new items." You only have to play FarmVille once to know that you assist neighbors with fertilizing crops, but there is no way to harvest or water other players' crops. Second, the article intimates that players are suckered to pulling out their credit cards to play these games. That's a serious overstatement. It's common industry knowledge that 1% to 5% of people who play freemium games on Facebook actually spend money on them. The majority of players don't spend cash, and that's why social gaming companies are standing on their heads trying to convince more people to pay. The writer also talks about how you have to 'drag' in friends to play these games. There's an argument to be made about not spamming all of your friends with social gaming updates on Facebook, but it's pretty difficult to convince friends to play FarmVille if they don't want to. And, say you convince reluctant friends to join FarmVille, but then they stop playing -- that isn't going to help when you need them to send parts for your new garage. Some of the more devoted players have opted to create a second Facebook account just for gaming, and are making friends with new people who also play FarmVille, et al. It's disappointing that The New York Times would run such a reactionary piece that misses the bigger point about media and technology -- it's always changing, and consumers are always looking for the next big thing. Oh yeah, as for growing actual plants, I do that too. I have several that have lived in my apartment window for the past decade, and the hour or so a day I spend playing FarmVille hasn't interfered with that. Not yet, anyway. Read the full NYT article here > Do you agree? Was the Times way off base in its criticism of social games? Or not? Leave a note in the comments below.
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| Crowdstar Gamebar grants exclusive freebies from Happy Pets, Zoo World, and more Posted: 16 Aug 2010 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Happy Aquarium, Happy Pets, Zoo World, Happy Island   For those playing Zoo World, logging in will get you a free Pink Sea Turtle. As for Happy Island, even after 3-4 reinstalls and uninstalls of the Gamebar, I couldn't get the free castle in the picture. It's possible that the game hasn't been updated to notice players who have downloaded the Gamebar yet, so sit tight and try again later.
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| Pet Society Oversized Week: Supersize it with giant cereal bowls, light bulbs Posted: 16 Aug 2010 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Pet Society  No one can say that Playfish isn't creative when it comes to new themes, as this week we see a creative new theme containing items that will make your pet feel as though they've shrunk! Oversized items are now available in several of the games stores, and come in the form of basic, everyday items that have been blown up to extraordinary sizes. The theme starts off in the Living Room section of the Furniture Store, where you'll find spools of thread, candles, dice and even a teacup that are entirely oversized. The items seem fairly affordable here, ranging from 350 coins for the Dice Seat to 600 coins for the Teacup Table.  Also in the Furniture Store, but this time under the Kitchen and Bathroom section, you'll find a polka-dotted cereal bowl filled with what appear to be Fruit Loops. This item is called the Cereal Bathtub, and it will allow your pet to take a bath in its cereal, for the cost of 3,000 coins to add it to your home.  Finally, in the Bedroom section of the Furniture Store, you'll find a bed made from a book, and a nightstand made from matchboxes, costing 2,000 and 800 coins, respectively.  Over in the game's Market, you'll also find a few interesting items. Under Toys and Collectibles, you'll find an Oversized Mayor Stamp for 500 coins, while under Party & Gifts you'll see a new "community building" object in the form of a giant roller skate turned into a car. You'll need the help of your friends in order to construct the car, as you'll need 20 parts in order to build it. Each friend that helps will receive some coins as a reward, or if you'd rather simply purchase the car outright, you can do so for 25 Playfish Cash.   In the clothing store, rather than offering themed clothing items for your pets, the items here are accessory items, with an Overgrown Strawberry Hat and a Pet Soda Cap Hat being available for 700 coins each.  Over in the D.I.Y. Shop, under the Windows & Doors section, you'll find a Safetypin Window for 1,200 coins, while under Fixtures & Fittings, you'll see a massive lightbulb called the Giant Ceiling Light, which is available for 600 coins. It glows in the dark, if that helps in your decision as to whether or not to purchase it.   Finally, in the game's Food Store, you can find three oversized pieces of food in the form of a Pink Giant Candy for 100 coins, a Giant Chocolate Block for 250 coins, and a Giant Minicake for 160 coins.  With some of these items being available just for one week, you'll want to make sure to head over to the game's page on Facebook to start shopping for all that you're interested in as soon as possible. This article originally appeared on Frisky Mongoose.
