With Energy now looking to be a very scarce commodity in CityVille, you'll be happy to know that with the release of the three St. Patrick's Day themed businesses in the game this week comes a new collection that rewards you with a +3 energy boost when completed.
The St. Patrick's Collection contains five new items to watch out for, which can be earned when collecting from the Fiddle Shop, the St. Patty's Pub, and the Shamrock Sing-A-Long businesses.
4 Leaf Clover
Fiddle
Leprechaun Hat
Pot of Gold
Rainbow
The reward, as we said above, is not only 3 energy, but also 50 Goods. While that may not seem like a lot, keep in mind that the St Patty's Pub only requires 40 Goods to set into motion, so this prize will keep at least one business up and running just a little while longer.
With the changes to the game's energy system, now might also be a good time to check out the other collections that reward energy, as you just might need them in the future.
Check out the rest of our St. Patrick's Day 2011 coverage right here.
What do you think of the St. Patrick's Collection? Will you build the Irish themed buildings to complete it, or is your town too full of other businesses?
Showing posts with label cityville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cityville. Show all posts
Thursday, January 5, 2012
CityVille: Blossoming Clovers & Clover Topiary available as free gifts
If you didn't get enough St. Patrick's Day goodies in CityVille with the release of new businesses, decorations, and crops this week, why not ask your friends to send you two more themed items for free? That's right, two new decorative items have been added to the game's free gifts page, allowing you to stock up on these items in bulk absolutely free.
The first item is the Blossoming Clovers, which is a patch of ground-cover much like the other flowers in the game; that is, it lies flush with the ground and doesn't come in a pot or planter. It's also free of any surrounding sidewalk. It adds a 1% bonus to surrounding items, as you'd likely expect. The other item is the Clover Topiary, which is larger, and therefore comes with a bigger payout bonus - 4% to be exact.
Neither of these items have a time limit associated with them, but since the Valentine's Day roses are no longer available to send from the free gifts page, we can only assume that these items will leave after their particular holiday as well. Make sure to send (and ask for) these items sooner, rather than later, to make sure you can get them in time. And remember, if you receive too many of these items, you can always store them in your Warehouse and bring them back out next year (or am I the only one that packrats like that?).
Check out the rest of our St. Patrick's Day 2011 coverage right here.
What do you think of these two new free gifts? Have you started stocking up on Blossoming Clovers to create a St. Patrick's Day themed area in your town?
The first item is the Blossoming Clovers, which is a patch of ground-cover much like the other flowers in the game; that is, it lies flush with the ground and doesn't come in a pot or planter. It's also free of any surrounding sidewalk. It adds a 1% bonus to surrounding items, as you'd likely expect. The other item is the Clover Topiary, which is larger, and therefore comes with a bigger payout bonus - 4% to be exact.
Neither of these items have a time limit associated with them, but since the Valentine's Day roses are no longer available to send from the free gifts page, we can only assume that these items will leave after their particular holiday as well. Make sure to send (and ask for) these items sooner, rather than later, to make sure you can get them in time. And remember, if you receive too many of these items, you can always store them in your Warehouse and bring them back out next year (or am I the only one that packrats like that?).
Check out the rest of our St. Patrick's Day 2011 coverage right here.
What do you think of these two new free gifts? Have you started stocking up on Blossoming Clovers to create a St. Patrick's Day themed area in your town?
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
April Fools! CityVille Energy Bandits Goal: Everything you need to know
Even CityVille is taking part in the tomfoolery of April 1 with a new mini-goal of sorts, "Energy Bandits." In addition to your everyday Bandits, Energy thieves have appeared in CityVille, and it's your job to capture them personally. Upon logging into the game and collecting from a few properties, Sam will appear exclaiming, "The energy bandits have been seen in your town!" Clicking OK will present you a treat.
Save Energy!
Catch as many Bandits as you can in 30 seconds
As soon as you press that "OK" button, Sam will ready you to click on as many Energy Bandits as possible. When you accept, you'll have 30 seconds to catch as many Bandits as possible. The Bandits will then literally appear in the street and you must click as many as possible to get that much Energy in return as a reward.
ENergy Bandits on the loose
When you complete the shortest Goal in the game ever, a message appears reading, "April Fools!" A happy April Fools it has been, as you'll find that Energy posted to your total for being a quick clicker. Let's hope Zynga gets into more skill-based Goals and, better yet, games down the line.
Have you seen this Goal in your city yet? How many Bandit did you capture at once?
