FarmVille Winter Holiday items: Sweet Shop, Pond, Stockings Arch, Winter Teddy & more

Tonight's FarmVille update brought with it not only new trees, animals, and avatar costumes, but it also saw the release of a slew of new decorative and building items in the game. There are eight new items to talk about in all - two buildings, and six decorations.

These decorations offer a combination of items that are entirely new to the game (like the Winter Home pictured above), and those that are re-releases of items from last year's theme, while the two buildings offer even more structures to add to your quaint Holiday Village on your farm.

Meet us behind the break for a full look at these newest items.

First off, let's take a look at the new buildings. They are the Winter Sweet Shop, and the Winter Home. For some of you, these items might seem incredibly familiar, and they should, as we gave you a special sneak peek of them last week.

The Winter Sweet Shop is the more expensive of the two items, simply because it is a premium item. It can be purchased for 30 Farm Cash, and you'll receive 3,000 experience points as a bonus for purchasing it. Meanwhile, the Winter Home costs 360,000 coins. No, this isn't a cheap item, but at least those who aren't willing to spend Farm Cash (or simply don't have that kind of Farm Cash available to spend in the first place) have a chance at this one. You'll gain a similar XP boost of 3,600 points if you go with this item instead.

Moving onto the decorative items, we see the re-release of an item that was first launched in the game during last year's holiday celebration, and the release of an item that is so much like one from last year that it's almost hard to spot the differences. These, of course, are released alongside some entirely new items.

The item from last year is the "Giant Snowflake I," which is available for just 1,500 coins. This snowflake was part of a three piece set last year, so it will be interesting to see if Zynga releases the other two snowflakes (appropriately called II and III) before the Winter Holiday theme ends for this year.

The other, clone-like item that I mentioned above is called the Giant Nutcracker, which is available for 80,000 coins. For those that were playing last year, you'll likely immediately think that this is the "Red Nutcracker" from last year, but don't be fooled! This Giant Nutcracker (pictured at left in the image below) has more elaborate detailing around the crown and beard, is wearing red pants instead of blue, and is a touch smaller in size than last year's version. Still, though, the differences are so minor at a glance that this farmer is going to skip out on purchasing it, since my Red Nutcrackers from last year do the job just fine.

Moving on, there are four entirely new items, in the form of the Winter Pond, Winter Fireplace, Stockings Arch, and Winter Teddy. Three of the four are premium items, with the Winter Pond costing the most at 30 Farm Cash, while the Winter Fireplace and Stockings Arch cost 10 and 5 Farm Cash, respectively. Each of these will reward you with experience points for purchasing them - 3,000, 1,000 or 500, depending on the item you purchase (in that order).

As for the Winter Teddy, this is a large teddy bear item, that's even bigger than your in-game avatar, which is available for 100,000 coins. As usual, you'll earn 10% of the purchase price as an experience reward for purchasing it, meaning that you'll receive 1,000 points in all.

All of these items, whether a building or a decorative item will only be available for the next 12 days. While that may not seem like a long time elsewhere, in the world of FarmVille we expect to see Zynga releasing a slew of new items before the Holidays have had a chance to slip by for another year.

CityVille on Facebook reaches 22 million, rivals real world's largest cities

CityVille FrontierVille Promo
When Zynga recently mentioned that CityVille is the company's fastest growing social game it was no joke. According to Inside Social Games, the game has reached 22 million monthly players as of this morning (in less than two weeks), which would make it a faster growing game than not only FrontierVille, but all Zynga games--including FarmVille-- to date. And if this insane growth is possible after Facebook shut down nearly all viral channels for social games, there is only one question to ask: How?

The Zynga Name
Well, let's start from the beginning. Zynga already has an established reputation for social gaming being connected to FarmVille alone, so that certainly helps. In other words, folks were just waiting for CityVille since we first heard word of it back in August. But it takes more than just a reputation to garner this much of a following so quickly.

Let's take this dissection behind the break and see how CityVille became the fastest-growing Zynga game ever.
CityVille in German
Willkommen bei CityVille
That's "Welcome to CityVille" in German (roughly), one of CityVille's five supported languages and most likely key to the game's rapid growth. Translated into Spanish, French and Italian in addition to German and standard English, CityVille is open to a whole new world of players (literally) without the need for intense localization by remote studios. However, this is also because European culture is much more similar to American culture than, say, Chinese or Japanese culture. If the game were to later be translated into those languages, some more intensive localization would have to go down in order to fall in line with cultural customs--which is already underway for FarmVille in Japan and has been done with Zynga Poker in China. At any rate, being open to a more diverse range of players has almost certainly increased Zynga's reach with CityVille.

Hey You, Come Try This Game!Facebook Game Notifications
While cross promotions for CityVille have just recently been popping up in the Zynga Game Bar above each of its games, it's the in-game promotions that are likely grabbing more of us every day. And although this isn't necessarily a new method, it is effective for sure. I don't know about you, but seeing a massive billboard for another game in my farm certainly piques my interest. With results like this already blowing up, I would expect cross promotions for CityVille to stick around for a long time.

"Bobby Sue just sent you Miscellaneous Item #27 in CityVille."
Yes, viral growth has returned. Well, at least a little bit. Facebook game requests have recently started popping in our Notifications on the home page including anything from help requests to gifts. And since you can send gifts to non-players, these Notifications are likely appearing for the social game pure as well. Not to mention that Zynga's infamous "BegVille" techniques have made a not-so-triumphant return in CityVille, which in a way could be helping the game grow through persistence. It's a bit of a stretch, but being constantly reminded about a game could lead to players mentioning in conversation, spreading the news via word of mouth. Multiply that by a few million people and you've got yourself an inadvertent source of growth.

And if CityVille keeps going at this rate, CityVille will soon overtake Cafe World and later FrontierVille in the list of Zynga's top Facebook games. However, is it possible for the game to come close to FarmVille much less thwart it as the developer's number one game? Well, that's up for you, the players, to decide.

FarmVille Unreleased: My Snowman and Snowball Fights coming soon

My Snowman 1
If you thought the winter festivities in FarmVille would end with the Holiday Tree and the upcoming New Year's Eve Party, think again. Our good friends at FarmVille Freak recently detailed an upcoming Snowman event on their podcast, but it's just now that they've posted images of the unreleased content. It appears that much like in FrontierVille, players in FarmVille will be able to build their very own Snowman.

Find more details and images behind the break.

