By this time next week, Christmas will have come and gone for those that celebrate it, but Zynga isn't done offering up holiday decorations for those who are still trying to find some additional holiday spirit. In tonight's FarmVille update, we see the release of two new Holiday-themed trees, that will be available in the game for the better part of a month - 28 days from this writing, to be exact.
The two trees are the Mistletoe Tree and the Ornament Tree (not to be confused with the re-release of the Ornament Tree I and II from the beginning of the month). Both of these trees are premium, meaning they are only available for Farm Cash. The Mistletoe Tree is the cheaper of the two, costing 5 Farm Cash, while the Ornament Tree (which grows bunches of red, green and ivory ornaments) goes for 15 Farm Cash.
Both trees are masterable, and can be harvested once every two days. You'll earn 150 coins from each tree that you harvest. As for the mastery, the first star of mastery for both trees is reached at 75 harvests.
Remember, if you've yet to find an in-game present for that special FarmVille neighbor in your life, the fact that these are premium items means that they can be purchased and then sent to friends from within the store, by simply clicking the "Send" button associated with the item you want to send. Sure, it's a virtual item, but if your friends are as into the game as we are, we don't think they'd mind.
Great Site to Earn From Home
Friday, January 13, 2012
FarmVille Mystery Game (12/19/10): Silver and Gold items for all
Tonight's FarmVille update brings with it a slew of silver and gold items, that will surely look great on any user's farm.
Silver and gold, silver and gold - means so much more when I seeeeeeeeee
Silver and gold decorations on every Christmas tree
... Ahem, excuse me. I think I got a little carried there - I do love a good Rudolph reference. Now where was I? Oh yes, new silver and gold items have been added to the Mystery Game this week, and we have a full list of what is included here for your browsing pleasure.
As usual, there are six items up for grabs - here's what you can find inside:
Golden Bridge
Silver and Gold Garden
Silver and Gold Mansion
Gold Trellis Swing
Silver Rabbit
Golden Monkey
See? I told you there were enough silver and gold items to go around! If you'd like a chance at adding one, or all of these new decorative items to your farm, you'll have to pay 16 Farm Cash per dart. And you'll need to do so fast - as usual, this Mystery Game will only be around for the rest of the week, when (presumably next Sunday) these items are removed, and another set of six exclusive items is added to the game.
Silver and gold, silver and gold - means so much more when I seeeeeeeeee
Silver and gold decorations on every Christmas tree
... Ahem, excuse me. I think I got a little carried there - I do love a good Rudolph reference. Now where was I? Oh yes, new silver and gold items have been added to the Mystery Game this week, and we have a full list of what is included here for your browsing pleasure.
As usual, there are six items up for grabs - here's what you can find inside:
Golden Bridge
Silver and Gold Garden
Silver and Gold Mansion
Gold Trellis Swing
Silver Rabbit
Golden Monkey
See? I told you there were enough silver and gold items to go around! If you'd like a chance at adding one, or all of these new decorative items to your farm, you'll have to pay 16 Farm Cash per dart. And you'll need to do so fast - as usual, this Mystery Game will only be around for the rest of the week, when (presumably next Sunday) these items are removed, and another set of six exclusive items is added to the game.
FarmVille Yakut Pony and Santa Cat now available for Farm Cash
If you'd like to get your hands on even more Holiday (or at least Winter) themed animals in FarmVille, you'll be happy to know that Zynga has included two such animals in tonight's FarmVille update.
Now available are the Yakut Pony and the Santa Cat. Both are premium items, available only for Farm Cash (or, I suppose you could have a generous farmer purchase one for you, you lucky farmer, you). The Yakut Pony costs 26 Farm Cash, and can be harvested from every three days. You'll earn 84 coins when you do so. The Santa Cat can also be harvested every three days, but it costs less, at 12 Farm Cash. You'll earn 90 coins each time you collect from the cat, making this the more profitable item overall.
Still, for you horse collectors out there, you know what a knew Pony means - that's right! A new Yakut Foal as well, so be sure to add the Pony to your Horse Stable if you do choose to purchase one for a chance of breeding a Foal that can be shared with friends.
Since the Santa Cat is clearly a holiday-related animal, it's time remaining in the store reflects that, as it will only be available to purchase for 5 days, while the Yakut Pony will be available for 12.
Now available are the Yakut Pony and the Santa Cat. Both are premium items, available only for Farm Cash (or, I suppose you could have a generous farmer purchase one for you, you lucky farmer, you). The Yakut Pony costs 26 Farm Cash, and can be harvested from every three days. You'll earn 84 coins when you do so. The Santa Cat can also be harvested every three days, but it costs less, at 12 Farm Cash. You'll earn 90 coins each time you collect from the cat, making this the more profitable item overall.
Still, for you horse collectors out there, you know what a knew Pony means - that's right! A new Yakut Foal as well, so be sure to add the Pony to your Horse Stable if you do choose to purchase one for a chance of breeding a Foal that can be shared with friends.
Since the Santa Cat is clearly a holiday-related animal, it's time remaining in the store reflects that, as it will only be available to purchase for 5 days, while the Yakut Pony will be available for 12.
FarmVille Mountain Cabin, FV Ornament, Redwood, Turtle Doves, and more now available
A slew of new Winter Holiday buildings and decorations were released to the FarmVille store this evening, as Zynga is apparently looking to add content to the theme right up until Christmas itself rolls around (or even after). In tonight's update, we see a new building being added to the theme, along with six new decorative items.
The new building is the Mountain Cabin, and it costs 30 Farm Cash to add to your farm. This lovely building fits in with the other Winter Holiday buildings that have been added to the game, as it is themed in a rustic way, with evergreen trees at the corners, just as the others are.
As for the decorative items, they are split evenly between those items that cost Farm Cash, and those that go for coins. On the premium side, we have the Redwood tree, a decoration-only tree that costs 4 Farm Cash, the Horse Snowpile (an animated item that shows a Horse playing around in a pile of snow) which costs 12 Farm Cash, and the Turtle Doves, a pair of lovely birds that are perked upon a themed birdhouse - these birds will set you back 18 Farm Cash. Just as the Redwood tree, these Doves are purely decorative, and are not harvestable.
For those who have already spent all of their Farm Cash on other items from this theme, there are three items that are available for coins. The first is the Snowman Family, a lighted decoration that falls in line with the Lighted Train released at the end of November, which costs 200,000 coins. Next is the FV Ornament (which stands for the "FarmVille Ornament"), which is marked with a 2010 marking, making it especially limited, in that we know it won't be released next year. It can be purchased for 20,000 coins. Finally, the Winter Mailbox is a decorated mailbox that costs 10,000 coins.
These items have varying expiration dates, with the Mountain Cabin being available for 14 days, the FV Ornament and the Snowman Family being available for 5 days, and the Horse Snowpile, Turtle Doves, and Winter Mailbox being available for 12 days. Finally, the Redwood will be available longer still, with 21 days left in the store.
The new building is the Mountain Cabin, and it costs 30 Farm Cash to add to your farm. This lovely building fits in with the other Winter Holiday buildings that have been added to the game, as it is themed in a rustic way, with evergreen trees at the corners, just as the others are.
As for the decorative items, they are split evenly between those items that cost Farm Cash, and those that go for coins. On the premium side, we have the Redwood tree, a decoration-only tree that costs 4 Farm Cash, the Horse Snowpile (an animated item that shows a Horse playing around in a pile of snow) which costs 12 Farm Cash, and the Turtle Doves, a pair of lovely birds that are perked upon a themed birdhouse - these birds will set you back 18 Farm Cash. Just as the Redwood tree, these Doves are purely decorative, and are not harvestable.
For those who have already spent all of their Farm Cash on other items from this theme, there are three items that are available for coins. The first is the Snowman Family, a lighted decoration that falls in line with the Lighted Train released at the end of November, which costs 200,000 coins. Next is the FV Ornament (which stands for the "FarmVille Ornament"), which is marked with a 2010 marking, making it especially limited, in that we know it won't be released next year. It can be purchased for 20,000 coins. Finally, the Winter Mailbox is a decorated mailbox that costs 10,000 coins.
These items have varying expiration dates, with the Mountain Cabin being available for 14 days, the FV Ornament and the Snowman Family being available for 5 days, and the Horse Snowpile, Turtle Doves, and Winter Mailbox being available for 12 days. Finally, the Redwood will be available longer still, with 21 days left in the store.
FrontierVille: 12 Days of Christmas missions are here... or are they?
Starting a few hours ago, some FrontierVille players were given a mysterious letter from Frontier Jack, detailing a new mission set that was apparently launched in the game at the same time. The mission set is the "12 Days of FrontierVille," the game's admitted take on the 12 Days of Christmas. However, the Carolers and the missions that this letter details are nowhere to be found. In an effort to calm some of the confusion associated with this seemingly "glitched" event, here's a recap of what we know so far.
When logging into the game, you'll receive a regular notice from Frontier Jack, pointing at a letter decorated with musical notes. If you can actually click on the letter (you may need to refresh the page and try again), you'll be introduced to a group of carolers, who sing a few lines of a revised version of the 12 Days of Christmas. This verse lets us know that the 12 Missions of FrontierVille are going to be released, one mission at a time - one mission for each of the next twelve days.
However, we're told to "click on the carolers" to activate the 12 Mission Calendar and truly start the event. The kicker being that the Carolers are nowhere to be found. They aren't in the snowy add-on released to hold the Toy Factory, the aren't scattered about the Homestead, they can't even be summoned by clicking on a Dinner Triangle.
Apparently, the entire letter itself has been released to users early, as an official comment has been made on the FrontierVille forums stating that we've received these pop-ups, including the letter from Frontier Jack early - a few hours early, to be exact.
This hasn't stopped users from panicking, as they fear the game has been broken, but we are assured that the missions will be coming to the game in the very near future, as a statement at the top of the FrontierVille gameplay area asks if you are ready to complete the missions (this is a rhetorical question, released, we believe, to assuage fears that the missions won't be released at all).
What will these missions contain, and when will they finally be released? We're guessing sometime within the next 24 hours, and we'll be sure to give you all of the details therein once they are officially released in the game.
When logging into the game, you'll receive a regular notice from Frontier Jack, pointing at a letter decorated with musical notes. If you can actually click on the letter (you may need to refresh the page and try again), you'll be introduced to a group of carolers, who sing a few lines of a revised version of the 12 Days of Christmas. This verse lets us know that the 12 Missions of FrontierVille are going to be released, one mission at a time - one mission for each of the next twelve days.
