FarmVille introduces a new limited edition crop -- Wasabi

As part of its ongoing Japanese theme, FarmVille introduces a new limited-edition crop -- Wasabi. You need to be a level 42 farmer to plant this new crop.

Wasabi stats are as follows:

Cost: 200 coins
Sells for: 330 coins
XP: 2
Grow time: 16 hours

FarmVille intros new limited edition tree -- Asian Pear

The Japenese theme continues with new crops, building and a tree. An Asian Pear tree in fact, which cost 6,000 each. Plant as many as possible to create your own Japanese-themed farm.

FarmVille Japanese theme gets a little larger with more limited edition items

       
More Japanese themed items appeared in the FarmVille Market tonight. Here is a list of what you will find:

Limited Edition Japanese Items:

* Japanese Manor - 42 Farm Cash
* Edo Style Home – 36 Farm Cash
* Manga Store – 27 Farm Cash
* Zen Garden II - 18 Farm Cash
* Lush Knoll - 4 Farm Cash
* Sakura Flowers – 45,000 Coins
* Lamp Sculpture – 36,000 Coins
* Small Lamp-12,000 Coins

What Japanese items have you bought for your farm so far?

Get a restaurant surprise with free Cafe World lotto ticket

Cafe World lotto ticket
Cafe World has just granted all of their fans one free lotto ticket. This lotto ticket can be claimed by clicking here. Once you click that link, you'll be presented with a Fan Club Lotto ticket like the one above. There are three spaces that can be clicked on (or "scratched off") that can give you a surprise, but you can only scratch off one space per ticket.. According to the Cafe World wall, this lotto ticket can grant coins, Cafe Cash, or even items. When we scratched ours off, we got one free Cafe Cash. Become a fan of Cafe World and click here to claim your free lotto ticket.

FrontierVille Cheats & Tips: Animal cheatsheet with all values

Are you the type of social gamer who likes to make sure everything you are doing is carefully calculated, so that you're getting the maximum XP, food, and gold in FrontierVille? We have a full guide to the FrontierVille animals, telling you how much each animal is worth. This handy chart will be updated going forward with new information, but this is the latest and greatest information. How much coins is a chicken worth? How much food will a goat provide? This chart gives you all of the detail about FrontierVille animals.

Looking for our FrontierVille Tree Cheatsheet? Click here!

Last updated January 20, 2011:

YoVille: Moroccan Mystery Box Items Revealed

YoVille Mystery Box
The Moroccan Mystery box that was recently released got a very positive review from most of the YoVille players. We know that many of you want to find out about what's hidden inside! The YoVille Lounge Forums prepared a list of the items found in the box. Don't forget that the new box can also earn you coins and YoCash.

What did you get from the box? YoVille Mystery Box Results

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Pet Society: Homes of High Society Pets

Ever wonder what it's like to be royalty? Jean-Pierre has always been a little prince, living it up in 5-star luxury. He was especially excited when the Versailles-themed items were released earlier this month. Kellie from High Society Pets gives us this exclusive tour of her pet's palace, including the Hall of Mirrors, where Jean-Pierre takes tea with visiting pets of importance, his conservatory playhouse, and his dressing room.

I think Kellie did a fabulous job of decorating, don't you? Check out more of her pet's home at High Society Pets.

Hall of Mirrors:
Pet Society Hall of Mirrors
Sleeping Chambers:
Pet Society Sleeping Chambers
Conservatory Tea Room (made from Playhouse):
Pet Society Conservatory Tea Room
Dressing Room (made from Display Room):
Pet Society Dressing Room
The picture below comes from another player, Jessica, who re-created the Versailles Hall of Mirrors or Galerie des Glaces. Looks like this little princess could be a good match for Jean-Pierre!
Pet Society Galerie des Glaces
This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

EA signs deal with Live Gamer; doubles down on microtransactions

Paying nickels and dimes to buy additional content in games isn't going away anytime soon, and, in fact, it looks like EA may be doubling down on microtransactions by announcing a new partnership with Live Gamer, which will run all of EA's "microtransaction projects" and will help "accelerate the company's online gaming strategy."

The press release doesn't mention any specific games, but just off the top of my head, this deal seems particularly relevant to EA's social gaming arm, Playfish, responsible for Pet Society and FIFA Superstars on Facebook, as well as its casual gaming portal Pogo, which has had microtransactions for a while now. EA has also started to integrate more microtransactions in its blockbuster console games as well: Madden NFL Football debuted microtransactions in the 2010 edition, Dragon Age and Dead Space (among other EA console games) also rolled out additional downloadable content.

A recent study says microtransactions will grow to $7 billion globally by 2015, so it's no surprise that Live Gamer's picking up new clients, which includes THQ and Real Networks' GameHouse. I'm sure we'll be hearing similar news from other traditional game publishers in the near future -- the success of selling virtual goods has everyone seeing dollar signs.

Cafe World: Free Grill Father Super Stove when you level up in Mafia Wars

In Cafe World, Super Stoves streamline cooking in the game into a one-click process, but harnessing that convenience costs 32 Cafe Cash. There's also a suited up version, called the Grill Father, that goes for 35 Cafe Cash. This puts it somewhere around $4-5 per stove.

But you can get the Grill Father for free by leveling up 5 times in Mafia Wars. New players will have to make it to Level 15. To get started, look for the tiny icon of the Grill Father Super Stove on the left side of your Cafe World game screen. Click on the notice (image above) and answer "Yes" to be redirected to the Mafia Wars game.

Cafe World: Dinner at Twilight Eclipse is a guys-only affair

Cafe World Twilight
We haven't seen a Twilight Eclipse release since Crowdstar's Happy Pets and Happy Aquarium sets earlier this month. But just when we thought the Twilight fever has passed, Zynga's Cafe World comes out with 27 new decor pieces for Team Edward and Team Jacob. And like the Crowdstar sets, Bella is strangely absent...
Cafe World Twilight Gifts
There's also three new giftable snacks: Garlic Necklace, Apple of Temptation, and Vampire Staked Steak. The last of which, is also a new cafe recipe which earns 2,010 Coins from 335 servings in one day.
Cafe World Vampire Staked Steak
For those who want to collect both Twilight hunks, Edward is listed as Twinkling Vampire, is animated to sparkle, and costs 15 Cafe Cash. Jacob is the shirtless, Transforming Werewolf and costs 16 Cafe Cash. The most expensive premium item is the Red Plasma Fountain, which costs 18 Cafe Cash. For regular currency, the honor goes to the Vamperial Throne, which costs 35,000 Coins.
Cafe World Twilight decor
And for a bit of a heads-up, while the Blood and Bats Entrance looks like it should be a blood-dripping doorway, it actually doesn't move. So if you're thristing for the red ooze effect, grab A Family Portrait for 3 Cafe Cash under the windows section instead.

Restaurant City's Bazaar Week provides a taste of Moroccan Luxury

restaurant city bazaar morocco
Falafel lovers rejoice! Restaurant City has rolled out a Moroccan Bazaar theme that is both luxurious and exotic. A Bazaar is a permanent market selling a great variety of things, similar to what you might call a flea market. Yet, traditional Bazaars have taken on a now iconic look, and with Restaurant City's new theme you can fill your eatery with the eastern items. As usual, the Restaurant City update features new items, appliances, decor, and recipes. You can even turn your restaurant into a full-fledged, trendy hookah bar. Let your imaginations run wild my friends!

Continue reading to see pictures and prices of all the new Bazaar Week items.
restaurant city bazaar morocco
Chairs
Turkish Sofa - 1,200 Coins or Free Gift
Blue Moroccan Chair - 1,500 Coins
Red Moroccan Chair - 1,800 Coins
Pink Moroccan Chair - 2,000 Coins
Blue Moroccan Sofa - 2,600 Coins
Pink Moroccan Sofa - 2,600 Coins
Red Moroccan Sofa - 2,600 Coins


restaurant city bazaar morocco
Tables
Large Gilded Table - 3 Playfish Cash
Star Side Table - 900 Coins or Free Gift
Octagon Side Table - 1,300 Coins
Small Gilded Table - 1,600 Coins
Large Octagonal Side Table - 1,800 Coins


restaurant city bazaar morocco
Wall Decorations
Moroccan Wall Lamp - 6,000 Coins with email permission


restaurant city bazaar morocco
Decorations
Exotic Vase - 4 Playfish Cash
Red African Floor Lamp - 5 Playfish Cash
Tunisian Rug - 6 Playfish Cash
Moroccan Archway - 8 Playfish Cash
Moroccan Market Archway - 14 Playfish Cash
Pink Moroccan Corner Sofa - 1,000 Coins or Free Gift
Silver Kettle - 1,000 Coins or Free Gift
Moroccan Divider - 1,700 Coins
Moroccan Divider Block - 1,700 Coins
Red Moroccan Corner Sofa - 2,800 with email permission
Gold Kettle - 3,000 Coins with email permission
Hookah - 6,500 Coins
restaurant city bazaar morocco
Blue African Floor Lamp - 10,000 Coins
Hookah Customer - 14,000 Coins
Turkish Rug - 15,000 Coins
Humble Waiter - 17,000 Coins


restaurant city bazaar morocco
Functional
Mosaic Toilet - 8 Playfish Cash - Works without breaking 8 times longer and works 60% faster
Mosaic Sink - 12,000 Coins


restaurant city bazaar morocco
Wallpapers
Dark Tunisian Wallpaper - 3,200 Coins
Light Tunisian Wallpaper - 3,200 Coins


restaurant city bazaar morocco
Floor Tiles
Brown Moroccan Tile - 35 Coins
Red Imperial Tile - 45 Coins
Brown Imperial Tile - 45 Coins
Turkish Stone Tile - 70 Coins


restaurant city bazaar morocco
Kitchen Appliances
Turkish Stove - 20 Playfish Cash - serves 15% faster


restaurant city bazaar morocco
Recipes
Mint Tea - Tea Leaves, Mint, Water
Doner Kebab - Flour, Lamb, Onion, Salad
Moroccan Lamb Shank - Lamb, Lamb, Mint, Coriander

Click here to play Restaurant City>

Games.com Super End of Summer Contest

End of Summer Contest

Celebrate the final days of summer with a Scavenger Hunt for Stamps to adorn your Player Profile! Visit the games below and complete the described Dare. Complete all three Dares before 9/7 and you will win the 'Dog Days of Summer' Stamp for your player profile!
Dog Days - Sarah Quest Stamp
Sarah Quest: The Pharaoh's Trap
DARE: Finish Level 5 in "Story" mode to win this Stamp.
Take Dare Now
+
Finish level 5 in the Book of Treasures Stamp
The Book of Treasures
DARE: Finish Level 5 in "Quest Mode" to win this Stamp.
Take Dare Now

+
Lost Island Mahjongg Purity Stamp
Lost Island Mahjongg
DARE: Solve a puzzle without using hints to win this Stamp.
Take Dare Now

=
Dog Days of Summer
Dog Days of Summer
This Stamp is yours when you complete the Dares in the three featured games!

FarmVille Crafting Mastery Guide

As you know FarmVille Crafting Mastery is now available for all farmers.

To begin your Crafting Mastery just continue making your Goods. When your Recipe levels increase you will unlock more levels of mastery which will give you more XP and Coins.


Each Recipe is organized by Star Levels. The higher tier level of your Crafting Building, the higher the Craft Mastery will be for that Recipe. Each Recipe will have five Mastery or Star Levels available per each Crafting Recipe. If it seems confusing, refer to the chart below, provided by Zynga, that displays what Recipe Level is required before you can unlock a specific Mastery Star.
farmville crafting mastery guide

    Zynga's Example: "If you have a 1-star Bakery on your farm, the first recipes available to you were Pumpkin Bread, Strawberry Shortcake and Spicy Muffin. You can earn your first Mastery star in those three recipes once that you reach recipe level 20. If you upgrade your Bakery to 2-star, you unlock a new slew of recipes: Patty Pan Tart, Triple Berry Pie and Peanut Butter Cookie. For these recipes you need to reach recipe level 23 to get your first Mastery star.

In order to get a second Mastery star for Pumpkin Vinegar (which requires a 4-star Winery) you will need to raise your recipe level to 39."

