Games.com Blog: “Happy Aquarium introduces the "Super Sea Shell Hunt"” plus 19 more

Games.com Blog: “Happy Aquarium introduces the "Super Sea Shell Hunt"” plus 19 more

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Happy Aquarium introduces the "Super Sea Shell Hunt"

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 12:30 PM PDT

Super Sea Shell Hunt
We can recognize our neighbor Harold from the demo tank even when he's all done up in a pirate costume, but it seems that Harold has taken on a new job as a finder-fixer, and needs your help. A Sea-Princess has broken her shell necklace, and now, players who find all the shells can earn a special item.

Gold Green Shell in Happy Aquarium

So how do you get these shells? Well, they show up randomly when you click on the Treasure Chests in the game. And yes, even the chest in the demo tank can get you a shell. When you receive a shell, you'll get the pop-up on the right.

Since Happy Aquarium still has no item storage, the shells will have to be stuck in your tank until you've collected everything. You can also sell the shells for coins. The two ones pictured above, "Blue Shell" and "Green Gold Shell" are listed as "Common" and go for 40 Coins each. The others are harder to get, so they might go for more money.

No other details have been released so far, so we'll just have to stay tuned!

 

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Happy Aquarium's demo tank takes a trip to Ireland

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 12:10 PM PDT

Happy Aquarium demo tank in Ireland
That gorgeous vista you're seeing in this week's new Happy Aquarium demo tank is called the "Emerald Isle" and goes for 36 Pearls or 30 Facebook Credits, which is a moderate pricing as far as tank wallpapers go. The "Fluffy Cloud" (there's two being used here) are animated and not connected to the wallpaper, so they can be bought separately for 12 Pearls or 10 Facebook Credits.

St. Paddy's items released last week are also being showcased here, along with the reappearance of "Scuba Cat", who debuted with the Tiki Island theme. But the glistening shamrock sword, called a "Kilt Pin" is new, along with the "Froggy Piper" on the bottom, who comes fully animated.

And before you ask, "Aren't kilts and bagpipes a Scottish thing?", let me assure you that Irish Pipe Bands wearing kilts have their roots in the two countries' Celtic past.

 

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FarmVillain parody app pokes fun at game-related wall posts

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 12:00 PM PDT

farm villiain parody app

Tired of Facebook friends who incessantly post messages about finding a lost sheep or asking for help fertilizing their crops? FarmVillian, a parody app on Facebook, has created some 'alternative' wall posts that will get that message across loud and clear.

farm villain mad cow disease
Some of the parody posts on the FarmVillain app are funnier than others -- our favorites include the 'Mad Cow' disease one above, and the gift request that says "All Your Farm Belong to us," a take off of the classic "All your base are belong to us." We also give two thumbs up to the references to Rick Rolling and Neverending Story.

farmvillian gift request

Important Note: At the top of the app, there's a notice that FarmVillain has been put on probation for possibly violating Facebook policy -- and since we're not sure why people are complaining so much about this app -- other than some of the crude humor -- we suggest that you proceed with caution.

 

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Shamrockfish in Pet Society

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 11:30 AM PDT

Shamrockfish in Pet Society
Everyone in Pet Society is ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the size of this cheerful green fish. Just in time for St. Patrick's Day (March 17), the Shamrockfish can be caught with the new cupcake and drink labeled "This Week's Special." Be sure to get them by this Sunday, otherwise your luck may run out.

Shamrock Fish Food in Pet SocietyAnd now, a word from our sponsor...
By the way, if you're trying to collect St. Patrick's Day items, check out Gosumall.com, which is having a sale on vintage and rare items, such as a leprechaun doll and shamrock chair from last year for 40 cents apiece. Gosumall, which has started advertising on this site earlier this month, is like a discount reseller of PS goods. According to their sales department, they offer cash and rare items at lower prices than Playfish. I'm amazed that such a site even exists, but we're now in an era of the virtual goods economy and strange and exciting things are happening.

Gosumall sale of Pet Society items

 

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FarmVille Unreleased Jalapeno Crop, Camper & Chateau White Tall Fence

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 11:10 AM PDT

Unreleased FarmVille items
Thank you to FarmVille Freaks Xan995 & Sean for finding these unreleased FarmVille items.

