FarmVille Groovy Cow Adoptable!

farmville groovy cow
A new lost, roaming animal, the Groovy Cow has made its way to FarmVille and should be roaming onto a farm near you.

The Groovy Cow is an adoptable animal, meaning that if you find one on your farm you cannot keep it for yourself, but you can choose to share it with your FarmVille neighbors via FaceBook newsfeed and give them the opportunity to adopt. farmville groovy cow

Her story is that while seemingly dazed and confused she got lost and can't remember where she lives! Maybe this Groovy Cow was under the influence, what do you think?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

YoVille: New Movie-Studio at Realtors and Movie Sets in Furniture Store

Hollywood has arrived at YoVille , you can now buy a Movie studio for 29 YoCash at the realtors and start directing Movies with your friends. Then get over to the furniture store and start buying all these fantastic items to get your studio looking like a Movie set. Hollywood Movie Lights 4 YoCash, Hollywood Camera 12 YoCash, Hollywood Director Chair 4 YoCash and many more. You can create a Classic Romance, Western Classic or Horror Movie for 3,895 Coins with these back drops, they look fantastic. Happy Shopping!

Thanks Spiralda for the info and pics.
yoville hollywood movie sets
yoville hollywood movie sets yoville hollywood movie sets yoville hollywood movie sets yoville hollywood movie sets yoville hollywood movie sets yoville hollywood movie sets yoville hollywood movie sets yoville hollywood movie sets
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

FarmVille Crafting Cottage Preview!

farmville crafting cottages
Tonight, as promised by Lexilicious via official FarmVille Podcast, more information was released about the upcoming Crafting Cottage feature. For participating in this Crafting Cottage you will receive an exclusive limited edition prize as a reward, the Chef Gnome (Bakery), the Bacchus Gnome (Winery), or Spa Gnome (Spa). Each Gnome coordinates with the Crafting Cottage you select.
farmville gnomes
The Crafting Cottages are still "Coming Soon" status, but if you participate in the Preview you will be able to pick which Crafting Cottage you want. There are three choices: The Bakery, the Winery, and the Spa.

    Bakery: Uses fruit and vegetable bushels to make pies and cakes.
    Winery: Users fruit and grain bushels to make wine and juices.
    Spa: Uses flowers and fruit bushels to make perfume and candles.

farmville winery     farmville winery     farmville winery
The Crafting Cottages will work with the Farmer's Market feature, specifically bushels, in which you will use to create specialized crafting goods depending on which Crafting Cottage you own. These specialized crafting goods will give your farmer an energy boost or "super-charge" your farmer.

According to the preview pictures, there are a few recipes that list the ingredients needed (bushels) to create the specialized crafting good. For example, the Bakery Crafting Cottage has a recipe for Strawberry Shortcake which requires Strawberry and Wheat bushels to make.

Crafting Building, Recipes, and Ingredients:

Bakery Crafting Building

    Pumpkin Bread – Pumpkin and Wheat Bushels
    Strawberry Shortcake- Strawberry and Wheat Bushels
    Spicy Muffins – Carrots, Peppers, and Ghost Chili
    Pattypan Tart – Pattypan Squash, Onion, and Rice

farmvile bakery

Winery Crafting Building

    Sweet Sake – Rice and Cranberries
    White Sangria- White Grapes, Sugar Cane, and Strawberries
    Table Wine – Grapes and White Grapes
    Fruit Wine – Raspberries, Blueberries, and Sugar Cane

farmville winery

Spa Craft Building

    Fresh Sachet – Pumpkins, Cranberries, and Sunflowers
    Floral Perfume – Raspberries and Morning Glory
    Soothing Herbal Lotion – Aloe Vera and Green Tea
    Relaxation Oil – Blueberries and Morning Glory

farmville spa

What do you think about this upcoming feature to FarmVille? Which Crafting Building is your favorite?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille for iPhone & iPod Touch Official Demo

farmville iphone
Here is an official demo video of FarmVille native iPhone & iPod Touch App by Zynga as demonstrated at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2010. FarmVille for iPhone is said to be released by end of June 2010 just in time to celebrate FarmVille's one year anniversary, as announced by Zynga CEO, Mark Pincus.

Continue reading to check it out.


