Treasure Isle: Fire God Mountain takes players to the Center of the Earth

Treasure Isle Fire God Mountain is open
The anticipation for the newest, hottest map of Treasure Isle has been so intense, there's even an official Facebook fanpage of 64,000+ members -- the Treasure Isle's Volcano Diggers Anonymous -- devoted to it. But today, the wait for Fire God Mountain is finally over!

To reach Fire God Mountain, you need to travel to the first page of Tiki Isles, where you'll spot a burning, animated volcano in the north. To get in, you're going to need 5 tubes of SPF-3000. To note, you'll start with 6 tubes for free, but it won't be enough on the long dig down, so you've gotta use Wall posts (those tubes aren't giftable) to request more from fellow players.
Treasure Isle: Enter the Volcano
Beating the Mountain maps requires completely new strategies and tools. There are 14 levels to explore. Fruits-wise, only Lava Mangoes will work in the mountain for energy replenishment. (You can also use Energy Packs.) Instead of dumbly plowing through every tile, you'll need to dig SMART and FAST.
Treasure Isle: Really Close and Nearby

For more info, check out the "Volcano FAQ" tab on your Treasure Island window, and the newly updated Fire God Mountain Info Thread at the Zynga forums. Click here to launch the game and get digging!

FrontierVille stocks the market with its first Mystery Crate

Uh-oh -- looks like FrontierVille is targeting collection hounds by stocking the in-game market with Mystery Crates.

frontierville six collectibles

The mystery crates can be found in the 'Special' section of the market and cost 25 Horseshoes. You'll gain 10 XP by purchasing one of these bad boys, and you'll get one of six collectible items. What those are -- well, I don't know just yet. I'm too cheap to shell out for these crates, so will have to do some research to find out what's lurking in that wooden crate.

What did you find inside your FrontierVille Mystery Box? If you have pictures, send them to libe@games.com, and I'll add them here.

FarmVille New England Decorations: Covered Bridge, White Pine Tree, & Cliff

    farmville cliff     farmville covered bridge
FarmVille released three new limited edition New England themed decorations including a Covered Bridge, White Pine Tree, and Cliff.

These LE decorations can be purchased with coins or farm cash (White Pine Tree) during the next ___ days in the FarmVille Market.
farmville cliff     farmville white pine tree     farmville covered bridge
FarmVille New England Decorations (Released July 27th 2010):

    Covered Bridge – 400,000 Coins
    Cliff – 70,000 Coins
    White Pine Tree*- 4 FV$


*The White Pine Tree is a decorative tree, meaning it will not yield coins and is not harvestable.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Will you purchase any of these decorations for your farm?

FarmVille New England Animal: Morgan Horse

    farmville morgan horse
There is a new Limited Edition New England themed animal, the Morgan Horse, that hit the FarmVille Market tonight.

The Morgan Horse can be purchased for 24 FV$ farm cash in the FarmVille Market during the next 9 days only.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Will you purchase a Morgan Horse for you FarmVille Horse collection?

FarmVille New England Buildings: Vacation Estate, New England Barn, & New England Shed

    farmville new england barn     farmville vacation estate
Continuing with the New England theme, FarmVille released three new limited edition buildings including the Vacation Estate, New England Barn, and New England Shed.

You can purchase these buildings along with other New England LE items released tonight during the next 9 days in the FarmVille Market.
farmville new england shed     farmville vacation estate     farmville new england barn
FarmVille New England Buildings (Released July 27th 2010):

    Vacation Estate – 50 FV$
    New England Barn – 30 FV$
    New England Shed – 24 FV$


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Will you purchase any of these Limited Edition buildings for your farm?

FarmVille Mystery Game, Round 3: Find out what you can win

farmville mystery game update
Tonight marks the third installment of the FarmVille Mystery Game. This Mystery Game features new prizes.

You can play this Mystery Game by accessing it via the FarmVille Market. This game will be available during the next 7 days only. Each play will cost 20 FV$.

