Games.com Blog: “FarmVille Hot Rod Seeder, Hot Rod Harvester zoom onto farms” plus 19 more |  |
- FarmVille Hot Rod Seeder, Hot Rod Harvester zoom onto farms
- PetVille 24-Hour Heart-Shaped Candles mysteriously appear
- PetVille Happy Neighborhood bonus rolls out for everyone
- FarmVille in PetVille: Last chance to collect the FarmVille Farmer Dude
- PetVille Alice in Wonderland-inspired collection arrives
- Happy Pets: More cat and dog toys listed as 'coming soon'
- Rawr! Happy Pets limited edition tiger-themed items arrive
- FarmVille California Seeds: White grapes and golden poppies crops
- FarmVille California Themed Limited Edition Animals
- FarmVille Lime Green & Cobalt Mystery Box: What's inside?
- FarmVille Gift Box roomier, holds more gifts
- Farmville Pic of the Day: Pirahna Skull
- FarmVille fan poetry slam continues...
- Three new Mafia Wars property-related achievements
- My Town goes international with Chinese restaurant, Spanish homes
- New Mafia Wars limited edition item -- mustard gas
- Hero World: More than just 'Super Hero Mafia Wars'
- Mafia Wars rolls out new 'My Mafia' viewer
- Godfinger: Play god, give everyone the finger in this new iPhone game
- Quote of the Moment: The Psychology of Mafia Wars
| FarmVille Hot Rod Seeder, Hot Rod Harvester zoom onto farms Posted: 24 Feb 2010 03:30 PM PST Like its sibling the Hot Rod Tractor, there are two new Hot Rods in FarmVille, the Hot Rod Seeder and the Hot Rod Harvester! To gain access to these new FarmVille Hot Rod vehicles, you will have to be the required level in Mafia Wars. It will require you to be an additional plus 5 levels from when you purchased the Hot Rod Tractor. Please remember, not all farmers have access to these new Hot Rods, but will in the future. Here is a sneak peek at the new Hot Rods:  This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| PetVille 24-Hour Heart-Shaped Candles mysteriously appear Posted: 24 Feb 2010 03:25 PM PST  When we opened up our inventory in PetVille, we noticed that there were five 24-Hour Heart Candles there -- and we have no idea how they got there. Is this a glitch of some sort or maybe just something we haven't noticed before?  We decided to check out one of these candles, and when we set it on the table the room went dark, except for the warm glow from the candle. If you know anything about these heart candles, please leave a note below!
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| PetVille Happy Neighborhood bonus rolls out for everyone Posted: 24 Feb 2010 03:00 PM PST  The Happy Neighborhood feature has rolled out for everyone in PetVille. To learn more about this new feature -- designed to give you easier access to cleaning friends houses (and earning bonus coins) -- read this article.
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| FarmVille in PetVille: Last chance to collect the FarmVille Farmer Dude Posted: 24 Feb 2010 03:00 PM PST  This week, FarmVille is making a guest appearance in PetVille as a series of limited edition collectible items. Collect them all, and your pets will have their own special version of a virtual farm. Here's the catch, you can only get these items as gifts, so send a bunch and beg your friends to send them back to you in return. This FarmVille Farmer Dude was the first in this new collection, and is available for one day only. That means, the time to snag your very own farmer dude is just about to run out.
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| PetVille Alice in Wonderland-inspired collection arrives Posted: 24 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST  Things are getting curiouser and curiouser in PetVille. No, it's not the fact that we almost spend more time with this virtual pet than our real pets -- it's that a series of Alice in Wonderland-themed items, aka the Pets in WonderVille collection, have arrived in the store. There's a ton of costumes -- Alice, White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum -- some background props, giant mushrooms, a disappearing cat, a tea set and even a big blue hookah pipe. About half of the items cost PetVille cash to purchase (since you can actually earn PV cash while playing, you don't have to feel left out from buying some of the cooler items) and the rest cost coins. We had to snap up the Mad Hatter's Hat and are still eyeballing the very adorable 'Perpetually Late Bunny,' an animated bunny who looks at its watch and them jumps down a rabbit whole. It costs 45 PV cash, so we're still debating whether it's worth buying. You can find these items in the Premium store and they'll only be around for a limited time.  See some more of our favorite Pets in WonderVille items after the jump, or head to the game to check out the entire collection.    Which WonderVille items are you going to buy?