Highlights of FarmVille for iPhone

    You will be using your same existing FarmVille farm, now accessible through your iPhone.
    You will have access to the same friends and neighbors as on FaceBook.
    There are "push" notifications that will alert you when your crops are ready to be harvested.
    Improved plowing, seeding, and harvesting functions that will allow you to work with multiple plots at the same time (more than even the Hot Rod tractor).
    Exclusive animal for FarmVille on iPhone only is the Snow Leopard animal.


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Breaking News! Zynga's FrontierVille arrives on Facebook

FrontierVille rides into town on today, courtesy of FarmVille creator Zynga. The new western themed Facebook game is best described by Zynga's Chief Game Designer Brian Reynolds, who calls it "Oregon Trail meets Little House on the Prairie meets FarmVille."

The goal of the game is to build your own frontier town, while growing your family and keeping the wilderness at bay. The game begins with a covered wagon and a plot of land, and from there you plant and harvest crops, custom create a log cabin, take on a spouse and make frontier babies (it's all very G-rated, don't worry). You'll be able to put the entire family to work, taking on quests and keeping snakes, bears and groundhogs from treading on your property.

frontierville on facebook

FrontierVille's social elements revolve around helping neighbors with their frontier towns, hiring friends to get jobs done quickly. The game also has a built-in reputation system -- the more favors you do, the better your reputation -- which in turn will make you more useful to friends who hire you for work.

Like other FarmVille and other Zynga games, FrontierVille will be updated with expansions and new items regularly and will be powered by a microtransaction system, which will allow you to use real-life cash to buy in-game currency which can then be used for special power-ups or premium virtual items.

Expectations at Zynga are big for this new game. EReynolds, who we interviewed about FrontierVille, wouldn't give us any specific numbers they're trying to meet, he says it would be a good thing if the game beat Zynga's fastest-growing game, Treasure Isle, which attracted 5 million users in one week. Our full interview with Reynolds will be coming shortly.

FrontierVille is the first social game for the video game vet , best known for creating multi-million dollar strategy games such as Civilization II and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Even though other Facebook games have been built by video game alums, it will be interesting to see how Reynold's experience will make this wild west game stand out from the pack.

Play FrontierVille on Facebook now > frontierville on facebookfrontierville on facebook frontierville on facebook

FrontierVille on Facebook: Think this is a FarmVille-killer?

Is FarmVille Getting Ready for 26x26 Expansion?

FarmVille Zoomed Out Farm
Earlier this week FarmVille's official Twitter page released an expansion teaser with a tiny picture of 26×26 Expansion.

After today's updates some FarmVille Freaks like FarmVille Freak Sheri are noticing that when viewing their farms "zoomed out" the area surrounding their farm border seems a little larger.

    "Hiya FarmGoddess – I noticed tonight that there is a dramatic change to my farm screen size – the margin around my farm is usually only about 1/2″ but it is now almost a full inch larger all around. I always have my IE zoom at 150%. I wonder if this might relate to expansion.

    Two things happened today – I got the pregnant pig and I got my groovy cows back – otherwise, nothing has changed since this morning that might have affected the screen.

    Hope I'm right about the potential for an expansion.

    Thanks!
    - FarmVille Freak Sheri"

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Unreleased Swiss Cabin, Swiss Cottage, Swiss Evergreen, Firewood, & Swiss Alps Mountains

FarmVille Unreleased Swiss Cabin, Swiss Cottage, Swiss Evergreen, Firewood, & Swiss Alps Mountains
These FarmVille Unreleased items will most likely be making it to the market under the Swiss Alps theme. They might have made it in the past updates if it wasn't for all the glitches FarmVille was having!

Note: Unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.


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FarmVille & Mafia Wars Cross Promotion: Mystery Fuel Box

FarmVille Mafia Wars Complete Jobs
Thank you to FarmVille Freak J-Chaves for sending us these screenshots of the FarmVille Mafia Wars Mystery Fuel Box!

It looks like there will be another upcoming cross-promotion involving FarmVille and Mafia Wars. As a perk for playing Mafia Wars you can gain extra fuel for FarmVille. For example, leveling up in Mafia Wars will get you a Mafia Wars Mystery Box in which you will have the opportunity to win more free fuel!

This promotion is now available and "live"!

