Pet Society: Dig in Ancient Egypt

Here's your chance to release your inner Indiana Jones in Pet Society. With Ancient Egypt added to the Treasure Hunting feature, your pet can be an archaeologist digging up Cleopatra's glossy black wig or the mighty Sphinx. Here's one pet working hard in the desert:
pet society ancient egypt dig
Kudos to Mia, who found all the Egyptian items. We love how the eyes of the Sphinx follow you around!
pet society ancient egypt dig
This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

The Sims Social, Gamescom's 'Best Browser Game,' lives on Facebook

While EA and Playfish London have officially set The Sims Social live at this year's Gamescom (with a show award, to boot), we're going with "lives," because the game technically already lived. Alas, despite a shoddy launch and some unfortunate down time, this gem of a Facebook game has launched to nearly 5 million players. Even counting since its downtime (and "open beta" issues), The Sims Social has grown exponentially in the past week, gaining about a whopping 3 million players in that time, according to AppData.

I'd hate to speak too soon (no I don't), but these look a lot like Zynga numbers. Could the big red bull dog have finally met its match, the biggest casual gaming brand long before FarmVille? It's quite possible, especially considering what players say the game could imply for the future of the genre.

"When we created The Sims Social, it was important for us to incorporate the deep gameplay nuances The Sims Studio has perfected and leverage what Playfish does best – develop compelling, cutting-edge social-gaming experiences," Playfish London GM John Earner said in a statement. And based on these explosive numbers, it looks like the players might agree. If The Sims Social keeps growing at this rate, it could catch up with Zynga's top games in a few months.

Gallery: The Sims Social on Facebook

The game already has branded partnerships with companies like Dunkin' Donuts, so it's clear how serious EA is about this game. Between what seems to be a hit on Facebook and a hit machine in the bag for possibly $1.3 million, maybe the Madden guys can hang with the FarmVillers, after all.

The Sims Social sets a spine-chilling scene with new Halloween images

Seriously, this is just downright creepy ... for a Facebook game. EA and Playfish have provided us with some images featuring some of the new Halloween items you can pick up in The Sims Social right now. This week's theme appears to have lots to do with throwing a Halloween bash, but with a deathly dash of Halloween movie allusions thrown in.

Namely, allusions to some of the creepiest flicks around like The Shining, Nightmare on Elm Street and The Ring. Sure, the launch trailer for The Sims Social was arguably creepy on one level, but this image is another level of disturbing entirely. The other screen shots EA shared with us are decidedly more tame, thankfully.

The below screen shot features a brand new item, the Witch's Broomstick. This new accessory costs just 1,750 Simoleons and is said to grant players with some new animations to enjoy. It can also boost Hygiene and Fun stats, though it requires building. That lucky girl flying away on the Broomstick is surrounded by numerous items found under the "Special" tab in the shop now.
The Sims Social Witch's Broomstick
Finally, this last image of Sims throwing a Halloween party is certainly the most tame. Well, aside from the dude in that skeleton costume--who wears those anymore? The various decorations can also be found under the "Special" tab. More important, however, is that glowing cauldron. It's called the Haunted Cauldron, and players can pick this bad boy up for serious cash: 59 SimCash, to be exact. Mastering cooking skills on this ... appliance will reward you with a Golden Cauldron.
The Sims Social Halloween Bash
What do you think of the various Halloween updates in The Sims Social so far? Which of the items or avatar costumes do you want the most for your Sim?

The Sims Social maker EA wants you ... to make it lots of ad money

And unfortunately, it doesn't sound like you'll have much of a choice. EA, co-creator of Playfish's The Sims Social on Facebook (and arch nemesis to Zynga at this point), has announced EA Legend.

This is the company's new platform to provide marketers and advertisers with "campaign and audience insights across mobile, social, online and console games reaching over 300 million people worldwide," a release reads.

In other words, you're more valuable to EA than you might already know. The publisher wants to use the information you provide them inadvertently through gameplay to rope in ad and marketing deals not just through its Facebook games but all of its games. More specifically, EA said it can provide advertisers with (prepare for buzzword overload):

    Key cross-platform campaign performance indicators such as impressions, clicks, unduplicated reach, demographic profiles, social media buzz, and ROI metrics.

    Segmented audience insights based on demographic, psychographic, and social data.

    Ability to drill down into the factors that impact campaign effectiveness including audience engagement, audience segmentation and type of creative all measured over time.

EA Legend
What's that again--psychographic data? This may all sound like something out of "1984," but it's nothing new. If you think other game creators don't do this type of stuff, then here's your wake-up call. We won't know exactly what information about us EA will provide to advertisers through Legend until it makes advertisers see green at this year's Advertising Week event in New York City on Oct. 4. And if EA keeps using words like psychographic, we may never know.

[Via All Facebook]

What do you think about this new EA Legend program? Do you think it's something worth worrying about, or is this just business as usual? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment