FarmVille on iPad: Doesn't look great, but beats playing it on iPhone

After playing FarmVille on iPhone, I couldn't resist booting up the iPad and give the app a whirl. The verdict? The graphics look fuzzy (as expected since they're blown up twice the size of what they are on iPhone), but other than that, it's a better overall experience. Why? Simply because the iPad touch screen is bigger. It's easier to move around your farm as well as harvest trees and animals smooshed together in an effort to make more room for crops. Since the iPad runs slightly faster than the iPhone 3GS, the entire game is smoother and the loading times are cut down significantly.

I asked a Zynga rep if an iPad-ready version of FarmVille is on the way, and was told that "that can not be confirmed at this time." That, of course, leads me to believe that one is in the works, and it's only a matter of time until we'll all be finger farming with crystal clear graphics on the iPhone's bigger brother.

FarmVille can be downloaded from the App Store, just go here. You can also download the game directly on your iPhone/iPod or iPad by going to the App Store App, searching for 'FarmVille' and then downloading the game for free.

YoVille: New Mystery Deal feature coming soon

This is an official post by Zynga's Platinum Ninja.

We'll be adding Mystery Deals to YoVille starting very soon! These Mystery Deals will be found on the Free Gift Page for you and your friends to share with one another. These will be very similar to coupons that you can use to buy certain items. Whether you are sending it to a friend or accepting one of these Mystery Deals let's walk through how these are going to work:
YoVille Mystery Deal
How to Send A Mystery Deal

Visit the Free Gift Page. Choose the Mystery Deal Free Gift and choose the friend(s) that you would like to send it to. Make sure to send lots of these to your friends to give them the opportunity to cash in on some great deals!
YoVille Mystery Deal
How to Open and Use a Mystery Deal

Check to see if one of your friends has sent you a Mystery Deal by visiting your Facebook Requests. If you have been sent a Mystery Deal by one of your friends click "Accept Mystery Deal". You will then be taken to the Accept page for the Mystery Deal and given the option to Open the deal or Not.
YoVille Mystery Deal 50% off
To open simply click Open Deal and you will then find out what the deal is. It could be a % off of an item or Buy one get one free for a specific item, you'll have to open to find out! We'll have tons of items to offer you at great deals and will be refreshing these items.
YoVille Mystery Deal Hollywood Reel to Reel Player
If it catches your eye and you want to buy that item at that awesome price click Buy, otherwise if you are not interested you can decline.

Make sure to take advantage of these great prices and Mystery Deal coupons from your friends! *Please note that you must open the Mystery Deal to see what it is. The Mystery Deal Coupon itself will not be placeable or in your inventory. Only the specific item in the deal if you purchase it will appear in your inventory".

Well that's about all folks! This should be an awesome chance to get some great deals so make sure to open any deals you get and make sure to share with your friends!

- Platinum Ninja

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

PetVille Designer Dogs: Bleu the Saint-Dane comes marching in

So long Cockapoo! Today, PetVille has put up Bleu the Saint-Dane as third in the Limited Edition Designer Dogs collection. As with the two earlier pups, you can get Bleu from the game's Gifts page with the cooperation of other players.

We're also beginning to see a pattern in the dog releases -- all the dogs are hybrid breeds. Bleu the Saint-Dane is a mix between a Saint Bernard and a Great Dane. Another name for Bleu's breed is the "Great Bernard". The main thing to know about hybrid breeds is that they're neither purebreds nor mutts, because you can trace the lineage of the dogs' purebred parents.

Like all the dogs, Bleu is animated -- he blinks, pants, his tongue wags more than his tail, and his tail flicks more than it wags. This is pretty disappointing, and Bleu's look is also a complete break from design of the earlier pups. Unlike Paul and Trubble, Bleu appears to be an adult. He doesn't look as cute as the first two, and he's not that well animated either. I almost wonder if Zynga is designing these dogs on-the-fly.

Regardless, if Bleu isn't to your liking, you can always sell him off for 150 Coins.

Treasure Isle Voyages: Everything you need to know

Treasure Isle Voyages
Zynga has introduced a new feature to Treasure Isle that will expand your horizons and grow you some sea legs: Voyages. This addition to the game allows players to journey to distant islands in search of, what else, treasure. These new missions also unlock additional maps in the Dream Isles as well as prizes for mastering each Voyage.