Will you participate in this FarmVille and Mafia Wars cross-promotion? Is the free fuel perk enough to spark you interest in Mafia Wars again?
FarmVille Mafia Wars
FarmVille: Low on Fuel? Gain a level in Mafia Wars and get a Mystery Fuel boxMafia Wars Mystery Fuel BoxLarge Can of Fuel in Mafia Wars Mystery Fuel Box
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.


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FarmVille Unreleased Alpine Rose Crop, Alpine Rose Mastery Sign, Moss Rock

FarmVille Alpine Rose, Mastery Sign, Moss Rock
Thank you to FarmVille Freak Rainexel for finding these unreleased FarmVille Alpine Rose Crop, Alpine Rose Mastery Sign, & Moss Rock!

Note: Unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Simmental Calf released for adoption only

FarmVille Simmental Cow and Calves
With the release of the Simmental Cow, a limited edition Swiss themed animal, of course there is a new Simmental Calf in FarmVille.
FarmVille Adopt Simmental Calf
The Simmental Calf is adoptable only, you cannot purchase it in the FarmVille Market. Simmental Cows can be placed in the Dairy Barn for a chance at producing a Simmental Calf.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille unreleased animals: Black Spotted Stallion, Persian Cat, Mock Turtle

Since FarmVille is releasing new items every day this week in the Mystery Game, you can expect to see a lot of unreleased animal posts on Games.com - The Blog! over the next few days. Here is the latest batch of unreleased animals, courtesy of FarmVille Freak, including an white, fluffy Persian cat and adorable turtle.

               
Mock Turtle     Persian Cat     Belted Duck     Brown Spotted Stallion     Black Spotted Stallion

I'm sure these will show up as Mystery Game animal prizes in the next few days. Stay tuned.

Have you been playing the Mystery Game in FarmVille? What prizes did you win?

Tiki Resort wheel: Spin to win a rare item

Tiki Resort has introduced a new wheel in the game -- and you can spin to win a rare item. Before you go getting all excited -- there's a catch. You have to pay 49 Facebook Credits (roughly $5) to have the privelege giving this thing a turn. One of the items you can win is the New Pirate Wonder, but you have to spin enough to collect the three pieces required to build it -- and that could get extra pricey, extra fast.

Do you think $5 is too much to pay to spin the new Tiki Resort wheel?

Zoom Zoom! Cars coming soon to YoVille

YoVille Cars
YoVille have just announced on their official blog that cars will be coming soon to the game. According to the post, players will be able to drive these cars around town and anywhere in YoVille. While the post didn't give us too much gritty information, they're promising that the full details will be coming along soon and we're find out exactly how these cars will work.

So far, players are begging for coin car options and hoping that not all the cars will require YoCash in order to enjoy. We're not so sure - cars seem like a big addition to YoVille and are likely a perfect candidate for a premium item. Time will tell though, and we'll be sure to have all the details on YoVille cars as soon as they're available.

What do you think about the idea of cars in YoVille? Which model of car are you hoping for?

Social City Spin Raffle gives out waterpark set

The Social City raffle is a unique experience, giving you the choice to spin to collect all of the parts of a set. Each spin costs 8 City Bucks, and guarantees you a prize. There are currently eight different pieces of a water park available, and once all eight of these items have been collected - the final prize will be unlocked and given out to the player.

This can definitely add up, being 8 City Bucks per spin. There is also an element of randomness, because you are not guaranteed to get a piece of water park that you haven't already received. This can be very frustrating and expensive. However, once you have all of the pieces, the opportunity is there to create a beautiful and large water park in your city.

Have you played the Social City raffle? How many waterpark pieces do you have?

Happy Pets is seeing double with new Pet Replicator

Happy Pets Pet Replicator
Happy Pets has just released an expensive new item, the Pet Replicator. This item will allow players to clone any one of their pets, and will deliver the pet to your gift box after the duplication has occurred. This feature will cost you a hefty 120 Facebook Credits though, so don't expect to start cloning all of your pets left and right. Do you have a special pet that was limited time and you wish you had more? Did you buy a pet from the Pet Trader and think he or she wants a friend that looks like them? Here is your chance.

The Pet Replicator only has one use total, and gives you 240 XP when used. You can also send the Pet Replicator to a friend if you want to give an expensive gift. This feature is long overdue, but we have a bit of sticker shock at the price.

