CityVille: Plant Sweet Potatoes to help Japanese Earthquake Fund

CityVille has joined the Japanese Earthquake Relief efforts, with Zynga launching a new crop in the game in the form of Sweet Potatoes. 100% of the proceeds received from the purchase price of Sweet Potatoes will go to help victims of the recent tragedy in Japan.

As with other premium crops in the game, these premium sweet potatoes cost 5 City Cash per square that you'd want to plant. This will allow you to donate as little or as much as you'd like, simply by planting more squares. The sweet potatoes are an instant growth crop, giving you 250 Goods per square planted, and they will never wither, no matter how long you might leave your game unattended.

If you don't have any Farm Cash to donate in FarmVille to unlock the Daikon Radishes, but you do have extra City Cash lying around, this is a great alternative to still help those in need. You can also look into purchasing a Kobe Cow in FrontierVille, if you'd rather donate with Horseshoes instead.

Rovio releases new Angry Birds merchandise, but where's Zynga?

Angry Birds Merch Shop
Rovio has done the unthinkable--wait. Actually, this is exactly what the company would do when it comes to Angry Birds. Fans of the feather-flinging franchise can now pre-order merchandise from the Angry Birds online store. That way, super fans can be the first to receive the new items as soon as they release. Angry Birds merchandise has been somewhat of a mini-phenomenon to the already massive mobile (and soon Facebook) game developer, and now it can fuel even more excitement for ... Angry Birds flip-flops.

Here's the thing that's mind blowing in all of this: Zynga has yet to release a similar merchandise shop. With the company's immense following, is there any question as to how successful it would be. What FarmViller lover wouldn't enjoy an official FarmVille t-shirt or a Sheep plush doll to sleep with? It's not as if the studio doesn't have recognizable mascots--just look at FrontierVille and CityVille's list of characters. Zynga is sitting on a literal gold mine, one that could boost it to become the most valuable game company on the planet. Meanwhile, Rovio makes way for the coveted title with simple retail. I'd like a FrontierVille Groundhog plush doll, please.

[Image Credit: Rovio]

Have you ever bought any Angry Birds merch from the official store? If Zynga created a merchandise store, would you buy Zynga-themed clothes and toys?

CityVille Sports Car Dealership: For Father's Day ... a new car?

Not unless you just fell into a windfall or made big cash on an NBA Finals bet. Luckily, Zynga has released two new items to CityVille that can make that dream of getting old pop a new whip for Father's Day a reality ... sort of. The Sports Car Dealership is a brand new business in the game, but there's a brand new decoration as well. Unfortunately, both cost a nice chunk of City Cash, but check out the stats if you need some pushing over the edge:

Sports Car Dealership (unlocks at level 58):

    Cost: 32 City Cash
    Supply: 150 Goods
    Payout: 800 Coins


Playing Catch (7 days only):

    Cost: 20 City Cash
    6% Bonus Payout


[Source and Image Credit: CityVille Info]

What did you get your pop for Father's Day? Does it compare to a new car (digital or otherwise)?

Zynga slaps Brazilian social game creator Vostu with lawsuit for copycatting

Zynga vs Vostu
Look, we all know Zynga has been pegged before for, how do you say, being inspired by their competitors' works. But that pales in comparison to what Vostu, a Brazilian social game publisher has done with popular games like CityVille and PetVille. The developer south of the equator has essentially copied several Zynga games wholesale--mistakes and all, as TechCrunch reports--into games like Mega City and Pet Mania. Lo and behold, Zynga has slapped Vostu with a big ol' lawsuit for, you guessed it, infringement. Zynga had this to say in its lawsuit:

    Vostu has brazenly appropriated the copyright-protected aspects of Zynga's games(as well as almost every other aspect of Zynga's business) – with scant effort to mask their strategy– and then offered games virtually identical to Zynga's games to prospective players in the United States and elsewhere.

Basically (and based on its previous run-ins with companies), Zynga sees drawing inspiration from and downright copying the opposition verbatim, as two different things. Though, again, that's also a slippery slope. The lawsuit, which Zynga filed in a San Francisco court (and TechCrunch has in full right here), displays detailed comparisons between its games and Vostu's, clearly supporting its case. It's a shame, too, because we'd love to see Vostu's take on games like FarmVille for iPhone--mistakes and all.