Sources:
* FarmVille Jalapeno Crop - Zynga FarmVille
* FarmVille Camper - Zynga FarmVille
* FarmVille Chateau White Tall Fence - Zynga FarmVille

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

 

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GameZebo exclusive interview with FarmVille

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 11:00 AM PDT

Gamezebo's Erin Bell had an exclusive interview with FarmVille vice president and general manager, Bill Mooney. They discuss the ever growing FarmVille community of farmers and what it is exactly that makes the game so successful.

Thanks to GameZebo for sharing their interview with FarmVille Freak!

Read the entire article below:


"Zynga's Bill Mooney on FarmVille: 83 million monthly users and counting"

"The rapidly-growing popularity of social games was acknowledged for the first time at the 2010 Game Developer's Choice Awards with a brand new category for Best New Social/Online Game. Zynga's FarmVille took home the prize, which wasn't terribly surprising given that the farming sim currently boasts more than 83 million monthly users on Facebook - more than double the numbers of its nearest competitor.

While FarmVille's success remains baffling to some people, Gamezebo was interested in finding out more about what makes the most successful game on Facebook tick. Zynga's VP and GM of FarmVille, Bill Mooney, was more than happy to answer our questions.

Zynga recently announced a partnership with MSN Games that lets users play FarmVille on the site through Facebook Connect. Why have you decided to move in the direction of partnering with certain online portals?


One of the goals that we have as a company is be anytime, anywhere. So for example Zynga Poker's on something like eight social networks; we have a number of games on iPhone and SMS mobile devices as well; a number of our other games have been on MySpace. Facebook is a terrific partner and it's absolutely the backbone of the business but we know that there are a number of users who we'll want to reach outside of Facebook and we have numbers suggesting there's a big opportunity for those, including some international opportunities.

It's interesting to think that "social games" don't necessarily have to be tied to social networks.


I think that's exactly right. The thing that we know is key to them being social games is it's critical that your friends are already there. I mean, the games are fun in of their own right but we know from talking to users and just our own experiences across FarmVille and other games that we have to go to where your friends are.

Those deeper social connections make Facebook such a powerful network because they're your real friends - you care about those people - and with FarmVille we made that conscious choice that you interact with friends, and we know that that's just a huge component. With places like MSN Games it's important that we connect people with, for example, their Messenger buddies and things like that, which for many people represents years of relationships.

How is developing social games like FarmVille fundamentally different from developing more traditional games?

There are probably three big components that differ. One is that we have so much more information about how users play because we're able to measure user behavior. We know if people are having trouble with something. We know if they're getting through it.

We're also able to get data on preferences. For example, do people like bunnies better than ducks? We can actually answer that. We have all this data about what users like and how they're interacting with our game, so that really provides fascinating information.

Because there are so many people playing, it offers another design challenges which is we have to make games that are very broad and accessible. We've really tried that with FarmVille, where simplicity's at a premium. We're actually making some efforts to even further simplify, especially the early user experience to make sure we're capturing the entire audience.

We try to put new content out every week, and that pace is very, very different from traditional games. Traditional games, from my experience, at the very shortest take a year; typically they take more like two, and obviously you're playing to dedicated hardware, so for us it's very different because we have such a relatively casual audience and we want them to feel like the game's always changing and evolving. That's why we put out new stuff to give people more options and ways to play, while still keeping that core social element of community, harvesting, and all the core social values of farms.

The other thing is that the speed is much, much faster than traditional games, in part because the platform itself with Facebook and the audience just moves so much more quickly.

It's certainly challenging from a press perspective because we can't exactly write a traditional review any more!


Believe me, we feel that pain! You know, one of the hard things is that as we get further along in the game, getting the game part right is harder because experienced users want more. World of Warcraft is a good example of this. It becomes very important to think about systems in the games that interact with each other and to make sure that it's going to be an experience that we can continue to evolve super-simply.

One of the things that makes a game interesting for users is the element of choice: having that feeling of delight where you get to make an interesting choice and see an effect. At the simplest level that's choosing a crop, but we have even more interesting versions of that coming where you're going to be able to make choices that have a medium-term effect.

We know that people want to play FarmVille in different ways, and it's startling. It's true not just of FarmVille but of other Zynga games, that users show you what they want, and that's what's so interesting about this space. For example in Mafia Wars at an early stage people were behaving in sort of a clan pattern that we didn't anticipate, so we expanded that part of the gameplay.

We've seen some of that as well with FarmVille; for example, users have really responded to the trading that's involved with the horse stables. Our pattern is to put a small piece of something out, and if people like it, do more of it. We don't want to overwhelm new users because we know how popular the game is for them, but really to give older users, people who have been playing FarmVille for a while, deeper components to the game that if they like it they can get deeper into, or they can still play FarmVille the way they loved it.

