Games.com Blog: “Top 25 Facebook games for August 2010” plus 18 more |  |
- Top 25 Facebook games for August 2010
- Happy Pets new Social Breeding lets your pets 'get some tail' next door
- FarmVille Farm Cash 20% off until 8 p.m. EST
- Happy Pets: New horses inspired by 'My Little Pony' enter the store
- PayNearMe offers free Facebook Credits to test their service
- Pet Society: Throw a shindig with the new Party Invitation and Surprise Birthday Box
- Whoa! A full-on double rainbow appears in FrontierVille's in-game store
- Happy Pets Special Offers: Fantasia and Pink Clydesdale Unicorns
- Cafe World's new decor takes diners to Transylvannia
- Zynga plans to blow up real armored truck in Mafia Wars publicity stunt
- YoVille: New Skin Tones, Searchable Inventory and Mystery Deals
- YoVille: Otter leaves, Sea Turtle arrives and Alligator is on the way
- FarmVille beehive glitch temporarily fixed, bees staying put for now
- Quote of the Moment: In the name of the progress bar
- YoVille: Get the new Turtle Balloon for free
- YoVille: Moroccan Hair added to the Salon
- Facebook stats glitch highlights need for independent stat reporting
- Square Enix engaged in "exploration" of social games business
- Why 400,000 players weren't enough to save Street Racing
| Top 25 Facebook games for August 2010 Posted: 03 Aug 2010 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Farmville, Cafe World, Mafia Wars, Bejeweled Blitz, PetVille, Happy Aquarium, Happy Pets, Happy Island, Hotel City, Social City, Treasure Isle, FrontierVille  The Top 25 Facebook games for the month of July have been released by Inside Social Games, and even though FarmVille is still king of the hill -- the farming game is still losing players, while other Zynga games like Texas Hold 'Em Poker, Cafe World, FrontierVille and even PetVille are closing the gap by adding new players this month. Overall, however, it looks like the rampant loss of players is slowing down, and that's probably bringing a sigh of relief to everyone involved. Otherwise, the list of top 25 games all look rather familiar, with exception of Booyah's Nightclub City, which makes its debut on the list this month. There doesn't seem to be any actual numbers for Nightclub City on this table, but AppData says that the game has 5,440,973 monthly active users, which could be a testament to how social gamers are on the hunt for the next big thing. Which of these top 25 Facebook games do you play on a regular basis?
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| Happy Pets new Social Breeding lets your pets 'get some tail' next door Posted: 03 Aug 2010 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Happy Pets  In the beginning, players can only breed pets that they've acquired for themselves. Now, with Social Breeding, your pets can breed with your neighbors' pets. All you gotta do is choose a pet, click on it to access the pet menu, then click the little heart icon to submit a breeding request! The old method of social breeding was to lend your pets to other players using the Pet Trader, but this was unsafe because people might not return your pets to you.  We're not sure if it's possible to breed with other players' Limited Edition pets or premium cash pets yet. But we're sure that you can't breed pets that have yet to mature.
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| FarmVille Farm Cash 20% off until 8 p.m. EST Posted: 03 Aug 2010 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  Update: The sale is on! Keep your eyes open for a pop-up window about the two-hour sale, which is going on from now until 8 p.m. EST.For a limited time, FarmVille Farm Cash will be 20% off, so keep those credit cards at the ready. Initially the sale was going to be from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. PST, but something went awry, and the sale was "temporarily halted" until futher notice. "After we have a fix for this issue, the sale will resume and be extended to ensure that everyone can take advantage of the discount," FarmVille Community Manager Lexilicious says on the official FarmVille forums. Do you plan to take advantage of the Farm Cash 20% off sale?
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| Happy Pets: New horses inspired by 'My Little Pony' enter the store Posted: 03 Aug 2010 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Happy Pets   Right now, the Happy Pets topsellers for their third 'My Little Horse' set (which is definitely paying homage to Hasbro's My Little Pony), is the Cerulean Pegasus and Appaloosa Unicorn. Personally, my eyes are mesmerized by the Pegazebra, which, along with the first two horses mentioned, costs 70 Facebook Credits ($7 USD) each.These eight new horses are all Limited Editions. The Lime Pinto Unicorn (70 FB Credits) has already sold out! What we've got left, aside from the three mentioned above, are the Purple Clydesdale Pegasus, Purple Clydesdale Unicorn, Psychedelic Pegasus, and Psychedelic Unicorn, which all cost 80 FB Credits ($8 USD). All horses are breedable and the traits shown here -- Unicorn horns, wings, fancy manes and Clydesdale feet -- can be passed down to their offspring. And just a reminder, but you'll need a Horse Stable before you're able to buy and keep horses. Read our Happy Pets: Horse Stable Guide for more info.