My Snowman 2
If these preview images are any indication, it will play out similar to several recent building events with players asking one another for gifts in order to complete the Snowman. Yet, there is one small twist. We expect this event to be rolled out in conjunction with something even more exciting: Snowball Fights. According to FarmVille Freak, this is exactly how we will "gift" each other the snow needed to build our Snowmen. A pile of snow will accumulate on our farms from throwing so much of it and with that we'll be able to build an icy, flaky friend.

My Snowman 3
Better yet, it appears that after either accumulating enough snow or giving your Snowman a special item, it will dance for you on the farm. Finally, our very own Frosty the Snowman for the farm--let's just hope this one doesn't melt away. Stay tuned to your farm for when this feature goes live and right here for a detailed guide.

CrowdStar's Mighty Pirates: A treasure trove of Facebook gaming

Since Playfish's Pirates Ahoy! all but sunk a few months ago with little to no activity, swashbuckling Facebook gamers have been hankering for a fix to their rampant peg legging. Well, move over Pirates Ahoy! as CrowdStar has met the demand with Mighty Pirates. A pirate game with multiple layers through two different gameplay modes and a sprawling storyline (completed through collecting treasure maps) designed to guide players along, this just might be the answer to our inkling for island hopping.

Find out if Mighty Pirates is the game for you after the break.
Island Exploration
Mighty Pirates operates on two levels: Exploration and Battle. The former is accessed by clicking on any one of the island surrounding your vessel, which will immediately transport your avatar (who will strangely appear in his skivvies) to the island. It's from here that you will have to search under every tree, bush and piece of rock to hopefully find a piece of the treasure map and some resources along the way. But beware, skeletal pirates lurk beneath the sand, and will need to be dealt with if you want to complete the entire island. Depending on the area in which you're digging, it will expend a certain amount of Island Energy, which is only used for exploration. As for the other form of Energy, you'll be spending that by firing off a cannon ball or two.

Now, this is where the real fun begins. To access Battle Mode, all you need to do is click on any of the surrounding ships while on the home screen, but be wary of the opponent's level in comparison to your own. Once in Battle, you'll be trading blows in a turn-based style fight with the enemy. As for your options, there are only three: Fire Cannon, Put out Fire and Improve Weapon Accuracy. The amount of Crew Members you've added to your ship--the amount you can have increases with level--affects the amount of actions you can take in a single turn (they'll also be around to help in Exploration). The main goal of Battle is the destroy the opponent's ship while keeping your own from burning down die to fire damage, which becomes an interesting balance given that fire damage puts a dent into your ship's health points every turn. Winning battles rewards you with experience, coins and sometimes even a treasure map piece.

Battle Mode
While turn based battles with big explosions are certainly enjoyable, what makes warfare more interesting in Mighty Pirates is that every ship you engage in naval combat is an actual player of the game. While these battles don't occur in real time, the player will be updated upon logging in of whether they won or lost a battle. And to tack on even greater risks, you can even steal treasure map pieces from enemies by defeating them (and vise versa), which is certainly an incentive to keep your ship in tip top shape.

As you progress in the game through either Battles or Exploration, you'll gain access to improved parts for your ship such as cannons, hulls and sterns. However, you'll also need resources like Iron and Wood, which can only be found while digging for treasure on various islands. That being said, it's not wise to play to only one of the game's two primary modes. Also, leveling up will allow players to increase their Battle statistics like attack power, defense and accuracy, all of which are necessary but are open to different play styles. Though, a high accuracy rating is pretty much a must-have in battle or you'll end up making more splashes than explosions.

Might Pirates Home Screen
If you end up growing tired of a particular area, you can Set Sail once every eight hours to a new set of islands to explore and ships to battle. Though, we'd recommend at least exploring an entire map first before leaving to another region. Just remember to keep track of your Journal progress so that you move along through the game's story smoothly and you should do just fine. Just watch out for those pesky enemy pirates just waiting to thwart your progress. This brief player vs. player element combined with strategic turn-based battles and exploration make for what could be the next big pirate adventure on Facebook.

FarmVille on Film: It's not that easy to Escape the Farm

Just try it, you'll see. Innocent FarmVille player Kelly is suffering in the workplace due to her FarmVille addiction, so she decides to quit. However, this short video, titled "Escape the Farm," makes one thing clear: one does not simply leave the farm. Apparently, a secret organization known as "The Farm" knows when you leave and what they do to players who quit is not pretty. Now, let's just hope Zynga doesn't resort to tactics like this to bring back retired players.

Plants vs Zombies for iPhone update unearths nine new mini games

Look, Plants vs Zombies might be PopCap's most entertaining game to date (next to Peggle), but even flinging seeds at ravenous zombies gets stale after awhile. Luckily, PopCap thinks so too, and has updated PvZ for iPhone, bringing with it a whopping nine new mini games that players can buy using coins in Crazy Dave's Shop. Well, at least these mini games are new to the iPhone--they're all from the PC and Mac version of PvZ.

Each of the nine new games comes in a pack of three for 50,000 coins, which players can collect through just playing the Adventure Mode or tending to their Zen Gardens (released in the previous update). Of course, you can expedite the process by purchasing bundles of 100,000 coins for $.99 apiece. Here's a sneak peek at all nine mini games, courtesy of PopCap:

Game Pack #3

    Walnut Bowling 2: Knock 'em dead in this killer twist to an old favorite sport.
    Seeing Stars: Unravel the mystery of the star-shaped pattern.
    Bobsled Bonanza: Melt the ice and defeat bobsledders and Zombonis in this frosty battle.


Game Pack #4

    Invisi-Ghoul: Test your prowess to take on invisible zombies.
    Last Stand: Not your average day at the pool!
    ZomBotany 2: Hybrid zombies sport plant heads and abilities to up the challenge ante.


Game Pack #5

    Beghouled Twist: An homage to Bejeweled Twist, this mash-up requires match-3 skill.
    Pogo Party: Crash the pogo party of your roof!
    Zombie Nimble Zombie Quick: Get ready to move faster than ever!

PvZ mini games
All nine mini games sound like fun, but we're most interested in this homage to Bejeweled Twist, and Walnut Bowling has always been a blast when it comes up in Adventure Mode. This update also introduces more Achievements to brag about share on Apple Game Center, most notable of which is Peking Express.

This is a micro game of sorts in which you're timed on how quickly you scroll all the way down the Achievements page to visit China and its zombies. I made it in just over 10 seconds--can you beat my time? If you're game, then click on the link below and get to diggin'. If anything, this should hold you over until Peggle and PvZ hit Facebook ... maybe.

