Games.com Blog: “Google and Social Gold -- it's official” plus 8 more |  |
- Google and Social Gold -- it's official
- Mafia Wars Beat the Feds yanked for a second time -- foiled again!
- Treasure Isle Gem Mine is 'coming soon'
- Mafia Wars Beat the Feds event: Ten days and counting to beat these four bosses
- FarmVille Mystery Game refreshed with island-themed prizes (pig in a grass skirt, anyone?)
- Social Gaming News Digest for the week ending Aug. 13, 2010
- FarmVille Good Deeds list reminds you to be a good neighbor
- FarmVille Island-themed items return for 24 hours only
- Quote of the Moment: The problem with free games
| Google and Social Gold -- it's official Posted: 13 Aug 2010 11:16 AM PDT  Jambool, creator of the Social Gold virtual currency platform, have officially announced that they have been acquired by Google, which confirms rumors that were circulating earlier this week. The two Jambool founders positively gushed about the merger on the company's official blog and created an FAQ for existing customers. They also recast the Social Gold logo to look like the Google logo -- isn't that cute? Google's still staying hush-hush on its plans for Social Gold and its rumored 'Google Me' social network. If you follow the money trail, however, all signs seem to be pointing somewhere in that direction.
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| Mafia Wars Beat the Feds yanked for a second time -- foiled again! Posted: 13 Aug 2010 10:17 AM PDT Filed under: Mafia Wars Mafia Wars launched the new Beat the Feds challenge today and after complaints about various bugs, rolled back the new mission with no indication on when it would be back again. This is the second time that this special mission has launched and was rolled back again -- the first time, the challenge went live for a few hours and was yanked as well.Below is the error message I got when I tried to attack Agent Karlin. When I hit the red button, the bar under Karlin said 'undefined/900' and nothing happened. Clicked again -- nothing happened. Then Mafia Wars wouldn't load and when it finally refreshed, the event had disappeared from the game.  In the official message boards, one player posted their chat conversation with Zynga help, which confirmed that Zynga has pulled Beat the Feds again and that they did not know when it would be back in action. I just went back to the message boards to pull direct quotes from this chat, but now it's no where to be found. Not sure if the comment was deleted or moved to another spot in the forums. Other players who had already beat some of the bosses, came back to find their loot missing and others couldn't play at all because the game was frozen. Either way, Beat the Feds is no longer in the game for now. Update: The official word from a Zynga community manager is that they've 'slowed down the release' to handle the bugs.
Did you try to play Beat the Feds and then found it disappear agani? What happened? Leave a note in the comments below.
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| Treasure Isle Gem Mine is 'coming soon' Posted: 13 Aug 2010 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Treasure Isle  Always on the hunt for certain colored gems in Treasure Isle? Got too many purples, greens, reds and blues but never seem to have any orange? The new Gem mine feature might help lessen the pain of always searching for missing gems. The mine will allow you collect gems every 24 hours and pick which color gems you want. The official TI Facebook fan page says it's 'coming soon,' so stay tuned.
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| Mafia Wars Beat the Feds event: Ten days and counting to beat these four bosses Posted: 13 Aug 2010 03:30 AM PDT Filed under: Mafia Wars
Update: (5:30 p.m.) A Mafia Wars community manager says the release was 'slowed down' as they resolve the problem. Update (2:30 p.m.): Beat the Feds countdown has now been added to the game (see below)-- looks like this new challenge will officially kick off at 4 p.m. EST.  Many mafiosos may remember that a Beat the Feds job made a brief appearance before, but was yanked before many could complete the job. Looks like everyone's getting a second chance to test their mafia's mettle with a new Mafia Wars Beat the Feds event that kicks off Friday, August 13. Over the next 10 days, you and your pals will be tasked with beating down these four feds. These guys are going to be tough so be sure to stock up on shivs, stun guns and health kits before you head into battle. (Is it just me or does the fed on the lower right look more like an angry bum than a government employee? I digress.) Of course, you will be rewarded for your efforts, see more after the jump. In this challenge, you will need need to defeat these four feds: Agent Karlin, Agent Miller, D.E.A. Iverson and D.A. Embry. These throwdowns will work similar to other Vegas bosses -- after you beat each boss, you will get an item that will be leveled up the more times you defeat them, which will earn you mastery levels. The first time you beat them, you'll earn bronze mastery and then you'll work your way up to silver and gold mastery levels. You will also be able to try for a special Mastery item called the Rain Maker, which will give you a 5% increase in cash from Vegas Fights for beating all four bosses at a gold level.  To start the Beat the Feds Challenge, go the front page of Mafia Wars, and it's impossible to miss the giant 'Beat the Feds' module on the homepage. Your first mission will be to take out Agent Karlin. Click start to begin and you'll be taken to a pop-up page, where you'll can post a request on your Wall for help. Karlin has 900 health, so you're most likely going to need all of the assists you can get to knock him down. In addition to being tough to beat, you have a certain time limit that you need to defeat the boss in, or else you have to start over from scratch.  If you have images from the other boss battles, please email them to me at libe@games.com, and I will include them here. In the meantime, check out all of the stats for each boss and the rewards you get for beating them, courtesy of Mafia Wars Wiki, so you'll know what to expect. It's bad enough that these bosses have tons of health, but that you also have to take them down within a certain amount of time. Beat Agent Karlin 
Beat Agent Miller  Health: Bronze: 1,000 Health Silver: 7,200 Health Gold: 28,800 Health Time to Defeat: Bronze: 9 hours Silver: 7 hours Gold: 5 hours Win: Combat Chopper (Vehicle) A: 90 D: 72
Beat DEA Iverson  Health: Bronze: 1,800 Health Silver: 8,400 Health Gold: 33,600 Health Time to Defeat: Bronze: 9 hours Silver: 7 hours Gold: 5 hours Win: Ballistic Vest (Armor) A: 72 D: 103 Beat DEA Wimbry
Here are a few other tips to consider before taking on this challenge, courtesy of the Mafia Wars Facebook fan page:
Have any more advice on how to take these feds down fast? Or just looking for friends to help you defeat the feds? Leave a note in the comments below.
