In a move to encourage players to interact more with their virtual furballs, the Happy Pets crew has decided to give away cat and dog toys for free. No longer will you have to spend valuable coins to buy more doggie biscuits, new fake mice or a new laser pen because the battery runs out. While this certainly a lovely gesture -- but we're still crossing our fingers for a larger variety of toys to keep our four-legged friends -- as the game name implies -- happy.

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Cafe World has extended its levels from 60 to 80, which means hard-working chefs will now be able to unlock more stoves and counter space. No word yet if those upper levels will reap any more benefits, so stay tuned.

What level are you in Cafe World?

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Look like Cafe World gifting will soon undergo an overhaul that will make it easier to put your gifts to work -- mostly filling the bellies of your virtual customers.

Big changes, which will significantly reduce time spent clicking on numerous gifts, include the following: duplicate gifts will be combined, all food will be served together, and you'll be able to sell items you don't want for coins. Sounds good to us!

Cafe World Community Manager Pinky Chefcadero explains these changes in more detail:

"Our proposed new gift box would "stack" multiple servings for easier storage, loading and serving. For example: Let's say you had an empty gift box. If you accepted only 10 gift pancakes (all the same dish), with 200 servings each, from your friends, the number on the outside of the gift box icon would now say "1"; but total number of servings in that batch of pancakes, inside the gift box, would be 2000. (10 accepted gifts x 200 servings in each pancake gift). So, your servings would be combined. You may also be able to sell your gifts for coins."

What do you think of these major changes? Yay or nay?

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What's one thing every virtual pet needs? Animated wings, of course. Now that's a possibility in PetVille, which has added a limited edition series pet wing mystery crates to the premium in-game store.

Each mystery crate costs 25 PetVille cash, and the first purchase comes with a special closet where you can hang your wings. There are six sets of wings in all and they're animated, so even if your pet can't fly, they'll have a new accessory flapping gently behind them.

So far, we know that the collection includes a pair of white angel wings and grey bat-like wings (see pic to the right), if you know what the other wings are like, please leave us a comment below.

Animated wings have proven popular in other virtual pet games, namely Pet Society, but it seems like players would just rather spend the 25 PV cash to just buy wings, without having to deal with the whole 'mystery' of which random pair will be inside these boxes. We can already anticipate the uproar if owners spends the money to buy more than one of these boxes and get multiple sets of the same wings.



PetVille wings: Are they worth buying?

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Hey, you got your PetVille in my FarmVille! No, you got your FarmVille in my Petville! Whichever way you want to phrase it, the PetVille FarmVille collectibles keep coming, as part of a 10-day limited edition series. The big item for Day #4 is -- drum roll please -- the FarmVille Mini-Horsey! This item will be around today only, and the only way to acquire one of these li'l ponies is to get one as a gift from your PV friends. (Hint: if you send your friends one, they'll be more likely to send you one back).



Items for the previous three days have included the FarmVille Farmer Dude, the FarmVille Farmer Gal and the FarmVille Barn. Based on the picture above, it looks like upcoming gifts will include a silo, a white fence and the rest -- well, your guess is as good as ours.

How many PetVille FarmVille items have you collected so far?

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In Cafe World, you live or die by your buzz rating. It's that number in the upper right hand corner that determines your cafe's popularity, and therefore, how many people come in and spend money. The buzz rating tops out at 105, but then you have to maintain it by making sure customers never leave hungry.

These tips, courtesy of the official Cafe World Facebook fan page, can help turn your cozy cafe in to a five-star restaurant. One caveat, if you use the auto-serve exploit in the game, several of these may not apply.

1. Make sure there is a full Pathway from door(s) to *each* chair, and from your Counters to *each* table. Try to leave plenty of space for both Customers and Waiters to move around without having to go around objects in their path.

2. Nothing should be blocking or too close to the first step of the doorway.

3. Tables must have an empty spot around one of the 8 sides (4 sides, 4 corners) to be served and a chair facing it.


4. Serving counters should have an empty spot (facing it) from one of the 4 sides to allow your Waiters to pick up a dish. Avoid putting counters in corners where your Waiters will not be able to pick up a dish.

5. Try to avoid creating small places between your counters where your waiters can be stuck.

6. For larger Cafés try placing your Counters in a more central location of your Café so that Waiters will have to travel less distance to reach your Customers.

