Facebook Discover New Games Sidebar: Viral games discovery returns

The Facebook teams have been hard at work developing a way to bring games discovery back to Facebook since November, if not farther back than that. Finally, the fruits of their labor have surfaced with the Discover New Games sidebar, which Inside Facebook has a sneak peek of. The new sidebar module is currently in beta testing, but what it does is show you when your friends are playing a game that you've yet to install. This is essentially what we've awaited for months.

For example, say you're friends with a whole lot of CityVille players and you have yet to try it out (fat chance). A message will appear in your sidebar informing you that a number of your friends are playing CityVille along with images of their faces. Underneath, a link to the game's install page will appear. In other words, you're friends will tell you about that hot new Facebook game without doing anything--in theory.

This is the desired effect of the new sidebar module, but since it's still in beta we won't know how effective it is until it formally releases. While this won't restore the rampant viral growth that games enjoyed last year (which Facebook promptly stomped on), it will bring some of that back in a way that appears to be unobtrusive. A way to find new games that isn't going to piss off half of my friends? Where do I sign up?

[Image Credit: Inside Facebook]

Do you happen to be part of this beta test for the new Games Bar? Do you think this will be effective in bringing new games into the mix?

Future Zynga Facebook, mobile games could be more sequels

At least Zynga chief creative officer Brian Reynolds is thinking about it. The design head of the company recently spoke with IndustryGamers and, when whether FarmVille English Countryside has sparked a trend within the company, Reynolds replied, "Well, it's so early in our industry, is it time to have sequels? I don't know. It sounds like something we might do." In fact, Reynolds appears to be a big fan of the sequel--just look at his previous work.

"It's never too late to do a sequel, by the way," Reynolds said to IndustryGamers. "It's not like we need to be quickly running for the sequels because you can do sequels even 10 years after the original game. The first Civilization sequel came out 5 years after the first one and the next one was 5 years after that. And we've only even been a company for 3 years."

And he has a point. Civilization still sells like hotcakes and it's been reiterated upon five times now. Not to mention the mobile releases and other rehashes over the years. Could Zynga employ the same strategy to remain relevant? While the company has already shown that it can successfully launch new properties (ahem, CityVille), the groundwork has already been laid out.

FrontierVille is surrounded on all sides by promised expansions with one recently receiving a mysterious update in its description. Mafia Wars constantly releases new content, and you could consider its new-and-improved mobile app an expansion. So, would it be in Zynga's benefit to succumb to "sequelitis?"

We've yet to see FarmVille's daily active player base stabilize as a result of the new expansion, nor has its monthly players grew dramatically. Granted, it's only been around for a week, but remember CityVille's meteoric climb? If anything is to decide whether more sequels are in the future for Zynga games, it is the numbers.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

[Image Credit: VentureBeat]

Would you still be interested in Zynga games if the next few releases were sequels? What is the likelihood that this is the direction the company will head in?

CityVille: Sign up for daily emails offering free energy, crew members and more

While most other Zynga games already offer a daily email rewards program, offering you items like free fuel in FarmVille or free energy in FrontierVille, the developer has launched a similar email system in CityVille, allowing users to be rewarded daily just for playing the game (and for giving Zynga permission to email you).

There's a catch here though - a good one, at that. Instead of being sent a random item, or just a single item that doesn't change everyday, you'll be able to choose your reward via the pop-up menu above, that you'll see when logging into the game itself. From there, just choose whether you'd like to receive free Energy, crew for one of your buildings, a building ingredient, or even a mystery item.

It doesn't seem as though you'll be locked into that choice though, as Zynga has shown off an image stating that you'll be given the option to choose yet again when receiving your email. If this does turn out to be the case, you'll be able to choose one price on Monday, a different prize for Tuesday, and so on and so forth depending on your current needs at the time. It's a nice setup, to be sure, but it only helps to further confirm that we're apparently stuck with the energy system the way it is, whether we like it or not.

What do you think? Which of these prizes will you most likely choose as your daily reward?

CityVille Pedal of Honor Timed Goal: Everything you need to know

Apparently, the Race Invaders Timed Goal in CityVille went over fairly well, as Zynga has followed that up today with a new timed goal called Pedal of Honor. Also referred to as "Leader of the Pack," this goal is only available to players level 50 or above, and has three tasks that must be completed within three days for the ultimate prize (but we'll get to the prizes later).

Ask 20 friends to join your Bike Crew
Send 100 Tour Buses
Collect from Water Bottling Plant 2 times

The Water Bottling Plant is a community building that costs 125,000 coins to add to your town, and requires you to staff it with 12 friends to open. From there, you'll be able to collect from it once every 24 hours. While you're waiting for the Water Bottling Plant to "recharge," you can add friends to your Bike Crew by posting a general wall post, asking all of your neighbors to help at once.

If you've got really receptive friends, you'll be able to finish this goal within three days, rewarding you with the Gold Trophy. Along with this shiny trophy, you'll unlock a Cyclist Statue, 28,000 coins and a Boulevard Apartment. Don't worry, even if it takes you longer than three days, you still have a chance at the shiny Cyclist Statue, as the Silver Trophy also earns one, along with the 28,000 coins. Unfortunately, if you earn just a Bronze Trophy, you'll only receive the 28,000 coins, and none of the other goodies.

If, for whatever reason, you don't like to be rushed, it's presumable that this goal will remain available indefinitely, offering you the Bronze Trophy prize, as is the case with the Race Invaders goal which is still available. Should a time limit come into play with this one eventually expiring entirely, we'll make sure to let you know.