However, we're told to "click on the carolers" to activate the 12 Mission Calendar and truly start the event. The kicker being that the Carolers are nowhere to be found. They aren't in the snowy add-on released to hold the Toy Factory, the aren't scattered about the Homestead, they can't even be summoned by clicking on a Dinner Triangle.
Apparently, the entire letter itself has been released to users early, as an official comment has been made on the FrontierVille forums stating that we've received these pop-ups, including the letter from Frontier Jack early - a few hours early, to be exact.
This hasn't stopped users from panicking, as they fear the game has been broken, but we are assured that the missions will be coming to the game in the very near future, as a statement at the top of the FrontierVille gameplay area asks if you are ready to complete the missions (this is a rhetorical question, released, we believe, to assuage fears that the missions won't be released at all).
What will these missions contain, and when will they finally be released? We're guessing sometime within the next 24 hours, and we'll be sure to give you all of the details therein once they are officially released in the game.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Gree's OpenFeint hires ex-Glu Mobile exec, more social games coming?
The mobile social game wars are heating up, as OpenFeint just took on former Glu Mobile executive Sarah Thompson (pictured) as its director of developer relations, SocialTimes reports. In other words, OpenFeint, owned by Japanese mobile social gaming powerhouse Gree, hired Thomson to strategically acquire build relationships with independent developers.
Namely, SocialTimes's Azam Khan guesses those developers will be primarily social and mobile social game creators, given Thomson's past exploits in the industry with Glu Mobile and IUGO Entertainment before that. And frankly, we couldn't agree more. Considering OpenFeint is a social network for mobile games at heart, and Gree's existing status, it simply makes sense.
"OpenFeint is going through an exciting phase of growth right now and Sarah is exactly the kind of person we need to keep up the momentum," OpenFeint SVP Marketing and Developer Relations Eros Resmini said in a release. "Sarah's deep history in mobile gaming paired with her connections to the developer community made her a great fit for OpenFeint."
We can't help but recall what just went down between OpenFeint and Gree: The former's co-founder and CEO Jason Citron resigned, and Gree CFO Naoki Aoyagi took his place. (Though, VentureBeat reckons the move was less ... cut-and-dry.) But back to Gree and OpenFeint's future plans, the simple fact is mobile social games are growing at an exponential rate on iOS and Android devices.
"I've always admired OpenFeint for its constant innovation in the mobile gaming space," Thomson said in a release. "As the company continues to change with the market, I'm excited to help OpenFeint continue growing." And we think we have an idea of just where Thomson would like to go. It starts with an "S" and--oh, forget it. You get the point already.
Namely, SocialTimes's Azam Khan guesses those developers will be primarily social and mobile social game creators, given Thomson's past exploits in the industry with Glu Mobile and IUGO Entertainment before that. And frankly, we couldn't agree more. Considering OpenFeint is a social network for mobile games at heart, and Gree's existing status, it simply makes sense.
"OpenFeint is going through an exciting phase of growth right now and Sarah is exactly the kind of person we need to keep up the momentum," OpenFeint SVP Marketing and Developer Relations Eros Resmini said in a release. "Sarah's deep history in mobile gaming paired with her connections to the developer community made her a great fit for OpenFeint."
We can't help but recall what just went down between OpenFeint and Gree: The former's co-founder and CEO Jason Citron resigned, and Gree CFO Naoki Aoyagi took his place. (Though, VentureBeat reckons the move was less ... cut-and-dry.) But back to Gree and OpenFeint's future plans, the simple fact is mobile social games are growing at an exponential rate on iOS and Android devices.
"I've always admired OpenFeint for its constant innovation in the mobile gaming space," Thomson said in a release. "As the company continues to change with the market, I'm excited to help OpenFeint continue growing." And we think we have an idea of just where Thomson would like to go. It starts with an "S" and--oh, forget it. You get the point already.
Very sneaky, Zynga: Mafia Wars Shakedown revealed for iOS devices
Jeez, these guys are just terrible at keeping secrets, huh? (Alright, so this one looks like it was intentional, but nobody told us!) Zynga has announced yet another game, Mafia Wars Shakedown for iOS devices. However, the company went with a more low key approach for this announcement, which is far from its style. Exhibit A: Mafia Wars 2.
News of the game appeared when it replaced the Facebook page for Mafia Wars: Atlantic City, which was shuttered earlier this month in preparation for a "a much more exciting destination," the Mafia Wars Blog reads. What that implies to us is that Atlantic City may have been a failed experiment in HTML5 game creation, hence Shakedown. No other information about the game has been revealed other than it will first release for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.
Well, that and these tiny pieces of artwork. It's unknown whether this new iPhone game will come within a dedicated app like FarmVille and CityVille Hometown for iOS or through HTML5 like its predecessor. Frankly, HTML5--a web-based coding language capable of game development across multiple platforms simultaneously--is capable of more than Atlantic City.
Mafia Wars Shakedown Banner
Shakedown has all but replaced the web presence for Atlantic City (even the Twitter account has been taken over). My guess is that this new game will be a native iOS app like previous Zynga Mobile games, especially considering this news comes just as Zynga Mobile's David Ko told The Guardian he thinks HTML5 is still too early.
News of the game appeared when it replaced the Facebook page for Mafia Wars: Atlantic City, which was shuttered earlier this month in preparation for a "a much more exciting destination," the Mafia Wars Blog reads. What that implies to us is that Atlantic City may have been a failed experiment in HTML5 game creation, hence Shakedown. No other information about the game has been revealed other than it will first release for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.
Well, that and these tiny pieces of artwork. It's unknown whether this new iPhone game will come within a dedicated app like FarmVille and CityVille Hometown for iOS or through HTML5 like its predecessor. Frankly, HTML5--a web-based coding language capable of game development across multiple platforms simultaneously--is capable of more than Atlantic City.
Mafia Wars Shakedown Banner
Shakedown has all but replaced the web presence for Atlantic City (even the Twitter account has been taken over). My guess is that this new game will be a native iOS app like previous Zynga Mobile games, especially considering this news comes just as Zynga Mobile's David Ko told The Guardian he thinks HTML5 is still too early.
Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter goes live on Facebook
Released previously only in a private beta, Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter has now officially gone live on Facebook. Developed by Atari and set in the Neverwinter realm, the game already has 166,000 monthly players from its time in beta, but if you'd like to join them, here's a taste of what you can expect.
When first starting Heroes of Neverwinter, you'll be allowed to create a character using either set templates of a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric or Rogue (each with their own stats and specialties), or can create a custom character to customize your gender, stats, class, race and more. In this, the game can immediately start out being as complex or as straightforward as you like.
Upon launching into the game proper, you're met with a story of amnesia and will be introduced to Edrick, a scout that was guiding you on your way to Neverwinter before a pack of Goblins knocked you unconscious. Through this introduction, you're told of Neverwinter, a place of hope and civilization that has survived the Ruining, and that you had originally wanted to travel there to purchase a home and earn your fortune. With this as a base, you're sent on your way.
Movement is achieved on a grid, with this turn-based game automatically allowing you to move at the beginning of each turn. When commanding a party, you'll be able to complete multiple actions, including attacking or opening your inventory with each character before needing to manually end their turn and start over with the next character. Once each "adventure" in the game is complete, you'll receive experience points for the battles you won and the tasks you completed in the process. For immediate prizes, you'll sometimes be able to loot your fallen enemies, selecting a prize from a list of ten. You can choose randomly from ten cards, or can use a potion to reveal items before you choose.
In terms of actual combat, you'll have a wide variety of options, depending on the classes of characters in your party. You might be able to attack an enemy from far away, eliminating them before they ever become a threat, or surround an enemy with multiple characters, giving everyone a combat advantage. There's enough strategy here to keep more hardcore players satisfied, but the initial sections of gameplay are incredibly simple and work well to help an unfamiliar player get up to speed.
Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook
Back in Neverwinter proper, you can access a variety of buildings including the Adventure Board where you'll accept new Adventures (Adventures require energy and have multiple difficulty levels), the Tavern where you can purchase energy potions or Adventure boosts to your stats, the Trade house where you'll purchase similar potions or new equipment items, and even your own home, which you'll be able to fill with treasures as you complete different achievements or tasks within the game (collecting a certain amount of gold, for instance).
That being said, the main focus here (understandably) is in the Adventures themselves. There are plenty of them to undertake, each with an additional focus on bringing your friends in to help you (early on, it's entirely possible to fail even the most basic of Adventures by simply going it alone). The lore within the game is presented through text boxes at the beginning and end of most scenes and encounters, and will likely satisfy current D&D fans. Still, this isn't the first game of its kind of Facebook, so hopefully the D&D name alone will help draw more followers into the fray.
Will D&D Heroes of Neverwinter win over the "Zynga" crowd with its fairly in-depth, and somewhat slow-going gameplay? Likely not, but there's plenty of content here for fans who go out specifically in search for it.
When first starting Heroes of Neverwinter, you'll be allowed to create a character using either set templates of a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric or Rogue (each with their own stats and specialties), or can create a custom character to customize your gender, stats, class, race and more. In this, the game can immediately start out being as complex or as straightforward as you like.
Upon launching into the game proper, you're met with a story of amnesia and will be introduced to Edrick, a scout that was guiding you on your way to Neverwinter before a pack of Goblins knocked you unconscious. Through this introduction, you're told of Neverwinter, a place of hope and civilization that has survived the Ruining, and that you had originally wanted to travel there to purchase a home and earn your fortune. With this as a base, you're sent on your way.
Movement is achieved on a grid, with this turn-based game automatically allowing you to move at the beginning of each turn. When commanding a party, you'll be able to complete multiple actions, including attacking or opening your inventory with each character before needing to manually end their turn and start over with the next character. Once each "adventure" in the game is complete, you'll receive experience points for the battles you won and the tasks you completed in the process. For immediate prizes, you'll sometimes be able to loot your fallen enemies, selecting a prize from a list of ten. You can choose randomly from ten cards, or can use a potion to reveal items before you choose.
In terms of actual combat, you'll have a wide variety of options, depending on the classes of characters in your party. You might be able to attack an enemy from far away, eliminating them before they ever become a threat, or surround an enemy with multiple characters, giving everyone a combat advantage. There's enough strategy here to keep more hardcore players satisfied, but the initial sections of gameplay are incredibly simple and work well to help an unfamiliar player get up to speed.
Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook
Back in Neverwinter proper, you can access a variety of buildings including the Adventure Board where you'll accept new Adventures (Adventures require energy and have multiple difficulty levels), the Tavern where you can purchase energy potions or Adventure boosts to your stats, the Trade house where you'll purchase similar potions or new equipment items, and even your own home, which you'll be able to fill with treasures as you complete different achievements or tasks within the game (collecting a certain amount of gold, for instance).
That being said, the main focus here (understandably) is in the Adventures themselves. There are plenty of them to undertake, each with an additional focus on bringing your friends in to help you (early on, it's entirely possible to fail even the most basic of Adventures by simply going it alone). The lore within the game is presented through text boxes at the beginning and end of most scenes and encounters, and will likely satisfy current D&D fans. Still, this isn't the first game of its kind of Facebook, so hopefully the D&D name alone will help draw more followers into the fray.
Will D&D Heroes of Neverwinter win over the "Zynga" crowd with its fairly in-depth, and somewhat slow-going gameplay? Likely not, but there's plenty of content here for fans who go out specifically in search for it.
The Sims Social maker EA wants you ... to make it lots of ad money
And unfortunately, it doesn't sound like you'll have much of a choice. EA, co-creator of Playfish's The Sims Social on Facebook (and arch nemesis to Zynga at this point), has announced EA Legend.
This is the company's new platform to provide marketers and advertisers with "campaign and audience insights across mobile, social, online and console games reaching over 300 million people worldwide," a release reads.
In other words, you're more valuable to EA than you might already know. The publisher wants to use the information you provide them inadvertently through gameplay to rope in ad and marketing deals not just through its Facebook games but all of its games. More specifically, EA said it can provide advertisers with (prepare for buzzword overload):
Key cross-platform campaign performance indicators such as impressions, clicks, unduplicated reach, demographic profiles, social media buzz, and ROI metrics.
Segmented audience insights based on demographic, psychographic, and social data.
Ability to drill down into the factors that impact campaign effectiveness including audience engagement, audience segmentation and type of creative all measured over time.
EA Legend
What's that again--psychographic data? This may all sound like something out of "1984," but it's nothing new. If you think other game creators don't do this type of stuff, then here's your wake-up call. We won't know exactly what information about us EA will provide to advertisers through Legend until it makes advertisers see green at this year's Advertising Week event in New York City on Oct. 4. And if EA keeps using words like psychographic, we may never know.
This is the company's new platform to provide marketers and advertisers with "campaign and audience insights across mobile, social, online and console games reaching over 300 million people worldwide," a release reads.
In other words, you're more valuable to EA than you might already know. The publisher wants to use the information you provide them inadvertently through gameplay to rope in ad and marketing deals not just through its Facebook games but all of its games. More specifically, EA said it can provide advertisers with (prepare for buzzword overload):
Key cross-platform campaign performance indicators such as impressions, clicks, unduplicated reach, demographic profiles, social media buzz, and ROI metrics.
Segmented audience insights based on demographic, psychographic, and social data.
Ability to drill down into the factors that impact campaign effectiveness including audience engagement, audience segmentation and type of creative all measured over time.
EA Legend
What's that again--psychographic data? This may all sound like something out of "1984," but it's nothing new. If you think other game creators don't do this type of stuff, then here's your wake-up call. We won't know exactly what information about us EA will provide to advertisers through Legend until it makes advertisers see green at this year's Advertising Week event in New York City on Oct. 4. And if EA keeps using words like psychographic, we may never know.
Zoo World creator RockYou's Jonathan Knight leaves for Zynga
And there goes another. Inside Social Games reports that Jonathan Knight (pictured), former SVP of Games at RockYou, has left the company for Zynga. The company's--best known for Zoo World--CEO Lisa Marino confirmed the move. Before his departure, Knight oversaw the acquisitions of studios like 3 Blokes, which just launched Galactic Allies, and Playdemic of Gourmet Ranch fame.
"We hired [Knight] to help us build out a portfolio of great products and he's done the job," Marino told ISG. "We have built a strong team of talent through a careful hiring process, our Studio Partners program, and acquisitions over the past year. The departure of Jonathan will not impact our game development pipeline or our plans to continue to launch quality titles."
Knight has a deep history in the games business, coming to RockYou from veteran publisher EA as VP and executive VP for nine years. During that time, Knight oversaw major releases like entries in The Sims series and The Simpsons Game. In fact, ISG recalls that Knight was brought in to help RockYou transform from a social app developer into a social game creator.
The move happens just as RockYou prepares to launch Cloudforest Expedition on Facebook with designer John Romero's Loot Drop. Knight joins a number of major video game execs that have flocked to Zynga in the past year, many of which coming from EA. The company's CCO Jeff Schappert recently left for Zynga, who was then followed by NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell and EA Play exec Jeff Karp. We've contacted Zynga for comment as to what Knight might be up to with the company.
"We hired [Knight] to help us build out a portfolio of great products and he's done the job," Marino told ISG. "We have built a strong team of talent through a careful hiring process, our Studio Partners program, and acquisitions over the past year. The departure of Jonathan will not impact our game development pipeline or our plans to continue to launch quality titles."
Knight has a deep history in the games business, coming to RockYou from veteran publisher EA as VP and executive VP for nine years. During that time, Knight oversaw major releases like entries in The Sims series and The Simpsons Game. In fact, ISG recalls that Knight was brought in to help RockYou transform from a social app developer into a social game creator.
The move happens just as RockYou prepares to launch Cloudforest Expedition on Facebook with designer John Romero's Loot Drop. Knight joins a number of major video game execs that have flocked to Zynga in the past year, many of which coming from EA. The company's CCO Jeff Schappert recently left for Zynga, who was then followed by NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell and EA Play exec Jeff Karp. We've contacted Zynga for comment as to what Knight might be up to with the company.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Download FarmVille Game Bar to receive Toggenburg Goat
Back in May, Zynga attempted to sweeten the deal associated with the FarmVille / Zynga Game Bar, and offered players a free Toggenburg Goat if they would download the toolbar to their browsers (normally, the prize is free Farm Cash). Unfortunately, most players never actually ended up with this free goat. To kick off the new year (and apparently make up for past sins), FarmVille Pro has spotted the fact that Zynga has "re-released" the Toggenburg Goat as a free prize for those that have yet to download the Game Bar on their account.
It seems like the most sure-fire way of receiving this as a prize for installing the Game Bar would be to install it using this link. Those that have already installed the Game Bar, or those that have uninstalled it after installing it previously may have problems receiving the Goat, so this offer isn't available for everyone.
As a reminder, the Zynga Game Bar will allow you to keep track of your crops, letting you know when they're ready to harvest in FarmVille, and will also reward you with various items in the other Zynga games that you play (free fruit in Treasure Isle, and so on). It's worth downloading, for those that play multiple Zynga games on a regular basis, but it is only available to download on Internet Explorer 7+ or Firefox 3.6+. Other browsers are currently unsupported.
It's likely that this Toggenburg Goat will only be available as a prize for a short time, so if you've yet to install the Game Bar, now might be the right time to do it.
It seems like the most sure-fire way of receiving this as a prize for installing the Game Bar would be to install it using this link. Those that have already installed the Game Bar, or those that have uninstalled it after installing it previously may have problems receiving the Goat, so this offer isn't available for everyone.
As a reminder, the Zynga Game Bar will allow you to keep track of your crops, letting you know when they're ready to harvest in FarmVille, and will also reward you with various items in the other Zynga games that you play (free fruit in Treasure Isle, and so on). It's worth downloading, for those that play multiple Zynga games on a regular basis, but it is only available to download on Internet Explorer 7+ or Firefox 3.6+. Other browsers are currently unsupported.
It's likely that this Toggenburg Goat will only be available as a prize for a short time, so if you've yet to install the Game Bar, now might be the right time to do it.
Cafe World Graduation Party Catering Order: Everything you need to know
With all of the work we've put into making our way through the Cooking Academy in Cafe World, it's about time we were able to celebrate our graduation with a party in the game. However, this party comes in the form of a Catering Order, which will likely lessen the appeal for some users.
The Graduation Party Catering Order asks you to "cater to the grads" and will reward you with a new themed cake, if you can complete the order within the three day, three-star time limit. This mission only asks you to cook three dishes, but you'll need to complete the accompanying Graduation Party goals (see our complete guide at the link) in order to unlock one of these three dishes. This is one of those cases when the task itself is fairly simple, but unlocking it in the first place will be difficult, as you will, of course, have to finish the many, many Cooking Academy goals in order to "graduate" in the game, and unlock the new dish required for this order.
If you aren't threatened by a challenge, meet us behind the break for a complete look at how to complete this new mission in the time limit provided.
Luckily, you won't have to complete any sort of collection with this catering order, but you will have to cook three different dishes. You'll need to cook Spicy Devil Eggs (an 18 hour dish) 5 times, Veggie Sushi (a 7 hour dish) 20 times, and Artichoke Dip (a 5 minute dish) 64 times.
All things considered, with a three day time limit for the best reward, this doesn't actually seem like that hard of a Catering Order. Sure, you should only complete it once having unlocked the Artichoke Dip recipe (cooked for 67 coins), but once you do, you can bring 10 of your friends into this mission with you. If at least a few of them also have the Artichoke Dip unlocked, then you should be able to make pretty quick work of this order (something I'm sure we all love hearing).
If you can complete the order within the first three days of accepting it, you'll earn 3 stars, 3 catering points, 480 Cafe Points, 7450 coins and the Graduation Cake recipe. The Graduation Cake is available to cook for 3,700 coins, and is ready to serve in 1 day. You'll have 1200 servings to sell for 6 coins each, offering a return of 7200 coins on each stove of the cake that is cooked.
If you can't complete the order within three days, but you do finish it within five, you'll receive 2 stars, 2 catering points, 350 Cafe Points, and 3500 coins. Finally, if you simply finish the mission at any time after the 5 day time limit has passed, you'll earn a single star, 1 catering point, 190 Cafe Points and 3100 coins.
Again, this is a fairly simple mission, and the somewhat lackluster rewards (aside from the exclusive new recipe) seem to the reflect that. Still, if you've been looking for a task that you can easily start and complete, without resorting to begging your friends endlessly for various items, this might be a good one to take a look at tackling.
The Graduation Party Catering Order asks you to "cater to the grads" and will reward you with a new themed cake, if you can complete the order within the three day, three-star time limit. This mission only asks you to cook three dishes, but you'll need to complete the accompanying Graduation Party goals (see our complete guide at the link) in order to unlock one of these three dishes. This is one of those cases when the task itself is fairly simple, but unlocking it in the first place will be difficult, as you will, of course, have to finish the many, many Cooking Academy goals in order to "graduate" in the game, and unlock the new dish required for this order.