7. Don't expand too fast! If you do not have enough waiters to serve all your customers some may leave unhappy.

8. If you are low on food, some people choose to drag their door into their inventory to "close" your Café until you have more food.

9. Your Buzz Rating will not change while you are away from your Café. If your Buzz rating is starting to climb please leave your Café running so your Buzz Rating can reach its full potential. It may several hours for your Buzz to rise to its highest point.

If you find that your Buzz Rating is not as high as it used to be, or that your Customers are not being served fast enough you may want to take a look at some of your neighbors Café's to see what works for them, and get some ideas for the perfect setup. Experiment with different layouts of your own to find that perfect balance that will have everyone in the neighborhood raving about your Cafe!

If you find that after trying these steps you are still having trouble with your Buzz Rating please send us a screenshot of your Café, and we will be happy to take a look at it and pass on a few suggestions for increasing your Buzz, or you can stop by our community forums and "ask your neighbor."

For more information on how to take a screenshot please visit the following link:

Answer Title: How do I take a screenshot?
Answer Link: http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/106

To file a support ticket, read this article: http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/783/p/427/c/28/r_id/101691
For faster service, we ask you include your screenshot and a link to your Facebook profile when you submit a ticket.

Related:
Cafe World Buzz Rating FAQ

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For 20 Playfish coins, the Tree House in Pet Society gives you another room to decorate. Here is the outside view of the tree house. The tree can be placed in your garden or a regular room in the house:
One reader, Julie loves the tree house. She likes the extra room to play with and she thinks it's a bargain compared to the Secret Garden which requires the purchase of 3 fairies that total 65 Playfish cash coins.

Here is the inside view of the tree house. Sushi really liked the Chinese tea ceremony at Kuma's. But, we found a bug in the system. If you click on the trunk of the tree to get into the room, your pet disappears from the scene:

Come back down from the tree, and your pet is still nowhere in sight. Is he playing hide and seek? Did Kuma the tiger eat him? Not sure, but you can only get him back when you leave the house.

A safe way to play with the tree house is to use the icon on the upper-right corner of your screen. Click on the little square that represents the tree house and your pet will remain part of the scene.

Verdict: Because of the bug, we gave the Pet Society tree house only three stars. We'll raise the score once Playfish fixes the disappearing act.

Thanks to Danine for her tip on the tree house bug.


This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

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Getting in-game cash via advertising offers in many social games is a confusing process. Usually, a player has to actively go looking for the offers by finding and scrolling way down an "earn cash" page, then clicking through a maze of menus in an external site's pop-up window and waiting for the offer to credit to your account. No wonder only two to four percent of players typically go to the trouble.

A company called gWallet is hoping to increase that percentage, and the revenue stream for social gaming companies, with a new product called the Brand Bar. Basically, the bar replaces the sprawling, bloated, hard-to-find offers of most games with a small row of logos that fits in the space of a single banner ad. Hovering over a logo brings up a short description of the offer, and a single click brings up the relevant advertiser site in a small window (check out a demo of how it works over at gWallet's site). Better navigation for users, better revenue for publishers... seems like a no-brainer to us.

The bar is already running on dozens games from the likes of Clipwire Games, Zen Gaming Inc., Poolhouse, FooMojo, Bubblefish, Mobscience, and Chat Republic Games. A Forbes report on the announcement says gWallet is hinting some other bigger social game publishers, possibly including Zynga, will sign on with the service within the month.

[Via Forbes]

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There's one thing that Facebook game makers seem to do well -- listen to their fans. Granted, not every wish will be granted, but there's a clear line between requests and what actually gets released in the game. That's why we're willing to bet the farm that one (or a few) of the next themed items in Cafe World will come from this poll we found on the official forums.



At the time of this post, it looks like the next big release will be fantasy/magical items, a theme that we've seen in several other Facebook games, e.g. Restaurant World and Pet Society, of late. St. Patrick's Day is the number two pick for a new theme and Palace/Royalty/Medieval is coming in a close third. The big losers are Indoor City/Roads and ... pirates? Who doesn't love pirates? We'd take an eye patch over some fairy outfit any day.

