FarmVille Unreleased Crafting Winery 5 Stages Revealed

From the images below It looks like the still unreleased Crafting Cottages will require a building process with five stages. There is no official data from FarmVille, but it seems that we can expect build our own Crafting Cottages perhaps with the help of our FarmVille neighbors.

Here are the images of the five stages of the unreleased Crafting Winery.
FarmVille Crafting Winery Stages
What do you think?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Unreleased Crafting Bakery 5 Stages Revealed

From the images below It looks like the still unreleased Crafting Cottages will require a building process with five stages. There is no official data from FarmVille, but it seems that we can expect build our own Crafting Cottages perhaps with the help of our FarmVille neighbors.

Here are the five stages of the Crafting Bakery.
FarmVille Crafting Bakery
What do you think?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Mafia Wars adds ferocious animals to your family arsenal

Mafia Wars finally releases attack animals as a part of your mafia's arsenal, a move that will most likely have PETA up in arms ... again. Whether you like it or not, you will now be able to acquire and use animals to get a leg up on the competition in fights and robbing.

To see what animals are in your arsenal, head to your Inventory and click on the new Animal tab to see what animals are included. You'll be able to buy a Red Tailed Hawk (25A, 22D) for 300,000 coins and can spend Reward Points for a handful of new (and returning) animals in the store.

mafia wars attack animals

The new animals include the following:

- Great White Shark (59A, 21 D)
- Funnel Web Spider (51A, 43 D)
- Arctic Wolf (31A, 58D0
- Hopi Rattle Snake (58A, 32 D)
- Grizzly Bear (25A, 59D)
- Alligator (27A, 48D)
- Falcon (58A, 27D)





What animals have you added to your arsenal so far?

FarmVille Dogs Perform Final Tricks!

The FarmVille dogs are all grown up and have finally learned their final tricks! Up until now, the final tricks were "coming soon" status even if your Dog had finished all the required training.

Each breed of dog has specific final tricks. The Collie harvests 20 animals, the Terrier harvests ducks, the Sheep Dog harvests sheep and the Golden Retriever fetches consumables. FarmVille Freak Skiwi007 reported that her Golden fetched a whopping 50 coins! As reported by the official FarmVille forum, the Heeler will harvest cows as its final trick.

All of the final tricks can be used once per 24 hours.

What has your Golden Retriever fetched? Are you happy with your puppy purchase and their final trick?

Source: Official FarmVille Forum

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Crafting Cottage Preview Problems

Many farmers are reporting that after initially ignoring the pop-up for the Crafting Cottage Preview, they no longer have the opportunity to participate.

Whether they unintentionally ignored, were not prepared to chose their Crafting Cottage at that moment, or were eager to check out the other FarmVille Updates on Tuesday night, these farmers assumed that they could always come back and participate in the preview.

However, even after re-loading their farms, refreshing, re-logging into FaceBook, and even clearing internet cache, so far, triggering the Crafting Cottage Preview event for a second time has proved unsuccessful.

As you know taking part in the Crafting Cottage Preview awards you with a special limited edition Gnome that is specific to the Crafting Cottage (Bakery, Winery, or Spa) you chose. You may also "share" a smaller version of the Gnome with your FarmVille friends via FaceBook newsfeed.

Hopefully, with later updates this issue will be resolved and more willing farmers can participate in the Crafting Cottage Preview.

Were you able to participate in the Crafting Cottage Preview after ignoring the first notice? If so, how did you? What triggered the event for the second time?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Mafia Wars Las Vegas: New Sin City mission kicks off July 10

Mafia Wars Las Vegas is still 'coming soon,' but we're getting prepped for our mafia's arrival in Sin City with (another) teaser mission. This one kicks off Saturday, July 10, and the Vegas-themed job will include new loot, a new collection and a new achievement.

Happy Island parodies The Last Airbender as The First Windbreaker

Happy Island The Last Windbreaker or Airbender
Happy Island Fiery Shrine, Frozen Shrine, Geo Shrine, and Breezy ShrineThe last time Happy Island did a great parody items set (which is still available!) was for the TV series "Lost", which they called "Found". But while that was a cute homage, this latest poke by the game at "The Last Airbender" is worthy of guffaws.