If you aren't threatened by a challenge, meet us behind the break for a complete look at how to complete this new mission in the time limit provided.
Luckily, you won't have to complete any sort of collection with this catering order, but you will have to cook three different dishes. You'll need to cook Spicy Devil Eggs (an 18 hour dish) 5 times, Veggie Sushi (a 7 hour dish) 20 times, and Artichoke Dip (a 5 minute dish) 64 times.
All things considered, with a three day time limit for the best reward, this doesn't actually seem like that hard of a Catering Order. Sure, you should only complete it once having unlocked the Artichoke Dip recipe (cooked for 67 coins), but once you do, you can bring 10 of your friends into this mission with you. If at least a few of them also have the Artichoke Dip unlocked, then you should be able to make pretty quick work of this order (something I'm sure we all love hearing).
If you can complete the order within the first three days of accepting it, you'll earn 3 stars, 3 catering points, 480 Cafe Points, 7450 coins and the Graduation Cake recipe. The Graduation Cake is available to cook for 3,700 coins, and is ready to serve in 1 day. You'll have 1200 servings to sell for 6 coins each, offering a return of 7200 coins on each stove of the cake that is cooked.
If you can't complete the order within three days, but you do finish it within five, you'll receive 2 stars, 2 catering points, 350 Cafe Points, and 3500 coins. Finally, if you simply finish the mission at any time after the 5 day time limit has passed, you'll earn a single star, 1 catering point, 190 Cafe Points and 3100 coins.
Again, this is a fairly simple mission, and the somewhat lackluster rewards (aside from the exclusive new recipe) seem to the reflect that. Still, if you've been looking for a task that you can easily start and complete, without resorting to begging your friends endlessly for various items, this might be a good one to take a look at tackling.
Cafe World Graduation Party Goals: Everything you need to know
No, you're not seeing things, the amount of new missions being released in Cafe World really does seem to be never-ending. Just when you thought graduation would be the last we'd see of the Cooking Academy, Zynga releases a four-part "Graduation Party" goal series, that will have you decorating your cafe for the party, serving some dishes, unlocking an entirely new recipe (that is later used in a Catering Mission), collecting items, and more, all in the name of celebration after finishing your in-game work at the Cafe World Cooking Academy.
As we said, this is a four-part quest line, which will likely take you multiple days to complete. If you're ready to take part in another multi-part goal set, meet us behind the break for a complete look at the tasks required and prizes awarded for completing all four.
Part 1 of this new goal series is called "Get Ready to Party," and it asks you to purchase a few items to make your cafe look the part - you can't have friends coming over to celebrate your graduation without having a few balloons and streamers, after all. There are three tasks to complete to start:
Buy 5 Bunches of Balloons
Buy 2 Wall Streamers
Have 4 doors in your Cafe
All of these tasks are relatively simple, so long as you have quite a bit of spare change to go around. Each Bunch of Balloons costs 75,000 coins, and is available to purchase from the Decorations portion of the store. The Wall Streamers are even more expensive, going for 125,000 coins each. The four doors, then, can be any kind of door that you'd like, so long as you have four doors placed in your cafe to trigger the ending of the mission (they can later be removed and sold, if you so choose).
The rewards for this first goal are 250 Cafe Points and 5,000 coins.
Now that your cafe looks the part, you'll need to start serving some food to your guests, and in Part 2 of 4, "Serve the Sweets," you'll do just that by completing the following three tasks:
Serve Chocolate Cream Pie 16 times
Ask for 8 Chocolate Pecan Pies
Serve 20 Chocolate Pecan Pie servings
Unfortunately, yes, you will have to ask your friends for the 8 Pecan Pies, but the Chocolate Cream Pie can easily be cooked on your own in 10 hours for 445 coins per pie.
The rewards for serving these sweets are another 250 Cafe Points and 5,000 coins. You'll also unlock Part 3 of these four goals, with part 3 introducing an entirely new recipe to the game.
Part 3 is called Pass the Dip! and it asks you to collect the ingredients required to prepare your new, currently locked dish the Artichoke Dip. Unfortunately, you'll need to collect enough items that this might take you more than one day to complete.
Ask for 10 Cups of Mayo
Ask for 10 Cups of Parmesan Cheese
Ask for 10 Cups of Chopped Artichoke Hearts
Like we said - that's a whopping 30 items that must be collected just to unlock a single dish, but if you can achieve the goal (even over multiple days), you'll be able to unlock the Artichoke Dip recipe, which can be cooked for just 67 coins, so long as you are level 10 or above. The dish cooks in just 5 minutes, at which point you'll be able to serve 10 servings for 13 coins each, for a return of 130 coins.
This Artichoke Dip is a required recipe in the new Graduation Party Catering Order, and coincidentally enough, you'll need to finish that order as the final step required in this Graduation Party goal series - Part IV, which is called "Cater to the Grads!"
That's right, this mission has but one requirement - finish the Graduation Party Catering Order. You can check out our complete guide on how to finish this mission, but don't panic - you can finish the mission at any star rating to complete this quest. Doing so will offer you the reward of the Floating Party Sign, an item that otherwise costs a whopping 50 Cafe Cash, if purchased separately from the store's Decorations tab.
And there you have it - a goal series that is, all things considered, not terribly difficult. Collecting the 30 ingredients necessary to complete the "Pass the Dip!" goal seems like it will easily be the most time consuming process, unless you are a lower level player that will have difficulty collecting enough coins to purchase the required decorations at the beginning. Either way, good luck in your attempts at not only finishing these goals, but also the Graduation Part Catering Order - if history has taught us anything, we might need all the luck we can get.
As we said, this is a four-part quest line, which will likely take you multiple days to complete. If you're ready to take part in another multi-part goal set, meet us behind the break for a complete look at the tasks required and prizes awarded for completing all four.
Part 1 of this new goal series is called "Get Ready to Party," and it asks you to purchase a few items to make your cafe look the part - you can't have friends coming over to celebrate your graduation without having a few balloons and streamers, after all. There are three tasks to complete to start:
Buy 5 Bunches of Balloons
Buy 2 Wall Streamers
Have 4 doors in your Cafe
All of these tasks are relatively simple, so long as you have quite a bit of spare change to go around. Each Bunch of Balloons costs 75,000 coins, and is available to purchase from the Decorations portion of the store. The Wall Streamers are even more expensive, going for 125,000 coins each. The four doors, then, can be any kind of door that you'd like, so long as you have four doors placed in your cafe to trigger the ending of the mission (they can later be removed and sold, if you so choose).
The rewards for this first goal are 250 Cafe Points and 5,000 coins.
Now that your cafe looks the part, you'll need to start serving some food to your guests, and in Part 2 of 4, "Serve the Sweets," you'll do just that by completing the following three tasks:
Serve Chocolate Cream Pie 16 times
Ask for 8 Chocolate Pecan Pies
Serve 20 Chocolate Pecan Pie servings
Unfortunately, yes, you will have to ask your friends for the 8 Pecan Pies, but the Chocolate Cream Pie can easily be cooked on your own in 10 hours for 445 coins per pie.
The rewards for serving these sweets are another 250 Cafe Points and 5,000 coins. You'll also unlock Part 3 of these four goals, with part 3 introducing an entirely new recipe to the game.
Part 3 is called Pass the Dip! and it asks you to collect the ingredients required to prepare your new, currently locked dish the Artichoke Dip. Unfortunately, you'll need to collect enough items that this might take you more than one day to complete.
Ask for 10 Cups of Mayo
Ask for 10 Cups of Parmesan Cheese
Ask for 10 Cups of Chopped Artichoke Hearts
Like we said - that's a whopping 30 items that must be collected just to unlock a single dish, but if you can achieve the goal (even over multiple days), you'll be able to unlock the Artichoke Dip recipe, which can be cooked for just 67 coins, so long as you are level 10 or above. The dish cooks in just 5 minutes, at which point you'll be able to serve 10 servings for 13 coins each, for a return of 130 coins.
This Artichoke Dip is a required recipe in the new Graduation Party Catering Order, and coincidentally enough, you'll need to finish that order as the final step required in this Graduation Party goal series - Part IV, which is called "Cater to the Grads!"
That's right, this mission has but one requirement - finish the Graduation Party Catering Order. You can check out our complete guide on how to finish this mission, but don't panic - you can finish the mission at any star rating to complete this quest. Doing so will offer you the reward of the Floating Party Sign, an item that otherwise costs a whopping 50 Cafe Cash, if purchased separately from the store's Decorations tab.
And there you have it - a goal series that is, all things considered, not terribly difficult. Collecting the 30 ingredients necessary to complete the "Pass the Dip!" goal seems like it will easily be the most time consuming process, unless you are a lower level player that will have difficulty collecting enough coins to purchase the required decorations at the beginning. Either way, good luck in your attempts at not only finishing these goals, but also the Graduation Part Catering Order - if history has taught us anything, we might need all the luck we can get.
FarmVille Sneak Peek: Seal, Cream Saddle Horse, & Indian Runner Duck
If you're into collecting animals in FarmVille, you'll be happy to know that we've come across three new unreleased images of animals that will likely be coming to the game in the future. The first, the Seal (or perhaps called the Ice Seal) will likely be the first one released into the game out of the three, due to the current Winter Wonderland theme of limited edition items being available in the store.
The other two animals are the Cream Saddle Horse and the Indian Runner Duck. For both Horse and Duck lovers, this will apparently give you one of each animal to add to their respective animal storage buildings (the Horse Stable or Duck Pond). As of this writing, however, we haven't come across images of a Cream Saddle Foal, so it is also possible that due to the horse's functional appearance (it is dressed up with a gear, after all), this could be simply a decorative animal and not one that could actually be bred.
Either way, we'll be sure to bring you guys all of the details about these new animals if and when they are officially released in the game. Remember though - there's no guarantee that they will be released, so keep that in mind.
Which of these three animals is your favorite? Why do you think the Cream Saddle Horse is dressed up so fancifully? Could it have a function, other than being a normal horse?
The other two animals are the Cream Saddle Horse and the Indian Runner Duck. For both Horse and Duck lovers, this will apparently give you one of each animal to add to their respective animal storage buildings (the Horse Stable or Duck Pond). As of this writing, however, we haven't come across images of a Cream Saddle Foal, so it is also possible that due to the horse's functional appearance (it is dressed up with a gear, after all), this could be simply a decorative animal and not one that could actually be bred.