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| PayNearMe offers free Facebook Credits to test their service Posted: 03 Aug 2010 09:15 AM PDT  While Rixty employs Coinstar machines, the new PayNearMe service uses 7-Eleven stores. TechCrunch founder, Michael Arrington, reports: One FB Credit costs $0.10 USD each. PayNearMe is offering a 10% bonus for users. This tacky, one minute, how-to video also claims that users who are first to use the service can get a 50 or 100 FB Credits bonus -- that's essentially free $5 or $10 USD. While it sounds great, given the history of Kwedit, and PayNearMe's hideously ugly site design (see image below), there are reasons to remain skeptical.  Update: Inside Facebook says "the system is currently broken for those using Firefox, looping users back to the credits.paynearme.com landing page when they enter their zip code to find participating 7-11 stores."
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| Pet Society: Throw a shindig with the new Party Invitation and Surprise Birthday Box Posted: 03 Aug 2010 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Pet Society Pet Society, Playfish's popular pet simulation game on Facebook, turns two this week (on August 8 to be exact). Basically, Pet Society launched before Facebook gaming became a 'thing,' so it's refreshing to see that one of our favorite social games seems to have some longevity. But, I digress. In honor of the big birthday, Pet Society's weekly update includes a slew of party-themed items, which includes two new collaborative items: the Party Invitation and the Surprise Birthday Box. The party invitation requires six materials (1 Balloon, 2 Paper and 3 Markers) that you can get from friends or by purchasing them with Playfish Cash. Once you have completed the invite, you can place it a room in your pet's house and then select three friends to come and enjoy the celebration with you. Only one party is available per room, and the party will last all week.  The Surprise Birthday Box also requires friends to build -- 15 friends in fact. To request help, click the 'Ask' button and post a message on your Facebook wall. Friends who help will get coins as a reward.  Once the Birthday Box is built, well, I'm not sure what's inside yet -- but if you know, leave a note in the comments below.
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| Whoa! A full-on double rainbow appears in FrontierVille's in-game store Posted: 03 Aug 2010 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: FrontierVille  Remember the guy who cried over the sight of a double rainbow, and filmed it for the world to see? (If not, you must watch the video below). Well, it looks like the now-famous internet meme has made its way into Frontierville on Facebook. For 25 Horseshoes, roughly the equivalent of $3, virtual settlers can now stand in awe of their very own rainbow in the game. Buy it and repeat after me: "Whoa, double rainbow!
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| Happy Pets Special Offers: Fantasia and Pink Clydesdale Unicorns Posted: 03 Aug 2010 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: Happy Pets   Unicorns are serious business in Happy Pets. So far, all the Unicorns and special Horses in the game outsell and outprice even the new pet Dinosaurs. But some lucky players have gotten a special in-game offer, where they can buy a Fantasia Unicorn for 10 Facebook Credits ($1 USD), or a Pink Clydesdale Unicorn for 20 FB Credits ($2 USD), which are both big discounts.How can you tell you're saving? Well, the latest Limited Edition horses has a horse very similar to the ones shown above -- the Purple Clydesdale Unicorn, which is being sold for 80 FB Credits ($8 USD). Also, for 18 FB Credits ($1.80) you can use a Color Dye to change your Fantasia or Pink Clydesdale Unicorn into a color you'd like. (I've got a Citrus Dalamatian, so I know you can change the color of premium cash pets.) To know if this offer is available to you, just look for the icon of the pink unicorn on the left-hand side of your game screen.
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| Cafe World's new decor takes diners to Transylvannia Posted: 03 Aug 2010 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Cafe World  The honor for most expensive item is tied at 60 Cafe Cash for Red Gothic Rooftop and Black Gothic Rooftop. These two are also the most extravagant, transforming your restaurant's roof into a castle that resembles an elegant Gothic cathedral. Premium item runners-up would be the Gothic Spire for 18, and the adorable Happy Vamp Diner Statue for 16 Cafe Cash. Out of the 22 new decor pieces, 14 require Cafe Cash. If the game didn't make acquiring in-game premium money so simple and often, this would be a problem. Not requiring Cafe Cash, the priciest item is the Gothic Stained Glass in the outdoor Windows category, which costs a whopping 75,000 Coins for one. You can get a glimpse of all the items in the graphic below. 
