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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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 >

FarmVille: Free Gifts page updated with six new Holiday items, including trees

If you're in the giving mood this holiday season, why not send your FarmVille neighbors some interesting new themed items from the game's free gifts page? There are six holiday items now available to send, with four of them being new to the game, and two being a return from last year's Holiday celebration.

One of the returning items is the Snowflake Pole, and it is the only item of the six that is available to send through traditional means, meaning that you can stay right on Facebook and send it to your friends. The other item, the Giant Lollipop I, is a FarmVille.com exclusive, meaning that you'll have to head over to FarmVille.com and gift them to your Facebook friends from there (the process is the exact same, but you'll just need to be on FarmVille.com to do it).

As for the other, new items, there is a Gold Nutcracker (a redesigned version from last year's Gold Nutcracker, so it technically is a new item), a Red Hanging Bell, and a Holiday Tree that all must also be sent from FarmVille.com, and a White Xmas Tree that is only available to send from the FarmVille app on iPhone/iPad.

The Holiday Tree is especially interesting as it is a real, growing tree, that grows silver and gold ornaments and garland, can be harvested, and can presumably be mastered (as we saw with the then unreleased Mastery Sign in a recent FarmVille Sneak Peek). You'll only be able to send the tree to your friends by logging into FarmVille on your iPhone/iPad and heading to the free gifts menu within the app.

Keep in mind though, that no matter where you are sending your gifts from, you'll still only be able to send one gift to a particular friend everyday, so plan your gifting ahead of time if you want to outfit your friends with all of these items before they're gone.

Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.

Which of these items do you most want your friends to send you? Have you already collected all of these items from generous friends?

FarmVille Balloon Crop now in store, but unavailable to grow [UPDATE: Now available]

UPDATE: The Balloons Crop has been officially "released" as part of the New Year's Ball Drop / Party Barn event. You'll need to unlock access to planting the crop after having 10 of your friends accept your invitation to your party. Find out all of the details about this new event by clicking on this link.

If you've been looking forward to planting some of the cheerful and colorful Balloon crop seeds in FarmVille as much as we have, you'll be happy to hear that the Balloon Crop has now been spotted in the wild, via an in-game store listing that is now available for players to look at. However, that's all you can do with the crop at the moment, as it is "Locked."

The reasoning for the locked status is that a "License is needed." We'll be sure to let you know how to obtain said license as soon as we can, but in the meantime, let's take a look at the announced stats for this new crop. First, it's cheap, available to grow for just 15 coins per square. It grows for 16 hours, and you'll be able to harvest each square of ready balloons for a return of 126 coins per square.

This looks to be a fairly good crop for lower level players to jump into planting, not only due to its low price, but due to the fact that you'll gain 2 experience points for each and every square of the Balloons that you plant, which might allow some players to level up before all is said and done. Finally, the Balloons Crop can be mastered, with the first star or mastery coming after harvesting just 80 balloons.

When will the Balloons Crop be available to grow? That much is still up in the air, but we'll be sure to let you know when it unlocks, or what you'll need to do in order to unlock it, as more information becomes available.

What do you think of this unusual, imaginary new crop? Will you attempt to master the Balloons Crop before it (presumably) leaves the store?

FarmVille Party Barn / New Year's Ball Drop Event: Everything you need to know

We've known about the upcoming New Year's Party in FarmVille for a few weeks now, but users everywhere have now started to see the New Year's Ball event kick off in the game, with the launch of the Party Barn in the store. While some users have been given the base of the Party Barn for free, others (even after refreshing) have had to resort to purchasing the base for 5,000 coins. Regardless of how you get it onto your farm, it can be upgraded with ingredients to turn into something truly spectacular.

This is another collection event, that is sure to end the year on a high-note with users, thanks to the prizes available via this event, and we have all of the information you need about this year-ending party behind the break.
First things first, if you're like me, and have an overwhelming number of Winter Holiday decorations flooding your farm, leaving you with little free space, you'll need to do some serious reorganization in order to even fit the Party Barn on your land, as it is simply massive.

Once placed, you'll be shown a menu that details all of the aspects of this new event. First and foremost, while this is a collection event in the most basic sense of the word, you'll be collecting friend RSVPs, rather than any actual item. You'll need to invite your friends to your in-game New Year's Ball Drop party, and the more friends that accept your invite, the bigger your party becomes, and the better the rewards that you'll unlock.

As of right now, there are four prizes to unlock for both girl and boy players, but the avatar clothing item therein is different depending on the gender of your in-game avatar. For both genders, three of the prizes are the Fireworks Finale (presumably a one time fireworks show that you can put on, on your farm), an unlock of the Balloons Crop, and a Disco Pony. However, for girl avatars, you'll also be able to unlock a fancy black Party Dress for your avatar, while boys will unlock the black Party Tuxedo for the same amount of "Guests."

You'll earn the Fireworks Finale after 5 guests have been added to your party. 10 Guests unlocks the Balloons Crop, which we told you about earlier this evening (16 hour crop that rewards 2 XP when planted for 15 coins per square; harvestable for 126 coins per square), 20 guests unlocks the avatar clothing item for your specific gender, and reaching the full 40 guest capacity unlocks the Disco Pony, an animal that we told you about recently in a FarmVille Sneak Peek.

To invite guests to your party, you'll need to click on the "Invite" button within the Party Barn menu. This will take you to a menu like the one seen below, where you'll be shown a list of all of your Facebook friends, with each friend having a "Share" button underneath their profile picture. Clicking on the Share button for a particular friend allows you to post an individual invite to that user's wall. If you haven't turned on automatic wall posting within the game (Zynga suggests that you do, but this is entirely voluntary for this event), you'll need to approve each wall post as it goes onto your friends' walls, but automatic posting will speed this process up considerably.

