Zynga vs. MindJolt: MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe has buyout spree

Wasting no time after MySpace's imminent failure, founder and former CEO Chris DeWolfe has acquired two new social game development companies through MindJolt, his own social game platform. MindJolt gobbled up both SGN and Hallpass Media, a leading developer and publisher of social mobile games and a popular free online game network, respectively.

The terms or amounts spent on the buyouts are undisclosed, but DeWolfe said this in a statement: "The acquisition of SGN and Hallpass broadens our content offering and extends our reach," DeWolfe said. "Mindjolt becomes a cross-platform 'triple threat' with great games across mobile, social, and web platforms. This three-pillar approach enables MindJolt to deliver our games wherever people choose to play, and differentiates our service from others in this space."


As you can see from his previous endeavors, DeWolfe aims big--all the time. And the former MySpace chief appears to refuse defeat in this next venture, laying the framework for a social gaming company to compete with the bigwigs like Zynga and EA's Playfish studio. SGN, founded in 2008, has seen its mobile games like Mini Tycoon Casino, F.A.S.T., and Skies of Glory top the charts on the Apple App Store, and now brings those games to MindJolt. Not to mention its development talent.

Chris DeWolfeHallpass will help MindJolt expand its reach beyond Facebook with a network of over 4 million players and 1,500 new games. The company is already well-positioned to take the FarmVille creator head on in the Facebook arena as well with an app that enjoys 6.8 million monthly players and over 1.2 million daily fans.

With these two acquisitions, it appears that MindJolt is working to expand where Zynga has just begun to venture into: mobile and the rest of the Internet. However, Zynga already has two of the top mobile developers, Newtoy, and Area/Code. Will MindJolt be able to stake its claim on mobile before Zynga has a chance to capitalize on its own recent buyouts?

That's not even the end of it. According to AdWeek, DeWolfe (pictured right) plans to follow Zynga's lead in other areas as well like advertising. Zynga has already been wildly successful with brand integration in its games--though perhaps not for gameplay's sake--and MindJolt aims for the same results. "With 25 to 30 million unique users, there's a critical mass of users there," DeWolfe said to AdWeek. "We can go to ad agencies and to top media buyers and integrate their brands into our games."

And with DeWolfe looking to sell more virtual goods too, Zynga is looking at an assault from all angles. The only problem is that CEO Mark Pincus and his crew have already been at this game for a year. DeWolfe and MindJolt are already at a disadvantage. Though, DeWolfe has plenty experience in this department, creating MySpace and bringing social networking into the mainstream. MindJolt just might have a better shot at toppling Zynga than most companies that rise to the challenge, but we won't see the dust settle on this battle for some time.

[Image Credits: MindJolt and Mark Robert Halper]

How well against Zynga do you MindJolt will do given these acquisitions? Should Zynga be wary of MindJolt, or is this just another company looking for a sliver of the social gaming pie?

FrontierVille too slow? Try Zynga's hard drive install

Goodbye, Pony Express. Hello, Transcontinental Railroad! Has FrontierVille been running slower than a pack mule? Zynga is offering a hard drive install for disgruntled players that claims to improve performance. Even with all the performance enhancements recently, the game still runs like a snail in molasses purely because of all the content introduced to the game weekly.

How does it work? Well, Zynga will install nonessential FrontierVille files like sounds and artwork into a folder on your hard drive. Then, every time you boot up the game on Facebook, it will load these files locally from your computer rather than over the Internet. This, in theory, will boost the loading speed when not only jumping between homesteads and initially loading the game, but while moving around the environments as well. However, the speed boost has yet to be offered on our end, so sit tight for our impressions.

In the meantime, FrontierVille Info reader Alexander Cain says that he won't touch the optional installation with a ten-foot pole. ""Zynga wanting to put crap on my hard drive? I can't stand them as they are already, I said 'no' this this, there is no way I will ever trust this company to place items on my hard drive," said Cain. "I don't care how fast the game will run, this company will never see one byte or bit of data on my computer." Well, it's probably a bit too late for that considering recent trends, but he raises a valid point. Who knows whether this will allow Zynga to see even nonessential data on our machines--is that worth a faster FrontierVille?

[Source and Image Credit: FrontierVille Info]

Do you plan to accept the hard drive install from Zynga? Do you think Zynga is overstepping their bounds with this offer, or is it all in the sake of a better game?

Free Facebook Credits Spring Giveaway

Update: This contest has ended and the winners have been contacted on Facebook by Alexander Armero. Check back in with Games.com The Blog for more news, guides, and free contests in the future!

Though no one wants to admit it, secretly we all know that spring only means pollen allergies and lots of rain. To me, rainy humid days sound like the perfect excuse to shack-up and get down with my favorite Facebook games. I officially give you permission to do the same!

free facebook creditsBut if that's not enough of an excuse to stay indoors, Games.com is celebrating the changing seasons by giving away free Facebook Credits to our fans. We're giving away $60 in Facebook Credits gift cards that can be used in all of your favorite games like FarmVille, CityVille, and FrontierVille.

Tired of not having those exclusive items that all your friends seem to have? Don't want to spend the money? Then don't miss this chance to get your own free Facebook Credits gift card to use in whatever game you like! So whether you just finished celebrating Passover, are looking forward to Easter, or are just glad the winter is over, you can enter to win free Facebook Credits here at Games.com.

Find out how to enter to win free Facebook Credits below.

Enter for Free Facebook Credits:
Step 1: Go to the Games.com Facebook fanpage: (http://www.facebook.com/gamescom).

Step 2: 'Like' the fanpage so you can see the latest Facebook game news, guides, and cheats.

Step 3: Enter the giveaway by heading to the fanpage and leave a comment telling us the following:

What do you like most about Facebook games? And what do you hate most about Facebook games? Speak your mind, now is your chance to rant!

(My favorite thing about Facebook games is being able to play with my friends and see their farms/cities/etc. My least favorite thing is having energy constraints in games. I just want to play!)


Next week, we'll randomly select four winners. Alexander Armero (me) will message them on Facebook and send them their free Facebook Credits gift card code. Sound easy enough?

Get started by heading to the Games.com fanpage to enter for free Facebook credits!

LOLapps' Ravenwood Fair goes for gold today with Ravenstone Mine

If you're looking for a little darkness to your social games that doesn't involve vampires, LOLapps finally launches its Ravenwood Fair expansion, Ravenstone Mine, today. VentureBeat reports that the game, led by Doom co-creator John Romero will add an underworld to game, which enjoys 11.8 million monthly players since its release in Nov. 2010. The game follows Zynga's FarmVille English Countryside in the trend of keeping relevant with a major content release.

And it's a logical step: Just like major content updates have revived MMOs like World of WarCraft for years, so why can't it do the same for social games? It's a gamble that Romero (who just opened his own studio, Loot Drop) and LOLapps are obviously willing to take. And what a gamble it is. Players will dive deep into the mines beneath the Ravenwood Fair to explore, mine new resources, uncover ruins and other mysteries.

[Video Credit: LOLapps]

Are you excited to go on another adventure in Ravenwood Fair? How successful do you think this expansion will be in breathing new life into LOLapps' lead franchise?

Zynga toying with new FarmVille mobile game, survey suggests

Mobile farmers, take heed: Zynga has heard your cries, lambasting FarmVille for iPhone. Well, sort of. According to a new survey by the omnipotent developer, a new, lighter version of FarmVille mobile is in the works. This new, stripped down FarmVille will operate much like Mafia Wars Atlantic City does on mobile devices, offering only a few options.

