As an avid social gamer, I always feel a twinge of guilt when I find a stash of machetes in Mafia Wars or a Lost Kitten in FarmVille and decide to post that information to my Facebook page. I know that while I'm helping my fellow FarmVillians out, I'm also royally pissing off my friends who choose to abstain from these games.

So, I couldn't help but chuckle when a friend passed along this comic called How to Suck at Facebook from The Oatmeal. Number one on the list? Spamming friends with invite and updates to your favorite games. Busted!



When you stop laughing, you should check out the other ways to suck at Facebook, which include horrible photo tagging, quiz taking and people with no filters. Thank you, Mr. Oatmeal, for reminding me to keep the spamming in check.

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Starting Friday, January 29, virtual mobsters will be able to expand their empire in the new Mafia Wars expansion -- Mafia Wars Bangkok. This new empire is accessible to players who are level 18 and up, and unlocks a host of new missions, weapons, collections and businesses.

Mafia Wars Bankok uses a sliding scale

The game experience itself is very similar to Mafia Wars Moscow -- broken down into Episodes and each ends with a boss battle that unlocks the next Episode. Unlike Moscow, which required a lot (arguably too much) energy to complete missions, Bangkok works on a sliding scale, which makes the game accessible to lower-level players. The amount of energy required to complete a mission (and the payout at the end) varies depending on your level.

Completing missions will results in Thai Baht and loot, such as weapons and items used to fill out collections. Collections, when completed, can be vaulted for bonuses, such as more energy -- pretty typical for every area of Mafia Wars. Loot in Bangkok Episode 1 -- the "Brawler" level -- consists of chess pieces, and in Episode 2 -- the "Criminal level" loot is a series of masks, then followed by spices, carvings and orchids.

Adding the sliding scale is a nice touch to this add-on, but where Zynga giveth, Zynga also taketh away. In Bangkok, we've been having a helluva time earning enough cash to buy all of the items required for each missions. After buying the required Chinese Army pistols, mopeds and other gear, our bank account is constantly running dry -- to the point that we'd have to repeat completed missions to make enough money to buy items for a new mission. The key, of course, is to get enough cash to buy one of the new Bangkok businesses, so you'll have a steady flow of income. Once that happens, the money troubles ease a bit -- but it's a small annoyance in the beginning.

Choose a side: Yakuza or Triad

Also like Mafia Wars Moscow, players must choose between factions, in this case, the Triads and Yakuza. To break into the 'in' crowd with either faction, certain missions can be completed for either group, thus building your reputation with that group. Once you're considered a trusted member of the Triad or Yakuza, you'll gain access to weapons and other items exclusive to that faction. If you lose your rep with either faction, access to those weapons is denied.



We're still in the early stages of doing missions for the Yakuza, and breaking into a group has not been easy. Each time you do a job, you'll get +3 respect for the faction and -1 for the other faction. Considering you need at least 400 points to gain access to faction stores, it obviously takes some time to earn either side's respect.

There are six levels of trust per faction -- Hostile, Suspicious, Neutral, Trusted, Honored and Allied -- and once you hit Neutral, players will be able to buy items from that faction's store. From what we can tell so far, the Yakuza items are better for attacking enemies and Triad items are better on defense. The ideal situation is to stay on friendly grounds with both groups, if possible, so you'll gain access to items and business from both stores.

There's no fighting in Bangkok ... for now

Mafia Wars Bangkok includes a fighting portion, but it will still be "coming soon" at launch. Based on that, we suggest spending your skill points on energy, which will allow you to take on more missions (and make more cash) in the meantime. Then again, this might put players -- especially ones that prefer fighting -- at a disadvantage when the fighting begins, but we'll take our chances.



In its current state, Mafia Wars Bangkok doesn't add any revolutionary new ideas to this mobbed up Facebook game, but there's more than enough new stuff to keep addicts busy until Mafia Wars Las Vegas arrives later this year.

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There are now three fairies in Pet Society's Cash Shop that will enhance your gardening experience. The vegetable fairy reduces your chance of growing any rotten veggies; the fruit fairy allows you to grow up to four fruits per tree, and the flower fairy makes your flowers bloom twice as quickly. If you buy all three fairies, you will unlock a special secret garden.

This is all very nice, but as some players have already noticed, there is a glitch with the fairies. Someone else can grab them and drag them around, and even try to sell them. This is what happened when my pet Sushi visited his friend Luxe.

We heart Luxe's secret garden. It's so beautiful it feels like a scene from Lord of the Rings.
Hmm, I like that fairy so much, I'm going to take it for myself and sell it.
Poof! The fairy disappears. However, I don't get any coins. I go to someone else's house, then return to Luxe's garden. The flower fairy is still missing.

I log off the game and log back on. I visit Luxe again. Everything is back to normal. The fairies are all there. Whew... We're glad that theft isn't being rewarded, but Playfish should probably fix this glitch.
This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

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FarmVille has now allowed us to gift the Emperor Butterfly. This will get us FarmVille Freaks one step closer to completing our Butterfly Collection.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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Thank you to Detective FarmVille Freak Lisa and Dr. Green Thumb for these great finds!

