With Wall Street Game on Facebook, you can pretend everything's OK

What wonderful timing you have, Ender's Fund. (And yes, the game is simply titled Wall Street Game.) The developer, which has little to no web presence, recently released its free market trading game on Facebook, and it couldn't be more aptly titled. The game begins with a terribly dramatic intro about a man losing it all on the stock market, only for a legendary investor to swoop in and write him a $10 million check. That man is you, and it's time to make some money.
Wall Street Game, rather than simply present players with spreadsheets and mock Excel documents filled with numbers and foreign symbols, takes on the familiar isometric, avatar-driven play style of most Facebook games. (However, there are lots of numbers to translate if you've never invested in company stock before.)
There are a number of customization options for your wheelin' dealin' trader, but what's more important is the gameplay. The game uses real time data from the stock market to influence gameplay, which is basically gaming the market by buying and selling at the correct times.
However, it's made competitive through throw-downs, or challenges to your friends to see who can make the most market gains in a period of time. The developer says, "If you are winning in our game, you could be winning on the real Wall Street." Perhaps we just found the cure to the already-ailing stock market ... nah, but how about a nice alternate reality for the troubled trader to escape into? Wall Street Game has just 407 monthly players since its July release, so we hope would-be traders latch onto either motive, and fast.
Click here to play Wall Street Game on Facebook Now >
[Via Business Insider]
Would you ever play a game surrounding the stock market? Do you think there's a interest in Facebook gamers for true-to-life simulations in Facebook games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

FarmVille Vineyard Decorations: Rusted Bike and Giant Barrel round out new options

As part of tonight's FarmVille update, we saw the launch of five new decorative items in the current limited edition Vineyard theme. Surprisingly, more of the items cost coins than Farm Cash. Ok, so the difference is only one item, but when so many things go for Farm Cash, I feel inclined to get a bit excited.
The two Farm Cash items are the Serene Waterfall and the Vineyard Garden, which are priced at 20 Farm Cash and 5 Farm Cash, respectively. Meanwhile, the coin items range in price from 8,000 to 20,000 coins, making them even more of a large bargain.
The first item is the Vineyard Planter, which costs 8,000 coins each to add to your land. Next is the Grape Barrel, which looks exactly as it sounds (pictured), and costs 15,000 coins. Finally, a Rusted Bike item costs 20,000 coins, and it happens to have a bucket of flowers behind the bike.
Even if you haven't started decorating your land to celebrate the Vineyard item theme, you still have time: these items will expire from the store in the next two weeks, so get to shopping!
What do you think of these latest Vineyard decorations? Are you excited about the selection of Vineyard items that have been released over the past few weeks, or have some items been left out? Sound off in the comments.

FrontierVille The Baker's Rebound Timed Goal: Everything you need to know

As we inch closer and closer to the Pioneer Trail, Zynga has released yet another Timed Goal to FrontierVille. (Really, Zynga? Because I'd much rather focus on the one billion Golden Hammers you're looking for.)
This new Goal is titled "The Baker's Rebound," and tasks players with helping out Nettie, a baker that has made her way across the Pioneer Trail. Like the Time Goals before it recently, you must accept this mission by Aug. 31 and complete it within seven days of accepting it.
The Baker's Rebound
Harvest 30 PumpkinsCollect 20 Brown Sugar BagsCollect 15 Cinnamon Sticks
To harvest 30 Pumpkins, you'll need at least 1,500 Coins and and hour's time, if you plant them all at once. The 20 Brown Sugar Sticks and the 15 Cinnamon Sticks are likely found from friends. More specifically, one of these will probably require players to ask friends directly, while the other will simply post a request to their News Feed for friends to respond to. Your reward for completing this relatively simple Goal is actually quite awesome. You will unlock the new Vanilla Orchid crop in the Market, and score a sweet 300 XP and 300 Coins. The Vanilla Orchid costs 475 Coins to plant, but in 12 hours provides you with 10 XP, 600 Coins and 5 Food.
[Source and Image Credit: Zynga]
Have you seen this Goal appear in your game? Are you holding off on this content before Pioneer Trail releases, or are you scrambling to finish as much as you can? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