But that's exactly where you come in. Zynga wants to know which services are worth including, asking everything from the obvious (harvest time updates) to the obscure (acquiring collectibles). The survey even includes a mock-up design (pictured) that looks strikingly similar to Playfish's My Empire mobile app.

Speaking freely, you can imagine this isn't exactly what many had in mind when Zynga announced its aggressive approach to mobile. Improved mobile gaming experiences isn't necessarily streamlining--isn't it moving forward? And to strip a game down to its most basic features, albeit in a fancy menu system with fun artwork, is arguably taking a few steps back. But don't be alarmed, folks, as this survey (which you can take here) could easily be a fraction of an idea rather than one that's raring to go.

[Via FarmVille Freak]

[Image Credit: Zynga]

Have you taken this new survey yet? What do you think are Zynga's intentions for the future of its mobile games, based on this survey? Do you agree with this direction?

FarmVille creator Mark Pincus stalked by Russian stripper, er... former stripper

But they didn't meet in a strip club. Business Insider reports that Mark Pincus, CEO and founder of Zynga, filed for a restraining order against Vera Svenchina, an amateur filmmaker and former stripper from Russia. Seriously folks, you can't make this stuff up. According to Business Insider, Pincus filed for the restraining order in San Francisco court in Feb., claiming that Svenchina threatened his wife and children and even visited him personally in his home twice in one week.

Pincus cited several bizarre emails and voice mails across several days in February, in which Svenchina makes insane and offensive claims including Zynga was her Russian family's idea, Google's co-founders killed her father, that Pincus's children are "ugly babies" and that "I wish them all the worst." It was likely easier for the court to grant the restraining order in March after learning that Svenchina was put into a mental ward for 72 hours after she went to Mountain View Police Department in May 2010 to report that Google was sending messages to her brain, ordering her to kill herself.

Pincus claims to have met Svenchina when she was dating a friend of his, Business Insider reports. But a reader submitted a letter to the news website that appears to reveal that Pincus had agreed to invest in one of her independent films (she's a bit of an entrepreneur--just like Mark!). However, a glaring grammatical error towards the ends raises a red flag. Hey, it was only a matter of time before Pincus attracted a stalker--it's one of the few drawbacks of being a billionaire. And at least it's a more... exciting one than Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's recent "fan."

CityVille Upgrade your Bank: Everything you need to know

It seems that every single community building might be heading for an upgrade in CityVille, at the rate this is going. First we had the Post Office and Police Station, and now we can add the Bank to the list of upgradeable buildings in the game. To upgrade the Bank, you'll need to click on the building (after collecting its profits, where applicable), and then make sure you have enough friends (or Samantha bonuses) to fill the eight total positions needed to upgrade the building. After all, for a bigger business, you need more staff to run it.

Once that's done, your Bank will go from a population allowance of 250 citizens to allowing 350 citizens to live in your town. You'll also earn the chance to receive Gold Plating and bonus energy every time you collect the profits from your Bank from there on in. Once reaching this level, you can upgrade yet again by having 10 positions filled. This gives you a chance to earn two Gold Plating and even more bonus energy when collecting. Currently, level 3 is as high as you can take your Bank in terms of upgrades.

We'll make sure to let you know whether or not more upgrades come to other buildings in the game.

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

Have you started upgrading your Bank? What do you think of all of these building upgrades in the game?

CityVille offers the glitz and glam with new Hollywood decorations

In addition to the rewards you'll receive by completing the Movie Star Goals in CityVille, you can also purchase a set of businesses, homes and decorations in the game's store in the same Hollywood theme.

For the lone Business, you can pick up the Bowling Alley, which costs just 6,000 coins. It needs 180 Goods to operate, and you'll be able to collect 765 coins of profit every time those Goods are used. Meanwhile, a single residence is also available to purchase - the Private Estate, which starts at a population of 120 that can be expanded to 220 citizens. It costs 7,500 coins and gives off 150 coins in profit regardless of the number of citizens "living" in it.

The other items are decorations, and you can find out all about them behind the break.
There are five decorative goodies currently available in the game, with some being available for both coins or City Cash.

Celebrity Trailer - 24,000 coins - 9% bonus payout
Star Walk (sidewalk) - 50 coins per piece
Celebrity Billboard - 15 City Cash - 6% bonus payout
Daring Rescue (movie scene) - 24,000 coins - 9% bonus payout
Alien Attack (movie scene) - 20 City Cash - 14% bonus payout

While the Bowling Alley business may not immediately scream of a Hollywood theme, plenty of movies contain scenes inside them, so I can definitely find the connection (oh, and "They call me the dude").

While none of these items have a listed expiration date, it's likely that some of them won't be around forever, so shop fast!

Do you plan on creating your own movie set in your city? Which scenes will you include or ignore? Do you like the idea of creating a Hollywood Walk of Fame in your town?

Sony Online Entertainment VP John Blakely joins Zynga Austin as GM

It almost goes without saying that Sony has had one turbulent spring, but the company suffers yet another loss in its Sony Online Entertainment division. And this time, it's not your information. SOE VP of Development John Blakely has moved on from his position with the Facebook and massively multiplayer (MMO) game creator to Zynga, Kotaku reports. Blakely will become GM of Zynga Austin. According to Kotaku, this took place over a month ago, as Blakely's Linkedin page reads.

The move came just as the company suffered a debilitated network that will likely cost the company (and its developers) millions. However, Inside Social Games observes that this move could have been a long time coming, according to AppData's findings on SOE's social games. Games like PoxNora have suffered a terribly steep decline to now just over 3 thousand monthly players. And even it's games attached to mega licenses like Catch A Killer enjoy a mere 22 thousand monthly players.

When contacted, SOE responded to Kotaku, thanking Blakely for "the passion and leadership he brought to work every day and fully support him in his future endeavors." Blakely is succeeded by Lori Jameson, executive development director at SOE, who ironically enough oversaw all of SOE Austin's efforts for five years running. The road to recovery for SOE just keeps growing longer, but it takes more than this to bring a multi-billion dollar company down.

[Image Credit: Austin 360]

How do you think this move could affect SOE in the long run? Do you think it was a good decision for Zynga to bring him in?

Rovio flings Angry Birds Rio update with 30 beach ball-bouncing levels

Angry Birds Rio Update 1.1
What do you to keep the title of best-selling mobile game? Update, update, update! Rovio practices this mantra without missing a beat, as it releases Angry Birds Rio version 1.1. Dubbed "Beach Volley!" the update reigns in 30 new levels packed with new achievements and secret bonuses, and it's free for those who already bought the game. (Are you sold yet?)

The levels all seem to revolve around evil, tropical moneys and beach balls, which hopefully explain why this game is being updated long after the Rio film was released. If your interest in flinging flightless birds into poorly-erected structures has been piqued, download the update through this iTunes link.

Rovio recently released Angry Birds to Chrome using HTML5 at Google's I/O Conference, and already a hack was created for it. Now, get to work on unlocking these new levels, guys.

[Image Credit: Apple]

Have you downloaded this new Angry Birds update? If so, what do you think of the new content? How fare do you see the Angry Birds franchise going?

