Offerpal: In-game offers triples advertising revenue

Those ubiquitous, infamous offer walls that run below many social games are a great way for publishers to attract more revenue from their players. But they only work if users see them, and statistics show that the vast majority of players simply never bother scrolling down. Enter the harder-to-ignore in-game offer, which a new white paper from social game advertiser OfferPal shows is an incredibly efficient way of creating more revenue opportunities from players.

How effective, exactly? Offerpal says developers that use it saw three times as much offer-based advertising revenue. According to the white paper, most of that increased revenue comes from users that had never participated in an advertising offer before (they made up 93% of those who participate in the in-game promotions). The in-game offers are relatively sticky as well, with 10% of these new promotion users coming back to complete another promotion within a week.

Of course, OfferPal has a vested interest in putting a good face on in-game offers, since they provide those very offers to game developers as their core business. Still, we have no specific reason to doubt their reporting. If in-game offers are really this good at drawing more money out of social game players, you can expect to see them in a LOT more games relatively soon.

FarmVille New Gifts: Party Pig, Double Surfboards & Stripe Surfboard

FarmVille introduced three new free gifts- the Party Pig, Double Surfboards, and Stripe Surfboard. These free giftables can be accessed via the FarmVille Gifting Page.

FarmVille New Gifts (Released June 17th 2010)

    Party Pig
    Double Surfboards
    Stripe Surfboard (FarmVille.com exlusive) *You can only send this gift via FarmVille.com


In addition to these newly introduced gifts, some older gifts have been removed from the Gifting Page. For the complete list of gifts that were removed, see below.

FarmVille Free Gifts Removed from Gifting Page:

    Kensington Bench
    Sprouting bush
    Blue Star hay
    Red Star Hay
    Short Cactus
    Red Rock
    Round Haybale
    Star Haybale
    Hanging Tomato
    Orange Star Hay
    Apricot Tree – (FarmVille.com Exclusive)
    Durian Tree – (FarmVille.com Exclusive)
    Starfruit Tree – (FarmVille.com Exclusive)
    Passionfruit Tree – (FarmVille.com Exclusive)


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Pet Society: Dig out a Kitty

pet society happy kitty plushie weekly digging special
There's a new item buried in the Town Forest in Pet Society-the Happy Kitty Plushie. Can you dig it out? Sushi's Mama tried to find the kitty, even going against her usual penny-pinching nature and buying an extra 5 shovels for 300 coins. But no luck today!

Despite the fact that we didn't find the kitty, we still like the Treasure Hunt feature. Our favorite part of it is actually the beginning. We like the map and how you can zoom into the forest. Who knew that the pets were living on an island?!
pet society lost
This might explain some of the stranger things that go on in this game. Like how Mama sometimes sees a large sleeping bear when she digs.
.pet society bear
The bear appears randomly, in a different spot of the forest. And sometimes, it's not there at all. We think Mama can get so close to the bear because they're so alike!
pet society bear
This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

FrontierVille: New Chicken Coop and Varmint Hunting quests

FrontierVille has received new quests. First, the Chicken Coop will allow you to harvest all your chickens at once.

To get started, purchase the Chicken Coop from the FrontierVille market. To buy the building, you must have 13 neighbors and 30 wood. Once placed on your land claim, the Chicken Coop will require 18 whacks, each costing 16 wood. Like the Cabin, to finish the Chicken Coop you'll need to get hand drills, nails, paint, hammers and bricks from your friends or by spending Horseshoes.

Also new are varmint hunting quests. The FrontierVille Facebook fanpage advises players to "be on the lookout for quests to clobber snakes and scare bears, and show off your prowess at gettin' rid of varmints!"

Sounds good to us, ain't nothing like giving a pesky snake a nice clobbering.

Head over to FrontierVille to get started.

Click here to play FrontierVille>

Never miss a post from Games.com The Blog

We're so happy and so grateful for everyone who visits Games.com The Blog! In the last six months we've growth from a small little corner of Games.com to an important source for Facebook game news. Most of you come to Games.com The Blog from searching on Google and some some come from Games.com to see what is going on over at "The Blog."

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However you reach us thank you for taking the time to check out our blog. We're so glad that you're part of the experience here. Enjoy the games and enjoy our blog. Thanks again.

FrontierVille Water Decorations make a summer splash

frontierville water decorations
Just as the summer heat was starting to get the best of us and our frontier towns, FrontierVille has released a line of refreshing water decorations.

Unfortunately, the most desirable items cost Horseshoes leaving us non-spenders with little to work with. Nonetheless, the water decorations are pretty cool, so continue reading to see a complete listing of the update.
frontierville water decorations     frontierville water decorations     frontierville water decorations
frontierville water decorations     frontierville water decorations     frontierville water decorations
frontierville water decorations     frontierville water decorations     frontierville water decorations
frontierville water decorations     frontierville water decorations     frontierville water decorations
frontierville water decorationsWatering Can - 500 Coins, 5 XP
Swimmin' Hole - 2000 Coins, 20 XP
Ducky Hot Tub - 18 Horseshoes, 108 XP
Geyser - 15 Horseshoes, 90 XP
Frontier Fountain - 20 Horseshoes, 120 XP
Bird Bath - 750 Coins, 7 XP
White Bird Bath - 750 Coins, 7 XP
Waterfall - 55 Horseshoes, 330 XP
White Frog Pond - 25 Horseshoes, 150 XP
Iron Fountain - 200 Coins, 2 XP
Hot Tub - 18 Horseshoes, 108 XP
Frog Pond - 25 Horseshoes, 150 XP

Many of the water decorations are only available for a limited time so head over to FrontierVille soon to check them out. My personal favorite is the waterfall, the rainbow in the back is an excellent touch. Plus, all the tall grass and dried out animal carcasses make my frontier town feel extremely dry and arid. Any one of these water decorations would do wonders to remedy the situation, but the waterfall does it the most beautifully.

