Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that FarmVille and a slew of other Facebook games were leaking your information to advertisers and data mining companies. Numerous other reports about other networks leaking consumers private information (Myspace included) have followed and you can't help but acknowledge the fact that if you play games on a social network, your information is there for the taking. For now, at least.
So the big question is -- since you've learned that your private Facebook info may have been passed along to outside companies, has that affected how much you play your favorite Facebook games?
Earn Money by viewing ads
Friday, February 3, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Go shopping in My Vineyard with player-run stores
My Vineyard has always been on the bleeding edge of innovation, being one of the first games to bring multiplayer as a standard across the game and having some of the best opportunities for creativity available in social games. The winemaking game has now released a brand new feature - the ability to sell items to other players by way of a General Store.
This new General Store is purchasable from the Market for 20 Wine Cash. Once you purchase a store, you can then click on it to begin pricing items in your store as you wish. You can sell items for coins or Wine Cash, and My Vineyard will take a 10% cut (or a minimum of 1 WC or 100 coins). At any time, you can click on the shopping bag icon on the left side of your screen to see a list of stores that you can visit, and you can click on them to go shopping.
Shopping is done by visiting friend's vineyards with stores, and clicking the shopping cart at the bottom of the game. Any item that is for sale will then have a price tag on it so that you can click on it and buy it directly from that store. The difference between this, and say, PetVille, is that when you buy the item it will actually leave your friend's vineyard and go to yours. The seller will also get the profit. This is a really neat way for players to get rid of old premium items that they no longer want, and for newer players to have access to items that are no longer available for purchase in the game.
Player can also pay 1 Wine Cash to have their store listed in the Featured List so that more players will see their store. This means that players who aren't neighbors can still see the stores and go shopping. When you're visiting a friend's vineyard, you will see other players there and you can actually chat with them, which is a feature of My Vineyard.
This new General Store is purchasable from the Market for 20 Wine Cash. Once you purchase a store, you can then click on it to begin pricing items in your store as you wish. You can sell items for coins or Wine Cash, and My Vineyard will take a 10% cut (or a minimum of 1 WC or 100 coins). At any time, you can click on the shopping bag icon on the left side of your screen to see a list of stores that you can visit, and you can click on them to go shopping.
Shopping is done by visiting friend's vineyards with stores, and clicking the shopping cart at the bottom of the game. Any item that is for sale will then have a price tag on it so that you can click on it and buy it directly from that store. The difference between this, and say, PetVille, is that when you buy the item it will actually leave your friend's vineyard and go to yours. The seller will also get the profit. This is a really neat way for players to get rid of old premium items that they no longer want, and for newer players to have access to items that are no longer available for purchase in the game.
Player can also pay 1 Wine Cash to have their store listed in the Featured List so that more players will see their store. This means that players who aren't neighbors can still see the stores and go shopping. When you're visiting a friend's vineyard, you will see other players there and you can actually chat with them, which is a feature of My Vineyard.
Celebrate the Top Chef: Just Desserts finale in Cupcake Corner
OMGpop's first Facebook game Cupcake Corner is proving to be quite successful with 1.4 million monthly players as of right now. Now, the game has nailed a partnership promotional deal with Bravo's Top Chef: Just Desserts series and is offering a special recipe to celebrate this week's finale of the show.
The new available Top Chef recipe is the Frozen Key Lime Bar, which takes only 8 minutes to bake and creates 28 servings. The recipe gives out 140 total coins and 16 XP for baking.
This is a pretty neat promotion because it couldn't really be any more relevant to the Cupcake Corner players. This kind of in-game advertising is done in a way that doesn't detract from the overall feel of the game and take players out of the immersion. The Top Chef: Just Desserts show is a very popular show and there is likely a great deal of crossover between its viewers and the players of Cupcake Corner.
The new available Top Chef recipe is the Frozen Key Lime Bar, which takes only 8 minutes to bake and creates 28 servings. The recipe gives out 140 total coins and 16 XP for baking.
