FarmVille Cheats & Tips: Tuscan Wedding quick links

Hello, Facefolks! It's Mr. Cheats here to give you the down low on the things you shouldn't know.

By now, you know there's a big Tuscan Wedding happening in FarmVille and Nonna needs you to help supply olives, truffles, goat milk and eggs. Those items can be traded in for favors, which -- in turn -- can be traded in for rare items like a sheep with a bowl of spaghetti on its head or a leaning FarmVille Pisa building.

There are several ways to get these items - as a free gift or picked up from your Facebook wall. There's an extra catch, you'll only be able to send certain items on certain days, and, sorry folks, Mr. Cheats can't help you get past this one (not yet, at least). You'll have to check back on different days to be able to send all of these Tuscan Wedding items to your compadres.

Today's (June 3) special item is goat milk. Click on the image below and send bottles of the white stuff to your friends like you're some kind of old-timey milkman.
farmville tuscan wedding goat milk
On June 4 (tomorrow) eggs will be available to send as a free gift for two days. Mr. Cheats will activate the link for this as soon as it goes live.
farmville tuscan wedding 1 days

On June 6, Truffles will be giftable; the link will be activated then.
truffles wedding

On June 8, Olives will be available as a free gift; look for the link then.
farmville tuscan wedding quick links olives
In the meantime, the best advice Mr. Cheats has is to check your friends Facebook feeds not once, not twice, but three times to make sure you don't miss out on any freebies. Mr. Cheats hates nothing more than when a farmer misses out on something free.

Mafia Wars catches on to the 'Icing' trend

Looks like Mafia Wars has caught on the 'Icing' trend. Now, when you kill someone during a fight in the game, you get a new notification that says "You Iced Your Opponent." You also have the option to share your victory with friends, by offering them a Liquid Courage boost, which increases their attack skill by 44 during their next fight.

Though I'm sure Zynga would deny it, this is clearly a nod at Icing -- a silly prank that started in dorm rooms and has made its way to corporate America (which means it's already waaay past the point of being cool.) The prank/game/whatever works like this: If a person is presented with a Smirnoff Ice, they must drop on one knee and chug the entire thing. That is, unless the presentee happens to 'block' the Icing, by carrying a Smirnoff Ice of their own. Then the person who initiated the Icing has to drop and chug. To refuse will bring a pox upon your house or some other kind of karmic badness.

Icings have been well documented on brosicingbros.com (which has since been shut down by party poopers at Diageo, Smirnoff's parent company) and IceYou.com. I've also had the pleasure of getting Iced, and well, let's just say I won't be drinking any of Smirnoff's alco-pop, well, ever again.

Good to see that the bros behind the scenes at Mafia Wars are keeping their fingers on the pulse of America ... or at least wrapped around a cold bottle of a malt beverage.

New Permanent FarmVille Crop: Purple Pod Peas

Recently many permanent or masterable crops have been added to the FarmVille Market, tonight Purple Pod Peas are the 61st!

To grow Purple Pods you must have first mastered the Pea crop.

Purple Pod Peas:

Cost: 210 coins
Harvest Time: 1 Day
Xp: 3

To obtain the first star of Purple Pod Pea mastery you must harvest 525 plots.

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Brown and Blue Mystery Box (6/30): Find out what's inside *spoiler*

A new Mystery Box was released to the FarmVille Market on June 30, 2010.

This Mystery Box costs 16 FV$ and will be available in the FarmVille Market during the next 6 days only.This box is outdoor themed and contains "outdoor" themed prizes.

FarmVille Outdoor Mystery Crate

You may recognize this box as it was featured on FarmVille Freak as a previously unreleased item.

:::Spoiler Alert:::

The following are confirmed prizes for this Mystery Box:

* Wolf Cub, 250 XP
* Chipmunk, 150 XP
* Saloon, 450 XP
* Campsite, 500 XP
* Gold Rush Cabin, 500 XP

What prize did you receive in this Mystery Box (June 30th)? Send pics of your prizes to farmgoddess@farmvillefreak.com and we will feature them on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Freak Esteban's Forest Campsite, Wolf Cub, & Bear

FarmVille Freak Taylor's Chipmunks

FarmVille Freak Alex's Saloon

FarmVille Freak Faith's Gold Rush Cabin


* Wolf Cub, 250 XP
* Chipmunk, 150 XP
* Saloon, 450 XP
* Campsite, 500 XP
* Gold Rush Cabin, 500 XP