FarmVille has intentions of pleasing every farmer from around the world. Some day in the future many more farmers will be able to display their country's flag on their farms.

Although there is no release date as of yet, here are some of the country flags that will be added:

- Colombia (notice it has been misspelled by FarmVille as ColUmbia)
- Denmark
- Finland
- Romania
- Belarus
- Russia
- China
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Venezuela
- Peru
- Chile
- Bolivia
- Poland
- Ukraine
- Romania
- Georgia
- Latvia
- Ecuador

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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FarmVille Freak Lisa discovered this unreleased baby animal, a Colt!
The Colt is not yet released, but will be sure to find it's way to a farm near you. All Indianapolis Colts fans are sure to love this little guy. For a sneak peek of the FarmVille Colt see below.

Link: Colt (Click Here)


A Kangaroo is another unreleased animal coming soon to FarmVille. Thanks to FarmVille Freak Vicki for sharing her findings.


There is no official release date, but for a sneak peek check out the link below.

Link: FarmVille Kangaroo (Click Here)

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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

The FarmVille Horse lovers will be happy to know that a stable is coming soon! Some of you FarmVille Freaks previously expressed your concern for the Horses that were forced to bear reside in extreme weather condtions throughout the Winter. Thankfully a stable is in the works to keep your Horses cozy all year long.
A Clock Tower will also be coming soon to FarmVille. Thanks to FarmVille Freak Lisa for finding these images.
To catch a sneak peek of these unreleased items, visit the links below.

FarmVille Horse Stable (Click Here)

FarmVille Clock Tower (Click Here)

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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A new Home has been added to the Realtor office in YoVille. This home is an oceanfront home. This Home Has a Front Yard, back yard, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and living room. It is available for 34,000 coins. Add this awesome home to your collection and start decorating for your wild beach party!

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

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After all the email and fan bonuses from other social games, it's now the time for Happy Aquarium to offer their fans a sweet reward: the Clownfish, a really cool and cute new fish!

You'll see a pop-up notice when you log in to the game reading: "Become a fan of Happy Aquarium now to unlock special Clownfish!" All you have to do is to click the button below the post and then click once again the "Become a fan" button on the new page and you're ready to go and fill your Happy Aquarium tanks with new fish!
This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.

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Q: How do I get rid of the Snow Blanket covering my farm and return it to normal?

A: Go to the FarmVille Market, look under the "Upgrade Farm" tab and you will see that you can purchase the " Green Pastures" for 1,000 coins. Purchasing this will return your farm to normal and get rid of the snow.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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Thank you to FarmVille Freak Mathew for bringing this to our attention. You can no longer gift tall grass, but for those who still wan this decoration you can purchase it for 1,500 FarmVille Coins.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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Thank you to FarmVille Freak Michael for noticing and documenting the new changes to the deer in FarmVille:

Hey Farmgoddess, Dr. Green Thumb, & FarmVille Freaks!

The other day, I was on the FarmVille forums commenting on a post about things that needed to be changed. I uploaded a photo showing how the Deer and the Doe were extremely disproportionate to each other. (If you hadn't noticed, the Deer was minute compared to the hulking Doe.)

I uploaded this photo to show my point:
I logged in tonight to find that the Deer has been sized up to have the same body size as the Doe. Also, the Deer was renamed a Buck, which does make more sense considering the female's name.

Here is the new photo:
I guess this means that Zynga does listen to their fans after all!

Thanks, and happy farming!

FarmVille Freak Mike

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

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Restaurant City is giving away free sugar to Facebook fans. Head to their fan page right now and become a fan (if you aren't already) to claim your free ingredient.



Unlike other restaurant games, such as Cafe World, Restaurant City's ingredients don't come cheap. You'll spend thousands of coins buying everyday groceries for your most popular dishes. Sugar has been known to fetch high prices at the Fresh Ingredient Market so we're jumping on the opportunity to nab some of this sweet stuff.

For those of us with a sweet tooth, free sugar puts us one step closer to serving up some of our favorite desserts and beverages including:

- Strawberry Cake
- Creme Brulee
- Pumpkin Pie
- Kiwi Sorbet
- Vanilla Panna Cotta
- Coffee
- Tea
- Bubble Tea
- Ginger Beer Float

Don't miss out on this sweet opportunity (get it?).

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PopCap, the makers of Bejeweled Blitz (one of our favorite Facebook games), has announced via Twitter that Plants vs. Zombies for iPhone will be delayed until mid-February. The game was originally set to arrive in January.



The tower defense-style game that pits plants against hoards of shuffling zombies was a huge hit when it was released for PC in May 2009, so you can only imagine the disappointment for all of the mobile gamers waiting to get a PvZ fix on their phones.

Fortunately, those in need of a quick fix can play the Web version of Plants vs. Zombies, and we're still hoping for a social version of the game show up on Facebook in the near future.

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