How are you dealing with the incredible volume of users, especially in a game like FarmVille which is up to more than 80 million monthly users?


In fact, depending on the day it's something like 31 million users per day. The monthly stuff actually isn't our problem, it's the daily. It's a great problem to have, but the sheer size of it is unbelievable. We're far bigger than anything else that's existed before in the game space where people are playing at the same time. The short answer is we just hire a ton of really smart people, but really we're in uncharted territory.

I think people look at our games and maybe don't realize how complex some of the programming aspects are, particularly on the systems side. For example, just the amount of social information that we have for users - not about their private data but their data in-game - we have gigantic chunks of information that people expect us to update in real-time.

We continue to make improvements in performance and we have this question of can we then add a new system that we know people want that puts further drain on the system. We get into this sort of fascinating arms race: Do we want to make the game even faster, do we want to give players something new, do we want to have more gifts, or more complicated features on the farm that track more information in real-time about their friends?

Did the success of FarmVille take you by surprise?

We were very confident it would be big, but honestly the size and scope of it has been a pleasant surprise. At launch we started with about 200 people within Zynga's family and friends just to sort of load-test the game at the very beginning on a Friday. The next day without any promotion of any sort, without even all of our communication channels on Facebook hooked up, there were 27,000 people playing. The next day there were 150,000 people, which was astonishing because we meant it really as a tiny little closed Alpha almost just to make sure things were working on the system. I think two days after that we were at 1 million people. It just exploded."

(Source: GameZebo.com )

What do you think about this interview, FarmVille Freaks?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

 

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Start spreading the news, Restaurant City goes New York City!

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 10:00 AM PDT

Restaurant City goes New York City
Unlike all the other major Facebook games, Restaurant City went for a modest celebration of St. Patrick's Day with some giftable exclusives and a fans-only pot of gold freebie. This was probably for the best, as the Hawaiian theme has turned out to be incredible, and ironically, more evergreen in terms of decorative mileage than any of the St. Paddy's items.

Moving right along, this Thursday will see the launch of a New York City theme, complete with yellow taxis, Broadway posters, red hydrants, and even a "Statue of Cookery"! There's 12 new outdoors items and 24 new indoors ones, including one that you can only get if you've an e-mail subscription. (Check out their official blog post for more details.)

On top of that, there are two new Limited Edition recipes: 1) Giant Pretzel and 1) Pastrami Sandwich. You'll find the Pretzel in the Starter page, while the Pastrami shows up on the Main dish page.

Take heed, the Pastrami Sandwich is set to disappear a week earlier than the Pretzel, so focus on grabbing it first! The game realizes this and to help, it has added the Garlic and Coriander onto the Gifts page. But this means it's nudged out the Mango and Banana, so expect those two ingredients to get rarer in the next few weeks!
Restaurant City Pretzel and Pastrami

 

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Ultimate St. Patrick's Day Guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 09:30 AM PDT

farmville shamrock castle -- one of the hot items for St. Patrick's DaySt. Patrick's Day is on March 17, and we've been feeling the luck of the Irish for the past few weeks, as FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Cafe World and more have been rolling out leprechauns, pots of gold and other themed items.

Some of the must-have items include the FarmVille Shamrock Castle (which you can buy using 100 pieces gold gifted from friends) and the brand new Mafia Wars St. Patrick's Day collection, which, when completed, rewards virtual wiseguys with an Irish Wolfhound with some serious attack skills.

If you want to see what's brewing for St. Pat's Day in your favorite social games, check out our complete holiday coverage in the list below.


FarmVille
FarmVille St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Buildings
FarmVille Shamrock Castle: Everything you need to know
FarmVille Pot of Gold kicks off St. Patrick's Day celebration
FarmVille Pot of Gold redeemable prize list *Spoiler* [Updated]
FarmVille Pot of Gold: Give gold, get fuel and more in return
FarmVille Lucky Tractor, Lucky Harvestor, & Lucky Seeder
FarmVille St. Patrick's Day Pot of Gold Prizes
FarmVille Kelly Green Cow
FarmVille Kelly Green Calf
FarmVille Free Giftables: Kelly Green Haybale, Flax Leaves & Long Log
FarmVille St. Patrick's Day Crops: Shamrock, Green Hellebores & Green Roses
FarmVille St. Patrick's Day mystery boxes coming soon
FarmVille St. Patrick's' Day Mystery Box 03.10.10
mafia Wars dublin derby
Mafia Wars