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| Happy Pets: More cat and dog toys listed as 'coming soon' Posted: 24 Feb 2010 11:30 AM PST  Take a peek into the Happy Pets store, and you'll see that four new toys are marked 'coming soon." Seems like forever since we got a few new toys to entertain our pets with. Look like we'll soon have a new dog toy -- a ball -- and three new cat toys -- a feather on a stick, catnip bag and a ball of yarn. A ball of yarn? Yikes! That's dangerous for real-life felines, but we guess it'll be OK for our virtual purr-monsters. What's the best Happy Pet toy so far?
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| Rawr! Happy Pets limited edition tiger-themed items arrive Posted: 24 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST  Celebration for the Year of the Tiger keeps going (and going and going... ). In honor of this illustrious year, Happy Pets has added a few new tiger-themed items to the store, which includes new cat and dog bowls, pet beds and tiger-printed flooring. Some of these items cost FarmVille credits and other can be had for coins. The Tiger bed and tiger little box, for instance, costs 950 coins - so posh!  Did you tiger-ize your Happy Pets pad?
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| FarmVille California Seeds: White grapes and golden poppies crops Posted: 24 Feb 2010 10:45 AM PST  In honor of all things California, FarmVille has released two new limited edition crops. The White Grapes straight from California Wine Country and the Golden Poppies are purchasable in the FarmVille Market with coins and will be available for the next eight days. There is no Crop Mastery for these limited time crops. This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille California Themed Limited Edition Animals Posted: 24 Feb 2010 10:40 AM PST  FarmVille released a set of new California themed animals! These exclusive animals can be yours (with farm cash only) if you purchase them in the FarmVille Market within the next 8 days. They are also sendable meaning one of your FarmVille friends can purchase and then send it to you. These items are exclusive and limited meaning after the eight days have expired they will go into retirement. - Bear Cub (animal) 22 FV$ - Valley Quail (animal) 16 FV$ What do you think about these new animals? Will you buy? This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille Lime Green & Cobalt Mystery Box: What's inside? Posted: 24 Feb 2010 10:30 AM PST  On 02.24.10 FarmVille released a new Lime Green and Cobalt Blue ribboned Mystery Box.This Mystery Box can be purchased for 16 FV$ in the FarmVille Market for the next six days. As always, this Mystery Boxe promise to offer exclusive prizes that cannot be purchased elsewhere, but they are still a gamble at your own risk and non-refundable. ::: Spoiler Alert ::: These are Confirmed Lime Green & Cobalt Blue Mystery Box Prizes (02.24.10): - Hummingbirds - Swing with Sheep - Deluxe Storage Shed - Mini Greenhouse This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille Gift Box roomier, holds more gifts Posted: 24 Feb 2010 10:00 AM PST The FarmVille Gift Box has increased its size in capacity! It can now hold more gifts that you accept from FarmVille neighbors.The maximum FarmVille Gift Box capacity has been increased to 50. This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| Farmville Pic of the Day: Pirahna Skull Posted: 24 Feb 2010 10:00 AM PST FarmVille is more than just an ultra-popular farming simulation -- it's a chance to express yourself artistically through unique and creative farm layouts. To that end, Games.com's FarmVille Picture of the Day features some of the most interesting and imaginative FarmVille layouts out there. Got a FarmVille pic you want to share? Send it to submit2gamescom@gmail.com. Today's pic: Pirhana Skull  I figured yesterday's hopeful, joyful, loving message may have been a bit too saccharine for some of the surlier members of our audience, so, by way of an antidote, here's one of the more depressing Farmville layouts I've ever seen. The withered trees and grinning, man-eating plants in the eyes turn what might otherwise be a somehwat cute, pixelated skull into a harrowing vision that seems to look directly into your soul! Browse the Farmville Picture of the Day archives
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| FarmVille fan poetry slam continues... Posted: 24 Feb 2010 09:00 AM PST  Earlier this week, we ran a FarmVille poem, courtesy of FarmVille Freak. Then another enthusiastic FarmVill-ian, Elizabeth, sent in another ode to FarmVille. So slap on a black beret, grab an espresso and prepare to read Elizabeth's poetic stylings below: Wow, what a happy choice indeed! Plant in a virtual world no need of real seeds Of beautiful trees, vegetables, fruits, even weeds... Horse, goats, pigs, chicken, ducks outnumbered the real ones, Animals you remembered way back in your {real} farms. We are the "farmers" of the world! Bringing in seconds, farm common produce See, everywhere it's the same needs Nutrients derived from these edibles, herbals and all. Let's play for its thrill, but always eat of what is real! See, we are on guard when we play the game. Making the right choices of what we need And what we can buy of "coins' we have. Of varied hues try go the race for best profitable farm Brothers of the world, come all, come one! By Elizabeth B. Ignacio -- Laguna, Philippines Have a FarmVille poem? Send it to libe@games.com and we'll post it here!