CityVille Sneak Peek: Emergency Clinic upgrades incoming

    CityVille Emergency Clinic 2
If you hadn't noticed, there has been a growing trend in Zynga games: It's all about the upgrades. And these images of unreleased Emergency Clinic upgrades in CityVille, thanks to CityVille Chat, confirm the ongoing fad. If this feature releases to CityVille, players will soon be able to upgrade their Emergency Clinic for it to provide more Ribbons and more Energy with each level upgraded (max of two). According to the leak, increasing your population will unlock the higher Emergency Clinic tiers, which is somewhat different from the other Community Building upgrades. We'll have more details as soon as this new feature launches.

[Image Credit: CityVille Chat]

Are you excited to upgrade the Emergency Clinic? How do you feel about this ongoing trend in Zynga games?

FrontierVille Legends Save Trees from Cordwood Pete Goal: Everything you need to know

Another legendary frontier folk has entered the wild western land of FrontierVille, and this time it's Cordwood Pete. This dude was actually Paul Bunyan's younger brother, a lumberjack known for his inversely small stature compared to his massive brother. But onto the Goal. This Goal is simple enough, and results in an appealing reward, the Golden Axe. OK, maybe not the Golden Axe, but a gold one nonetheless.

FrontierVille Legends Cordwood Pete

Gold Axe1. Save Trees from Cordwood Pete:

    Chop 100 Trees
    Collect 15 Lemonade
    Have or craft 20 Fire


To chop the 100 Trees, you've been allowed to chop them both on your homestead or while on friend visits. This will save you a ton of Energy, and you'll get tons of Wood to craft those Fires. (I can't imagine how bare our homesteads are going to look after this.) To craft the 20 Fire, you will need to gather 140 Wood and 100 Cloth before you head to the Wagon, so make sure you visit friends to chop those Trees down.

As you do this, you must request from your friends, so do that while you gather materials. Complete these tasks and earn 750 XP, one Oak Tree and a Gold Axe, which provides five chops for every one Energy spent.

[Source: FrontierVille Info]

[Image Credit: FrontierVille Buddies, FRVille Italia]

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

Have you started this brand new, and Legendary, Goal? What do you think of this theme of recurring Goals?

PopCap bounces Peggle Android (for free) for 24 hours on Amazon

Oh, that productivity sure was nice while it lasted, wasn't it? Well, say goodbye to all that work you were getting done--Peggle has arrived on Android. Pocket Gamer reports that PopCap has released its hit Pachinko-meets-Breakout casual game to the Amazon Appstore. Oh, and it's 100 percent free for the next 24 hours, so get to it, like, now if you want in on some free peg-pinging action.

However, we'd probably pay for it regardless: The game is well worth your ... free download in this case. (But it's totally worth the $2.99 it'll bounce back in up to come tomorrow this time.) With a litany of single player levels, a bunch of different Peggle Master characters each with special powers, Challenge levels and more, Peggle on Android will keep you busy for hours. Perhaps even while you are busy doing, you know, work stuff.

[Image Credit: Pocket Gamer]

Click here to download Peggle on Android for Free Now >

Are you a Peggle fanatic like we tend to be in the office? What do you think of Peggle's exclusivity deal with Amazon when it comes to Android games?

FrontierVille Sneak Peek: Bess' Rodeo coming soon, so giddy up

Before you head off to the FrontierVille Oregon Pioneer Trail forever, it's time for a good old rodeo send-off (hopefully not a naked one). Bess' Rodeo is almost ready to be put together, and the first information we have of it is simply a piece of promotional art and this official statement from Zynga: "This week we have some new things that should provide some excitement, like the brand new Rodeo, where you get to compete with your neighbors in barrel races and much more!" So, it looks like the feature will be here by the end of the week, and we'll have a full guide for you as soon as it arrives. So, prepare for a wild ride later this week in FrontierVille--seriously, have you ever been to a rodeo? They're downright frightening.

[Source and Image Credit: FrontierVille Info]

Have you seen this new feature yet in the game? How do you think it will play out once released?

EA free-to-play studio GM leaves to head Ngmoco Sweden studio

Yet another EA executive has left the company for a competitor in the casual/free-to-play games industry. This time, former general manager of EA's free-to-play developer Easy Studios, Ben Cousins (pictured), has left to lead Ngmoco's Sweden studio in the making. According to Gamasutra, Cousins left EA back in March of this year, and just now has announced his association with Ngmoco's upcoming Stockholm studio, which will focus on global free-to-play titles for DeNA's Mobage Network.

The games industry is at an inflection point," Cousins explained to Gamasutra. "These platforms are bringing hundreds of millions of new gamers into the fold, and at the same time existing core gamers are discovering the innovation, immersion and connectivity they bring." This is the third time in just under two months that a former EA executive has left the company and later joined a competing free-to-play games provider.

Even Bing Gordon, former EA CCO and now an investor in Zynga, has shared his personal advice for the giant to survive amidst the rapidly shifting games scene. Times are uncertain for everyone in social games. While EA has enjoyed a distant second to Zynga for some time when it comes to Facebook games (and possibly even in wealth), it stills holds some valuable brands like Monopoly and its EA Sports games. So, all is far from lost. Though, it might be time to consider Bing's business-wise words.

[Image Credit: Gamasutra]

Why do you think this many execs are leaving EA in such a short period of time? Will EA survive both this and Zynga's imminent IPO? And what about the games?

Classic FarmVille Trees revisit Market for National Tree Day, but where?

A slew of classic Trees have returned to the FarmVille Market in honor of National Tree Day (?). However, each costs Farm Cash, and Zynga didn't mention donating any portion of the proceeds to any green movement in particular. (Not that it has to do anything.) Perhaps it's strapped for cash after promising Save the Children $200 thousand for when the Pioneer Trail in FrontierVille unlocks. Right.

Anyway, there are 24 Trees in total that have arrived in the Market, and they'll only be around for another three days. Most of the Trees go for between 5 and 10 Farm Cash, though one asks for a whopping 20 Farm Cash: the Giant Bubblegum Tree. If you ask us, you're better off not spending like crazy on Trees that get constantly re-released in different colors through Mystery Seedlings, unless you're a proud collector, of course.

The Market promotion celebrates National Tree Day, but doesn't mention exactly what nation is celebrating. (As it turns out, there are a lot of National Tree Days.) Based on brief--very brief--research, we're gonna' go with .. Australia, which celebrates the eco-holiday on July 30. In the words of NBC Saturday morning TV: "The more you know!"

FarmVille National Tree Day trees

FarmVille National Tree Day trees 2

FarmVille National Tree Day trees 3

FarmVille National Tree Day trees 4

How are you celebrating National Tree Day in Australia from your neck of the woods? Do you think Zynga should donate some of these proceeds to the tree-friendly cause?

FarmVille Instant Grow available for Animals: Just add Farm Cash!

Zynga has gone and done it now. (Next thing you know, it'll start feeding them after midnight, too.) Instant Grow made almost perfect sense when it arrived for crops in FarmVille, and even so later when it hit trees. Now, the Farm Cash feature has been made available to animals in-game, and it has that gruesome scene from Gremlins playing on loop in our heads. Happy Friday!

It's terribly simple to apply Instant Grow to Animals--in fact, it's no different than for crops or Trees. Just hover over an animal that has just been tended to, and text will appear. Click the animal to open up its menu and choose "Apply Instant Grow."

