Google+ Games Stream now real time, updates mimic FacebookGoogle+ Games just got a little bit better ... or just more like Facebook games. (Zing!) Google+ Product Manager Satyajeet Salgar just announced that the Google+ Games Stream has gone real time. This means that, rather than having to refresh the Stream to see gaming updates from your friends, they'll appear before you as they happen. For speedier reading, keyboard shortcuts work when perusing the Games Stream, too. Frankly, this sounds an awful lot like the recent Games Ticker addition to the Facebook games Canvas. The second update to Google+ Games is the brand new ability to add your own personalized comments to updates you share with friends. Again, this is something players could in Facebook games for awhile now. Finally, game notifications will appear in the Google+ Bar lining the top of users' web pages just below the address bar. Bonus: If they're annoying, you can just mute them. (Double Bonus: Google added Kabam's Global Warfare to Google+ Games in addition to Zynga's CityVille earlier this week.) Granted, these changes are likely welcome by Google+ gamers with open arms, but their Facebook counterparts either have existed for quite some time or were recently added. In defense of Google+, however, Facebook arguably made a lot of its recent changes to the games Canvas in response to its new arch nemesis. And something tell us this slap battle is far from over. Check out Salgar detail the changes below. [Via The Next Web] What do you think of the recent changes to Google+ Games? Where do you see the fight between Facebook and Google in the games space going? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Google+ Games just got a little bit better ... or just more like Facebook games. (Zing!) Google+ Product Manager Satyajeet Salgar just announced that the Google+ Games Stream has gone real time. This means that, rather than having to refresh the Stream to see gaming updates from your friends, they'll appear before you as they happen. For speedier reading, keyboard shortcuts work when perusing the Games Stream, too.

Frankly, this sounds an awful lot like the recent Games Ticker addition to the Facebook games Canvas. The second update to Google+ Games is the brand new ability to add your own personalized comments to updates you share with friends. Again, this is something players could in Facebook games for awhile now.

Finally, game notifications will appear in the Google+ Bar lining the top of users' web pages just below the address bar. Bonus: If they're annoying, you can just mute them. (Double Bonus: Google added Kabam's Global Warfare to Google+ Games in addition to Zynga's CityVille earlier this week.)

Granted, these changes are likely welcome by Google+ gamers with open arms, but their Facebook counterparts either have existed for quite some time or were recently added. In defense of Google+, however, Facebook arguably made a lot of its recent changes to the games Canvas in response to its new arch nemesis. And something tell us this slap battle is far from over. Check out Salgar detail the changes below.


[Via The Next Web]

What do you think of the recent changes to Google+ Games? Where do you see the fight between Facebook and Google in the games space going? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

FarmVille Halloween items: Candy Corn Tree, Halloween Cottage, Jack-O'-Lantern and more

With tonight's FarmVille update, we see the game switch to Halloween-mode, as the first set of Halloween related items has been released in the store. This particular update sees the launch of both new items and old, so if you happen to regret not purchasing some items from last year's Halloween theme, take a look at our overview of these items to see if they've come back around.

Crops

Jack O Lantern - 10 Farm Cash

To be specific, the Jack O Lantern crop comes as an exclusive, permit-only crop that can be unlocked for 10 Farm Cash. For that price, you'll gain access to planting the crop as many times as you'd like for a seven day period. Once purchased and planted, you'll be able to harvest the Jack O Lanterns after 12 hours, and will gain three experience points for each and every square planted. The crop is masterable, with the first star coming at 400 harvests.

Trees

Candy Corn Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Candy Corn Tree - 14 Farm Cash
Halloween Candy Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Big Halloween Candy Tree - 14 Farm Cash

If you're like me, the thought of bright and whimsical trees will likely have you ready to whip out your credit card. These trees are no exception, as the Halloween Candy trees keep their purple color constantly, while the Candy Corn trees start out in different shades of green, only to mature into the classic white, yellow and orange trio of colors we're familiar with from the candy. As usual, the Level 1 (cheaper) trees are the only ones you really need to worry about purchasing outright for your collection, as you'll likely earn the larger trees in each pair for free via Mystery Seedlings.

Animals

Candy Corn Cat - 12 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Unicorn - 30 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Stallion - 35 Farm Cash

For these animals, the Candy Corn Pony was released last year (also for 24 Farm Cash), so you might already have one on your farm. If you'd like to purchase these items for your new Lighthouse Cove farm, however, you will have to purchase multiples (duplicates) as there is no way to transfer storage to your new farm as of this writing.

Buildings

Halloween Cottage - 30 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Home - 18 Farm Cash

The Halloween Cottage has to be one of the most intricately detailed buildings I've seen released in FarmVille in quite some time, if not ever. The building is covered in various spiderwebs and has candy, pumpkins and what appear to be twigs resting in the windowsills, around the front "porch" and the sides. Even the weather vane on the roof is in the design of the bat - how neat! As for the Candy Corn Home, it takes on a cuter appearance, with smaller candy corn pieces branching off from the main home as separate rooms. It's just a shame that both of these items cost Farm Cash, rather than going for coins.

Decorations

Candy Corn Gate - 10,000 coins
Candy Corn (Fountain) - 15 Farm Cash
Jack-O'-Lantern - 3,000 coins
Candy Corn Gnome - 15 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Fence - 5,000 coins

If this Jack-O'-Lantern trio looks familiar, it's because this is one item that has been a stable in FarmVille's Halloween events for the last few years, first appearing in 2009. The price has increased somewhat, but at 3,000 coins, it's still a bargain (especially considering that they glow as though lit with a candle).

Avatar Clothing

Banana Costume - 5 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Costume - 7 Farm Cash

While I'm fairly confident additional costumes will be launched in the game's store between now and Halloween proper, if you're looking to get into the spirit early, or just really like Bananas or Candy Corn, you can spend a few Farm Cash to dress your avatar up appropriately. Remember, you can try on items to see if you like the way your avatar looks in them before purchasing.

All of these items (with the exception of the crop) will be available in the game for the next 13 days. To top all of this off, however, if you happen to purchase seven items in this theme so far within the next seven days, you'll receive a free Nightmare Rider: a Halloween-themed sheep with a pumpkin hat and an orange and black flame motorcycle. We'll make sure to let you know when additional Halloween items and features launch in the game in the coming weeks, so keep checking back with us!

Are you excited to see FarmVille transition into Halloween-themed mode this year? Which of these items is your favorite so far? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille: Horses return to the store in celebration of Horse Paddock

As has become a new (but temporary) ritual in FarmVille, every time another animal breeding building releases in the game, a set of matching animals are re-released in the game's store allowing you to fill it with a variety of limited edition animals. Such is the case with this final breeding habitat - the Horse Paddock - as you can now purchase a variety of Horses to fill it from the store for a limited time. Remember, you don't need a Stallion inside your Horse Paddock to trigger breeding; you just need a single kind of a particular Horse to produce a Foal at random you harvest from the Paddock. Here's a look at the animals you can now purchase.

Disco Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Pinto Pony - 26 Farm Cash
Clydesdale Stallion - 40 Farm Cash
Mini Appaloosa - 26 Farm Cash
Palouse Horse - 28 Farm Cash
Haflinger - 24 Farm Cash
E-QUESTR10N - 24 Farm Cash
Mini Purple Unicorn - 35 Farm Cash
White Pegasus - 35 Farm Cash
Andalusian Horse - 26 Farm Cash
King Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Pink Ponytail Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Pinto Mini Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Fairy Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Comtois Horse - 26 Farm Cash

There are plenty of Horse collectors in FarmVille, and it shows here, with a whopping 15 horses/ponies being released once again for players to add to their collections. If you joined the game later than other farmers, or just started your collection recently, this is a fantastic (albeit incredibly expensive) way to flesh out your collection into something that's definitely worth showing off. Just remember, these Horses will only be available in the store for the next week. After that point, they'll go into retirement, with no guarantee of when (if ever) they'll come back again.