Car Town Japan drifts onto Mobage, Cie Games opens Tokyo office

If The Fast and the Furious has taught us anything about the "real" world, it's that Tokyo is a haven for gear-heads. Car Town creator Cie Games looks to bring Japanese social gamers just what they've been looking for in a social game with Car Town Japan. Inside Social Games (ISG) reports that the Facebook racer with over 5.8 million monthly players will expand to Mobage, DeNA's mobile social games network, before the end of this week as the company opens its Tokyo office.

"When we launch future titles, you'll see us deployed internationally much more quickly on multiple platforms," Cie Games CEO Justin Choi told ISG. "We are planning on opening additional offices. We are going to use Japan as a hub to expand into other markets in Asia."

According to ISG, this Japanese version of Car Town on Mobage is different from what sounds like a dedicated version of Car Town for iOS and Android devices that's in the works, which will be released "soon." Car Town Japan features a decidedly Japanese look and feel, though folks will still race, build, decorate and upgrade cars based on real-life brands like Toyota, Honda and Ford.

For you lucky folks going to the Tokyo Game Show next week, Cie Games will have a playable version of Car Town Japan there, too. For the rest of us back in the states and elsewhere, we'll just have to wait patiently until the game speeds onto our iPhones and various Android devices. So pump your brakes, and go play Car Town on Facebook some more.

Ubisoft CEO: Smurfs & Co. gained 4.2 million players with no marketing

And now, The Smurfs & Co. is sitting pretty with over 9 million monthly players since its launch just over a month ago. During an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot revealed, "Smurfs went from zero to 4.2 million without marketing in two weeks."

While these might not be The Sims Social numbers, it speaks volumes to the power social games with strong brands behind them have on Facebook. This is especially considering Ubisoft conducted zero advertising (the main method of growth for Facebook games these days) for The Smurfs & Co. in that time period. That's the power of The Smurfs for ya, I guess.

Guillemont continued," So it's amazing how fast, when the content is adapted, those products can grow. So it really shows that people are very interested by new content in games. So we will continue to develop and make sure the quality of the game experience is adapted to what people are looking for."

In other words, the best way to for a Facebook game to grow is the keep it current, according to Guillemont. (So, that's why Zynga updates its games incessantly!) The Ubisoft boss went on to reveal to GamesIndustry.biz just why it's in on the rapidly growing free-to-play and social games movement: "In the long term there's no reason why the casual would not overcome the hardcore business because there are more people that are interested in buying casual."

So, if you ask Guillemont, casual (and free-to-play) are the way to go, which already accounted for 40 percent of the company's revenue in 2010. And Ubisoft is certainly not alone--EA has already spent over $1 billion on Facebook and mobile games, which is looking to already be paying off. Other traditional companies are slowly dipping their feet, while a legion of originally hardcore game designers have Facebook Credits twinkling in their eyes.

Does this mean no more Assassin's Creed or Ghost Recon for the hardcore crowd? Of course not, but I'm willing to bet that it does mean far more blue creatures in white hats in a not-so-little place called Facebook.

Game Developers Choice Online Awards Audience Award: Vote for your fave Facebook game

We know, you're miffed that your favorite Facebook game didn't make the cut in the second annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards nominations. Luckily for you, the Audience Award category has finally opened up for voting from the public starting today, Sept. 8, through Sept. 22. All you need to do is head on over to the Audience Award voting page, type in what game--any online game--you think should win, and provide an email address to confirm your vote.

The second annual GDC Online, an Austin, Texas-based online game-centric offshoot of the annual GDC event that takes place annually in San Francisco, is little more than a month away, running Oct. 10-13. The GDC Online Awards will be held on the evening of Oct. 12 in the Austin Convention Center. Now that you know all of the logistics regarding the GDC Online Awards, let's talk a bit about that Audience Award.

Frankly, it can be a little daunting, that blank white box, just waiting for your answer. If you need some help framing your answer deciding on a sound candidate, take a look at the nominees that were already decided upon. If that doesn't help, take a look at this month's Top 25 Facebook Games to see what's hot.

Or, you know, just vote for what game you enjoy best--just make sure it's a Facebook game, kay? League of Legends won the Audience Award last year, and while it's a blast, we can't have that this year ... or we'll miss out on the Facebook royalty checks again. (Before the flaming starts: Jokes, people, just jokes.)

It's time to explore Adventure World, Zynga's largest Facebook game yet

Seriously, do you have a few hours to kill? Then good, because you might need it (and some Facebook Credits, in that case). Zynga has set Adventure World loose on Facebook--all 30 maps, 200 quests, over 1,000 art assets and 20,000 objects included. In this game that just so happens to be 40 times larger than previous Zynga games like FarmVille, players assume the role of an adventurer in search of the golden city of El Dorado.

You'll trek across jungles, mountains, caverns, volcanoes and finally venture into El Dorado itself, overcoming a myriad of wild beasts, lethal traps and various puzzles using your wits in search of the ultimate treasure. Developed by Zynga Boston (formerly known as Conduit Labs), Adventure World makes use of pseudo-3D, cel-shaded visuals to achieve an art style reminiscent of comic books from the '40s revolving around the golden age of exploration.

"When we joined the Zynga family a year ago, our goal was to not only create a game unlike any other in the social gaming space today, but to create a completely new genre," Zynga Boston GM Nabeel Hyatt said in a release. "We call this genre social adventure, one where players can explore, discover and team up with friends on an adventure of a lifetime."

Gallery: Adventure World on Facebook
Player navigate the world using unique tools like whips, grappling hooks and more that level individually as your character progresses. Speaking of which, there are over 10,000 different avatar variations at launch through its customization system. Based on an early look at the game, Adventure World looks to be Zynga's most ambitious project yet, with game mechanics that teach players rather than tell them how to navigate the game world.

But players will have the help of their friends to navigate Adventure World, too. Players can enlist up to 12 friends along the way to help them overcome obstacles like puzzles and traps more easily. And as players use the same friends more often, the stronger those friends become, fostering tight-knit groups of asynchronous adventurers.


Adventure World is already available in eight languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish and Norwegian. Zynga also points out that this is the first game to feature a pygmy princess, so if that doesn't get you to click the link below, we don't know what will.