Either way, we'll be sure to bring you guys all of the details about these new animals if and when they are officially released in the game. Remember though - there's no guarantee that they will be released, so keep that in mind.
Which of these three animals is your favorite? Why do you think the Cream Saddle Horse is dressed up so fancifully? Could it have a function, other than being a normal horse?
Zynga now speaks 'Mafia Wars' in Spanish, French, Italian and German
Italian French Spanish
Sie habe vereist, Narr! That's "You just got iced, fool!" in German (roughly) and finally, Mafia Wars players from around the world can trash talk one another in their native tongue. Isn't the Internet beautiful? Zynga has introduced language support for Spanish, French, Italian and German to Mafia Wars. Taking a cue from the explosive CityVille, opening up the game to more languages could increase the game's player base considerably.
Well, Western languages at least. While I'm no developer, I'd imagine it's far easier to localize a game for Western language audiences than it is for Eastern language players. It all comes down to cultural differences and tolerances. While Europe is far different from the US culturally, its tolerance for violence, language and other cultural nuances are more similar to the US than, say, China. In fact, Zynga has specifically localized both FarmVille and Zynga Poker for Chinese audiences in the past year. With yet another game featuring multilingual support, it wouldn't be a terrible guess to predict this will become a growing trend in Zynga's future game development.
Language Support
To access the new languages in Mafia Wars, just click on the drop-down box in the upper right corner of the game screen and select "Languages." Then, a pop-up window will appear with the available languages. Select one and the game will refresh with the language you selected. Just so you know that Zynga is serious about being the social gaming company of the world, Mafia Wars fan pages have launched in the four newly supported languages as well. With a change like this, I wouldn't be surprised of "Mafia Nation" launched with multilingual support.
Sie habe vereist, Narr! That's "You just got iced, fool!" in German (roughly) and finally, Mafia Wars players from around the world can trash talk one another in their native tongue. Isn't the Internet beautiful? Zynga has introduced language support for Spanish, French, Italian and German to Mafia Wars. Taking a cue from the explosive CityVille, opening up the game to more languages could increase the game's player base considerably.
Well, Western languages at least. While I'm no developer, I'd imagine it's far easier to localize a game for Western language audiences than it is for Eastern language players. It all comes down to cultural differences and tolerances. While Europe is far different from the US culturally, its tolerance for violence, language and other cultural nuances are more similar to the US than, say, China. In fact, Zynga has specifically localized both FarmVille and Zynga Poker for Chinese audiences in the past year. With yet another game featuring multilingual support, it wouldn't be a terrible guess to predict this will become a growing trend in Zynga's future game development.
Language Support
To access the new languages in Mafia Wars, just click on the drop-down box in the upper right corner of the game screen and select "Languages." Then, a pop-up window will appear with the available languages. Select one and the game will refresh with the language you selected. Just so you know that Zynga is serious about being the social gaming company of the world, Mafia Wars fan pages have launched in the four newly supported languages as well. With a change like this, I wouldn't be surprised of "Mafia Nation" launched with multilingual support.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash in Oreo promotion
Back in January, we saw Zynga partnering with Nabisco to offer two free Farm Cash to users who participated in an Oreo DSRL promotion, and now, thanks to the folks at FarmVille Feed, we've learned that Oreo is back again, offering another two free Farm Cash to farmers.
This new promotion, as usual, can be spotted underneath the FarmVille gameplay area. If the promotion is currently active on your account (remember, you may have other incomplete promotions that are blocking this one from view), you'll be able to click on the Sponsored Link [pictured] and take part in a short activity where you'll share your family's favorite Oreo and milk moment "with the world."
Completing this short step will see you earning two free Farm Cash that should be added to your overall total automatically. If you don't see it, a quick refresh of the game should force your Farm Cash total to update, where you'll be two Farm Cash richer!
This new promotion, as usual, can be spotted underneath the FarmVille gameplay area. If the promotion is currently active on your account (remember, you may have other incomplete promotions that are blocking this one from view), you'll be able to click on the Sponsored Link [pictured] and take part in a short activity where you'll share your family's favorite Oreo and milk moment "with the world."
Completing this short step will see you earning two free Farm Cash that should be added to your overall total automatically. If you don't see it, a quick refresh of the game should force your Farm Cash total to update, where you'll be two Farm Cash richer!
Game of the Day: Diner Dash: Flo on the Go
The game of the day knows hard work and restaurants go together. Diner Dash: Flo on the Go: Flo trades in her apron for a passport to paradise! But will our hard-working waitress get a chance to relax? Flo on the go keeps the Diner Dash spirit alive and has our apron-wearing, red sneaker heroin saving the day one more time. The hardest working waitress in the business will never let up until everyone is served.
Click --> Play Diner Dash Flo on the Go
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.
Click --> Play Diner Dash Flo on the Go
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official Game of the Day hub.
Sega goes social with Facebook games coming this month
Sega Play! Baseball
The publisher behind Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega, is getting into the US social games business. While the company has worked on Japanese social games before like a Yakuza game, this marks the first time Sega will be going toe-to-toe with Zynga and Bitter Enemies Friends. Not to mention Sega was already on the lookout for American talent. Its line of Facebook and Hi5 games, Sega Play!, will begin by the end of Feb. with a localization of Sega Play! Baseball, Total Telecom reports.
In fact, the game is available now on Facebook, but it hasn't exactly been localized completely. Much of the game is still in Japanese, so we'll refrain from judgment ... for now. When it finally is ready for American audiences it will be one of the first baseball Facebook games released by a major publisher. In March, the company will launch Sega Play! Football on Hi5.
Of course, the games will be free to play, but will charge for premium items and boosts. In other words, standard Facebook game fare. But let's hope the gameplay is anything but standard. Sega already has plans for global expansion, according to Total Telecom, so watch out, Zynga.
The publisher behind Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega, is getting into the US social games business. While the company has worked on Japanese social games before like a Yakuza game, this marks the first time Sega will be going toe-to-toe with Zynga and Bitter Enemies Friends. Not to mention Sega was already on the lookout for American talent. Its line of Facebook and Hi5 games, Sega Play!, will begin by the end of Feb. with a localization of Sega Play! Baseball, Total Telecom reports.
In fact, the game is available now on Facebook, but it hasn't exactly been localized completely. Much of the game is still in Japanese, so we'll refrain from judgment ... for now. When it finally is ready for American audiences it will be one of the first baseball Facebook games released by a major publisher. In March, the company will launch Sega Play! Football on Hi5.
Of course, the games will be free to play, but will charge for premium items and boosts. In other words, standard Facebook game fare. But let's hope the gameplay is anything but standard. Sega already has plans for global expansion, according to Total Telecom, so watch out, Zynga.
NBA Legend on Facebook: A fine simulator, but where's the hoops?
When we heard that the NBA was launching their own Facebook game through Lionside, we were cautiously optimistic. And now we're thankful that we approached NBA Legend this way. While there is not much the game does differently than sports Facebook games like FIFA Superstars and Madden NFL Superstars, it sure emulates them well. However, it's hard to say that Lionside knows what works when these two sources of inspiration haven't exactly won any championships.
Find more of our NBA Legend impressions after the break.
Locker Room
Let's just get one thing out of the way. NBA is unique from its predecessors in that players assume the role of both the coach and one player. You will need to suspend disbelief somewhat to look past that fact, because it makes for a slightly deeper experience. Upon opening the game, players are asked to create an avatar, its position and the team he plays for. All of this can change at any time, but we doubt your loyalty will sway too far. Players can customize their avatar with unique uniform additions that will improve stats. Many of these enhancements cost Lion Bucks, the game's paid currency.
Your home court gym is where you will practice Drills. Much like training in other sports games, these timed events will increase your players' stats and chances of winning in games. Wait too long to reap the rewards and they will disappear. To guide you along, you will receive missions from your avatar's smartphone via text messages. Many of these missions will involve you practicing with NBA pros, which increases Chemistry. This stat is almost a wild card in that it generally increases your chances of victory in games, but it needs to be maintained by practicing with the professionals. In your final preparation for games, you can buy Boosts with coins or Lion Bucks that will temporarily increase a stat in games like block percentage.
Simulating...
The strategy behind NBA Legend is enormous. Choosing just the right players, which are added by practicing with pros or making friends, is essential to winning games later on. In fact, compensating for your team's weaknesses through player switching and choosing the right Boost is a game within itself. But it's too bad that the actual games are nothing more than a simulation. Literally (see above). When a game is chosen, all of which are against real gamers, sounds of rubber soles rubbing on wooden floors and buzzers ringing fill your speakers. Before your excitement can grow, two teams' logos grow larger as points on a counter rack up. And the game is decided. You can't even watch your team play the game much less skip the simulation.
And this is the major issue with not only NBA Legend, but all Facebook sports games. This game has strategy in spades and looks darn good doing it, but there's no action. And when it comes to it, that's what sports are all about: the thrill and rush of playing. And if 3D is possible on Facebook, surely it's possible to create an action-oriented sports game. Frankly, this is most likely the reason sports games aren't doing well on Facebook at the moment. Games like NBA Legend are smooth and gorgeous uses of Flash, but until some action is thrown in, the majority of fans likely aren't going to hop on board.
Find more of our NBA Legend impressions after the break.
Locker Room
Let's just get one thing out of the way. NBA is unique from its predecessors in that players assume the role of both the coach and one player. You will need to suspend disbelief somewhat to look past that fact, because it makes for a slightly deeper experience. Upon opening the game, players are asked to create an avatar, its position and the team he plays for. All of this can change at any time, but we doubt your loyalty will sway too far. Players can customize their avatar with unique uniform additions that will improve stats. Many of these enhancements cost Lion Bucks, the game's paid currency.
Your home court gym is where you will practice Drills. Much like training in other sports games, these timed events will increase your players' stats and chances of winning in games. Wait too long to reap the rewards and they will disappear. To guide you along, you will receive missions from your avatar's smartphone via text messages. Many of these missions will involve you practicing with NBA pros, which increases Chemistry. This stat is almost a wild card in that it generally increases your chances of victory in games, but it needs to be maintained by practicing with the professionals. In your final preparation for games, you can buy Boosts with coins or Lion Bucks that will temporarily increase a stat in games like block percentage.
Simulating...