Mafia Wars limited edition St. Patrick's Day Collection surfaces
Mafia Wars trots out trio of St. Patrick's Day Dublin Derby jobs

Bejeweled Blitz
New 500k Bejeweled Blitz medals dressed up for St. Patrick's Day

Cafe World
Follow the Rainbow to Cafe World for St. Patrick's Day

Pet Society
St. Patrick, Easter, and the WWF meet up in Pet Society

PetVille
New PetVille mini-game: Find the four-leaf clovers for good luck (i.e. coins, free loot)
PetVille goes green with new St. Patrick's Day 'Spot of Luck' collection

Restaurant City
Restaurant City gives fans a lucky pot of gold
4 gift-exclusive St. Patrick's Day items released alongside Hawaiian set

Happy Aquarium
Happy Aquarium releases St. Patrick's Day Props

Happy Pets

Shamrock Cat makes for a purrr-fect St. Paddy's in Happy Pets
Shamrock Pets debut in Happy Pets

SPP Clover patchYoVille
YoVille wishes players a Happy St. Patrick's Day!
YoVille goes Irish with St. Patrick's Day Costumes

Zoo World
Zoo World adds Pot of Gold mini-game for St. Patrick's Day

Treasure Madness
Hunting for leprechaun gold in Treasure Madness

Happy Island
Happy Island rolls out the green carpet for a leprechaun VIP

Tiki Farm

Tiki Farm introduces 'Irish Luck' items for the farm

SPP Ranch!
SPP Ranch! St. Patrick's Day Clover Patches let lucky players win big


What's the coolest St. Patrick's item you've seen so far?

 

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Arkadium's Mahjong Dimensions hits one million Facebook players

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 08:45 AM PDT

Back in January, when well-known casual game maker Arkadium launched its first Facebook game, Mahjongg Dimensions, we asked whether the game was "the next Bejeweled Blitz." Now, just two months later, the game seems well on its way to that level of success, reaching a million monthly active users.

Sure, that numbers is well short of Bejeweled Blitz's over 10 million monthly active users, or even the five million players that have made Social City into an overnight success. But those one million monthly users represent 4.6 million distinct games a day, according to a recent GamesBeat piece, thanks to a quick viral spread that even surprised Arkadium CEO Kenny Rosenblatt. The company isn't planning on being surprised next time, though -- they plan to release five more games to Facebook this quarter and have 15 to 20 more Facebook games "in the pipeline." Not bad for a company that just dove head first into Facebook gaming a couple of months ago.

 

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GameSpy pokes fun at Facebook gamers, status updates

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 08:15 AM PDT

The great thing about being at the Game Developers Conference is you get to listen to a lot of smart people talk about the game industry and how the popularity of social games is changing its direction. The bad thing about being at the Game Developers Conference is you don't really have time to read the internet and keep up with all the goings on in the virtual world. Case in point, this hilarious GameSpy "Facebook Games translation" piece, which went up a week ago but I just noticed today.

Each status update "translation" is a slightly different take on the same overall theme: that Facebook games are only played by recent college/high school graduates with failed personal lives and addictive personalities, Of course, we all know that's not really true, but I think we can all think of at least a couple of Facebook friends that use their games to escape from the real world a bit too much. And really, why would you play Bowling Buddies if you had actual bowling buddies?

 

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Shamrock Pets debut in Happy Pets

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT

Shamrock animals in Happy Pets
We were wondering if Happy Pets had anything in the works for St. Patrick's Day with their Shamrock Cat, and now that question's been answered with a whole set of Shamrock animals -- Dog, Duck, Bunny, Pig, and Hamster! The only one missing so far is the Parrot.

These are also Facebook Credits exclusives, but if you think you've got the luck of the Irish, you can try for 'em with a Mystery Box.

Related: Ultimate St. Patrick's Day guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

 

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Happy Island rolls out the green carpet for a leprechaun VIP

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 07:00 AM PDT

St. Patrick's Day items in Happy Island
Happy Island has announced a leprechaun tourist in their game via their official Facebook page, advising players to "buy him a drink" when he shows. Supposedly, he's a heavy tipper.