Will you purchase any of these re-released Horses, or is your collection of Horses already large enough to fill plenty of Horse Paddocks? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille Horse Mystery Box: What's inside?

If the recently re-released set of Horses available in the FarmVille marketplace aren't enough to satisfy your Horse-collecting needs, why not look into purchasing one of the new Horse Mystery Boxes that have also been released in the game's store? Remember, these Mystery Boxes are found under the Decorations tab of the store, even if they contain animals, so don't worry if you don't see them where they likely should be.

As for this particular box, it comes stocked with six Horses, but remember - you'll have no way of knowing which Horse you'll receive when opening a single box up. They come with the expected Horse price tag of 24 Farm Cash per box, and for that price, you're guaranteed to receive one of the following:

Black Shire Horse
Chrome Pegasus
Rainbow Mini Horse
Rainbow Pony
Rainbow Stallion
White Unicorn

Unfortunately, another problem inherent with these Mystery Boxes is that they also don't guarantee you to not receive duplicates if you decide to open more than one. Depending on how many of these Horses you already have on your farms from previous releases, that fact alone could actually make this box too much of a risk to purchase. Either way, you'll need to make up your mind about a purchase fairly quickly, as the box (and its contents) will expire from the store in a week's time.

Will you purchase a Horse Mystery Box for your game? Which Horse are you hoping to find inside? Which one did you actually receive? Let us know in the comments!

FarmVille Halloween Model Farm offers free Arborists and more

While I know I've expressed my problems with the Model Farm in FarmVille in the past, with the new Halloween Model Farm that launched this evening, I might have to eat my words. Not only is it great to see Halloween-themed items (from one of my favorite holidays) in all of their "life-size glory," but this particular Model Farm also combines these Halloween items with Lighthouse Cove items so that we can see how that looks without spending our own money beforehand.

To add to this, you're even given free prizes just for visiting, giving us even more incentive to do so. Tonight's free prize, for example, is an Arborist. While it's unclear as to whether or not that prize is static just for today's date on the calendar or for each user's first visit to the Model Farm, but either way, it doesn't hurt to just spend a few seconds allowing the farm to load each day to receive your free prize. It could be anything from functional items to coins and beyond so isn't the mystery alone enough reason to check it out?

No? Well, also remember that you can purchase items directly from the farm if you happen to see something you like but that the store never gave you enough detail to before. I suppose that's the real purpose of the Model Farm, after all, so feel free to put it to good use.

What prizes have you received from the new Halloween Model Farm? Do you find the Model Farm feature useful, or is it just wasted space in your eyes? Let us know in the comments!

Pioneer Trail Greenhouse Goals: Everything you need to know

Zynga has just released a new Pioneer Trail goal -- the Greenhouse -- that's best described by a player as "a TARDIS for crops" in more ways than one. For those who don't get the Doctor Who reference, I'd also say it's like the previously released FrontierVille Orchard.

Looking at the screenshot on the right, I can vaguely see how the Greenhouse resembles a time-traveling police box. But that's not where the resemblance ends, because once completed, your new Greenhouse will allow you to plant more crops. Even though it looks like a 3x3 building on the outside, it's actually a 6x6 building on the inside.

So what's the catch? Well, you won't be able to do this goal unless you're Level 13 or above. Also, like most goals, you'll need to collect a lot of stuff in order to build it. For the following items, you'll need to make Facebook Wall posts to get 10 of each: Mulch, Plant Food, and Ladybugs. The next set of required items are ones you've got to ask your friends for by sending them requests, and you'll need 15 of each: Insulating Glass, Sturdy Frame, and Irrigation System.
Pioneer Trail Finish Your Greenhouse
The upside though, is that once you finish your Greenhouse, and complete the four quests that go along with it, you'll unlock three new crops: Carrots, Grapes, and Watermelons. Watermelons are prized because they've got a harvest period of five days. Your crops will also be safe from Groundhogs during that time, and your neighbors can come by to tend those crops.
Pioneer Trail Greenhouse crops
Time to Flex That Green Thumb!

    * Place the Greenhouse
    * Harvest 50 Clover
    * Clear 15 Debris on Neighbors' Homesteads
    * Reward: 250XP, 250 Coins, Hanging Plant


Record-Breaking Crops!

    * Collect the Daily Bonus from the Greenhouse
    * Have or collect 50 Poultry Puddin'
    * Collect ten bottles of Buttermilk
    * Reward: 500XP, 500 Coins, Carrots Unlocked!


It's Carrotastic!

    * Harvest 40 Carrots in your Greenhouse or on your Homestead
    * Harvest 15 Crops on Neighbors' Homestead or in their Greenhouse
    * Collect 15 Fish Heads
    * Reward: 1000XP, 1000 Coins, Grapes Unlocked


A Grape Escape!

    * Harvest 40 Grapes in your Greenhouse or on your Homestead
    * Tend 30 Adult Cows
    * Collect 10 rays of Country Sunshine
    * Reward: 1000XP, 1000 Coins, Watermelon Unlocked

Pioneer Trail Greenhouse Collection
Finally, completion of the Greenhouse unlocks a new Collection that delivers a Big Wither Protection Boost, which prevents all your crops from dying. The Collection items are Butterflies, Mister, Garden Bunny, Gardening Glove, and Gardening Tape.

But there are players who believe the Greenhouse is poorly planned, and they have a point. Three of the four Greenhouse Goals ask you to plant 40 crops within the Greenhouse or on your Homestead. But the Greenhouse only has room for 36, therefore, leaving four that must be planted outside to fulfill the quest. There are also complaints that the first item you're forced to plant is the Clover, which is one of the earliest crops for a beginner. It would have been better if the game allowed players to get started with planting and harvesting the new unlockable crops right away instead.

[Source and Image Credit: Zynga]

Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.

Would you rather have a land expansion than a building that lets you plant more crops? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

CityVille: Earn a free Tunnel decoration for playing Adventure World

While Adventure World has finally started seeing a push in its user base (to a current total of around 26 million players), that doesn't mean Zynga wants the growth to slow down. To help users discover its newest game, the developer has launched a cross-promotion between Adventure World and its largest game: CityVille. This promotion, like the FarmVille promotion that came before it, will give users some incentive to play AW by rewarding them with a prize back in CityVille at the end.

To be specific, a free Tunnel decoration (pictured at right) is up for grabs for all CityVille players that take the time to reach at least Level 7 in Adventure World. This is unfortunately two levels more than that required for the FarmVille cross-promotion, so you will need to keep chugging along until you level up two more times. To help you do that, we have guides on the game's starting Expeditions, along with the game's main story quests, so make sure to check out our guides to those events to help yourself level up as quickly as possible.

While you shouldn't have to, you should also remember to click on the "Play Now" button in the pop-up that appears in CityVille to activate this cross-promotion in your game. It's possible that Zynga will automatically track the players that have met both requirements (that is, those that play CityVille and are at least Level 7 in Adventure World), but clicking on this link should eliminate all doubt. Oh yeah, you'll need to do all of the above fairly quickly - your time limit for receiving your free Tunnel Decoration is October 6. On that date, all qualifying users will receive their prize, so don't worry if you don't receive it beforehand. Just make sure you meet the deadline if you want this free Tunnel in your town.