Mystery Games yield exclusive prizes that you cannot get anywhere else. However, like Mystery Boxes, playing a Mystery Game is a gamble at your own risk as you are not guaranteed any one specific prize.
farmville beach cottage     farmville angora goat     farmville hooded merganser
farmville ornate cottage     farmville new carriage     farmville mill
The following are confirmed prizes for this Mystery Game (Released on July 27th 2010):

    Angora Goat
    Beach Cottage
    Hooded Merganser
    Mill
    New Carriage
    Ornate Cottage


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Facebook Credits gift cards set to rule the world. First stop: Target

It's official -- Target has everything. In addition to buying camping supplies, kitchen equipment and cheap designer duds, you will soon be able to buy Facebook Credits gift cards.

Starting September 5, Target will be the first retailer to carry these cards, which will be available for $15, $25 and $50. The $15 card will be available exclusively at Tar-zhay.

If you play social games, you know that Facebook Credits are quickly becoming a popular way to buy virtual items in games such as FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Bejeweled Blitz, City of Wonder, FIFA Superstars and more. To see a complete list of games that accept Facebook Credits, go here.

Considering that Americans are predicted to spend 1.6 billion on virtual goods and social games this year and Facebook Credits is quickly becoming the de facto currency for making those purchases, we're sure that we will be seeing these bright blue cards in every big box retailer when the 2010 holiday buying season rolls around.

Hey, I'm not complaining. I already plan to ask St. Nick to stuff a few of these in my stocking as well. The only people that might have a problem with these cards are folks who work for FarmVille publisher Zynga (which has its own special form of currency for its games). We'll see who wins out in this virtual currency battle in the end.

Do you use Facebook Credits to buy virtual items in games? Or something else?

Mafia Wars: Harvest 20 FarmVille crops for a free stamina refill

Mafia Wars cross promotions have been popular lately, and here is another from Zynga that will refill your stamina in Mafia Wars after harvesting 20 crops in FarmVille. While we're sure that this promotion will appear in your game in due time, why wait for that?

Mafia Wars Manic has found a shortcut link that will take you straight to the pop-up in Mafia Wars. Just copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://tiny.cc/lr9nx

After that, follow the pop-up to open up FarmVille and start harvesting. But remember to use all of your stamina up before starting this promotion to make the work worth your while.

FrontierVille's Ditch That Buggy Goal will tickle you pink

Ditch that Buggy
In the midst of the FrontierVille Halloween update's shoddy shenanigans, Zynga added a sequel to the Hot Wheels! Goal titled, "Ditch that Buggy." Apparently, while cruising the frontier you unfortunately hit a pothole and busted up your ride. All you need to do in this thankfully simple Goal (wasn't a Headless Horseman enough?) is ask your friends for 15 bars of Saddle Soap, 15 cans of Elbow Grease and clear 15 patches of grass.

Do these three tasks and a Deluxe Pink Buggy will be yours. Apparently, "fixing" means "buying" to them frontier folk, so enjoy a second ride in addition your fixed-up Deluxe Buggy from before. Also, if you have any Elbow Grease or Saddle Soap on you, it can be used to complete this Goal, inching you that much closer to a delightfully--well, depending on how you look at it--pink set of wheels. So, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but how about a paint job?

Celebrate Thanksgiving in Treasure Isle with fall decorations

Zynga has jumped into the fall / Thanksgiving celebration in Treasure Isle by releasing what could be just the first round of new fall and Thanksgiving themed decorative items in the treasure-hunting game.

These items can be found, you guessed it, by clicking on "Decorations" in the store. Here's a list of the available items, along with prices and special features, where available:

Cranberry Truck - Adds 10 spaces to your Backpack - 40 Island Cash
Big Barn - Adds 10 spaces to your Backpack - 40 Island Cash
Squirrel Table - 10,000 coins
Small Squash - 150 coins
Cornstalks - 200 coins
Indian Corn - 150 coins
Brown Pile of Leaves - 200 coins
Pile of Red Leaves - 200 coins
Pile of Yellow Leaves - 200 coins
Cornucopia - 400 coins
Wooden Fence - 100 coins
Cranberry Crate - 100 coins
Plough - 500 coins

Fortunately, the only two items on this list that are limited edition are the Cranberry Truck and the Big Barn, which will both only be available in the game for the next 12 days. After that, your chance at potentially 20 extra spaces of Backpack inventory will be gone, that is, until Zynga can release another item with a similar (or even the same) effect.