Click here to play FrontierVille>

Quote of the moment: So simple, only a casual can do it

"This game is too casual for us hardcore gamers. It's probably so obvious how to accept a request, but hell if I can figure it out. I sent you a goat, though."

-Destructoid's Nick Chester comments on he and his co-workers' inability to accept a simple neighbor request in Zynga's Frontierville. As fellow Destructoid player Jim Sterling added later: "As hardcore gamers, we don't expect to be shunted around an archaic menu system, waiting for a brand new screen to load every single time we want to interact with someone or something. It's frustrating and it's a waste of time, and as you've seen here, it's such an alien concept to us that we actually didn't understand how to deal with it."

FarmVille Loading Issues: Round Shaded Circles

FarmVille Weird Loading Circles
It appears that several FarmVille Freaks have seen Round Shaded Circles appear on their farms. This is occur while and after their farms load.
FarmVille Weird Loading Problem with Scattered Shaded Circles
There is probably no need to fear, as the Zynga FarmVille programmers might be working on patches and fixes to the game!

Has this happened to you or is your farm loading up just fine?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Mystery Game Updated with New Prizes

Today, the FarmVille Mystery Game was updated with new prizes including animals and decorations.

Last week, the first Mystery Game prizes had various degrees of rarity. For example, the Black Stallion was the most rare prize. However, this time the most rare prize will yield not just one, but TWO animals! Meaning, if you win, ___ the most rare animal, you will be rewarded with two for one balloon pop!

The following are confirmed current Mystery Game Prizes (07.22.10): Parrot Swing, Crane, African Gray Bird, and Bird Fountain.

You can play a Mystery Game for 20 FV$ by accessing it through the FarmVille Market.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Nintendo's management sees games for health

Perrin Kaplan spent years as the head of communications and marketing for Nintendo of America, and saw the launch of the Wii before retiring. Speaking at Casual Connect in Seattle on Thursday, she gave some insights into how and why fitness and health became a natural extension of videogames.

She recalls talking to Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto, the Japanese company's chief executive and creative director, respectively. Their country had a society with an aging population, and busy people focused on careers.

Kaplan describes the "whole pack of middle-aged folks," in Japan, and Miyamoto and Iwata saying they would continue to make games for the youth, but asking each other: "What kind of games are there for us to play?"

Part of aging is keeping your mind sharp, says Kaplan. As the company explored options and business opportunities, BrainAge was create to appeal to that aging population in a society with less and less time.

"Ultimately, Mr Miyamoto's dream was to have a controller that between you and TV would disappear," reveals Kaplin. Controllers had too many buttons, and people didn't want to try complex devices. "He was going the reverse way. He wanted just one button."

"After many years, that came true," continues Kaplan, saying it "ultimately came down to this sleek Wiimote."

Kaplan says that the Wii, the DS, and Microsoft's Kinect offering pick-up-and-play that makes them succeed.

She recalls the time when Iwata wanted her to play tennis on the new controller but she didn't think she'd like it. Then she tried it. "I couldn't stop playing. It was precise. It was part of me. I knew at that time, we were on to something." Something beyond games.

The purpose wasn't to walk away from the in-depth games, says Kaplin, but to keep people inspired. She says the marketing efforts for Wii revolved around the desire to appeal to all ages. Some promotional parties required children, parents, and grandparents. "We witnessed cases where there were tears, because it was bringing people together."
Eventually, Nintendo was able to get Wii units into nursing homes. To Kaplan, that shows a nature to videogames that have real-world benefits for health and happiness – a cause Kaplan sees as both important, and growing.

FarmVille Unreleased White Truffles

Thank you to FarmVille Freak Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille White Truffles!
FarmVille Unreleased White Truffles
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Permanent Crops: Spinach and Carnival Squash Crops

There are two new permanent crops, Spinach and Carnival Squash now available in the FarmVille Market! Both of these seeds can be purchased at any time and will have Crop Mastery available. Spinach seeds cost 35 Coins and are ready to harvest in 14 hours and yield 95 Coins and 2 XP. Carnival Squash seeds cost 355 Coins and ready to harvest in 8 hours and yield 435 Coins and 1 XP.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Unreleased: Wild West Saddled Horse, Wild West Pony Express, Wild West Log Cabin, & Cottontail Rabbit

Thank you to FarmVille Freak Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Wild West Saddled Horse, Wild West Pony Express, Wild West Log Cabin, & Cottontail Rabbit!
FarmVille Unreleased: Wild West Saddled Horse, Wild West Pony Express, Wild West Log Cabin, & Cottontail Rabbit
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Quote of the Moment: Gamers Evolve

"More gamers means more games, plain and simple. Facebook games have brought a staggering number of people into the fold, and most of them had never played a videogame before in their lives. You might argue that this doesn't make a difference because FarmVille players aren't playing the types of games you love. They may be "casual" gamers now, but a few years down the road, you'll see lots of them step up to more traditional games.