Unfortunately, there is one obstacle in your way before you can set sail (if you can't guess what, then you might not want to take this one on). Join us behind the cut for more info on what you'll need to unlock Voyages and how they're done. Dragon Sailboat


First things first, you'll obviously need a boat. So, before you can access the Voyages, you'll need to complete the Dragon Sailboat. Here's what you'll need to complete the vessel:

    5 Nails
    5 Planks
    5 Rope
    5 Cloth
    5 Resin


Each of these items costs one Island Cash, but can be gifted as well. Be sure to put the items on your wishlist, but if you want to ride the fast track to the high seas, you'll have to pay up 25 Island Cash.

Voyages Menu
Once your ship is complete, just give it a click and choose your first Voyage. These journeys act much like jobs in Mafia Wars, but with visible rewards Clicking on the "Go" button will incrementally progress you to your destination and increase your mastery of the Voyage. However, each push forward in a Voyage will decrease your Energy and reward XP, requiring you to refill your Energy to continue.

Voyages Progress
Making it to your destination will unlock the map connected to the Voyage, but a second time through will unlock a second map. You can master Voyages up to Level 4, but only the first two times through will open up new maps (Levels 3 and 4 grant bonus items). With three Voyages currently in the game with two maps to unlock, mathematics experts say that makes a total of six new maps to explore. Here are the Voyages currently in the game and what's in it for you:

    Ninja Assassin: Unlocks Ninja Training and Ninja Shrine maps
    Happy Land (Requires Two Crew Members): Unlocks Happy Pastures and Happy Uzumaki maps
    Monster Island (Requires Three Crew Members): Unlocks Green Gargantuan and Monster Isle maps


Voyages Mastery
You'll notice in the Happy Land and Monster Island Voyages that Crew Members are required. Similar to Catering Orders in Cafe World, you can recruit your friends to help you on your Voyage or buy Crew Members for Island Cash. We recommend sucking it up and finding some friends if you're short on sailors.

FarmVille Special Delivery backlash begins among fed-up farmers

There seems to be some dissent growing among FarmVillers who say they are positively overloaded with Special Deliveries, and that they don't need the items they find inside. Today, I've noticed several posts on my Facebook wall with pictures that have a Special Delivery Crossed out or say "No more, Thank you."
farmville no more special delivery

Special Delivery mystery packages, which were released a few weeks ago, were designed to give players items they need vs. the random decoration items found in mystery boxes. So, if you need materials for a building, like, say, the new nursery barn expansion, these boxes will give you nails, boards, bricks and whatever else you need. Some players have apparently been getting hundreds of these boxes at a time and are overloaded with items that they don't need.

So, if you're feeling burdened by too many Special Deliveries, right click on the image at the top of this article, save it and then upload it to Facebook to tell your friends,"Thanks, but no thanks."

Was FarmVille on Last Week's "The Office" TV Show?

If you caught last week's episode on "The Office" you may have seen this nod to FarmVille.

"Yeah, strawberries are ripe!" - FarmVille Freak Luke (The Office)

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Mafia Wars Secret Drops rewarding double the goods, double the fun

Secret Drops double rewards
Mafia Wars creator Zynga introduced a new feature last week in the game called Secret Drops, which allows players to find hidden briefcases while robbing players and doing jobs and gift the goodies to their friends. It's been found that players can now reap double the rewards from Secret Drops at random, according to some tipsters to Mafia Wars Maniac.

When accepting a Secret Drops gift from a friend, there is now a chance for players to randomly receive either two of the same gift they would have won or two completely different items. However, players can still only accept a certain amount of Secret Drops daily, with extra Secret Drops only awarding mobsters with Burners to assist in robberies. Either way, consider this even more incentive to start looking for Secret Drops and sharing the goods.