Save Energy!
Catch as many Bandits as you can in 30 seconds
As soon as you press that "OK" button, Sam will ready you to click on as many Energy Bandits as possible. When you accept, you'll have 30 seconds to catch as many Bandits as possible. The Bandits will then literally appear in the street and you must click as many as possible to get that much Energy in return as a reward.
ENergy Bandits on the loose
When you complete the shortest Goal in the game ever, a message appears reading, "April Fools!" A happy April Fools it has been, as you'll find that Energy posted to your total for being a quick clicker. Let's hope Zynga gets into more skill-based Goals and, better yet, games down the line.
Have you seen this Goal in your city yet? How many Bandit did you capture at once?
Monday, December 26, 2011
FarmVille-maker Zynga reveals its secret for success (Hint: it's in the clouds)
Contrary to popular belief, Zynga isn't making money by mistake. In fact, according to an in-depth feature on Information Week, the FarmVille pusher's success is thanks to an extremely calculated and technological process known as hybrid cloud computing. This method of storing user data on remote servers (special groups of computers designed to store and recall data, like your crop timers) is behind what keeps CityVille and the gang running.
In fact, Zynga CTO of infrastructure engineering Allan Leinwand says this process of using both internal server farms, or buildings that house hundreds of these data storage units, and public servers like Amazon's cloud computing service for businesses is the 'hidden jewel' of Zynga's rampant success.
I mean, how else did you think Zynga games could handle tens of millions of people logging into its games everyday? Using both Amazon's EC2, or Elastic Computer Cloud, and its own internal servers (known as the Z Cloud), Zynga can easily prepare for huge spikes in traffic by simply buying more public servers rather than building their own. And if a game flops, the company can just cancel those public servers. This especially comes in handy when new games release, like CityVille, which skyrocketed to over 100 million players in just over a month last year, could have just as easily failed. (Though, that was highly unlikely.)
If it weren't for Zynga's unique approach to handling traffic, relying more on Amazon's public service than its own internal network, the company could never support such huge numbers of players. Sometimes, it's not just viral marketing and advertising that makes a social game successful.
However, as Bloomberg reports, the Amazon EC2 service was used to launch the recent attacks on Sony's PSN and SOE networks. According to Pete Malcolm, CEO of Abiquo Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based company that helps clients manage data internally and in the cloud, it's easy for an individual to fudge business information long enough to launch an attack from Amazon's public service. As Zynga and other companies focus more attention on public cloud computing (and successfully), it might be time that both Amazon and Zynga ramp up their security efforts.
In fact, Zynga CTO of infrastructure engineering Allan Leinwand says this process of using both internal server farms, or buildings that house hundreds of these data storage units, and public servers like Amazon's cloud computing service for businesses is the 'hidden jewel' of Zynga's rampant success.
I mean, how else did you think Zynga games could handle tens of millions of people logging into its games everyday? Using both Amazon's EC2, or Elastic Computer Cloud, and its own internal servers (known as the Z Cloud), Zynga can easily prepare for huge spikes in traffic by simply buying more public servers rather than building their own. And if a game flops, the company can just cancel those public servers. This especially comes in handy when new games release, like CityVille, which skyrocketed to over 100 million players in just over a month last year, could have just as easily failed. (Though, that was highly unlikely.)
If it weren't for Zynga's unique approach to handling traffic, relying more on Amazon's public service than its own internal network, the company could never support such huge numbers of players. Sometimes, it's not just viral marketing and advertising that makes a social game successful.
However, as Bloomberg reports, the Amazon EC2 service was used to launch the recent attacks on Sony's PSN and SOE networks. According to Pete Malcolm, CEO of Abiquo Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based company that helps clients manage data internally and in the cloud, it's easy for an individual to fudge business information long enough to launch an attack from Amazon's public service. As Zynga and other companies focus more attention on public cloud computing (and successfully), it might be time that both Amazon and Zynga ramp up their security efforts.
CityVille players deliver a quarter million dollars for US tornado relief
After the huge charity drives that were Haiti and Japan, Zynga ran a noticeably less aggressive campaign in promoting relief efforts for the massive US tornado outbreak of late April. Six states were hit, the most affected being Alabama, and news outlets called it the worst natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina.
Only Zynga's CityVille and Mafia Wars had special virtual items made for player donations. CityVille offered Tornado Relief Fund Blueberries for a week and promised 100 percent of the funds to Save the Children; while Mafia Wars (after demands from fans) responded with a Disaster Relief Truck with 100 percent of the funds going to Direct Relief International.