"Gamers evolve; I'm a perfect example. While I played games a lot as a kid on the classic systems like Atari 2600 and Vectrex, coming back into gaming at the birth of the 3D consoles was a little intimidating to me. Back then, I didn't play much besides puzzle or simulation games. I was somewhat scared to play anything 3D until about 2003. I didn't play a first-person shooter until BioShock caught my attention in 2007, and now I'll play just about anything. It's taken almost 10 years, but I've grown from only liking simple games to playing and beating games like God of War III and BioShock on advanced difficulty levels. There's no reason to believe the same thing won't happen with many of the people who currently only play Facebook games.

"To someone who's never gamed before, controllers are scary. Even the Wii Remote can trip up some people. I have a developer friend who watched a focus group where people were holding the Wii Remote backwards. Is it any wonder their first foray into gaming would involve something no more complicated than clicking a mouse?

"By providing neophytes with games they feel like they can excel at, Facebook developers have given them a positive association with playing games. They're having fun, and as they get bored with the simple mechanics of most Facebook games, they'll seek out something a little bit more challenging."

-IGN writer Nicole Tanner explains why people who play social games may eventually move on to the kinds of games that 'hardcore' gamers enjoy.

Social City raises the level cap to 60, adds new high-level contracts

Social City, Playdom's city-building game on Facebook, has raised the level cap from 40 to 60. So for those of you who have been dedicated mayors, you can keep on keeping on ... and, oh yeah, and you'll have access to new high-level contracts. Right now, only three new jobs have been added to the Contracts section of the game, but I fully expect more will be arriving shortly for players who will quickly blow past level 44 (you know who you are).

social city factory jobs

The new contracts are as follows:

Tasty Cheeses
2 Days
Cost: 5,600
Reward: 28,000, 555 XP

Ironic T-Shirts
15 minutes
Cost: 1,200 c
Reward: 2,500, 32 XP

Industrial Robots
18 hours
Cost: 32,000
Reward: 46,000, 360 XP

What do you think about the new contracts? What other cool stuff should higher level players have exclusive access to?

Facebook games: Three new games you must play this week

If you're looking for some new games to play, here are three interesting games that made AppData's Top 20 Gainers this week. For those looking for a more traditional property management game with a tropical twist, we found Critter Island might scratch that itch. Car Town (pictured below) is one of those rare Facebook games that require skill and attentiveness to play, much like Bubble Town: Party Planet, which is backed by some serious brands like Honda. If you just can't get enough of a good old, resource-hoggin' strategy game, then Backyard Monsters should do the trick, but you wouldn't know from just its title.
And that's why we bring you this weekly look at some of the more intriguing Facebook games that could very be the next big thing. Join us behind the cut for a better look into what these three potential gems are all about.
Critter Island gameplay

Critter Island
Locking into the 11 spot this week, we have oddly-named Critter Island by LOLapps, a soothing island resort management game with around 970 thousand users and growing. You've been given an island property and your task is to turn it around into a profitable island destination. Tourists will begin flooding into your island as soon as a two-hour shift starts (similar to Restaurant City), demanding food, drink and entertainment, which you can fulfill by building attractions like bars, barbecue huts and mini golf courses. These properties will need to be restocked regularly to keep the goods going out to the customers.

Properties and decorations for your island cost either coins or Facebook, the former you'll by running a fine establishment. Another rating to keep track of is your popularity, which increase with the amount of decorations you add to your island. As goes with most games in this sub genre, if you build it, they will come. Visiting friends' islands lets you restock their properties with fresh goods for free and lei visitors, giving them enhanced tips for a short time. We know, it doesn't sound any more striking than other property management games, but there's an interesting catch.

Collecting stars that patrons drop along with their tips will triple your tip percentage for eight hours if you fill your star meter up. After eight hours, you'll have to fill the meter again to keep the tips flowing. The star catching feature will keep you hooked long enough to enjoy the game for a for 20-minute spurts while hopefully maintaining your interest in coming back for more tips.

The game is still in its early stages, allowing players to expand their island and later manage multiple islands. However, we don't have an idea in the slightest as to why this game is called "Critter Island." We'll go with the clientele.

Play Critter Island on Facebook Now >


Car Town

Car Town

Cie Games brings us Car Town, a car management and racing game that boasts over 4.3 million users in last place this week. After choosing your first from three entry-level, used cars, you can customize its body work down to the wheels. Just about every car in the game is a much cuter version of an existing vehicle, like my purple 2008 Toyota Yaris. The game features even more intense product placement, like the 2011 Honda CRX that's for sale within the game. Looks like branding is taking off.

In order to buy higher-grade cars and race in tougher competitions, you'll have to either work on your friends cars in your garage or win lots of races. Working on cars in your garage is the most surefire way to make some dough, requiring you to pick up the payment within the same amount of time the job took or you'll lose it (not for someone on my schedule). To increase the amount of jobs you can take on at once, you'll have to buy more lifts and hire more of your friends to help out. However, you'll still be restricted by the time limits, so pay attention! Honestly, this portion of the game is down right snore inducing, but racing is where Car Town will test your skills (and maintain interest).

Clicking on some cars that pass by your garage will open up the option to race them, which leads you to an mildly challenging mini game that requires precision to win. You can also challenge your friends and win 500 coins a race by selecting the "Challenges" tab above your friends panel. A third way to race is through missions that will open up by clicking on your car, complete these missions to increase your level and earn perks like free tests, which give you time with a car that can be yours if you win 25 races with it in one week. No pressure, huh?

