Games.com Blog: “Zoo Paradise spoofs Waldo with Where's Walter game” plus 16 more |  |
- Zoo Paradise spoofs Waldo with Where's Walter game
- Treasure Isle Rain God will be reward for Fire God Mountain
- Sorority Life comes to Android mobile devices
- FarmVille Cupcake Co-Op job rewards with Party Sheep
- FarmVille Party Duck comes out to the celebration quacking
- FarmVille: New Cupcake Crop celebrates a sweet birthday
- FarmVille gives away Hot Air Balloon for 1st birthday
- Become a barista in Cafe World with new coffee machines
- Gears of War creator admits FarmVille 'did something right'
- Restaurant City: Gourmet King offers free premium World Cup flags
- Happy Aquarium: Flounder and Sebastian, is that you?
- FarmVille: Watch Disney's Toy Story 3 Trailer for 2 Free Farm Cash!
- Quote of the moment: What "terrifies" CliffyB?
- YoVille Jobs Available To More Facebook Players. Myspace Players Stay Tuned !
- EA touts Playfish growth amidst tumbling Facebook gaming numbers
- Is Microsoft the unrecognized king of virtual items sales?
- PSA: Farmville used as bait in new "likejacking" scams
| Zoo Paradise spoofs Waldo with Where's Walter game Posted: 18 Jun 2010 12:02 AM PDT  Crowdstar's popular zoo game, Zoo Paradise, is holding on strong at over 4.6 million players in the last 30 days. While they don't release things with the rapid speed that Happy Aquarium does, the game has been doing fairly well for itself. They have now added a brand new mini-game that spoofs on Where's Waldo. In this popular game, colorful pictures with hundreds of little people would be depicted, with one little man named Waldo who was dressed differently and more recognizable than any other. In Zoo Paradise, Walter is a familiar looking figure who will show up at your zoo like any other guest. Once you receive the popup and click "Find Now!" you will have 5 minutes in total to find Walter and click on him. If you find Walter, you get 20xp and 20 coins. This isn't much, but it's a fun additional way to kill time while admiring your handiwork and tending to your animals and guests. We're not sure how often Walter will show up as a patron of your zoo, but we're sure it's relatively often since the reward is so low. This sounds like it would be a bigger challenge for those of you with large impressive zoos with many visitors. Perhaps a reward that scales with the number of visitors you have in your zoo would be a good idea? Have you found Walter yet? How hard was he to spot?
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| Treasure Isle Rain God will be reward for Fire God Mountain Posted: 17 Jun 2010 11:41 PM PDT Filed under: Treasure Isle  Hey Treasure Isle players - you know that illusive Rain God that everyone is talking about yet no one seems to have? The one you need to complete your collection that you've been trying to complete for weeks? Today, Zynga revealed new information on the Volcano Digger's Anonymous page that stated that the Rain God will be a reward for completing the Fire God Mountain maps (which have not yet been released). Previously, players had been getting this Rain God by contacting Treasure Isle's customer support, who would often hand them out as a gift. Now we know how this will be attained, and we're even more excited for the volcano maps.We still don't have a release date for the Fire God Mountain yet, but there have been so many teasers and spoilers released so far that it has to be soon. One thing we now know is that completing the map will depend on finding the one treasure per map in the least clicks possible. This is substantially different from how all the other maps play. It's really refreshing that this new set of maps will bring new game mechanics and not just a change of scenery. Do you have a Rain God in Treasure Isle? How did you get yours?