What prize did you receive in this Mystery Box (June 30th)? Send pics of your prizes to farmgoddess@farmvillefreak.com and we will feature them on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille Freak Esteban's Forest Campsite, Wolf Cub, & Bear

FarmVille Freak Taylor's Chipmunks

FarmVille Freak Alex's Saloon

FarmVille Freak Faith's Gold Rush Cabin

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

New FarmVille Thank You Gift Option

In tonight's FarmVille updates a slight change was made to bonus accepting. You will now have the option to send a Thank You Gifts to your Neighbors after accepting, Adoptable Animals, Fuel, Free Xp, Foals and Calves among other items on from the Facebook homefeed.
This potentially could be a big improvement to the the game for those looking for or needing Free Gifts. For example, farmers could put a message in a Facebook bonus post letting their neighbors know what gift they are currently in need of, and with just a few clicks neighbors can receive a Foal (or whatever bonus it was) and help their neighbor out! In the end making all farmers happy.

What do you think of this new option? Will you now be asking for gifts via your Facebook bonus posts rather than with a FarmVille Wish list?

FarmVille New England Decorations: Goldfinch Birds, Coastal Picnic, Hydrangea, Cord of Wood, & Cliff II

Tonight, FarmVille added more limited edition New England themed decorations including the Goldfinch Birds, Coastal Picnic, Hydrangea, Cord of Wood, and Cliff 2. The middle goldfinch even flies!

You can purchase these decorations in the FarmVille Market during the next 10 days only and afterwards they will retire. FarmVille Limited Edition New England Decorations (Released August 5, 2010):

    Goldfinch Birds – 14 FV$ *decorative animal, is not harvestable and will not yield coins
    Coastal Picnic -70,000 Coins
    Hydrangea – 10,000 Coins *decorative flower, is not harvestable and will not yield coins
    Cord of Wood – 2,000 Coins
    Cliff II -


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

What do you think of these new limited edition New England Decorations ? Will you purchase any of them for your farm?

Where is our FarmVille Underground Storage?

Where is our FarmVille Underground Storage?

You may remember from a past official FarmVille Podcast (dated May 21st 2010) that FarmVille Community Manager, Lexilicious, mentioned that farmers would soon be introduced to a new FarmVille storage system. This new Underground Storage would provide a new method of storing all of our FarmVille decorations and buildings.

According to Lexilicious, the Underground Storage would be:

    Coming Soon
    Available through coins or farm cash as Cellars.
    You can store up to 200 items in the same size area (footprint) of one plot of land.
    You will start out with a smaller number of slots and will need your friends to help grow crops for them.
    These crops will give you energy to dig underground and increase the size of your cellars.
    You will be allowed a maximum of 2 Cellars.
    Having 2 Cellars will mean that you have a storage capacity of 400 items for your combined Cellars! All in the space of 2 plots.


FarmVille Underground Storage
Status: "Coming Soon"
Function: Store up to 200 items per Cellar
Cost: ?
Release Date: ?

This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Fountains, food & plush toys in YoVille, the final set of Moroccan Items is here

The YoVille Furniture Store got the final Moroccan update. Tons of new decorations, dishes and plush toys were added. You can now purchase more swords, plants and amazing fountains.

Food:
Dishes from the traditional Moroccan cuisine are now available for you to try. Dinner crepes, cherries, sweet potatoes, sweet rolls and more were added for coins!.

Plush Toys:
Rate thief, Moroccan princess and Moroccan Sultan plush toys are all avaialable for 8 YoCash each. If you are a plush collector, you should check them out!
Did you enjoy the Moroccan theme? Tell us in comments!
yoville moroccan itemsyoville moroccan itemsyoville moroccan itemsyoville moroccan itemsyoville moroccan itemsyoville moroccan itemsyoville moroccan items
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

YoVille show off your skills with the new Photo Booth

The new Photo Booth is now in YoVille. This new item allows you take pictures of your avatar surfing. Your friends who cannot afford to get one, can use your booth to take pictures too and you will win some coins.

This item is available for 12 YoCash ( Very reasonable price) in the Furniture Store.

