FarmVille iOS Update: Sail to Lighthouse Cove on iPhone, iPad

FarmVille for iOS is keeping up with the Joneses. Zynga just released Version 2.3 of FarmVille for iPhone and iPad, a major update that grants access to the brand new Lighthouse Cove expansion. Now, you can take your coastal farming village with you on your iPhone and iPad. The update doesn't contain much else, but let's not look too ungrateful--these updates are rare.

The update also includes "a barn-full of bug fixes and crash fixes," but what's more important is now we can finally hit up Lighthouse Cove on our tiny, touchy screens. To access the new content, just touch options button on the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and then "Travel to..." and Lighthouse Cove. The transition is surprisingly smooth.

However, you need to have already visited Lighthouse Cove on FarmVille for Facebook before you can check it out on your iOS device of choice. The mobile version of Lighthouse Cove even comes with a brand new theme song that sounds decidedly western, oddly enough.
FarmVille iPhone Lighthouse Cove
While you can access all the new crops, animals and trees the expansion has to offer, you won't be able to fix the place up while playing from your iPhone or iPad. Hey, at least you can keep up with things while in line at the grocery store, you know, buying real fruits and vegetables.

Click here to download FarmVille for iOS Version 2.3 Now >

Have you visited Lighthouse Cove through your iPhone or iPad yet? What do you think of how Zynga handles the mobile version of FarmVille? Sound off in the comments. 3 Comments

FarmVille iOS Update: Sail to Lighthouse Cove on iPhone, iPad

FarmVille for iOS is keeping up with the Joneses. Zynga just released Version 2.3 of FarmVille for iPhone and iPad, a major update that grants access to the brand new Lighthouse Cove expansion. Now, you can take your coastal farming village with you on your iPhone and iPad. The update doesn't contain much else, but let's not look too ungrateful--these updates are rare.

The update also includes "a barn-full of bug fixes and crash fixes," but what's more important is now we can finally hit up Lighthouse Cove on our tiny, touchy screens. To access the new content, just touch options button on the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and then "Travel to..." and Lighthouse Cove. The transition is surprisingly smooth.

However, you need to have already visited Lighthouse Cove on FarmVille for Facebook before you can check it out on your iOS device of choice. The mobile version of Lighthouse Cove even comes with a brand new theme song that sounds decidedly western, oddly enough.
FarmVille iPhone Lighthouse Cove
While you can access all the new crops, animals and trees the expansion has to offer, you won't be able to fix the place up while playing from your iPhone or iPad. Hey, at least you can keep up with things while in line at the grocery store, you know, buying real fruits and vegetables.

Click here to download FarmVille for iOS Version 2.3 Now >

Have you visited Lighthouse Cove through your iPhone or iPad yet? What do you think of how Zynga handles the mobile version of FarmVille? Sound off in the comments. 3 Comments

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove Sneak Peek: Chandler Blueberry crops in the wild

Here we go again, farmers. More news about FarmVille's upcoming Lighthouse Cove has been released today by Zynga itself. This new "news" comes in the form of a single screenshot, containing two animals and an area of nine crops. To go along with this screenshot, we're given the following text:

    Not only Lighthouse Cove will have exclusive animals, but there will also be new crops like the Lady Slipper and the Chandler Blueberry. Will you be ready to master more crops?


While we already knew that Chandler Blueberries existed, based on Mastery Signs we've previously seen, the Lady Slippers do look to be new. We can also spot two animals in this picture, with one looking to be a new kind of Rooster, and a fluffy gray sheep.

What we still haven't been able to determine is where exactly our farm will "end," and where the Cove landscaping will begin. In this new picture, the crops and sheep are placed incredibly close to the water, without a dark line separating interactive farmland from background picture. If this is deliberate, it opens up a whole world of possibilities for new game features out on the water, which would further explain why so much is going on out there in the Lighthouse Cove loading screen we discovered just days ago.