Do you think this Pedal of Honor goal is more difficult, or easier than the Racer Invaders goal? Will you work to earn the Gold Trophy on this one, or are you find simply taking your time and finishing it at your leisure?

CityVille: Super Grain Elevator offers a major storage boost at a high price

Hey CityVille players - are you looking for a way to increase your maximum Goods storage capacity, without building tons of space-wasting Barns and Silos? How does the idea of increasing your storage capacity by 1200 Goods with a single item sound? If you like the sound of that, then be sure and check out the Super Grain Elevator in the game's store. Available only for a limited time, this Super Grain Elevator allows you to increase your maximum storage by 1200 Goods, all in a tiny 2x2 space on your land.

Of course, such a convenience doesn't come cheap, as the Super Grain Elevator costs a whopping 55 City Cash. Still, this lovely purple building (what? purple is my favorite color) comes with a great storage capacity, and could even allow you to remove other storage buildings entirely to increase the amount of space you have available for more crop plots or even businesses and homes. There's a lot of give and take with this one; you give Zynga a lot of money, but you take a lot of storage (and potentially land space) back in return.

Does that make it worth it? Ultimately, you won't have forever to decide, as this one has been marked as being available for a "limited time" in the store. Of course, it would be helpful if we were told exactly when it will expire, but for now that information hasn't been made available. Your safest bet would be to purchase one sooner, rather than later, if you plan on eventually doing so, just to make sure it doesn't leave the store before you have a chance.

Will you purchase a Super Grain Elevator for your city, or will you stick with the regular Grain Elevator that offers less storage, but is free?

CityVille Rose Garden Goals: Everything you need to know

While summer may quickly be drawing to a close, CityVille hopes to keep the summer fun alive by letting us have a place to grow beautiful flowers. Appropriately enough, this new "building" is called the Rose Garden, and you'll place it in your city when completing the first of four new goals that go along with it.

Garden State

    * Place Rose Garden
    * Plant a Rose in the Garden


The Rose Garden is a 4x4 structure that works similarly to the Zoo, in that you'll only be able to display three flowers on the outside of the garden, but can actually leave more of them inside. To start, you'll receive a single flower for free (that's right - this one doesn't need to be built at all after placing it in your town): a White Wild Rose. Once you look inside the building, just click on the Plant button and you'll be able to "feature" that rose as one of the three that show up on the outside. Once you finish these two (simple) steps, you'll receive 160 coins as your reward.

A Late Bloomer

    * Ask friends for 3 Shovels
    * Have 3 Gardens in your City
    * Water your Gardens 5 Times


Gardens can be watered once every 18 hours, and yes, you can have more than one in your city. In fact, you'll need to have three before you can finish this goal. Your second and third Rose Gardens would cost 50,000 coins in the store, but luckily, you can also purchase Small Rose Gardens (a smaller version of the regular Rose Garden) for just 8,000 coins. These do count for the completion of this goal. As for the shovels, you'll be able to post a general news item to your wall asking for three. Finishing this goal gives you Sculpted Tree.

It's Showtime!

    * Get 10 Rose Bushes
    * Have 1 Rose Collection item from the Garden Collection
    * Place one Rose Garden Gate in your city


To earn additional bushes, you'll go into your gardens (as seen above) and then click on "Ask for flowers" to ask your friends to send you some bushes. Finishing this goal gives you 32 experience points.

Comin' Up Roses

    * Ask friends for 4 Vases
    * Have 7 Roses Planted in your Gardens
    * Have an upgraded Flower Kiosk


As it looks like each garden can only display three flowers, you'll need to have flowers in at least three Gardens to reach seven. As for updating your Flower Kiosk, you can find our guide for doing just that right here. Finishing this final goal gives you a Roses Fountain.

We'll make sure to let you know if other kinds of gardens are made available in the build menu in the future, but for now - have fun growing and displaying all of those roses!

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

What do you think of the Rose Garden feature in CityVille? What do you think of these goals? Sound off in the comments.

CityVille Capital One Bank: Everything you need to know

While we already knew that Capital One would be appearing via a new bank building in CityVille, we didn't know the exact details until now. That's right - the promotion has launched in the game this evening, bringing with it the "branded business" in the form of the Capital One Bank. This bank looks like a fairly modern building, and has Capital One written along the top corner, but overall isn't overly "advertising." It costs 5,000 coins to add to your town, and must be built using four energy to build the frame.

From there, you won't be able to actually name your building, but you can operate it using Goods like other businesses. Specifically, the Bank requires 100 Goods to put into service and will reward you with 500 coins once those Goods are used. What makes this particular business special however is that it introduces "branded business mastery" to the game.

While this doesn't give us any sort of indication as to what other "branded" businesses will be coming to the game, we do know that we have just over a month to master this one. As with upgrading businesses, mastering the Capital One Bank will require you to continually stock and collect from the business whenever possible, with each round giving you a single point. Once you reach 50 points, you'll receive your reward, which we know is some form of decoration (probably a statue), but don't have the specific name as of this writing.

As for purchasing the building, it has a different time limit than that for actually earning your decorative reward. You can only purchase the Capital One Bank from the store for the next 28 days, giving you around a week to earn the decoration even after that point. Good luck!

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

What do you think of this Capital One Bank and the new branded business mastery feature? What sorts of branded businesses do you hope Zynga releases in the future? Sound off in the comments.