Also, for 39 Facebook Credits, you can purchase a "Pot of Gold" under the Decorations tab of the in-game store. And since our new magical visitor has an affinity for pots of gold, he'll tip you even more. Though this isn't the first time Happy Island has introduced strange visitors to our shores. There's been UFO and Elvises sightings on Happy Island before, but it was done to no fanfare.

Just be warned, the leprechaun is very small, quick, and hard to spot! It's not going to be easy to click on him!

Related: Ultimate St. Patrick's Day guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

 

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Pet Society Beanstalk Seed grows into new secret room

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 06:00 AM PDT

If your Pet Society home is becoming a bit too crammed full of cute furniture and accessories, and you find yourself in need of a home expansion, head over to the game's Cash Shop and pick up a Beanstalk Seed.

The Beanstalk Seed costs 20 Playfish Cash, and, once activated, will grow into a secret room up in the clouds. Before you run to get your credit card, however, know that there is a limit of one secret room per player, so unfortunately, this isn't a way to get unlimited space.

That being said, sometimes a little extra room is all you need. If that's the case, head over to the game's page and pick one of these seeds up while you can.

This article originally appeared on Frisky Mongoose.

Related: Ultimate St. Patrick's Day guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

 

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FarmVille Shamrock Castle: Everything you need to know

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 06:00 AM PDT

farmville shamrock castle by Farmville-ian 'Indian Farmer'

The ultimate FarmVille St. Patrick's item is -- without a doubt -- the epic Shamrock castle. There's only two ways to get your hands on one of these castles: by trading in 100 pieces of gold from your Pot of Gold or from a friend's Facebook wall post (once you acquire a castle, you can choose to share one with your friends as well).

if you're wondering what the castle looks like -- the image above (courtesy of FarmVille-ian Indian Farmer) shows three of them sitting in a row. These buildings look fairly substantial, and seem well worth the 100 gold pieces -- just for the bragging rights.


Related:
- FarmVille Pot of Gold kicks off St. Patrick's Day celebration
- FarmVille Pot of Gold redeemable prizes
- Ultimate St. Patrick's Day guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

 

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Hunting for leprechaun gold in Treasure Madness

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 05:30 AM PDT

Treasure Madness goes St. Patrick's Day
Treasure Madness has us going mad for gold and treasure with their release of limited edition St. Patrick series. As an intrepid explorer, your goal is to buy and click through maps of places rich in fun and rewards. For Mafia Wars fans, the collections feature would be familiar, where items that you uncover while playing can be traded in for special items once you've got the whole set. The adventuring aspect of the game is to ace quick memory and spatial puzzles that are triggered while you're trying to dig or axe your way towards treasure.

Eight new maps are out this week and will be around for then next 8 days, but once they're gone, they're gone for good!
Treasure Madness St. Patrick's Series
Maps List:
1) Buckle Shoe Island - St Patrick series
2) Lucky Hat Island - St Patrick series
3) Clover Island - St Patrick series
4) Horseshoe Island - St Patrick series
5) Harp Island - St Patrick series
6) Pot of Gold Bay - St Patrick series
7) Pipe Island - St Patrick series
8) Tankard Island - St Patrick series


Related: Ultimate St. Patrick's Day guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

 

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FarmVille Dog Update: PetVille Drops Clues for upcoming FarmVille Border Collies, Golden Retrievers & Sheepdogs

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PDT

Looks like PetVille players are starting to get a glimps of what the FarmVille dogs might look! Thank you to FarmVille Freak Steike for providing these three images!

"You've found a FarmVille Pet Clue! Soon you can get a Border Collie to help you in FarmVille! Find all 3 clues in different houses to learn about FarmVille's new pet feature and win a special PetVille gift!"

FarmVille Clue 1 - PetVille Border Collies
FarmVille Border Collie - Clue 1

FarmVille Clue 2 - PetVille Golden Retrievers
FarmVille Golden Retrievers - Clue 2

FarmVille Clue 3 - PetVille English Sheepdogs

FarmVille English Sheepdogs - Clue 3

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

 

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Mafia Wars trots out trio of St. Patrick's Day Dublin Derby jobs

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 01:30 AM PDT

mafia wars dublin derby job

Your Irish eyes will be smiling when you check out the special St. Patrick's Day Dublin Derby jobs in Mafia Wars. This trio of jobs takes a certain amount of time to complete, and offers a chance to score a Dublin Stallion or a rare SPD collectible.