Vampire Wars Ghost Familiars will certainly not be friendly this Halloween

While most things about Vampire Wars are inherently appropriate for a Halloween celebration all year long, Zynga still tries to make us virtual vamps feel at least a little special. So, for just 10 days three new Ghost familiars will be available for purchase in the Avatar shop. Here are the three spectral friends you can find:

    Electric Ghost: 40 Favor Points, 30 Energy
    Skeletal Ghost: 60 Favor Points, 45 Energy
    Smoky Ghost: 80 Favor Points, 60 Energy


Just like before, you can only buy these items in order, which essentially forces players to pay up 180 Favor Points (around $40) for the whole set. Well, at least these familiars offer more Energy than the last. However, Zynga is still missing out on a huge opportunity to make these unique items more interesting than just static images and stat increases. While these may make more of a statement in celebrating virtual vampirism this Halloween, we recommend going for the new Blood Brothers abilities and Avatar sets that won't cost you a dime.

Zynga brings Mafia Wars, FishVille to Yahoo

The exodus has begun. Well, sort of. TechCrunch reports that Zynga has officially launched Mafia Wars and FishVille on many of Yahoo's services including Yahoo Messenger, Pulse, Games, and within its browser toolbar. The release seems to be the fruit of a partnership between the two companies that was revealed in May of this year. This news comes hot off the heels of Zynga CEO Mark Pincus' stating his vision for a "dog activated world." We suspect that more Zynga games are to come if the expansion proves successful.

We say "expansion" because Zynga isn't going anywhere on Facebook. You'll still find your digital mob and fish tank on Facebook, though the company has been looking to go forth and conquer our digital lives for some time. Hopefully for the studio this attempt at expansion goes better than when it launched FarmVille on MSN Games only to have it shuttered shortly after.

Mafia Wars even has items exclusive to its Yahoo version, though players can't import their Facebook player profiles at the moment. This could be intentional so as to not draw away too many Facebook mobsters, though Zynga is reported to be working on a currency that it will likely use across the several platforms the company has already invaded. Eventually, it would make sense for Zynga to allow its players to access their original accounts across any platform, but it appears that the company is just testing the waters with Yahoo.

FrontierVille: New Shovel Hunt goal offers 10 free digs in Treasure Isle

While it's not better than getting 10 free energy, the new Frontier Shovel from FrontierVille is an exclusive item that lets you make 10 free digs in Treasure Isle. But what it technically does, is make each of your next 10 digs require 5 less energy. And since each dig takes 5 Energy, well, you get the idea. And they're really heavy with the emphasis on the digs, because that's all you can do with it. You can't cut trees or ferns or search a lodge with it.
FrontierVille Goal: Shovel Hunt
When the offer window pops up in Treasure Isle, click on it to go to FrontierVille. There, you'll be presented with a new goal, Shovel Hunt, which requires the following:

    Plant Four Fruit Trees (can also be unlocked for 16 Horseshoes)
    Clear Two Rocks (8 Horseshoes)
    Clear One Cactus (12 Horseshoes)


You can spend 36 Horseshoes to unlock this, but it's not worth it. They're also such simple tasks that you'll be better off just completing the goal the way it asks you to. After completing the goal, you get 50 XP, 250 Coins, and a Horseshoe-Handled Frontier Shovel.
Frontier Shovel in Treasure Isle
Claim your Frontier Shovel in FrontierVille, and you'll be redirected to Treasure Isle. The shovel will be in your backpack. You can use it or sell it, but just be warned, selling it won't earn you any coins.

FrontierVille Cheats and Tips: Victory Gardens

Sitting in your post-Level 100 ivory tree house in FrontierVille with nothing left to do? Well, if you've already exhausted all of your resources for extra XP for the day, here's something productive that will help pass the time: Victory Gardens. Shockingly enough, Zynga didn't think of it first--you pioneers did. Creating your own Victory Garden doesn't have any rigid rules or rewards. This is purely something born of the creativity and generosity of high-level pioneers everywhere (i.e. these are the type you want to be friends with).

Find out how to cultivate your own Victory Garden and help out those more commonly known as 'noobs' after the break.
Wither Protection BoostPlainly speaking, Victory Gardens are tracks of farmland meant only for your lower-level neighbors to harvest. Making one is simple, but there are a few brief prerequisites. First, you're going to need room... a lot of it. This is because the standard Victory Garden contains five of each crop at all times for friends to harvest. In fact, some Victory Gardens even contain five of each animal for harvest, but that's only if you're feeling extra generous. If you'd like, you could even hold just say, a Victory Ranch, if you'd rather not worry about the upkeep.