If you would like to check your current progress for a specific Recipes Craft Mastery, ..

Craft Mastery Rewards & Craft Mastery Signs

So, you may ask what is the point in participating in Crafting Mastery? Just like with Crop Mastery, mastering a Craft Recipe rewards you with additional XP (experience points) and bonus Coins. Not to mention, you get a cool Crafting Mastery Sign for your farm to let everyone know that you are a master crafter.

After earning your first star with a Crafting Recipe, you will be rewarded with a Recipe Mastery Sign. You can find the Craft Recipe Mastery Sign in your FarmVille Gift Box. By placing your sign on your farm you can simply hover over the sign to check your Mastery progress and what you need to reach the next Star Level.

Whenever you earn more star levels, your sign will automatically update to reflect your current mastery status.

Crafting Building Mastery Signs can also be placed in storage.

The chart below reflects the specific Recipe Mastery level with coordinating XP and Coin Rewards.
farmville crafting mastery guide
Upon earning each star level, you will be given the opportunity to share a FaceBook newsfeed notice with your FarmVille neighbors. Up to 5 neighbors can receive a free good from your post.

Remember, that any progress up to this point is retroactive, meaning that all your hard work will automatically count towards your Crafting Mastery.

Some of you may find as soon as Crafting Mastery was released you immediately earned Crafting Mastery for some Recipes by finding the Crafting Mastery Signs in your FarmVille Gift Box.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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

What do you think of Crafting Mastery so far? Do you like this new feature?

FrontierVille Varmint Cannon arrives

frontierville varmint cannon

Varmint Cannons have started to roll onto FrontierVille, as mentioned earlier this week. Of course, you can't just buy a cannon -- that would be too easy. You're going to have to put in a little elbow grease and get help from your friends before you can blast varmints in one click. To get started on building your very own varmint blaster -- head to the Market, and buy the Cannon Quest. It costs 5,000 coins and can be found under the *Special* tab. It's pretty hard to miss, just look for the picture of the bear skull with the two crossed cannons behind it.

frontierville cannon quest in market

frontierville missions

Once you've purchased that, you will launch a series of missions. The first mission is to Build a Foundry!

BUILD A FOUNDRY MISSION

frontierville varmint cannon

To start construction on the Foundry you will need three things:

1. A Saltpeter, created by completing and turning in the Manure Collection
2. Craft fire
3. Build a Foundry

The Foundry can be purchased in the Market for 50,000 coins and 50 Wood.

frontierville foundry

Once you buy the foundry, place it on your property and start whacking it. You'll need to give it 25 whacks total (each whack requires 1 Energy) and you'll spend 10 Wood per whack. So bascially, it'll take 25 Energy and 250 Wood to raise the frame on the foundry. You'll earn 2 XP per whack, for a total of 50 XP when you're done. Once you've completed all that whacking, the frame will look like this (see image below).



But, hold up pardner! Not so fast. The job ain't done yet. You'll then need to collect 25 building materials required to get the Foundry in working order. Here's what you'll need:

    5 Shingles
    5 Mallets
    5 Pegs
    5 Cement
    5 Windows

As per usual, there are several ways you can get all of the materials you need:

1. Ask friends to send you materials. Click the 'Ask Friends' button, which will launch the friend selector.
2. Buy materials using horseshoes
3. Receive materials as free gifts from neighbors

frontierville finish your foundry

Once you have all of the materials, click 'Finish.' You will be rewarded with 100 XP, 500 coins and you'll have the option to share extra 'poop' with your friends via a Facebook wall post.

frontierville foundry finished

WHAT WE NEED IS A SNAKE CANNON MISSION:

Phew! Mission one complete. But wait, there's more! Cannon mission #2 will arrive as soon as #1 is done. This goal is called "What We Need is a Snake Cannon," and you'll need to pull off three things to get 'er done.


frontierville snake cannon


1. Craft or Buy One Powder Keg

To Craft a Powder Keg, open the Foundry building that you just completed, and you will be taken to the Crafting Workbench. You'll need a saltpeter (which you can get by turning in the Manure Collection) and 5 Fires (which can be made in the Wagon) -- to make one Powder Keg.

frontierville crafting workbench

If you don't want to do the extra work, you can always opt to buy the Powder Keg in the Market. You can buy one Powder Keg for 1 Horseshoe or 5 Powder Kegs for 4 Horseshoes.
frontierville powder kegs

2. Get 10 Insurance Waivers from Neighbors

Post a message to your Facebook wall asking friends to send you Insurance Waivers, and if they do so, they will also be rewarded with an Insurance Waiver.

frontierville insurance waiver


3. Buy Snake Cannon

To purchase a snake cannon, click on the Foundry and select 'Buy Cannon.' That will pop the cannon store, and you should be able to buy a Snake Cannon for 5,000 coins.
frontierville buy snake cannon

frontierville foundry cannon collection

See below to take a peek at what the Snake Cannon looks like once it's placed on your homestead.



Once you've completed this Goal, you will be rewarded with 100 XP and three Powder Kegs, and the option to share experience with friends via your Facebook Wall.

frontierville need snake cannon rewards

Once you've got your snake cannon ready to go -- the next mission will arrive...

SERIOUSLY, IT IS A CANNON THAT SHOOTS SNAKES MISSION

cannon that shoots snakes

The goals in this mission are as follows:

Clear one skull:

Fire Snake Cannon Twice:

Purchase A Bucket:

Developing...

FarmVille Official Podcast - August 27, 2010

This week's official FarmVille Podcast is hosted by Lexilicious.

Some exciting news featured in this week's podcast includes Nursery Barn expansion and a new feature that will allow farmers to collect XP and coins by helping out on their neighbors farms!

You can listen to the video above, read the podcast summary below, or read the entire transcript provided by Zynga at the bottom of the post. FarmVille Freak Podcast Summary – August 27th 2010

Pigpens Released

* Constructible building.
* Stores up to 20 Pigs.
* Only one Pigpen per farm.
* To read more details about Pigpens read on FarmVille Freak by clicking here.