Whether this screenshot really sheds light on big features or not (I suppose it doesn't, depending on your viewpoint), it does continue to raise at least this farmer's hopes for something fantastic. We'll make sure to bring you all of the continued news about Lighthouse Cove as we know more, so keep checking back.

Are you excited about Lighthouse Cove? What sorts of themed items or activities are you looking forward to seeing in this new farm? Sound off in the comments!

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove Items: Outfit your new farm with these goodies

With tonight's launch of the Lighthouse Cove in FarmVille, we're given an opportunity to stock that farm with all sorts of new goodies! There are new trees, animals, buildings and of course plenty of decorations to choose from in this initial launch, some of which even go for coins! Here's a complete rundown of these items, along with a bit of a visual sneak peek for those that decide to wait until "free" Lighthouse Cove tickets launch next week.

Trees:

Eastern Red Cedar - 7 Farm Cash
Tulip Poplar - 7 Farm Cash
Lombardy Poplar - 15 Farm Cash
White Ash Tree - 5,000 coins
Black Gum Tree - 7 Farm Cash
Speckled Alder - 15 Farm Cash
White Cedar Tree - 15 Farm Cash

In this scenario, we're stuck with seven trees, which doesn't seem to make sense in the "Level 1 / Level 2 tree pairing setup," but we can confirm that Eastern Red Cedar Trees will produce White Cedar Trees when placed in an Orchard. You're given one of each as free gifts just for landing in Lighthouse Cove, however, so keep that in mind.

Animals:

Milking Shorthorn - 100,000 coins
Pine Marten - 100,000 coins
Main Coon - 200,000 coins
Loon Duck - 18 Farm Cash
Buttercup Chicken - 20 Farm Cash
Chinook - 20 Farm Cash
Dorset Sheep - 20 Farm Cash
Duroc Pig - 20 Farm Cash
Pineywoods Cow - 24 Farm Cash
New England Pinto - 26 Farm Cash
Sailor Cow - 24 Farm Cash
Canadian Goose - 20 Farm Cash
Quarter Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Eastern Moose - 22 Farm Cash
Mountain Lion - 20 Farm Cash
River Otter - 20 Farm Cash
Painted Turtle - 20 Farm Cash

Take particular notice of the Mountain Lion. If you purchased your way into Lighthouse Cove for 55 Farm Cash, you will have one of these big cats waiting for you in your Gift Box as a free gift for purchasing your ticket. Your farm will also have a River Otter waiting for you, for free, so feel free to skip on purchasing it if you don't care about having only one.

Buildings:

Chicken Coop - 5,000 coins
Garden Shed - 30,000 coins
Restaurant - 100,000 coins
Cove B&B - 30 Farm Cash
Garage (fully constructed) - 50 Farm Cash
Garage (frame) - 50,000 coins
Orchard (fully constructed) - 30 Farm Cash
Orchard (base) - 1,000 coins
Coastal Tool Shed - 22 Farm Cash
Coastal Barn - 30 Farm Cash
Cape House - 500,000 coins
Cottage - 20 Farm Cash
Cape Mansion - 50 Farm Cash
Post Office - 15 Farm Cash
Village Center - 50,000 coins

With these buildings, keep in mind that you'll receive a free base of an Orchard, and will also receive the Cove B&B on your land when you first arrive in Lighthouse Cove. As for the garage and restaurant, these are the vehicle storage and crafting buildings, respectively. We'll bring you a complete guide to the Restaurant feature in the Lighthouse Cove as soon as we can.