The new Instant Grow window will appear, and applying Instant Grow to all animals costs 3 Farm Cash. Not too shabby, especially if you're on the edge of Goal and would rather not wait. Useful or useless, it's still weird.

Have you applied Instant Grow to any of your animals yet? Would you ever pay for instant gratification like this in-game?

The Top 10 Free iOS and Android Games -- July 2011

The second glorious month of summer will soon come to close. After wiping that single tear from your cheek, remember that with a new month comes a list of (mostly) new free games to try on your Android or iOS device.

Look, we know you're putting off that summer reading (or helping the tikes with their book reports), until the last week in August. So, at least do it in style. Click each title to head over to its download page:

Top 10 Free iOS Games:

1. Stickman BMX Free
In this second outing by Traction Games, players must guide likely the most extreme-looking stick man, named simply Stickson, through 60 plus BMX courses filled with hidden paths. Players can pull off a litany of tricks, but with spike pits and Death himself awaiting your treads, expect to crash ... a lot.

2. Prize Claw
Long gone are the days of dropping $10 worth of quarters for that awesome Homer Simpson doll. Game Circus LLC brings the grab machine right into your iPhone, allowing you to collect over 60 prizes across a bunch of different grab machines. A grab machine that you can play sans quarters? Count us in.

Futura Head in a Jar
3. Nuts!
You can probably already guess what this gem is all about. Limbic Software puts you into the role of a bushy-tailed squirrel as it climbs trees in search of coins (not nuts...?). Climb as high as you can, avoiding obstacles like icy zones and power-ups like the fireball.

4.Doodle God
No, this is nothing like Doodle Jump, thank heaven. This game allows players to play out God's role in creation as you mold four basic elements together with your fingers into (almost) everything in existence. Along the way, you'll come across a litany of poignant or hilarious sayings and create over 100 advanced combinations.

5. Pokerist
Wha? Where's Zynga Poker? Anyway, this mobile poker simulator for Pokerist.com features standard and VIP tables with each player's face displayed. Alright, I'm not afraid to admit it: I'm terrible at poker. But hey, don't let that discourage you. Poker fans, why not give it a shot? It has Facebook Connect and in-game chat, too.

6.Futurama Head in a Jar
Fine, this (pictured above) isn't a full-blown game like the rest on this list, but it has avatar creation! While that's pretty much all it is, MTV Networks has made a game that lets you create heads in jars--just like in the show--and share them with their friends via Facebook. And who doesn't love Futurama? At least it's funnier than the Simpsons. (Flame away in the comments.)

7.Rollercoaster Builder Travel
Man, if Super Mario World was titled this literally, it would be "Man Jumps on Turtles." The game is about as bare-bones as the name, tasking players with creating roller coasters that will reach the end of the linear level unharmed, collecting as many coins as possible along the way--because roller coasters just got to have coins.

Zenonia 3
8.Texas Hold'em Poker Pro
(Another poker game? Ugh, what to say...) Oh, sorry. Well, this game allows players to invite new and old friends to their tables, send them gifts and chat with them using status bars. Oh, and it has Facebook Connect and integrated music options, too.

9. CataGugl
The successor to Smack that Gugl by Yann Le Coroller, this version has players catapulting the Gugl rather than smacking it, hence the name. The game also has voice acting and original music, as well as leader boards. Though, we're kinda lost on why Coroller didn't go with "Throw that Gugl"--would have been genius.

10. Zenonia 3
Legend of Zelda fans: This is your new ish for August. Released by Gamevil, Zenonia throws players into an isometric roleplaying action adventure spanning 136 quests and hundreds of maps. Players can choose from four unique classes, and go toe-to-toe with their friends in three player vs. player modes.

Top 10 Free Android Games:

1. Angry Birds
Again?! Seriously, no one can top these wingless birds? They need a slingshot to travel for Pete's sake! And I'm tired of this naming convention trend it started. If I see one more game titled using only a cute adjective and some type of woodland creature, I'll write angry letters! Watch yourselves.

2. Angry Birds Rio
... No words can express the rage.

Burn the Rope
3. Words with Friends Free
Well, at least it's an intellectual game. Run by Zynga since its acquisition of Newtoy (now Zynga with Friends), the game is a turn-based game of Scrabble with anyone around the world. Between that and the added chat features--but minus the ads--what else could you want in a word game?

4. Burn the Rope
This popular game (pictured above) by Big Blue Bubble pits you in the scorching-hot shoes as the most adorable flame we've ever seen. Your goal? Tilt your phone to keep the fire going on a series of increasingly more complex ropes and knots to score the most points. This'll put that gyroscope to good use.

5. Angry Birds Seasons
Look, I'm tired of this. You all know what Angry Birds is--it's the Mickey Mouse of mobile gaming. I'm not going to tell you anything you didn't already know about this game, so just go and play it already. We'll see you back here for winter break.

Drag Racing6. Drag Racing
Another returning champ that bumps up another spot, Creative Mobile's racing game allows players to drive and tune up over 50 cars ripped from the real world. Blast past players with nitrous online in a Veryon SS, or tune an Integra to perfection for the Pro League.

7. Blast Monkeys
These poor monkeys return (and hop up two spots) to be shot to their peril through a cannon in hopes of--what else?--bananas. Yobonja allows players to shoot Moki the monkey through a number of puzzles to grab all the bananas. And don't forget those hidden ones.

8.Fruit Slice
Wait ... that sounds familiar. Halfbrick, creator of Fruit Ninja, better be on the phone with somebody, because this game spared nothing in its source of inspiration. We're sure this one is appealing due to the lack of a price and all, but trust us: If slicing fruit for hours is your shtick, go with the real deal.

9. Aliens Invasion
In this side-scrolling shooter, players survive wave after wave of aliens that look strikingly similar to those in that famous 80s movie with Sigourney Weaver. iTreeGamer included 12 different guns to puts the intergalactic bugs down with, and three different difficulty levels.

10. Racing Moto
This DroidHen game (pictured right) is a take on the classic Spy Hunter style of racing games. Players control a biker that must avoid other vehicles as it passes them by tilting the phone and tapping the screen to accelerate. The game will take players through several environments as they boost their scores.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Animal Mastery Signs for literally every critter?

No, we don't have images of every single Animal Mastery sign yet. However the upcoming FarmVille feature is certainly looking to cover its bases. These leaked images of 15 of the upcoming Mastery Signs for animals seem to suggest that Zynga will tack Mastery onto every animal that releases.

Why? Because several animals in this screenshot alone are of the same species. There are six different varieties of horses in this very image, which would lead one to believe that the developer intends for Mastery to become an inherent part of animals. Though, this is, of course, speculation--hey, it's all we have right now, so have fun with it.

However, these signs may not be the final versions, as they certainly don't look as polished as the existing signs for crops and trees. Either way, it looks like Zynga found a new way to incentivize its Farm Cash animals. Hold onto your credit cards.

FarmVille Animal Mastery Signs

[Source and Image Credit: FarmVille Feed]

Are you excited that animals are getting Mastery in FarmVille? Which animals would you want to master first?

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash from Emerald Breakfast promotion

Let's face it: there can never be enough Farm Cash in FarmVille. Whether we want to buy trees or decorations, instantly grow our crops or trees (and now animals), or even send premium items to friends as gifts, there are tons of in-game features that simply require Farm Cash to work. If you're running low, or are saving up for something special, you can earn two free Farm Cash towards your goal via a new in-game promotion. This promotion is with Emerald Breakfast, and it can be found under the gameplay area of your farm.