Crafting Recipe Mastery

* Gain XP, Coin Rewards, and Crafting Mastery Signs for your farm.
* Do not have to "do anything" to start, just continue making Goods.
* Crafting Mastery is retroactive meaning you will be rewarded for your progress thus far before the release.
* Mastery Signs can be found in your Gift Box.
* To read more details about Crafting Mastery visit our FarmVille Freak Guide by clicking here.

LE Wild West Theme

* New theme released this week.
* More items will be coming next week.

Where do you mobile farm, Photo Contest?

* Win up to 500 FV$ farm cash.
* Ends at 11:59 PM on August 31st 2010.
* Take a picture of yourself playing your FarmVille on your mobile device.
* Visit the FarmVille Mobile Forums (zynga.com) for more details.

Coming Soon to FarmVille

* Nursery Barn expansion will be debuting in the coming weeks.
* Wild West themed Mystery Game.
* More LE Wild West theme.
* Improved neighbor visit. This new feature will allow you to complete functions on your neihgbors' farms, you can harvest their trees, collect from their animals, and plow fallow land. Not only will you be rewarded XP and Coins for helping out on their farm, so will your neighbor. (Similar to neighbor visits on FrontierVille).

Official FarmVille Podcast Transcript click here.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FrontierVille FarmVille Quest Guide: How to get your FarmVille mule

frontierville farmville quest
A few days ago many farmers experienced pop-ups in FarmVille that promoted the new FarmVille and FrontierVille cross-promotion. The promotion is for a Quest to complete in FrontierVille. Clicking on these pop-ups did not trigger more details and the in-game pop-ups have since vanished. Because of this there was general confusion about how to get to the quest and if the prize (Mule) would be for FarmVille or FrontierVille. Just to clear things up, the Mule is for use in FarmVille, not FrontierVille.

Use this guide to complete the FrontierVille FarmVille Quest and get your Mule for FarmVille.
frontierville farmville quest 1
First of all, you need to install and play the FrontierVille app. If you already play FrontierVille, then good for you because that's one less step.

FrontierVille's FarmVille Quest I Guide

1. Install the FrontierVille app on FaceBook. Click the following link which redirects you to FrontierVille.

http://apps.facebook.com/frontierville/index.php?promoId=ftv_5wayin_farm&cat=xpromo&subcat=farm&creative=ftv_5wayi

2. Complete the goal, "The Farmville Quest I" in FrontierVille.

Requirements for The FarmVille Quest I:

    Plant 20 Crops.*
    Harvest 20 Crops.
    Buy 3 Cows from the FrontierVille Market.


*Hint: Clover takes only 5 minutes to grow.

3. Click on "Claim Mule button" and head over to Farmville. You can then find your Mule in your Farmville Gift Box.
farmville mule
Rewards for Completing FarmVille Quest I Goal

    FrontierVille: 250 Coins, 50 XP
    FarmVille: Mule


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille freaks of the week: Meet the Shafer family

Ever heard of Family time? How about FarmVille family time? The Shafer family knows how to spend a little quality time together . . . while farming of course.

    "Hello Farmgoddess,

    We just wanted to send you a couple pictures of our Farmville Freak Family, including the littlest farmfreak. We have all been playing since the game was introduced. All four laptops are logged on to Facebook and playing farmville. It's what we do for fun at our house, LoL. The littlest Farmville freak you see in the pictures is only 16 months and already "addicted". We also have a 5 year old who isn't pictured, but has her own farm and can navigate through the game with the best of 'em. Thanks for taking a look. We love the site!

    -The Shafer Family, FarmVille Freaks"

farmville shafer familyfarmville shafer family
We all know that group farming is more fun! Thank you for sharing with us Shafer family.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

How do you farm?

FarmVille Unreleased Combine Building Feed Icons

    farmville combine build     farmville combine
Thank you to FarmVille player Linkaholic for finding these unreleased Combine Building Feed Icons and menu!
farmville super combine tractor
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Spooky Mausoleum, Spooky Skeleton, Grave Open, Grave Closed & Coffin haunting us this Halloween

Thank you FarmVille player Linkaholic for finding these unreleased FarmVille Spooky Mausoleum, Spooky Skeleton, Grave Open, Grave Closed, Grave v2, & Coffin items!

Along with the rest of the exciting FarmVille Halloween items we've stumbled upon, it should definitely be an eventful holiday.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Game Cards free "Fertilize All" perk

farmville free fertilize all
FarmVille is now giving away free "Fertilize All" with the purchase of FarmVille game cards! This announcement can be found above your FarmVille screen.

You can purchase FarmVille Game Cards at these local retailers:

    Target
    7-Eleven
    Best Buy
    GameStop
    Wal-Mart


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Is "Fertilize All" a good enough perk to get you to purchase a FarmVille Game Card?

BeeVille on Facebook: Virtual bee-keeping game doesn't bring the buzz

Beeville facebook
There's a new "ville" game on Facebook, and it's not related to FarmVille or Zynga's other 'ville' games. Beeville launched on October 20, and its a game that lets you house your own honeybees. The game, made by Playkoko, is an interesting take on an aquarium game and when you play, you'll notice that it basically feels like FishVille sans water and fish.

Players can buy different types of bees that provide varied XP bonuses. These bees mature over time, and require feeding in order to stay healthy and keep growing. There are all sorts of silly bees, including a Gaga Bee (who looks similar to Lady Gaga) and a Punk Bee. You can level up by buying new kinds of bees, and upgrade your beehive with different style hives and new backgrounds. The in-game store sells oodles of decorations as well.

Overall, a simulation game starring bees is an interesting idea, but it'd be hard to call BeeVille anything other than a me-too Facebook game at this point. We're not sure why we'd choose to play this over the far superior games that seem to be popping up left and right. Give Beeville a shot and see if it gets you 'buzzing.'

Mafia Wars Italy Cooked Books: Where to find them

mafia wars italy cooked book
If there's one thing that's likely to stand in your way of making progress in Mafia Wars, it's those darn consumable items required to complete jobs and defeat bosses. Just when you thought you were done with hunting down consumables, Mafia Wars Italy arrives and everyone's been on the hunt for severed pinkies and other new consumable items to get the job done.

