Sunday, January 23, 2011

FarmVille: Wall posts now only show to active farmers, so post away!


In a recent update, Zynga has pushed through a change in the way news feed or wall post items work in FarmVille. Previously, anyone who had installed FarmVille on their account (whether they were still playing or not) would see these news feed posts, offering up any number of free goodies in the game.

As any farmer can tell you, these wall posts are great, as it helps you earn items that you may not be able to earn anywhere else, but are, obviously, only useful and interesting if you actually play the game. That being the case, Zynga has changes this so that now, when you publish something to the public news feed, it will only be shown to active farmers - those farmers that regularly play the game, and would therefore get something out of those posts. Those farmers that haven't played for some time (no exact time limit was given), or those users that don't play the game at all won't see a thing.

What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? First and foremost, it means that if you are in the habit of posting each and every item that you're allowed to, you no longer have to worry about spamming friends that simply don't care about the game anymore - so post away! If your friends choose not to play the game, eventually they too will fall into the hidden category, and all will remain well in the world of spam and FarmVille news feed posts.

Now, if we can only get Zynga to do something about gift requests as well... but I guess that's for another time.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

FarmVille Sneak Peek: New Modern Theme coming soon?

Back in May of 2010, Zynga launched a short Modern Theme of limited edition items in FarmVille. At the time, the items released contained straight lines and simplistic and (of course) modern designs that may or may not have fit in with any particular user's farm - it was up to them to make it fit with the "country" style of the game.

While the event has long since expired, and the items basically unheard of since, it seems as though Zynga might not be ready to forever say goodbye to the theme of "modern" in the game, as we've come across a solitary unreleased image this morning - the image of a new Modern Home. Of course, with the release of the first Modern Home back in May, there's a high probability that Zynga will rename this item into something more original, but it will definitely be interesting to see if this was just a one-off item, that the FarmVille team had no interest in developing further, or whether this will be the first of many "Modern Theme 2" items that we'll eventually see in the game.

As usual, there's no guarantee that this item will actually launch in the game, and any details about its pricing or availability are as-of-now unknown, so keep that in mind.

Zynga (CityVille, FarmVille) opens New York City office

After building the fastest rising city building game, Zynga acquired another company.

CityVille and FarmVille creator Zynga has acquired the New York City-based mobile and social networking game developer Area/Code. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but in a blog post, Area/Code revealed that they are now the New York City office of Zynga, and added that their team will now take part in the future projects of the company.

Some of Area/Code’s products include CSI: Crime City (with client Ubisoft), Power Planets (with client Discovery Channel and Science Channel), and iPhone game Drop7.

Zynga’s Area/Code acquisition came after the company acquired the social media-based browser Flock on the first week of this month. Terms of Zynga and Flock’s deal were also not disclosed, but Flock CEO Shawn Hardin said their team “will help Zynga in achieving their goal of building the most fun, social games available to anyone, anytime – on any platform.”

Zynga currently holds the majority of Facebook gaming market share, based on the number of monthly active users. According to an article posted by Business Week last year, Zynga is valued at $5.51 billion.

FarmVille introduces Citibank Citi Specials promotion - 30% off $50 Zynga eCard

If you're a Citibank credit card holder, you may be interested in learning more about Zynga's newest cross-promotional activity in FarmVille. The two companies have partnered to create "Citi Specials," a new activity that is available to find in the same area as free Farm Cash promotions - underneath the bottom right corner of the FarmVille gameplay area.

Clicking on the Sponsored Link [pictured] will launch the activity, where you will first have to prove your eligibility by entering the first 6 digits from your Citi Credit Card. As the promotion is only open to cardholders, you'll have the ability to snagging a $50 Zynga eCard (Game Card) for 30% off the normal price - or just $35 US.