Decorations:

Beached Rowboat - 20 Farm Cash
Red Clover Pot - 1,000 coins
Ladyslipper Flower - 2 Farm Cash
Horse-Drawn Wagon - 10 Farm Cash
Inkeeper Gnome - 15 Farm Cash
Sailor Gnome - 15 Farm Cash
Fountain - 15 Farm Cash
Haystack - 10,000 coins
Pond - 15 Farm Cash
Stone Fence Gate - 50,000 coins
Picket Fence Gate - 2 Farm Cash
Daylily Flowerbed - 5,000 coins
Picket Fence - 5,000 coins
Stone Fence - 5,000 coins
Bench - 30,000 coins
Lamppost - 1 Farm Cash
You'll be given a few pieces of the Stone Fence for free when starting in Lighthouse Cove, but for the other decorations, it looks like you're on your own.

And there you have it! A complete look at what are (as of this writing) not-time-limited items available in the Lighthouse Cove farm. We'll bring you continued coverage about this new farm, so keep checking back with us for more!

What do you think of the many items made available to newcomers to the Lighthouse Cove? How many of these items will you stock up on? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove Restaurant: Everything you need to know

As we told you earlier, one of the biggest themed items farmers can expect from FarmVille's new Lighthouse Cove would be the Restaurant, which serves as this third farm's Crafting Cottage. The base Restaurant, with just two Crafting tables, can be purchased from the game's store for 100,000 coins, and as of this writing, you're only allowed to have one Restaurant in your Lighthouse Cove farm.

With this starter Restaurant, you'll have an item that is far less impressive than that of the game's preview image, but will still have access to a few recipes. Here's a rundown of those, including the crops you'll need to grow to craft them.

Cheddar Cheese - 2 Red Clover, 1 Hay and 2 Rhubarb Bushels
Blackberry Ice Cream - 3 Darrow Blackberry, 2 Chandler Blueberry and 3 Strawberry Bushels
Creamed Corn - 3 Butter & Sugar Corn, 3 Tarragon and 1 Pepper Bushels

Once you level up recipes six times, you'll be able to upgrade your restaurant to level 2 (which also changes it visually). At that point, you'll unlock three Level 2 recipes:

Wild Blueberry Pie - 2 Chandler Blueberry, 3 Wheat and 2 Rhubarb Bushels
Black Raspberry Wine - 3 Raspberry, 2 White Grape and 3 Chandler Blueberry Bushels
Fruit Cider - 2 Cove Cranberry, 3 Red Currant and 3 Lady Slipper Bushels

As you might expect, there are far more recipes to unlock than this, as you level up your Restaurant and unlock new ones to craft. We'll make sure to update you when we know what those recipes are, so keep checking back.

Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.

What do you think of the look of the Restaurant in FarmVille? Are you going to focus on crafting just to level up its appearance to that of the teaser image, or will you craft casually and let the upgrades happen along the way? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille Repairing the Lighthouse Cove: Everything you need to know

One of the biggest elements of FarmVille's new Lighthouse Cove farm will come in actually repairing the dock and lighthouse after a huge storm wiped them out. This is done via item collection, using the three new tools found in the Lighthouse Cove proper: Logs, Stones and Steel Beams. As of this writing, there look to be 10 different levels for upgrades you can provide to the "Lighthouse Cove" itself, with the starting level requiring just three each of those Logs, Stones and Steel Beams. This removes the seaweed and debris from the water, but does little else.

As you continually repair, or level up your Lighthouse Cove (of course, each level takes more and more of each building material), you'll see visual transformations reflecting those repairs. This is important to note, as repairing the cove will be the only way to draw out animals like dolphins, which serve an (as of now) still unknown purpose. Your friends can send you more of these parts, or you can purchase them outright for Farm Cash.

On top of all of this, the Lighthouse Cove can actually be "harvested," once per day, giving you a chance to find "sea" bushels, like Clams. These bushels are then placed into a Market Stall for your friends to use, if they so choose.

We're sure that the upgrades given to the Lighthouse Cove will have a much larger effect on the game sometime in the future, but for right now, just focus on getting through the first few levels, while still trying to complete all of those new goals as well.

Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.