Will you play Adventure World to at least Level 7 to qualify for a free CityVille Tunnel? Sound off in the comments.

Adventure World Cave of Montezuma Expedition: Everything you need to know

If you've already made your way through Adventure World's "starter" Expeditions, you might be surprised when scrolling through the list today to find a new entry has been added. While we know that Expeditions are already available all of the way to Level 40, this entirely new Expedition sits in between Jungle Run and Mountain Pass, making it now the fourth Expedition on the list. If you're thorough and wish to complete all Expeditions at least once, we've got a guide to help you do just that.

This particular Expedition requires 175 Supplies and two each of Food, Fuel and Water. Your overall goal is to defeat a spider infestation and find Montezuma's Headdress, and you only have two days to accomplish it all. Let's get started!

Montezuma's Headdress

    * Recover the Blue Feather
    * Recover the Green Feather
    * Recover the Red Feather
    * Recover the Headdress


While the Professor has successfully located Montezuma's Headdress, you'll quickly learn that it's in pieces and must be gathered bit by bit before this Expedition can be completed. The pieces of the headdress are scattered throughout this fairly complex map, with some of the feathers being perched high atop pillars that must be lowered by activating statues, not entirely unlike the ending of the Treasure Trail Expedition.

Outsmarting Spiders

    * Defeat 5 Spiders
    * Clear 5 Spider Webs
    * Ask friends for 10 Bat Houses
    * Place Bat Houses on Gnarled Trees


Unfortunately, while a few Bat Houses can be found on this map, you won't be able to find all 10, so you do need to ask for your friends' help, and quickly! As for the Spiders, these guys may not immediately be visible on the map, as they fall down from the "ceiling" using lines of web. Spider Webs themselves can be found around the map like a normal piece of debris. As for the Gnarled Trees, these are also found on the map, which put your Bat Houses to good use. In the second picture below, you'll see a Gnarled Tree highlighted in red. By clicking on it when you have a Bat House in your inventory, the Bat House will be hung from the tree.

Montezuma Says

    * Solve the First Puzzle
    * Solve the Second Puzzle
    * Solve the Third Puzzle


As I said above, two of the feathers to the headdress are blocked by puzzles, while a Ruby Vase sits at the end of the third. Even if you'd rather not, you will need to spend some energy going after this Ruby Vase to complete this particular quest, as you must complete all three puzzles. These puzzles give you a series of pillars that animate in order. You must then repeat the animation by clicking on the appropriate statues like in a game of "Simon Says." You'll be able to push a nearby button to see the puzzle repeatedly, if you can't remember the exact order to activate the statues in, so don't worry if you forget to pay attention. Once you complete each puzzle appropriate, its prize will lower so that you can collect it (note: you may not be able to walk directly up to it, but might have to go around, or even use a Grappling Hook to get there).

By finishing these three quests, you will have successfully complete the Cave of Montezuma Expedition. Remember though - even though this is a new addition to the game, it can still be mastered like all others, requiring multiple runs through the Expedition in its entirety. The more you master an Expedition, the higher the rewards become, so feel free to master them all for the best rewards in the end.

Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.

What do you think of this Cave of Montezuma Expedition? Do you think it's too difficult to be placed this early in the Expedition "timeline?" Sound off in the comments.

CityVille Metropolis items take the fun to the big city

If all of the small-scale businesses and homes in CityVille just aren't doing it for you, and you want some larger skyscrapers to sit beside your (probably) large franchises, you're in luck with the release of new Metropolis items in the game today. These items will be available for 15 days, and you'll be able to purchase either a Mystery Crate to try your luck at receiving a random item, or purchase some of these items outright. Fair warning: these items cost City Cash, so I hope you're ready to bust out your wallet.

Infinite Towers II (Home)

    * Costs: 110 City Cash
    * Population: 4000 - 7000 citizens
    * Rent: 532 coins every day


Destiny's Calling (Home)

    * Costs: 55 City Cash
    * Population: 1350 - 2650 population
    * Rent: 150 coins every two hours


Oasis Apartments II (Home)

    * Costs: 65 City Cash
    * Population: 1850 - 3650 citizens
    * Rent: 200 coins every four hours


Visual Art Academy (Community Building)

    * Costs: 70 City Cash
    * Raises maximum population cap by 5,000 citizens


In addition to these four items, the Metropolis Mystery Crate will give you a chance at one additional item - the Oasis Apartments I - along with three other items above (the Infinite Towers II, Destiny's Calling and Visual Art Academy). A single crate costs 55 City Cash, so unless you only win the Destiny's Calling, you'll really come out ahead over purchasing items individually. Keep in mind though, you might win duplicates in your quest to get all three at a "discount." As for the Oasis Apartments I, the exclusive item to this crate, it comes with a population of 2,000 - 4,000 citizens and provides 251 coins every eight hours in rent.

Again, these items, including the Mystery Crate are only available in the game for a limited time of around 15 days. We'll make sure to let you know if any themed decorations or businesses launch in this theme in the future, so keep checking back with us!

Will you purchase any of these Skyscrapers for use in your town, or will you try your hand with the Mystery Crate to see if you can walk away with an expensive item for "cheap?" Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove Chapter 2 Goals: Everything you need to know

Since Zynga has changed the layout of goals in FarmVille's newest Lighthouse Cove expansion, so that everyone is on the same page via quickly expiring goal series, you might be currently left with little to do (as the goals will disappear whether you've finished them or not). In order to make us all busy again, Zynga has launched a series of three new goals in the game which bring us to Chapter 2 in the overall Lighthouse Cove story. This chapter contains more of the same in terms of tasks. You'll need to collect some items, plant some crops and so on, so nothing should be overly difficult. You'll have a week to finish these three goals, so let's get started.

Get a Moove On

    * Collect 3 Cow Treats
    * Harvest 55 Hay
    * Harvest Lighthouse Cove


For this particular goal, it doesn't matter what level you've reached in the repair of your Lighthouse Cove, so long as you harvest it when it's "ready." Your opportunity comes around once per day (if you're routine in collecting from it), so at least you won't be too delayed if you've already harvested your Cove before these goals roll around to your account. As for the Cow Treats, they're earned though a general news post on your wall. Finishing this first goal gives you 100 XP, a River Otter and 5,000 coins.


A Leash on Life

    * Get 3 Cow Tethers
    * Harvest 55 Kennebec Potatoes
    * Improve the Cove to Level 2


If you've been working on repairing your Lighthouse Cove ever since you landed in the new farm, I would be incredibly surprised if you haven't already reached Level 2, but if not, here's our guide to upgrading so you can finish the task quickly. As for the Cow Tethers - you guessed it - they're earned through another general wall post. Complete this goal and you'll earn 200 XP, a Sailor Gnome and 2,500 coins.

A Spoonful of Sugar

    * Get 3 Sugar Cubes
    * Harvest 55 Butter & Sugar Corn
    * Make Creamed Corn Two Times


The Sugar Cubes are earned through one final news feed post on your wall, while the Creamed Corn is a recipe inside your Restaurant. A single Creamed Corn preparation requires three Butter & Sugar Corn bushels, along with three Tarragon bushels and a Pepper bushel. Finishing this final goal gives you 300 XP, a Black Gum Tree and 2,500 coins.

While the rewards for these goals may not be overly exciting, at least the goals themselves are relatively easy to match. We'll make sure to let you know when Chapter 3 of these goals releases, so keep checking back with us!

Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.

What do you think of these Chapter 2 Lighthouse Cove goals in FarmVille? Sound off in the comments.

Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says

Can we all just say, "finally?" During a panel named "The Rise of Social Games" at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.

Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.

Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we've come to love.

Honestly, we're surprised this didn't happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn't get into why it's taken this long for Disney to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.

Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer--and we enjoyed quite a bit--peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company's name, according to Pleasants. "We think it's an advantage, if you put game play first," Pleasants said.

It's comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam's Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.

[Source and Image Credit: VentureBeat]

Are you on board with the growing trend of branded games on Facebook? Do you think developers will maintain integrity as the focus on branded content in their games intensifies? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment

New Pioneer Trail World Map: Are four more expansions on the way?

Pioneer Trail World Map
That's the logical guess, at least. Zynga recently updated The Pioneer Trail with a brand new World Map that hints at four unreleased areas. Instead of showing the four areas on the Pioneer Trail, the "Travel" button now shows a condensed icon representing the recently-released expansion in a larger map. What's more important, however, is what surrounds it.

Considering this is all we have right now, prepare for some wild speculation. The Pioneer Trail icon is surrounded by four grayed out icons. Moving from most left to right, what first appears is either a castle or a fort, with no trail marks leading to it. Perhaps this is a new area for players to tend to much like the Homestead (maybe players claim Fort Courage for themselves.) To the bottom left is a canyon, which is most likely the long-teased Rattlesnake Canyon.

Directly below The Pioneer Trail icon is what appears to be a Gold Mine, likely alluding to the Gold Rush expansion that has been hinted at since almost day one. (You know, way back when this game was still known as FrontierVille?) Finally, a haunted graveyard of sorts is featured. We seriously doubt Zynga would create an entire expansion's worth of content with a Halloween theme, so maybe this will be the home of future season-specific events.

At this point, who knows what the developer is up to. What we do know, however, is that Zynga has big plans for Pioneer Trail well into 2012. And considering the game has lost the majority of its daily players since it was re-branded in August, we're not surprised Zynga would be working hard to keep the major content releases flowing.

What do you make of this brand new World Map in Pioneer Trail? Do you think Zynga can recover its lost fans with a flurry of major expansions in 2012? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Could Adobe Flash 11 make 3D the norm in Facebook games? [Video]

Well, it's certainly a possibility. VentureBeat reports that Adobe Flash, the software used by developers to create most of the Facebook games you play right now, will be updated to Version 11 this October. The new version of Flash will include something gamers, critics and industry folk alike have clamored for: 3D graphics. Namely, 3D graphics with no downloads.

San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe's goal is to get 3D gaming in front of 1 billion online gamers. Adobe evangelist Andrew Trice said that this new version of Flash can easily integrate with Facebook's social features. This could help bring (in theory) Adobe's vision of "the game console on the web" to life.

"With this milestone release Adobe pushes the envelope of what is possible on the web with a typical PC and opens up a new world of immersive, high-performance gaming experiences," said Adobe VP and GM of Platform Danny Winokur. Adobe should reworded that statement to say "Facebook" rather than "PC," because that's exactly where the company seems to be looking.

Another part of Adobe's announcement worth noting is that through its Adobe Air software, developers will be able to create games that are cross-platform--even on Apple's iOS, which is notorious for omitting Flash support from its iOS devices. This means that (again, in theory) you could enjoy social games that look and play no different on Facebook than on your iPhone.

And they'll both be directly connected, because (for a third time, in theory) they would be the same exact game. In fact, the company looks to have Adobe Air-powered games on over 1 billion mobile devices by 2015. But whether 3D gaming will become the norm on Facebook is ultimately up to the developers, some of which have turned to software like Unity to make it happen.

However, Unity requires a download from the user to work, something not many Facebook gamers are down with. This is especially considering how wary users like FarmVille fans are already of developers potentially encroaching on their privacy. The fact that 3D gaming in Flash will require no download is certainly a boon against its 3D competitors.

If developers take full advantage of this brand spankin' new Flash, it has the potential to push Facebook gaming into the same arena as console gaming. You know, if HTML5 doesn't take off first. The video below shows what your Facebook games could be like in the not-so-distant future with Adobe Flash 11.

Go on a Buddy Rush between Facebook, iPhone and now Android

Now, that's what I call cross-platform. Budang, South Korea-based Team Sollmo announced that Buddy Rush, its RPG (role-playing game) in which players can use the same adventurer between Facebook and iOS devices, has hit Android devices. What this means is that now, you can access the very same game with your very same character across all three platforms.

"We've been truly honored by the reception Buddy Rush has received thus far, reaching hundreds of thousands of users on Facebook and the Apple App Store," said Company100 (the game's publisher) President Jin Cheon Kim in a release. "With the launch on Android, we're proud to offer Buddy Rush to the vast majority of smartphone owners and establish ourselves as the first to offer an RPG with true cross-platform capabilities across these popular gaming channels."

If Buddy Rush for Android is anything like it is on both Facebook and iOS devices, which we assume it is given Kim's wording, then this is essentially the same game offered across all three modes of play.

Players can take the character they're used to dungeon crawling with on Facebook, play with it a bit on their Android phone, conquer some more monsters on, say, their iPod Touch and proceed to enter yet another battle with the baddies back on Facebook.
Gallery: Buddy Rush
While it's largely a single player experience, Buddy Rush allows players to take their friends' characters asynchronously on adventures like in most Facebook games of its kind. (The main draw, of course, being that you can do so across three platforms with the same character, and arguably whenever.) So, it pays to have lots of friends in this game that I likened to a saccharine take on Blizzard's popular if terribly dark Diablo RPGs. And now that it's on yet another gaming platform, you have no excuse.

Click here to download Buddy Rush for Android Now >

Have you tried Buddy Rush on either Facebook or iOS? What do you think of Sollmo's take on asynchronous, cross-platform gameplay? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

Game of the Day: WHATword?

Half match-3, half word game, WHATword? is an addictive word-making challenge. Line up letters to form words and knock them off the screen. But be careful because as soon as you clear a word, new balls will drop in to fill the gap. Line up various words, make an extra-long word, or use a special bonus letter; and you'll get heaps extra points. To advance to the next level, complete all the WHATwords!

See how far you can get before the WHATwords become too difficult!

Click here to play WHATword?!
whatword what word game of the day     whatword what word game of the day
Pro Tips:

    * When in trouble, mash the "Blast" button to rearrange the letters on the board.
    * When you're lining up a WHATword, be careful not to create any other combos by accident. It might be a long time before the letters you need arrive in unison again.


Click here to play WHATword?!

How many levels did you clear in WHATwords?

6waves Lolapps puts up $10 million for indie social game developers

Is 6waves Lolapps looking to find the next FarmVille? It's possible, but what's more important is that the new found publisher-meets-developer duo is looking to give the little guy a chance. The company just announced that it has raised $10 million in what it calls the 6L Fund. With it, the publisher will grant independent social and mobile game creators the financial resources and support they need to (hopefully) create the next big thing on Facebook or elsewhere.

"There are game teams at all stages in the creative process that have fresh and potentially groundbreaking ideas," said SVP of Publishing at 6waves Lolapps Jim Ying in a statement. "With the capital and the resources that only 6waves Lolapps can deliver, they could help shape the future of social gaming."

The resources Ying referred to include cross promotion, funded user acquisition (essentially paying for more players through advertising), product management, localization, hosting, and the FLISO Game Engine. The latter is enhanced Flash--software game developers commonly use to create Facebook games--technology acquired by 6waves earlier this year.

Independent developers might want to bite, considering that 6waves Lolapps reaches about 38 million collective monthly players, according to AppData--that technically puts the company just under Diamond Dash maker wooga's over 41 million monthly players. Most importantly, this potentially gives indie social game makers a chance on Facebook, which some argue has otherwise all but dried up.