There's also a poll on what the next 'long lost recipe' should be. The most recent long lost recipe was 'Grandmas Apple Pie,' and only your friends could help you find the missing ingredients. Out of the choices listed, we like Uncle Mysterio's Invisible Cookies, though the masses seems to be going for Grandpa's Finger Lickin' BBQ Ribs.

If you want to cast your vote on the next big Cafe World theme, head to the poll on the official forums.

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Happy Island is allowing resort owners to change the style of their islands. Previously, players were largely stuck with the Mesas style (top left) which fulfilled its function but wasn't too flashy. Before if you wanted an alternate style, you were forced to buy an entire new island! Now you can simply swap styles on the go (if you have the coins). These luxurious and spiffy islands feature waterfalls and volcanoes allowing both long-time fans and newbies to design the island of their dreams.

Volcano Island 30,000 Coins	Twin Peaks 30,000 Coins	Shangri-La 149 Facebook Credits	Treasure Cove 189 Facebook Credits

Perhaps you'll build Hanging Gardens one of the gorgeous summits of the Shangri-La style island or simply a Bazaar in the fearsome valley of Treasure Cove. In the end, how to design your island is up to you, and Happy Islands changeable resort styles only furthers that. Luckily only some of the new styles cost Facebook Credits allowing us non spenders to get in on the fun.

In addition, the new island styles address one of the biggest weaknesses of Happy Island: the lack of an epic volcano island. Loyal Happy Island fans were a bit jealous of Tiki Resort's awesome volcano island featuring bubbly magma and plumes of smoke (bottom left). Luckily, the games are once again created equal as Happy Island has its very own volcanic isle for players to build their tycoon on (bottom right).

So head over to Happy Island (or Tiki Resort) and check out the new changeable styles.

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"Thinking about FarmVille, I suddenly saw the light at the end of the recessionary tunnel: Forget about additional government bailouts, jobs bills, etc. There is one money-pit government stimulus plan that has always had bipartisan support: agricultural subsidies.

The U.S. government, in a convoluted, logic-defying system that absolutely nobody understands anymore, pays roughly $16 billion per year to farmers to grow certain stuff and to not grow other stuff -- to farm and to not farm. (Has something to do with managing the supply of agricultural commodities and whatnot. And sucking up to the Big Farm lobby.)

We have to assume, with FarmVille's astonishing numbers, that virtual farming is huge in every state, so virtual farmers in both liberal and conservative districts across the land would benefit from a virtual agricultural subsidy program. (Stick that in your Causes!) Every senator and congressman should be able to get behind this.

Now imagine if we devoted a portion of FarmVille subsidies to paying FarmVille farmers to not farm. Yes, virtual productivity rates would drop, but real-world -- what's left of the real world, that is -- productivity would rise. At least I think? I hope?"
-Adveritising Age's Simon Dumenko offers a modest proposal for digging out of the recession

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Think games like Restaurant City and Pet Society are taking over your life now? Just wait until you can buy items from those games in the real world. Speaking to trade magazine MCV recently, Playfish co-founder Sebastien de Halleaux said his company would like to bring virtual items from the company's line-up of social games to real world, brick and mortar retail locations.

"We've decided to experiment a bit more with physical components to our games," he told the magazine. "There may also be objects coming in the future that will form a bridge between retail and the online world. Many of our users have expressed a need to get more and more from their game beyond the online component and this could be anything from virtual currency to a six foot robot from one of our games."

In the interview, De Halleaux also said he was encouraged by the success of Playfish cash cards in retail locations, including Walgreens in the U.S. and Sainsbury's and WHSmith in the U.K. "You can't underestimate the power of the retail distribution channel," he said. "In casual games, cards like these can totally replace boxed product - look at what Apple has done with the iTunes cards. You can buy iTunes cards almost everywhere and they have a higher value than a traditional CD. In the music industry, they've created a big dent in the influence of boxed versions."

[Photo Credit]

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Lost, blue ducks have been spotted waddling around Happy Pets. If you run across one (a pop-up window like the one above will randomly appear), you can choose to help it by clicking the 'Publish' button. That will send a notification to your Facebook wall, giving your HP friends a chance to give this little fellow a home. Just look at those big, teary eyes, how can you resist?


Did you find a blue duck yet?

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Atari has added a social gaming twist to the latest revival of its venerable Missile Command franchise. The newest version of the game, released yesterday on social gaming hub OMGPOP, expands the city-defending, missile-destroying concept of the original with power-ups, achievements and, most importantly, an online multiplayer component.