You'll need Cooked Books to complete the 'Snag a Lucrative Disposal Contract' job in Mafia Wars Italy Region 5 Napoli.
mafia wars cooked book
You'll need a total of 89 Mafia Wars Cooked Books to master all four levels of the 'Snag a Lucrative Disposal Contract' job. That breaks down into the following per mastery level:

Bronze : 13 Cooked Books needed
Silver : 17 Cooked Books needed
Gold : 25 Cooked Books needed
Ruby : 34 Cooked Books needed

Mafia Wars Cooked Books are not available as gifts and cannot be traded. There are two ways to find this significant item:

1. Complete the 'Blackmail A Track Official' job in Region 4: Palermo.
2. Complete the 'Interrogate a Lackey' job in Region 4: Palermo.

AM Linkage: Jack Black rocks Blizzcon, Facebook privacy breech fallout

Jack Black and Tenacious D rock out at Blizzcon 2010 (video) [VentureBeat]

It's Not Just Facebook: MySpace Transmitted Personal Data [Mashable]

Understanding what Facebook apps really know (FAQ) [Cnet]

Creating stronger privacy controls inside Google [Official Google Blog]

Apple to Invest in Facebook? Facebook says "No" [TNW]

Mafia Wars Italy Hidden Charges: Where to look for them

mafia wars italy hidden charges
If there's one thing that's likely to stand in your way of making progress in Mafia Wars, it's those darn consumable items required to complete jobs and defeat bosses. Just when you thought you were done with hunting down consumables, Mafia Wars Italy arrives and everyone's been on the hunt for severed pinkies and other new consumable items to get the job done.

Depending on your path, you'll need Hidden Charges to complete the 'Support Your Local Hooligan Firm' or the 'Blow Up a Police Station' jobs in Mafia Wars Italy Region 5: Napoli.
mafia wars italy hidden charges
You'll need a total of 112 Hidden Charges to master all four levels of the 'Support Your Local Hooligan Firm' job. That breaks down into the following per mastery level:

Bronze : 17 Hidden Charges needed
Silver : 20 Hidden Charges needed
Gold : 25 Hidden Charges needed
Ruby : 50 Hidden Charges needed

The 'Blow Up a Police Station' job requires a total of 91 Hidden Charges:

Bronze : 15 Hidden Charges needed
Silver : 17 Hidden Charges needed
Gold : 25 Hidden Charges needed
Ruby : 34 Hidden Charges needed

Hidden Charges are not available as gifts and cannot be traded. There is only one way to find these missing explosive devices:

1. Complete the 'Snag a Lucrative Disposal Contract' job in Region 5: Napoli.

ESPNU College Town enjoys South District and balancing from recent update

ESPNU Venues
If this most recent update to ESPNU College Town is any indication, the folks at Playdom are listening. Based on player feedback, the studio has changed the event timers to all sporting events so that they all complete in the same time regardless of division--their only differences now are the payout between Divisions (Division I events will always pay most) and the event timers for each different sport. According to a forum post accompanying the update, Playdom plans to release shorter events soon to give players more options.

Finally, the team has made Entertainment venues like the recent Windows 7 Tech Lab put out double the cash, making these buildings much more useful. Most importantly, there is now a third district to expand into: the South district. However, this will be invisible to you if you're below Level 12. Oh, and Playdom also fixed the friend request system so that it actually works, but who needs those?

FrontierVille Sixth Kid Goals: Everything you need to know

FrontierVille Babies
The time has finally come in FrontierVille. You've been through five pregnancies before, so this should be nothing, right? Wrong. This just might be the most difficult in the game to date, and it's purely due to what it requires. Or should we say how much it requires. We'd say that we had some hot tips for you to accomplish this Goal series, but this is truly a battle of wits and determination. Though, we did try making the requirements that require a bit more sleuthing, so to speak, easier to find. So, enjoy all four missions in this series in one spot for your enjoyment reference.

LoomNot Again?!?:
-Get 50 Baby Names (request from friends)
-Have 700 Cloth (Visit lots of friends. Never stop, actually)
-Harvest 250 Cabbage

A Tisket, a Tasket!:
-Have one Basket (collect from the Inn at random)
-Have one Purple Button (collect from the Tailor Shop at random)
-Buy two Seven-Course Meals from the Market

Candy is Dandy!:
-Have one Apricot Candy (collect from harvesting Apricot Trees)
-Have 1,500 Wood (Now, this is just getting ridiculous.)
-Get 40 Baby Clothes (request from friends)

The Blessed Event!:
-Accept Help from 25 Neighbors (We hear begging works sometimes.)
-Have five Cribs inside the Barn (All that Wood should prove useful.)
-Purchase a Loom at the Market (pictured)

Finish all four missions and your sixth and (tentatively) final kid will be brought into the world. We imagine that only the most hardcore of you are this far in the game--believe us, that is OK. Just don't expect any content for some time considering we all have General Stores to expand and new employees to hire. Though, there is a lot of scuttlebutt going around about some Gold Rush being on the way at some point.

Treasure Isle Fishing: Everything You Need to Know

Treasure Isle fishing
Players can now fish for energy in Treasure Isle, and each fish represents different amounts of energy that you can earn. At a glance, this sounds awesome, since energy is something players are always short on, but here comes the bad news -- in order to fish, you need the following:

    Be at Level 7.
    Spend 3,500 Coins for the Strong Fishing Pole.
    12 Energy for each time you fish.
    Pay between 625 Coins to 25 Island Cash for batches of fishing bait.


You need to be at Level 7 because if you're not, you can't buy the Strong Fishing Pole from the store and you won't be able to receive fish as gifts. Right now, there are 4 kinds of bait in the game (though luckily, the game starts you off with 3 of each kind, so you get a dozen free bait to begin):
Treasure Isle new raised bait prices

    Basic Bait needed for Muddy Waters; costs 6,250 Coins for a batch of 25.
    Good Bait needed for Stony Waters; 25,000 Coins for a batch of 25.
    Special Bait needed for Lush Waters; 9 Island Cash for a batch of 5.
    Magic Bait needed for Rainbow Waters; 25 Island Cash for a batch of 5.