Starting Sept. 27, developers can submit their applications for the 6L Fund, and hopefully we'll see the fruits of their labor sometime next year. Who knows, maybe it's time for another indie developer to enjoy wild success. Just think, what was Rovio before Angry Birds?

What do you think of 6waves Lolapps looking to indie game creators for the next social or mobile hit? Do you think this strategy could result in the next big Facebook game? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove Items: Autumn Birch Tree, Walking Pony, Meadow Sage and more

With tonight's FarmVille update, we see a continuation of the new Lighthouse Cove item theme in the game's store. Just as a reminder, it doesn't matter if you paid your way into Lighthouse Cove early, or if you're waiting for free tickets to arrive (starting tomorrow), as these items can be purchased even when you're not on the Lighthouse Cove farm itself. That means you can take a little piece of the Cove with you back to your Home Farm, if that's where you spend most of your time, as an example. Here's a complete lineup of the newly available items.

Trees

Autumn Birch - 7 Farm Cash
Weeping Birch - 15 Farm Cash

If it's not obvious, the Autumn Birch is the level one tree here, while the Weeping Birch is the level two tree, available either by purchasing it here, or by waiting for one to appear as a Mystery Seedling (your best bet is the latter option). Both of these trees are available to harvest every two days, and their first stars of mastery come at 75 harvests each.

Animals

New Hampshire Red - 20 Farm Cash
Walking Pony - 24 Farm Cash

The New Hampshire Red is a chicken that can be mastered. Its first star of mastery comes at eight harvests, and as a chicken, it can be harvested once per day, making this a fairly quick procedure (that is, in cases where you only have a single animal to pull from). As for the Walking Pony, this one will generate a foal when randomly bred in your Horse Stable, with the Walking Pony Foal being available to share with your friends.

Buildings

Coastal Sweet Store - 300,000 coins
Coastal Antique - 20 Farm Cash
Gingerbread (Cottage?) - 30 Farm Cash

Don't lose it on me now farmers, but yes, you're looking at a coin building being released in a limited edition item theme. Hopefully, this is just the first of many, as the previous few themes were incredibly lacking in coin items altogether, let alone buildings. As for the Gingerbread building, it comes with no other name besides "Gingerbread," so it's up to you to determine what kind of home/cottage/hostel it really is. We'll go with "Cottage," for the sake of argument.

Decorations

Autumn Waterfall - 20 Farm Cash
Horse Rider Statue - 30,000 coins
Town Sign - 20,000 coins
Dolphin Fountain - 12 Farm Cash
Meadow Sage - 5,000 coins

Surprisingly, more of these new decorations cost coins than Farm Cash, with the Horse Rider Statue being a fairly large item in and of itself. The Town Sign contains a miniature picture of the Lighthouse Cove lighthouse, while the Meadow Sage is a long and narrow plant, rather than something in a square shape.

All of these items will be available in the game's store for the next two weeks, so while you can shop leisurely without the fear of them expiring, don't wait too long; I wouldn't want you to forget about them entirely and then regret missing out on your favorites.

Which of these items is your favorite? Are you happy to see coin-buildings released, or are you more of a tree or animal fan? Let us know in the comments.

CityVille: Casa del Sol offers fun-in-the-sun living for a huge price

If you thought the Playa del Rey Apartments in CityVille were expensive, costing 75 City Cash for a population boost of 2,350 citizens (at least), try this newest building on for size. The Casa del Sol home is priced at 90 City Cash, and is also in the Mexican item theme, making it limited edition. Specifically, the Casa del Sol home will be in the game for 10 days (note that that's also one day less than the Playa del Rey Apartments).

Once you purchase the Casa del Sol, you'll have a home that starts with a whopping population of 3,000 citizens, and can be upgraded by collecting from the building (or your friends can collect from them as well; all upgrades drop randomly) to a staggering figure of 5,500 citizens. If you're looking for a quick way (albeit expensive way) to unlock that next expansion by reaching your next population goal without adding multiple homes to your town, this would definitely be an easy way to get that done. However, at a price this high, even I'm not sure it's worth it.

Still, I suppose the building's rent potential could raise its value. You'll receive 156 coins every hour if you're prompt enough to routinely collect your earnings, which would give you upwards of 3,000 coins daily, if you were really on top of things. Still, does that justify the current cost of over $11 US for this single building? I'll leave you to be the judge of that.

What do you think of the Casa del Sol in CityVille? Will you purchase one of the expensive homes for your city, or would you rather purchase multiple, cheaper buildings instead? Let us know in the comments.

Google+ releases API to developers, more social games incoming

Google+ Games is cool with its no-nonsense interface and all, but the sad fact is that it only has 16 games. Compare that to the thousands of Facebook games out there, and it's clear that Google has to do something to compete with that selection. Enter the Google+ API, which was just recently released to developers, and could lead to a plethora of more Google+ Games.

The acronym API is short for Application Programming Interface, meaning it contains the tools for developers to create new applications within a given framework--in this case being Google+. Wired reports that Google will steadily release its developer API, meaning that it will be some time before it's feature-complete. And the features not yet included are, well, kinda vital.

For instance, at the moment developers can only create apps that publish read-only public posts. For instance, if a developer like Zynga released a new social game today on Google+ Games, your friends would not be able to interact with the News Feed posts you create. You all already likely know that this is essentially the bread and butter of Facebook games. It's how things get done in-game aside from directly requesting help from friends.

The reasoning for the omission? According to PC World, Google's Eric Chabot explains that this is because the company would rather improve Google+ over time, rather open up a "vacuum" with too many features at once. I'm not sure adding simple post-sharing interactivity would create a vacuum for the platform, but it's a first step nonetheless. What Google+ Games has to deal with more in its competition with Facebook's wide offering of games is scale. The bell rings on Round 2.

[Source: Google+ Platform Blog]

Do you think developers will flock to Google+ Games, even with a limited API at launch? Does Google+ Games have a chance against Facebook's Canvas platform for games? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day: Play our Top Five pirate Facebook games

Is there any other way to being this feature than with a hearty "Yarrgg?" Probably not. (In fact, let's use this entire introduction to talk like pirates, eh?) In case ye hadn't noticed, mate, today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So, I ask ye landlubbers, what better way to honor this joyous, silly holiday than with five of the best pirate games around on Facebook?

Avast, ye swabs! Look no further than right here for the five best seafarin' and land lootin' games on Facebook. Oh, right, and remember to click on the headers to jump off the plank right into each Facebook game:

Mighty Pirates
This release (pictured below) by CrowdStar explores the two most important things in a pirate's life: exploring and fighting. Players create, maintain and upgrade their very own vessel of piracy. And it's all in the name of surviving your next fight with your fellow pirate.

Mighty Pirates handles battles in turn-based affairs that add a bit of strategy to burning your enemies to the blue depths. In your off time, explore islands to dig up buried treasure and other resources to boost your ship with.
Mighty Pirates
Treasure Isle
While it may not directly involve pirates, the swashbucklers have invaded the shores of Zynga's island exploration game more times than not. In fact, players can even embark on Voyages with their own vessels, though simply to explore even more. Treasure Isle has players aiming to complete island maps by digging and digging ... and digging. But judging from more experienced players' islands, it certainly pays off. (In other words, there's lots and lots of treasure in it for you.)