Today, Zynga sent out a thank you email to their CityVille players, letting us know that they've managed to raise exactly $226,027 USD. There's no telling how much of this was from the precise sale of CityVille blueberries or direct donations via the charity's website (which Zynga promoted across all its games), but after watching Zynga raise $1 million USD for Japan within 36 hours, a quarter million dollars within a week pales in comparison. On the other hand, I think most of us are grateful they've done so, because they're certainly not obligated to try.
Only Zynga's CityVille and Mafia Wars had special virtual items made for player donations. CityVille offered Tornado Relief Fund Blueberries for a week and promised 100 percent of the funds to Save the Children; while Mafia Wars (after demands from fans) responded with a Disaster Relief Truck with 100 percent of the funds going to Direct Relief International.
Today, Zynga sent out a thank you email to their CityVille players, letting us know that they've managed to raise exactly $226,027 USD. There's no telling how much of this was from the precise sale of CityVille blueberries or direct donations via the charity's website (which Zynga promoted across all its games), but after watching Zynga raise $1 million USD for Japan within 36 hours, a quarter million dollars within a week pales in comparison. On the other hand, I think most of us are grateful they've done so, because they're certainly not obligated to try.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
CityVille Havering Manor: Add citizens to your town the expensive way
While I would like to tell you that CityVille's newest limited edition home is affordable, I unfortunately can't. No, the Havering Manor costs a whopping 70 City Cash, and that's just for a single building! Granted, this estate is quite large, taking up a lot of space on your land, but isn't that also another negative? With expansions and land space going for high costs now, is it worth building this large of a structure, especially when it costs this much to do?
Perhaps I'm reading too much into this. Either way, if you're interested in purchasing the Havering Manor, you'll receive a starting population of 1750 citizens, which can be expanded to a huge number - 4,500 citizens - over time (by randomly receiving population boosts when you or your friends collect the Manor's rent).
To add a bit of a complication to the Havering Manor, even if the price tag isn't too high for you, but you do need to save up some City Cash, you unfortunately don't have that luxury. The Havering Manor will only be available in the store for the next day, and whether it will ever be re-released after this initial launch is anyone's guess. Who knows? It may come back, but at an even higher price (don't put it past Zynga). Ultimately, purchasing one will be up to you, but I wouldn't blame you for turning your nose up at the idea and moving on.
Will you / have you purchase(d) the Havering Manor before it expires in CityVille? Do you think 70 City Cash is an acceptable price, considering the large boost in population this one provides?
Perhaps I'm reading too much into this. Either way, if you're interested in purchasing the Havering Manor, you'll receive a starting population of 1750 citizens, which can be expanded to a huge number - 4,500 citizens - over time (by randomly receiving population boosts when you or your friends collect the Manor's rent).
To add a bit of a complication to the Havering Manor, even if the price tag isn't too high for you, but you do need to save up some City Cash, you unfortunately don't have that luxury. The Havering Manor will only be available in the store for the next day, and whether it will ever be re-released after this initial launch is anyone's guess. Who knows? It may come back, but at an even higher price (don't put it past Zynga). Ultimately, purchasing one will be up to you, but I wouldn't blame you for turning your nose up at the idea and moving on.
Will you / have you purchase(d) the Havering Manor before it expires in CityVille? Do you think 70 City Cash is an acceptable price, considering the large boost in population this one provides?
Friday, December 16, 2011
CityVille: Finish your Bridge, Dam and more with discounted materials
If you've been putting off building one of the larger structures in CityVille (like the Bridge or Dam, as examples), because you didn't want to gather the required building materials from friends, or simply didn't want to pay the high prices to purchase those materials with City Cash, the team at Zynga is hoping that buy putting these items on sale (well, some of these items anyway), it might be enough to persuade you to open your wallet.
To be specific, a sale is now being held for up to 40% off building materials in the game. The materials are unfortunately limited to a specific set of buildings: the Bridge, Sailboat Hotel, Dam, Mall, Mall 2, Pirate Ship Attraction and Go Kart Attraction, and the rest of the game's many, many buildings are left unaffected. To make matters worse - between the two of us - the sale really isn't that good.