FarmVille Cheats and Tips: Nursery Barn Calf and Foal Guide

To be an accomplished calf & foal FarmVille breeder, you're going to need an adult bull or stallion, and lots of adult cows and horses to breed. An easy way to get lots of adult cows and horses is by placing foals in your FarmVille Nursery Barn. While the Nursery Barn's primary function is to harvest coins from multiple foals and calves at once, it also has a secondary feature: it turns your foals and calves into adult horses and cows.

Every time you harvest your Nursery Barn, there is a chance that one of your calves or foals will grow into an adult cow or horse. These can then be used to either breed more calves for your neighbors, or used to do the Multiple Harvest Cheat for infinite breedings. More on the Multiple Breeding Cheat here.
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
However, be careful with the Nursery Barn. Many people assume that their rare foals and calves will grow up into the adult version of themselves. This is not the case. Continue reading to learn all about the Nursery Barn and how it transforms calves and foals.

If you look at our chart below, you'll notice that there are only a handful of different adult animals your foals and calves can grow into. For example, a Green Calf will turn into an ordinary Chocolate Cow. Similarly, a Black Stallion Foal will become a Black Horse, not a Black Stallion.

This is because if you could just reproduce your rare Farm Cash-bought animals with breeding, no one would spend any Farm Cash anymore. Though it may seem unfair, all I ask is that you are careful with your rare calves & foals.

Check out our FarmVille Cheats & Tips Nursery Barn Guide chart below for more info on which calves and foals transform into which cows and horses.

Cows & Calves:
farmville breeding nursery barnTuscan Calf     farmville breeding nursery barnCalf     farmville breeding nursery barn
Chocolate Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Brown Calf
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Holstein Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Groovy Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Simmental Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Candy Cane Calf
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Robot Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Red Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Longhorn Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Purple Calf
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Blue Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Autumn Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Gelbvieh Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Disco Calf
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Holiday
Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Western
Longhorn Calf
    farmville nursery barn breeding valentine calfValentine
Calf     farmville nursery barn breeding Purple
Valentine Calf
These all grow into:
farmville breeding cheats nursery barnHolstein Cow
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Fan Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Pink Patch Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Green Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Pink Calf
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Neapolitan Calf
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Kelly Green Calf
       
These all grow into:
farmville breeding cheats nursery barnChocolate Cow
The Belted Calf cannot be put in the Nursery Barn.

Horses & Foals:
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Pink Pony Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Reitpony Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Purple Pony Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Silver Pony Foal
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Pony
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Black Pony
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Blue Pony
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Candy Corn
Pony Foal
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Yakut Pony
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Candy Cane
Pony Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Pinto Pony
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Disco Pony
Foal
farmville nursery barn breeding valentine pony foalValentine
Pony Foal            
These all grow into:
farmville breeding cheats nursery barnLight Blue Pony
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Autumn Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Breton Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Brown Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Appaloosa Foal
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
White Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Haflinger Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Grey Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Pinto Foal
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Black Stallion
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Mustang
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Morgan
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Black
Foal
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Snow Stallion
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Red Pinto
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Saddle
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
New Year
Foal
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Asian Wild Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Red Pinto Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Green Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Palouse Foal
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Buckskin Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Fjord Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Red Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Forest Foal
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Brown Gypsy
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Harvest
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Gypsy
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Camargue
Foal
farmville nursery barn breeding pink stallion foalPink Stallion
Foal     farmville nursery barn breeding pink gypsy foalPink Gypsy
Foal     farmville nursery barn breeding icelandic foalIcelandic
Foal    
These all grow into:
farmville breeding cheats nursery barnBlack Horse
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Percheron
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Cream Draft
Foal
    farmville breeding cheats nursery barn
Clydesdale
Foal
These all grow into:
farmville breeding cheats nursery barn

FarmVille Cheats and Tips: Horse and Foal Breeding Guide

Like breeding cows, breeding Horses and Foals in the FarmVille Horse Stable is a very complicated process. Our FarmVille Cheats & Tips: Horse & Foal Breeding Guide aims to simplify that process. By using the charts and information below, in combination with our FarmVille Cheats & Tips: Multiple Breedings Guide and Nursery Barn Guide, you should have no problem becoming a master Horse Stable breeder.

There are a ton of different horses and foals in FarmVille. Generally, if a female horse is placed in a stable with a stallion and harvested, there is a chance that a foal of the same type as the female horse will be produced. However, there are many exceptions to the rule. To help you out, I created an easy to use guide that will answer all your questions regarding horse and foal breeding:
farmville breeding cheats horse foal
What foal will this horse produce? What stallion do I need to place in my Horse Stable to get a foal? How do I get miniature foals? Why are my rare horses making regular Brown Foals? The answer to all these questions and more can be found below, in our easy to use FarmVille Cheats & Tips: Horse & Foal Breeding charts and guide.
To get a foal, place one stallion, then any horses you which to breed into the Horse Stable. If you add multiple horses of the same type, there is a higher chance a foal of that type will be produced. When the Horse Stable is ready for harvest, click it and you may potentially receive a foal. To be more efficient, use the Multiple Breedings Trick for more chances to get more foals. Use my chart below to help you combine the right stallion with the right female horse, to get the foal you need.

Note: The Snow Stallion now works like a regular stallion and can be used to breed foals.

Most adult horses can produce a foal of the same type:
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Minature
Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalWandering Stallionfarmville breeding snow stallionSnow Stallionfarmville breeding pink stallionPink Stallion     farmville breeding cheats horse foalE-QUESTR10N     farmville breeding cheats horse foalGreen Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalPalouse Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalPalouse Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalBuckskin Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBuckskin Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalGray Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalGrey Foal
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Minature
Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalWandering Stallionfarmville breeding snow stallionSnow Stallionfarmville breeding pink stallionPink Stallion     farmville breeding cheats horse foalPinto Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalPinto Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalRed Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalRed Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalApaloosa     farmville breeding cheats horse foalApaloosa Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalBreton Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBreton Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalAutumn Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalAutumn Foal
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Minature
Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalWandering Stallionfarmville breeding snow stallionSnow Stallionfarmville breeding pink stallionPink Stallion     farmville breeding cheats horse foalHaflinger     farmville breeding cheats horse foalHaflinger Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWild Mustang     farmville breeding cheats horse foalWild Mustang Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalMorgan Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalMorgan Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalReitpony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalReitpony Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalPercheron Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalPercheron Foal
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Minature
Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalWandering Stallionfarmville breeding snow stallionSnow Stallionfarmville breeding pink stallionPink Stallion     farmville breeding cheats horse foalSilver Pony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalSilver Pony Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalPurple Mane Pony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalPurple Pony Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalBrown Pony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBrown Pony Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalPink Hair Pony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalPink Pony Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalLight Blue Pony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBlue Pony Foal
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Minature
Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalWandering Stallionfarmville breeding snow stallionSnow Stallionfarmville breeding pink stallionPink Stallion     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Pony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Pony Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalCandy Corn Pony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalCandy Corn Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalMini Appaloosa Pony     farmville breeding cheats horse foalMini Appaloosa Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalCydesdale     farmville breeding cheats horse foalClydesdale Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalCream Draft Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalCream Draft Foal
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Minature
Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalWandering Stallionfarmville breeding snow stallionSnow Stallionfarmville breeding pink stallionPink Stallion     farmville breeding valentine ponyValentine
Pony     farmville breeding valentine pony foalValentine
Pony Foal
farmville breeding candy cane ponyCandy Cane
Pony     farmville breeding candy cane pony foalCandy Cane
Foal
farmville breeding pink gypsy horsePink Gypsy
Horse     farmville breedingPink Gypsy
Foal
farmville breeding icelandic horseIcelandic
Horse     farmville breeding icelandic ponyIcelandic
Foal
   