Have you started repairing your Lighthouse Cove area, or are you waiting for the free passes to be handed out to FarmVille players? What will be the first thing you do when landing in Lighthouse Cove? Sound off in the comments.
We can almost hear the 3 Blokes team in Australia screaming "Fire everything!" as they hit the proverbial "Launch" button on its first Facebook game under publisher RockYou, Galactic Allies. (It would be most appropriate, no?) Real-time strategy fans can jump in on the thrill of space-faring, asynchronous player vs player combat, complete with 3D visuals.

Essentially, Galactic Allies is RockYou and 3 Blokes's answer to the growing trend of hardcore strategy games on Facebook. However, the duo make a point of mentioning that this is a more casual approach to the burgeoning sub genre, and that the game features a heavy focus on an episodic storyline. And in keeping with current trends sparked by developers like Kixeye in War Commander, players can control units individually.
Gallery: Galactic Allies on Facebook
This means you'll likely be able to maneuver your starships around enemy fire, adding another layer of strategy to combat in the game. "Galactic Allies alters expectations for what a Facebook game can be," said 3 Blokes VP and GM George Fidler in a release. "It's a deep and compelling strategy game, but with the accessibility of a browser game." (It also looks like it takes the general idea behind Galactic Trader, one of 3 Blokes's first games, and blows it wide open using some familiar art assets.)

Hopefully this accessible approach will apply to the litany of upgrades players will accumulate across various missions and episodes. Judging from these early screen shots, it looks like Galactic Allies will focus heavily on dialog, but more importantly: Battles will take place both on the surface of alien planets and far above them in the infinite void. In other words, there will be plenty of things high and low to make go boom in Galactic Allies.

Click here to learn more about Galactic Allies on Facebook >

Are you a fan of strategy games on Facebook? How do you think Galactic Allies might size up against its competition? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment

To go along with the Animal Mastery feature released in Pioneer Trail this weekend, you can now also complete one of three new collections in the game. Two of these collections go with the new animals that have also been released: the Badger and Moose, while the third goes with the 4F Mastery Club itself.

4F Collection

    * Rewards Spring Water and 80 XP


Badger Collection

    * Rewards Free Critter Milk and 120 XP


Moose Collection

    * Free Carrot Juice and 100 XP


As you might expect, you can earn each of these collections' items by tending to the appropriate animals (that is, you'll earn Badger Collection items for tending Badgers, and Moose Collection items for tending Moose), or by collecting the 4F Mastery Club's daily bonus. You'll also have a chance to earn these specific collectibles during the construction of the Mastery Club itself, although I wouldn't expect to receive the full set unless you're really lucky. By the way, if you're that lucky, would you mind letting some of that luck rub off on me?

Are you a fan of the collections in Pioneer Trail and actively try to complete them, or do you just let yourself complete these Collections casually? Let us know in the comments.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Lighthouse Cove Barn and Garage

If you were starting to doubt just how functional the upcoming Lighthouse Cove farm in FarmVille would be, some of those fears should be put to rest with Zynga's newest teaser image. While this is the same section of the farm that we've seen time and time again (with the mermaid, whale and boat dock), this picture also shows us what's going a bit further to the west, in the form of the farm's barn and garage (the red and blue buildings, respectively).

The text for this teaser image states that we'll be able to "[r]estore the cove, create a thriving restaurant, master your animals and crops and complete the ultimate farming cove experience with the coastal lighthouse!"

Of course, we already brought you details on this restaurant, in that it will be this third farm's Crafting Cottage, but the idea of restoring the cove is an interesting one. Perhaps this will be more like the English Countryside than not, seeing us fix the Barn and Garage using excess building parts, rather than starting them from scratch. Whatever the case, this farmer is incredibly excited to see more, and we'll make sure to let you know all additional details surrounding Lighthouse Cove as we know more.

Do you think we'll have to fix buildings in Lighthouse Cove, or could this "restore" wording deal with repairing the lighthouse or boat dock - things that are unique to this third farm? Speculate with us in the comments!