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| Pet Society 'Fashionista' contest is giving away a free iPad and 500 Playfish Cash Posted: 16 Aug 2010 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Pet Society  Four fashion category winners will also be picked for a prize of 150 PFC each. And four more runners-up will win 100 PFC each. Here's what you need to design for Pet Society: The contest begins today and ends on August 24th, 11:59 pm (PDT). Click here for more details, such as eligibility rules and to view other people's entries.
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| Mafia Wars rep says big gifting changes are in the works Posted: 16 Aug 2010 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Mafia Wars  When you have 501 mafia members (or even 100), it's hard to swallow the fact that you can only bestow free gifts upon 30 or so mafiosos per day. Mafia Wars Community Manager Jonezie Malone says that that's all going to change soon, and that more information will be spilled this week: Fingers crossed that we'll no longer have to bounce back and forth between the game and Facebook to accept gifts, and it would be great if there were an easier way to send gifts to specific mafia members, especially those who send us gifts the most. Read What gifting changes do you want to see in Mafia Wars?
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| Yoville: Free Golden Yo-Statue when you redeem a Zynga Game Card Posted: 16 Aug 2010 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille  This is an official post by Zynga's Platinum Ninja. We've just kicked off a special for YoVille Game Cards that many of you will be interested to know! When you redeem a game card now you will receive an awesome YoStatue in game! Not only are you going to be getting your YoCash or Coins that you are redeeming but an extra fun item too!   Good Luck! Platinum Ninja This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| Mafia Wars fan page contest: Enter to win an iPod or Mafia Wars swag Posted: 16 Aug 2010 08:07 AM PDT  Over the weekend, Mafia Wars launched contest on its fan page, and you can enter to win an iPod or Mafia Wars swag through August 18. Sign up for the Mafia Wars fan page, and then keep your eyes peeled for a daily post that has 'Contest Day' in the title. Then, learn everything you need to do next in this post from Mafia Wars' community manager Victoria:
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| YoVille goes Camping: Marshmallow Stick, Camo Shirts & More Posted: 16 Aug 2010 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille  You can also grab accessories like the new hiking stick, hiking bag, marshmallow stick and camping lantern for YoCash. Prices and pictures of all the new items are gathered by Angie after the link!      This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| YoVille: Camp Yo Bedroom Furniture Arrives Posted: 16 Aug 2010 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille  Be the first one in your neighbors! Go shopping in YoVille. Check the previously released Camp Yo Living furniture in our item database.         This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| YoVille: More Premium Permanent Hairstyles in Salon Posted: 16 Aug 2010 07:45 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille   This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| City Story brings Facebook-style city builder to iPhone Posted: 16 Aug 2010 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: Social City  TeamLava, the minds behind the FarmVille-style iPhone game Farm Story, is now taking the action to the city, with the release of a new Facebook style town-building game called City Story. If you've played Social City on Facebook (or any other social city-builder games) getting started in City Story will be a snap. You, as mayor of your virtual burg, are tasked with keeping your citizens happy by building roads, homes, businesses, and more ... turning your humble town into a thriving metropolis. The more you build, the more experience you gain, which will unlock new items and allow you to expand your city. Keep cash flowing in by building factories and keeping them humming with work -- each job takes a certain amount of time to be completed, and when it's done, click to collect a profit. Then, start the process all over again. You can also earn cash and experience by visiting neighbors and tidying up buildings for them (five per visit) Even though City Story is not on Facebook, the social network comes into play on this iOS app. You can use an in-game camera to snap a pic of your city, then post it to your Facebook Wall. The game is supposed to allow you to add neighbors using Facebook Connect, but that's not an option in my version of the game. Right now, the only way to add friends is by entering something called a Storm8 ID to add friends into your game. Let's just say, if I have to make the effort to ask someone for their ID to play a game together, there's a 99% chance it's not going to happen. A company rep says they're looking into the matter and will report back.  City Story is free to play, so there's naturally the upsell to buy virtual goods in the game with your real-life cash. Some examples of cash items include the Eiffel Tower (68 City Cash), a soccer field (15 City Cash) and a fountain (16 City Cash). Since there will be weekly updates, I'm sure there will soon be many more items with the potential to inspire a mini shopping spree. City Story's biggest plus is in its presentation -- the game has nice-looking graphics, which makes it easy to manage your city, even while playing on the small iPhone screen. It also delivers a better Social City style experience on iPhone than the actual Social City iPhone app, which might be another reason that City Story is currently sitting pretty at #4 on the App Store's Free Game list.