Zynga's Platinum Ninja explains this new feature. Read more about it after the link.
yoville surfing
Want to get an item that is fun to play with and let's you brag to your friends?! Well the chance to do so will be coming very soon. We'll be releasing a Photo Booth in game that will allow you and your friends to interact with and post feeds to show off your wave riding skills. Let's check out a sneak peek of this Photo Booth and what you can do with it!
yoville photo booth
To interact with this item you will need to either have one yourself or go to a friend's home (who owns this item). To get a Photo Booth of your own you'll have to purchase it when it becomes available in game. Once you have a Photo Booth to interact with you will click on it and your avatar will jump on the surfboard. Then a picture will be taken of your avatar catching some waves. You'll then be prompted to "Share" your photo. Make sure to click share and show off your skills on your Facebook Wall.
yoville photo booth
If you are the lucky owners of a surfing Photo Booth you'll be able to have photo shoots any time you want! As an added bonus when your friends come by and use your Photo Booth and post a surfing feed you'll make some extra coins too! So not only can you play and brag with this item but can also make some coins even when you are not around!
If you don't have a Photo Booth but want to have a surfing session of your own you still can! Keep your eyes out for your friend's Surfing Feeds and click (in) to be taken to your friend's Photo Booth. Remember to share your photo so you can show off your surfing skills and get your friend some extra coins!
yoville surfboard
Well that's about all folks! We'll update you with more details when this feature is live in game but wanted to give you a little heads up on what to expect soon.

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Zynga CEO to employees: "I don't f***ing want innovation"

FarmVille creator Zynga is the most popular Facebook game publisher -- that's no debating that. Out of the top 10 most popular games on Facebook, Zynga created seven of them: FarmVille, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars, FrontierVille, Cafe World, Treasure Isle and PetVille. And while these games are beloved by many, the company behind the game hasn't always garnered a 'friendly' reputation with players or the games industry as a whole.

In a new tell-all article, 'FarmVillains' in San Francisco's SF Weekly, former Zynga employees dish about what they witnessed behind the scenes, which gives credence to the company's less-than-savory reputation. Apparently, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus meant what he said in his now-famous quote, admitting that he "did every horrible thing in the book just to get revenues," and one of those things includes blatantly copying competitor's games.

The SF Weekly article is long and certainly worth reading in its entirety, but here are a few of the more memorable quotes from Zynga's exes:


    "I don't fucking want innovation," the ex-employee recalls Pincus saying. "You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers."

    One contractor says he was offered freelance work from Zynga, related to mimicking a competitor's application, with explicit instructions: "Copy that game."

    "I was around meetings where things like that were being discussed, and the ramifications of things like that were being discussed - the fact that they'd probably be sued by the people who designed the game," he says. "And the thought was, 'Well, that's fine, we'll settle.' Our case wasn't really defensible." Psycho Monkey's suit was ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount.

    The former senior employee who was present for Pincus' "No innovation" diatribe described Zynga's business model this way: "Steal somebody else's game, throw millions of dollars at it, and then, if it doesn't have it already, add virtual coins."

To be fair, there are hundreds of successful corporations that were built on a concept that was an iteration of an existing idea. That's what makes the business world go 'round. Facebook itself is an iteration of a dozen social networks before it -- but Mark Zuckerberg's version just happened to resonate with the general population more than, say, Orkut or Friendster did before it.

Some could argue that Zynga simply did the same, but Pincus and his company have also built up a sense of distrust over the past few years, something that needs to be changed if they want to give companies like Electronic Arts and Activision a run for their money, and more importantly, if they want to keep players from looking for new virtual fields to harvest.

Treasure Isle: These oh-so sad animals need your help ... soon

Why are all of these adorable animals crying? Because they're going to be the next wave of sad cuties that need you to save them in Treasure Isle.

I wanted to pick out one of these that I was really looking forward to saving -- but after I surveyed all of their little faces, I pretty much want to save them all. Guess I can look forward to adding a toucan, elephant, leopard, deer, giraffe, porcupine, panda and unicorn to my island coterie.

There's no additional info on when these animals will start to appear in Treasure Isle, but keep your eyes out for the saddest animals on Earth appearing in your Facebook feed in the near future.

FarmVille: Send a Special Delivery to a neighbor while visiting their farm!

FarmVille has been making changes (positive ones, IMHO) to the way you interact with neighbors. First, by allowing you to do more on a neighbors farm, and, now, by adding the ability to send a Special Delivery to a neighbor while visiting their farm.
farmville special delivery neighbors farm

The next time you head to a friend's farm, look at the icons on the left-hand side of the screen -- and you will see a Special Delivery box. Mouse over it and you will see a message that says "Send your friend just the gift they need!" Click on the box and you will be prompted to post a message to your friend's Facebook wall.

farmville special delivery to specific friends

While some people aren't crazy about the idea of getting more Facebook Wall Posts, this new feature could help you get items (and send items) that you really need for your farm vs. random gifts that may or may not relate to your current in-game tasks. Three cheers for helpful gifts!