Much like the original game, you have to shoot down incoming missiles raining down from the top of the screen with defensive missiles of your own, leading your shots to create chain reactions of circular explosive coronas in the sky. In the new version, however, your defensive turret is only one of up to eight shooting at the incoming threat, a first for the series.

Ostensibly you're all working together to defend a shared health bar from missiles and occasional enemies, including UFOs and occasional boss monsters. In practice, though, the competitive spirit reigns as players try to earn gold, silver and bronze medals by destroying more missiles than their opponents in each increasingly difficult round.. Cutting off your opponents' angles is key to this competitive sub-game, as is trying to figure out where the best available chain reactions will be.

Destroying missiles creates collectible energy power-ups, which can be used to purchase upgraded abilities like quicker missile reloads, faster missiles and larger explosions in the middle of the battle. Or you can use OMGPOP coins earned around the site for more health or screen-clearing nuclear explosions. Standard text-based chat options are available as well, although it can be tough to stop and type during the heat of battle.

Old-school arcade traditionalists might miss the minimalist aesthetic and solitary, limited-ammo tension of the original game (not to mention the lack of a trackball), but they can sooth themselves by playing the original game over at Atari's site. For everyone else, this new version of the arcade classic provides an interesting, addictive twist on a time-tested formula. Kudos to Atari for bringing one of its classics into the present in such a unique and interesting form.

[Via GameSpy]

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Social games are often lambasted for being a waste of time that could be spent more productively. But what if playing a social game could help build an accurate 3D model of the world?

That's the idea behind PhotoCity, a game being developed and played by researchers at the University of Washington and Cornell University. The game is based on top of the researchers' previous Photo Tourism technology, which can put together a detailed 3D model of a building or location by analyzing a series of photos taken from different angles. Microsoft is already using the technology for its PhotoSynth service, but researchers are having trouble encouraging people to submit the tens of thousands of photos needs for a truly accurate "dense point cloud," according to a recent New York Times story.

That's where PhotoCity comes in. The game offers players points for taking digital snapshots from specific flagged points on a map. The team that takes the most pictures from any one location can "capture" that flag, and the player that takes enough pictures surrounding a single building can "own" that building. Researchers are even considering offering real world prizes, according to University of Washington Grad student Kathleen Tuite.

If you have a decent digital camera and happen to be near one of the few test locations, you can join in right now. Everyone else can just check out the cool tutorial trailer after the break.

[Via GamerTell]

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This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

zSlide has finally brought in a really welcomed change to Treasure Madness, one that fans of the game were asking for since the game launched: the equipment upgrades and mini-game helpers can now be purchased for regular coins instead of the virtual currency (the MU dollars) used byTreasure Madness.

Therefore, as of now, for a pretty high price (but still one you can gain by being very active in Treasure Madness), you can upgrade the following things to level 2:

Shovel (100,000 GP), allowing you to dig for 9 HP instead of 10.
Machete (3,000 GP)

Also, all the minigame helpers (like Torch, Pincers, Gloves, etc) can be purchased for 10,000 GP each. Very cool!

So it's time to do some serious digging in Treasure Madness, right?

This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.

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Zynga decided to offer a huge surprise to their FishVille fans by introducing the Superfoods as giftables: now you can send an receive Caffeine Food and Supergrow Food from your neighbors, basically saving you for spending quite a few money to keep your fish happy.

If you're too lazy to check out the link I've given you, here's a reminder of what superfoods do:

The FishVille Caffeine helps your fish last longer without food, doubling the time remaining until a new feeding is needed. The FishVille Growth superfood helps your fish grow a little faster (a bit too slow for my taste, with just 10% growth for one pill).

This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.

Did you get your FishVille superfood from your friends?

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You can celebrate the introduction of the Mafia Wars Marketplace as a pro, by getting a cool reward from Zynga and their game: 2 free Godfather Points! Now ain't that a real treat?

You don't have to cheat or play against the rules to grab to goodies. All you have to do is click this link and have fun. Enjoy your 2 Free Godfather Points and let's hope there will be a lot more coming in the future for you!

This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.