Once launched, you'll be asked to view three Emerald Breakfast on the Go! commercials, and vote for your favorite. Or, you can simply watch the first video (it plays automatically) and vote for it without watching the others, saving you a bit of time. Don't worry, even by taking this easy way out, you won't ruin your chances as Farm Cash, as you'll still see the "You've earned your Farm Cash" text on the next screen. You'll even be offered a $1 off coupon for these particular breakfast snacks, if that increases the likelihood of you actually completing the promotion (as if free Farm Cash wasn't enough).

Remember, these promotions may not be available in all areas, even within the US. They also may appear at different times for different farmers, so if you haven't found this one in your farm just yet, keep checking back every few hours to see if your chance at two free Farm Cash has rolled around.

What will you do with your free Farm Cash? Do you solely rely on free methods of earning Farm Cash, or do you buy some as well?

FarmVille: Zynga asks for opinions on possible friend-of-a-friend neighbor feature

Wait, do you here that? It's the sound of great ideas being hatched in the Zynga offices. Specifically, some great ideas are being tossed around by the FarmVille team, and we're being asked to rate them via a new fan survey. This survey is available to complete underneath the FarmVille gameplay area, in the same place you'd find sponsored links for free Farm Cash promotions.

Once you start, you'll find that the majority of the survey asks us to rate current or possible social features in the game, based on how much we like them. There are plenty of current features here to rate, such as how much we like having to ask for building ingredients from friends, or how we like gathering bushels for crafting recipes, but (of course) the more interesting options here are those that aren't currently available. While there's no guarantee that any of these will launch in the game officially, it's hard not to be a little excited.

Two features in particular have us cautiously optimistic, both offering the ability to add new neighbors to the game, without actually adding them as Facebook friends. Specifically, we've been asked if we would like the ability to add complete strangers as neighbors (and then interact with them as normal), or whether we'd like to simply extend our neighbors list to friends-of-friends. Both of these choices would (we assume) allow us to add another user to our network, with which we could trade free gifts, send quest items or building materials, and even visit each others' farms, all without worrying about that person finding out our personal information as we've never added them as a friend.

Remember though farmers - while these features may be incredibly exciting, they aren't actually live yet (and may possibly never be). To help things along though, remember to take the survey and vote accordingly. Who knows? With enough positive votes, we might actually be able to expand our farming networks to dozens more people that regularly play the game!

Would you take advantage of an ability to add users as neighbors without adding them as Facebook friends? Have you ever added complete strangers as Facebook friends just to have neighbors in games?

CityVille Campaign Committee Goal: Everything you need to know

If you're looking for a way to earn extra coins, XP and Zoning Permits in CityVille, and you have a lot of friends that are always willing to help you out, you might be interested in the new "Campaign Committee" goal that was launched this week in the game. This feature is open to users that are at least level 15 and have at least one City Hall building in their town. As of right now, this is a one-time only feature, and instead of showing up on the left-hand side of your screen as other goals appear, this one must be activated by you by collecting from your City Hall when it's ready.

The next time you collect your profits from your City Hall, you'll see a new menu, asking you whether or not you'd like to start this new goal. You'll have just 24 hours to collect as much help from your City Hall staff members as you plan your campaign for your run for Governor. There are three levels of prizes associated with this goal, with more upgraded City Halls unlocking better prizes, and the amount of friends that ultimately help you also affecting your rewards. For a Level 2 City Hall, the three level of rewards are 10,000 coins, 40 XP and 3 Zoning Permits.

Once you start the goal (remember, it's a manual start - you can choose to do so whenever you're ready), you'll be able to post wall posts to your friends' walls asking them to come help you out. If you happen to have many spaces filled by Samantha or just blank staff positions, you can fill those by asking friends as well. When a friend responds to your call for help, you'll see a green check mark appear next to their name on the list. After the 24 hour period has passed, you'll receive whatever prizes you've received for your current level (note: you can track your current status on prizes by looking inside the goal's menu, as seen below).

Again, this Campaign Committee goal is a one-time-only activity for your town. Perhaps if it goes over well enough with users, we'll see another opportunity to ask our friends for help with campaign "donations," but for now, just focus all of your efforts on earning the most rewards from this feature while you can.

What do you think of the Campaign Committee feature in CityVille? Would you like to see this be an ongoing feature in your town?

Clarins looks to beautify Facebook with Spa Life, its first social game

Is it only a matter time now before mom pants get their own Facebook game? Clarins, a well-known French brand of beauty products, recently released its own Facebook game, Spa Life. The game doesn't stray far away from games like Cafe World or Restaurant City, but applies the same principles to managing a spa rather than an eatery. Developed by Freshplanet, Spa Life has players managing an influx of customers looking for everything from a "mani-pedi" to facials and more.

Of course, just like its inspirations, players can decorate, upgrade and add new services to their spa. But players can only do this if they serve their terribly impatient customers in time to make the most cash from them. And in true Facebook game fashion, players can always buy their way out of waiting for the next upgrade with Facebook Credits.

According to Mashable, Clarins's North American CEO Jonathan Zrihen saw Facebook as a golden opportunity to reach its audience. And considering we all know by now that the average Facebook gamer is a middle-aged mother, he's probably right on the money. "I knew about the craziness of Zynga games, but I didn't realize the demographic was so much in line with the demographics of our products," Zrihen told Mashable. "I was also impressed by the level of engagement these games create."

Yes, this is yet another branded game, though it's odd that players aren't inundated with the brand until much later in the game. Another interesting nod is that Spa Life attempts to use your friends' names as customers to add more social awareness to the game. Building off of that, you'll need plenty more friends to run your various services, just like you need them to staff buildings in CityVille.
Spa Life in action
Branded games are exploding on Facebook. In fact, studios like Ecko|Code are focusing all of their efforts on creating games for brands such as Showtime shows like Weeds and Dexter. Facebook game developers like Zynga and Playdom have integrated brands into their games for awhile through promotions, it's only recently that they've begun to build games around a single brand.

For instance, it looks as if Adventure World will become Zynga's first game to completely embrace a brand. In October, the game will become "Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game" with the help of Lucasfilm. Sure, original games will continue to release, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see less of them moving forward.

Click here to Play Spa Life on Facebook Now >

Are you a Clarins fan--enough to check out this Facebook game? What do you think of branded games on Facebook and the fact that they're growing?

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?

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

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?

Putting the 'face' in Facebook games: Arkadium and Image Metrics

Arkadium is likely best known on Facebook for games like Mahjongg Dimensions and Cooking Mama, but that's about to change. Thanks to a brand new partnership with Image Metrics, an animation studio best known for the facial capture technology it provides to traditional game developers, your own face could be the star of Arkadium's next Facebook game.

During an interview with Gamasutra, the new found duo revealed Portable You, a new toolset for Facebook game developers--starting with New York City-based Arkadium--to allow players to include their own face as the centerpiece of their avatars. Using a simple webcam, Portable You, embedded in any given Facebook, could create a 3D rendering of your head and face.

By the way, that picture to the right is a 3D reproduction of an actress's face done by Image Metrics--it's not real. But we doubt Portable You will be as powerful. This is especially considering the technology was bought through an acquisition of Big Stage earlier this year.