Which is exactly the second requirement. In order for Victory Gardens to operate effectively they need to be stocked with crops at all times. This way, your newbie friends will always have something to harvest when they drop in for a visit. If you're rolling in dough and would rather not worry about your Victory Garden too much, you could always throw some Wither Protection Boosts on your crops. These Boosts keep any crops currently planted from withering and can be found through turning in the Peas Collection or paying up 40 Horseshoes, or $5.

While this might seem obvious, the last prerequisite is to never harvest from your own or your friends' Victory Gardens. Since tTend Herehe whole point of Victory Gardens is to help our fellow new players out, this would defeat the purpose. That being said, make sure to plant crops and animals for your own use in a spot both far away from your Victory Garden and obviously much smaller than it. Something that can help new players know where to tend and where to steer clear of are the "Tend Here" and "Hands Off" Signs. Buy these from the Market for 2 Horseshoes a piece and put them in the appropriate spots on your homestead to let players know what's OK to touch.

And that's about it. Follow these simple steps and you'll be well on your way to being the most beloved pioneer out there. Well, at least to your newbie entourage.

FarmVille loading glitch: Farmers lost in parallel universe

farmville loading glitch
It was just another ordinary FarmVille morning for fvfan26. She went about her chores, harvesting crops, feeding animals, and paying visits to her neighbors. That's when she discovered something was very wrong in the world of FarmVille. Upon arriving at a neighboring farm, she discovered the entire thing had been transported to another dimension! All that was left, was a completely sterile, white land of infinite nothingness. Needless to say, she returned home and carried on with her day.

Other farmers reported this happening to their own neighbors. There were many explanations for the extraordinary event. Some suggested that the farmers may have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Others thought they were perhaps shifted to Pandora. Even more were certain their neighbors had ran off to a parallel universe! But after our FarmVille scientists did an investigation, it was found that the farms were simply covered by a large holiday blizzard. Once the ten feet of snow has melted, the farms will be operational again. Fewf!
farmville loading problem
But seriously, FarmVille farmers reported having trouble loading FarmVille this morning due in-game technical updates. Those affected were usually very high level farmers. When neighbors tried to visit the farmers who couldn't load FarmVille, they were greeted by the blank farm pictured above.

Some farmers are still experiencing technical difficulties loading FarmVille. Not to worry , everything will back to normal soon enough, and you can be relieved to know your FarmVille friends aren't lost in another dimension after all. Unfortunately though, all we can do is wait it out. In the mean time, why not check out CityVille?

Image Credit: fvfan26 & GrandmasGotAGun via FarmVille Community Forums

FarmVille Unwither Ring goes bye-bye at the stroke of midnight (EST)

Newsflash! The semi-controversial FarmVille Unwither Ring will no longer be available to buy at the stroke of midnight tonight (EST). So if you were planning to spend the 250 Farm Cash to buy one of these for a loved one (that includes yourself) this holiday season, you better whip out that credit card and get on it.

farmville unwither ring

This is the second appearance of the Unwither Ring in FarmVille, and for the uninitiated, if you own this ring, your crops will never wither. Ever. Which, by virtual farming standards, is nothing short of a miracle. No more setting timers to remember to harvest your crops and no more losing your precious coins when your crops die. You just plant crops, they grow and then they patiently wait for you to come back and harvest them for coins, crop mastery points and XP.


I sincerely doubt this will be the last time that the ring makes an appearance in the FarmVille Market, but if you don't buy now you will (1.) miss out on giving your near and dearest the most awesome FarmVille gift and (2.) might be waiting another six months (or more) to get your next chance to buy the One True Ring.

farmville unwither ring

FarmVille Winter Sneak Peek: Hot Springs, Penguin Fishing Hole, Ice Cow & More

It looks as though Zynga will be looking to continue celebrating Winter in FarmVille through the entire winter season (that is, even after the holidays as passed), as we've come across some new unreleased images of four new items that we believe will be coming to the game in the near future.

The four items, listed from left to right in the image above are: Monkey Hot Springs, Penguin Fishing Hole, Ice Cow, and Ice Duck.

Remember, the final names of these items are still up in the air (these may just serve as placeholders), and there is no actual guarantee as to whether these items will officially be released in the game, so keep that in mind. Additionally, we're not sure how these items will make an appearance. Will they be part of an upcoming Mystery Game? Will they be free gifts, premium items in the store, or Mystery Gift prizes? Only time will tell, but we'll be sure to give you all of the details once we have them.