For example, let's say you wanted to finish your Pirate Ship Attraction. This one's building materials still cost 3 City Cash each. Perhaps if that were three City Cash in total for all of a particular ingredient I needed (say, two Ship's Prows or five Overhead Bars), that might be an acceptable price, but in our particular example, we're still looking at six City Cash for the Ship Prows and 15 City Cash for the Overhead Bars. Wouldn't it still be smarter (if not more time consuming) to ask friends for these items instead?
I suppose if you're looking for an easier way of completing these specific buildings, then you'll want to take advantage of this apparently limited time opportunity. Just don't feel any unneeded pressure to purchase building materials; the free way is still available, and doesn't look to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Will you spend City Cash on any of these discounted building materials, or have you already completed the construction on all of these buildings?
To be specific, a sale is now being held for up to 40% off building materials in the game. The materials are unfortunately limited to a specific set of buildings: the Bridge, Sailboat Hotel, Dam, Mall, Mall 2, Pirate Ship Attraction and Go Kart Attraction, and the rest of the game's many, many buildings are left unaffected. To make matters worse - between the two of us - the sale really isn't that good.
For example, let's say you wanted to finish your Pirate Ship Attraction. This one's building materials still cost 3 City Cash each. Perhaps if that were three City Cash in total for all of a particular ingredient I needed (say, two Ship's Prows or five Overhead Bars), that might be an acceptable price, but in our particular example, we're still looking at six City Cash for the Ship Prows and 15 City Cash for the Overhead Bars. Wouldn't it still be smarter (if not more time consuming) to ask friends for these items instead?
I suppose if you're looking for an easier way of completing these specific buildings, then you'll want to take advantage of this apparently limited time opportunity. Just don't feel any unneeded pressure to purchase building materials; the free way is still available, and doesn't look to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Will you spend City Cash on any of these discounted building materials, or have you already completed the construction on all of these buildings?
Monday, December 12, 2011
CityVille Executive Driving Range Attraction: Everything you need to know
It seems that just as quickly as we can finish the construction on an Attraction in CityVille, another one is released. Such is the case this week, as the Ferris Wheel has been followed up by the Executive Driving Range, or a golf range, if you prefer.
The base of the Executive Driving Range costs 10,000 coins, and it must be whacked eight times before the base is complete. From there, you'll need to collect various building materials, as you might have expected:
5 City Seals
5 Golf Balls
5 Buckets
5 Netting
5 Targets
If you're lucky, you'll already have the City Seals in your account waiting for you, and can then concentrate on gathering the other four items instead. Golf Balls and Buckets can be earned by posting a general news item to your wall, while Netting and Targets are earned via individual gift requests sent to friends.
Once the Executive Driving Range is complete, you can put it into operation for five minutes at a time. Once the five minutes has passed, you'll collect your profits just as you would any other business (your income ranges from 1,400 to 6,000 coins each cycle), but you can't restock it with Goods. Instead, you'll need to wait for a countdown timer to hit zero before you can restart it. You can collect Wrenches from your friends to speed up this timer, but remember - you can only post a single request for Wrenches, which are shared among all of the four available Attractions, so you won't be able to stock up as greatly as you might like.
Of course, building the Executive Driving Range is entirely voluntary, but if you like features such as this, why not give it a swing? Note: you must be at least level 25 to access the Executive Driving Range.
Will you build the Executive Driving Range in your town, or are three attractions enough?
The base of the Executive Driving Range costs 10,000 coins, and it must be whacked eight times before the base is complete. From there, you'll need to collect various building materials, as you might have expected:
5 City Seals
5 Golf Balls
5 Buckets
5 Netting
5 Targets
If you're lucky, you'll already have the City Seals in your account waiting for you, and can then concentrate on gathering the other four items instead. Golf Balls and Buckets can be earned by posting a general news item to your wall, while Netting and Targets are earned via individual gift requests sent to friends.
Once the Executive Driving Range is complete, you can put it into operation for five minutes at a time. Once the five minutes has passed, you'll collect your profits just as you would any other business (your income ranges from 1,400 to 6,000 coins each cycle), but you can't restock it with Goods. Instead, you'll need to wait for a countdown timer to hit zero before you can restart it. You can collect Wrenches from your friends to speed up this timer, but remember - you can only post a single request for Wrenches, which are shared among all of the four available Attractions, so you won't be able to stock up as greatly as you might like.
Of course, building the Executive Driving Range is entirely voluntary, but if you like features such as this, why not give it a swing? Note: you must be at least level 25 to access the Executive Driving Range.
Will you build the Executive Driving Range in your town, or are three attractions enough?