By collecting all four elemental temples of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire -- no Heart though, cause Captain Planet, this ain't -- you can unlock The First Windbreaker! While we can't tell what Aang... er, I mean the Windbreaker looks like, he does sport a glowy blue tattoo on top of a bald head and spins a glider staff.

The temples have been renamed as the Fiery, Frozen, Geo, and Breezy shrines. Each one costs 45 Facebook Credits ($4.50 USD), and collecting them all would set you back about $18 USD. Is "The Last Windbreaker" worth $18 USD? Hell, a better question would be if M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" was worth paying for at all (especially the retro-fitted 3D)?

As a fan of The Last Airbender TV series, I find this whole set hilarious, but then again, I've yet to see the movie, which has lots of fans feeling sensitive right now. There's very vocal outrage over Shyamalan's mishandling of the source material, on top of the pre-production casting controversy over racial under-representation. Rumor has it that Shyamalan's daughter (who's a fan of the series and the director's reason for taking on the project) had panned the film, "If I was older than my daddy, I would ground him for a very long time."

Maybe Crowdstar thought some casual Facebook fun can help lighten the mood.

FarmVille Unreleased Swiss Chocolate Shop, Swiss Bank, & Swiss Castle

Thank you once again to FarmVille Freak UserUser3 for finding these unreleased FarmVille Swiss Cholcate Shop, Swiss Bank, and Swiss Castle!
FarmVille Swiss Chocolate Shop, Swiss Bank, Swiss Castle
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Breaking News! Playdom snaps up Metaplace in ongoing shopping spree

Playdom continues its shopping spree, acquiring the San Diego-based Metaplace, which is the driving force behind three Facebook games: Island Life, My Vineyard (a.k.a. the well-heeled FarmVille) and not-officially-launched treasure hunting game, Legendary Treasure. The company was founded by Raph Koster and John Donham, who both had their hands in creating brand-name MMOs Star Wars Galaxies and Everquest 2 for Sony Online Entertainment.

The exact terms of the deal have not been disclosed, though this press release indicates that the company is particularly interested in using Metaplace's virtual world game engine to make more social games. We've contacted Playdom to see if they plan to keep Metaplace's games running or if this means goodbye to our pristine wine-making facilities in My Vineyard.

Over the past year, Playdom has been busy gobbling up smaller gaming companies which include Hive 7, Offbeat Creations, Merscom, Three Melons, Green Patch and Trippert Labs. Looks like Playdom's willing to spend big bucks to stay a top contender in the social games space.

Help FarmVille Pick a New Seeder

What do you think should be the next FarmVille Seeder vehicle? FarmVille is polling farmers on what they think the next seeder should be. The vehicle with the most votes will be the next FarmVille Seeder.

According to the official poll, you can chose from the following:

    Firetruck
    Semi Truck
    Pickup Truck
    Trolley
    Minivan
    Dump Truck
    Cement Truck


From FarmVille Community Manager, Grimwell:

    "Howdy farmers!

    The FarmVille team is looking at options on what our next seeder should look like and would like your assistance!

    Please take a look at the following options for new seeders and vote for your favorite. The vehicle that gets the most votes will win and find it's way into the game soon!" Source: Official FarmVille Forum

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Unreleased UFO Biplane, Alien Outpost, and Alien Foal

FarmVille Unreleased UFO Biplane, Alien Outpost, and Alien Foal
Sunday will mark the re-release of the UFO theme. Hopefully we will see some of these new unreleased UFO themed items arrive as well! FarmVille UFO fans are sure to love these new items. You may remember that we previously featured a UFO Alien Horse, above is its matching Foal.