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash in A Christmas Carol Promotion

Thanks to the good folks at FarmVille Feed, we've come to learn that Zynga has launched yet another free Farm Cash promotion in FarmVille.

This time, the promotion is for the upcoming release of Disney's A Christmas Carol on DVD. Simply click on the sponsored link window as seen at right, and you'll be able to watch the movie trailer and answer a question about your own holiday memories.

After that's said and done, you'll be rewarded with 2 Farm Cash, which can be found added to your total immediately upon refreshing the page.

We personally have yet to have this offer spawn on our own farms, but with the holiday season approaching, will we see more holiday-themed offers being given to FarmVille players? Stay tuned to find out.

Treasure Isle: New limited time fall themed animals

Along with the new Thanksgiving decorations released in Treasure Isle, Zynga has also given us eight new adorable fall animals to wander our islands. These animals are all available for only 12 days, and each one of them requires you to pay out with Island Cash. This could definitely get expensive if you're wanting to collect them all.

These animals are not just cute companions, they also provide you bonuses to your max energy. Any animal that gives you +3 to energy will cost you 65 Island Cash. Animals that give you +2 energy are priced at 55 Island Cash, and animals that give you 1 energy will set you back 35 Island Cash. Here are the animals you can get your hands on right now in Treasure Isle:

Rex the Raccoon - 3 Energy
Skunky the Skunk - 3 Energy
Sam the Squirrel - 2 Energy
Foxy the Fox - 2 Energy
Fuzz the Fox - 2 Energy
Bun Buns the Bunny - 1 Energy
Ben the Badger - 1 Energy
Bucky the Buck - 1 Energy

These aren't the most creative names we've ever heard of, but we'll give Treasure Isle a break. These items aren't really very fall-themed, but Treasure Isle are calling them fall animals.

Which animal do you think is the cutest?

CityVille Cheats and Tips: A Goods Management Guide

CityVille Goods
Now that you've expanded your Franchise empire along with the boundaries of your booming town in CityVille, it's time to get those Goods in line. I don't know about you, but I often find myself maxed out on Goods upon logging into the game. In fact, it's gotten to the point where, at times, I can't even harvest my crops before somehow getting rid of my gobs of Goods. However, there are a few ways to optimize your Goods management so that you don't run into the same problem.

1. The Right Crops for the Right Time
The number one way to control the amount of Goods you produce is planting smart. This isn't FarmVille anymore where the motto normally goes, "The more crops, the better!" Remember to be sure of the yield of each crop and its harvest time before planting. Now, you don't have to break out the calculator or anything (well, unless you're that intent on efficiency), but an idea of how many Goods are waiting for you in a few hours or days is good to keep in mind. For instance, I would strongly recommend against planting a field full of corn when you already have half of your Goods limit in storage.

Jump behind the break for four more tips on how effectively manage your Goods.
CityVille Storage
2. You're Gonna' Need a Bigger Boat
Or in this case, a bigger barn. There are currently only four storage solutions in the game and they're as follows:

-Silo: 250 coins; 100 Storage
-Red Barn: 1,000 coins; 415 Storage
-Sticks: 1,125 coins; 485 Storage
-Cargo Shed: 10 City Cash; 1,000 Storage

While it is mighty tempting to just say, "Forget it," and put up for the Cargo Shed, smart buys and even smarter positioning can help you avoid paying real dollars just to keep your Goods in safe keeping. While Silos are the cheapest solution to Storage, they're not exactly efficient. A much better strategy, although more expensive, would be to line up multiple Barns and Sticks adjacent to one another facing your farmland. In fact, the best way to build in CityVille is in a grid format similar to this, though it's not 100 percent necessary. The bottom line here is that if you place Barns and Sticks intelligently along the borders of your farmland or city, letting Silos fill in any unavoidable blanks, you should be fine when it comes to Storage.