Racing is simple enough to learn, but requires your attention if you want to stay on top and win the race. Each race consists of you shifting into first, second and third gear just as the needle touches the red portion of the meter in the center of the screen. The closer the needle to gets to the red without touching it, the faster you'll go. The final score tallies your reaction time to the green light and all three gears. Send your score to your friend and if he scores a time worse than yours, you'll get an easy 500 coins. While the garage management portion of the game is a bore, racing around in new cars, showing them off in car shows and bragging to your friends is what's going to keep you in Car Town.

Play Car Town on Facebook Now >

Backyard Monsters

Backyard Monsters gameplay

Backyard Monsters from The Casual Collective is a game similar to last week's Monster World (with much prettier, isometric 3D visuals) in that you employ monsters to build up a piece of land, but that's about where the similarity stops. The game, which enjoys over 1.7 million users and sits in this week's 15 spot, asks players to build the ultimate monster backyard by putting tiny blue slimes to work.

These slimes will build your structures for you that gather resources (goo, twigs, pebbles and putty) used to build higher-grade buildings or defensive towers to protect your backyard from enemies. The game follows a logical progression of building similar to strategy games like Civilization. The game's paid resource, shiny, allows players to buy speed boosts and limited time protection items.

First, you'll need to build a Town Hall, the backbone of any monster's backyard. Then you'll have to build structures to gather resources like the Pebble Shiner and the Putty Squisher. Most importantly, you'll have to build defensive structures like the Sniper and Cannon Towers to fend off other players. Wait, this sounds familiar.

This game, much like Kingdoms of Camelot from last week, seems to host real-time, multiplayer combat. You're given two weeks time to build up your backyard with turrets and towers before the real game begins, so sit tight if you're interested in seeing what happens next. (Hint: Expect lots of monster blood.)

Play Backyard Monsters on Facebook Now >

Cafe World kicks off anniversary by giving everyone 1 free Cafe Cash

Cafe World is kicking of its one-year anniversary by giving away 1 Free Cafe Cash to anyone who clicks this link: http://zyn.ga/18R. Well, what are you waiting for? Start clicking!

Crowdstar's It Girl having a Spending Spree Giveaway today

Are you enjoying the new Crowdstar game, It Girl? This game is a shopaholic's dream, with seemingly endless opportunities to buy new clothing and accessories and then compete against other fashionistas for the top "It Girl" spot. Today, at 4:00pm Pacific Time, they are throwing a big party.

Anyone who logs in between the hours of 4-7 p.m/ PST will be automatically entered into a drawing to win exclusive prizes from It Girl, such as new outfits. You don't need to play for the entire time, but simply log in during those hours to be eligible. For those of you on the East Coast, this will be from 7-10 p.m. EST. Sounds like they're looking for a good stress test of their servers, which hopefully means the game is improving its performance.

So far, 600 people have RSVPed for the event on Facebook.

Mafia Wars Free Property Upgrade returns for this weekend only!

Zynga is releasing yet another free property upgrade this weekend in Mafia Wars, and this time it makes a little more sense. A tipster to the Mafia Wars Maniac noticed the same banner image used in the promotion before and included the date on his task bar to prove that this is, in fact, happening this weekend on September 25 and 26.

While the first time around was a welcome freebie if a little pointless, this one comes just after the new Armory property has been released. If you haven't built yours yet, now is the time to take advantage of a free upgrade. Remember, this is a single upgrade for one property only, so choose wisely (pick the Armory).

FarmVille maker Zynga sets its sights on Android phones

As if FarmVille wasn't ubiquitous enough with 50-some-odd million players on Facebook, the farming game is also making the jump to new platforms. There is, of course, the PC version, then the iPhone and iPad versions, and based on these new job listings, it looks like Zynga has set its sites on conquering Android phones and devices next.

From the job listing:

    "Zynga is looking for strong software engineers to join our growing Mobile team! You'll be responsible for owning the development and architecture of both our up-and-coming as well as existing current hits. Are you ready to put your ideas into games that will be played instantly by millions?"

Based on the fact that this person will focus on 'up-and-coming as well as existing current hits,' I'd say it's would be a safe bet that Zynga's flagship game, FarmVille, will make the leap first. After that, your guess is as good as mine. We're still patiently waiting for other Zynga games -- like FrontierVille and Cafe World -- to arrive on iPhone, as well as a mobile Mafia Wars that connects with the Facebook version of the game.

Happy Aquarium: Play Werther's 'Caramelfest' for a free Crowdstar Golden Shark

Werther's Original Caramelfest game
Happy Aquarium Today's OfferIn a weird promotional mash-up, Werther's Original is advertising their candies by placing a caramel apple-dipping game in Crowdstar's Happy Aquarium.

"Caramelfest" presents players with a caramel apple recipe, and players must visually choose ingredients from the left that match what they see on the right. There's six recipes available: Caramel Apple, Funny Face Apple, Almond Drizzle Apple, Cookie Caramel Apple, Coconut Caramel Apple, and Cinnamon Spice Caramel Apple. Moreover, each of these recipes can also be printed directly from the game. (Note: Just be sure you've a PDF reader, cause the recipes are formatted as PDFs.)

When you're done playing Caramelfest, the offer will disappear from Happy Aquarium. But the game can still be found on Werther's official website here. It also has its own Facebook page, but it's definitely not a social game, nor does it aspire to be.
Happy Aquarium and Werther's Original free Crowdstar Golden Shark
Simply testing out the game via Happy Aquarium will allow players to get a free, Crowdstar Golden Shark. But you've gotta see if you qualify for it first. To do that, look to the right side of your aquarium, and click on the "Today's Offer" icon.