This eCard will be delivered by email, and don't be afraid to send it to yourself. Once you receive the eCard as a gift, you'll be able to redeem it in-game for either 310 Farm Cash, or 92,000 coins (I think the choice is pretty obvious, don't you?). You'll also receive 3 Mystery Darts as a bonus, that can be used to take a stab at the latest installment of the Mystery Game in the store, for your chance at snagging perhaps three of the current limited edition animals (hang onto them until tomorrow and the items should cycle out into Valentine's Day items - or at least that's the rumor).

As we said before, if you aren't a Citibank credit card holder, unfortunately, you won't be able to

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Chinese FarmVille players receive exciting new gifts

If you've become one of the many FarmVille players that have taken on managing two farms since the release of Chinese FarmVille, you'll be happy to know that you're about to be rewarded for your devotion to the game. While this reward is available even to those that are just trying FarmVille for the first time, it's always nice to have a little something special appear in your gift box.

Be on the lookout for an email from Zynga, rewarding you with a Giant Panda and a "Care Package" for use in Chinese FarmVille. The Care Package contains 1 Unwither, 1 Fuel, 3 Farm Cash, and 1 White Goat. Both this and the Giant Panda were made available in the standard version of FarmVille in the past, but are currently unavailable, so it's interesting to see them show up here.

What's more - these items are available to all FarmVille Chinese players through universal links, so click here for the Giant Panda, and here for the Care Package, if you have yet to receive an email about receiving them in your own FarmVille Chinese game.

Could Zynga be using Chinese FarmVille as a sort of testing ground, to see if standard FarmVille users would be interested in seeing a re-release of such items? Keep checking back with us for more as we find out.

Prisoners Play FarmVille on Smuggled Cell Phones

They may be behind bars, but that doesn't mean that prisoners are locked away from technology.

Forget shivs. "The smartphone is the most lethal weapon you can get inside a prison," says the director of security products at ITT Corporation; he goes on to compare it to a Swiss Army knife, for its versatility. The New York Times reports that in prisons across the country, inmates can buy smartphones from guards (ranging from $300-$1,000 depending on the data plan). The activities for which they use the phones range from the trivial to the deadly: Harvesting their FarmVille accounts one day, organizing strikes and approving robbery victims the next.

Yet even in this more dire context, the same technological mistakes occur: In Oklahoma, a killer was caught after he posted photos to his Facebook of the weapons he'd has smuggled into his cell. (Really.)

Because prison officials are unable to intercept all of the physical contraband, they've had to resign themselves to jamming the cell phone signals. Ironically, however, that's illegal--thanks to the Communications Act of 1934.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

FarmVille: Could Chinese FarmVille exclusive crops and trees be coming to the original game?


At the end of December, we brought you the news that Zynga had launched a new version of FarmVille for Chinese players. While the game appears mostly identical (the games share the same basic gameplay functions, crop prices, and so on), there are actually a few differences to be found, especially where Chinese FarmVille's crops and trees are concerned.

While the standard version of FarmVille does have more items to offer overall, Chinese FarmVille has four exclusive crops, and one exclusive tree at the time of this writing. We've done a little bit of digging and have found out more about these exclusive crops and the exclusive tree, if you're interested in seeing what our Chinese-speaking friends are experiencing in their version of the game.

The image above displays the four crops and the one lone tree. The first crop is the Peony flower, which is the national flower of China, which obviously explains its presence in that version of the game. Based on our research, we believe the second crop to be Ginseng, an ingredient normally found in energy drinks or medicinal teas. The third crop is something called "dong chong xia cao," which literally translates to "winter worm, summer grass," but is more commonly known as Caterpillar Fungus. Finally, the mushroom crop is the Lingzhi, a medicinal herb found in health supplements. As for the tree, it is known as the Areca Nut Palm, which is found in Asia and the tropical Pacific regions.

Whether or not the original version of FarmVille will ever receive these items as well remains to be seen. However, even if standard FarmVille doesn't receive these items, it's still interesting to see what items are being offered for the Chinese-speaking crowd.