Note: Unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Unreleased Beach Theme: Sandcastle, Boardwalk, Surfer Gnome, Sundae Shop & Toucan

Thank you to FarmVille Freak Farmer for finding these unreleased FarmVille Sandcastle, Boardwalk, Surfer Gnome, Sundae Shop, and Toucan!
FarmVille Unreleased Beach Theme: Sandcastle, Boardwalk, Surfer Gnome, Sundae Shop & Toucan
Note: Unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Unreleased Paul Bunyan, Town Hero, Western Barn, Firefly Bush, Lupine & Lupine Mastery Sign

Thank you to FarmVille Freak Farmer for finding these unreleased FarmVille Paul Bunyan, Town Hero, Western Barn, Firefly Bush, Lupine & Lupine Mastery Sign!
FarmVille Unreleased Paul Bunyan, Town Hero, Western Barn, Firefly Bush, Lupine & Lupine Mastery Sign
Note: Unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Pet Society Mayor gets official real world debut at the Amazon store

Playfish selling Pet Society Mayor statue on Amazon
Fans of our Games.com Facebook page may remember the figurine shown above from our Fan Appreciation Giveaway back in April. Our Editor-In-Chief had just gotten her hands on two, very rare Pet Society Mayor statues, and through her great beneficence and magnanimity, two of our Games.com fans got the chance to have the Mayor for their very own!
Pet Society Mayor in the Toys and Collectable store
But now, Playfish has officially announced that they're selling the statues via Amazon. A poster of this can be found at the Pet Society "Market" store, under the "Toys and Collectable" section. Clicking on the poster will take you to this Playfish page. The Mayor is made of PVC vinyl, and is 5.25 inches tall. It costs $24.99 USD in America, which sucks, since you need at least $25 to qualify for free shipping. The UK Amazon store is offering free shipping if delivered in the UK, and the Mayor can be bought for £15.00 there.

We hope the release of the Mayor means that more real Playfish toys are headed our way soon. Because we also gave away a Pet Society pink cat figurine in April! So we know Playfish is manufacturing these things. It's all a matter of time.

Title Town Football: It ain't Madden but it's still football on Facebook

While we're still wondering when Madden football will be rushing onto Facebook, video game developer Gasworks Games (Matrix Online, Tron 2.0) beats EA Sports to the punch, announcing that its football game, Title Town Football, will arrive on Facebook in September. This will be first of several social sports games that the company is planning to release on the social network.

"Title Town Football puts fans in the front office of their own team, where they can improve facilities, sign and manage a roster of real players, and watch their franchise value skyrocket," Gasworks Games CEO and Co-Founder Andy Kaplan says.

Here are a few features that will be included Title Town Football (from the press release):

    - Bring in fans and revenue as you perform the daily duties of a football exec, from public appearances to push-ups with your star defensive end.

    - Improve Facilities: Boost your franchise value and attract premium free agents by upgrading your Stadium, Training Facility, Front Office, and more.


    - Manage Superstars: Keep an eye on your salary cap as you sign real-life players to your team roster, then decide who starts and who sits on game day.

    - Purchase Exempt Contracts: Sign heavy hitters to exempt contracts. Keep high-salary players from counting against your salary cap, and get a leg up on the competition.

    - Show Off: Force your friends to recognize the real boss when you crush them on Sundays, earn a huge fan following, and turn your run-down compound into a world-class athletic facility.



Sports games on Facebook have not proven popular so far, and we can only speculate that that's because many of these games are more of a team management simulation than an actual get-on-the-field-and-score-goals type of game. Then again, with football season's arrival immenent and ne're a Madden Facebook game in sight, that might be the opening this Title Town needs to become a gridiron great.

Vampire Wars has new Feather Wings for you to soar with in style

Vampire Wars New Wings

It's been a little while since we've seen an update to our favorite blood-sucking Facebook RPG, Vampire Wars. This time around, Zynga wants you to abandon those old, leathery Devil Wings for some shiny, new (and cheaper) Feather Wings.

Join us behind the cut for a detailed list on the three new wings and how you can have them all to yourself.

Vampire Wars Feather Wings Sets

Here are the three new sets of wings you can collect, but only after gathering 100 feathers of the corresponding set:


    Peacock Wings (+20 Attack, +20 Energy)
    Cardinal Wings (+20 Defense, +20 Energy)
    Phoenix Wings (+10 Rage, +20 Energy)



Also, for completing all three sets of wings you'll get an additional bonus of 10 Attack, 10 Defense and 20 Energy (that's what I'm talking about!). Now, here's how to get your own collection of Feather Wings.