This is a pretty neat promotion because it couldn't really be any more relevant to the Cupcake Corner players. This kind of in-game advertising is done in a way that doesn't detract from the overall feel of the game and take players out of the immersion. The Top Chef: Just Desserts show is a very popular show and there is likely a great deal of crossover between its viewers and the players of Cupcake Corner.
Ravenwood Fair hacks are malicious, says LOLapps
Ravenwood Fair hacks
Ravenwood Fair is back in commission and is crawling back up the charts fast, gaining users with rapid speed. This means that players are already scouring the internet for Ravenwood Fair cheats and hacks, and some people have been releasing supposed hacks that LOLapps are now stating are 'malicious'.
WARNING: It's come to our attention that several 3rd party "Hacks" have been released for Ravenwood Fair. Upon testing, these apps were found to contain malicious software and didn't even work. Sorry for the scare, but we want your Ravenwood Fair experience to be as pleasant as possible.
While LOLapps could certainly be lying about this, we don't think so. If there were legitimate working hacks out there for Ravenwood Fair, it would be in LOLapps' best interest to not even mention them to the community to avoid attracting interest. It appears that the game's developers have indeed tested these supposed 'hacks' in order to see if they needed to revise their game code to prevent the hacks, and instead found that these hacks were instead spyware or viruses.
As always, it's best to avoid downloading anything from sources that you do not trust. When you are searching for ways to cheat in Facebook games, there is always a really good chance that whatever you are downloading actually contains spyware or some other form of malicious content. Besides, what fun is there in cheating in a game on Facebook anyway? We don't think your friends would appreciate that much. Keep yourself safe, avoid downloading any hacks or cheats, and enjoy Ravenwood Fair!
Ravenwood Fair is back in commission and is crawling back up the charts fast, gaining users with rapid speed. This means that players are already scouring the internet for Ravenwood Fair cheats and hacks, and some people have been releasing supposed hacks that LOLapps are now stating are 'malicious'.
WARNING: It's come to our attention that several 3rd party "Hacks" have been released for Ravenwood Fair. Upon testing, these apps were found to contain malicious software and didn't even work. Sorry for the scare, but we want your Ravenwood Fair experience to be as pleasant as possible.
While LOLapps could certainly be lying about this, we don't think so. If there were legitimate working hacks out there for Ravenwood Fair, it would be in LOLapps' best interest to not even mention them to the community to avoid attracting interest. It appears that the game's developers have indeed tested these supposed 'hacks' in order to see if they needed to revise their game code to prevent the hacks, and instead found that these hacks were instead spyware or viruses.
As always, it's best to avoid downloading anything from sources that you do not trust. When you are searching for ways to cheat in Facebook games, there is always a really good chance that whatever you are downloading actually contains spyware or some other form of malicious content. Besides, what fun is there in cheating in a game on Facebook anyway? We don't think your friends would appreciate that much. Keep yourself safe, avoid downloading any hacks or cheats, and enjoy Ravenwood Fair!
Happy Aquarium dives underwater and emerges with fall items
Crowdstar has just released a decent sized set of Fall and Thanksgiving themed items in Happy Aquarium, and given you just about everything you could possibly need to turn your tank into a autumn extravaganza. This set includes a few items for coins, but the majority of the new decorations will require you to shell out Facebook Credits or pearls in order to get your fins on them.
For an overall new look, there is a new tank wallpaper available for 40 pearls or 33 Facebook Credits. This wallpaper looks like a big fall tree, and is perfectly complemented by the new Fall Leaves gravel which will cost you an additional 40 pearls. A nice Fall Wreath for 1,000 coins will hang nicely in your tank, and there is also an animated Fall Tree in which the leaves drift to the floor slowly for 26 pearls.
If decoration isn't your thing and you'd prefer to have an animal, there is a new Colorful Scuba Turkey for 36 Pearls. There are only 11,304 available as of this writing but we're sure they'll be around for quite some time.