Battle Pirates
Want a more ... serious approach to high seas fighting and looting? Then Kixeye certainly has that in spades with Battle Pirates, its strategy Facebook game centered around modern day piracy. (You know, like those bad dudes off the coast of Somalia?) The game plays much like the developer's previous strategy offerings, giving you a week to prepare your base for incoming attack from anyone playing the game. If you want a pirate game that puts the battle first, then look no further.
Battle Pirates
Pirates Saga
In this take on everyone's favorite sea-faring antiheroes, Can't Stop Games focuses almost entirely on your ship. More importantly, it's concerned with how you navigate it through the deep blue sea ... and away from enemy gunfire. Another battle-focused pirates game, Pirates Saga allows players to interact with each other in real time. As you transport cargo and fight back the forces of the infamous Blackbeard, be wary at all times of opposing ships that may or may not be fellow players.
Pirates Saga
Pirate Legacy
A somewhat smaller game than the rest in terms of monthly players, this game by 6waves and Paprika Lab throws a heavy RPG (role-playing game) layer onto the pirate game aesthetic. Pirate Legacy enlists you, a new corsair, to explore the ocean around your home port and hunt for monsters like giant serpents and ghost ships to acquire materials for contractors. Everything about the game is turn-based, giving it an impressive layer of strategy that's a little lighter on the action.
Pirate Legacy
[Lead Image Credit: Disney]

How are you honoring this most awesome Talk Like a Pirate Day? Which of these pirate-themed Facebook games do you like most, and do you know of any you'd personally recommend? Share with us in the comments. 1 Comment

Capital One gets in Zynga's wallet with FarmVille, CityVille, Pioneer Trail

Capital One asks Zynga once again, "What's in your wallet?" To which the developer replies, "Why, FarmVille, CityVille and Pioneer Trail, of course!" Mashable reports that the national financial services firm has teamed up with Zynga again for three brand new in-game branding promotions involving Capital One's infamous goat character. Well, two outta three, at least.

Granted, keep in mind that these promotions are slowly rolling out to players, as I've yet to see most of them in my games. Starting with none other than FarmVille, Capital One returns (remember the Visigoths?) with its beloved goat to the game as a breedable animal, which comes just in time for the slew of Breeding Pens in the game.

CityVille, on the other hand, simply features a Capital One-branded Bank for players to use, and opening it offers players a bonus decoration as well as additional Coins, Energy and other resources. Pioneer Trail has its very own set of Goals to help the goat-on-arrival find his lost band mates, which ultimately reward players with a Capital One goat of their own.

This is the second time Capital One has worked with Zynga this year in a branding promotion, and it comes hot off of the heels of a Best Buy promotion conducted through CityVille. And this will be far from the last branded promotion to be featured in a Zynga game. (If anything, the work of Ecko|Code speaks to its popularity.)

The San Francisco-based (but global) developer is joining forces with Lucasfilm to bring Indiana Jones into Adventure World, Zynga Boston's debut Facebook game. Considering the game has been retitled, "Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game," it could be the first Zynga game built entirely around a brand. So yes, branded Facebook games are here to stay.

Are you psyched for these upcoming in-game promotions across the company's three most recognizable Facebook games? What do you think of the movement toward branding in Facebook games overall? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

A sad 75 percent of (expensive) MapleStory marriages end in divorce

And you thought the 50 percent divorce rate of real marriages in the U.S. was bad. Nexon reports that, of the 26,982 in-game MapleStory marriages, 20,344 (or 75 percent) end in annulment. And those in-game betrothals aren't cheap--each union in the free-to-play MMO (massively multiplayer online game) costs $25 in Nexon Cash, the South Korean developer's paid currency.

After seeing the massive (and kind of depressing) divorce rate, the Nexon community team turned to its players to find out just what was up. And while the company didn't find out much, it did uncover some hilarious somber stories. Take Seth, a 19-year-old MapleStory player from Colorado Springs, Colo:

    My former Maple spouse and I started off great; going on party quests together, boss runs, training, helping each other become better Maplers. Then I realized after a while that she was only out there to get free things off of me and we got in this conversation where she admitted to this accusation, so I decided I would have to annul our Maple marriage.

MapleStory matrimony
Here's a pro tip, kids: Think hard before marrying someone online whom you've yet to meet in person. Sure, it's all in good fun ... right until you start to share account information and lose all your goodies. (Another major no-no.)

"Getting married in MapleStory can be quite a fun event for the happy couple and their friends," MapleStory producer Crystin Cox said in a release. "While it looks like our players break up at a much higher rate than people do in real life, at least our players are not on the hook for alimony."

Fair enough, we guess. I think it's safe to assume this feature won't make it into MapleStory Adventures, which debuted on Facebook just over the summer, a version of the game I enjoyed immensely (and so do over 3 million monthly players). But with stats like this, consider it good news that this feature won't see the light of day elsewhere.

[Image Credits: Ylwong, Phame]

Have you ever married someone in MapleStory? What do you think of marriages in games like MapleStory, and would you like to see this feature come to the Facebook version of the game knowing the risks? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

CityVille Hometown is here, your miniature mobile metropolis awaits

Well, it's about time. After going live on the Canadian App Store weeks ago, CityVille Hometown is finally here in the US and globally for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

The game marks a list of firsts for Zynga in that it's the company's first game to release on all iOS platforms simultaneously, not to mention its first mobile game to release in five languages.

The game allows players to import their existing Facebook and CityVille friends into a new, but separate mobile experience in the franchise. (Note: This is not a mobile extension of your CityVille web game, but a brand new one.)

However, the game will allow CityVille Hometown players to exchange gifts and resources to one another to lend a helping hand. And don't worry, you can visit their towns, too. For lucky iPhone 4 users out there, the game has fancy Retina Display graphics to boot. See for yourself in the trailer below.


Click here to download CityVille Hometown on the Apple App Store Now >

Are you psyched to see Zynga release more mobile games? What do you think of CityVille Hometown, and what do you hope the company releases next? Sound off in the comments. 17 Comments

Sims Social survey lets you sound off on item prices, favorite features and more

It's that time folks - time to let your collective voices be heard! EA wants to know how much fun (or not) you're having with the Sims Social on Facebook, and they've released a fairly long survey to help you tell them. This survey contains all sorts of questions, ranging from the basics of how often you play the game, to allowing you to rate your opinion on item pricing (are they too cheap? too expensive?) and what some of your favorite features are in the game.

Of course, the point of all of this is to gather enough opinions to actually sway the way the game develops in the future. Hopefully, with questions dealing with how much we like to "build" items with parts (bookcases, double beds, etc.), and the option to say that you don't like it at all, we may actually see a lessening in those kinds of items, if enough users agree. You can even rank various gameplay features (decorating your house, visiting friends, customizing your Sim, etc.) in the order that you like them. In this way, perhaps we'll see more focus being placed on the most (overall) liked feature, and you'll be able to say you helped to make that happen.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of survey that will allow you to give your opinion on future item sets, but there are plenty of blank text boxes for you to say exactly what you want to the developers in a place that you know they'll see it. Again, this survey is prety lengthy (when compared to other Facebook game surveys anyway), so you'll want to make sure you have around 5-10 minutes to set aside to take it.

We've taken this survey as well, and if we start to notice any gameplay changes arising because of options listed here, we'll make sure to let you know. In the meantime, head over to this link right here to take the survey for yourself.

FarmVille: 24x24 and under land expansions 50% off this weekend

If you're a new(er) player to FarmVille that hasn't had a chance to expand their Home or English Countryside farms, or, if you've just held off until expanding your farms until now, Zynga is offering some major incentive to doing so this weekend. All expansions in both the Home Farm and the English Countryside farm that are 24x24 and smaller are now 50% off. This sale will last until Sunday evening at 9PM PST.