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| Three new Mafia Wars property-related achievements Posted: 24 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST
 Zynga has decided to tweak a little bit the property-based achievements after tweaking the properties themselves, and therefore there are three property-based achievements we can now earn in Mafia Wars: Thanks to Ewoks for letting me know about this cool change! This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.
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| My Town goes international with Chinese restaurant, Spanish homes Posted: 24 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST  "Hope all you townies are excited for this Tuesday update! We have a delicious-looking Chinese Restaurant, a beautiful stream, and a spacious new home to make YOUR town even better!" reads the official description. There's also a new home, the Large Spanish Home which becomes available to players level 15 and above:  Finally, there are a bunch of new decorations, steam:  Since I'm still of a low level (but climbing up really fast), I don't have all the stats for these new My Town items, but if I find them, I'll update this post and let you know. Or maybe you have the details? This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.
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| New Mafia Wars limited edition item -- mustard gas Posted: 24 Feb 2010 07:00 AM PST  Forty-eight hours have passed since the Ex-SEAL was made available for Mafia Wars, and now it's time for a new limited edition item to be delivered by Zynga: the Mustard Gas! Read on to find out all the details about this new item! As you can see in the image above, the Mustard Gas is a really powerful attack item, with 43 Attack and just 17 defense. Like always, the offer is only available for the next 48 hours (until February 26, that is) and the Mustard Gas costs 25 Reward Points.And from what it seems, pretty soon there we'll have items just for attack and items just for defense and no items that can do both jobs flawlessly! This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.
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| Hero World: More than just 'Super Hero Mafia Wars' Posted: 24 Feb 2010 07:00 AM PST  "The Hero League needs your help stopping The Silver Valkyrie from destroying Star City! Choose your super hero name and join the battle!"So begins Hero World, the newest Facebook game from Rockyou, the publisher also responsible for dark horse hit Zoo World. At its core, the game resembles nothing so much as a superhero-themed version of Mafia Wars, where you click buttons to perform missions, draining your energy to earn money and power points. These can, in turn, be exchanged for new equipment to make your hero more powerful (and better looking), new hideouts (to generate yet more money), new vehicles (to access new areas and missions), more powerful abilities and attacks, and more. The early missions task your hero with some decidedly un-super heroics like "teach kids how to use a computer" and "help old lady across the street," but as you level up, you'll move on to slightly more appropriate tasks like taking out drug dealers and tracking down car thieves.  You also get to feel more heroic in battles with low-level Necroverse goons. These battles play out like a traditional turn-based role-playing game, complete with quick animations to show attacks landing on your opponents, and vice versa. There's a bit of Pokemon-style elemental strategy to these battles, too -- if your opponent is aligned with fire, for instance, you can use a water attack for extra damage and extra protection for yourself. My one gripe is that way too many attacks -- easily a third -- end up being total misses, slowing down the battles and messing up the pacing. Aside from the constant stream of goons, you can also occasionally take on larger bosses for better loot, or take your hero into the Arena to battle real people for prestige on the leaderboards.  Where Hero World sets itself apart from Mafia Wars and its clones is in the Adventures and Epic Battles. In the former, you work your way through a slowly unfolding map, performing a rapid-fire series of missions and battles as you hunt for treasures and try to track down the big boss at the end. Unlike the rest of the game, your health and energy don't refill automatically over time during these adventures, adding some important strategic decisions to each step (do I have enough health to take on that next goon, or should I try to go the long way around him?). Random ailments and hidden treasures keep things slightly random and make the adventures much more engaging than the rest of the game.  Then there are the Epic Battles -- timed conflicts where you and your friends can join together to attack an incredibly powerful enemy. Coordination with others is key to succeeding here, as it's tough (but not impossible) to win with just your own attacks. Even though you and your friends are often attacking at separate times, with minimal communication between you, these epic battles still make the game feel more, well, epic -- like you're working towards something bigger than just your own selfish goals. There's a bit of friendly competition here, too, as the friend that does the most damage in these Epic Battles gets a better chance at receiving the best loot. The best thing about Hero World is the sheer variety of things to do. Out of energy from doing too many missions? Risk your health in a few battles while it refills. When you get bored with that, go on an adventure or dive in to help your friends with Epic Battles. Or go shop around for new gear and abilities. The game does a good job of presenting a series of new goals and achievements that seem just out of reach, until, before you know it, you've stair-stepped your way to a pretty kick-ass hero for yourself. Play Hero World