FrontierVille: Plant Vanilla Orchid to complete new Vanilla Collection

Earlier today, we brought you a detailed look at the new Baker's Rebound timed goal in FrontierVille, which gives players a chance to unlock a new crop just for finishing the goal in time (in this case within seven days of starting it). The new crop is the Vanilla Orchid, and since it is entirely new, it also comes with a completely new collection.
The Vanilla Collection can be completed by harvesting Vanilla Orchids (obviously), but remember, you can also earn items by having your friends water the crops before they're ready to harvest. You'll need to find at least one of each of the following to finish this one off:
Vanilla ExtractVanilla Ice CreamVanilla YogurtVanilla ShakeVanilla FlanYou won't receive any bonus XP or even coins for finishing this collection, but you will earn a free Makeshift Bakery decorative item for your Homestead. That being the case, I'd put this one in the "redeem once and ignore" category; that is, until (unless) Zynga decides we'll need some of these collectible items for missions at some point in the future (c'mon - it's fairly likely). We'll make sure to let you know if that happens.
Are you the kind of FrontierVille player that needs to finish each collection at least once, or are you happy simply stocking up on items and letting things happen as they will? Sound off in the comments.

Game of the Day: Short History of the World

Take a thrill ride through time in Short History of the World. From the Ice Age to present day, you'll explore history in dozens of lightning fast mini games. You'll build the Great Wall of China, help Columbus reach America, paint the Mona Lisa, and much much more. Of course, that's assuming your fast enough. Fail too often and you'll be send back in time to the last checkpoint to try again.
Click here to play Short History of the World!
Pro Tips: Don't get frustrated. It's takes practice to get a lot of the faster, more complicated mini games down.If you aren't sure what to do, just click around, figure it out. That way next time you'll be able to complete it without a problem.On the tracing mini games, go slow and move your cursor carefully. You have more time than you think, don't rush.
Click here to play Short History of the World!
Have any more tips? What level were you able to get to in Short History of the World?

Games.com launches Table Invites for its popular card games

Attention! We're taking a break from our regular social game programming to bring you a Games.com Public Service Announcement!

In addition to this lovely blog that covers all things social games, Games.com is also home to thousands of free online games, including some of our very own, very popular card games. This week, we launched a new feature that makes it easier to invite friends to play at your table in these card games.
Here's how it works: Pick one of our card games, such as Gin Rummy, Whist, Canasta, Hearts, Crazy 8's or Super Crazy 8's, and choose to play a 'Single Player' or 'Multiplayer' game.
Wait briefly for the game and chat window to launch, then click the big orange 'Invite Friends' button in the chat window. A message that says "Share this link (copy & paste) with a friend and they can join your table! They will need to sign in to join you. http://aol.it/xxxxxx." will appear.
Highlight the URL, then hit 'Control-C' to copy it. Open an AIM window, Twitter message or email, and then hit 'Control-V' to paste the URL into the window and send the link to your friend(s). (If you're using a Mac, hit Command-C to copy the URL and Command-V to paste the URL).
Once your friend clicks on the link, they will be prompted to sign in to Games.com (if they aren't signed in already) and will then automatically join your table. Then, let the games begin! After all, there's nothing better than a little friendly competition.
Right now, the Table Invites are available in 12 of our games:
Also, feel free to take a peek at more of Games.com's free online card games.
Did you check out our new Table Invites? What did you think? Sound off in the comments below. Add comment.

Hone your karate chop in Fruit Ninja Kinect before it slices Facebook

Prepare for your arms to feel like jelly all week. As we patiently await the day when we can slice virtual fruit from the comfort of our Facebook, Halfbrick Studios has released the equally awesome Xbox version of its hit fruit-flaying mobile game, Fruit Ninja.
Titled simply "Fruit Ninja," the game is available now for the Xbox 360 Kinect for 800 Microsoft Points, or $10, in the Xbox Live Marketplace. The game features all the same modes of its mobile versions, meaning Classic, Arcade and Zen modes are all present and accounted for.
The latter two modes are timed affairs--the first of which has special fruit with super powers, while the other is a 90-second romp with no frills and no way to lose. Players can compare scores over Xbox Live, and whenever a friend bests one of your scores in either Classic or Arcade mode, you'll be sent a notification.
There are two new modes unique to Fruit Ninja for Kinect: a Challenge mode and a multiplayer component. We had an early look at Fruit Ninja Frenzy for Facebook at this year's E3, and are psyched to see how it takes advantage of the platform with its Bejeweled Blitz-like power-ups and competitive leaderboards. If anything, consider this a friendly reminder that you'll soon be able to slice fruit on screens that range from a mere four inches to those wider than you are tall. With all of this available training, you officially have no excuse to be anything less than a banana bushido blade.
[Source and Image Credit: Mashable]
Are you a Fruit Ninja fan ready to move on from strawberry slicing to coconut chopping (I could do this all day)? What other mobile or Facebook games do you think would translate well to motion gaming? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

The Domino's Noid triumphantly returns in ... a Facebook advergame

I've been waiting years, people, years for the Noid to return in something more than a t-shirt. And now, the infamous Domino's Pizza mascot has made his re-entry into the minds of children of the '80s and '90s with ... a Facebook advergame? You know what, after this long since a real Noid video game, I'll take it. Titled "Noid's Super Pizza Shootout," the game looks and plays just like the arcade light gun games of the '90s, and was released to honor the weird bunny suit-wearing toon's 25th anniversary.