Lastly, if you like to gamble away your money, there is a Fall Mystery Box which contains common, rare, and exclusive fall items. These will cost you 12 pearls or 10 Facebook Credits each, so expect to spend a lot to get what you're looking for.
For an overall new look, there is a new tank wallpaper available for 40 pearls or 33 Facebook Credits. This wallpaper looks like a big fall tree, and is perfectly complemented by the new Fall Leaves gravel which will cost you an additional 40 pearls. A nice Fall Wreath for 1,000 coins will hang nicely in your tank, and there is also an animated Fall Tree in which the leaves drift to the floor slowly for 26 pearls.
If decoration isn't your thing and you'd prefer to have an animal, there is a new Colorful Scuba Turkey for 36 Pearls. There are only 11,304 available as of this writing but we're sure they'll be around for quite some time.
Lastly, if you like to gamble away your money, there is a Fall Mystery Box which contains common, rare, and exclusive fall items. These will cost you 12 pearls or 10 Facebook Credits each, so expect to spend a lot to get what you're looking for.
FarmVille: An autumn of magic's in store with Griffin and pals
FarmVille Griffin, Pegasus, Unicorn, Dragon, and Phoenix
When these sweet, magical critters were first leaked mid-October (with the Unicorn as last week's latecomer), players expected them to make their FarmVille debut in time for Halloween. Even though we know that there's no guarantee that unreleased items will ever hit the market, it was still a huge disappointment when that didn't happen.
But last night, FarmVille declared on its blog that "magic is in the autumn air" and that "Soon items like this Griffin will be available in the FarmVille Marketplace." So instead of Halloween, it's most likely that the Griffin, Pegasus, Unicorn, Dragon, and Phoenix will be making their appearance at the same time as the Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows (Part 1) movie, which will premiere internationally on November 18th, and in US theaters on November 19th.
When these sweet, magical critters were first leaked mid-October (with the Unicorn as last week's latecomer), players expected them to make their FarmVille debut in time for Halloween. Even though we know that there's no guarantee that unreleased items will ever hit the market, it was still a huge disappointment when that didn't happen.
But last night, FarmVille declared on its blog that "magic is in the autumn air" and that "Soon items like this Griffin will be available in the FarmVille Marketplace." So instead of Halloween, it's most likely that the Griffin, Pegasus, Unicorn, Dragon, and Phoenix will be making their appearance at the same time as the Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows (Part 1) movie, which will premiere internationally on November 18th, and in US theaters on November 19th.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Mafia Wars meets CityVille (sort of) with Urban Warfare on Facebook
Urban Warfare
Enjoying CityVille, but in search of more competition? Well, Blue Shell Games' first effort on Facebook hopes to bring social gamers the best of both worlds with Urban Warfare. With both city-building elements and Mafia Wars-style battles with friends, Urban Warfare is a jack-of-all-trades of sorts, allowing players to both maintain a sprawling town while defending it from invaders. However, this game is certainly not without its flaws. In fact, it has those in spades.
Take a look behind the break to get a detailed look at whether this game might interest you (but probably not).
Urban Warfare Battles
Urban Warfare throws players into a war-torn world where every city is required to have a full-blown military to defend itself, which would be absolutely badass in most situations (fictional, of course). It's too bad that this game doesn't bring much in the fun department. Sure, Urban Warfare is functional, but that's about where development seems to have tapered off to a point. For instance, the image above is what every battle looks like. And that's it. (Well, aside from a blank loading screen that simply reads, "Battling!")
So, don't think you're preparing for full-scale war here. Battles operate almost exactly like those in Mafia Wars, but with less detailed artwork and it's the bland soldiers you train that decide the outcome rather than collected items. Not to mention that Battles can be repeated over and over again with no real benefit or penalty. You'll almost immediately catch on to the trick of finding a weak player pummeling him repeatedly to level up at lightning speeds (due to the lack of animation), but what's the point?