But there are some exceptions. All these females horses will only produce brown foals:
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Minature
Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalWandering Stallionfarmville breeding snow stallionSnow Stallionfarmville breeding pink stallionPink Stallion     farmville breeding cheats horse foalSkeleton Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBrown Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalHorse
farmville breeding cheats horse foalHigh Kick Horse
farmville breeding cheats horse foalPseudocorn
farmville breeding cheats horse foalHorse Spectator

Combine the Mini Horse or the Cream Mini Horse with a Wandering Stallion and you will merely produce Brown Foals:
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWandering
Stallion     farmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBrown Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalCream Mini Horse

By using the White Stallion, the Black Stallion, or the Snow Stallion to breed, there is also a chance that a White Foal, a Black Stallion Foal, or a Snow Stallion Foal (respectively) will be produced:
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Stallion     Any female
horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallion     Any female
horse     farmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Stallion
Foal
farmville breeding snow stallionSnow Stallion     Any female horse     farmville breeding snow stallion foalSnow Stallion
Foal
farmville breeding pink stallionPink Stallion     Any female horse     farmville breeding pink stallion foalPink Stallion
Foal

Combining a Mini White Stallion or Mini Black Stallion with either a Cream Mini Horse or Miniature Horse will result in one of three miniature horses:
Male     Female     Offspring
farmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Stallionfarmville breeding cheats horse foalBlack Miniature
Stallion     farmville breeding cheats horse foalCream Mini Foalfarmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Foal     farmville breeding cheats horse foalWhite Mini Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalMiniature Foal
farmville breeding cheats horse foalCream Mini Foal
[Images via FarmVille Wiki]

Note: If the horse or foal you're looking for isn't here, odds are that it is able to produce a foal of the same type. Unfortunately, once that foal grows up, it will change to a more ordinary cow or horse.

Check out the rest of our FarmVille Breeding Guides or browse our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.

RockYou buys Playdemic in race to catch up to larger developers

In its second acquisition in little over a month, Calif.-based social game developer RockYou says that it will buy Playdemic, VentureBeat reports, for an undisclosed amount. A development studio based in England, Playdemic is home to 16 employees, bringing RockYou's total pool of employees to 170 total. The buyout reflects the company's new strategy of developing games more quickly in 2011, said RockYou COO Lisa Marino.

Marino said in an interview that the company hopes to put out eight to 10 social games this year alone, according to VentureBeat. And RockYou has some catching up to do considering the developer didn't publish a single game in 2010, looking to Zoo World for growth. As for Playdemic, the studio's first game, Gourmet Ranch (pictured), is home to 550 thousand players, but RockYou at the moment is more concerned with bringing on teams that clearly know how to develop and publish a game, according to VentureBeat

RockYou not only has some catching up to do with itself, but with everyone else. This news creeps out from under the shadow of CityVille reaching 100 million monthly players, whose creator holds four of the top five apps on Facebook. In order to potentially compete, the company did some major restructuring in 2010. RockYou CEO Lance Tokuda stepped down last year while the company bought TirNua, a company that creates 3D Facebook games. Hopefully, RockYou's efforts will pay off in 2011. With at least eight social games on the way and two brand new development teams, the company has plenty of chances to move up in the ranks.

Is gifting in Facebook games broken?

Gifting is one of the largest social features in Facebook games. Games are constantly encouraging us to send gifts to our friends or ask for gifts from our friends. It's a major driver of virality (the growth of games) and also of retention (what keeps players coming back). Robin Yang, a producer at Funtank, has written a post stating that gifting is broken.

Yang's main argument is that gifting is not truly social in its current implementation. She claims that there are not many parallels between the psychological drivers for sending gifts in real life with gifts in social games. In real life, gifts have true meaning behind them. Gifts cost money to purchase and send, and you will generally choose a present for a recipient very carefully. In addition, you would never send a gift in real life with a tag attached to it requesting a gift to be sent back to you.

The fundamental reasoning behind gifting is that it drives two of the three key metrics for Facebook games. It brings in new players and it helps to keep them around. Gifting has been a carefully honed mechanic since the very first Facebook applications found it to be successful. Social games adopted the feature when it was clear that gifting provided very significant benefits to the game. Gifting did not end up in its current incarnation by accident. You are surely being exploited to increase beneficial numbers for the game you're playing.

However, many players will readily admit that gifting is a major part of playing Facebook games. Players enjoy requesting and receiving gifts, and they love sending gifts to friends. It might not be as social and meaningful as it could be, but players do enjoy it as a fundamental part of social gaming.

Some of Yang's suggestions include limiting the number of gifts you can send per day to make each one more meaningful. She also suggests that gifts should be sent for achievements and particular moments of joy within games, and not just a casual mass spamming of all your friends on a daily basis. My first instinct is to think that this would actually hurt the game's retention and virality, and that it would be very hard for games to adopt. Other people feel that making the games more social will actually help them grow in the long run.

FarmVille: Husky Puppies now available for adoption

As we told you yesterday, Zynga had been working steadily on bringing more dog types to FarmVille, specifically Husky Puppies. Now, those three dogs that we talked about yesterday are now available to adopt from the game's store, but only for a limited time.

The Husky dog breed is part of the Winter Wonderland item set, and as such, this means that you'll only be able to adopt one of the three available colors of Husky until they expire from the store in 20 days. There is only one listing for the Huskies in the store, but rest assured, there are three colors to choose from, each costing 65 Farm Cash.

