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!

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.

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.

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?

Crowdstar launches first-ever social mobile game, Top Girl

Facebook game maker Crowdstar launches its first mobile social game -- Top Girl -- which is based on its hit fashion-centric game It Girl on Facebook.

While Top Girl is a separate game from It Girl -- the two games are largely identical. Start the game by custom-creating an avatar and then take them shopping, dress them and then help them climb a virtual social ladder by taking on modeling jobs and hitting up popular nightspots. There's also a dating feature which require you to flirt and snag a boyfriend who will shower your avatar with gifts.

The biggest difference between the two games is that Top Girl does not directly tie-in to Facebook or Facebook Connect, and instead uses mobile social network OpenFeint. It's a bold move, considering that OpenFeint doesn't have as many users as Facebook, but Crowdstar Mobile Studio Head Blair Hamilton says they made that decision, "because we expect a different set of users to play this game."


Hamilton says, "While resource management games appear to be succeeding in mobile social gaming, we felt that a role-playing game- especially for females- would establish a new category and opportunity for CrowdStar."

Even though It Girl (and, now, Top Girl) has intellectual parity with a TV show like 'Keeping up with the Kardashians,' this type of shopping/fashion game has proven to be popular with the social gaming set. Guess everyone needs a junk food fix, whether it's keeping up with pseudo-celebs in tabloid-style TV or the newest social game.

Crowdstar launches first-ever social mobile game, Top Girl

Facebook game maker Crowdstar launches its first mobile social game -- Top Girl -- which is based on its hit fashion-centric game It Girl on Facebook.

While Top Girl is a separate game from It Girl -- the two games are largely identical. Start the game by custom-creating an avatar and then take them shopping, dress them and then help them climb a virtual social ladder by taking on modeling jobs and hitting up popular nightspots. There's also a dating feature which require you to flirt and snag a boyfriend who will shower your avatar with gifts.

The biggest difference between the two games is that Top Girl does not directly tie-in to Facebook or Facebook Connect, and instead uses mobile social network OpenFeint. It's a bold move, considering that OpenFeint doesn't have as many users as Facebook, but Crowdstar Mobile Studio Head Blair Hamilton says they made that decision, "because we expect a different set of users to play this game."


Hamilton says, "While resource management games appear to be succeeding in mobile social gaming, we felt that a role-playing game- especially for females- would establish a new category and opportunity for CrowdStar."

Even though It Girl (and, now, Top Girl) has intellectual parity with a TV show like 'Keeping up with the Kardashians,' this type of shopping/fashion game has proven to be popular with the social gaming set. Guess everyone needs a junk food fix, whether it's keeping up with pseudo-celebs in tabloid-style TV or the newest social game.

Top Girl is currently available in the AppStore and will "initially" be available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day: Play our Top Five pirate Facebook games

Is there any other way to being this feature than with a hearty "Yarrgg?" Probably not. (In fact, let's use this entire introduction to talk like pirates, eh?) In case ye hadn't noticed, mate, today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So, I ask ye landlubbers, what better way to honor this joyous, silly holiday than with five of the best pirate games around on Facebook?

Avast, ye swabs! Look no further than right here for the five best seafarin' and land lootin' games on Facebook. Oh, right, and remember to click on the headers to jump off the plank right into each Facebook game:

Mighty Pirates
This release (pictured below) by CrowdStar explores the two most important things in a pirate's life: exploring and fighting. Players create, maintain and upgrade their very own vessel of piracy. And it's all in the name of surviving your next fight with your fellow pirate.

Mighty Pirates handles battles in turn-based affairs that add a bit of strategy to burning your enemies to the blue depths. In your off time, explore islands to dig up buried treasure and other resources to boost your ship with.
Mighty Pirates
Treasure Isle
While it may not directly involve pirates, the swashbucklers have invaded the shores of Zynga's island exploration game more times than not. In fact, players can even embark on Voyages with their own vessels, though simply to explore even more. Treasure Isle has players aiming to complete island maps by digging and digging ... and digging. But judging from more experienced players' islands, it certainly pays off. (In other words, there's lots and lots of treasure in it for you.)

Battle Pirates
Want a more ... serious approach to high seas fighting and looting? Then Kixeye certainly has that in spades with Battle Pirates, its strategy Facebook game centered around modern day piracy. (You know, like those bad dudes off the coast of Somalia?) The game plays much like the developer's previous strategy offerings, giving you a week to prepare your base for incoming attack from anyone playing the game. If you want a pirate game that puts the battle first, then look no further.
Battle Pirates
Pirates Saga
In this take on everyone's favorite sea-faring antiheroes, Can't Stop Games focuses almost entirely on your ship. More importantly, it's concerned with how you navigate it through the deep blue sea ... and away from enemy gunfire. Another battle-focused pirates game, Pirates Saga allows players to interact with each other in real time. As you transport cargo and fight back the forces of the infamous Blackbeard, be wary at all times of opposing ships that may or may not be fellow players.
Pirates Saga
Pirate Legacy
A somewhat smaller game than the rest in terms of monthly players, this game by 6waves and Paprika Lab throws a heavy RPG (role-playing game) layer onto the pirate game aesthetic. Pirate Legacy enlists you, a new corsair, to explore the ocean around your home port and hunt for monsters like giant serpents and ghost ships to acquire materials for contractors. Everything about the game is turn-based, giving it an impressive layer of strategy that's a little lighter on the action.
Pirate Legacy
[Lead Image Credit: Disney]

How are you honoring this most awesome Talk Like a Pirate Day? Which of these pirate-themed Facebook games do you like most, and do you know of any you'd personally recommend? Share with us in the comments. Add Comment.