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| Sorority Life comes to Android mobile devices Posted: 17 Jun 2010 11:34 PM PDT Filed under: Sorority Life  Sorority Life players with Android mobile phones - you are now in luck. You can now play the game using the new Android application. This app allows you to have full access to the core gameplay elements within the game, such as socializing, fighting, checking your style, and the Glam questing. You can even see a representation of your Sorority Life avatar so you can show your friends on the go.To download this application, click here from your computer web browser. If you are currently using your Android phone to read this, you'll have to search for the application using the following text: market://search?q=pname:com.moblyng.android.sororitylife Anyone who installs and plays with this app will earn 10 free Brownie Points. There is a brief tutorial that walks you through using the app (it is quite different than the full web computer version) and a slick clean interface that is easy to use and easy on the eye. Have you downloaded the Sorority Life app for Android yet? (Via: Sorority Life Official Blog)
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| FarmVille Cupcake Co-Op job rewards with Party Sheep Posted: 17 Jun 2010 07:21 PM PDT Filed under: Farmville  Want this precious little sheep for your farm in FarmVille? The only way to get it is to partake in the new Cupcake Co-Op Farming job. This job requires you to plant the new limited edition Cupcake Crop, but rewards you nicely with this cute sheep. The sheep is of course in celebration of FarmVille's one year anniversary. This co-op job rewards you with 365 coins and 405 XP as well, and has a time limit of 1 day and 13 hours once it has been started. One thing to take note is that both the crop and the job expire on July 1st, so you only have a limited time to complete this co-op job and obtain the Party Sheep to match your new Party Duck.  Have you completed the FarmVille's Birthday Co-Op job yet?
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| FarmVille Party Duck comes out to the celebration quacking Posted: 17 Jun 2010 07:09 PM PDT Filed under: Farmville   We got another pleasant unannounced FarmVille surprise tonight, when these adorable Party Ducks started to show up on our Facebook wall. These lonely lost ducks will appear randomly on your farm and you can then share them with friends. What better way to celebrate FarmVille's one year anniversary than sharing a present with your FarmVille friends? This Party Duck is harvestable like all other animals, and we predict that it will disappear after July 1st when the other birthday gifts are being removed from the Market. If you want a Party Duck, check your Facebook wall for posts from your friends. They are rampant right now, so chances are you'll have no problem finding one. This duck is the exact same duck model as the regular one, however it has a noisemaker in its mouth and a party hat on its head. Too cute for words.
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| FarmVille: New Cupcake Crop celebrates a sweet birthday Posted: 17 Jun 2010 06:58 PM PDT Filed under: Farmville   Tonight we have the full details on all of the festivities in FarmVille that are going in in celebration of the game's first birthday. One exciting new release is the Cupcake Crop, which we leaked here on the blog yesterday. This new crop is available in the Market only until July 1st. These cupcakes are an 8 hour crop that give 1 XP when harvested and sell for 6 0 coins. One thing important to note is that the Cupcake Crop will indeed have mastery associated with it, so all of you dedicated farmers should know that there is a reward for your diligence in planting and harvesting. We think planting cupcakes is just the right kind of silly that we need. With so much seriousness going on in FarmVille lately, such as the Tuscan wedding, Southwestern decorations, and Tiki theme, it's nice to have a change in mood and liven things up a bit. We'll be filling our farm with cupcake crops for sure, and it will be a sad day when July rolls around and this crop is removed from the market. Happy birthday FarmVille!
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| FarmVille gives away Hot Air Balloon for 1st birthday Posted: 17 Jun 2010 06:44 PM PDT Filed under: Farmville  Today is a very special day for FarmVille players, as it is the one anniversary since FarmVille launched. It feels like just yesterday that players started talking about this new game on Facebook, where everyone could become a farmer and manage their own crops and animals. One year and 70+ million players later, FarmVille is the reigning champion of the social game world and most everyone on Facebook has heard of it. FarmVille is the largest online game in the history of games. In celebration of its one year anniversary, FarmVille has given all players a FarmVille hot air balloon as a reward.  How are you celebrating FarmVille's one year anniversary?