Clicking on the "Buy" button in the store brings up the customization window, where you can choose the gender and name of your Husky, along with choosing which of the three colors you'll adopt - Black, Brown, or Gray. Don't panic - you'll be able to change your mind about making a purchase before actually going through with it, so you're more than welcome to get a preview of the three dog colors (including a few of their animations) before you invest such a large amount of Farm Cash into them.

Remember, puppies must be fed Kibble until they grow into adults, and as this is a Farm Cash puppy, you'll be given your free (and complete) two week supply of Kibble when making a purchase. After two weeks, your puppy will grow into an adult Husky. Level this Husky up with Dog Treats and it will eventually be able to "fetch" things for you.

Again, the Husky breed of puppies will only be available in the game for the next 20 days, at which point they will expire from the store, likely to not be seen again (at least for a very long time - and by then, the prize might have increased). If you've been looking for the perfect dog breed in FarmVille, make sure to give this one a second glance.

Big Fish says buh-bye to Treasure Quest on Facebook

Almost a year ago, casual game publisher Big Fish attempted to bring its games to Facebook in the form of Treasure Quest. Log into Treasure Quest, and every day, you'd be able to play snippets of some its popular casual games, such as the best-selling Mystery Case Files.

Looks like my sunny predictions about Treasure Quest way back when didn't come true (it only reached a max of 323K players per month) and Big Fish has announced that the Facebook game will be shuttered on March 15. Starting today, players will no longer be able to buy gold for the game.
treasure quest big fish closing on facebook

On an FAQ linked from the game's FB fan page, Big Fish says they decided to close Treasure Quest because it was 'not sustainable."

    "Many options were assessed and seriously considered before this final decision was made. The decision was very difficult, but as a business, it was one that we had to make."

If you've been playing this game and/or spent money on this game, the FAQ says that it will all go away, so if you have gold to spend in the game, you need to do so before the game closes.

So -- you've been officially warned. Everything you've done in the game will disappear into the ether, which brings up one of several bigger issues in the world of social gaming and digital entertainment in general. When you decide to spend money to buy virtual assets in a game, you're buying something that you don't really own. If the game closes, you run the risk of losing your property for good.

The other big question that this closure brings up is -- can established video game and casual game companies really make it big on Facebook? With Big Fish closing down Treasure Quest and Ubisoft talking about how social games don't make enough money, it seems like companies who have been making games for a long time are still searching for the magic formula that makes games like Zynga's CityVille such runaway hits.

Big Fish doesn't seem to be giving up completely on Facebook just yet. In recent weeks, its other Facebook game My Tribe has seen a jump in traffic, and the company has also maintained a Facebook page where people can go to download Drawn: The Painted Tower.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Fantasy / Fairytale theme coming soon

It's not often when we have unreleased FarmVille images actually being released by Zynga before the items are launched in FarmVille proper, but such an instance has happened today, as Zynga has released a single sneak preview image of a new limited edition item theme that's "coming soon," over on the official FarmVille Blog. The image is of a tall tower, with what appears to be Rapunzel's hair cascading out of the tall window.

We've been able to add to the theme's sneak peek, as we've come across an additional image - that of a Fairy Pig, complete with crown, wings, and magical, sparkling wand. This leads us to believe that this new item theme will be one concerning either fairytales in general, or a wider range of fantasy items (more likely the former).

We'll be sure to keep you updated as to the development of this new theme as we have more information in the future. While it's unknown when this theme will be launching in full, it is nice to have this official confirmation from Zynga that it is indeed coming. Just how many fairytales or fantasy items will be represented, however, remains to be seen.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: St. Patrick's Day treehouse coming soon?

If this newest batch of unreleased images in FarmVille is anything to go by, it looks like Zynga will be carrying out this year's St. Patrick's Day celebration in two parts, just as it did for Valentine's Day this year (with the Cupid's Castle and the Valentine Mailbox). While we've already spotted an image of the interior of this year's St. Patrick's Day Wishing Well (which will apparently act like the Valentine Mailbox, but require you to complete collections with items in order to earn better prizes), we've now discovered what this holiday's equivalent of the Cupid's Castle will be - that being a grand treehouse.

This treehouse starts out as a simple hoe with a small tree sprouting out through the roof. By adding three three buildings materials however (Bricks, Boards, and Nails - see below), you'll be able to upgrade this treehouse a total of four times, until you have an item that has the home perched high in the trees, surrounding by foliage and even a lovely rainbow.

It's presumable that this item will function it the same way as the Cupid's Castle, allowing you to "harvest" from the building to collect items - likely the Lucky Pennies we showed you earlier - which can then be traded in for prizes in the Wishing Well.

More details on this new building item are forthcoming, and we'll make sure to bring you all of the details about this new feature as it launches in the game.

FrontierVille Injured Animal Mission coming soon; Collection now available

In a fairly interesting update to FrontierVille today, Zynga has added a new collection to the game, but there is currently no way to earn items for said collection. The Collection is the Injured Animal collection, and it asks you to find five items, as usual:

Heater
Formula
Cone of Shame
Vaccine
Splint

All of these items are medical in nature, and right now, Zynga offers us this in the way of a hint for completing it: "Injured Animal Collectibles drop when you tend injured animals (you'll need to heal them up first)." But what exactly does this mean? Will sick animals randomly appear on our homestead, or will our current animals become sick, and need some sort of first aid?

We've discovered that a new quest will likely be coming to the game in the future introducing the concept of Injured Animals. Meet us behind the break for details about this upcoming new quest.

The Injured Animal quest looks to be just three tasks long, and not part of a longer chain of missions. The quest will require you to complete three tasks:

Move an Injured Animal
Tend Three Injured Animals
Heal One Injured White Buffalo

Remember, these tasks are subject to change at any time, but right now, it appears as though we'll be discovering an injured White Buffalo on our Homesteads in the near future that must be healed. Will a single animal take three tends to heal, or will we have to wait for three injured animals to appear on our land? All of that remains to be seen at this point, but we do know the supposed rewards for this new quest - 250 XP and 500 coins.

Once you've completed this mission, and we've gained access to injured animals on our Homesteads, we'll be able to go back to completing the Injured Animal Collection, which will reward you with a First Aid Station when turning it in. Again, details about this new item are incredibly sketchy - will it be a building that must be constructed, or purely a decorative item? We'll be sure to bring you those details and more when we have them.

While we're waiting for this new quest and hopefully exciting feature to be released, help us speculate as to its details in the comments. How do you think these injured animals will change the game?