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| Zynga plans to blow up real armored truck in Mafia Wars publicity stunt Posted: 03 Aug 2010 06:30 AM PDT Filed under: Mafia Wars  In what might be the most awesome social gaming publicity stunt ever, Zynga reps will be blowing up a real-life armored truck once 10 million players visit the recently launched Mafia Wars Vegas. Right now the visitor count is around 2.8 million -- and growing every second -- so I'll take a gander that the big 'splosion will take place in the next day or so. And, of course, you'll be able to watch the truck turn into cinder on mafiawars.com. Take that, Michael Bay. In addition to exploding trucks, Zynga is also pimping Mafia Wars Vegas by giving away 10 iPads every week and handing out $25,000 to one lucky players. You can enter to win the big prize by simply playing the Mafia Wars expansion, and you get an additional entry to win for each member of your Mafia that also visits Vegas. Now if you will 'scuze me, I'm headed to Mafia Wars Vegas -- I'm ready to see that truck burn.
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| YoVille: New Skin Tones, Searchable Inventory and Mystery Deals Posted: 03 Aug 2010 06:15 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille  Zynga's Platinum Ninja announced that tons of new updates are coming to YoVille this month. Skin Tones - Also more variety of Skin Tones on their way. So you'll have more choices when changing your appearance! Searchable Inventory - We've been working on making decorating easier! Soon we'll be coming out with a much simpler way to find all of your prized possessions without having to scroll a ton! Stay tuned for other new ways to manage your inventories and items as well! Group Buying Coming Back! - That's right folks a new and improved version of Group Buying will be on it's way to YoVille pretty soon. We've made some tweeks to improve this user experience and will be offering you some awesome stuff! Read more about group buying here. Want to hear about what is coming out this August in YoVille? Of course you do!! Let's check out some awesome things the team is working on to bring you this month. Mystery Deals - should be coming very very soon! Want to give you all an awesome opportunity to get some of your favorite items at great prices! Check out the Blog on this feature to learn more. Photo Booth -This awesome item will be coming soon! It will let you take pics and share with your friends. To check out more info on this feature check out here.  Busy month for YoVille players! Keep an eye on the Lounge for all the updates This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| YoVille: Otter leaves, Sea Turtle arrives and Alligator is on the way Posted: 03 Aug 2010 05:45 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille  The charity otter will be leaving our town soon and will be replaced by a cute Sea Turtle. This week, you will be able to help save the gulf by buying this YoCash pet. 50% of all proceeds will go to Audubon to help save the gulf.Platinum Ninja also announced that an alligator which will be replacing this turtle in a week. Did you get any of the new charity pets? Which one is your favorite? This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| FarmVille beehive glitch temporarily fixed, bees staying put for now Posted: 03 Aug 2010 05:00 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  A few farmers have noticed that if you don't tend to your beehives on a regular basis, you'll be penalized by losing bees. However, a glitch this week sent bees flying even if hives were tended as required, which set farmers abuzz across the internet. Looks like the powers that be at FarmVille took note and bees will be staying put in the hives until the problem is permanently fixed. A notification located at the top of the FarmVille game screen also says that they're working on returning the bees that were lost.  Did you lose bees from your hive? If so, did you get 'em back yet?