Angry Birds Halloween scares its way onto iPhone and iPad

Angry Birds Halloween
The hyper-addictive bird-flinging game for iPhone and iPad, Angry Birds, has gotten all spooked up with a Halloween edition. For $.99 on both devices, Angry Birds Halloween sports 45 new levels filled with pumpkins to smash and pigs to destroy--along with pigs to bash hiding in pumpkins--within a brand new plot line called "The Golden Egg of Terror."

Thankfully, the game includes the standard Facebook and Twitter integration. Other than that, not much else has changed, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to Angry Birds. Now, if only that Mighty Eagle would get here already to give those pumpkins a real clobbering.

Find the rest of our Halloween 2010 coverage in our nifty guide on FarmVille, Mafia Wars and more right here.

Pet Society: The mysterious Hideeni returns bearing delicious candy

If you spot a strange character wearing a pink pumpkin costume in your Pet Society pad -- don't run away. In fact, run toward the costumed stranger, because it's not a stranger at all! It's Hideeni, and he's baaaack -- this time handing out Halloween candy. If you see him, click on him and you'll be able to share his treats via a Facebook Wall post with up to five of your friends. pet society hideeni candies

As usual, giving away treats is easier than getting them and -- this that's never been more true than this go-round. I've logged into the game three times in a row and found Hideeni lurking around my newly Halloween-ified pad. What gives Hideeni -- aren't you supposed to, ya know, hide a little more?

Below is a complete list of all 12 candies you can collect from Hideeni. They might be virtual candy, but they really look good enough to eat -- especially that Halloween Chocolate Ghost and Halloween Chocolate Heart. Yum.
pet society candy hideeni - games.com

Once you collect all 12 Hiddeni candies, you'll be rewarded with a full-sized pumpkin costume.

pet society halloween pumpkin outfit

If you're so inclined, you can also buy this Hiddeni Halloween Candy Display case in the Furniture store for 400 coins. Then you can display your Halloween candy collection for bragging rights.


pet society halloween hideeni candy display case

Zynga to fans: Let's party in San Francisco!

Zynga Party shirt
If you missed our Zynga giveaways last week, but live on the West Coast, you've got another chance to snag some free Zynga goods at next week's official Zynga Fan Meet-Up. It was announced today across the Zynga games, and will be held on October 26th at the Jillian's Billiard Club in San Francisco from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Here's what they're promising:

    - Drink tickets provided to the first 100 fans
    - Zynga t-shirts given away to the first 100 fans
    - Light appetizers and FUN for everyone!
    - Find friends who love the games you love!

Please note that RSVP is required and simply clicking "I'm Attending" on the event's Facebook page will not be enough, so shoot an email to fanevents@zynga.com if you're roarin' to go!

AM Linkage: ESPNU College Town blows up, Zynga patents virtual currency?

ESPNU College Town, Millionaire City Lead Fastest-Growing Facebook Games [Gamasutra]

YouTube Interactive Games Are Actually Fun - Here Are 10 Of The Best [Social Times]

Digital Chocolate Releases the Latest NanoStars Title, Card Rivals [Inside Social Games]

Is Zynga Trying To Patent Virtual Currency? [TechCrunch]

Kleiner Perkins and Partners Create $250 Million 'Social' Fund [NY Times]

Crime City on Facebook: Grand Theft Auto for the click gaming set

The latest growing addiction on Facebook is yet another mafia game -- a true testament to the staying power of simulated thug life. Crime City from developer Funzio takes the popular the mafia genre and gives it a full graphical overhaul. Where games like Mafia Wars are strictly text-based role-playing games, Crime City allows you to actually guide your low-level thug around town, beating down enemies to rise through the criminal ranks. If you've been waiting for a Grand Theft Auto-style game for Facebook, this is as close as we've seen yet.

Crime City forces gamers to be social, somewhat overbearingly, as players build up their personal neighborhoods, ransack "rival hoods," and plunder city streets inspired by New York and other metropolitan areas. While the game doesn't require much thought and strategy, Crime City's 4.7 million monthly average users is a testament to its addictive powers. Crime City starts off with a quick character customization screen filled with several hair, pants and shirt options. You can also choose a randomly created character. From there, Frankie will introduce you to Canal Street where you will get to rob your first store. If you're a New Yorker, a light bulb may go off when you hear Canal Street. There are actually several New York location references in the game, including Ellis Island, home to a digital re-creation of the Statue of Liberty.

Each building and pedestrian in the game can be attacked in some way. If you hold your mouse pointer over a pedestrian it may give you the option to rub out, assassinate, rob, interrogate or defeat the individual. Regardless of what the action is, the end result is always the same. Your character will either beat down, shoot or stab the target – depending on what weapon the action called for. It's a little graphic, but the cheesy sound effects and guttural voice over of your victims are fun to hear.

For buildings you may be eliminating henchmen, cracking open safes, stealing documents or collecting medicine. Once again, regardless of the action, players are simply going up to each building guns blazing without little repercussion outside of the energy cost in performing the action. There's not much strategy involved. You'll click the building or person and then execute the job as long as you have the right weapon or item needed. If you don't have the right item, a pop up screen may appear telling you what item you need to buy. When you level up, the game will also allow you to share money, diamonds and experience points with friends. Typically, you don't see sharing of experience points in social games so this is a nice plus.