What do you think? Is 120 Facebook Credits too much to spend to clone a Happy Pets pet? Tell us!

FrontierVille: Complete the 'Hot Wheels!' Goal for a Deluxe Buggy!

A new goal appeared in FrontierVille (as if building your own Horseshoe Pit wasn't enough) this weekend titled "Hot Wheels!" that asks players to complete three simple requirements to get the Deluxe Buggy. Honestly, the item is simply the original Black Buggy with a new name, but what's in a name anyway?

The original cost of 55 Horseshoes for the Black Buggy compared to zero for a Deluxe Buggy is a trade we would take any day. Join us behind the break for a short guide on how to accomplish this not-so-daunting task.
FrontierVille Hot Wheels Mission

This goal has three requirements, two of which aren't necessarily difficult, but will take a little while to complete:


    Collect Ten Saddle Soap (Unlock for 20 Horseshoes)
    Collect Ten Elbow Grease (Unlock for 20 Horseshoes)
    Clear Five Grasses




While it appears last on this list, the simplest requirement here is clearly the grasses, so just get that out of the way first. The two other goals require you to ask your friends to gift the items to you. But don't worry about trying to sell them on the idea, a free lunch is in it for them if they decide to lend a hand. Also, remember to respond to your friends' requests for these gifts, because doing so will net you one of the items too.
FrontierVille Hot Wheels Mission Complete

After you've complete the three requirements, you'll find yourself with a new whip and 100 more experience points. Not too shabby for an item that used to cost quite a lot of Horseshoes. Don't pass up on this chance to have the ride of your dreams, at least until the Jalopy shows up. Hey, it's only a matter of time!

FarmVille Unreleased Rainbow Chicken, German Tree, German Barn Stage 1, Barn Stage 2, & Barn Stage 3

Could FarmVille soon be celebrating Octoberfest, with an upcoming German theme? It looks like some of these items would fit in perfectly on a German-themed farm.

Thank you to FarmVille Freak Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Rainbow Chicken, German Tree, German Barn Stage 1, Barn Stage 2, & Barn Stage 3 items!

Note: Unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it in-game.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Cafe World welcomes you to the Far East with the Zen Garden set

Cafe World Japanese Set
A massive new set of items is available to spruce up your fine establishment in Cafe World: the Zen Garden set. Zynga added a slew of decorations like a arcade games and a karaoke as well as animated items including sumo wrestlers, ninjas and samurai.

To turn your cafe into the best sushi bar or noodle house in town, continue reading for a list of what's available.
Cafe World Japanese Set
Unfortunately, most of these items--especially those that are animated--cost sometimes exorbitant amounts of Cafe Cash with only three items available for an insane amount of coins. Take a look at what you'll be saving up for below:

Decorations:


    Indoor Zen Garden (18 Cafe Cash)
    Karaoke Stage (20 Cafe Cash)
    Arcade Games (22 Cafe Cash)
    Sword Display (5 Cafe Cash)
    Bamboo Fountain (5 Cafe Cash)
    Armor Display (7 Cafe Cash)
    Mystical Creature (13 Cafe Cash)
    Ninja (16 Cafe Cash)
    Sumo Wrestler (16 Cafe Cash)
    Japanese Food Display (40,000 coins)
    Tea Booth (50,000 coins)
    Taiko Drum (60,000 coins)



Furniture and Furnishings:


    Japanese Table (2 Cafe Cash)
    Japanese Chair (2 Cafe Cash)
    Japanese Door (2 Cafe Cash)
    Ocean Painting (14 Cafe Cash)
    Woman Scroll Painting (6 Cafe Cash)
    Bird Scroll Painting (6 Cafe Cash)
    Slide Door Wall (1 Cafe Cash)



Functional Items:


    Helmet Stove (6 Cafe Cash)
    Japanese Counter (3 Cafe Cash)



Outdoor Items:


    Sakura Tree (5 Cafe Cah)
    Zen Garden (18 Cafe Cash)



And that's everything you'll need to make your cafe into the next booming sushi bar. However, with an immense price tag of 187 Cafe Cash for the complete set, you're going to be saving for a long time to launch the Japanese fusion restaurant of your dreams. In the meantime, work on that fabled Grand Master Chef who should help get you that cash even faster.