Let's put this into perspective. The two most recent expansions to the Home Farm are for 30x30 and 32x32. While the 32x32 land expansion is technically still on "sale" for 5 days only, it still goes for 180 Farm Cash. Both of these expansions, then, wouldn't be part of this weekend sale. As for English Countryside expansions, there are four that many farmers have likely not unlocked: starting with 26x26 and up, simply because of their prices (2.5 million coins, 5 million coins, 195 Farm Cash and 195/215 Farm Cash respectively). This, again, takes us to the 32x32 sized farm, but none of these are included in the sale.

What's even more disappointing about this sale is the fact that Lighthouse Cove expansions aren't included. As we're limited (in Lighthouse Cove only) to a certain number of crops based on how big our farm is, and since these early expansions start out costing 30 Farm Cash each, it would have been great to see them included in this sale. Whether this means the prices will soon turn to coins instead is anyone's guess, but for now, I suppose this is one sale that most of us will simply have to miss out on.

Are you a farmer that can take advantage of this sale? Will you purchase any expansions for your farms this weekend? Let us know in the comments.

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash in Intuit Business promotion

It's been a few weeks since we've seen a rush of free FarmVille farm cash promotions being launched by Zynga, but it has finally come through for us this morning with an activity with Intuit. This Intuit Business promotion can be found under the bottom right of your gameplay area, but it may just be labeled as "complete this brand activity," rather than anything specific to Intuit. Trust me, this sponsored link window works the same as all of the others, it just comes labeled differently.

Once you start the promotion, you'll be asked to share your love for a small, local business in your community. This requires some thought on your part, as I found it to be incredibly difficult to enter something that the fields could actually recognize. That is, you're asked for the name of the business, along with your city and state location, and it will then search for any addresses matching that business description. Once you find one (perhaps you'll just be luckier than me and score a hit on your first try), you'll have to fill in a form asking for your name, email address and why you like this business the most. If I were you, or are just in this for the free Farm Cash, feel free to give them an out-of-use email address as, let's face it, that's an instant sign-up for Intuit's newsletter right there.

Either way, once you jump through these hoops, you'll finally be given your two free Farm Cash. Remember, these Farm Cash should automatically update into your account, but if they don't, refresh the page and see if that sets things right. As always, we'll make sure to bring you more news about free Farm Cash offers in the future, just as soon as they pop into the game. Keep checking back for more!

What will you do with your two free Farm Cash? Do you participate in activities such as this, that require some real information about yourself, rather than just answering surveys? Sound off in the comments.

CityVille Governor's Run Toy Maker Goals: Everything you need to know

So, you've already helped the farmers in your quest to be governor in CityVille, and now it's time to help another group of citizens in your town: the toy makers. This newest trio of Toy Maker goals can be found after you've helped the farmers, and they'll also introduce a new Community Building to your town. Here's a complete rundown of what to expect, and how to earn the vote from these toy makers. Note: you must be at least level 50 to access these goals.

The Misfit Toy Maker

    * Place and Build a Toy Factory
    * Collect from the Toy Factory 10 Times


Unfortunately, this goal requires you to build a new community building in your town, so I hope you have enough room to do so. The Toy Factory sits on a 4x4 square plot of land, and would normally cost 1.25 million coins to buy in the market, although there are rumblings that you'll receive one for free in your inventory once you start these goals (I personally didn't receive one, but whether that's a glitch, or by design I can't say). The building adds a whopping 3,750 citizens to your maximum population cap, and requires 12 staff members to complete. That is, you'll need to ask 12 friends to help you complete the construction of this one, so I hope they're helpful! For finishing this first goal, you'll receive 2,800 coins as a reward.

Toy Soldier

    * Ask friends for 12 Toy Blocks
    * Upgrade Toy Store to Level 2
    * Place 20 Hearts in your city


As we've told you before, the Hearts are markers you can place in your town to let your friends know exactly which items to interact with whenever they visit. You can add them to your town by accessing the "Get Help" button in the cursor menu in the bottom right corner of the screen. As for upgrading the Toy Store, you can find a complete guide to doing so right here. Finish this goal and you'll receive 1,400 Goods.

Playtime is Over

    * Ask friends for 15 Wooden Duckies
    * Build Toy Tower
    * Collect from Toy Tower 15 Times


The Toy Tower is a new business that costs 1.75 million coins to purchase from the store. Hopefully we'll receive a free one of these as well, but if not - we've been warned! Once built, it requires a whopping 475 Goods to operate, and will supply you with 2,393 coins by default when collecting its profits, if you don't surround the building with payout bonus decorations. As for the Wooden Duckies, just ask your friends to send them to you, and you'll eventually finish this one off (not that it'll be easy, but it's not impossible either). Finish this final Toy Maker goal and you'll receive 100 XP. Whether or not that's worth all of the Goods you've spent on your Toy Tower or not will be up to you.

At this point, you will have finished helping the Toy Makers in your run for Governor, but still have one more group to help before Act 2 of this new political feature will start. We'll make sure to let you know what that final part entails as soon as we know more, so keep checking back.

What do you think of these Toy Maker goals? Are they too complicated to be in the middle of a larger feature, possible causing some users to get stuck, or do you appreciate such a challenge? Sound off in the comments.

CityVille: Post your in-game achievements to the Facebook ticker

Here we are again, mayors. Another Zynga game is asking for additional permission to share your gameplay information with friends via the new Facebook ticker that appears along the right side of the screen when playing games on the site. First it was FarmVille, and now comes CityVille.

This "new permissions" set is at least far more detailed than the FarmVille request, which left many users wondering exactly what they were giving Zynga access to. Here, we're told straight up that by giving Zynga these additional permissions, you're simply allowing it to share your gameplay activity in the ticker (including achievements you've earned or goals you may have completed while playing) with your friends. Facebook apparently requires it to do so, so here we are.

You'll be able to give Zynga permission (or deny it) when you see a window like the one at right appear in your screen. From there, you can either hit "Allow" to let yourself appear in the ticker, or "Don't Allow" to keep yourself hidden. Your own gameplay experience won't change, and nothing in the game itself will change either. This all goes back to how much information you want to share with friends about your gameplay activity, all in the Facebook ticker. That being the case, feel free to choose whichever option you wish without the fear of penalty.

Will you allow Zynga to share your gameplay activity with your CityVille friends? What do you think of the Facebook ticker as a whole? Sound off in the comments.

Tiny game: Stop the Zombies!

I discovered a tiny and minimal Java/Processing game through future superstar game designer William:   Stop the Zombies!

Launch nuke circles. Save human pixels. Kill zombie pixels. Or just kill everything.

The code is under a "Do whatever you want with it" license as far as I'm concerned, as it says in the code, it was based on someone else's code already.

It should be noted that that code will no longer compile due to changes in the Processing environment over the years.

Graphs & Virgins: Evil Cult

Evil Cult [latest version]. One of my favorite games. A 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) turn-based game with little micro-management so far (I consider this a huge plus).

The developer recently posted a blog update. You can follow him on Twitter. Much development discussion is going on in this thread.

I made two videos of the gameplay: a 5x time lapse and an Let's Play for your pleasure.

Regarding 4x games: There's an ongoing Master of Orion 2 rewrite. Latest activity in the repository: Mon Apr 11 11:55:42 2011 +0200. Here's a custom news feed if you want to follow the project. (I won't be adding custom feeds to the planet for now).

I also created a news feed generator for FreeOrion. 

Cashflow for Open Game Projects via Flattr without investment

Flattr allows you to place a "click me because you appreciate me" button on your site and when somebody clicks it, you get a bit of money.