The strategy behind NBA Legend is enormous. Choosing just the right players, which are added by practicing with pros or making friends, is essential to winning games later on. In fact, compensating for your team's weaknesses through player switching and choosing the right Boost is a game within itself. But it's too bad that the actual games are nothing more than a simulation. Literally (see above). When a game is chosen, all of which are against real gamers, sounds of rubber soles rubbing on wooden floors and buzzers ringing fill your speakers. Before your excitement can grow, two teams' logos grow larger as points on a counter rack up. And the game is decided. You can't even watch your team play the game much less skip the simulation.
And this is the major issue with not only NBA Legend, but all Facebook sports games. This game has strategy in spades and looks darn good doing it, but there's no action. And when it comes to it, that's what sports are all about: the thrill and rush of playing. And if 3D is possible on Facebook, surely it's possible to create an action-oriented sports game. Frankly, this is most likely the reason sports games aren't doing well on Facebook at the moment. Games like NBA Legend are smooth and gorgeous uses of Flash, but until some action is thrown in, the majority of fans likely aren't going to hop on board.
Social game features will invade consoles, says Game Theory host
According to Scott Steinberg, CEO of TechSavvy and host of web video series Game Theory, it's only inevitable. Social game elements are bound to find their way into traditional consoles, and it will happen sooner than later, according to an interview with Mashable. Steinberg claims that elements such as free-to-play and social connectivity will become standard in console game experiences, but it will take forward-thinking publishers and manufacturers to make it happen.
When asked for his prediction when console games will go free-to-play, Steinberg replied, "Possibly within the next two to three years, as the number of players enjoying online connected games through console systems begins to reach critical mass. Keep in mind though that there's also a financial component to consider." However, he goes on to warn that there are even more hurdles to overcome like convincing a publisher to front millions on games that have no guarantee of making good on investments.
Regardless, Steinberg sees the social web integrating itself with consoles in one way or another:
From the smallest casual games to most sprawling adventures, you'll begin to see social connectivity increasingly woven into virtually every facet of interactive entertainment going forward. Beyond the sharing of status updates, achievements and instant ability to monitor friends' activity and quickly connect, collaborate and compete in favorite titles, you'll also see games that offer a variety of entry points from different platforms and devices.
It's already with MMOs like World of WarCraft and social games like FarmVille, both of which have smartphone apps designed to extend their offered experience beyond the computer. According to Steinberg, the same will happen for consoles. Playing the portable version of a game or a companion application will reward players with boosts and item in the original console game. While these are all lofty predictions, at least they are based in reality. Trends tend to spread like wildfire--just look at Twilight.
When asked for his prediction when console games will go free-to-play, Steinberg replied, "Possibly within the next two to three years, as the number of players enjoying online connected games through console systems begins to reach critical mass. Keep in mind though that there's also a financial component to consider." However, he goes on to warn that there are even more hurdles to overcome like convincing a publisher to front millions on games that have no guarantee of making good on investments.
Regardless, Steinberg sees the social web integrating itself with consoles in one way or another:
From the smallest casual games to most sprawling adventures, you'll begin to see social connectivity increasingly woven into virtually every facet of interactive entertainment going forward. Beyond the sharing of status updates, achievements and instant ability to monitor friends' activity and quickly connect, collaborate and compete in favorite titles, you'll also see games that offer a variety of entry points from different platforms and devices.
It's already with MMOs like World of WarCraft and social games like FarmVille, both of which have smartphone apps designed to extend their offered experience beyond the computer. According to Steinberg, the same will happen for consoles. Playing the portable version of a game or a companion application will reward players with boosts and item in the original console game. While these are all lofty predictions, at least they are based in reality. Trends tend to spread like wildfire--just look at Twilight.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
FarmVille English Countryside crops appear in FarmVille iOS Market
It's unsure whether this leak was intentional, but Zynga has revealed several of the FarmVille crops to be released with the English Countryside expansion ... through FarmVille for iOS. While it's not clear whether this was intentional, it's even more confusing that Zynga would release this information through the game's mobile app. Does this mean that EC will soon be released on iOS as well? Who knows, but what we do know is that there will be a ton of crops to master once we touch down in England. Check out the rest of the crops, some of whose images refused to load, and their prices behind the break.
FarmVille English Crops 2
FarmVille English Crops 3
FarmVille English Crops 4
Unfortunately, no timing, return or XP information is available yet. Yet this isn't even half of the crop information we've seen. If you want to see some of the future crops' Mastery signs, check out this post. Until then, this is the best sneak peek we have.
[Via FarmVille Freak]
Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.
Have you seen these leaked crops in your FarmVille iOS game? What do you think this means for how close we might be to the expansion's release?
FarmVille English Crops 2
FarmVille English Crops 3
FarmVille English Crops 4
Unfortunately, no timing, return or XP information is available yet. Yet this isn't even half of the crop information we've seen. If you want to see some of the future crops' Mastery signs, check out this post. Until then, this is the best sneak peek we have.
[Via FarmVille Freak]
Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.
Have you seen these leaked crops in your FarmVille iOS game? What do you think this means for how close we might be to the expansion's release?
ngmoco's We Rule boasts 12 million downloads, 3 billion minutes of playtime
In America, social gaming on the iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices has not reached its potential -- though this new We Rule infographic shows that, that might be changing soon (esp. considering the explosive growth of Android devices and tablets in general).
Ngmoco's freemium social kingdom simulation game for IOS devices celebrates its one-year anniversary this month, and to mark the occasion, has come out with some impressive sounding stats like 3 billion minutes played, 13 million downloads and 40 billion coins spent daily.
Of course, if you compare this game to Angry Birds, which has 100 million downloads, the numbers don't seem quite as epic as this infographic makes them out to be. Then again, Roxio's other hit, Cut the Rope, has somewhere in the ballpark of 6 million downloads -- so We Rule might not be number one, but just might hold the keys to a mobile social kingdom that has not yet reached its heyday.
Ngmoco's freemium social kingdom simulation game for IOS devices celebrates its one-year anniversary this month, and to mark the occasion, has come out with some impressive sounding stats like 3 billion minutes played, 13 million downloads and 40 billion coins spent daily.
Of course, if you compare this game to Angry Birds, which has 100 million downloads, the numbers don't seem quite as epic as this infographic makes them out to be. Then again, Roxio's other hit, Cut the Rope, has somewhere in the ballpark of 6 million downloads -- so We Rule might not be number one, but just might hold the keys to a mobile social kingdom that has not yet reached its heyday.
FrontierVille Flash Mob: Win Horseshoes in this forum trivia contest
How fresh is your FrontierVille knowledge? Zynga wants to test just that in its next FrontierVille Flash Mob. This trivia competition will test your ability to regurgitate random facts about the game. (You know, like how all trivia games test useless knowledge.) However, five prizes of 50 Horseshoes are up for grabs for the most savvy pioneers. It all starts at 2 p.m. EST, so open that FrontierVille Wiki page and hop in the forums for your chance at some free Horseshoes. If you're at work, don't worry--we won't tell.
Do you plan on joining the competition? How do you think the next few rounds will pan out?
Do you plan on joining the competition? How do you think the next few rounds will pan out?
FarmVille English Countryside buildings leak to FarmVille iOS Market
The deluge of FarmVille English Countryside information continues with more item details leaking through FarmVille for iPhone. Players can log into their FarmVille game right now on their iPhone and see nearly every building the English Countryside will have to offer at launch, but it's all on lockdown. Nonetheless, this gives us a better idea of how much these items will cost, and it varies greatly from just a thousand coins for the Orchard to the 60 thousand-coin English Farm. Whether these prices are indicative of their cost in the actual expansion in unknown, but at least these give us a good idea of what to expect. Check behind the break for the rest of the leaked buildings.
FarmVille English Countryside Buildings 2
[Via FarmVille Freak]
Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.
Have you seen these items in your FarmVille game for iOS? When do you think the expansion will release given all of this leaked information?
FarmVille English Countryside Buildings 2
[Via FarmVille Freak]
Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.
Have you seen these items in your FarmVille game for iOS? When do you think the expansion will release given all of this leaked information?
Buy Bejeweled for iOS this weekend, help the Japan earthquake relief effort
PopCap, the publisher responsible for such casual gaming classics as Bejeweled, Peggle, Bookworm, Plants vs. Zombies, is cutting prices on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad versions of its games this weekend and 100% of the proceeds will to the Red Cross for Japan earthquake relief.
The sale kicks off on Saturday, March 19 at 12:01 a.m. PDT and ends Sunday, March 20 at midnight PDT. During that time, all PopCap games for iPhone will drop to 99 cents (down from $2.99) and iPad games will be $1.99 (down from $6.99). Not a bad deal -- buy a great game on the cheap and do some good all at the same time.
The sale kicks off on Saturday, March 19 at 12:01 a.m. PDT and ends Sunday, March 20 at midnight PDT. During that time, all PopCap games for iPhone will drop to 99 cents (down from $2.99) and iPad games will be $1.99 (down from $6.99). Not a bad deal -- buy a great game on the cheap and do some good all at the same time.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Sims Social Cheats and Tips: Bunk Beds Stacking Guide
Move over carpet art, stacking in The Sims Social has become the de facto way of home design.
Our first guide showed you the basic principles of stacking, and gave you some cool, simple ideas to use. They only required one stacking tool. This one is going to take a bit more than that, but it's just as easy.
Many Sims Social items also aren't made to be stacked, so you'll need a workaround for it, which we'll show you here.
What You Need:
6 tables from the store that are 2 tile lengths long, preferably the Basix TV Stand - Tan (costs 350 Simoleons), because it's the cheapest option. (Another popular, though more expensive option is the ShortNSweet tables, but they've been discontinued.) My example also uses the Black stand (costs 650 Simoleons), cause I want to make it easier for you to see what I'm doing.
Any 2 beds you want. I'm using the SweetDreams Classic IV (the red one with the bed posts) and the Spartan Special.
Sims Social bunk bed requirements
Step 1: Arrange everything the way you see in the above picture. Unlike the first guide, which had you making and using one stacking tool, "L-tool". This time, you need to make two stacking tools. Let's start with the first tool.
Sims Social Stack Tool 1
Step 2: To make the first tool, look at the table set that has one Black stand and one Tan stand as its base. You need to grab that Black stand on the bottom and move it away. The Tan stand on the top should automatically get dragged off too when you do this. If this worked, then congrats! These two stuck tables are now your Stacking Tool #1. (Note: Always move your Tool by holding the bottom or it'll fall apart!)
Sims Social stacking tools
Step 3: You should have a leftover Tan stand after the first tool (shown in the above pic on the right). Take the leftover Tan stand and place it upon the other table set.
