CityVille's Summer Beach Goals are the next to hit the chopping block

One by one, goal series are dropping like flies in CityVille, forcing those players who may not be as active to catch up - and fast - in order to avoid losing out on some exclusive prizes. We saw this recently with the Family Vacation goals, and now the hammer has come to the Summer Beach goals that were originally released in August.

If you didn't finish these goals then, here's a recap for your reference:

Farmer's Tan

    Get 12 Bottles of Sunscreen (general wall post)
    Collect from Beach Hut 7 Times
    Have Sand Castle
    Reward: Surfer Girl decoration


A Shore Thing

    Collect from Taffy Shop 10 Times
    Send 20 Tour Buses to Sunglasses Stores
    Ask for 20 Snorkels (general wall post)
    Reward: Coral Reef unlocked in store


Tourist Trapper

    Supply 5 Cruise Ships
    Harvest 40 Cabbage
    Send 30 Tour Buses to Cinemas
    Reward: 2,800 coins


Pool Pigeon

    Get 15 Pigeon Bathing Suits
    Collect from Jet Ski Shop 5 Times
    Have one Fish Fountain
    Reward: Marina unlocked


As of this writing, you have around 62 hours to complete any goals that you might have missed, or to start from scratch if you're pretty far behind on your goals in your city. Is that enough time to complete them all? I suppose that would be depend on how many neighbors of yours have Sunglasses Stores, or how active they are in helping you out when you request items. If the prizes here matter enough to you, remember that you can always buy your way to them with City Cash, although that would be a very expensive prospect for items that have been available in your game for free for a few months now. The choice is up to you - good luck!

Have you already finished the Summer Beach goals in CityVille, or will you now have to scramble to finish them all in time?

Empires & Allies: Reach Level 5 in Mafia Wars 2 for a Fighter Bundle

In addition to the cross-promotions found in games like FarmVille and CityVille, another Zynga game has taken its turn of publicizing the company's newest Facebook game, Mafia Wars 2. Here, we see a promotion come to Empires & Allies, offering players a Fighter Bundle filled with goodies if you can make it to Level 5 in Mafia Wars 2.

Making it to Level 5 takes about 10-15 minutes, but can be even quicker if you already have multiple friends playing the game (as you could visit their compounds and earn extra supplies without using your own energy). Just make sure to access Mafia Wars 2 through the in-game pop-up that should appear for you when logging into Empires & Allies to make sure your progress "syncs" back to your Home Island.

Once you've reached Level 5, come back to Empires & Allies (refreshing the game if necessary), and you'll see the following pop-up, alerting you to your prizes. Specifically, the Fighter Bundle contains three items: Air Strike, III, Poison Gas III and a Tactical Nuke. All three will pop into your inventory where you can choose to use them at the most advantageous time for you in battle.

Remember, it's likely that this promotion won't be around forever, and as these prizes can really help turn the tide for you in battle, there's no reason not to spend a few minutes trying out Mafia Wars 2, even if you have no intention of playing it again. Play the game once, and you'll unlock multiple prizes across tons of Zynga games, so what are you waiting for? Claim them all before it's too late!

Have you already received your Fighter Bundle in Empires & Allies, or do you simply have no desire to ever play Mafia Wars 2?

FarmVille Poll: Will you pay for early access to Winter Wonderland?

Back in September, FarmVille's third farm - the Lighthouse Cove - was launched, giving players early access to the farm for 55 Farm Cash (before free trips were made available at a later date). Now, with Winter Wonderland quickly approaching (we could see the new farm as early as next week), we're left to wonder whether or not we'll be able to pay for early access to this fourth farm as well.

It turns out that that will likely be the case, as FVNation has discovered a flash animation that will likely appear as an in-game pop-up. It advertises Winter Wonderland, telling us that we'll get a Holiday Mammoth and access to exclusive challenges and rewards - an 80 Farm Cash value - for 45 Farm Cash. A similar pop-up was found before Lighthouse Cove launched, and it also advertised a 45 Farm Cash price, that was eventually boosted by 10. We can only expect the same thing to happen here.