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| Become a barista in Cafe World with new coffee machines Posted: 17 Jun 2010 06:25 PM PDT Filed under: Cafe World  Are you sick of simply cooking recipes in Cafe World, slaving over the hot stove? Now you can brew coffee to serve your guests, with the new coffee maker. This coffee maker brews a limited amount of coffee, which requires the user of a new consumable energy bar. Energy can be refilled by buying energy refills, or by waiting while it regenerates by itself over time. To access the coffee maker, you first need to unpack the crate in your cafe. In the top right corner of your screen, there is a coffee cup icon that you can click to access your crate, which requires 3 neighbors to open. Once you've unpacked the crate, you can move your new coffee maker anywhere you wish. Clicking on the coffee maker brings up an interface that allows you to select whcih kind of coffee you wish to brew. Higher energy costing coffee produces more servings and higher rewards, but as a result, will cost extra energy to brew. Only one pot of coffee can be brewed at a time, so all cups will have to be depleted before another can be brewed.  What do you think of this feature in Cafe World? I'll take a venti nonfat soy light ice vanilla chai please.
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| Gears of War creator admits FarmVille 'did something right' Posted: 17 Jun 2010 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles is wrap, and one of the games conspicuously absent from the three-day event was one of the largest in the world -- FarmVille. Even at the big-budget press conferences for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, there was ne'er a peep about the farming game, and it's not clear whether video game companies don't see Facebook games as competition or they just don't know what to make of the simple farming simulation with over 60 million monthly players.We found at least one person who was willing to acknowledge FarmVille, however. Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski, who, ironically, heads up one of the bloodiest shooters currently on the market. We asked him if he has any plans to take the best-selling game franchise to any other platforms, including Facebook, and while he says that's uncertain, he gives props to the new social gaming segment that has exploded in the past year. "Gears of FarmVille?" he jokes after we pose the question. "You know it's fun to hate on FarmVille, but they obviously did something right. I think the rest of the industry is looking at this as far as their game design -- reciprocity and how to have everybody else publicize your game, whether they want to or not. Skip! Skip! (mimics skipping friends' FarmVille requests on Facebook). Our [game] engine is up running on iPhone and iPad... but we'll see as far as our actual games, and what happens in the future. It's hard to ignore those numbers, and it's hard to ignore the fractured market, which it is right now. A few years ago it was like 'Oh yeah, there's Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC.' Now we have PC, MMOs, browser-based games, Facebook-based games, iPad games, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox and then Kinect, PlayStation Move, PlayStation 3 and it's like there's 4 million different categories, which quite frankly terrifies me, and I think the industry is a little bit nervous about it. " On Gears of War, women and the new gun-toting, alien-killing ladies in the game "It's weird with Gears, man -- and I don't know if this is just anecdotal evidence with Twitter and the Internet -- but I swear Gears has a bigger female audience than a lot of shooters. I'm not sure if it's the fact that the story tries to have elements that are a little bit deeper or resonate more with personal family issues and things like that. Maybe it's the pacing of the game, taking cover and then pop up at your leisure, maybe it's the co-op. I don't know what it is, but by adding a female Gears it's one of those things that I've had so many girls say, "Oh my god, thank you so much for adding them", and more importantly thank you for adding them and making them attractive but not making them look like strippers or booth babes or girls on the cover of Low Rider magazine. It's not that there's anything wrong with that kind of thing, but that's not us. Right? You know, we have our violence and we have our tongue-in-cheek over the top moments, but we didn't want to be the game that has the "boob physics" We didn't want to have girls running into combat wearing thongs, because that's just not us... we want to be mature with how we take females seriously in the game." On using the Xbox 360 Kinect Hardware to play Gears Yeah, we're getting dev kits and we're going to play with it a little bit. I can assume everybody that it's definitely not going to be in Gears 3. It's just not appropriate. I don't want it to be like something where it's like, "Oh, now you chainsaw by going like that [mimics chainsawing something]. But I'm intrigued by the technology. I think the first generation is always like, "Wow, look at me, it's a Dance Dance Party thing,' and that's cute and that's fine, and there's a market for that. If you look at the Wii games that resonate the most, they're kind of a hybrid. Mario Galaxy where you play, then waggle here and there. They pace it out well and it's kind of a mix -- that's the kind of game that I want to see. I think a Heavy Rain type game on that would be amazing. Get some of the performance capture that they're using where you can see that it's an actor, get great writing, get great motion controls, voice controls and you can have a whole genre there that cracks wide open.