Not all weapons can be bought; you will often rely on friends to give you weapons you need to get the job done. The game forces you to announce on your wall that you need a certain object in order to complete a mission. Then, once your friend sees what item you need, he or she can gift it to you. There are several mission items like brass knuckles, ski masks, and steel garrotes that can only be received through gifting or gold bars. You'll get gold bars here and there throughout the game, and can always purchase more for a few US dollars.

This leads into another social element in Crime City. Each player has his or her own neighborhood to build up. Buildings require steel, which may be picked up every eight hours from your still mill or through missions. As you build buildings like a pizza shop, gas station or coffee shop, you will be able to collect money from your businesses. However, building the coffee shop may require paint or building the bank will require a cinder block, drill and paint. These can only be purchased through gold bars or gifting.

While there's not a lot of strategy in this game, there is a lot of clicking. When you beat up a person or rob a storefront, usually you'll be presented with money, diamonds, and other miscellaneous items (including weapons and steel). Instead of automatically receiving these in your inventory, you will actually have to click the item to pick them up. Sometimes with the crowded HUD (head-up display), gamers will miss seeing certain items that blend into the building colors or they may accidentally click one of the menu items while trying to collect their money. This happened a few times where the money overlapped with the map and I was transported to a different location. Poof. Money lost.

Another social aspect in the game is attacking "rival hoods." You can travel to other neighborhoods and rob their storefronts. Gamers can also fight other mafia members. However, this is not as easy as you would think. Unlike Mafia Wars, figuring out if you have the advantage in a one-on-one battle against an actual player character is difficult. You can compare experience points and weapons cache, but simple things like a power meter are not present. If you win, you'll gain Respect Tokens that currently seem to have no viable use.

While there's no real story to mention in Crime City, the game achieves success in "click compulsion." Even though there's no thought required to play, you still won't be able to help yourself from clicking everything in sight to level up from low level lackey to an indispensable member of the Family.

Play Crime City on Facebook now >

Mafia Wars Rumble in Russia coming soon, beat down bosses for loot

Have your knuckles healed from the showdown in San Juan yet? Quite frankly, Zynga doesn't care as it'll soon release Rumble in Russia, a brand new boss fight event for Mafia Wars. This time around, there will be four bosses to take down with the help of your friends for new loot. Better yet, friends will have an incentive to help often as the friends who do the most damage to any given boss will get bonus rewards.

Again, players will have to defeat each boss in order and they'll get progressively stronger. Not to mention that each boss will have three levels of mastery and each will reward a Mastery item that will grow stronger as you defeat more difficult versions of each boss. The grand prize for mastering all four bosses? A giant bear. If you thought having a wolf around was cool, try a hulking beast named Ursa Major with 60 Attack and 115 Defense. Now, those are some numbers.

We're unsure as to when this event will make way into the game, but we're going to estimate sometime shortly after the Rendezvous at the Pentagon is through. So, stock up on those beefy items from Italy before this event arrives to make sure you have a fighting chance against that guy (pictured).

Moshi Monsters: Get Dustbin Bieber and three more exclusive in-game items right here

If you haven't heard of Moshi Monsters, it's probably the most adorable kid-friendly online games in existence. In this pet simulation game (or should I say monster sim, since it stars cute little monsters), care for your pet monster and outfit its home with items purchased from in game stores.This game plays a lot like PetVille or Pet Society on Facebook, the biggest difference is that Moshi Monsters is only playable on the Web and has oodles of educational games geared for kids.

Games.com is giving away codes for four exclusive Moshi Monsters items -- Dustbin Beaver, R2 Trashcan, Blobert and a Confetti Rocket. Find the codes for each of these items (and how to redeem them) after the jump.


Here are the four items and the codes you'll need to enter into the game to collect these exclusive items.

Blobert: MOSHIMOSHI11
R2 Trashcan: GINGERSNAP11
Dustbin Beaver Poster: GIFTISLAND23
Confetti Rocket: PROFPURPLEX6





moshi monsters

OK, so you've got the codes -- now what? Head to moshimonsters.com and go to the sign-in page. Typing in your login information and then type in the code for the item you want in the 'Secret Code' box.

moshi monsters sign-in page

Then, after you sign in, head to your monster's house and open your inventory box. You'll find your exclusive item inside the box and all you need to do is drag it into your monster's room. It's as simple as that.

moshi monsters


moshi monsters items

Xbox 360's Kinect Sports Facebook app launches, what about Xbox Live?

Kinect Sports
While critics and consumers are pretty divided on Microsoft's new Kinect for the Xbox 360, that's not going to stop Kinect Sports-developer Rare Studios from supporting their launch game. Going with that, Rare just launched a Facebook app to support Kinect Sports internationally by allowing players to create leagues and upload their videos for all to see. The Kinect has been largely marketed and approached as a social experience, designed to bring families and friends together instantly in the home by Avatar recognition and on the web through video sharing and chat.

With the Kinect Sports Facebook app, Rare hopes to leverage the power of the social network to create a social hub for all Kinect Sports players to go. But we're a bit confused. Why make a separate Facebook app when the Xbox 360 already supports Facebook--not to mention it already supports online multiplayer? It's odd that this feature wasn't included in Kinect Sports from the beginning or done through Xbox Live.

These leagues acts as small tournaments rather than something like a full season, but track individual players' stats and position in the leaderboard. After importing their Avatar using Windows Live ID, players can the join the default international leagues of each sport at varying difficulties or create their own leagues with up to 10 games. Then you'll have to invite your Facebook friends to get started, but there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing which friends actually have Kinect Sports. Whoever remains on top after the set amount of games is the winner and the league ends, forcing players to create another.

