FarmVille Fairy Tale Avatar Costumes: Fairy, Princess, Knight & More

What better way to really show your love for Fairy Tales and all things fantasy-related in FarmVille than to deck out your in-game avatar in one of the game's newest themed costumes? These costumes will see your character jumping right into a storybook, but there are more options available here if you're a girl player, than if you're a boy.

Either way, you can now pick up a complete Fairy Costume (including Wings) for 10 Farm Cash), a Knight Costume (with a helmet that covers your avatar's entire head) for 30 Farm Cash, and a Princess dress and shoes for 100,000 coins. If you'd like the hat to complete this Princess outfit, this is unfortunately a separate purchase, being available for 5 Farm Cash on its own.

The only good thing about the above is the fact that you can simply purchase the Damsel Hat and leave the Princess dress alone, if you're simply looking for some nice headwear, rather than the full ensemble. Regardless of which on you choose, all will be available in the game for the next two weeks. We'll be sure to let you know if Zynga releases more themed costumes in the future, so keep checking back.

FarmVille: Zynga gives away free Duckling to all players

If you've been having trouble finding Ducklings randomly when harvesting from your FarmVille Duck Pond, or if you can't see to snag any of the free Ducklings posted by your friends, Zynga is looking to help you out by offering you a free Duckling.

This, as of now, is simply a one-time-only bonus, that appears as an in-game pop-up the first time you play the game after this update. You'll be given a free Brown Duckling, that can grow up into one of a variety of different adults, if you gather the help of enough friends within the time limit. Hopefully, you won't suffer from the same empty menu and broken help requests that were experienced at the initial launch of this feature in the game.

It's great that Zynga has made an attempt to at least partially make up for this feature's bugs by offering users a free Duckling, and we can only hope that the feature is now bug-free once and for all. Just make sure to login to FarmVille soon to claim your free Duckling while it is available.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Fantasy / Fairytale theme coming soon

It's not often when we have unreleased FarmVille images actually being released by Zynga before the items are launched in FarmVille proper, but such an instance has happened today, as Zynga has released a single sneak preview image of a new limited edition item theme that's "coming soon," over on the official FarmVille Blog. The image is of a tall tower, with what appears to be Rapunzel's hair cascading out of the tall window.

We've been able to add to the theme's sneak peek, as we've come across an additional image - that of a Fairy Pig, complete with crown, wings, and magical, sparkling wand. This leads us to believe that this new item theme will be one concerning either fairytales in general, or a wider range of fantasy items (more likely the former).

We'll be sure to keep you updated as to the development of this new theme as we have more information in the future. While it's unknown when this theme will be launching in full, it is nice to have this official confirmation from Zynga that it is indeed coming. Just how many fairytales or fantasy items will be represented, however, remains to be seen.

FarmVille: Purple Mums available as free gift for a limited time

If you're the kind that likes collecting one of every item released in FarmVille, make sure to have your friends head over to the game's free gifts page fast, as there is a new limited time only gift available to send. The gift is the Purple Mums, and it can be sent to and from friends just like any other free gift can.

The thing that makes this decorative bunch of flowers special is the fact that after it's been removed from the free gifts page (normally after a matter of hours, or, at most a couple of days), there's no telling when - if ever - the item will be a reappearance in the game.

The way we see it, there's no reason to not send these to your friends. With Valentine's Day now right around the corner, what better way to show your friends that you care than with free flowers?

Does FarmVille release too much too fast?

In some games, time goes by very slowly in between features and you can find yourself bored before something fun is released. In FarmVille, Zynga have a reputation for keeping the action happening. Between new decorations, new collection games, new mystery game prizes, new features in the game, and holidays, some players are finding themselves overwhelmed with the pace of the new content.

BWasek from the FarmVille forums says:

I started collected all the horses and cute animals a year ago, now to continue would cost a ton! I liked it better when there were only a few a month, not 5 a week!. Same with the stupid trees....I may just have to stop playing! It's becoming a money pit instead of a fun time waster!

Keeping a social game balanced for the hardcore players who login for hours each day and the casual players who don't have as much time to play is a difficult job for the FarmVille team. Many players are easily bored, buy their way through features by paying Farm Cash and then quickly get bored. It is in FarmVille's best interest to keep new content coming at a fast pace so that players can spend money and time in the game. However, how much is too much?