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| Restaurant City: Gourmet King offers free premium World Cup flags Posted: 17 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Restaurant City  
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| Happy Aquarium: Flounder and Sebastian, is that you? Posted: 17 Jun 2010 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Happy Aquarium  
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| FarmVille: Watch Disney's Toy Story 3 Trailer for 2 Free Farm Cash! Posted: 17 Jun 2010 05:45 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  A new sponsored link for Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 3 movie which opens Friday, June 18th, is appearing at the bottom of your FarmVille loading screen.Upon clicking on the sponsored link, you can watch the Toy Story 3 trailer and answer a question, "What was your favorite toy as a kid?" and then be rewarded with 2 free farm cash! Simple enough, and worth the free farm cash. Please note, there is NO direct link to provide. The advertisement for this offer appears underneath your FarmVille Farm home page once you access FarmVille on FaceBook. Will you participate in this sponsored link? If so, did the free farm cash work for you? Who is going to see Toy Story 3? This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| Quote of the moment: What "terrifies" CliffyB? Posted: 17 Jun 2010 05:30 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  "Gears of FarmVille? It's fun to hate on FarmVille but they obviously did something right. The rest of the industry is looking at lessons to be learned as far as reciprocity and how to have everybody publicize your game whether they want to or not."Our engine is up and running on the iPhone and iPad .... We'll see as far as our actual games appearing on there what happens in the future. It's hard to ignore those numbers. And it's hard to ignore the fractured market and how it is now. A few years ago it was like PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. Now it's like, OK, PC, MMOs, browser-based games and Facebook-based games and iPad games, Nintendo 3D DS, Xbox and then Kinect and PlayStation Move and PlayStation 3, and it's like there's 4 million different categories, which quite frankly terrifies me. I think the industry's a little bit nervous about it." -Gears of War designer Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski discusses the quickly fragmenting game market with Games.com.
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| YoVille Jobs Available To More Facebook Players. Myspace Players Stay Tuned ! Posted: 17 Jun 2010 04:30 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille  YoVille Jobs are in game now to more players on Facebook. Don't worry Myspace players this feature will be coming to this social network very soon as well! Based on the feedback and bugs that were reported by our YoVille Job's testers we have updated this feature and we'll continue to address these issues that have been brought up! Let's check out what YoVille Jobs updates we have implemented and go over how this feature is going to work for those of you who just received this feature for the first time! First, let's recap this exciting new feature that gives you another way to earn coins! What are YoVille Jobs? This is a new feature that will allow you to make more coins, get a chance to receive new rare items and give you more fun things to do in YoVille. For a step by step breakdown on how to play YoVille Jobs please read HERE. Make sure to check this Blog out as we will walk you through the new icons in game, how to complete a job, energy, hints & tips and more! Also, stay tuned for a FAQ for YoVille Jobs for all of your Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.yoville.com/faq *Updates to YoVille Jobs* More ways to get energy and share it too! - You can now receive and share energy through Feeds and Free Gifts. We'll have two separate feeds that you can post depending on if you are out of energy or if you just found some energy and want to share with friends. So whether you are out of energy or feeling generous make sure to "share" or ask for help and help each other out! Don't forget you'll also be able to send your friends these new Free Gift energy drink as well so ask your friends to send you some energy drinks and send some back in return. Energy Feed #1 - After you have found a bucket of energy drinks during YoVille Jobs and want to share them with your friends     Resume YoVille Jobs where you left off playing - If you are in the middle of a job and have to sign off you will no longer have to go through the entire job location to pick up where you left off. Instead when you click on the job you are resuming you will be taken straight to the room you were last in during the last time you played