Sims Social Stacking Tool 2
Step 4: Now we need to make Stacking Tool #2 out of the second table set! To do that, grab the Black table to the far back and drag it away like you did with the first example. This should leave you with a leftover Black table, which you won't need anymore.
Sims Social bed stacking
Step 5: With your two stacking tools, you're now ready to stack the beds. Because your bed is three tile lengths long, you'll need to layer the tools on top of the bed like so -- Stacking Tool #2 will cover 2/3 of the bed, while Stacking Tool #1 will cover the last 1/3 of the bed. (Note again: Always move your Stacking Tools by holding their bottoms or they'll fall apart!)
Step 6: The next part is like the classic tablecloth trick, where your tablecloth are the stacking tools and the bottom red bed is the table. Grab the bottom of Stacking Tool #1 to slide it away from the red bed. Do the same for Stacking Tool #2. You should have a pair of bunk beds now where the red bed is on the bottom and the gray bed is floating above it!
Sims Social Bunk Beds and Plush
BONUS: Would you like to put Plumpkins Bear plush on the top of the gray bed like you see in the picture? To do that, add two of the TV stands to Stacking Tool #1. Then shove the tool on top of the gray bed, like in the first guide, and put Plumpkins Bear on top of the beds and the stands. As you see in the above picture, there's two Tans and one Black stand perched atop the Black base. When you move the Black base, Plumpkins Bear will stay on the gray bed!
Sims Social bed action
Now to see if the beds will work after all that fussing, and guess what? My Sim can nap or sleep and there's no glitches in sight. SUCCESS!
Finally, special thanks to Jhail for first posting about bunk beds in the official forums.
What other items do you think will look good stacked together?
Our first guide showed you the basic principles of stacking, and gave you some cool, simple ideas to use. They only required one stacking tool. This one is going to take a bit more than that, but it's just as easy.
Many Sims Social items also aren't made to be stacked, so you'll need a workaround for it, which we'll show you here.
What You Need:
6 tables from the store that are 2 tile lengths long, preferably the Basix TV Stand - Tan (costs 350 Simoleons), because it's the cheapest option. (Another popular, though more expensive option is the ShortNSweet tables, but they've been discontinued.) My example also uses the Black stand (costs 650 Simoleons), cause I want to make it easier for you to see what I'm doing.
Any 2 beds you want. I'm using the SweetDreams Classic IV (the red one with the bed posts) and the Spartan Special.
Sims Social bunk bed requirements
Step 1: Arrange everything the way you see in the above picture. Unlike the first guide, which had you making and using one stacking tool, "L-tool". This time, you need to make two stacking tools. Let's start with the first tool.
Sims Social Stack Tool 1
Step 2: To make the first tool, look at the table set that has one Black stand and one Tan stand as its base. You need to grab that Black stand on the bottom and move it away. The Tan stand on the top should automatically get dragged off too when you do this. If this worked, then congrats! These two stuck tables are now your Stacking Tool #1. (Note: Always move your Tool by holding the bottom or it'll fall apart!)
Sims Social stacking tools
Step 3: You should have a leftover Tan stand after the first tool (shown in the above pic on the right). Take the leftover Tan stand and place it upon the other table set.
Sims Social Stacking Tool 2
Step 4: Now we need to make Stacking Tool #2 out of the second table set! To do that, grab the Black table to the far back and drag it away like you did with the first example. This should leave you with a leftover Black table, which you won't need anymore.
Sims Social bed stacking
Step 5: With your two stacking tools, you're now ready to stack the beds. Because your bed is three tile lengths long, you'll need to layer the tools on top of the bed like so -- Stacking Tool #2 will cover 2/3 of the bed, while Stacking Tool #1 will cover the last 1/3 of the bed. (Note again: Always move your Stacking Tools by holding their bottoms or they'll fall apart!)
Step 6: The next part is like the classic tablecloth trick, where your tablecloth are the stacking tools and the bottom red bed is the table. Grab the bottom of Stacking Tool #1 to slide it away from the red bed. Do the same for Stacking Tool #2. You should have a pair of bunk beds now where the red bed is on the bottom and the gray bed is floating above it!
Sims Social Bunk Beds and Plush
BONUS: Would you like to put Plumpkins Bear plush on the top of the gray bed like you see in the picture? To do that, add two of the TV stands to Stacking Tool #1. Then shove the tool on top of the gray bed, like in the first guide, and put Plumpkins Bear on top of the beds and the stands. As you see in the above picture, there's two Tans and one Black stand perched atop the Black base. When you move the Black base, Plumpkins Bear will stay on the gray bed!
Sims Social bed action
Now to see if the beds will work after all that fussing, and guess what? My Sim can nap or sleep and there's no glitches in sight. SUCCESS!
Finally, special thanks to Jhail for first posting about bunk beds in the official forums.
What other items do you think will look good stacked together?
The Sims 3 Showtime: A Facebook game, minus Facebook
A live news feed, in-game gifting and the ability to visit your friend's games -- this might sound like the next big 'Ville' game on Facebook is actually none other than a new expansion for the hit PC game Sims 3.
This new add-on, Sims 3 Showtime, lets Sims take the stage as a performer -- a DJ, acrobat, what have you -- and eventually work their way to the top of their chosen profession. This will all take place with the help of friends though -- not Facebook -- but an in-game network that will have Facebook-like functionality. Players will be able to send in-game gifts, post updates to a news feed and visit each other's customized stages using something called a Sim-Port. Whether this new Sims network will be confined to this game -- or something larger -- remains to be seen.
sims 3 showtime
It's interesting to see this kind of convergence of social gaming and more traditional types of games. We've been watching Facebook games crib from more traditional games, in an effort to beef up the gameplay experience, for a while now. Maybe things are starting to go the other way as well.
Sims 3 Showtime will roll out in March 2012 for Mac and PC.
This new add-on, Sims 3 Showtime, lets Sims take the stage as a performer -- a DJ, acrobat, what have you -- and eventually work their way to the top of their chosen profession. This will all take place with the help of friends though -- not Facebook -- but an in-game network that will have Facebook-like functionality. Players will be able to send in-game gifts, post updates to a news feed and visit each other's customized stages using something called a Sim-Port. Whether this new Sims network will be confined to this game -- or something larger -- remains to be seen.
sims 3 showtime
It's interesting to see this kind of convergence of social gaming and more traditional types of games. We've been watching Facebook games crib from more traditional games, in an effort to beef up the gameplay experience, for a while now. Maybe things are starting to go the other way as well.
Sims 3 Showtime will roll out in March 2012 for Mac and PC.
The Sims Social lures players into a Winter Wonderland this week
Unfortunately, not everyone (including this writer) can fly to Sweden on a whim and stay in a gorgeous ice hotel. Well, at least EA and Playfish look to provide the next best thing in this week's update to The Sims Social. Fittingly titled "Winter Wonderland," this update (coming Thursday) will allow you to build your very own ice house, complete with frozen furniture and ice sculptures.
The Sims Social Eskimo KissOf course, a number of these items will likely cost SimCash, but hopefully a few of the cool ones go for at least Social Points. Take the Pola-Ice Igloo, for instance. This interactive decoration has several uses: Players can use the Pola-Ice as a toilet for their Sims, throw rotten fish in their friends' igloos and make frozen WooHoo with other Sims inside--the igloo even shakes. We're ... not exactly sure how to feel about that last point.
Players can also pick up special Santa outfits for him and her that allow Sims to Eskimo Kiss during visits. Of course, the Thursday update comes with a quest, "Revenge of the Simch," which will reward players with a Rocking Reindeer decoration should they complete it in time.
The festivities continue throughout the weekend, with Saturday and Sunday seeing the release of the Ice Ring, an interactive decoration that lets Sims do pirouette spins. Finally, players will gain access to an Ice Block on Monday that, when used, will increase Sims' sculpting skill and eventually result in an Ice Wolf Statue. We're calling next week's theme: "The Simch Strikes Back."
The Sims Social Ice Block
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.
What do you think of the winter celebrations in The Sims Social so far? Are you still digging the game since its release this summer?
The Sims Social Eskimo KissOf course, a number of these items will likely cost SimCash, but hopefully a few of the cool ones go for at least Social Points. Take the Pola-Ice Igloo, for instance. This interactive decoration has several uses: Players can use the Pola-Ice as a toilet for their Sims, throw rotten fish in their friends' igloos and make frozen WooHoo with other Sims inside--the igloo even shakes. We're ... not exactly sure how to feel about that last point.
Players can also pick up special Santa outfits for him and her that allow Sims to Eskimo Kiss during visits. Of course, the Thursday update comes with a quest, "Revenge of the Simch," which will reward players with a Rocking Reindeer decoration should they complete it in time.
The festivities continue throughout the weekend, with Saturday and Sunday seeing the release of the Ice Ring, an interactive decoration that lets Sims do pirouette spins. Finally, players will gain access to an Ice Block on Monday that, when used, will increase Sims' sculpting skill and eventually result in an Ice Wolf Statue. We're calling next week's theme: "The Simch Strikes Back."
The Sims Social Ice Block
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.
What do you think of the winter celebrations in The Sims Social so far? Are you still digging the game since its release this summer?
Where did your share of SimCash every five days go? Playfish explains
So, you heard that Playfish is making it rain on The Sims Social players every five days, and you want a piece of that pie. We get it. But the Daily Bonus timer in the game mysteriously resets itself every once in awhile--a total bummer. Well, according to Playfish, there's nothing terribly mysterious about the The Sims Social Daily Bonus. Simply put, it's all about timing.
In order to qualify for the Daily Bonus consecutively each day, you must log into The Sims Social at least once within each 24 hour period. For instance, if you logged into the game today at 3:30 p.m., you would need to log into the game at or after 3:30 p.m. on Friday to qualify for the second Daily Bonus.
However, you can log in before 48 hours have hit since your last log-in to receive credit for a consecutive Daily Bonus. For example, say that you logged in today at 3:30 p.m., starting the Daily Bonus timer. If you log in anytime after 3:30 p.m. on Friday, but before 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, you'll qualify for the next Daily Bonus.
That said, keep in mind that to qualify for what would be the third Daily Bonus, you must log in between 24 and 47 hours and 59 minutes from when you logged in previously. Confused yet? Here's a detailed description from Playfish, inspired by commenter Aude06:
PERSON A:
Weds log-in at 5 p.m. (timer starts from zero)
Thurs log-in at 5:15 p.m. (counts as day 1)
Friday log-in at 5:30 p.m. (counts as day 2)
Saturday log-in at 5:45 p.m. (counts as day 3)
Sunday log-in at 6 p.m. (counts as day 4)
Monday log-in at 6:15 p.m. (counts as day 5)
Person A will get their 5 day log-in SimCash bonus.