3. Time is Money (and Goods)
Say it with me: Collect from and supply businesses as often as possible. Actually, collecting from Businesses should hold a much higher priority than collecting rent, taxes and free from residential buildings. Here's a scenario: if you only have a few Energy left, yet both your Businesses and Housing are ready to be collected from, which would spend your remaining Energy on? If your answer was cutting down Trees, you're are not even close to getting it. All kidding aside, just collect from the Businesses. This way, you'll get both coins and will be able to supply those Businesses, which costs nothing but Goods--and that's exactly what we want to get rid of.

Franchise Supply
4. Meet Expanding Demand with Expanding Supply
Franchises are a funnel for Goods. Every day, you'll be able to supply a huge portion of your Goods to your Businesses in other cities. And it only gets better with the more places your Businesses pop up. As soon as you're able to, open another Franchise as soon as possible. (Second and third Franchise opportunities open up at Levels 10 and 20.) With two Franchises running Businesses in multiple cities you could easily unload 75 percent of your Goods the moment you log in and click the "Supply" button a few times.

5. All Aboard!
While we've touched on Shipping before, we didn't exactly touch its importance when it comes to Goods management. And the reason why it's at the end of this list is because, frankly, it's a last resort. But don't think it's not equally as important. To put it into perspective, shipping Goods via Train can rid you of up to 700 Goods in an instant. While many of us haven't expanded to a local waterway to give international shipping a go, surely that will provide an even better way of dumping excess Goods elsewhere while making some money in the process. So, when you're at a loss of where to put the rest of those Goods after everything else has been taken care of, send them off on a train and make a few friends happy.

Zynga designed FarmVille as "a negative experience," says Braid creator

In a recent interview with Gamasutra, developer of hit Xbox Live Arcade game Braid Jonathan Blow claimed that Zynga's creation of FarmVille "is actually about designing something that's a negative experience." He made the statement when asked to return to his infamous stance on damaging design trends in video games. While Blow refrains from telling developers what games to create, he did have strong words for the 54.2 million-strong farming simulator.

"I still wouldn't tell people, 'Don't make that game' exactly, I would say, 'Think about what you're making and be careful when you make it and try not to exploit players,' Blow said to Gamasutra. "But I mean now that we've got FarmVille and stuff like that, I pretty much would say 'don't make that kind of game' because I don't see much value in it."

Not much value in it, eh? Well, how does millions in annual revenue sound for value? Unfortunately, that's not exactly what he meant. "It's about 'How do we make something that looks cute and that projects positivity' -- but it actually makes people worry about it when they're away from the computer and drains attention from their everyday life and brings them back into the game, Blow said.

Look after the break for more of what Blow had to say about games like FarmVille, but be warned: it's not pretty.

FarmVille Gifting Quests
Blow, who is in the midst of developing his second major game titled "The Witness," went on to say that games like FarmVille are designed for players to exploit their friendships into a mechanical means of game progression. We imagine he's referring to the issues with gifting quests (pictured) and possibly even the recent complaints that FarmVille might as well be named "BegVille."

As the independent developer continued, no one was safe. "And there's this kind of new way where people are, like Bryan Reynolds working on FrontierVille and stuff, making it supposedly deeper, but that kind of thing has been very token so far, Blow said. "And in fact, I would argue that the audience of that kind of game doesn't necessarily want a deeper game, or certainly that's not proven; it's very speculative."

His beef, apparently, is with developers like Zynga and not the Facebook platform, claiming that there is plenty of room for creative game ideas on Facebook. Unfortunately in his eyes, the FarmVille style is not the way to go.

FarmVille New Years Clothing: Tiaras, Top Hats, Party Dresses, and more!