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| FarmVille Mystery Game refreshed with island-themed prizes (pig in a grass skirt, anyone?) Posted: 13 Aug 2010 02:00 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  The 7 Days of Summer Sale continues in FarmVille, and the Mystery Game prizes have been updated with six island-themed items. You can play the Mystery Game by going to the Market, and looking under Decorations. To play, you have to pay 16 Farm Cash per turn, and you'll get the chance to win the following -- today only: * Island Pig (Rare) * Island Bar (Rare) * Hula Pig (Uncommon) * Mini Beach (Uncommon) * Blue Macaw (Common) * Pair of Pink Flamingos (Common) [Via FarmVille Freak]
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| Social Gaming News Digest for the week ending Aug. 13, 2010 Posted: 13 Aug 2010 02:00 AM PDT  Things happen so fast in the social gaming space these days, it can be hard to keep up. For those who need a little help, here's a quick recap of some of the biggest social gaming news that happened this week:
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| FarmVille Good Deeds list reminds you to be a good neighbor Posted: 13 Aug 2010 01:21 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  On the surface, FarmVille is a game that's about planting and harvesting crops, but on a deeper level, the real driving force is social obligation. You know, that little voice inside that reminds you to send thank you notes, attend your boss' annual barbecue and to go see friends' bands, even though it's clear they'll never play anywhere but the corner dive bar. FarmVille is slowly rolling out it's own 'little voice' in the form of Good Deeds list that shows all of the tasks your neighbors need help with in addition to a count of all of the help you give (or don't give) your FarmVille neighbors. It's not clear if you earn a bonus after helping a certain number of friends, but that would certainly inspire more do-gooder behavior. At the very least, this list will remind you that you should give and not just receive. [Via FarmVille Freak] When you play FarmVille, do you give as much as you receive? Leave a note in the comments below. Add comment.
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| FarmVille Island-themed items return for 24 hours only Posted: 13 Aug 2010 01:00 AM PDT  FarmVille continues its 7 Days of Summer Sale -- and today's batch of items include the return of limited edition Island-themed items -- including the very cute Spider Monkey, the Active Volcano and the Tree Village. Below is a complete list of items and prices, and I'm glad to see that there's a balance between items you can buy using coins and items you must buy with Farm Cash (though, clearly, the Farm Cash items are way cooler). These island themed items will only be available for 24 hours, so if you want to turn your farm into something that looks more like a tiki resort, now's the time to start spending. FarmVille LE Island Animals: * Spider Monkey - 18 FV$ * Pelican - 18 FV$ FarmVille LE Island Theme Buildings: * Tree Village - 42 FV$ * Island Resort - 36 FV$ * Giant Hut - 27 FV$ * Island Shanty - 55,000 Coins * Hut - 100,000 Coins LE FarmVille Island Decorations * Active Volcano - 36 FV$ * Tiki Bridge - 24 FV$ * Surf Shack - 18 FV$ * Trailer and Skis - 7 FV$ * Island Stage - 14 FV$ * Roast Pit - 14 FV$ * Lychee Tree - 10,000 Coins * Tiki Surfboard - 10,000 Coins * Surfboard - 10,000 Coins * Island Grill - 30,000 Coins * Island Totem - 25,000 Coins * Sand Hammock - 20,000 Coins * Sky Hammock - 20,000 Coins * Bamboo Fence - 5,500 Coins * Tiki Mask I - 25,000 Coins * Tiki Mask II - 25,000 Coins * Outdoor Torch - 20,000 C0ins [Via FarmVille Freak]
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| Quote of the Moment: The problem with free games Posted: 13 Aug 2010 12:00 AM PDT  "I feel there's a pretty fundamental problem that arises from the model of 'games as a service.' Because the games are fundamentally free, all the game's features must do two things. One, attract as many people as possible. Two, find ways to get as many of those people to pay as much as possible. The strategy is to identify which of your users are the "whales" and get them to empty their wallets early and often. The term whale originally comes from casinos, the same industry that brought us the slot machine (another skill-less rote mechanical task you pay to perform). "I would say my role on DeathSpank (and everyone else's, really) was to create something lots of people would want to pay $15 dollars for. The difference being, the way I see to do that is to help make the most engaging, amusing game possible. As it's a discrete product, once we've transacted, we're done. I don't need to find a way to get another $15 (and another, and another) out of you. If we've really done our job right, you'll like the game so much, you'll tell your friends about it. "Social games monetize doing the opposite. You want to create a game that's compulsive and then start erecting barriers. Then you provide incentives to pay to remove those barriers. Players who aren't whales are only valuable because they are good bait for whales. They can spread the game around, attracting whales and they provide social pressure to keep playing the game, keeping the whales around and paying. But they're not valuable at all (in fact, they're only a cost) unless they're attracting or keeping whales around. David Hayward summarizes this as a 'Fuck the users' approach and I'd say he's about right. Naturally, this collapses to making the games into rote, simple actions, as to attract and retain as many people as possible. Social games don't have to be high quality beyond a certain minimum threshold. Quality in something free is actually an expense that offers diminishing returns pretty quickly." -Hothead Games Programmer Nels Anderson discusses his theory as to why free games tend to be worse than games you have to pay for.
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