While you're waiting for your "guests to arrive" - their avatars will appear next to your barn, but can be removed by simply clicking on them to clear space, and they will then show up inside your barn on the dance floor - you can take a few moments to upgrade your Party Barn using the standard three ingredients: 8 Wooden Boards, 8 Nails, and 8 Bricks. You can either buy them for 1 Farm Cash each from the store, or you can ask your friends to send them to you via individual gift requests.

Of course, once the barn has been completed, it will be transformed from a simple red barn to a neon, flashing 2011 Party Barn, complete with large crystal ball perched atop a pole from the top of the barn, as seen at the top of this post. Once the party ends at the beginning of the new year, you won't be able to invite anymore of your friends to the party (meaning you won't be able to add more guests to redeem more items), but you will be able to re-watch the ball drop, or purchase prizes you already have enough guests for. In addition, the Party Barn will thankfully be storable.

And there you have it! A complete run-down on FarmVille's last big blowout of 2010. Remember to head into your own game to get the party started!

Check out the rest of our New Year's coverage right here.

What do you think of this Party Barn / New Year's Ball Drop event? Is it better or worse than other holiday events in the game?

Wishful Features: FarmVille Horse breeders should keep their foals

Our newest Wishful Feature is one that was brought to our attention via some adamant users on the FarmVille forums. Via a thread entitled "Allow horse breeders to keep the foals?", we learned that there is a very strong contingent of players that would like to receive the Foals that are bred by their horses in the Horse Stable, rather than just being forced to either share them with friends, or lose them entirely.

After reading the post, I thought - "You know, that's right! We should be allowed to keep our foals." My claim comes not just out of my somewhat-selfish collector's gene, that makes me want to have one of every FarmVille item ever created, but also from a very logical point-of-view. After all, if I knew that I would have a chance at receiving foals for the Horses that I specifically purchase on my own account, I would be much more likely to spend Farm Cash on the premium horses that are released in FarmVille, recently on somewhat of a weekly basis.

Why should players have to rely on other FarmVille players to purchase the horses that they'd like to receive foals from? I understand that it's a part of FarmVille's social mechanics - that being to share one's bred horses with friends - but this seems like something that would do equally well as a reward for the user that purchases the horse in the first place. Heck, why not make it a "two for one" situation, like so many other events in FarmVille - breed a foal for yourself, and share one with the first lucky neighbor that clicks on a new wall post? It's a win-win for everyone, and it would surely boost the in-game economy (read: pad Zynga's pocketbook) as players start purchasing more and more premium horses for their own use, rather than solely that of their friends.

With FarmVille undergoing multiple updates every week, and the aforementioned forum thread already drawing in over 50 replies, it will be interesting to see if Zynga takes this thought to heart and implements it in the game. We'll make sure to let you know if they do.

FarmVille Winter Wonderland Animals: Caribou and Fiordland Penguin

Just today, we brought you a FarmVille Sneak Peek of a series of then unreleased animals, and wouldn't you know it? Tonight's FarmVille update sees two of those four animals being released in the game.

The two animals are the Caribou and the Fiordland Penguin. Both are, unfortunately, premium Winter Wonderland animals that are only available to purchase for Farm Cash. The Caribou costs 20 Farm Cash, while this new variety of Penguin (not to be confused with the "regular" penguin that was released in the game last year, and again this year as a free gift) costs 14 Farm Cash.

Both animals can be harvested from every three days, but the Caribou is worth much more as an investment animal, as you'll receive 125 coins each time you harvest from it, while the Penguin gives off only 45 coins.

As limited edition animals, the Caribou and the Fiordland Penguin will only be available for the next 13 days, so shop fast if you want to make sure you'll have a chance to purchase them both.

FarmVille Winter Wonderland Ski Shop now available

Earlier today, we took a look at a then unreleased item in FarmVille by the name of a Ski Shop. Little did we know then that this item would be released this quickly into the game, but wouldn't you know it? Tonight's FarmVille update has, in fact, seen the release of the Ski Shop as a purchasable item in the game.

Unfortunately, the building doesn't seem to have any sort of function beyond looking pretty (we hoped that it would), and you'll need to bust out both the figurative and the literal pocketbook for this one - the Ski Shop is a premium building that will set you back 25 Farm Cash to add to your farm. Sure, it's not the most expensive building ever released in the game, but it's also not the cheapest.

You'll receive 2,500 bonus experience points for purchasing this lovely building (we love the bright blue roof), and you can sell the building at any time (in case you don't want to store the building, or just don't have the storage space) for a return of 12,500 coins.

As a limited edition item, the Ski Shop will only be available in the game for the next 13 days, while the items that were released earlier this week are down to ten days remaining in the store. Shop fast if you want to purchase them all!

FarmVille Orchards producing Watering Cans; the drought has ended

Thirst no more, my lovely Mystery Seedlings. Orchards are finally producing Watering Cans in FarmVille, according to FarmVille Freak. As you might remember, there was a slight drought in the game after Zynga removed the ability for Snowmen to create Watering Cans in preparation for this very change. The company briefly reversed the change to Snowmen to hold us over, but now that will no longer be necessary. From here on out, harvesting Orchards will now have a chance of dropping either a Mystery Seedling or a Watering Can. You will also have the opportunity to share Watering Cans with friends once they drop. Rejoice, my friends, for the FarmVille drought has ended.

Update: FarmVille Freak reports that Zynga has also reduced the Watering Can requirement for Mystery Seedlings from 10 to eight. This should alleviate the effects of the drought even further. If only USDA was this magical...

[Image Credit: Call of the Land]

Have you seen your Orchards drop Watering Cans yet? What are your thoughts on this shift from Snowmen to Orchards producing Watering Cans?