PERSON B:
Weds log-in at 6 p.m. (timer starts from zero)
Thurs log-in at 7 p.m. (counts as day 1)
Fri log-in at 2 p.m. (doesn't count)
Sat log-in at 8 p.m. (it's been over 48 hours, so the timer resets to zero)
Sun log-in at 5 p.m. (doesn't count)
Mon log-in at 6 p.m. (counts as day 1)
Person B will NOT get their 5 day log-in SimCash bonus.
In other words, just make sure you log into the game daily--at around the same time or later--and you'll always get your 10 free SimCash on Day 5. Well, that is if you don't encounter any bugs, as players on the forums seem so wont to do.
Does this answer the question of why you're not getting your SimCash every five days in The Sims Social? Are you still having issues getting the good stuff?
In order to qualify for the Daily Bonus consecutively each day, you must log into The Sims Social at least once within each 24 hour period. For instance, if you logged into the game today at 3:30 p.m., you would need to log into the game at or after 3:30 p.m. on Friday to qualify for the second Daily Bonus.
However, you can log in before 48 hours have hit since your last log-in to receive credit for a consecutive Daily Bonus. For example, say that you logged in today at 3:30 p.m., starting the Daily Bonus timer. If you log in anytime after 3:30 p.m. on Friday, but before 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, you'll qualify for the next Daily Bonus.
That said, keep in mind that to qualify for what would be the third Daily Bonus, you must log in between 24 and 47 hours and 59 minutes from when you logged in previously. Confused yet? Here's a detailed description from Playfish, inspired by commenter Aude06:
PERSON A:
Weds log-in at 5 p.m. (timer starts from zero)
Thurs log-in at 5:15 p.m. (counts as day 1)
Friday log-in at 5:30 p.m. (counts as day 2)
Saturday log-in at 5:45 p.m. (counts as day 3)
Sunday log-in at 6 p.m. (counts as day 4)
Monday log-in at 6:15 p.m. (counts as day 5)
Person A will get their 5 day log-in SimCash bonus.
PERSON B:
Weds log-in at 6 p.m. (timer starts from zero)
Thurs log-in at 7 p.m. (counts as day 1)
Fri log-in at 2 p.m. (doesn't count)
Sat log-in at 8 p.m. (it's been over 48 hours, so the timer resets to zero)
Sun log-in at 5 p.m. (doesn't count)
Mon log-in at 6 p.m. (counts as day 1)
Person B will NOT get their 5 day log-in SimCash bonus.
In other words, just make sure you log into the game daily--at around the same time or later--and you'll always get your 10 free SimCash on Day 5. Well, that is if you don't encounter any bugs, as players on the forums seem so wont to do.
Does this answer the question of why you're not getting your SimCash every five days in The Sims Social? Are you still having issues getting the good stuff?
Sims Social Revenge of the Simch walkthrough: How to finish it fast
The Simch is back and grouchier than ever. That's why, in the new Sims Social holiday-themed quest -- The Revenge of the Simch -- has you doing off the wall things like blowing on icy furniture and checking in fellow Sims' fridges for the cranky blue creature.
This quest is comprised of five parts and is one of the easier holiday-themed quests that have appeared in the game so far. The good news: You aren't required to spend oodles of Simoleons buying a bunch of holiday-themed items to complete this quest, but you will have to visit and perform action at quite a few friends' houses. (My advice? Visit your lower level friends who don't have big houses -- they tend to load much faster than those with sprawling estates).
Here's an overview of what you'll need to get the Revenge of the Simch Quest done quickly (and ride your way to fun and relaxation on a brand new Rockadeer).
2 Fury
8 Goodwill
Six Holly Wreaths
At least 5 Sims Social neighbors
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 1
sim social simch goal 1
- Check 3 frozen furniture for anything unusual
-Waft warm air on 3 ice furniture to melt it back
Head straight to Bella's house, which is decked out with all of the new ice furniture. Click on frozen funiture and select 'Waft Warm Air' action three times and the 'Check Anything Unusual' action three times. This takes six energy, but you'll only really use one energy unit from your own bar.
- Have 2 Fury
If you don't have Fury, you can get them by performing mean actions to other Sims. They don't appear every time you perform a mean action, so you might have to be a bigger meanie than you want to be to get them (Note: Your Sim can always apologize and make up for it later).
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 2
sims social simch 2
Ask 3 different Sims where the Simch is
Research Simch homes on computer 5 times
Check 3 different fridges for Simches
Pro tip: When you visit friends to ask them where the Simch is, also be sure to check their fridges for Simches as well. It'll save you some time.
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 3
sims social revenge of the simch
- Be inspired
Fulfill all of your Sim's needs to be inspired (I like to do that in the following order: feed, relieve, shower, sleep + fun, if sleep doesn't also fill your fun meter).
- Thank about nice holiday gifts on 3 different sofas or armchairs
Thinking about nice holiday gifts can be done at home or at friends' homes. Click on sofas or chairs with arms (hence, armchairs) and select the "Think about... " option. Chairs without arms will not give you the option to sit and think, so consider yourself warned.
- Deliver gifts to 5 different fridges
Gifts must be delivered to five different friends' fridges. Visit friends' homes, click on their refrigerator and select the 'Deliver Gifts' action.
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 4
sims social revenge of the simch 4
- Deliver a nice letter to Simch from 5 mailboxes
Visit 5 different friends' mailboxes, click on them and select the 'Delivery Letter to Simch' action.
- Phone the Simch to make him feel wanted
This can be done on your home phone or on friends' phones.
- Have 8 Goodwill
If you don't have enough goodwill, you can earn some by performing 'nice' actions to friends. You won't score Goodwill every time you perform a nice action, so prepare to do lots of nice things to get the job done.
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 5
sims social revenge of the simch 5
Give gifts to 4 different sims
Visit four different friends, click on them and select the 'A gift from the Simch!" action
Spread the Simch's season's greetings to 1 friend
Select the 'Ask Friends' button, which will post a request in your Facebook news feed. Only one person needs click the feed post to help.
Have 6 Holly Wreaths
Holly wreaths can be found by taking pictures of snow rabbits, cardinals and clearing pine cones in your own yard. You can also request them from others via the friend selector.
Revenge of the Simch: Final
sims social revenge of the simch final
Once you're done with the quest, you will be rewarded with a shiny, new Rockadeer -- a reindeer rocking horse
that's worth 3,500 Simoleons and will increase the value of your Sims' home by 2,700 Simoleons.
sims social revenge of the simch rockadeer
Once you place the Rockadeer on your property, you can perform two actions by clicking on it: Reindeer rock, which will increase your Sims' fun meter and Gentle Rock, which will increase your Sims' sleep meter.
sims social revenge of the simch rockadeer in action
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.
This quest is comprised of five parts and is one of the easier holiday-themed quests that have appeared in the game so far. The good news: You aren't required to spend oodles of Simoleons buying a bunch of holiday-themed items to complete this quest, but you will have to visit and perform action at quite a few friends' houses. (My advice? Visit your lower level friends who don't have big houses -- they tend to load much faster than those with sprawling estates).
Here's an overview of what you'll need to get the Revenge of the Simch Quest done quickly (and ride your way to fun and relaxation on a brand new Rockadeer).
2 Fury
8 Goodwill
Six Holly Wreaths
At least 5 Sims Social neighbors
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 1
sim social simch goal 1
- Check 3 frozen furniture for anything unusual
-Waft warm air on 3 ice furniture to melt it back
Head straight to Bella's house, which is decked out with all of the new ice furniture. Click on frozen funiture and select 'Waft Warm Air' action three times and the 'Check Anything Unusual' action three times. This takes six energy, but you'll only really use one energy unit from your own bar.
- Have 2 Fury
If you don't have Fury, you can get them by performing mean actions to other Sims. They don't appear every time you perform a mean action, so you might have to be a bigger meanie than you want to be to get them (Note: Your Sim can always apologize and make up for it later).
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 2
sims social simch 2
Ask 3 different Sims where the Simch is
Research Simch homes on computer 5 times
Check 3 different fridges for Simches
Pro tip: When you visit friends to ask them where the Simch is, also be sure to check their fridges for Simches as well. It'll save you some time.
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 3
sims social revenge of the simch
- Be inspired
Fulfill all of your Sim's needs to be inspired (I like to do that in the following order: feed, relieve, shower, sleep + fun, if sleep doesn't also fill your fun meter).
- Thank about nice holiday gifts on 3 different sofas or armchairs
Thinking about nice holiday gifts can be done at home or at friends' homes. Click on sofas or chairs with arms (hence, armchairs) and select the "Think about... " option. Chairs without arms will not give you the option to sit and think, so consider yourself warned.
- Deliver gifts to 5 different fridges
Gifts must be delivered to five different friends' fridges. Visit friends' homes, click on their refrigerator and select the 'Deliver Gifts' action.
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 4
sims social revenge of the simch 4
- Deliver a nice letter to Simch from 5 mailboxes
Visit 5 different friends' mailboxes, click on them and select the 'Delivery Letter to Simch' action.
- Phone the Simch to make him feel wanted
This can be done on your home phone or on friends' phones.
- Have 8 Goodwill
If you don't have enough goodwill, you can earn some by performing 'nice' actions to friends. You won't score Goodwill every time you perform a nice action, so prepare to do lots of nice things to get the job done.
Revenge of the Simch: Quest 5
sims social revenge of the simch 5
Give gifts to 4 different sims
Visit four different friends, click on them and select the 'A gift from the Simch!" action
Spread the Simch's season's greetings to 1 friend
Select the 'Ask Friends' button, which will post a request in your Facebook news feed. Only one person needs click the feed post to help.
Have 6 Holly Wreaths
Holly wreaths can be found by taking pictures of snow rabbits, cardinals and clearing pine cones in your own yard. You can also request them from others via the friend selector.
Revenge of the Simch: Final
sims social revenge of the simch final
Once you're done with the quest, you will be rewarded with a shiny, new Rockadeer -- a reindeer rocking horse
that's worth 3,500 Simoleons and will increase the value of your Sims' home by 2,700 Simoleons.
sims social revenge of the simch rockadeer
Once you place the Rockadeer on your property, you can perform two actions by clicking on it: Reindeer rock, which will increase your Sims' fun meter and Gentle Rock, which will increase your Sims' sleep meter.
sims social revenge of the simch rockadeer in action
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.
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