Treasure Isle Muddy Waters    
Different fish appear in different kinds of environments, and you're going to begin with Muddy Waters. These look like little puddles in the ocean around your island, and they have a time limit on them. Muddy Waters lasts for an hour and a half before it disappears and is replaced by a different puddle, such as Rainbow Waters, which lasts for a day. Note that you can also fish on your friends' islands, and you'll want to too, because they'll likely have different environments than you. This means you won't have to wait out the time limits on your own island to get a different type of water to fish in.
Treasure Isle fish in storage
Here's a list of fish we've found so far, the amounts of energy they give off, and how long you've got 'til they go bad:

The Big One - 250 Energy - Never expires!
Swordfish - 100 Energy - 2 days
Yellowfin Tuna - 60 Energy - 2 days
Catfish - 30 Energy - 2 days
Salmon - 22 Energy - 2 days
Mahi Mahi - 19 Energy - 2 days
Sea Bass - 16 Energy - 3 days
Red Snapper - 13 Energy - 3 days
Rainbow Trout - 10 Energy - 3 days
Sardine - 7 Energy - 3 days
Anchovy - 4 Energy - 3 days

Each of these fish also comes with a mastery bar. Each mastery bar lets you know how many of each fish you've caught, the rarity of the fish, and in what environments you can find the fish.
Treasure Isle Yellowfin Tuna
Treasure Isle Catfish Mastery Bar
Treasure Isle Salmon Mastery Bar
Treasure Isle Mahi Mahi mastery
Treasure Isle Sea Bass mastery
Treasure Isle Red Snapper Mastery Bar
Treasure Isle Rainbow Trout Mastery Bar
Treasure Isle Sardine Mastery Bar
Treasure Isle Anchovy Mastery Bar
You will also reel in items that aren't fish. There's Sunken Treasure, for example, which lets you choose one of three different items, but the choices are completely random.
Treasure Isle Sunken Treasure
Item collections -- such as Bottom of the Sea Junk, Marine Plants, and The Petite Fish Lady -- will also pop-up while you're fishing, and like the ones from treasure-hunting, mastering these collections will get you free stuff :
Treasure Isle Bottom of the Sea Junk
Bottom of the Sea Junk Mastery Rewards
Mastery Level 1: Bananas (10 Energy)
Mastery Level 2: Mangoes (15 Energy)
Mastery Level 3: Pineapples (25 Energy)
Mastery Level 4: Dragonfruit (45 Energy)
Treasure Isle Marine Plants
Treasure Isle The Petite Fish Lady

Verdict: Based on everything here, it's easy to tell that Zynga put a lot of thought into setting this up. And even though there's no finesse involved in the fishing, since all you do is click one spot over and over again, this still remains pretty fun due to the variety and randomness of the item drops.

But it's obvious that fishing costs a lot of energy -- more energy than it takes to go treasure-hunting. And lastly, most the fish can expire if you leave them in storage for too long, in the same way that the fruits do. What would be nice is if there was an option to put the fish in cold storage.

Mafia Wars cited as inspiration for new Shenmue social game

As much as serious gamers like to brush off Facebook games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars -- usually dismissing them with a wave of the hand, saying 'they're not really games," -- the hard truth is that these so-called 'un-games' are having a major impact on the traditional video game space.

Aside from games like Madden, Assassin's Creed and Dragon Age making the jump to Facebook, Yu Suzuki, the creator of classic video games such as Space Harrier, Outrun, Virtua Fighter and the Shenmue series, says he decided to create a socialized version of Shenmue -- called Shenmue City -- after playing Zynga's text-based role-playing game Mafia Wars on Facebook.

Suzuki says he made the game because he wanted to revisit the world of Shenmue without the monumental investment required to make a full-fledged Shenmue game. Keeping in mind that Suzuki spent $70 million on the original Shenmue for Dreamcast (which was a disappointment sales-wise) it's understandable -- and enlightened even -- that this same guy was willing to create an extension of the franchise without the big budget. And, it's clear that many other developers have been toying with the same idea.

From a larger perspective, we're clearly seeing the beginning of what could be possible with big brands -- household names and otherwise -- on Facebook. And it all points toward what analysts and industry insiders have been saying for the past six months -- we're gearing up for a brand Blitzkrieg on Facebook in 2011. Stay tuned.

FrontierVille Crop Boosts: Everything you need to know

By now, you're probably aware that you can upgrade your General Store in FrontierVille. Through this quest set, you not only upgrade the visual look of your General Store, but you also unlock a series of Boosts that will help you more quickly advance through the game's repetition missions (Harvest X number of crops, Groom X number of animals, etc.).

While Boosts are now available to help you in feeding animals and harvesting trees, meet us behind the break for a full guide concerning the new Crop Boosts available from the store.
These new crop boosts (not to be confused with the previously released Wither Protection and Unwither Crop boosts), are available to purchase from a new menu within the upgraded General Store - simply click on your General Store and click "Buy Boosts" to access this new menu/store.

They will cause any "unready" crop to become instantly ready, and are purchased in sets of five, with one individual boost making one individual plot ready to be harvested.

For reference, the prices of each boost will vary (even among Horseshoes and coins), depending on your level, with four prices being available for the full range of current levels. In the guide below, we will list the cheapest, and the most expensive price of each particular boost, to give you an idea of the range of coins and/or Horseshoes you will have to spend.

Finally, please note that the 5% store discount from the Rithmatic school house lesson will apply to these prices.

Crop Boosts -

    Clover Ready Boost - 1,050 coins - 8,350 coins
    Tomato Ready Boost - 3,125 coins - 25,000 coins
    Pumpkin Ready Boost - 1 Horseshoe - 10 Horseshoes
    Potato Ready Boost - 3 Horseshoes - 20 Horseshoes
    Flax Ready Boost - 4 Horseshoes - 28 Horseshoes
    Corn Ready Boost - 4 Horseshoes - 35 Horseshoes
    Wheat Ready Boost - 6 Horseshoes - 49 Horseshoes
    Cabbage Ready Boost - 5 Horseshoes - 40 Horseshoes
    Peas Ready Boost - 9 Horseshoes - 69 Horseshoes
    Cotton Ready Boost - 11 Horseshoes - 85 Horseshoes
    Sunflower Ready Boost - 5 Horseshoes - 42 Horseshoes
    Eggplant Ready Boost - 2 Horseshoes - 14 Horseshoes


Finally, a Peanut Ready Boost is also available to purchase, but only after you complete all four of Hank's General Store missions. After this point, you will be able to purchase the Boost for between 12 Horseshoes and 98 Horseshoes, depending on your level.