The three jobs are as follows:

- Blackmail the Judges
Spend 30 energy and wait five minutes for the payout, with a 20% chance of nabbing the Dublin Stallion or St. Patrick's Day Collectible

- Switch the Jockey
Spend 60 energy and wait 8 hour for the payout, with a 70% chance of nabbing the Dublin Stallion or St. Patrick's Day Collectible

- Steal the Favored Horse
Spend 95 energy and wait 24 hours for the payout, with a 100% chance of nabbing the Dublin Stallion or St. Patrick's Day Collectible

We tried the Blackmail the Judges job and was rewarded with a pair of Vintage Binoculars and 15 experience. If you have lots of time on your hands, we'd recommend the Blackmail the Judges job, but if you want to be sure that you score one of the rare items, pick the 24 hour Steal the Horse job where you're 100% guaranteed to walk away with a stallion or SPD collectible.

st. patrick's day derby bonus reward

Which Dublin Derby job do you recommend?

Related: Ultimate St. Patrick's Day guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

 

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Mafia Wars limited edition St. Patrick's Day Collection surfaces

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 01:00 AM PDT

mafia wars limited edition st. patrick's day collection

Mafia Wars goes Irish with a new limited edition St. Patrick's Day Collection. The new holiday collection consists of seven appropriately themed items, which can be found while completing jobs, winning fights or completing jobs from the St. Patrick's Day Dublin Derby.

st-patricks-day-collection-irish-wolfhound

Here's a list of items and how to find them:




Irish Flag: Dublin Derby job
Green Fireworks: regular job
Lucky Pint Glass: win fights
Leprechaun: regular job
Green Bowler's Cap: regular job
Pot of Gold: win fights
Bag Pipes: free gift from Mafia Wars friend

When you've rounded up all of these items, they can be vaulted for an Irish Wolfhound, with 48 Attack and 29 Defense. No word yet whether you'll be able to vault this collection more than once.

This St. Pat's Day collection is almost identitcal to the Valentine's Day Massacre promotion -- let's just hope we have more luck finding these items than we did with the V-day goodies (we still haven't found the V-day tattoo, have you?).

Related: Ultimate St. Patrick's Day guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

 

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Zoo World adds Pot of Gold mini-game for St. Patrick's Day

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 12:30 AM PDT

zoo world pot of goldMuch like the Pot of Gold promotion in FarmVille, Zoo World has also added a Pot of Gold mini-game where you ask friends for gold in exchange for a mystery reward that will be delivered on March 17.

To activate this mini-game, click on the black pot icon on the right hand side of the screen, which launches a window that will direct you to put a message on your Facebook wall, asking friends for gold. Once St. Pat's rolls around, you'll have to check back to see your reward.

Also, as an incentive to helping your Zoo World pals with their gold collection, giving gold also rewards you with more gold, and well, there seems to be plenty of gold to go around. Plus, how can you resist helping that sad little Leprechaun find his treasure? Simple. You can't. Happy hunting.

What do you think the big reward will be?

Related: Ultimate St. Patrick's Day guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more

 

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Kirstie Alley makes a cameo in Zoo World on Facebook

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PDT

zoo work kiosk kirstie alley big lifeIt's only a matter of time until we see our favorite 'freemium' games on Facebook infiltrated with advertising, and we spotted the first hint of that in RockYou's Zoo World this morning.

In the kiosk section of the in-game store, we bought the 'Healthy Snack Stand' -- after all, we wanted to offer our virtual zoo-goers something alternative food options. After purchasing the kiosk, we noticed, in small print, that this kiosk was "sponsored by Kirstie Alley's Big Life," the Emmy-winning actress' new reality show about weight loss, which debuts on March 21. UPDATE: There's also a Kirstie Alley Greeting Station that serves as a sort of lawn decoration. Huh, OK.

The sad truth is that we expect to see more of these kinds of sponsorships in social/Facebook games over the rest of 2010, as companies such as Wild Tangent have been gearing up to integrate big name advertisers right into your game. Ideally, these sponsorships will also benefit the player, by, say, offering them a free item in exchange for watching an ad, though that's not the case with this Zoo World promotion. The Healthy Snack Stand and Greeting Station both cost 5,000 coins and the money definitely comes out of your zoo funds to own these two items.

This particular sponsorship, however, illustrates how women are still a big target audience for social games (we'd be lying if we told you this show wasn't already programmed into our TiVo) though we'll see if that continues as more 'male' oriented games such as EA Sports' Madden football, enter the fray later this year.

 

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