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Just in time to celebrate this Friday's big Winter Olympics men's Hockey game USA vs. Finland, FarmVille released another special limited edition Winter Olympics themed item- the Ice Hockey decoration.

The Ice Hockey decoration can be purchased in the FarmVille Market for 26 FV$ for the next three days.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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There are new FarmVille Giftables available on the Gifting Page as of 02.25.10.

The Fuschia Greenery, Pink Greenery, and Wood Picket Fence are free giftables that you can send to your FarmVille neighbors. The only way to have one is to receive it as a gift.

The Fuschia Greenery is a Facebook exclusive gift. The Pink Greenery and the Wood Picket Fence are FarmVille.com exclusive gifts.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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FarmVille has continued with the California theme by adding new items to the limited edition set.

You can purchase any of the California themed items, designated by a sun with sunglasses symbol, in the FarmVille Market for the next 7 days.

Here are the new items:

California Decorations:

California Tree:

California Buildings:

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

What is your favorite California themed item?

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FarmVille introduced a new Yellowstone theme on 02.25.10 with many new limited edition items!

These Yellowstone decorations, animals, and tree can be purchased in the FarmVille Market for the next 7 days. The Yellowstone items are designated with a tree symbol in the FarmVille Market.

So far, all of the Yellowstone Decorations will require you to purchase them with farm cash only.


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

What is your favorite Yellowstone themed item?

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FarmVille has continued with the theme of all things California and has added two new buildings- the Lodge and Vacation Home.

Both of these buildings can be purchased in the FarmVille Market for the next 7 days and can be purchased with farm cash only.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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Playdom's Tiki Farm is a Facebook farming simulation game similar to FarmVille, but instead of finding yourself dropped onto a nowhere land of green fields and brown plots, you're camped out next to an active volcano on a South Pacific island.

For each of the 12 achievements in the game, there are four metal trophies: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Earning all four trophies allows you to master the achievement. Please note that Tiki Farm's achievement system went live on January 28, so if you've played the game before that date, your past work doesn't count towards your trophies.

After the jump, find a listing of Tiki Farm achievements and how to master them all. We still need to fill in some blanks, so if you have any extra info, please leave it in the comments area below!
1. Busy Harvester
Task: Harvest crops
- Bronze: 100 crops; 5 XP and 1 Rare Gem
- Silver: 500 crops;
- Gold:
- Platinum:
2. Thatch Mogul
Task: Purchase buildings
- Bronze: 1 building;
- Silver: 3 buildings;
- Gold:
- Platinum: 10 buildings;
3. Moku Banker
Task: Earn shells
- Bronze: 2,000 shells; 5 XP and 1 Rare Gem
- Silver: 50,000 shells;
- Gold: 1,000,000 shells;
- Platinum: 4. Shopmaniac
Task: Spend shells
- Bronze: 5,000 shells; 5 XP and 1 Rare Gem
- Silver: 10,000 shells;
- Gold: 50,000 shells;
- Platinum:
5. Popular Islander
Task: Add neighbors
- Bronze: 5 neighbors
- Silver:
- Gold:
- Platinum: 6. Tiki Tender
Task: Help neighbors
- Bronze: 10 neighbors; 5 XP and 1 Rare Gem
- Silver: 100 neighbors;
- Gold:
- Platinum: 7. Share Cropper
Task: Send unique gifts to friends
- Bronze: 10 unique gifts; 5 XP and 1 Rare Gem
- Silver: 50 unique gifts;
- Gold:
- Platinum: 8. Spoiled Islander
Task: Receive gifts from friends
- Bronze: 5 gifts;
- Silver:
- Gold: 100 gifts;
- Platinum: 9. Magic Addict
Task: Buy Small Fertility Dolls
- Bronze: 10 Small Fertility Dolls; 5 XP and 1 Rare Gem
- Silver: 25 Small Fertility Dolls; 10 XP and 1 Rare Gem
- Gold: 100 Small Fertility Dolls
- Platinum: 10. Tree Nut
Task: Plant Macadamia Trees
- Bronze: 1 Macadamia Tree
- Silver:
- Gold:
- Platinum: 11. Critter Helper
Task: Help critters find a home
- Bronze: 10 critters
- Silver:
- Gold:
- Platinum: 12. Critter Claimer
Task: Give critters a home
- Bronze: 2 critters
- Silver:
- Gold:
- Platinum:

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