"Mostly we've been the user of our own technologies," Image Metrics CEO Robert Gehorsam said to Gamasutra. "But we've also really come to realize and believe there's a major shift going on in how people want to represent themselves, express themselves and communicate online, starting with creating your own character in a game."

"We work directly from video; we don't require any kind of markers, or the special makeup," Gehorsam told Gamasutra. "We can go directly from a video screen or from a single image to 3D animation... through a whole bunch of equations that recognize the face in a 2D context. It's not a photo; it's really 3D."

Sure, this has the potential to introduce a never-before-seen level of immersion to Facebook games. The idea of representing or expressing yourself more accurately than ever has plenty of charm. But the more pressing question I have for Image Metrics is: How well does Portable You render beards?

What do you think this type of technology means for Facebook games in the future? Would you ever place a 3D version of yourself into your favorite Facebook games?

FarmVille: Free Crab Shack with any Farm Cash purchase

While the "free-gift-with-purchase" feature in FarmVille has continued to grow, giving users a way to stock up on extra animals that they may have missed in their original releases in the game, until recently, that's all the feature has been: a way to earn animals. Now, though, we're starting to see trees and even buildings come into the mix.

For example, the latest offering is the Crab Shack, which was originally released during the New England event way back in July of 2010, and then again in the Birthday Classics even earlier this year. Interestingly, this is one building that cost coins during its previous releases in the game, but if (for whatever reason) you never picked one up, here's a chance to earn one for as little as $1. For that price, remember you'll also earn 4 Farm Cash.

The reason this building is so significant is that it basically screams to be added to the Lighthouse Cove farm, which all players were given access to earlier this week. And since we can't (as of this writing) pull items out of storage from our others farms into the Lighthouse Cove, this is as close as you're going to get to having any of this theme on your land for the foreseeable future.

As usual, this free Crab Shack offer will only be around for a limited time, so make sure to login to your farm sooner, rather than later, if you want to take advantage of this deal.

Will you purchase a Farm Cash bundle as part of this free-gift-with-purchase giveaway? Would you pay Farm Cash to access your "other farm" storage in the Lighthouse Cove?

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash in Yahoo promotion

It looks like we're seeing a change for the better in terms of free Farm Cash promotions in FarmVille, as there's another available this afternoon, from Yahoo. Technically, this promotion is encouraging users to add Yahoo! as their browser homepage, but as usual, there's a way around that (that still allows you your free Farm Cash)!

To start, you'll need to click on the sponsored link window displaying the Yahoo "Y" and then wait for the window to load (it might take a bit longer than normal, as the promotion has to decide which browser you're using to access it). From there, you're given instructions on how to make Yahoo! your homepage on that particular browser, but at the bottom of the window sits a countdown timer that starts at 30 seconds and slowly counts down (much more slowly than 30 seconds, that is). When it finally does run out, you can click on the "Finish" button to end the promotion and receive your two Farm Cash.

As usual, your Farm Cash should automatically update into your account upon closing this activity window, but if it doesn't, a simple refresh of the game should do the trick. Either way, make sure to complete this activity the very first time you see it appear under your FarmVille gameplay area, as these cross-promotions tend to be incredibly fast-moving, and may disappear even after refreshing the page.

Were you able to earn your free Farm Cash from Yahoo, or has the promotion not appeared for you yet?

FarmVille Capital One Free Gift: What's inside?

If you've played FarmVille at all in the last 24 hours, you're likely aware that a Capital One cross-promotional farm has appeared in the game, giving you a chance to earn a free Capital One Goat and some "Capital One" instant grow. What you might have missed, however, is the release of a Capital One Gift on the game's free gifts page. This box can be thought of as a mystery box, as you'll never know which item you'll receive when opening one.

There are quite a few items that can be found inside each Capital One Gift, but unfortunately only a few are really "exciting." Here's a list of items that we've received from those boxes so far:

Pygmy Goat
Animal Feed
Passion Fruit Tree
Flower Sheep
Farmhand

While the Pygmy Goat and Farm Sheep are cute little animals, we've easily received an overwhelming amount of Passion Fruit Trees, and little of everything else. Whether that means those are the most common prizes, or we're just "unlucky" remains to be seen. This Capital One gift will only be available to send for the next nine days, so make sure to send some now while you still can (and ask for some in return!).

Have you received any other items from your Capital One Gifts?

Facebook game lets you solve anagrams to save Canada's forests

True to its name, in order to play Donate2Play Media's first new game, you're going to have to pony up some change. Wordraiser is an anagram game that has players make as many words as possible out of one word.

If you manage to guess the key word, you get to level up. After leveling up a few times, you'll be asked to buy "Karma Points" that enable you to play more games.

Donation packages range from $1 to $20 USD, where $1 USD equals 10 Karma Points, which is good for buying one game. But right now, it seems that there's nothing stopping you from playing as much as you want. We're not sure if this is a bug, as the game just launched during the previous weekend.

While Wordraiser is supposedly free-to-play, it's also the offspring of Donate2Play's partnership with The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), a Canadian grassroots organization devoted to finding the balance between forestry jobs and preserving British Columbia's ancient woodlands (defined as tree populations that are over 120 years old). So half of the money given to Wordraiser will be split between AFA and Donate2Play.

Gallery: Wordraiser

Lastly, there's a top ten high scores leaderboard that displays players' names followed by their levels, and two of AFA's founders, TJ Watts and Ken Wu, are currently on the board in ninth and third place, respectively. According to its Facebook page, Wordraiser currently has 202 monthly users.

Keep in mind, though, that Donate2Play is doing all the heavy lifting here, with no risk or prior investment from AFA. Outreach for the game is done via automatic Facebook wall posts. Players will also receive facts about British Columbian forests during load screens and photos of these forests by TJ Watt.

Adventure World: Redeem a Zynga Game Card for 15 free energy packs

If you've become a fan of Zynga's newest Facebook game Adventure World (now Adventure World - An Indiana Jones Game), and are ready to lay down some real-world money in the game, you now have some extra incentive to do so. For every Game Card redeemed in the game, you'll receive 15 Energy Packs.

Unfortunately, we're not sure exactly what that means. We'd love for it to mean 15 full energy refills, but if you look inside the game, a 30 Energy pot of coffee costs a whopping 30 Adventure Cash. Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like something Zynga would just give away for free, especially in bulk. This leaves us with another option, the single cup of coffee, which gives you just five energy points. This would be a decent boost, since we're talking about a "free" prize after all, but even then, it still likely won't take you long to burn through all of those bonus energy points.

What's worse, there's yet another option for energy refills: a Bolt that gives you just one energy point. Surely this isn't the "Energy Packs" Zynga is talking about, but it's something to keep in mind all the same. We're working on discovering just which kind of "Energy Pack" you'll receive when redeeming a Zynga Game Card, but for now, why not take a look at our tools upgrade guide, so you'll be able to upgrade your tools to do more work for less energy to make all of your points go that much further.

Will you redeem a Zynga Game Card to earn 15 free Energy Packs? If you have, which specific kind of pack did you receive?

Final Fantasy's big hair and bigger swords go mobile, social on Mobage

We just hope it'll all fit into a 3-inch screen. Japanese game companies Square Enix and DeNA have announced that they're working on the first Final Fantasy social game to launch on Mobage, DeNA's mobile social game network, Gamasutra reports. That is, the first social game to directly revolve around the 24-year-old Final Fantasy role-playing game franchise.