Again, the thing about this app that snags us is, aside from using your pool of Facebook friends (who may or may not even own a Kinect), it doesn't seem to use the network for much else. I doubt this is what Libe had in mind. While we're all for new ways to bridge the gap between Facebook and traditional games, couldn't this have been done just using Xbox Live?

FrontierVille's Expand the General Store! Goals: Everything you need to know

General Store
Still makin' those babies? Well, you're probably going to need a bigger business to support the new litter, so Zynga will soon introduce new "Expand the General Store!" Goals to FrontierVille. And we have the information you need to complete these missions and grow your corner store into the Wal Mart of the Wild West.

Considering these Goals haven't even been released yet, here's a breakdown of the bare bones requirements for each Goal in the series of four behind the break.
HankExpand the General Store:
-Collect 10 Building Plans (request from friends)
-Finish the General Store Upgrade (most likely materials from friends)

Completing this mission will reward players with one Cherry Tree Boost and 100 XP. It will also unlock the next mission:

Meet the New Boss:
-Sell 20 Adult Cows
-Use a Cherry Tree Boost (use the reward from the first Goal)
-Put up 10 Help Wanted Signs (request from friends)

Meeting the new boss will net players a Cherry Candy Collectible, 200 XP and the next Goal:

You're Hired:
-Hire Hank (pictured)

Hank--who looks an awful lot like Owen Wilson--is a new character that will arrive in FrontierVille with this Goal series. Much like Frontier Jack, it seems like he'll be a recurring addition. All you need to need to do is click on Hank on your homestead to hire him and this Goal is over.

A Real Knee Slapper:
-Listen to one of Hank's jokes
-Collect two Upgraded General Store bonuses
-Harvest 20 Sunflowers

This is where things get interesting. It looks like Hank is going to be hanging around the homestead for a while, and clicking on his avatar will cause him to tell a joke. Completing the mission rewards players with, of course, a new friend. But you'll also enjoy the 400 XP and General Store sign decoration--probably not as much as Hank, though.

Celebrate Winter in City of Wonder with new Christmas items

Playdom is ushering in the holiday season in fashion in City of Wonder, by releasing a series of Winter and Christmas themed items to the game's store and featured items page.

As of this writing, there aren't that many items available in the game's store, but you can pick up an Ice Skating Rink for 16,000 coins which is a cultural item adding 850 Happiness Points to your town.

Other items are limited edition and are the Christmas Tree and Ice Angel. Both are premium items, available for either 24 or 34 Gold, respectively. Each of these items will reward you with quite a bit of Happiness Points, ranging from with the Christmas Tree being worth 2660 Happiness Points, and the Ice Angel giving off 2500.

Finally, you can make sure that all of your friends get into the holiday spirit by sending them free items from the game's free gifts page. As of this writing, there are two themed items available - the Snowman and the Snow Couple. Both are decorative terrain items, but they are sure to add a cute, whimsical touch to your City of Wonder experience this Christmas.

If history tells us anything, this won't be the last set of Christmas or Winter themed items released in City of Wonder, and we'll be sure to let you know if and when Playdom decides to expand on the theme any further.

Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.

Happy Pets: Random Kangaroos and Monkeys now available

If you're the kind of Happy Pets player that likes a bit of spontaneity in their pet adoption, you'll be happy to learn that CrowdStar has added two new random pet generators to the Happy Pets store. These generators will allow you to create a Random Kangaroo or a Random Monkey.

For those that are unfamiliar with the way these random pets work, your pet will be generated before you even purchase it. You can just click on the silhouette to see what this particular random pet looks like. If you don't like it, click cancel and try again. With a little luck and perseverance, you're sure to find a pet with the color combination of your dreams.

Of course, the ability to create an entirely unique, one-of-a-kind pet isn't cheap, as a single pet from either category will cost you 68 Facebook Credits, or the equivalent of $6.80 US.

Additionally, these pets will only be available to create and purchase for a limited time, with both being limited to quantities of between 1100 and 1500 as of this writing.

FrontierVille 'Winter's a Comin' Goal glitch is fixed... sort of

It seems that a good amount of FrontierVille players have noticed a glitch in the Winter's a Comin' Goal where their visits to other Neighbors are not being counted. There's no way to finish the mission without this requirement, so we were pretty much at a standstill. If you still are, Zynga released an explanation for how to get around the problem:

    After visiting a neighbor and returning to your homestead the progress towards your quest will not show correctly. In order to have your progress updated please exit FrontierVille to your Facebook homepage, and then reenter FrontierVille. Once you are back in the game you should see your progress updated, and your neighbor visits counted towards quest completion. If you have already visited the required number of neighbors to complete the quest, the quest will automatically be completed when you enter the game again. You may not see the pop up letting you know that you have finished the quest, but the rewards will be added to your account. Please check your inventory for any quest rewards you are missing.

So, we just have to push that good old restart button, basically. Now, this isn't the first time Zynga has had problems with holiday events, if anyone remembers the Halloween horrors of crashing games and glitches aplenty. While these events are noticeably less grand than before, this could be the beginning of a larger problem. However, we hope imagine the team would be much more prepared for the stress of the holiday season.

CityVille Franchises: Everything you need to know

Ozzieland HQ
Something unique to Zynga's brand new CityVille is its Franchises. This new feature allows you to initially choose one business of your own to expand into your friends' cities. Starting a franchise is simple enough. Just visit a friend's city and find the empty plot of land in their town. Players can also add additional plots of land and invite their friends to do business with them.