Happy Pets: Mini Orange Cream and Giant Azure dinos are going extinct soon

Happy Pets Mini Orange Cream and Azure Dinos
Happy Pets players who have unlocked the Dino Den can now purchase four new colorful dino pets for 60 Facebook Credits each ($6 USD): Mini Orange Cream Triceratops, Mini Orange Cream T-Rex, Giant Azure Triceratops, and Giant Azure T-Rex.

But these dinos won't be staying around for long. Only 91 Mini Orange Cream Triceratops are left, and the game most likely started with more that seven hundred. And with most of the current dino offerings sporting a drab monochromatic blend, the sharp color contrasts of these new ones are a pretty sight. Two different sizes are also available -- Mini and Giant. Mini pets are 70% of the normal size for pets, while Giants are 180% the normal size.

Marvel 'digital collectible game' coming to Facebook, iPhone

We've heard talk about a Facebook game set in the Marvel Universe*, and today Marvel spills more details on the unnamed game. It will be a 'digital collectible game" that features all of the Marvel characters (even Marrow?). And, it will be available on both Facebook and iPhone.

Marvel has partnered with Washington-based social games start up Smith and Tinker to create these two games. Smith and Tinker co-founder Jordan Weisman says the game will include Marvel characters for players to collect and battle on both their computers or mobile devices. With films based on both Thor and Captain America set to release next year, a Marvel Facebook game couldn't be more timely.

We find it odd, however, that Smith and Tinker was hired to make this game, considering Disney owns both Marvel and social game developer Playdom. In fact, last month, *Disney CEO Robert Iger said that Playdom was working a a game that will feature 'Marvel IP.' Are there two games? Or, was this too much for Playdom to take on?

Mafia Wars: Atlantic City coming soon for mobile devices only

There will soon be a new location for Mafia Wars players to wreak havoc, Atlantic City, according to a leak caught by Mafia Wars Maniac. However, the new location will only be a city available to mobile phones--not to be confused with Zynga's Mafia Wars game for iPhone, which oddly has little to no connection with the Facebook game.

Atlantic City can only be accessed by going to m.mafiawars.com from a web browser on a mobile device, but the content is currently in beta testing and no launch date has been announced. Fortunately, the leaked promo page in Mafia Wars gives a great amount of detail as to what we'll be enjoying in Atlantic City.

Players Level 18 and above will be able to tackle this city using the same stats and items from their Facebook profile (finally!) as well as use their Las Vegas currency to complete the jobs. There will be an exclusive daily bonus for playing on your mobile device accompanied by two impressive reward items for mastering the location: the Automatic .22 with 105 Attack and 98 Defense and the Bullet 44 OET vehicle (99 Attack, 116 Defense). Bookmark the website on your mobile browser and stay tuned here for when Atlantic City finally goes live.

Microsoft could buy its way into social games in 2011, analysts say

The year 2011might involve even more acquisitions in social gaming from more companies than just Zynga, with potential buyers like Microsoft and media giant Viacom expected by analysts to be considering serious purchases, Reuters said. Because advertising isn't exactly working out this decade, big media and tech companies will look to virtual goods to stay afloat, according to analysts' predictions.

"The truth is everybody is talking to everybody, every potential buyer is probably talking to just about every social game company out there," said principal with Norwest Venture Partners Tim Chang, whose firm invested in Playdom.

Apparently Microsoft could be the next big customer, looking to enhance its Xbox Live platform, industry executives said. With Zynga's FarmVille coming to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, they just might be right. However, Zynga is pretty much off the table at this point with an estimated worth of over $5 billion, but that doesn't mean smaller companies couldn't fill that void.

Find out who could be gobbled up next after the break.
Money Handling
"With Playfish and Playdom gone, Zynga being unbuyable, we're on the downside of that slope," said Don Rainey, a partner at Grotech Ventures. "We're through the big moves and into the small moves."

What about 'small move' companies like CrowdStar or Kabam? While CrowdStar chairman Peter Relman reportedly doesn't feel the pressure to sell, Microsoft could probably offer him something enticing. Who knows, Microsoft could be looking to promote the next phase of its Halo franchise through social gaming. All the cool kids are doing it. A Microsoft-owned CrowdStar could become the Facebook brand manager for Microsoft Games Studio much like Playfish is for Electronic Arts.