CityVille Reel World Timed Goal: Everything you need to know
A new timed goal has launched in CityVille this week, taking us back to the great outdoors for some fishing. If you're level 35 or above, you'll have access to this goal, which can be started at any point in your game - it's up to you when exactly you'll begin. Using our guide to the goal, you should be able to prepare yourself as much as possible before actually starting the goal, and that way you'll have a better chance of earning the gold trophy and the prizes that come with it.
The Reel World
Get 10 Fishing Lures
Harvest 30 Pumpkins
Collect 8 Times from a Seafood Restaurant
A Seafood Restaurant costs just 7,500 coins to purchase from the store, and if you're a veteran player in the game, it's highly unlikely that you don't already have at least one sitting in your town. It requires 140 Goods to operate, so your best bet to completing this particular task quickly would be to make it the only business that currently has Goods, so all citizens will flock to it, causing it to sell out much faster than normal. Pumpkins, meanwhile, take 18 hours to harvest, so unless you follow our suggestion of having pumpkins already to harvest before starting this goal, that's some serious time you'll spend (waste), waiting for them to grow.
If you can complete these three tasks within the first 24 hours of starting the goal, you'll receive the Gold Trophy, a Sailboat, 2,300 coins and 1,200 Goods. Unfortunately, you must complete this goal at this top level to receive the Sailboat. If you don't finish within the first day, but can complete the goal before the 72-hour mark has passed, you'll receive the Silver Trophy, 2,600 coins and 1,200 Goods, while finishing at any point after that cutoff gives you the Bronze Trophy and 1,200 Goods.
Luckily, it seems that these timed goals are becoming a bit easier with each one that's released. So long as you plan ahead with the pumpkin task, you should have no real trouble finishing this one off in 24 hours, but we still wish you good luck in your attempt!
What do you think of this latest timed goal? Have you received the Gold Trophy on any timed goals in the past?
The Reel World
Get 10 Fishing Lures
Harvest 30 Pumpkins
Collect 8 Times from a Seafood Restaurant
A Seafood Restaurant costs just 7,500 coins to purchase from the store, and if you're a veteran player in the game, it's highly unlikely that you don't already have at least one sitting in your town. It requires 140 Goods to operate, so your best bet to completing this particular task quickly would be to make it the only business that currently has Goods, so all citizens will flock to it, causing it to sell out much faster than normal. Pumpkins, meanwhile, take 18 hours to harvest, so unless you follow our suggestion of having pumpkins already to harvest before starting this goal, that's some serious time you'll spend (waste), waiting for them to grow.
If you can complete these three tasks within the first 24 hours of starting the goal, you'll receive the Gold Trophy, a Sailboat, 2,300 coins and 1,200 Goods. Unfortunately, you must complete this goal at this top level to receive the Sailboat. If you don't finish within the first day, but can complete the goal before the 72-hour mark has passed, you'll receive the Silver Trophy, 2,600 coins and 1,200 Goods, while finishing at any point after that cutoff gives you the Bronze Trophy and 1,200 Goods.
Luckily, it seems that these timed goals are becoming a bit easier with each one that's released. So long as you plan ahead with the pumpkin task, you should have no real trouble finishing this one off in 24 hours, but we still wish you good luck in your attempt!
What do you think of this latest timed goal? Have you received the Gold Trophy on any timed goals in the past?
CityVille Campaign Committee Goal: Everything you need to know
If you're looking for a way to earn extra coins, XP and Zoning Permits in CityVille, and you have a lot of friends that are always willing to help you out, you might be interested in the new "Campaign Committee" goal that was launched this week in the game. This feature is open to users that are at least level 15 and have at least one City Hall building in their town. As of right now, this is a one-time only feature, and instead of showing up on the left-hand side of your screen as other goals appear, this one must be activated by you by collecting from your City Hall when it's ready.
The next time you collect your profits from your City Hall, you'll see a new menu, asking you whether or not you'd like to start this new goal. You'll have just 24 hours to collect as much help from your City Hall staff members as you plan your campaign for your run for Governor. There are three levels of prizes associated with this goal, with more upgraded City Halls unlocking better prizes, and the amount of friends that ultimately help you also affecting your rewards. For a Level 2 City Hall, the three level of rewards are 10,000 coins, 40 XP and 3 Zoning Permits.