Find out how to create the foundations of a CityVille empire after the break. CityVille land plotBefore we dive into this, the most important thing to remember is that Goods--the lifeblood of all business in CityVille--come only from farming and other select missions. This secondary resource to Energy fuels all of your businesses including your franchised ones. As a rule of thumb, your farmland should always be planted (though, they do wither) and you might want to build silos. Lots of them.

If this is the first time your expanding, then you'll see a list of all the businesses you run in your hometown. Choose one and plop it down on that land just waiting to make some money and you're good to go. Though, it'll cost some coins to build the new branch--but fortunately it won't cost any Energy and it completes instantly. Your friend will later have to accept and soon enough you'll be making some extra cash.

Franchised businesses work much like normal ones, though they're backed by what's called an HQ. It's from this massive building that you can supply your branches in all of your friends' cities with Goods as well as collect daily bonuses. Here is also where you'll discover that you can have more than one franchise with your second opening up at level 10. You'll be taken through the whole process via a series of goals--which can be found on the left side of the screen--lead by a balding businessman named Edgar.

Franchise Menu
After building your franchise into a bustling business with a headquarters, you'll be asked to employ some friendly competition. This goal will ask you to send 10 spy-packed tour buses to your friends' businesses to get a leg up on your opponents. Completing goals similar to these will help grow your franchises and increase your profits.

Think of franchises as what you're really leveling up rather than your city. While in the real world we wouldn't suggest a mayor do that, it seems that Franchises are going to be what advances us further in CityVille than just having a pretty little town. As a recap, there are three essentials to maintaining a Franchise in CityVille: Goods, Energy (which will come from...) and visits to friends. Now, go forth and and capitalize that city... and a few more while you're at it.

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

CityVille Shipping and Expansion: A getting started guide

Shipping via Boat
If you're going to be a big business tycoon slash mayor of a city, you're going to have to look beyond just your town. I'm talking expansion, folks, and in CityVille you'll need to do just that (in more ways than one) if you want to be successful. First things first, you'll need to do some intercity commerce before you'll be able to expand. Especially considering the first city limits expansion costs 20 thousand coins.

Welcome to the wide world of exports and imports, which you'll find out about in detail behind the break.

Train Schedule
Train PlatformShipping can be done two ways: by train or by, well, ship. You'll only have access to shipping via train until a later mission comes along that involves building a pier and whatnot. Luckily, the train station is raring to go as soon as you arrive. However, we don't recommend you jump into shipping until you're well into the swing of things (i.e. read our Franchise guide).

Once you have a good amount of goods and cash, each of which come from farming and collecting from properties, you can start shipping goods and buying them from Samantha through the Train Schedule Menu. It's here that you can select to buy or sell goods and to how many people with varying prices, gains and times. Selling goods detracts from your supply, but nets you cash while importing goods does the reverse. Sending an receiving anything from Samantha's city goes something like this:

-Sell to Samantha: 5 minutes, -50 Goods +150 coins
-Buy from Samantha: 5 minutes, +50 Goods -210 coins

Notice the timer. This is how long it takes for your train to make the trip. Once it returns, you can collect your Goods or cash. Now, sending goods to multiple friends' cities goes a little differently, so here are the current rates and times:

Buy Goods:
-3 Friends: 4 hours, +250 Goods -925 coins
-4 Friends: 8 hours, +350 Goods -1,365 coins
-6 Friends: 12 hours, +450 Goods -1,844 coins
-8 Friends: 14 hours, +550 Goods -2,365 coins
-10 Friends: 48 hours, +700 Goods -3,150 coins

Sell Goods:
-3 Friends: 4 hours, -250 Goods +500coins
-4 Friends: 8 hours, -350 Goods +612 coins
-6 Friends: 12 hours, -450 Goods +675 coins
-8 Friends: 14 hours, -550 Goods +687 coins
-10 Friends: 48 hours, -700 Goods +700 coins

Train Friends Menu
You'll notice that when you select to buy or sell goods to a multiple amount of neighbors, that you can choose which of your friends to include in the exchange. It'd be wise to choose friends who you do business with normally considering they get a coin bonus for your trains that pass through. Also, doing this will help remind your friends to continue doing business with you. The returns aren't exactly amazing currently, which is most likely due to the fact that Goods are relatively easy to come by through farming right now. But imagine that later on the game, as in when overseas shipment is open to everyone, that this will become extremely important in fueling your eventual list of franchises.

Eventually, there will be an interesting balance to be maintained once everyone reaches higher levels of commerce. It seems that the pier and ships will be an automated process, simply collecting goods on various timers. But before you can build a pier and start shipping good internationally, so to speak, you'll need to become the mayor. (We'll have more on both once these options become available.)

Expansion Menu
Now that you've built up the savvy to support your imminent explosion onto to commerce scene, let's talk literally. Just like in other Zynga games, the option to expand your land is there from the beginning in the Build menu. However, the first land grab, at 12x12, costs a whopping 20 thousand coins. You'll also need a Zoning Permit, which your friends can gift you for free from the Gifting Menu.

CityVille Land Expansion
Expansion behaves a bit differently than in Zynga's other games. Instead of just growing larger on all sides, you'll be granted a 12x12 spot of land that you can choose to place along any one of your city's four edges. This opens things up for a little strategy. For instance, if you're near a local river or the coastline, I would highly recommend expanding in that direction first to get a pier going as early as possible. Until that time comes, just keep on farming, shipping those goods and growing your franchise empire.

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