Cafe World Fridge: Everything you need to know

If you've finished the Valentine's Day goals in Cafe World and are looking for something new to spend your time on, why not build a refrigerator for your Cafe? This item isn't just something to pass the time - it's a constructable item that will allow those users that do a lot of cooking to save their meals for later use. That's right - after you build your Fridge for your cafe, you'll be able to use it to store food so that it doesn't Spoil, and then use it at a later time.

While it might not initially seem as though this item is worth building, let me put it to you this way - you could potentially cook a set of different dishes and then save them for later use - perhaps when a quest calls for you to serve that specific dish, saving yourself time later on, if you've been reading our mission guides here on Games.com - The Blog!. Has that little idea sparked your interest? Meet us behind the break for details on how to build a Fridge for your own cafe.
As with most construction projects in Cafe World, you'll receive the base of this Fridge for free, when first starting the game (access it through the pop-up above), or you can choose to build the item later, by placing the base of the Fridge into your cafe from the Special section of the store. From there, you'll have to collect 40 items in total - 10 each of four different items - in order to complete the construction on you Fridge. These items are the Crisper Drawer, Condenser Coil, Door Shelf, and Thermostat Control.

Where most recently released "constructable" items and quests have contained items that require you to do nothing but simply send out individual gift requests to your neighbors to collect parts, this item combines that feature with one from the past - general wall posts that ask all of your friends at once to send you an item. This will likely be looked at as a negative by most users (myself included), as I've personally found it to be a lot harder to collect these types of items, due to the simple fact that your friends might overlook your post. They also don't account for friends that might play games with you, but have hidden you from their news feed. If they've hidden you, they can't see your requests for help, and you'll need to work harder to earn these items.

This is the case for both the Crisper Drawers and the Condenser Coils, while the Door Shelves and Thermostat Controls can be asked for individually from your neighbors.

Once you've completed the construction on your Fridge, you'll be able to start moving food into it to save for later. This is done by clicking on a counter that is currently serving food and selecting the option to move the food into your Fridge. From within your Fridge, you'll be able to remove this food to serve it again, choosing how many servings of each dish to remove and serve. Unfortunately, the Fridge only starts with room for three dishes to be stored, but you can purchase new shelves of food storage (up to three more) for 10 Cafe Cash each. It's unknown as of now whether or not the option for free upgrades will be released in the future. Personally, I wouldn't mind putting forth a little bit of work to upgrade my Fridge, so long as it meant I could earn more space and save my Cafe Cash at the same time.

Check out our Refrigerator Goals Guide and our Refrigerator Gifting Links for more.

What do you think of this new in-game project? Will you build a Fridge and use it to store items, or will you skip it altogether?

FarmVille English Countryside Sneak Peek: Music to your ears

Music can define a videogame as much as its gameplay, graphics and art direction, and Zynga knows this well. It's exactly why Zynga released a sneak peek on YouTube of the tunes behind the English Countryside expansion in FarmVille. Frankly, it sounds an awful lot like a toned-down version of FrontierVille's music. Nothing sounds particularly "English" about it. I'm no composer, but I would have created a FarmVille motif that built off of the original theme song. At any rate, enjoy the minute-long clip of what you'll likely hear on loop for months to come.

[Via FarmVille Freak]

What do you think of the English Countryside music? Would you enjoy listening to this music every time you logged in?

Assassin's Creed creator Ubisoft promises more social games in 2011

The company behind games like CSI: Crime City for Facebook and the Assassin's Creed franchise, Ubisoft, says that social games will be a bigger part of its strategy for 2011. The French publisher told All Things Digital that more than 15 percent of its employees in the Ubisoft San Francisco offices will be dedicated to "companion gaming." This new strategy involves the company using Facebook games to promote coinciding consoles releases. Remember the Assassin's Creed Facebook game, Project Legacy, released to promote the second game in the series?

Yeah, you're going to see a lot more of that in 2011. The third-largest independent videogames publisher hopes to turn this trend into dollars, though its previous efforts haven't caught on like competitors such as Zynga's games. And almost inversely, Ubisoft VP of Digital Publishing Chris Early said, "Digital will not kill physical. There will always be support for a certain percent."

While he is likely correct, I'm not sure that's the mindset you want when investing 15 percent of your developers into an online-only platform. "You have to look at the top 10 sellers, or rely on a friend," Early said to ATD of the issues surrounding online game sales. "There's a significant hurdle to digital." This couldn't be more true on Facebook, and it's quite a hurdle for Ubisoft to jump over. Can the company can do it with backing from iconic industry names like Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia? Companies including Konami, EA and Disney (and Ubisoft) have tried before and failed, so here is their chance to prove it.

[Image Credit: Ubisoft]

What do you think of the potential girth of promotional Facebook games to come from Ubisoft? Do you think it will be successful using this strategy?

FarmVille: Mac & Cheese Tree and Giant Mac & Cheese Tree now available in the store

Earlier this week, we brought you the news that current Stouffer's promotion in FarmVille has seen the release of a new Mac&Cheese Tree in the game. If you liked receiving one free tree from the Stouffer's Farm, but wish that you could have more, your wish has now come true, as Zynga has released the tree in the marketplace - wait for it - for coins!

That's right, not only can you purchase the Mac& CheeseTree for coins, but only 1500 coins at that! This is a great opportunity to stock up on these trees and increase the rate at which you master them, without having to wait for your single tree to be ready to harvest once every two days.

Additionally, the Giant Mac&Cheese Tree is also now available in the store, at a price of 5 Farm Cash. One final thing to note is that the Mac&Cheese Tree, when placed inside the Orchard now offers the Giant Mac&Cheese Tree as a Mystery Seedling (when it was first released, it only produced more of itself).

Feel free to take all the time you want with purchasing these trees. Both are listed as permanent additions to the store, with no time limit, so we can at least expect them to be around longer than we'll actually need to continue purchasing them.

What do you think of these two trees? Will you purchase a slew of these cheap trees so that you can master them more quickly?

FarmVille English Countryside: Mail delivery offers free English Calf

With the FarmVille English Countryside 20 Comments, we've received another Mail Delivery on the outskirts of our farms, giving a recap of activities that will be available in the new expansion from a few of the game's new characters: Lily, Agatha, and Professor Milton.

