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.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
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.
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?
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?
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?
Thursday, January 5, 2012
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?
[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?
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?
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?
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