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| FarmVille freak hooks up computer to treadmill Posted: 16 Aug 2010 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville   This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille 'Love is in the Air' brings back Valentine's Day items Posted: 16 Aug 2010 06:30 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  Back in February FarmVille celebrated Valentines Day with every farmer collecting Valentines in which they could then trade in their favors for redeemable prizes that you could not purchase in the FarmVille Market. Previously the Luv Ewe, 3 Hearts Fountain, Pigs in Love, Giant Teddy, Pecking Ducks, and Eiffel Tower were only available as redeemable prizes after trading in your Valentines. Now you can purchase any of them with farm cash for a limited time only. 
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille: What is Spirit Level? Posted: 16 Aug 2010 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  "Today i was fertilizing a friend's farm when I noticed a strange, round shadow following my avatar as he walked from plot to plot. I was curious so I started moving my avatar around the farm to find the shadow follows me from place to place. To my surprise when I hovered over it it revealed a highlighted area saying it was "Spirit Level 3″. Here are some screen shots please let me know what they are!!!" - FarmVille Freak Joe Lowett  This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille Mystery Game New Prizes: White Stallion, White Owl, Peacock and more Posted: 16 Aug 2010 05:30 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  This Mystery Game contains "the best of" past animals including some of the most loved and rare FarmVille animals such as the White Stallion and White Owl!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille Unreleased Western Theme Tool Shed & General Store Posted: 16 Aug 2010 05:05 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville Thank you to FarmVille Freak Rainexel & Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Tool Shed & General Store! This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille Unreleased Recycling Ribbon, Recycling Army, Humanitarian Ribbon, & Swapper Ribbon Posted: 16 Aug 2010 05:00 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville Thank you to FarmVille Freak Rainexel for finding these unreleased FarmVille Recycling Ribbon, Recycling Army, Humanitarian Ribbon, & Swapper Ribbon! This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille: Signs of a wet and wacky summer still ahead in new unreleased items Posted: 16 Aug 2010 04:30 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville Thank you to FarmVille Freak Teresa, Rainexel & Shiori for finding these unreleased FarmVille Drive in Diner, Volleyball, Water Tower Coffee Pot, Gameshop, Campsite II, Lemon Stand, Octopus, & Beach Shower! This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille Official Podcast - August 13th, 2010 Posted: 16 Aug 2010 04:00 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville FarmVille Podcast - August 13th Summary: Hey Farmers and welcome to this week's installment of the Official FarmVille Podcast. My name is Lexilicious and I am here to bring you all of the latest news and information from around the Farm. This week, we will be discussing our latest releases, I will be answering some questions from members of the FarmVille Community and you guys will all be getting a sneak peek of what is coming to FarmVille in the near future. So this week our 7 days of summer sale made an appearance, featuring some of the most requested classic themes from the past. Each day this week, a past favorite Limited Edition theme was in the market for 24 hours. This gave many of our players the opportunity to obtain items they may have previously missed out on or not had the chance to purchase. So far, the California, Yukon, French chateau, Southwest, Tuscan and Island themes have made an appearance, with the Japanese Garden and UFO theme still to come this weekend. If you are a fan of the Japanese Garden Theme or the classic UFO theme, make sure to be ready for this weekend's sales so you don't miss your on your chance to purchase favorites from this collection while they last. On Wednesday, we had a very special surprise for all of our players. Upon logging in, all players received 1 free Dart for the Mystery Game! This dart can be used immediately, or saved for a future Mystery Game you may be looking forward to. If you have not yet had a chance to claim your free dart, simply open the Market and play the Mystery Game and you will be able to automatically throw one free dart. We also released two new