With tonight's FarmVille update, we see the official launch of the New Years celebration in the game. Since most Winter Holiday items have already expired from the store, or are quickly on their way out of the proverbial door, it only makes sense that Zynga would make the most of the remaining year by releasing items allowing us to celebrate its end. Such items are now available in the Clothing section of the FarmVille marketplace, as seven new clothing items have been added to the game.

These items are those that you might remember seeing here in a FarmVille Sneak Peek, as we showed them to you back on the 18th of December (notice that some of those unreleased items are not in this release - are more items coming in the future?). For girl players / avatars, there is a Black Tiara, Silver Tiara, Gold Party Dress, Purple Party Dress, and a Silver Party Dress, all of which cost Farm Cash. Both of the Tiaras are available for 5 Farm Cash each, while the Party Dresses cost 10 Farm Cash each.

Meanwhile, boy players / avatars can be outfitted in either a Black Top Hat or a Silver Top Hat. Remember, boy avatars can unlock a full Tuxedo from within the Party Barn that was released in full last week. These top hats are both premium items, and would add an equally luxurious touch to your avatar's ensemble this New Years season. Both Top Hats can be purchased for 5 Farm Cash each.

All of these items will be available for a short while into the New Year - for the next 13 days, to be exact. Be sure to head into the game sometime before then if you want to make sure your in-game avatar can ring in the new year in style!

FarmVille New Years Tree: Confetti Tree

Personally, we love the now frequent additions of extremely unique, or otherwise impossible-in-the-real-world trees that have been released in FarmVille over the past few weeks. Keeping with this new in-game theme of sorts is tonight's release of the Confetti Tree, a bright, colorful tree that has been released as part of the New Years theme of limited edition items.

The Confetti Tree costs 5 Farm Cash to add to your farm, and can be harvested once every 2 days. You'll gain just 15 experience points for purchasing the tree, but you'll also make 150 coins each and every time you harvest it (of course, the tree grows colorful clusters of confetti).

As of this writing, the rumors surrounding this tree are that if you add this level 1 Confetti Tree to an Orchard on your farm, you'll have a chance to spawning a level 2 Disco Ball Tree as a Mystery Seedling. We'll be sure to confirm or deny this as more information becomes available, but either way, Disco Ball Trees have begun showing up as Mystery Seedlings, so make sure to collect all that you see your friends posts on your news feed!

The Confetti Tree will be available in the game for the next 21 days, and for those that are still on a holiday kick, it can be decorated with Lights and Snow once you purchase it. The tree is masterable, with the first star of mastery being available after 75 harvests.

FarmVille Mystery Game (12/26/10): Best of Animals Week

If you're a big animal collector in FarmVille, you'll be happy to know that this week's Mystery Game has been released, and it contains a new set of six exclusive animals that are sure to set your zoological gene on fire. This week's game will cost 20 Farm Cash to play, for each individual dart you'd like to play, which is 4 Farm Cash more than the "normal" 16 Farm Cash price.

This week's game contains the following items that are up for grabs:

Baby Giraffe
Baby Zebra
Purple Mane Pony
White Lion Cub
White Unicorn
Camargue Horse

If you missed your chance at some of these items when they were released previously in the game (the Camargue Horse was released as part of the French Chateau theme, for instance), you'll want to make sure to try your hand at this week's Mystery Game, as there's no telling when (if ever) the items will make another reappearance in the game after this week.

FarmVille New Years Items: New Year Horse, Party House, Cider Fountain & More

All together, these items are mostly Farm Cash items that will set you back a pretty penny (or virtual Farm Cash) if you choose to purchase them all, but there is one item for those that would rather stay clear of spending premium currency. Meet us behind the break to find out what it is. First off, the new animal is the New Year Horse, which should look familiar, as we brought you a Sneak Peek of this (and many other items in this release) last week. The New Year Horse costs 22 Farm Cash, and comes outfitted with a cute Top Hat, noise maker, and New Years Sash. If purchased, you can harvest from your New Year Horse once every three days, to receive 140 coins each time. Of course, you'll also be able to place the New Year Horse in your Horse Stable, offering the potential to receive a New Year Foal (with matching top hat and sash).