You might remember Square Enix released two Facebook games last year that were loosely based on the Final Fantasy series, Knights of the Crystal and Chocobo's Crystal Tower. According to Gamasutra, the game will be developed in-house at DeNA, and will use familiar characters from the franchise. (We imagine those will come from the 13 numbered Final Fantasy games.)

There's no word on whether the game will hit the Western, Android version of Mobage, but Japanese Final Fantasy fans can already pre-register for the game. As an added incentive, those who buy the brand new Final Fantasy Type-0 (pictured) for the PSP will receive special benefits in the Final Fantasy game for Mobage when it releases. Gamasutra's Kyle Orland (humorously) recalls that, during an interview with Gamasutra earlier this summer, Square Enix CEO Mike Fischer scoffed at social games.
Final Fantasy Mobage
Keep in mind, Fischer dismissed social games even after the company released two Facebook games. Look, if games based on Gundam and The Smurfs from Japanese companies can reel it in, a Final Fantasy social game is going to do just fine.

Do you think a Final Fantasy mobile social game would do well outside of Japan? Are you hopeful that Square Enix and DeNA will release the game in the West?

Conquer Online MMO rides from China onto Facebook and iPad

Made by Chinese developer NetDragon Websoft Inc. and published by TQ Digital, Conquer Online is a free-to-play, MMO (massively multiplayer online) game for PC that's been around since 2003 and boasts 10 million players worldwide. Earlier this year, NetDragon partnered with a major Japanese mobile network and developer, DeNA, and then unveiled both Facebook and iPad beta versions of its MMO at GamesCom in August.

The Facebook version of Conquer Online launched two weeks ago, but unfortunately has been plagued by lag, log-in issues and strange bugs. (For instance, setting my character on auto-path caused her to bare her arms in a spread-eagle sprint.) The official YouTube trailer also tries so groan-inducingly hard to appeal to Western audiences (music that sounds like the TV opening to Roseanne should not be scored with a game set in ancient China, people!), paying attention to it hurts my brain.

If you do manage to get in, things don't fare any better. Like most Chinese MMOs, you're presented with (at best) passable graphics, music, user interface, and the gameplay is always ridiculously heavy on the grind. There's also something very amateurish about this kind of game. What they lack in finesse and cohesion, they compensate with an aggressive, workman-like execution and gorgeous still art--in this case, the kind of style you'll find in Chinese wuxia comics.
Conquer Online Facebook
This thing might be on Facebook, but no changes have been made to accommodate Facebook gamers. Nexon's MapleStory Adventures does a much better (and certainly fantastic) job of making itself accessible to newcomers. And not just through gameplay, but aesthetics, too. To hammer home the unfriendly nature of this game, a more optimistic reviewer noted Conquer Online is an open PVP (player vs player) environment. This means that random players can come along and just kill you in-game, if you're not careful. On the upside, if you've never played Conquer Online, you can now save yourself the trouble of downloading a several hundred megabyte file and just run the game on Facebook in mere minutes (though it will prompt you to install Kalydo before you can begin).

Click here to play Conquer Online on Facebook now >

How many MMOs have you ever played? Do you think I'm being too harsh on Conquer Online?

House, CSI: Miami and NCIS games to air on Facebook this winter

Social gamers are naturally very meta people. Come one, who else would watch an episode of CSI, only to play an episode of CSI: Crime City either during the show or afterward? Ubisoft seems to have struck gold with Facebook games based on TV properties, so the company has announced three more: CSI: Miami, House, M.D.: Critical Cases and NCIS: Major Crimes.

Inside Social Games reports that the games will launch either at the end of this year or early in 2012. In other words, they're coming this winter. The games will play out procedurally, like episodes of their television inspirations. Players will search for clues after identifying victims, patients or suspects and solve cases with the help of friends and non-player characters.

The French game publisher also announced a deal with Loot Drop, designer John Romero's studio that has yet to release its first game, Cloudforest Expedition. No details were given regarding the game, but this marks the third game set to come out of Loot Drop, its first two with publisher RockYou. Ubisoft will also release Ghost Recon Commander for Facebook.

The game will serve as a companion to the publisher's two upcoming Ghost Recon games: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for console and Ghost Recon: Online for PCs. According to ISG, players will be able to advance in either core game through the Facebook companion and vice versa. We've seen how high-profile companion games do already, but House is poised to be a winner--have you seen how many "Likes" it has on Facebook?

Are you excited by any of these announcements by Ubisoft? Which of these games do you think will do best on Facebook?

CityVille Halloween Act 2 Goals made easier with smaller requirements

After releasing Act 2 goals in CityVille's Halloween Monster event, Zynga received plenty of complaints from users stating that the goals were simply too hard to complete. Now, the team behind the game has announced that the goals are easier to complete, so we're here to tell you if that really is the case.

First and foremost, the first goal - In Good Spirits - now requires you to have just five Monster Community Buildings in your town, regardless of what they are. This is just half of the originally required total of 10 Monster Community Buildings. For this particular goal, the Pumpkin / Jack O'Lantern mastery task remains the same.

Next, for Grim Sleeper, you used to be required to collect from your Haunted Hotel five times. This hotel requires tons of goods to operate, and simply takes a long time to run out of them, so waiting for it to be ready five times was time consuming, to say the least. Now, you'll only have to collect from the Haunted Hotel three times.

Lastly, At Death's Door has been changed with the most helpful update yet. Instead of being forced to have a whopping 9,000 Monsters living in our cities, the number has been dropped to 6,000 Monsters. Sure, that's still a ton of Monsters (especially considering that we don't even get to keep them afterwards; they'll just turn into regular citizens), but if you're interested in unlocking the Werewolf Lodge, or eventually Dracula's Castle, that's something you'll simply have to do (or pay City Cash to skip it).

With the entirety of Act 3's goals still up in the air (read: unreleased), it could be that the final population requirement has been switched to 9,000 Monsters instead. Either way, I can see Act 3 being just as difficult as these goals originally were, and even still are, so make sure to keep checking back with us for a complete look at those upcoming goals and how to finish them before it's too late.

Check out the rest of our Halloween 2011 coverage right here.

Should users that completed these goals before the changes be compensated for the extra time / coins they spent? Did you finish them before the changes, or will you actually try now that the requirements have been changed?

CityVille Demented Dentist Community Building: Everything you need to know

Still looking for a way to add to your Monster population in CityVille, without building the same set of Community Buildings over and over again? Why not take a look at the new Demented Dentist Community Building, available for 25,000 coins in the store?

This one's frame takes 10 energy to complete, and from there, you're left collecting items with the help of friends. Here's what you'll need:

    4 Monster Drills
    4 City Seals
    4 Dentist Chairs
    4 Tooth Pastes
    4 Toothbrushes


If you're lucky enough to already have the City Seals on hand, you'll only have to gather the other 16 items. For the Monster Drills and Tooth Brushes, these items are earned through individual item requests sent to your friends. As for the Dentist Chairs and Tooth Pastes, these can be earned by posting a general news item to your wall.

Once you collect all of the necessary items, you'll have a Community Building that will support up to 1,500 additional Monsters living in your city. If you're willing to spend some City Cash, you can purchase homes that will instantly fill that total (and then some), or, you can stick to the coin options for housing and raise your Monster population more slowly. Still, remember that this Halloween event will only last until the holiday itself, at which point all of the Monsters living in your city will be transformed back to normal citizens!