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| Quote of the Moment: In the name of the progress bar Posted: 03 Aug 2010 04:00 AM PDT  -SCVNGR CEO Seth Priebatsch summarizes the company's game design philosophy (and likely that of many other companies) at last week's Social Currency CrunchUp
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| YoVille: Get the new Turtle Balloon for free Posted: 03 Aug 2010 03:45 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille  YoVille previously offered its players a blue balloon that got many positive reviews. This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| YoVille: Moroccan Hair added to the Salon Posted: 03 Aug 2010 03:30 AM PDT Filed under: YoVille   This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
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| Facebook stats glitch highlights need for independent stat reporting Posted: 03 Aug 2010 03:00 AM PDT Filed under: Cafe World  Facebook eventually confirmed to Inside Social Games that the sudden increases were due to a bug in their reporting. But this temporary problem highlights the risk of trusting Facebook to report on the success of its own games without independent verification. Facebook gaming stats aren't just a fun way to monitor the popularity of your favorite social games. For the companies that make the games, these stats provide an important public barometer of their success. As Gamezebo's Joel Brodie points out, "Game companies are trying to go public, sell out, and raise money based on these numbers. Many of the great financial minds on Wall Street and Sand Hill Road who are paid big bucks to analyze these numbers take them for face value." But it's hard to rely on those numbers if they're going to be constantly buffeted by bugs and changes in methodology. Furthermore, it's a bit strange that we trust Facebook to self-report these important statistics when it's clearly in their self-interest to inflate the numbers. It's like letting NBC report how many people watched The Office last week, instead of trusting ratings agencies like Nielsen with that information." Brodie suggests any "attempt by Facebook to change how game traffic is measured on their network without fixing the actual problem ... could grow into their very own private Antennagate." But that presumes we'd be able to notice and report on any such change. With Facebook in total control of the statistics, we're forced to take their statistics at face value. Absent some patently ridiculous trends (like those shown by this latest bug) Facebook could gently nudge their gaming numbers up and no one would be the wiser. The solution, as I see it, is some sort of independent verification for these Facebook-reported numbers. I don't mean Facebook should open up their private database to some auditor. I simply mean some sort of third party company should estimate the popularity of individual Facebook games independently, either through surveys or through user tracking software. These estimates would theoretically be less precise than Facebook's own numbers (if Facebook is being truthful, that is) but they'd at least provide a point of comparison to establish trust in Facebook's publicly reported numbers. There are plenty of companies well-positioned to take this important market role. Nielsen already conducts surveys on internet usage, and companies like Alexa already track usage of thousands of web users through their toolbar. It's time one of these companies stepped up and gave us the third-party statistics we need.
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| Square Enix engaged in "exploration" of social games business Posted: 03 Aug 2010 02:00 AM PDT  Japanese mega-publisher Square Enix is best known for sprawling, story-filled single-player RPGs like those in the Final Fantasy series. So it's a bit surprising that the company is reportedly looking into the relatively confined, story-free area of social games as a way to expand."There's a lot of exploration that we're doing in terms of social media, and social games," Square Enix new U.S. president and CEO Mike Fischer told Gamasutra in a recent interview. Without going into details on specific projects, Fischer seemed very bullish on the new opportunities offered by social and online gaming. "You talk to the video game industry, and this is all upside," he said. "You can now add DLC revenue to our retail sales, we can now bring online subscriptions into play, we can make new money from social networking. It's such a positive, optimistic view." Fischer is even optimistic that Square Enix's experience with epic RPGs might actually help the company in the more self-contained social gaming arena. "There's a storytelling component that is continuing to become more important [in social games] over time," Fischer said. "I think that gives us a very strategic advantage." Fischer also noted that the company has experience catering to female players through games like Final Fantasy. "If you look at the people that are playing Facebook games or iPhone games, you see more of the 50-50 gender mix," he said. "I think that speaks to the opportunity to grow our audience."
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| Why 400,000 players weren't enough to save Street Racing Posted: 03 Aug 2010 01:00 AM PDT Filed under: Farmville  With social game mega-publisher Zynga recently deciding that hundreds of thousands of players apparently aren't enough to sustain games like Roller Coaster Kingdom, Ponzi Inc. and Street Racing, we've been wondering: How big does a game have to be, exactly, to justify its existence to Zynga. The answer, apparently, is pretty big, as industry expert Nicholas Lovell discusses over at Develop.Lovell goes through some back-of-the-envelope calculations to estimate just how much a game like Street Racing brings in from players, and how much it costs Zynga to maintain. At first glance, the inflows seem pretty healthy -- if even two percent of players are paying an average of $15 a month on the game, Zynga is bringing in a cool $1.5 million a year. But one-and-a-half million dollars doesn't go as far as you'd think. To keep the game going, Zynga not only has to hire developers (which can easily eat up over $95,000 a pop annually) but also spend money on marketing, customer acquisition, servers and infrastructure. Lovell estimates these costs could easily exceed $1.5 million a year for a company like Zynga. Even if a smaller game makes a small profit, though, Lovell argues that those resources might not be worth the opportunity cost to Zynga. After all, why sink millions of dollars into a tiny game like Street Racing when that money could help pump up games like Farmville and Frontierville -- games that easily bring in tens of millions of dollars every year. In other words, sometimes you have to prune the social gaming weeds in order to afford fertilizer for the social gaming flowers. Or something.
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