What do you think of this new gifting feature?

FarmVille LE Fall Animal: Autumn Horse & Autumn Foal

    farmville autumn horse
Tonight FarmVille introduced a new Limited Edition animal, an Autumn Horse, as part of the Fall theme.

You can purchase this animal in the FarmVille Market during the next 14 days only. When placed in the Horse Stable, the Autumn Horse has a chance at yielding an Autumn Foal.

FarmVille LE Autumn Horse Animal (Released October 5, 2010):

    Autumn Horse – 26 FV$


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

FarmVille LE Fall Buildings: Autumn Cottage & Autumn Gazebo

    farmville autumn gazebo
It's finally Fall in FarmVille! Tonight FarmVille introduced two new Limited Edition buildings including an Autumn Cottage and Autumn Gazebo.

You can purchase these buildings in the FarmVille Market during the next 14 days only.
farmville autumn gazebo     farmville autumn cottage
FarmVille LE Fall Buildings (Released October 5, 2010):

    Autumn Cottage - 34 Farm Cash
    Autumn Gazebo - 20 Farm Cash


This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Will you purchase any of these buildings for your farm?

FarmVille Haunted House: Everything you need to know

Complete your FarmVille Haunted House in no time with our FarmVille Cheats & Tips: Haunted House gifting links.

After playing FarmVille for over a year -- one thing's certain. The holidays are the best time of the year in the game because there are a slew of holiday themed items, and at least one of them will have you saying "I Gotta have it!" For me, this year, that item is the new FarmVille Haunted House, which was released to a few farmers before it was disabled due to a glitch.

If you did get the Haunted House, you know that this is a buildable item and you will need to collect building materials to complete your spooky mansion, which you will be able to purchase for Farm Cash or collect from your FarmVille neighbors. (Quick side note -- this building has a large footprint (3.5 x 2), so you'll need to clear out eight plots to make it fit on your farm.)

    farmville haunted house    
    farmville haunted house - games.com     farmville haunted house spine-chilling - blog.games.com

The Haunted House can be leveled up three times -- Eerie, Frightening, Spine-Chilling -- and you will need bricks, nails and wooden boards for each stage. Here's what you need for each stage:

Stage 1 (Eerie): 8 bricks, nails, boards
Stage 2 (Frightening): 10 bricks, nails, boards
Stage 3 (Spine-Chilling): 12 bricks nails boards

If you do some quick match that means you'll need 30 of each item -- so you best get collection. Another tip -- you can also use those Special Delivery packages you may have stockpiled to help you get the job done faster.

Once the Haunted House is complete, you will be able to collect candy from it every 24 hours AND you will be able to collect candy from your neighbor's haunted houses every 24 hours as well. The amount of candy you loot will depend on the level of the house.

Eerie: 1 Candy
Frightening: 2 Candy
Spine-Chilling: 3 Candy

As of this writing, the Haunted House is still disabled in the game and only the lucky few who snagged it early have been able to get to work. However, don't let that stop you from collecting all of the nails, boards and bricks you need -- then once the Haunted House shows up again, you'll be ready.

FarmVille Feed Trough Menu: What to expect from this mysterious feature

FarmVille Unreleased Feed Trough Menu
The digital farm gurus at FarmVille Freak have done it again, but this time they've uncovered an entirely new feature yet to grace FarmVille, the Feed Trough Menu. I know that you're thinking, "Joe, you idiot, the Feed Trough is already a decoration used for pig slop. Get back to covering the real news."

Ah-ha! Since some of you imaginary dissenters failed to read carefully, I'll explain. This is a brand new menu feature that will either be placed over top of the existing Feed Trough decoration or have a new version of the item attached to it. We do know, however, that this change will bring about at least six new animals to adopt. Since it is unreleased, we have no clue what these animals might be, but expect them to probably be unavailable through other means. Well, aside from Farm Cash; everyone knows you can buy almost anything with the green stuff.

Judging from the image above, it's possible that you'll be able to change the type of feed in order to attract different animals to your farm. More importantly, doesn't the backside of that animal hidden behind the menu tabs look strikingly similar to an elephant's? Don't be silly, this is a farm we're talking about here.