While consolidation through buyouts is certainly good for business, this could hurt the creative potential of social games studios to make gripping games with fresh ideas. There's nothing like the pressure to create a brand seller to stunt innovation. Hey, at least according to analysts, social games could be worth over $2 billion come next year.

Mobile social games are cooler than Sunday Night Football

And that's just on the Flurry network for iPhone. According to data compiled by Nielsen and Flurry, a social network for iPhone games and applications, more people played social games on their iPhone than those who watched Sunday Night Football on NBC.

When television is competing with mobile social games for viewers, you know this industry is more than a fad. Not to mention mobile social games on the iPhone alone are only about two years old. Flurry welcomes 19 million daily players for 22 minutes on average through the 50,000 apps that support the network, which is only 4 million viewers away from the most popular TV out there, American Idol. With numbers like this, it's a no-brainer for studios like Zynga and CrowdStar to look at mobile as the next frontier.

Count in players from other mobile social gaming networks like Open Feint and Plus+, open up the device categories to include Android and Blackberry and you got yourself far more eyes than that glorified Star Search American Idol will ever reach. It's no wonder that media giants like Viacom are joining Microsoft in looking to join the fun. It looks like we're going to see plenty more ads in our games than we might like come 2011.

ESPNU College Town update brings Facebook Credits and new Competition rules

Playdom's new sports university management game ESPNU College Town received a much-deserved update today in the form of Facebook Credits, new Competitions features and over 100 new items. Not to mention that now Event Revenue never expires, meaning you can collect profits from an event at any time after the event is through. The social network's official currency is now available for use in the game and applies to the existing packages:

    20 Campus Cash: 4.99 = 50 Facebook Credits
    42 Campus Cash: $9.99 = 100 Facebook Credits
    85 Campus Cash: $19.99 = 200 Facebook Credits
    240 Campus Cash: $49.99 = 500 Facebook Credits
    500 Campus Cash: $99.99 = 1000 Facebook Credits



Now, you'll have to buy the Facebook Credits outside of ESPNU College Town and the game still supports direct credit card and Pay Pal purchases, but this just makes things a lot easier to understand. Clicking and dragging All-Stars into the starters brackets for Competitions is no longer necessary. Just click the All-Star and then click the spot to place them in position; also, players cannot compete in this feature without at least one All-Star card for each sport, basketball and football.

With Event Revenue now permanent, there's no need to regret or hesitate scheduling longer events that yield more benefits as they'll be there to collect whenever you return. There's also a slew of new items including new mascots, statues and iconic buildings representing real-life college sports stadiums. All in all, these are welcome changes to the new game, which already boasts over 1.2 million users in its first month. They grow up so fast... and then they make mommy and daddy millions.

Happy Aquarium: Twilight-inspired fish sparkle and transform for Halloween

Happy Aquarium Sparkling Vampire
In the spirit of glittering vampires and really ripped werewolves--or Halloween these days--CrowdStar has revisited some old and introduced some new fish to Happy Aquarium. Jacob Black--er, the Werewolf returns from the Twilit theme for 48 Facebook Credits ($4.80) and, yes, he still transforms when you click him. The newest addition to the 'Halloween-themed' fish is Edward Cullen the Sparkling Vampire that for 55 Facebook Credits, or $5.50, sparkles when you click him. Oh, how fitting.

There is also a new wallpaper to go with your no-so-frightening fish: the Cemetery for 30 Facebook Credits, or $3. Its description reads, "Put fear into your tank with this Cemetery setting." Not with those fish, you won't. If there's one thing I can say about CrowdStar's paid currency items, it's that while most of them are shallow pop culture references, some of them are just plain hilarious.

Will you be adding the Sparkling Vampire to your collection? What goofy reference would you like CrowdStar to attempt next?

Send some magical free gifts to Restaurant City neighbors

It's not often when Playfish adds this many free gifts with a new theme in Restaurant City, but for this week's theme of Magic, Mystery & Mayhem (aka Harry Potter), we see four brand spankin' new items that can only be added to your restaurant after receiving them as a gift from friends.

The four items are the Owl Cage (an owl is actually in a cage), a Pickled Gubbins decorative item, that comes in the form of four bottles grouped together, a Spider, and a Purple Flavor Potions, a magical vial filled with an even more magical purple liquid.