City building
Not much really, though in order to compete at later levels you'll need to build out your city with coin-generating businesses, residencies that boost your population and barracks to train more soldiers--all of which cost coins. The balance between generating coins and population via plopping buildings on the grid and training an army is simple enough. In fact, it's probably too simple. In my short time playing the game, there are really no perceivable setbacks aside from losing a Battle and the excruciatingly long time it takes to train soldiers.
Despite its many shortcomings, Urban Warfare does get a few things right. Take Quests, for example. While they've surely been done before, it's somewhat reassuring to know that Blue Shell at least realizes that these have essentially standard to guide players along in social games. Taking a cue from games like CityVille, players can visit their friends' cities to provide them with boosts to supplies. Alright, I'll admit it: that's all I can think up. For Pete's sake, the game allows players to pay coins for decorations that have no benefit whatsoever besides a sliver of XP. I can get more XP in an instant by pummeling Random Newbie #27.
The game offers a paid currency known as Reward Points (sound familiar?), but I would strongly recommend you not spend your hard-earned dollars on a game with little to no animation or interesting artwork and a gameplay dynamic that doesn't feel complete before really getting to know it. It's a shame too, because the initial premise is spot-on and has loads of potential for the next big social game, which Blue Shell deserves credit for. Unfortunately, it's in the execution that Urban Warfare goes AWOL.
Click here to play Urban Warfare on Facebook now>
Enjoying CityVille, but in search of more competition? Well, Blue Shell Games' first effort on Facebook hopes to bring social gamers the best of both worlds with Urban Warfare. With both city-building elements and Mafia Wars-style battles with friends, Urban Warfare is a jack-of-all-trades of sorts, allowing players to both maintain a sprawling town while defending it from invaders. However, this game is certainly not without its flaws. In fact, it has those in spades.
Take a look behind the break to get a detailed look at whether this game might interest you (but probably not).
Urban Warfare Battles
Urban Warfare throws players into a war-torn world where every city is required to have a full-blown military to defend itself, which would be absolutely badass in most situations (fictional, of course). It's too bad that this game doesn't bring much in the fun department. Sure, Urban Warfare is functional, but that's about where development seems to have tapered off to a point. For instance, the image above is what every battle looks like. And that's it. (Well, aside from a blank loading screen that simply reads, "Battling!")
So, don't think you're preparing for full-scale war here. Battles operate almost exactly like those in Mafia Wars, but with less detailed artwork and it's the bland soldiers you train that decide the outcome rather than collected items. Not to mention that Battles can be repeated over and over again with no real benefit or penalty. You'll almost immediately catch on to the trick of finding a weak player pummeling him repeatedly to level up at lightning speeds (due to the lack of animation), but what's the point?
City building
Not much really, though in order to compete at later levels you'll need to build out your city with coin-generating businesses, residencies that boost your population and barracks to train more soldiers--all of which cost coins. The balance between generating coins and population via plopping buildings on the grid and training an army is simple enough. In fact, it's probably too simple. In my short time playing the game, there are really no perceivable setbacks aside from losing a Battle and the excruciatingly long time it takes to train soldiers.
Despite its many shortcomings, Urban Warfare does get a few things right. Take Quests, for example. While they've surely been done before, it's somewhat reassuring to know that Blue Shell at least realizes that these have essentially standard to guide players along in social games. Taking a cue from games like CityVille, players can visit their friends' cities to provide them with boosts to supplies. Alright, I'll admit it: that's all I can think up. For Pete's sake, the game allows players to pay coins for decorations that have no benefit whatsoever besides a sliver of XP. I can get more XP in an instant by pummeling Random Newbie #27.
The game offers a paid currency known as Reward Points (sound familiar?), but I would strongly recommend you not spend your hard-earned dollars on a game with little to no animation or interesting artwork and a gameplay dynamic that doesn't feel complete before really getting to know it. It's a shame too, because the initial premise is spot-on and has loads of potential for the next big social game, which Blue Shell deserves credit for. Unfortunately, it's in the execution that Urban Warfare goes AWOL.
Click here to play Urban Warfare on Facebook now>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)