CityVille Capital One Bank: Everything you need to know

While we already knew that Capital One would be appearing via a new bank building in CityVille, we didn't know the exact details until now. That's right - the promotion has launched in the game this evening, bringing with it the "branded business" in the form of the Capital One Bank. This bank looks like a fairly modern building, and has Capital One written along the top corner, but overall isn't overly "advertising." It costs 5,000 coins to add to your town, and must be built using four energy to build the frame.

From there, you won't be able to actually name your building, but you can operate it using Goods like other businesses. Specifically, the Bank requires 100 Goods to put into service and will reward you with 500 coins once those Goods are used. What makes this particular business special however is that it introduces "branded business mastery" to the game.

While this doesn't give us any sort of indication as to what other "branded" businesses will be coming to the game, we do know that we have just over a month to master this one. As with upgrading businesses, mastering the Capital One Bank will require you to continually stock and collect from the business whenever possible, with each round giving you a single point. Once you reach 50 points, you'll receive your reward, which we know is some form of decoration (probably a statue), but don't have the specific name as of this writing.

As for purchasing the building, it has a different time limit than that for actually earning your decorative reward. You can only purchase the Capital One Bank from the store for the next 28 days, giving you around a week to earn the decoration even after that point. Good luck!

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

What do you think of this Capital One Bank and the new branded business mastery feature? What sorts of branded businesses do you hope Zynga releases in the future?

CityVille Metropolis items take the fun to the big city

If all of the small-scale businesses and homes in CityVille just aren't doing it for you, and you want some larger skyscrapers to sit beside your (probably) large franchises, you're in luck with the release of new Metropolis items in the game today. These items will be available for 15 days, and you'll be able to purchase either a Mystery Crate to try your luck at receiving a random item, or purchase some of these items outright. Fair warning: these items cost City Cash, so I hope you're ready to bust out your wallet.

Infinite Towers II (Home)

    * Costs: 110 City Cash
    * Population: 4000 - 7000 citizens
    * Rent: 532 coins every day


Destiny's Calling (Home)

    * Costs: 55 City Cash
    * Population: 1350 - 2650 population
    * Rent: 150 coins every two hours


Oasis Apartments II (Home)

    * Costs: 65 City Cash
    * Population: 1850 - 3650 citizens
    * Rent: 200 coins every four hours


Visual Art Academy (Community Building)

    * Costs: 70 City Cash
    * Raises maximum population cap by 5,000 citizens


In addition to these four items, the Metropolis Mystery Crate will give you a chance at one additional item - the Oasis Apartments I - along with three other items above (the Infinite Towers II, Destiny's Calling and Visual Art Academy). A single crate costs 55 City Cash, so unless you only win the Destiny's Calling, you'll really come out ahead over purchasing items individually. Keep in mind though, you might win duplicates in your quest to get all three at a "discount." As for the Oasis Apartments I, the exclusive item to this crate, it comes with a population of 2,000 - 4,000 citizens and provides 251 coins every eight hours in rent.

Again, these items, including the Mystery Crate are only available in the game for a limited time of around 15 days. We'll make sure to let you know if any themed decorations or businesses launch in this theme in the future, so keep checking back with us!

Will you purchase any of these Skyscrapers for use in your town, or will you try your hand with the Mystery Crate to see if you can walk away with an expensive item for "cheap?" Sound off in the comments.

CityVille: Finish your Bridge, Dam and more with discounted materials

If you've been putting off building one of the larger structures in CityVille (like the Bridge or Dam, as examples), because you didn't want to gather the required building materials from friends, or simply didn't want to pay the high prices to purchase those materials with City Cash, the team at Zynga is hoping that buy putting these items on sale (well, some of these items anyway), it might be enough to persuade you to open your wallet.

To be specific, a sale is now being held for up to 40% off building materials in the game. The materials are unfortunately limited to a specific set of buildings: the Bridge, Sailboat Hotel, Dam, Mall, Mall 2, Pirate Ship Attraction and Go Kart Attraction, and the rest of the game's many, many buildings are left unaffected. To make matters worse - between the two of us - the sale really isn't that good.

For example, let's say you wanted to finish your Pirate Ship Attraction. This one's building materials still cost 3 City Cash each. Perhaps if that were three City Cash in total for all of a particular ingredient I needed (say, two Ship's Prows or five Overhead Bars), that might be an acceptable price, but in our particular example, we're still looking at six City Cash for the Ship Prows and 15 City Cash for the Overhead Bars. Wouldn't it still be smarter (if not more time consuming) to ask friends for these items instead?