permanent crops and the new "Bakery Delivery" Co-op missing this week. For anyone who may be interested, the Zuchini crop is a 16 hour crop, grants two experience points, costs 120 Coins to plant and Yields 220 Coins when harvested. This crop is one of our new Heirloom crops, which means you must have previously mastered Pattypan Squash to unlock it in the market. Our Rhubarb crop is also a 16 hour crop, grants 1 experience point, costs 65 coins to plant and yields 150 coins when harvested. For our sign collectors out there, both of these crops can be mastered. For information on the mastery requirements, please visit the "game updates" section of the Official FarmVille Forums. Q&A: Now, the FarmVille Team receives thousands of questions from players a week and the best ones from our community get answered here. Our first question today comes from harrydresden, and they have a question that has been a big topic of discussion for our players. "I would like to know when you are going to get rid of some of the pop ups in the game. It's taking too long to plow and plant and harvest my crops." Well, the FarmVille team took into consideration all of the feedback from our community about the number of pop-ups that are currently present in the game. Yesterday, we released the "Daily Good Deeds" feature that is a new and improved way for you to interact with your neighbors. One of the best parts of this feature is that it should really cut back on some of the pop-ups players have been receiving for the past few weeks prompting them to help their friends with various tasks. These requests have been streamlined with this release, and you can now assist your friends by Clicking the Checklist Icon on the left of your screen, which will allow you to help your Neighbors finish buildings, complete collections and more. For players who are feeling Neighborly, make sure to come back daily for new ways to help your friends on their farms. Our next question comes to us from kaytkayt. "We have too many 16 hour crops now. Can we expect new crops in the future that aren't 16 hours long?" We have heard feedback from our community since the release of Zuchini and Rhubarb that 16 hour crops are inconvenient for some players. Because of that, I'm happy to let you know that in the future, we will be releasing some 14 hour, 24 hour and 6 hour crops to better accommodate our players. Our last question comes to us from RainyDayz. "If Mystery Boxes are gone, how will I be able to get my They of Mystery Ribbon?" Our ribbon collectors out there will be happy to know that late this week we actually released an update that has fixed this issue. Darts thrown in the Mystery Game will now count towards the "They of Mystery" ribbon, which will now allow all of our players to complete this ribbon if they wish to do so. If you have a question you would like answered by the FarmVille team on our weekly podcast, please make sure to visit the Official FarmVille Forums for more information on how to participate. News on upcoming features: Alright! So in this week's coming soon segment we will actually be discussing a feature that I announced a few months ago. As most of our listeners are aware, late in May I announced a new feature called Underground storage. Since then, many of you have been wondering where this elusive release has been. Well, the FarmVille Team decided to go back to the drawing board with this one and we will actually be releasing a revised version of this release with some significant changes. In the near future, the storage cellar will make an appearance in FarmVille bringing with it some well deserved leg room for our players. The storage cellar will take up a very small amount of room and will allow you to store a total of 500 items on your farm. To increase storage in your cellar, you will need to get your friends to send you gifts to unlock more room. This version of the feature should prove to be much easier for our players as there is no crop growing or digging required to take advantage of the extra space. Alternatively, if you don't feel like waiting for your friends to send you gifts, you can simply pay Farm Cash to get your storage immediately. In addition to storage cellars, we will also be releasing more summer and beach themed items in the coming weeks along with new playground items! And on that note, it's time for me to get out of here Farmers. Again, my name is Lexi and I would like to thank all of our listeners for tuning in this week. We will be back next Friday with all of the latest news and information about FarmVille from Zynga. Happy Farming everybody! This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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