So far you had to invest at least 2€ to be part of the service. Now you can use it for free.

So every project that is a one-person project or has a donation infrastructure: please add flattr to your site.

If neiter fits: start thinking about how you would share donations with the team if you got any and add a flattr button when you're done. :)

Thanks to Grumbel for reminding via his post.

AGS: Adventure Game Studio open sourced

Better late then never they say... so today I bring you the news that the grand-daddy of point and click adventure game creation software, AGS, has been open-sourced recently.
For AGS there are literally thousands of fan made games available (picture taken from this one), and even though most of them (all?) are not FOSS, it is definitely nice to have the engine and the editor now under the pretty liberal and GPL compatible Artistic License 2.0.

Naev Sound and Xonotic Map Devolution

Spoiler alert regarding a video of a NAEV mission that shows off the sound capacities of the game. The project relies on OpenAL Soft.
You should come for the sound [10MB vorbis rip]* or for the HD version.

Effects to notice:

• Positional sound (basic for OpenAL)

• Doppler Effect (depends on velocity)

• Air absorption factor (sounds like you’re under water)

• Reverb (also helps make it sound like you’re underwater)

• Speed of sound changes (depends on nebula density – also for sounding underwater)

* It'd be great if more project took so much care of audio licensing so there could be f-a-i-f game sound walks. Great distraction from urban noise. Game soundtracks are disturbing though mostly.

An amazing screens-video of the different stages of modernizing/Xonoticisizing CBCTF1 - Space CTF to Newtonian Nightmare was posted.

LanPower Game Key v2

On 2. July, the second Free-as-in-freedom USB Game Key will be released by the French-language based team LanPower.

The GameKey light serie 2 is a compilation of portable FOSS games, mostly compatible with both Windows and Linux.

English, German, French, Italian and Spanish translations are available for the GUI. If you would like to add your translation to the mix, here are the translation files: English | French. (contact: asso.lanpower A✜T free.fr)

Assorted strategy game news

Quick Sunday afternoon rundown of recent strategy game updated...
0AD got a new beta 5 release, which improvements in rendering & AI code, a completely new faction (Iberians), and a new map:
MegaGlest also got updated recently (Version 3.5.1), bringing various fixes and performance improvements. Furthermore I can report that both the sable and the development version of Battle for Wesnoth have been updated, and I strongly recommend everyone (who has not played this game for a while) to retry this classic in the newest development version.
EvolutionRTS, a nice looking (but sadly CC-by-NC-ND licensed) game based on the SpringRTS engine also saw an update to version 1.3 this month (check out this gameplay video).
Hmmm, what else? Ahh, UFO:AI was ported to Android, and and the change of Warzone2100 from SDL to qt (which is not exactly a game framework) raised some eyebrows, but will probably make the game more easily portable and better integrated into your favorite desktop.

LibriVox Hacked

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The public domain audibook project LibriVox got hacked (not the first time it seems). There was no open announcement yet [edit: here's the blog post] but as a forum user I received an email:

A hacker broke into the LibriVox forum and got access to our completedatabase including emails and encrypted passwords. We have locked them outof the system, and we’ve fixed the vandalism, but they still have ourdatabase.
In the interests of full disclosure, here is some extra information:(1) The database contained every piece of communications sent through theforum, including all private messages. This information is now in thepossession of the hacker.
(2) All forum passwords in the database are encrypted. However, if yourpassword was very simple, it will be trivial for the hacker to break theencryption using "brute-force" techniques. They will likely attempt exactlythis, so if you use the same password on any other Internet service, youshould immediately change your password at those services.
We are very sorry that this happened, and once this is sorted out as bestas it can be, we’ll be doing a more thorough security review.

Well, I'm glad they are open about this. A great time to update the passwords I use to more secure ones. :)

I would like to appeal to the community to look out for each other and report strange activities like spam posts or random content deletion to site admins, pointing out this recent hacking. Everybody who had a LibriVox account and used their password elsewhere should change it ASAP, especially if moderative or administrative accounts are involved!

... Let me just add a little bit of positive open content news though: I was looking for car blinker sounds, contacted three Freesound contributors and got permission from all of them to re-distribute under CC0, which I did on OpenGameArt. j1987 even added a "all my sounds are public domain" note. :)

bfxr = sfxr + flash + omg awesome

Sfxr is a simple retro sound machine. It has undergone some iterations and the latest software based on its principle is bfxr, which also has valuable management tools.

Their feature list:

• 5 new waveforms : triangle, breaker, tan, whistle, and pink noise.
• 3 new filters : compression, harmonics, and bitcrusher.
• Ability to lock parameters during mutation/randomization.
• Expanded pitch-jumping abilities - good for arpeggiation effects.
• Visualisation
• Mixer
• Keeps your sounds and mixes in persistant lists.
• Can reverse synths
• Ability to link directly to sounds

Needs flash. Might be a problem. Can anybody with free flash implementations run this?

Battle for Wesnoth Architecture

The popular open source game Battle for Wesnoth has been featured in the new free online book The Architecture of Open Source Applications.

We believe that the beauty of the Battle for Wesnoth as a program is how it made coding accessible to a wide variety of individuals. To achieve this aim, the project often made compromises that do not look elegant whatsoever in the code. It should be noted that many of the project's more talented programmers frown upon WML for its inefficient syntax. Yet this compromise enabled one of the project's greatest successes. Today Wesnoth can boast of hundreds of user-made campaigns and eras, created mostly by users with little or no programming experience.

Read the full section online for further insight into the design and design decisions of Battle for Wesnoth.

Naev 0.5 released!

A new release of the 2D space trading and combat game Naev is out and available as binaries for Lin/Mac/Win here.

For those using Ubuntu (or other Debian-derived distributions), Naev is available from PlayDeb. Naev is also available in Arch Linux, Gentoo, and from the openSUSE Games repository.

 Have a changelog:

List of changes since 0.4.2:
For Players

• Larger universe

• Expanded Dvaered, Frontier, Empire and Pirate territories

• All-new Sirius and Soromid territory

• Big systems

• More planets per system

• Much larger planets, many new planet and station graphics

• Players must fly to jump points before jumping to another system

• Overlay map for in-system navigation

• Mouse interactivity

• Planet, ship and jump point targeting

• Contextual click actions (board, hail, land, etc.)

• Optional mouse-controlled flying

• Electronic warfare

• Ships have cloaking and detection abilities

• Sensor range depends on cloak vs detection

• Turrets no longer track all ships equally

• Time model changes

• In-game time progresses in real-time

• Dynamic time compression speeds up long journeys

• On-map security rating abandoned in favour of faction presence indicators

• System backgrounds (nebulae, stars and more!)

• Fancier new GUI

• Brand-new tutorial that is independent from the main game

• Outfit slots now have sizes

• Weapon sets allow easy configuration of different weapon combinations for each ship

• Ship and weapon heat system

• Weapons start with perfect accuracy, and become inaccurate as they overheat

• Severe overheating causes rate of fire to drop

• Damage absorption and penetration system

• More diverse planetary inventories (see the tech system below)

• Random bar NPCs

• Sound system improvements

• Smarter autonav behaviour

• … and plenty more (new missions, ships, outfits, portraits, etc.)

Nongame: Killer

The Killer is a flash/as3-based nongame. Talking more about it might spoil it so if you're OK with that, there's a discussion going on at TigForums.

The source is "what you want" and hosted on github. Perhaps this could be ported to Haxe/Fixel.

The developer has an interesting "support me" implementation. Exclusive updates and postcards. :)