As usual, these items will only be available to send to your friends for a limited time, so be sure to do that fast, if you know of someone who would love to decorate in the complete Harry Potter theme, this week or beyond.

Note: This also marks as your final warning to send some of the Halloween themed free gifts, as the Pumpkin Lamp and Pumpkin Lantern are now marked as "Last Chance." Send them or ask for them fast to not miss out!

FarmVille Halloween Costume Contest winners announced - Were you one of the lucky winners?

Back in October (that is, before Halloween), we brought you news concerning FarmVille's Halloween Costume Contest, which asked farmers everyone to take a picture of themselves in their Halloween costume and then post it on the game's official forums.

With Halloween having come and gone, the time has come for the FarmVille team to choose the ten winners of the contest, who each received 500 Farm Cash and 500,000 coins for their awesome costumes. You can check out all ten of the winning costumes by heading over to the game's official forums, with the costume above being just one of the lucky ten, taken by lucky winner zombski.

Ravenwood Fair falls victim to LOLApps Facebook drama

It seemed as though LOLApps' runaway hit Ravenwood Fair had escaped the privacy policy debacle that took place last month, which virtually shutdown every other application in the developer's arsenal (presumably because the game was released after the entire incident began), but now it seems that Facebook has decided to impose the same restrictions on the game anyway, as just minutes ago, LOLApps posted a public announcement on the Ravenwood Fair fan page informing users that the game's social elements have been disabled by the social network.

Their post reads:

    We are currently working with Facebook regarding the disabling of Gift and Neighbor requests. This reduction of service also covers bookmarking, wall posts and notifications. Ravenwood Fair will back in full operation as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!

We'll be sure to let you know if and when the game's features are reenabled.

Car Town: New Hummer and Beetle zoom into your garage

Car Town is one of the most unique games on Facebook thus far, and has over 6 million monthly players. No one is doing car games quite yet other than Cie Games, and they're doing a great job of releasing new fun fast cars frequent enough to keep players entertained.

Today's new cars feature a 2006 Volkswagen Beetle, and a 2008 Hummer H2. These are two of the most trendy car brands out there, and you can't help but squeal at how adorable the little Beetle is. The Beetle is a level 25 car, with a D rating and a Performance Value of 183. This car is available in 7 different colors, and will cost you 20 points. It does provide 232 XP though, so it's not too shabby. There are only 7,356 left as of this writing.

The Hummer H2 is a class B vehicle available at all levels. It has an XP gain of 497 and a Performance Value of 246, but will set you back 42 points. That's not cheap. There are only 4,799 of them left, however, and they're going fast.

Nightclub City adds new paid currency: Nightclub Cred

Nightclub Cred
It's been a whirlwind of big changes for Nightclub City over the past couple of weeks, and today's addition of a new currency is no joke. Nightclub Cred is now the new way to purchase exclusive items in the game, and it replaces Facebook Credits in the game. It's not as big of a change as you might think though, because the new Nightclub Cred is purchaseable only with Facebook Credits. So why did they do it?

The answer is simple. With Facebook Credits, games don't have the ability to give them out for free. They can't offer them randomly as quest rewards, or start you out with any for free. It's basically a currency that the developer has no control of. Now that Nightclub City has added an intermediary currency, they can give them out to players in promotions or just for fun. This will be a benefit to you as a player!

For anyone who is confused, Nightclub City released an FAQ guide that helps players understand the change. The developers have stated that the prices for items should be exactly the same as before, except they offer bonuses for large purchases so it might even be cheaper. We definitely like this change!

Pre-order FarmVille for Dummies on Amazon.com

No folks, this one isn't a joke. FarmVille for Dummies now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. In case you still need to learn more about how to play everyone's favorite social game, this 288-page paperback book will teach you everything you need to know.

Aimed for new FarmVille players who are just starting out, FarmVille for Dummies will teach you how to find neighbors, how to achieve all of the ribbons and collections, how to shop at the FarmVille Market, how to do co-op missions, and how to deal with any technical issues that might be keeping you down. FarmVille for Dummies is written by Angela Morales of FarmVille Freak, and co-authored by Kyle Orland (who has done quite a bit of writing for us here).

The book is $13.59 USD, and has a release date of February 15, 2011. What could make a better Valentine's Day present than a copy of FarmVille for Dummies? We'll definitely be picking it up!