With that being the case, it calls into question just how worthwhile these buildings are (or, at least the quest for earning more and more Monsters), but at least you'll be able to keep these buildings after the fact for decoration and memory. That's worth something, right?

Check out the rest of our Halloween 2011 coverage right here.

What do you think of this Demented Dentist Community Building? Will you build one in your town?

FarmVille Pic of the Day: Ditch e-cards for Faustino's farm-sized, cards display

Normally, people treat their Christmas cards as mantelpieces, but FarmVille player Faustino has traded the fireplace for the farm with his Christmas card farm display. Three wintery, holiday tableaux in the form of giant greeting cards sit around an equally gigantic holiday tree that Faustino designed himself.

Bright red hay bales frame each 'card' to make them look like they're standing upright. As for the the tree, it's obviously made of bunches of other trees put together. Even the ornaments are trees, or more specifically, Stouffer's Mac & Cheese Trees, while sprinkled on the ground are many White and Pink Star Hay Bales. Regular hay bales were used to spell "HOLIDAY" beneath the tree, as well as forming the icy-looking snowflakes in the background.

In certain ways, Faustino's holiday farm combines ideas and techniques from Brayzdin's fantastical Christmas wonderland and Hieloiceberg's greeting card holographic projection farm to create something equally original.

Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.

Instead of snail mailing greeting cards, what do you think of emailing pictures of a FarmVille Christmas farm you've made to people? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment

If you have an AWESOME FarmVille farm that you want to see featured on Games.com, please email a picture to editors@games.com, Include a few words about the inspiration for your design and maybe a few tips for people who need an assist!

Number of Diner Dash maker Playfirst staffers get axed in restructuring

An unspecified number of Playfirst employees were served the worst dish last week: unemployment. The San Francisco-based social and casual game maker, known best for its Diner Dash franchise, laid off a number of staffers due to "restructuring", according to Gamasutra. The website reports that the developer held more than 100 employees as of late last year, just as the studio opted to focus more on social and mobile games.

Unfortunately, that initiative hasn't fared so well for Playfirst, as the developer was forced to close all of its Facebook games, including Diner Dash and Chocolatier, due to poor performance in the face of big league players like Zynga and EA. In fact, Gamasutra reports that a number of ex-Zynga and Playdom employees that joined Playfirst have since left the company. Nevertheless, the developer looks to press on.

"Our future plans are to continue to focus on the mobile casual gaming space," Playfirst VP of marketing Katie Kihorany told Gamasutra. "Part of this focus means continually making sure that the organization is structured to allow us to focus on creating those great games. Unfortunately, sometimes that means restructuring, so that we can better achieve this goal."

The company would not disclose to Gamasutra exactly how many employees were let go last week. And if Playfirst's iconic Diner Dash franchise--which boasts over 550 million downloads--can't succeed on Facebook, what can? It's terribly unfortunate news like this that affirms the even more unfortunate notion that the fat cats of Facebook gaming will only get fatter.

[Via IndustryGamers]

[Image Credit: Pharan]

Are you bummed to hear that a portion of the team behind Diner Dash is now without work? Are you still a fan of Diner Dash, and if so, where do you play it?

Christmas Guide: CityVille, FarmVille, The Sims Social & more

'Tis the holiday season! And whether you're celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, the holidays have arrived in CityVille, FarmVille, The Sims Social, and all your favorite Facebook games. The Christmas updates have begun rolling in, so don't miss out on any of the Christmas items, features, and more. Check out our complete guide below for the complete CityVille, FarmVille, and The Sims Social Christmas extravaganza.


Jump to:
CityVille Christmas | FarmVille Christmas
The Sims Social Christmas

cityville christmas
CityVille Christmas

    CityVille Holiday Carousel: Everything you need to know
    CityVille: Winter comes early with new Cookie Condos, Gingerbread House and more
    CityVille: Deck the halls with Winter and Christmas themed items
    Zynga starts decorating really early in CityVille Holidaytown for iPhone



farmville christmas
FarmVille Christmas

    FarmVille: Zynga apologizes for Winter Wonderland glitches with free gift
    FarmVille: Free rides to Winter Wonderland available now!
    FarmVille Poetry Corner: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Cheryll
    FarmVille: Add a festive touch of snow and lights to your farms
    FarmVille Winter Holiday Items: Candy Cane Gnome, Gingerbread Tree and more
    FarmVille Santa's Sleigh: Everything you need to know
    FarmVille: Win a Christmas Plush and 75 Farm Cash from Zynga
    FarmVille Pic of the Day: Mimidursley's Jingle Bells in Winter Wonderland
    FarmVille: Santa's coming soon - have you been naughty?
    FarmVille Winter Wonderland Crops: Everything you need to know
    FarmVille Winter Wonderland Sweet Shoppe: Everything you need to know
    FarmVille Winter Wonderland Snow Treasures: Everything you need to know
    Cyber Monday FarmVille Plush Giveaway




The Sims Social Christmas

    The Sims Social Winter Garden Mystery Box: Everything you need to know
    'Tis the season to play The Sims Social's Cozy Winter Retreat update


Make sure to check back for more Christmas updates as we get closer to the holiday!

Which Facebook game Christmas update is your favorite? Are we missing anything?

This Scrubs game for Android says, 'It's never too soon for nostalgia'

Come on, Scrubs was canceled a little over a year ago. And it's last few seasons weren't even that great. (Yeah, I said it!) Luckily, it looks like mobile game maker HeroCraft has opted to focus on the golden years of J.D., Turk and Dr. Cox's escapades in its Android game based on the hit comedy. Simply know as "Scrubs", the game is scheduled to hit the Android Market on Dec. 14.

The Scrubs game, which was first revealed this summer for both iOS and Android devices, will throw players into the role of Sacred Heart's newest intern. With that, players will have to help patients and solve mysteries to help restore the hospital's reputation, according to PocketGamer. In other words, and based on the trailer below, it looks a lot like a hidden-object game.


However, HeroCraft has mixed things up with a few mini games to mix things up amongst the slew of hidden-object scenarios. Of course, the developer has made strides to inject some of the show's quirky humor into the game. The game has yet to be priced, but we're going to ballpark it somewhere between $.99 and "free"--call us dreamers. But for unlimited access to that version of Zach Braff's mug, we'd pay much, much more for the laughs alone.

Were you a big time Scrubs fan when the show was still on? Is an Android game enough to feed the need for J.D.?

This woman doesn't exactly look thrilled to wear an Angry Birds dress

That woman is Teija Vesterbacka, wife to Peter Vesterbacka, head of marketing at Finnish Angry Birds creator Rovio. She's seen here following her husband into the Finnish Presidential Palace, sporting a bright red gown with the visage of an Angry Bird hanging from its only strap. And she looks kind of perturbed about the whole ordeal, no?

Well, maybe that's because the couple was apparently two of roughly 2,000 invited to the estate for the annual, nationally televised Castle Ball hosted by the president of Finland to honor the country's Independence Day Reception. Mrs. Vesterbacka's look may also be because she's wearing Angry Birds gear and her husband clearly isn't--no fair!

At any rate, the fact that folks clearly representing Rovio have been invited to the President's Palace speaks volumes to the fact that Angry Birds is huge. So much so that not only has the game flew past 500 million downloads worldwide, but the creators plan to release four more games--not updates, full-blown games--in 2012 to keep the fever alive. For what it's worth, that is one incredible dress. Get a better look below.