Once you start the goal (remember, it's a manual start - you can choose to do so whenever you're ready), you'll be able to post wall posts to your friends' walls asking them to come help you out. If you happen to have many spaces filled by Samantha or just blank staff positions, you can fill those by asking friends as well. When a friend responds to your call for help, you'll see a green check mark appear next to their name on the list. After the 24 hour period has passed, you'll receive whatever prizes you've received for your current level (note: you can track your current status on prizes by looking inside the goal's menu, as seen below).
Again, this Campaign Committee goal is a one-time-only activity for your town. Perhaps if it goes over well enough with users, we'll see another opportunity to ask our friends for help with campaign "donations," but for now, just focus all of your efforts on earning the most rewards from this feature while you can.
What do you think of the Campaign Committee feature in CityVille? Would you like to see this be an ongoing feature in your town?
The next time you collect your profits from your City Hall, you'll see a new menu, asking you whether or not you'd like to start this new goal. You'll have just 24 hours to collect as much help from your City Hall staff members as you plan your campaign for your run for Governor. There are three levels of prizes associated with this goal, with more upgraded City Halls unlocking better prizes, and the amount of friends that ultimately help you also affecting your rewards. For a Level 2 City Hall, the three level of rewards are 10,000 coins, 40 XP and 3 Zoning Permits.
Once you start the goal (remember, it's a manual start - you can choose to do so whenever you're ready), you'll be able to post wall posts to your friends' walls asking them to come help you out. If you happen to have many spaces filled by Samantha or just blank staff positions, you can fill those by asking friends as well. When a friend responds to your call for help, you'll see a green check mark appear next to their name on the list. After the 24 hour period has passed, you'll receive whatever prizes you've received for your current level (note: you can track your current status on prizes by looking inside the goal's menu, as seen below).
Again, this Campaign Committee goal is a one-time-only activity for your town. Perhaps if it goes over well enough with users, we'll see another opportunity to ask our friends for help with campaign "donations," but for now, just focus all of your efforts on earning the most rewards from this feature while you can.
What do you think of the Campaign Committee feature in CityVille? Would you like to see this be an ongoing feature in your town?
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
CityVille: Playa del Rey Apartments add plenty of population at a high price
As tends to be the case with limited edition item themes in CityVille, the current Mexican theme of items has received a new, limited edition residential building by the name of the Playa del Rey Apartments. These apartments cost a whopping 75 City Cash to add to your town, but are highly detailed, with tons of architectural interest, and even some palm trees (you know, if the way your town looks matters as much as the stats themselves).
Once you purchase the Playa del Rey Apartments, you'll have a house with a starting population of 2,350 residents, that can be expanded through random boosts all of the way up to 4,350 citizens. You'll earn 451 coins in rent every day, if you remember to collect from it, and you might even be able to place this one in your apartment-centric Neighborhood, if the folks at Zynga remembered to program that option in (we're working on discovering if that's the case).
Remember, as this one is limited edition, your opportunity to purchase one will only be around for the next 11 days. After that point, it's likely we'll see a new limited edition item theme launch in the store, with its own set of expensive housing units, and we may never see this one again. Shop now if you really want it.
Will you purchase a Playa del Rey Apartments for your town? How much is too much for a business or residence in CityVille? Sound off in the comments.
Once you purchase the Playa del Rey Apartments, you'll have a house with a starting population of 2,350 residents, that can be expanded through random boosts all of the way up to 4,350 citizens. You'll earn 451 coins in rent every day, if you remember to collect from it, and you might even be able to place this one in your apartment-centric Neighborhood, if the folks at Zynga remembered to program that option in (we're working on discovering if that's the case).
Remember, as this one is limited edition, your opportunity to purchase one will only be around for the next 11 days. After that point, it's likely we'll see a new limited edition item theme launch in the store, with its own set of expensive housing units, and we may never see this one again. Shop now if you really want it.
Will you purchase a Playa del Rey Apartments for your town? How much is too much for a business or residence in CityVille? Sound off in the comments.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
CityVille Most Valuable Palace allows your citizens to live like MVPs
It looks like one final item has been added to the sports theme of items in CityVille, in the form of a new house that's only available for a very, very limited time (we're talking less than a day). The MVP - Most Valuable Palace home costs a whopping 80 City Cash to add to your town, but it adds an equally large figure of 2,500 citizens to your town.
If you're lucky enough to have that number upgraded through random boosts (remember, your friends "tending" to the home can trigger those same boosts), you can eventually raise that 2,500 number to 4,500 citizens! That's a huge group of MVPs (how will they all share that tiny basketball court?)! Once you've built this one (it takes up just a 5x5 square), it will generate 494 coins and can be collected from once each day.