Gathering 100 of each type of feather can only be done through asking your friends for them and gifting them likewise. However, you can buy all 100 of each feather outright from the Elders for 100 Favor Points, but why not just exercise a little patience and do it the hard way? Besides, the Artisans are going to take a week to craft each set of wings after you give them the feathers anyway, so what's the rush?

Also, just collecting these wings will grant you the permanent stat bonuses, so if you don't like how they look (Peacock Wings... really?) fret not and leave them in your inventory.

Yahoo Fantasy Football adds Facebook sharing, "like"-ing

It looks like Sports Illustrated isn't the only company integrating Facebook functionality into its fantasy football product this season. CNet reports that Yahoo's popular fantasy football program is set to follow suit, adding some basic Facebook features into the social game.

Unlike SI's relatively full-featured Facebook fantasy game, though, Yahoo's integration is actually pretty shallow. While Yahoo users will be able to push updates about their team to their Facebook wall and "like" specific teams with the click of a button, they won't be able to control their team from their Facebook page, or find potential opponents through their Facebook network of friends. In short, this is about sharing your Yahoo Sports activity with Facebook, rather than conducting your Yahoo Sports activity through Facebook.

Even though Yahoo doesn't yet seem ready to fully merge its proprietary fantasy football program with Facebook, it obviously sees the network's potential as a way to spread the word about the game. And when even outside social games are using your network to market their own efforts, you know you're in a dominant position.

Angry Birds to add purchasable, level-skipping Mighty Eagle

Anyone who's played a social game will be familiar with the idea of paying real, honest-to-goodness money to purchase items or status that you're just not patient enough to amass on your own. Now that same concept seems to be seeping its way into popular, single-player casual game Angry Birds.

Rovio Mobile CEO Mikael Hed revealed Angry Bird's first purchasable character, the Mighty Eagle, at the Nokia World conference this week, CNet reports. The massive character allows players to bash through any pig-made structure, effectively skipping a troublesome level without any effort whatsoever. And don't worry if you feel like you'd still like to try the level out the traditional way later -- in fact, doing so will let you reuse your Eagle on a future level.

While it's still unclear how much this level skipping feature will cost, one thing is certain, according to Hed: "The key point from a business perspective is that the Mighty Eagle is declaring the end of games as a commodity and the beginning of games as a service." On other words, while Hed described the new feature as "truly a silver bullet to solve all your problems in one shot," we tend to doubt "an empty wallet" will be one of those solved problems.

Check out a cute video demonstrating the Mighty Eagle's power after the break.

Source

Game Developer Choice Online Awards wants your vote!

This is the very first year for the Game Developer Choice Online Awards, and the organizers of this event want your vote to determine which lucky online game will win the Audience Award this year.

You can choose any currently-operating persistent online game, whether it's subscription MMO, free-to-play web game, social network game, or anything else. If you want a few suggestions to get you started, take a look at the nominees for the rest of the GDC Online Awards.

To cast your vote, head to the official GDC Online Awards site and enter the game of your choice and a valid email address. You will then receive an email that will have you confirm your vote.

Voting lasts until Friday, September 24, 12 a.m. PDT. The Audience Award winner will be announced at the GDC Online Awards ceremony, which will be held on October 7, 2010 as part of the Austin's 2010 Game Developers Conference Online (GDC Online).

We're happy that online games, which are often overlooked, will finally be able to get recognition for the many hours of entertainment they provide on a daily basis. We're so excited, in fact, that a few of us from Games.com - The Blog! will be there to cover the event live!

Click here to give your favorite online game props today!

Pirates Ahoy!: Help Playfish name the parrot mascot (you're so close!)

TPirates Ahoy Parrot Mascothe mysterious mascot of Pirates Ahoy! is now that much closer to being named. After asking its fans last week, Playfish has narrowed down their favorite names. Now the developer is asking its loyal fans again to take part in phase two of naming their beloved parrot by taking yet another survey.

Alright, at least it's a fun survey. Sorry, we're just bitter that "Sir Squawksalot" didn't make the cut. Here are the names that Playfish finally decided upon:


    Scurvy
    Captain Feathers
    Parry
    Polly
    Crackers
    Squawk (So close!)



While a bunch of these names are rather cliche, we'd have to go with either "Squawk" or "Parry" for originality's sake.