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| Mafia Wars rolls out new 'My Mafia' viewer Posted: 24 Feb 2010 06:30 AM PST Zynga's streamlining of the Mafia Wars page continues apace today, with a new easier-to-use interface for the "My Mafia" portion of the game. Scroll down to the bottom of your home page and you'll see a new, smooth-scrolling, Flash-based list of all the people in your Mafia. The new interface makes it easy to quickly find specific Mafia members, quickly scan for those with wish lists or requesting help with jobs, and sort your mafia list either alphabetically, by player level, or by how recently they started playing. Intriguingly, the helpful "What's This" tip that comes along with the new My Mafia section says that Zynga is "continuously working on improving the algorithm behind the scenes to better support very large Mafias." Could an increase in the 501-member limit on Mafia sizes be in the works? We'll keep our eyes peeled for ya.     [Via Social Game Central]
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| Godfinger: Play god, give everyone the finger in this new iPhone game Posted: 24 Feb 2010 06:00 AM PST Imagine controlling the entire world the tip of your finger [Cue evil laughter]. That's the gist of the upcoming iPhone game, Godfinger, in which you use your digits to control a virtual planet and its inhabitants. The goal of this portable 'god game' is to collect as many followers as possible, which can be done by performing wonders and other acts of nature. More followers equals more gold offerings, which can, in turn, be used to buy houses and more for the planet's inhabitants. The trailer above gives you a better idea of this game's overall vibe -- simple touch controls with colorful graphics and -- what looks like -- a bunch of would-be followers with circa 1980 mullets. If we can control the weather, why not let us play the role of holy hairstylist as well? Godfinger will be free to download, with the option to progress through the game faster by purchasing Awe points using real-life cash. These points can then be used to buy more gold and power boosts, which -- for instance -- make your followers work faster. This portable god simulation game will have a social component as well, working hand-in-hand with the Plus+ social networking system on iPhone, which means players will be able to help friends earn extra gold (and brag to them about their godly achievements). Don't let the whole god thing go to your head, though. Godfinger keeps going whether you're logged in or not, so you'll have to check back often to make sure your worshipers aren't slacking on the job. Look for Godfinger in the App store "soon."
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| Quote of the Moment: The Psychology of Mafia Wars Posted: 24 Feb 2010 05:30 AM PST  "Mafia Wars: There's definitely a lot of psychology here, because if someone had said 'Hey, we're going to make a text-based mafia game that's going to make over $100 million,' you'd say, 'I don't think you'll do that.' Right? But then they went ahead and didn't care and did that anyway.So what's the psychology here? Well, the psychology is it's Facebook. It uses your real friends. It's not just the virtual world anymore, it's your real friends. And then you're playing, you're like 'Oh, that's kind of cool, that's my real friends, hey... hey! My real friend is better than me. How can I remedy that. Well I could play a long time or I could just put $20 in. AH HA! And it's even better if that $20 I put in validates something that I know is true, that I am greater than my college roommate Steve from back in the day and that I can verify that." And then you combine that with the psychological idea of rationalization, the idea that anything you spend time on, you start to believe, 'Oh, this must be worthwhile. Why? Because I've spent time on it. And therefore it must be worth me kicking in 20 bucks, because look at the time I've spent on it. And now that I've kicked in 20 bucks, it must be valuable, because only an idiot would kick in 20 bucks if it wasn't! So there's a lot of psychological cleverness going on with these things." - Carnegie Mellon Assistant Professor of Entertainment and Technology Jesse Schell explains the appeal of Mafia Wars, and many Facebook games. The full talk, titled "Beyond Facebook Games" is embedded below and well worth watching.
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