Right now in FarmVille there are so many features and things going on. A new expensive expansion was released, there is a Valentine's 12 Day Collection Game, there is a Valentine's Mailbox for collecting valentines and trading them in, there are new Valentine's quests, there is a new limited time masterable Farm Cash crop, the Lunar Chinese New Year items keep coming, and an England expansion is on its way. This is a lot to do in a short time, and it's easy to see how players could get overwhelmed.

FarmVille English Countryside: More details revealed

Zynga sure are the masters of teasing us without revealing too much of the nitty gritty information! Today, we have just a little more information about the new English Countryside that is coming soon to a FarmVille near you. A new fan page was set up for FarmVille English Countryside, which will be updated with sneak peeks and more information as the new location becomes available. So far, we know the following:

You're going to love the English Countryside! New land, new crops, and new adventures.

What does this mean? It certainly sounds like a second farm with an English theme to it. What else could "new land" mean? Players have been begging for a second farm for a very long time - could it be that FarmVille is finally releasing this long-awaited new feature?

The fan page tell us to keep checking our farm for updates in the next week, so we could be finding out very more soon. As always, stay tuned in to Games.com - The Blog! to read the latest news on the FarmVille English Countryside as soon as it hits!

FarmVille Valentine's Collection Day 2: I Love You Sign

FarmVille has released the gift for the second day of the Valentine's Collection. The I Love You Sign is now available through the collection game interface. To get your own I Love You Sign, you have to click on the "Ask/Share" button to post a wall post in your newsfeed that your friends can click on. Once they click on it, they get a sign and you get a sign.

This means that you can either ask your friends for a sign, or you can click on a friend's wall post to get one. For those of you who missed the I Love You Stand from yesterday, you can still get one by paying 2 Farm Cash. Day 3's prize will be available tomorrow, and a full spoiler guide of the prizes is available here.

Facebook Game Farmville Produces $1.5 Million For Haiti Relief

SAN FRANCISCO - It seems the online world's biggest time-waster isn't so pointless after all.

In one year, the wildly popular Facebook game FarmVille has raised over $1.5 million to help rebuild schools destroyed in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, FOXNews.com reported Wednesday.

The World Food Program (WFP) has publicly thanked the virtual farmers on FarmVille, after releasing a video showing happy children back in the classroom last week.

In all, FarmVille developer Zynga has already helped raise more than $4 million in Haiti relief funds by creating limited edition items in many of its popular online games.

The $1.5 million given to the WFP will go towards rebuilding a destroyed school in Mirebalais, Haiti, as well as helping students pay for food, supplies and other necessities.

Over $1 million of the donations came from actual users, while the rest came from Facebook Credits and Zynga.

Often lambasted for being a waste of time designed to exploit naturally addictive human tendencies, the game has generally been viewed in a negative light. Critics scold the game for its drain on human capital while in turn giving little back.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Lantern Sheep, Mail Sheep, Dorking Chicken & More

In this FarmVille Sneak Peek, we've come across two sets of themed items that we believe will be launching in the game in the near future. Two of these five items go along with the current Chinese / Lunar New Year theme of items, while the other three deal with the upcoming England Expansion in the game.

The Lunar New Year items are the Lantern Sheep and the Chinese Pavillion. Personally, the Lantern Sheep is one of the cutest varieties I've seen developed yet - his entire body is made out of a paper lantern! The Chinese Pavillion, meanwhile, looks like it could turn out to be a fairly large item, depending on its scale when released.

As for the other three, British-themed items, there is a Dorking Chicken (one of the oldest British breeds of chickens), a themed hat for our in-game avatars, and a Mail Sheep. Apparently this new sheep will be a mail carrier for the Royal Mail - cute!

No word yet as to when any of these items will officially be released in the game, but we'll make sure to let you know when they are available, as well as how they can be collected.

Farm Bowl returns to FarmVille

Football loving FarmVille fans will want to head into the FarmVille Market to grab some hot new Farm Bowl themed items.

In celebration of the Super Bowl this weekend, FarmVille released several new decorations for the big game on Friday night.

Here's a rundown of what you can score in the FarmVille Market:

• Cow Kicker for 22 Farm Cash
• Horse Spectator for 18 Farm Cash
• Gnome Ref for 15 Farm Cash
• Chicken Joy for 14 Farm Cash
• Chicken Cheer for 14 Farm Cash
• Football Tree for 6,000 Farm Coins
• Outdoor Grill for 900 Farm Coins

For those planning a virtual party, players can also plant Nachos for the next 7 days! Nachos are a masterable crop, too!

Sorry farmers, the Horse Spectator IS a breedable horse, but it will only produce a Brown Foal!