We've been reminded that we'll be able to farm on rich English soil, plant new crops, craft new items, and breed new sheep, but the main reason for this new Mail Delivery is the prize that we'll receive inside - a brand new (and downright adorable) English Calf. This calf looks like a regular brown and white calf, only it has been given a large themed hat that covers up half of its face, due to the calf's small size.

To receive one of these little cuties, remember to click on the plane on the outside edge of your farm, and then take note of the fact that you can share an extra English Calf with your friends via a general news feed post. Hopefully with this recap postcard, Zynga is trying to tell us that the English Countryside will be here very soon. We'll make sure to let you know if that's the case.

Have you claimed the other prizes being given away through these postcard deliveries in the past?

FarmVille: Green Roses Crafting recipes now available

So, it turns out that the three unreleased Green Rose crafting recipes in FarmVille won't be coming to the English Countryside version of a Crafting Building after all (or, at the very least, they won't be exclusive to the expansion), as Zynga has launched all three recipes in the game this afternoon.

As usual with new recipes, there is a new offering available in each of the three types of Crafting buildings. The Spa will be able to create wooden containers of Green Potpourri, the Bakery can make Green Mocha Cake [pictured] and the Winery can make Green Rose Water.

Luckily, all three of these recipes require just six bushels to create, three of which are Green Rose bushels. The other bushel you'll need varies depending on the crafting building. Spas will need three Morning Glory bushels, Bakeries need three Wheat bushels, and finally, Wineries require three White Grape bushels.

The Green Rose crop will be available to grow for the next 19 days, and we can't imagine that these three recipes will be available for much longer after that time. You'll be able to master these limited time recipes for those highly prizes mastery signs, so this very well may give you enough reason to grow more Green Roses, even if you have already mastered them prior to the release of these recipes. At least, I know it gives me enough reason. Will you join me?

Check out the rest of our St. Patrick's Day 2011 coverage right here.

Do you like completing limited time Crafting recipes, or have you already mastered Green Roses and don't see this as a good enough reason to start planting them again?

CityVille: Watch dolphins do tricks in your new Aquarium

A new Community Building has been added to CityVille in the form of an Aquarium. You'll be able to build this Aquarium from the game's build menu, with the base costing 7,000 coins. The Aquarium adds a boost of 280 citizens to your total population limit, but you'll need to first "build" the frame six times, costing six energy in total.

From there, you'll need to staff your Aquarium with 10 friends in total, but two might have been filled in for you by Samantha. You'll be able to hire friends by clicking on the "Hire Friends" button and sending individual gift requests to those friends that you think would be most likely to help you.

The Aquarium is an open-air arena, and you'll apparently be able to watch dolphins perform through a hoop above the water once the building is completed, so if that doesn't give you enough reason to build one, I don't know what else will.

Have you built your Aquarium in CityVille yet? What do you think of this new Community Building?

CityVille: Duke's Airship drops off Goods in FarmVille promotion

Keep an eye out on the skies on your city in CityVille, as you just might receive a special visit from Duke's Airship, made famous with the FarmVille English Countryside. Duke's Airship has come by to drop off Goods - around 200 - to your town, absolutely free, and all you have to do is watch-out for the pop-up alerting you to his presence.

You'll see a pop-up saying something like "What's that up in the sky?" and then you'll see the airship in all of its glory, flying over your town, only to stop, drop off some Goods, and disappear as quickly as he appeared. You're then given a pop-up advertising the FarmVille English Countryside, but you don't actually have to go play FarmVille to receive your Goods. Just make sure you have some room in your Goods bar the next time you play, so that this valuable air drop doesn't go to waste!

What did you think of Duke's Airship flying over your town? Would you mind receiving similar advertisements more frequently, if it meant free Goods or energy for you in the future?

Earn 38 free FarmVille Farm Cash through Turbo Tax promotion

It's Tax Time, and you know what that means - a struggle to either fill out loads of forms yourself, hire an accountant or otherwise purchase some sort of software that will earn you as much of a refund (or lower what you owe) as much as humanly possible. The folks at TurboTax hope you'll go with the third option, and to sweeten the deal, they're offering 38 free Farm Cash in FarmVille to those players that file their taxes using TurboTax after activating the promotion on their accounts.

You'll see the new promotion via a Sponsored Link [pictured] at the bottom of the FarmVille gameplay area. Clicking on this link takes you to a new window, where you'll need to correctly answer three questions - just choose All of the Above for every answer - and afterwards redirects you to sign up for an account with TurboTax's website, where they will guide you through the process of filing your taxes, in a process they liken to using a GPS.

You must file your taxes via TurboTax's e-file program in order to earn your free Farm Cash, but if you had already planned on using Turbo Tax this season, why not earn some free Farm Cash in the process?

Will you take part in this promotion to file your taxes and earn free Farm Cash?

Earn 175 free FarmVille Farm Cash in new GameFly promotion

We've seen Zynga team up with the folks at GameFly for some pretty nice rewards before, and the company is back again, advertising GameFly to FarmVille players via a new cross-promotion. The promotion can be found at the bottom of the FarmVille gameplay area, and offers players a whopping 175 free Farm Cash just for trying GameFly.

You must be a new member to GameFly's service in order to qualify, so if you've already done one of these promotions for another game, you'll need to find another way to participate (it's also limited to one signup per household, so good luck finding a loop hole). While you will receive a free trial, GameFly also charges subscription fees of up to $22.95 after the first month, so know what you're getting into before you try this one.

While it might be a bit more complicated than other Farm Cash promotions, if you've been interested in signing up with GameFly anyway, why not take advantage of this offer in FarmVille and earn 175 Farm Cash in the process?

Will you take advantage of this offer? Would you like to see more "free trial" promotions available in Zynga's games?

FarmVille: Mystery Seedlings growing into European Pear Trees

Just yesterday, we brought you a sneak peek of a European Pear Tree in FarmVille, which we believe will becoming to the game in the near future. FarmVille itself has confirmed that prediction, as players are now reporting that they are receiving European Pear Trees via random Mystery Seedlings on their own farms.

While we're still not entirely sure what the original tree in this pair will be (that is, the tree that will be available to purchase in the market, and will produce these European Pear Trees as Mystery Seedlings as a guarantee), we'll make sure to keep an eye on things, and let you know as soon as the tree is released in full in the game.

In the meantime, remember to claim every Mystery Seedling that you can, so that you don't miss your chance on having one (or more) of these trees on your farm before they even hit the store.

[Source and Image Credit: FV Nation]

Have you received a European Pear Tree from a Mystery Seedling? What tree do you think will come "before it?"