Again, this is an incredibly limited time offer. In the time you're reading this, the house is slipping farther and farther out of your grasp, so what are you waiting for?! If you have any interest in this one whatsoever, head into the store before it expires (perhaps for good).
Is 80 City Cash too much to pay for a single home, even one with such impressive stats? Will you purchase the MVP - Most Valuable Palace for your city in CityVille? Sound off in the comments.
If you're lucky enough to have that number upgraded through random boosts (remember, your friends "tending" to the home can trigger those same boosts), you can eventually raise that 2,500 number to 4,500 citizens! That's a huge group of MVPs (how will they all share that tiny basketball court?)! Once you've built this one (it takes up just a 5x5 square), it will generate 494 coins and can be collected from once each day.
Again, this is an incredibly limited time offer. In the time you're reading this, the house is slipping farther and farther out of your grasp, so what are you waiting for?! If you have any interest in this one whatsoever, head into the store before it expires (perhaps for good).
Is 80 City Cash too much to pay for a single home, even one with such impressive stats? Will you purchase the MVP - Most Valuable Palace for your city in CityVille? Sound off in the comments.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
CityVille: 3x XP on Neighbor Visits this weekend only
If you're looking for a way to quickly reach the next level in CityVille (ok, so maybe it won't speed you up that much), you'll want to play as much as you can this weekend. Why? Zynga is holding a triple XP event for this weekend only, that will see you earning 3x the amount of XP when visiting and helping neighbors. Sure, it would be great if this event swept across the entire game, allowing you to have triple XP on businesses and homes as well, but I suppose we can't really complain when we're receiving something for nothing here.
If you play your cards right, and visit all of your friends both days this weekend, you can of course earn double the amount of bonuses, but it's understandable if you don't think the bonus XP received is really worth it. Hopefully, if this event goes over well enough, we'll receive even more bonuses in the future. Perhaps a bonus amount of XP for each home collected from? Each business? That sounds like a great way to pull in players, if you ask me, but we won't hold our breath. In the meantime, I hope you earn more bonus XP through this event than me, as I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it...
What do you think? Will you take the time to visit all of your friends for 3x XP this weekend? Sound off in the comments.
If you play your cards right, and visit all of your friends both days this weekend, you can of course earn double the amount of bonuses, but it's understandable if you don't think the bonus XP received is really worth it. Hopefully, if this event goes over well enough, we'll receive even more bonuses in the future. Perhaps a bonus amount of XP for each home collected from? Each business? That sounds like a great way to pull in players, if you ask me, but we won't hold our breath. In the meantime, I hope you earn more bonus XP through this event than me, as I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it...
What do you think? Will you take the time to visit all of your friends for 3x XP this weekend? Sound off in the comments.
Monday, September 26, 2011
CityVille Crew Pack saves you time on staffing your buildings
Along with the new Zoning Permit Expansion Packs launched in CityVille over the weekend comes a new Crew Pack that serves a similar function. This Crew Pack costs 25 City Cash and will give you a 20 Crew Member bonus that stays on your account until all 20 crew members have been used.
So, how does this work exactly? It's simple: When you go to build any kind of structure that requires you to staff your building by asking your friends to help, these 20 bonus crew members will be put to work instead, saving you the time it takes to ask your friends to help you (and wait for them to respond), along with saving your friends from some annoyance if they're tired of being sent to many requests.
Is this Crew Pack worth 25 City Cash? I suppose if you have a very limited supply of in-game neighbors, it would be the saving grace for actually being able to finish some community buildings and the like, but I personally don't think I'll be investing in this particular shortcut. Why? Just look at all of these farm-themed goodies that are still begging to be purchased!
Whatever your opinion on these Crew Packs, they won't be available to purchase forever, but are only available for a "limited time." Unfortunately, Zynga hasn't announced when the actual expiration date is, so your best bet would be to stock up now if you're interested in using these bonus crew members, even at a later date.
Will you purchase any Crew Packs for future use in your buildings? Let us know in the comments.
So, how does this work exactly? It's simple: When you go to build any kind of structure that requires you to staff your building by asking your friends to help, these 20 bonus crew members will be put to work instead, saving you the time it takes to ask your friends to help you (and wait for them to respond), along with saving your friends from some annoyance if they're tired of being sent to many requests.