FarmVille Animal Sneak Peek: Brown Gypsy Horse, Brown Gypsy Foal, Baby Penguin

If you're an animal collector in FarmVille, I've got some great new unreleased item images to share with you! These animals are, from left to right in the image above: Brown Gypsy Horse, Brown Gypsy Foal, and Baby Penguin.

Not to be confused with the black and white, regular Gypsy Horse released at the end of November as part of the Winter Holiday theme of items, this Brown Gypsy Horse will be an entirely different animal, able to be placed inside the Horse Stable and bred with a Stallion to produce the adorable Brown Gypsy Foal also seen above. We're guessing that if the Brown Gypsy Horse doesn't make an appearance in a Mystery Game soon, that it will be available in the store for Farm Cash.

Meanwhile, the Baby Penguin is equally interesting, if not even more so. Since Penguins have been available in the game since even last year, this begs the question - Could Zynga be looking to create a Penguin "home" of some kind, through which these Baby Penguins would be bred? Or will it simply be released as a regular animal release in the store? Only time will tell, but personally, I'm hoping for another animal storage building (especially if it means I get to have all of those cute, fluffy Baby Penguins running around on my farm!).

Remember, there is no guarantee that these items will be officially released within the game, so keep that in mind. Keep checking back with us though, as we'll make sure to give you guys all of the information about these new animals if and when they are released.

It's Official: CityVille dethrones FarmVille as Zynga's top Facebook game

Alright, so it didn't exactly happen yesterday, but CityVille has soared high above FarmVille's 56.8 million players with a massive (for these days) 61.7 million monthly players. It did what many thought was the impossible in just 22 days, according to Inside Social, and it took good old FarmVille four months to reach that size back in the day. While we've already explored what might have contributed to the game's blindingly fast rise to Zynga supremacy, it's impossible to tell how long this will last.

It will take at least another month for CityVille's numbers to stabilize--or at least slow down, for Pete's sake. These numbers are purely an accumulation of the amount of players who have logged into the game at least once in the past three weeks. Whether the game can hold the interest of its nearly 62 million players for a lengthy period of time has yet to be seen. However, if the game keeps growing at this rate, it could easily meet FarmVille's former glory of 84 million monthly players by 2011. Until then, Mark Pincus and the CityVille team can enjoy their early Christmas gift Scrooge McDuck style.

FarmVille Ducklings: Everything you need to know

After many promises and a little bit of impatient waiting (ok, a lot of impatient waiting), FarmVille farmers are now being treated to the release of ducklings in the game. As promised by Zynga at the release of the Duck Pond, these ducklings will be available to receive when harvesting your Duck Pond, in a similar manner to finding Mystery Eggs when harvesting your Chicken Coop. The special thing here is that these ducklings will grow up, and they'll grow into adult forums of all new kinds of ducks.

To put this all into perspective, when you harvest your Duck Pond, you have a chance of finding a duckling. As of right now, it appears that only brown and yellow ducklings have been released into circulation, and you won't be able to see the rest of the duckling feature until you actually receive a Duckling on your farm. Once you do, though, you'll need to go about raising your duckling, to see what kind of mature duck it will grow into.

You'll need the help of your friends to grow these ducklings, so meet us behind the break to see how you can help your friends (and help yourself) earn some of these exclusive new ducks. Just as when finding a Mystery Egg in your Chicken Coop, you'll only find a duckling at random, and aren't guaranteed to receive one each and every time you harvest from your Duck Pond. Once you do receive a duckling however, you'll be able to post a news item to your feed, sharing a duckling with your friends. You also keep one for yourself.

As of this writing, in order to grow the duckling, you must keep it out of your Duck Pond. That is, place it outside the Duck Pond, on the regular ground, until you have a chance to help it grow. You'll then be told that you need to ask seven neighbors (that is, seven different players) to help you take care of your duckling. You'll need to click on the "Ask for Help" button inside the duckling window that appears for each duckling, which will allow you to send individual gift requests to your friends, asking them for help in growing your duckling. You'll have six days to get the help you need, and once you gain all the help you require, you'll actually be able to choose which kind of duck you want that particular duckling to turn into as an adult.