that particular job. Rare Items will be Giftable/Tradeable - now that the majority of players will have access to these items we will be turning these items on as giftable and tradeable so you can sell them or give them away to your friends. If you don't have this feature yet don't worry you will very soon and will be able to get a chance to receive these rare items. Until then you may have a nice friend that may want to share until you receive this feature ;) Jobs Payouts - based on your feedback we saw that many of you would like to know how much you can make per job. This will now be displayed when browsing different jobs and you will be shown a range of coins you can make during each job. This will not only show you how much you will be able to make but will let you now prioritize your time in jobs, based on coin payouts for which jobs you would like to complete first or use your energy on!  Thanks! Platinum Ninja This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| EA touts Playfish growth amidst tumbling Facebook gaming numbers Posted: 17 Jun 2010 03:45 AM PDT Filed under: Pet Society, Restaurant City, Hotel City  "We've been very pleased with the PlayFish acquisition," EA Interactive's Barry Cottle said in a recent investor briefing (as reported by Gamasutra). "PlayFish is right now the number two player in the marketplace and the only one that's been growing in the past four months." Indeed, Cottle said that Playfish has grown by five percent since last year's acquisition, partly on the strength of new games like Fifa Superstars and My Empire. So even though numbers across EA's Facebook games have been relatively flat over the past month, things are still looking up for social games as far as EA is (publicly) concerned.
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| Is Microsoft the unrecognized king of virtual items sales? Posted: 17 Jun 2010 03:20 AM PDT  When most people think of virtual items sales, they probably think of social games and massively multiplayer games, primarily on the on the PC But a recent nugget from a Microsoft COO Dennis Durkin at this week's E3 conference has revealed that another source of virtual item sales might be much larger than generally accepted: Microsoft's Xbox Live. Speaking to Forbes' Oliver Chiang, Durkin revealed that Microsoft's Xbox Live transactions business -- which includes virtual clothing and accessories for in-game Avatars -- recently surpassed revenues from Xbox Live's $50/year subscriptions. Doing some quick back-of-the-envelope math, Chiang estimates that means Microsoft is making at least $625 million annually from thier virtual items sales. Compare that to top social game maker Zynga, which is only bringing in an estimated $600 million in total revenue, and you can see just how impressive Microsoft's virtual goods business really is. Of course, this isn't quite an apples-to-apples comparison. Microsoft's digital transactions business includes downloadable games, movies and music as well as in-game items and add-on content. Putting that variety up against Zynga's almost purely in-game-item-based economy isn't quite fair to the Facebook giant. Still, it's an interesting data point, and one that suggests the future of the virtual goods business might not reset solely in Facebook's mighty hands.
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| PSA: Farmville used as bait in new "likejacking" scams Posted: 17 Jun 2010 02:20 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  It seems some internet ne'er-do-wells are trying to capitalize on the popularity of Farmville to spread spam and unsolicited messages through unwary users' Facebook profiles. The new Internet attack, referred to as "likejacking" in the security trade, takes advantage of a security hole in Facebook's relatively new ability to "like" any page on the web. Basically, the scam uses hidden Javascript code to turn a harmless looking link into an automatic, unsolicited post of HTML code to the clicker's Facebook News Feed. These malicious posts often contain advertising messages and/or further links that can lead the message to spread further as friends click around their own News Feeds. As the Sophos security blog reports, attackers are now using offers of "Free Farmville Secrets E-books" as the bait to attract the clicks necessary to activate the scam. Other popular bait subjects include Sex and the City 2, Shrek, bp, free gift cards, UFC and "sexy videos." How can you protect yourself? Basically the best way is to be careful about what links you click, and to monitor your personal wall posts for any unsolicited messages (you can delete them if you notice them). We hope Facebook will take steps to close this security hole soon, but until then, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
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