Preorder FarmVille for Dummies on Amazon here >

Treasure Isle gets the Zynga Message Center for streamlined gift requests

If you're tired of finding that all of your Treasure Isle gift requests have expired because you've waited too long collect them (due to the fact that it simply takes so long to accept gifts individually from the gift requests screen), you'll be thrilled to know that Zynga has added the Zynga Message Center to Treasure Isle, allowing you the ability to have one-click access to all of the game's gift requests currently on your account.

You an access the Zynga Message Center by clicking on the red and white Z at the top right of the gameplay area. From there, you'll be able to view all of your current gift requests, whether they be actual gifts sent to you from friends (including Mystery Gifts), explorer pack offers, or even those requests that see you sending items to your friends for collectings, or just extra energy.

Zynga has been known to roll the Zynga Message Center in other games slowly, so if you don't see the feature live on your own game just yet, be patient, as we're sure it will arrive soon.

Treasure Isle: Build the Ziggurat Relic for extra energy

A new relic is available to build in Treasure Isle, and this one comes in the form of a Ziggurat Relic. This relic is a land-based object, which is actually fairly large, so you may need to rearrange some items before placing down your free base.

You'll need to build the Relic, just as you have all of the others, using materials collected from friends. In this case, the first stage of the build requires 1 each of Metal, Ectoplasm, Gold, Pillars, and Paint. You can accept these items either as general gifts from your friends (that they initiate), or you can click on the "Ask for More" button associated with the item you want to post a request to your wall asking your friends for help. Remember, you can have five of these requests active on your account at one time, so feel free to ask for all five if you don't think your friends would mind.

All told, there are four steps to the Ziggurat's construction, requiring a total of 10 of all of the individual ingredients, or 50 items. Once completed, you'll earn a permanent +3 maximum energy boost, that will stay active on your account until you store or sell the relic, at which point the boost would be removed.

PetVille All-in-One Store makes shopping for items easier than ever

If you're on a slower computer, you might find PetVille to be one of the harder games to navigate on Facebook, especially when it comes to shopping for new items, as you have to scroll (and scroll... and scroll... ) to find virtually anything in the game's Furniture or Clothing, and other stores.

Now, though, Zynga has launched the "All-in-One" Store in PetVille, allowing users to simply load a basic menu, showing pictures of all items, along with their prices, and purchase them with the quick click of a mouse. The store's menu contains tons of sorting features, like sorting items that are limited time only, those that belong to particular themes (collections), those that go in a particular room (bedroom, kitchen, etc.), those that are on sale, and on and on it goes.

All of the game's items have been combined into this store (hence the name), allowing you to pick up wallpaper and flooring just as quickly as you can buy a complete new outfit for your pet. The only downside to this is the fact that in using this new store, you lose the ability to see a complete collection laid out in an example space. In the kitchen department, for instance, it was always nice to see a set of cabinets arranged to see how they would really look placed next to one another.

Luckily, the old stores are still available to browse through, giving you complete freedom in how you want your shopping experience to look in the game.

Earn 4 free PetVille Pet Cash from Bing Promotion

As many a PetVille player could confirm, decking out each room in your pet's in-game home isn't cheap, especially if you want to get your hands on some truly special premium items - those which cost Pet Cash.

Zynga is here to help with that just a bit this week, as they have launched a new activity in PetVille, allowing players to answer "Bing's Holiday Shopping Questions" to earn 4 free Pet Cash. This activity can be launched by clicking on the Sponsored Link window (seen at right), which is located underneath the PetVille gameplay area. From there, you'll launch a new window where you can take part in the activity.

This one is fairly basic, and simply asks you to answer the question "What's the worst gift decision you've ever made?" You'll then share your answer anonymously and move on. The next few questions are multiple choice, with the entire activity being completed in just a few minutes of your time. You'll know when you've earned your Pet Cash, as you'll be notified of such in the top right corner of the activity's window. If you wait in this screen long enough, you'll earn your Pet Cash before taking part in the final "step" of the activity, that being to take a spin on the Bing Holiday Facebook app. You can if you'd like to try out the functionality, but we can confirm it is not required to earn the Pet Cash.

When you're finished, you'll be able to refresh the PetVille game page to see your in-game total having automatically gone up by 4 - not bad for just a few clicks of the mouse.