And there you have it - an easy, albeit fairly expensive way to easily complete quests that ask you to harvest a certain amount of a particular crop. Be sure to check back with us in the future, as we bring you guides for the Animal and Tree Boosts in the future.

Pet Society Steampunk items now available

Last week, we let our excitement boil over to 11 with the announcement that this week would be Steampunk Week in Pet Society. We were given a small taste of the items that would be available then, and we can even more excitedly share the full theme of items that have actually hit the market now.

Meet us behind the break for all of the Victorian furniture, mechanical wonders and leather clothing that you can handle!

This theme begins with a truly awesome start, as you can now add fully brass flowers to your garden, via the Glow in the Dark Mechanical Flower Seed that's available for 3 Playfish Cash.

From there, the brass color theme gives way to a mass amount of Victorian furniture, most of which will only be available in the game for one week only. You can pick up a brass table, complete with parchment and magnifying glass, a stately armchair, two versions of curved staircases, and an animated desk that is to die for (figuratively, of course), with a code scrolling across a computer screen, and steam raising from quaint little tea-cup.

You can purchase a Vintage Brass Bed for the the bedroom for just 900 coins, a robot named Brass Bob that dances (at the price of 10 Playfish Cash), and even a mechanical bird that will be only available for a limited time (less than a day, as of this writing).

This theme contains quite a few functional or simply animated items, like an awesome Mechanical Camera that allows you to take sepia screenshots, a set of animated, mechanical wings (available tomorrow evening), a red and copper colored floating airplane, and a wallpaper and flooring set that looks as though you are inside a tall tower, or even inside a flying airship. This duo is particularly interesting, in that it changes color as the day turns from day to night. There are four settings available - Dawn, Daytime, Sunset and Night, with the scene changing according to the time in your own time zone.

With all of these swoon-worthy items (this only scratches the surface of what's available), it's only fitting that your animal friend should also receive a bit of pampering, along with their home, and you can now buy a Vintage Leather Outfit for both girl or boy pets for 800 and 700 coins each, respectively. For reference the boy's costume is cheaper because it has one less element. Regardless, you can also outfit your pet with a stylish monocle for 150 coins, and a Short Circuit Hat for 500 coins.

What can we say? We love Steampunk, and this week's theme in Pet Society definitely doesn't disappoint. Keep in mind the limited time availability on some of these items, and make sure you pick them up while you can!

Joy to the world, Bejeweled 3 is here!

It's a monumental day in the world of PC gaming -- both Bejeweled 3 and the World of Warcraft Cataclysm arrive in stores, causing a frenzy among gamers of all stripes.

buy bejeweled 3 nowAt Games.com, our enthusiasm is directed toward PopCap's gem-matching game, which is getting its first serious refresh in six years. Bejeweled 3 keeps the game's classic match-3 gaming experience intact, but has completely overhauled the graphics and sound and has thrown in a few twists to keep things fresh.

Some of those twists include Quest modes, a timed Lightening mode (inspired by PopCap's Facebook game Bejeweled Blitz) and a new Zen mode which you can play forever and activate "options for meditation and stress relief, including breath modulation, ambient sounds, binaural beats and mantras for focusing your thoughts."

Gallery: Bejeweled 3: First look

Four examples of some of the new Bejeweled modes you'll encounter in the game:

- Poker: Make matches to create winning Poker hands and -- as the game progresses -- avoid making 'outlawed' hands, when a flip of a coin will determine whether it's game on or game over
- Diamond Mine: Explode gems to tunnel beneath the earth, and discover gold, artifacts and Hypercubes along the way
- Butterflies: Match butterfly gems to free them before they reach the top of the board. If they elude your gem-matching skills, the spider waiting for them at the top wins.
- Ice Storm: Keep a wall of rising ice at bay by matching gems as fast as possible in a limited amount of time.



Bejeweled 3 has also overhauled its badge and achievements system, and you'll also be able to check out your game stats after you finish a round.

Aside from the fact that Bejeweled 3 has sold millions of copies and has rocked the casual gaming "Best of" charts for the past decade, probably one of our favorite stats about the game is that a copy is sold every 4.3 seconds. If you're ready to have your 4.3 seconds, you can purchase Bejeweled 3 for $20 in online (right here on Games.com) and in stores.

FrontierVille Cheats and Tips: The Dinner Triangle

For the more popular pioneers out there, waking up to a ton of visits from friends in FrontierVille can at times be more of a pain than a blessing. Especially for those with fully expanded homesteads. This is because visitors can appear almost anywhere on the map such as behind trees, buildings or even tall crops. And you and I both know that the little star that above our characters' heads barely helps us keep track of our own pioneer much less others if it were placed on them.

This is exactly why Zynga introduced an item called the "Dinner Triangle" a ways back to FrontierVille. This functional item will literally summon all of your visiting friends and family to its location when clicked. Obviously, this is essentially the end to all of your neighbors' hide-and-seek games. Not to mention how handy it would be for missions like the recent Family Quests. However, the item costs 10,000 coins and 10 Wood to purchase from the Market.

So, just make sure you're well in between quests before picking this terribly useful item up as it'll set you far back for a while. Though, if you consider yourself a lucky fellow, the Dinner Triangle can appear in Mystery Boxes, but I wouldn't bank on that happening anytime soon. If your shy neighbors are truly bugging you that much, just pony up and buy the item. Besides, if you're friends visit you in such numbers that often, it'll pay for itself in no time.