The game essentially amounts to a shooting gallery of pizza, tomatoes and Noid. Lots of Noid, and I love it. (I know, I know, it's an advergame. But it's a dang fun one.) Players must use the mouse to aim and shoot at as many pizza pies as possible while Noid throws tomatoes at you for extra points. Shooting a sign with Noid's face on it--or Noid himself as he is so wont to swoop in unannounced--will deduct points from your score.

Perhaps it's an uncontrollable nostalgia for all things retro, or maybe I'm just craving pizza at 10 a.m., but Noid's Super Pizza Shootout is a fun distraction for a few minutes. It's certainly not something you'll revisit over and over again--unless, of course, you really want one of those free pizza coupons at stake. Of course, you need to "Like" the Domino's Facebook page to play, but you could always remove that from your profile later if you're not to keen on associating yourself with it since ... you know.
[Via Mashable]

Click here to play Noid's Super Pizza Shootout on Facebook >

Do you remember Noid way back in the day? Do you think he deserves a real comeback this time, or are you done with this goofy character? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Zynga to FrontierVille players: Sorry for the rollback bug, have some XP!

by Joe Osborne, Posted Aug 8th 2011 11:15AM

Did something ... strange happen to your homestead over the weekend? It apparently happened for lots of unfortunate pioneers, so Zynga is doing something about it. Between Friday night and Saturday morning, many FrontierVille players seemingly went, um, back in time.

But what really happened was that the game suffered a bug that caused its servers to roll back on players' progress by a few hours. In response, Zynga has compensated players with a hefty package. Here's the statement from Zynga community manager Stumpgrinder:

"We are aware of an issue that started to occur between roughly 6PM PST Friday (8/5) and 6AM PST Saturday (8/6) where FrontierVille players experienced rollbacks (their homestead was "reset" to a prior state) typically back to when they had first started playing during this 12-hour period. We have a listing of all the players affected by this issue and we will be issuing a compensation package on behalf of Frontier Jack (this will be awarded in-game). We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this issue has caused."

Since a great many players probably lost a level or two, thanks to that time warp rollback bug, Zynga has gifted players a Book of Experience and a Tragic Jack Statue. The Book of Experience will grant you another level instantly, regardless of how much XP it requires. The Tragic Jack Statue is, well, tragic. In fact, it's kind of a pathetic image of Jack riding on a ragged animal that looks like a bear ... maybe. We can't tell. Wouldn't you release more of a pick-me-up than something so, well, ew?

[Source and Image Credit: FrontierVille Info]

Were you affected by this strange bug, and have you been compensated for the time lost? What do you think of how Zynga handled the issue? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Tags: frontierville book of experience, frontierville bug, frontierville error, frontierville glitch, frontierville info, frontierville rollback, frontierville rollback bug, frontierville rollback bug compensation, frontierville tragic jack statue, zynga

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Zynga's games suffer outages, now what do we do?

Throughout the evening, Zynga's many Facebook games suffered intermittent outages. Games like FrontierVille, FarmVille and Empires & Allies were entirely unplayable for some time (presumably due to the Amazon Cloud Server downtime caused by a lightning strike), but the crew at the big Z have already gone right to work restoring service to games. In fact, FrontierVille and Empires & Allies are already back online, while farmers still may not be able to get into FarmVille as of this writing.

Don't worry either way, though, farmers. While it may be upsetting that we've had to take a break from our games, it doesn't look like we'll have to worry about losing any progress. If anything, think of this as though someone unplugged the power to all of your outlets in your house, rather than you simply unplugging one appliance. As other sites like Reddit and Foursquare were also affected during this outage, we can't blame Zynga's tinkering for any missing items like likely won't occur.

Either way, if you still can't get into FarmVille (or another Zynga game on Facebook), just be patient, as Zynga is working as quickly as they can to restore service to all players. Once that's done, you'll be back to harvesting your crops in no time!

Are you still having trouble getting into FarmVille or any other Zynga Facebook games? Should users be given some form of compensation for the game's downtime, even if it wasn't Zynga's fault? Sound off in the comments.

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