I suppose if you're looking for an easier way of completing these specific buildings, then you'll want to take advantage of this apparently limited time opportunity. Just don't feel any unneeded pressure to purchase building materials; the free way is still available, and doesn't look to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Will you spend City Cash on any of these discounted building materials, or have you already completed the construction on all of these buildings? Let us know in the comments.

CityVille Governor's Run Family Goals: Everything you need to know

In your quest to become Governor in CityVille, you've had to help the farmers and the toy makers, but now it's time to look a little closer to home. Your third and final portion of Act I of this event will see you earning a family's vote in your campaign. Specifically, you're looking to impress the Stumpford family (remember them from the Family Vacation goals released back in August?). Why the Stumpfords wouldn't automatically be on your side after helping them before is anyone's guess, but here's how to earn their vote of confidence officially.

Family Matters

    * Ask friends for 10 Magazine Subscriptions
    * Collect from the Executive Driving Range 4 times
    * Collect from Community Pool 6 times


As you might have guessed, the Magazine Subscriptions are earned via a general news post you'll post to your wall asking all of your friends to help you at once. As for the Executive Driving Range, this is the game's newest attraction that you can find the guide to building right here. Finally, the Community Pool is a Community Building that can be purchased from the store for 150,000 coins. By finishing this first goal, you'll receive a prize of 85 coins.

School of Thought

    * Ask for 15 Tutors
    * Upgrade Middle School to Level 3
    * Harvest 70 Brussel Sprouts


The 15 Tutors, again, need to be earned via friends. As for the Middle School, you've been able to upgrade this particular Community Building since late August, but if you don't have it done already, you can check out our guide to doing just that. Finally, Brussel Sprouts are available to plant for 48 coins and are ready to harvest after eight hours. Finishing this second of three goals gives you 4,500 coins.

Exterior Decorator

    * Ask friends for 20 Street Sweepers
    * Remodel 6 Residences
    * Unwither 24 Neighbor Crops


If you have any friends that stopped playing the game and left some crops growing (which most of us probably do), you should have no problem finding 24 individual squares to unwither. Just click on them when visiting friends' towns and you'll finish that task fast. For the residence remodeling task, this can turn into an expensive one, depending on the houses you choose to upgrade and the particular upgrades themselves, but you can see how to start the process in our guide. Finishing this final goal will complete your work with the Stumpfords (although I'm sure they'll be back in another feature in the future), and you'll receive the Mega Nail Salon business as a reward. This is a massive building that requires 410 Goods but supplies 3,050 coins each time those Goods are used.

Again, after you finish helping the Stumpfords (so long as you've also finished with the farmers and toy makers), you'll have finished the first portion of the Governor's Run event, but there's still a lot more waiting down the line. As the event continues to expand, we'll make sure to give you all of the details you need, so keep checking back with us!

[Via CityVille Wiki]

What do you think of these Governor's Run Family goals? Are they the most difficult of the three goal sets in this event so far? Sound off in the comments.

CityVille: Casa del Sol offers fun-in-the-sun living for a huge price

If you thought the Playa del Rey Apartments in CityVille were expensive, costing 75 City Cash for a population boost of 2,350 citizens (at least), try this newest building on for size. The Casa del Sol home is priced at 90 City Cash, and is also in the Mexican item theme, making it limited edition. Specifically, the Casa del Sol home will be in the game for 10 days (note that that's also one day less than the Playa del Rey Apartments).

Once you purchase the Casa del Sol, you'll have a home that starts with a whopping population of 3,000 citizens, and can be upgraded by collecting from the building (or your friends can collect from them as well; all upgrades drop randomly) to a staggering figure of 5,500 citizens. If you're looking for a quick way (albeit expensive way) to unlock that next expansion by reaching your next population goal without adding multiple homes to your town, this would definitely be an easy way to get that done. However, at a price this high, even I'm not sure it's worth it.

Still, I suppose the building's rent potential could raise its value. You'll receive 156 coins every hour if you're prompt enough to routinely collect your earnings, which would give you upwards of 3,000 coins daily, if you were really on top of things. Still, does that justify the current cost of over $11 US for this single building? I'll leave you to be the judge of that.

What do you think of the Casa del Sol in CityVille? Will you purchase one of the expensive homes for your city, or would you rather purchase multiple, cheaper buildings instead? Let us know in the comments.