There are different kinds of adult ducks, based on the kind of duckling you started out with. That is, brown ducklings can grow into a different variety of adult ducks than yellow ducklings can. While those are the only two varieties of ducklings available as of right now, it's presumable that if and when more ducklings are added to the game, new adult versions would be added as well.

Once you finish growing your duckling into an adult, you'll be able to share another prize with your friends, and specifically the neighbors that helped you grow your duckling into an adult in the first place. A general news post shares a duckling with your neighbors, while an individual wall post can be made on the particular helpers' walls, giving them a reward that is apparently specific to the type of duck you chose.

There is already a very active forum thread on the official FarmVille forums, discussing the feature and the kinds of rewards you can win, and we'll be sure to update you when more news about this feature launches. Remember, you're not guaranteed to receive a duckling upon harvesting your Duck Pond, but don't lose faith - we're sure you'll get one in time!

FarmVille Duckling Prizes: Everything you need to know

While we've already given you a complete run-down on how to receive the new ducklings that have been released in FarmVille this evening, we've also compiled the complete list of prizes that you can receive from each kind of duckling. As we told you before, you have a chance of finding either a brown or a yellow duckling when harvesting your Duck Pond, and depending on which kind of duckling you receive, the adult ducks that it can grow into will be different.

In both cases, you'll be able to choose the kind of duck you want your duckling to grow into (there are seven options to choose from, and brown and yellow ducklings do share a few prizes), but there's a catch - depending on how long it takes you to grow your duckling into an adult, you'll have either more or less of these seven ducks to choose from when finished. That is, the longer it takes you to raise your ducklings (that longer it takes you to ask seven friends for help), the less adult ducks you can choose from, and vice versa.

Finish raising the duck in less than 24 hours, and you'll receive a choice of all seven ducks for that duckling. Raise the duckling in a time between 5 and 6 days, however, and you'll only have a single duck to choose from.

To see the complete list of prize ducks available for each color of duckling, meet us behind the break.
If you are growing a Yellow Duckling into an adult, you'll have the following ducks to choose from (note: most of these have been previewed in a FarmVille Sneak Peek here in the past, so they will likely look familiar):

Indian Runner Duck
Cayuga Duck
Goldeneye Duck
Red-Billed Duck
Scoter Duck
Peking Duck
Ugly Duckling

If you are growing a Brown Duckling into an adult, you'll have these ducks available as prizes (note that some of these are like-prizes from growing the Yellow Duckling):

Black Swan
Wood Duck
Muscovy Duck
Indian Runner Duck
Cayuga Duck
Goldeneye Duck
Red-Billed Duck

As there are different time limits required for each of these duck prizes, your best bet would be to grow each duckling you find as quickly as you possibly can, so as to ensure that you'll have the full selection of seven ducks to choose from when it comes time to transform that duckling into an adult. This will also ensure that you have to do as little work as possible in collecting one of each kind of new duck available, as you won't have to worry about duplicating ducks due to your running out of time.

FrontierVille Care Packages: Let's try this again, Zynga

They're back, pioneers. Care Packages, your most favorite (or most hated depending on your situation) item, has returned to FrontierVille. Much like Special Deliveries in FarmVille, Care Packages will always contain an item you need (either for a building or Goal) once opened. FrontierVille Info reports that the smart boxes have returned to the game, but they're not exactly a free gift like they were before.

Only after visiting a friend and completing all five daily tasks there will you be prompted to send that friend a Care Package. However, I've yet to see the items in my game, so we imagine that Zynga is slowly rolling them back out to players. The idea behind this system appears to be to entice more players to visit one another more often. And with an item you'll always be guaranteed to need at stake, Zynga might be onto something.

FrontierVille Update: Visit Neighbors who visit you the easy way

A new feature has launched in FrontierVille. Hold you horses--it's nothing huge. When a friend visits you in the game and their avatar appears on your homestead, you now have the option to visit them right back before accepting the help. It's no big deal, but it's a much welcomed change over here. Come to think of it, Zynga probably should have included this a long time ago. It seems only natural that we'd want to return the favor, right? Well, be thankful now that it's easier than ever to do just that.

[Via FrontierVille Info]

Have you seen this brand new feature yet? What other optimizations are you waiting for in FrontierVille?