Mafia Wars offers triple mastery for New York, Cuba, Moscow, & Bangkok

One of the biggest draws to Mafia Wars is the sheer amount of content available at one's disposal when playing the game. You can make your way through numerous complete cities at your leisure, each containing multiple chapters, property layouts and more. That being the case however, can often mean that newer players find themselves stuck in older cities/locations (perhaps Mafia Wars New York or Cuba), as all of their friends have moved on to bigger and better cities.

Zynga is hoping to eliminate this, by giving those newer players, or even those who have just skipped some of the older missions as newer content is released, a chance to catch up, by upping the job mastery in the old cities to triple the original amount (in addition to the bonus funds you can earn by completing jobs in these same cities). That's right, for jobs in Mafia Wars New York, Cuba, Moscow and Bangkok, jobs can be now completed three times as quickly as before, saving you time and energy, and moving you one step closer to Mafia Wars Italy.

Just to be clear, this now means that a job that normally provides 5% job mastery per click will now offer 15%, as just one example. Zynga hasn't stated whether or not this is a permanent change or if it will only last for a short time, so make the most of this boost while you can!

Mafia Wars Game Cards offer more Reward Points than ever

Maybe it's the giving spirit of the holidays (or more likely a preparation for Black Friday), but no matter what inspired it Zynga has increased the amount of Reward Points you'll find in Mafia Wars Game Cards. Unfortunately, Zynga hasn't revealed by exactly how much the cards have increased in value, though they do remain at the same price as before. So, either way this is a deal.

Included in the update are new price points for the Game Cards to coincide with the Zynga Game Cards with $10 and $15 options. Before, Mafia Wars Game Cards were only offered for $25 and $50. And if you want to avoid the ravenous crowds this Friday morning, you can gift any Zynga Game Card through e-mail using Zynga's service. Besides, everyone knows that Cyber Monday is way cooler than Black Friday.

FarmVille creator Zynga is 'not for sale,' CEO says

Mark Pincus
But going public is a likely possibility. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus (pictured) revealed his intentions for the $5.5 billion social game company. For starters, "Zynga is not for sale. That is not my goal," Pincus said. "I want to build an international treasure; an entity which lasts in people's live for a long time."

While Zynga, soon to release CityVille--its seventh game--has partnered with several companies including its largest investor, Google, giving all that up for a massive wad of cash apparently isn't on Pincus' agenda. Besides, most of the greatest companies in the world didn't get where they are by selling out, right? However, selling hasn't been ruled out entirely, though IPO might be his next move for Zynga.

"I cannot say Zynga will never be up for sale but we are more likely to IPO [go public] rather than be sold. Being sold is not my ambition," Pincus said. "Going public makes it easier for investors to monetize your product." A horribly brief description of IPO, or initial public offering, would be that it's when a company releases extra shares for anyone and everyone to gobble up (including other corporations)... or scoff at and look toward the next big thing. In other words, it's extremely risky as the company in question could lose millions.

Though, it might be Zynga's only option if it wants to grow into the next Internet buzz word, which is exactly what Pincus has in mind. "I want 'Zynga' to be become to a verb, like 'to Google' has," said Pincus. "I want people to 'Zynga' each other and for the word to become completely aligned with gaming."

YoVille offers a FarmVille experience for Thanksgiving

FarmVille in YoVille: Zion's veggie patch has everything you need for the winter!
Check out how YoVille players can have their own farms without playing FarmVille! From vegetable crops to pumpkin patches, from horses stables to sheep pastures, YoVille has it all. And the easy part is that we don't have to ask other YoVille players to pick our crops. :) A Farmville experience right here in YoVille! Let's see some of these FarmVille creations! YoVille farming pumpkins
You want to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving? Spiralda's pumpkin patch is just the right place for pumpkins!
YoVille farming meats and vegetables
Yoangel has all organic vegetables and meats for Thanksgiving dinner!
YoVille Samwise Farm
Samwise's farm offers home delivery all year round!
YoVille horse ranch
At Jersee Dee's ranch the horses are trained for the incoming horse race!
YoVille pumpkin patch
Sugar Sweet's pumpkin patch just hosted a party and looks like everybody had fun!
YoVille turkey farm
You can hand pick your turkey at Bruno's farm!
YoVille sheep ranch
Spiralda is making sure we will all have good quality wool for our sweaters for the incoming Yowinter!

Check out the rest of our Thanksgiving 2010 coverage right here.

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.