FarmVille creator Zynga and Citi join forces for exclusive game rewards

    Mystery Animal Crate     Lightning Stove
Citi Bank cardholders will be delighted when they check their ThankYou Rewards account today. Well, those that happen to be social gamers, that is. Zynga announced today that it has joined forces with Citi to add a new category of ThankYou Rewards to Citi's long list of goodies: virtual items. Starting immediately, players of hit Zynga games like FarmVille, FrontierVille and Cafe World can redeem their ThankYou Points for exclusive items in several of the company's Facebook games. Starting at 600 ThankYou points, players can begin to redeem virtual rewards as well as physical Zynga Game Cards for a boost to the tune of $25 for 3,500 ThankYou Points. Exclusive items in some of Zynga's games include:

FarmVille:
-Purple Harvester (1,400 Points)
-Red Pinto Horse (1,000 Points)

FrontierVille:
-Mystery Animal Crate (1,000 Points)
-Pink Deer (1,500 Points)

Cafe World:
-Lightning Stove (3,500 Points)
-Outdoor Fountain (2,000 Points)

This partnership with Citi marks Zynga's second collaboration with a credit company--the first being with American Express and its Membership Rewards Program. (This is also why some of those items might look familiar.) If this strategy catches on, expect other social game developers to hop onto Zynga's tailwind. Terry O’Neil, Executive VP of North American Cards at Citi says that Zynga ThankYou Rewards keep Citi's ThankYou Point offerings relevant and meets a demand for social game rewards. I'd say hundreds of millions of players is relevant enough, wouldn't you?

Bejeweled 3: We're giving away 10 free copies of the game

bejeweled logo
Update: This contest has ended. Head to Blog.Games.com or our Facebook fanpage for more awesome giveaways.

PopCap Games has unleashed Bejeweled 3 on the world, and productivity is about to hit a standstill. If experience tells us anything, this new Bejeweled (like the others before it) will most likely have you swapping gems day and night if you don't keep yourself in check. (And, if you don't, well, we'll most likely be right along there with you).

Bejeweled 3 is available for download online (right here on Games.com) and at retail for $20 -- but, if you're lucky, you can enter to win a code that will let you download the game for the low price of FREE. And, considering the holiday season tends to be a little spendy, it sure would be nice to get something for FREE, wouldn't it?


Gallery: Bejeweled 3: First look


To enter to win a free download code for Bejeweled 3, please do the following:
Step 1: Go to the Games.com Facebook fanpage: (http://www.facebook.com/gamescom).

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

Step 3: Enter the giveaway by heading to the fanpage and tell us what item you're most likely to have bejeweled (as in encrusted with jewels). Wedding ring, cell phone (or something more creative?)

Over the next few days, we'll randomly select 10 winners, message them on Facebook with the free code and directions on how to download the game. Sound easy enough?

Get started by heading to the Games.com fanpage to enter for a free downlodable copy of Bejeweled 3.


Bookmark this site!

Have Zynga's FarmVille and FrontierVille become more like 'BegVille?'

Beg for those items!
Alright, so it isn't Deliverance bad yet. But since quests have been recently added to FarmVille, the community has responded less than favorably, if a recent poll on the forums is any indication. With 470 votes as of this writing, 37 percent of them have claimed that Quests in FarmVille are "Not for me." While this is isn't necessarily an overwhelming majority, it most definitely speaks to how a large number of farmers might feel about the relatively new feature.

And despite a pretty small majority voting against Quests in their game, the rest of thread seems to imply a much worse situation with some commenters alluding to FrontierVille, which many claim has too many Goals. But that isn't their only beef with Quests and Goals. It seems as if a large amount of players are unhappy with how quests operate with one player writing, "Not in favour... especially if they involve constant begging from neighbours all the time. Lately, we seem to do that 90% of the time as it is. They should change the name of the game to BegVille."

"BegVille," huh? Let's get a better understanding of (and a way to stop) this interesting, chuckle-worthy moniker after the break.

FarmVille Quest Poll
What the forum member seems to have meant by calling both FrontierVille and FarmVille "BegVille" is that he feels too many of the requirements in both Goals and Quests involve asking our friends for various items that are essentially intangible in the game world. For instance, FrontierVille's recent "Playtime" Timed Mission requires players to ask their friends for 20 items in just 48 hours. While this is vastly easier thanks to the new Zynga Message Center, it's still a daunting quest to finish. And the same goes for the Winter Wonderland Quest in FarmVille, which asks farmers to tap their friends for items at nearly every turn.

And what does this get us? A nearly endless list of requests in our Message Center nearly every time we log into either FarmVille or FrontierVille. Games like Cafe World and Mafia Wars aren't off the hook either, but we'll get back to them.

FarmVille Quests
Unfortunately for some and a good old time for others, this is intrinsic to Zynga's quest design and, quite frankly, one of the few things that keeps the precious "social element" in its games. There is always Gifting, but is sending a generic message to your friend truly social? Without these item requests, players wouldn't interact with one another outside of random visits in FrontierVille (most of which are driven by Goals anyway) and Co-Op Jobs in FarmVille. Wait, that's it!

While some players think thousands of item requests are fine and dandy, there's a large amount of us that want something more... interactive. Cafe World has its Catering Orders, Mafia Wars has its Secret Missions and FarmVille has its Co-Op Crafting Jobs yet none of them are integral to our progress in each game. They can easily be ignored in the wake of hundreds of crops, recipes and odd jobs to master. It's only FrontierVille, the major culprit, that doesn't feature something similar.

Secret Santa
With that being said, why not make collaboration as rich a source of XP and items as personal bests like Mastery? For instance, take the recent Headless Horseman Goals for Halloween in FrontierVille. Instead of each homestead having its very own Horseman (though, he did appear in friends' homesteads, which is a start) for pioneers to defeat with the "help" of friends, why not make the Horseman a collective enemy to defeat with a progress bar much like Cafe World's Catering Jobs or FarmVille Co-Ops?

Players would rally their friends to gather the required items to contribute to a collective achievement rather than a personal one, rewarding everyone involved with coins and rare items rather than the individual. Or if you're that attached to your rare items, these Quests could easily be repeatable with a randomized loot system and Mastery (I'm looking at you, Secret Missions). And what do you know, it's a brand new way to progress through your game that actually involves your friends working toward a larger goal.

Obviously, this is far from limited to holiday events and would require some creativity from the games' respective design teams to think up new ideas for collaborative missions that fit into each game's world (bandits in FrontierVille, anyone?). Not to mention that this type of Quest would be released way less frequently than what's possible with the current Quests. But if that's what it takes to keep players from calling these games names like "BegVille," I'm willing to wait. Are you?