Is this Crew Pack worth 25 City Cash? I suppose if you have a very limited supply of in-game neighbors, it would be the saving grace for actually being able to finish some community buildings and the like, but I personally don't think I'll be investing in this particular shortcut. Why? Just look at all of these farm-themed goodies that are still begging to be purchased!
Whatever your opinion on these Crew Packs, they won't be available to purchase forever, but are only available for a "limited time." Unfortunately, Zynga hasn't announced when the actual expiration date is, so your best bet would be to stock up now if you're interested in using these bonus crew members, even at a later date.
Will you purchase any Crew Packs for future use in your buildings? Let us know in the comments.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
CityVille Back to School Goals: Everything you need to know
What better way to celebrate the launch of another school year in the real world than to... play CityVille on Facebook? Ok, so maybe I'm grasping at straws with that one, but Zynga has done it too! Just look at these new goals! There are four new goals to complete in all, in a Back to School series that will see you ultimately rewarded with a Football Field, among other prizes. Without further ado (as we all know there's homework to be done), here's a guide to finishing these four goals off.
Too Cool For School / Brain Food
* Ask for 5 Pocket Protectors
* Visit 10 Neighbors
* Harvest 20 Wheat
The Pocket Protectors are earned through a general news post, rather than individual requests to friends. While you're waiting for those to arrive, you can plant your wheat, which takes a whopping 2.1 days to grow. For finishing this first goal, you'll receive just 35 XP.
Show & Tell
* Ask for 8 Text Books
* Collect from 20 Businesses
* Collect from Burger Joint 4 Times
For this goal, it looks as though you can collect from the same Burger Joint four times in a row, or collect from four individual Burger Joints, so keep that in mind if you happen to have more than one in your town. For finishing this second goal, you'll receive 960 coins.
Study Hall of Fame
* Upgrade a Library
* Collect from any Library 2 Times
* Have a Crossing Guard in your City
Back at the end of July, Zynga released the ability to upgrade your Library, and you can find our complete guide to doing so right here. For finishing this goal, you'll earn 480 Goods.
Playing Hooky
* Have 2 Pairs of High Heels from the Designer Collection
* Collect from Flower Kiosk 10 Times
* Collect from Diner 8 Times
The High Heels are available from the Shoe Store, Handbag Store, Sunglasses Store or Watch Shop, so just keep supplying and collecting from those businesses and you should get lucky (if you're impatient, you can also ask your friends to send you some extras from their own collections). For finishing this final goal, you'll receive the Football Field, which is a 6x4 decorative item that gives you a 30% bonus to surrounding businesses and residences. It is currently only available through this goal series, so make sure to keep track of them if you are interested in adding one to your town.
What do you think of these new CityVille Back to School goals? Is it too late for back-to-school fun, or will you do anything for exclusive new decorations? Sound off in the comments.
Too Cool For School / Brain Food
* Ask for 5 Pocket Protectors
* Visit 10 Neighbors
* Harvest 20 Wheat
The Pocket Protectors are earned through a general news post, rather than individual requests to friends. While you're waiting for those to arrive, you can plant your wheat, which takes a whopping 2.1 days to grow. For finishing this first goal, you'll receive just 35 XP.
Show & Tell
* Ask for 8 Text Books
* Collect from 20 Businesses
* Collect from Burger Joint 4 Times
For this goal, it looks as though you can collect from the same Burger Joint four times in a row, or collect from four individual Burger Joints, so keep that in mind if you happen to have more than one in your town. For finishing this second goal, you'll receive 960 coins.
Study Hall of Fame
* Upgrade a Library
* Collect from any Library 2 Times
* Have a Crossing Guard in your City
Back at the end of July, Zynga released the ability to upgrade your Library, and you can find our complete guide to doing so right here. For finishing this goal, you'll earn 480 Goods.
Playing Hooky
* Have 2 Pairs of High Heels from the Designer Collection
* Collect from Flower Kiosk 10 Times
* Collect from Diner 8 Times
The High Heels are available from the Shoe Store, Handbag Store, Sunglasses Store or Watch Shop, so just keep supplying and collecting from those businesses and you should get lucky (if you're impatient, you can also ask your friends to send you some extras from their own collections). For finishing this final goal, you'll receive the Football Field, which is a 6x4 decorative item that gives you a 30% bonus to surrounding businesses and residences. It is currently only available through this goal series, so make sure to keep track of them if you are interested in adding one to your town.
What do you think of these new CityVille Back to School goals? Is it too late for back-to-school fun, or will you do anything for exclusive new decorations? Sound off in the comments.
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