Moving on, the new building is the animated Party House. This building costs 25 Farm Cash, and is a brightly decorated building with pulsing lights shooting from the windows, two rotating spotlights from the roof of the home, and four clusters of balloons perched at the home's corners. Sure, it might be a tad expensive, considering that it is just a decorative building, but the sheer quality of the animation seems to make it worth the price.

Finally, there are three decorations that are now available to purchase, two of which are Farm Cash-only. These items are the Cider Fountain and the New Year Band. The Cider Fountain is another animated item, which consists of a large tower of glasses over which Cider is pouring down, into a large trough at the bottom. It costs 15 Farm Cash to add to your farm. The New Year Band costs 20 Farm Cash, and is a truly clever item, consisting of a three piece band, instruments, stage equipment and lighting, with the band being made up of a Chicken drummer, a Duck guitarist, and a sheep playing the keyboard. How cute!

The other decoration is a simple stationary Happy New Year sign that costs just 4,800 coins to add to your land. Even if you don't want to spend the Farm Cash on these other items, this sign will allow you to still celebrate the holiday in fashion. You'll gain 48 experience points for purchasing the sign, which will only be available for the next 5 days.

All other items will be available for the next 13 days, so keep these separate time limits in mind when deciding which items to purchase. You wouldn't want to miss out on collecting any of these neat items, now would you?

FarmVille Model Farm gets all mushy with Valentine's Day update

Model Farm Valentines
The FarmVille Model Farm, or what I like to call the interactive Market, has been updated with Valentine's Day items. FarmVille Freak reports that the new relatively new feature has shed its wintry decorations in time for a heavy dose of pink. Of course, every item is up for sale. Clicking on any given decoration will open a preview window just like it does in the Market, giving you the option to buy the item with either coins or Farm Cash depending on the item.
While you'll find plenty of lovely decorations including the Love Shack and Romantic Coach, also available are some of the Winter Wonderland items like the Icelandic Horse and Totem House. Of course, all of these items cost Farm Cash, so do not pay a visit with an empty wallet. Unless you just want the free random bonus, then by all means stop by.

Check out the rest of our Valentine's Day coverage right here.

Have you seen the new items in the Model Farm yet? Would you ever purchase items from FarmVille via the Model Farm?

Facebook urges game makers to ditch Flash, go HTML5

Here's your proverbial nail in coffin for the Flash versus HTML5 debate. All Things Digital reports that Facebook plans to spread the good news of HTML5 to all of the social game developers living within its cushy walls. The norm today for social games is to be developed using Adobe's Flash, which many peg for being a resource hog that isn't cross platform. (My laptop's processor and cooling fan can attest to the former.) This means that developers like Zynga can't simply take FarmVille for Facebook and throw it on the iPhone--that version was built from the ground up.

But no more. The former CTO of Second Life-creator Linden Lab, Cory Ondrejka, gave a lecture at Facebook headquarters yesterday proclaiming the benefits of making the switch to HTML5. Now a member of the Facebook team, Ondrejka wrote this in a blog post:

    With wide adoption and industry support, HTML5 will transform desktop and mobile gaming, creating amazing user experiences that are only a link away. Already, over 125 million people visit Facebook using HTML5 capable browsers just from their mobile phone, and that number skyrockets when we add in desktop browsers. The future is clear.

With HTML5, the next step for website development that can also handle pretty intense game creation, making several versions of the same social game would be a thing of the past. In fact, Zynga's recent release of Mafia Wars: Atlantic City across nearly all smartphones was thanks to HTML5. Using this fresh technology, it's possible that social games could look no different if played on Facebook through a computer or a smartphone. Ondrejka admitted that HTML5 still has a ways to go when rendering games. Despite this, he wrote "We want to help," referring to Facebook's mission to getting as many developers on the HTML5 bandwagon as possible. And that means more social games in more places for us.