Therefore, that leaves us with a question for you farmers. Will you pay 45-55 Farm Cash, or around $10 US, to gain early access to Winter Wonderland in FarmVille, or will you skip out on these exclusive rewards and take a free trip some days later?


Will you pay Farm Cash for early access to Winter Wonderland?
It doesn't matter how much it costs - I'm paying it!No way! I'll wait for the free access option.If it cost less than 45/55 Farm Cash, I'd probably do it.I haven't decided!
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Do you have an opinion not listed in the poll above, or are you simply still trying to decide what you'll do when the time comes? Share all of your thoughts about Winter Wonderland with us in the comments!

FarmVille Winter Wonderland Chapter 2 Goals: Everything you need to know

We've already speculated that FarmVille's fourth farm, the Winter Wonderland, will offer early access to paying players, but what if you decide not to pay to play this new farm early? What if you wait until everyone's allowed to get in for free? Will all of the farm's prizes be gone? Of course not! I looks like a massive set of Chapter 2 goals will be the first ones seen by free access players, and the true second Chapter for those that pay to get in early. By massive, I mean that this series has a whopping 12 goals, but will also likely come with a hefty time limit. FarmVille Freak has found the full details for these 12 goals, so let's get started on our own look of what to expect.

Winter Welcome

    Get 6 Fire Logs
    Harvest 60 Gingerbread
    Discover one Small Snow Treasure


This Snow Treasure feature will see you collecting items from friends to help thaw out or forcibly remove presents that have been trapped inside blocks of snow and ice. Finishing this first goal give you 100 XP, 2,500 coins, the frame to an Orchard and a Winter Tractor.

Winter Warmth

    Get 6 Hot Sparks
    Harvest 60 Iced Rice
    Complete one Winter Animal Pen


This Winter Animal Pen is themed appropriately with lights and garland, and it will likely function to hold all of the "holiday" versions of animals that we'll receive in these goals, or even purchase from the store. Your prizes for this goal are 200 XP, 2,500 coins and a Le Emperor Penguin.

Those Who Help Them Elves

    Get 6 Colorful Lights
    Make 2 Ginger S'mores
    Harvest 1 Le Emperor Penguin


The Ginger Smores will be crafted inside the new crafting building in Winder Wonderland, the Sweet Shoppe, but the exact bushels required are still a mystery. Ginger S'mores require three Gingerbread, three Iced Rice and two Sunflower Bushels each. For finishing this goal, you'll receive 300 XP, 2,500 coins and a Frosty Mini Horse.

Elf Trouble

    Get 6 Shiny Brass Knobs
    Harvest 60 Gummi Bears
    Harvest 1 Winter Animal Pen


Reward: 400 XP, 2,500 coins, and a Blue Snow Fort

Go North, Young Elf!

    Get 6 Crystal Whatzits
    Harvest 60 Candied Yams
    Harvest 1 Frosty Mini-Horse


Reward: 500 XP, 5,000 coins and a Snowflake Tree

Gearing Up

    Get 7 Wooden Gears
    Make 2 Candied Apples
    Harvest 1 Snowflake Tree


Reward: 400 XP, 2,500 coins and a Snowball Catapult

Spin Cycle

    Get 7 Spinning Whirl-Its
    Harvest 60 Gingerbread
    Harvest 1 Le Emperor Penguin


It's likely that all of these crop requirements will take more than one batch to create, as it looks like plot limits will be carried over to this farm, and I highly doubt we'll be allowed to plant 60 crops right off of the bat (at least, not without expanding our land first). Your rewards for this goal will be 500 XP, 5,000 coins and an Arctic Peacock.

A Flung Flinger

    Get 8 Flange Flingers
    Make 3 Ginger Smores
    Harvest 1 Arctic Peacock


Reward: 500 XP, 5,000 coins and a Snow Gopher

Wrap It Up

    Get 9 North-Polarized Goggles
    Harvest Polar Train Station
    Harvest 60 Candied Yams


The Polar Train Station looks to function just like the Lighthouse Cove, in that it will be repairable, and also ready to be harvested once every day. Your rewards for this goal are going to be 500 XP, 5,000 coins and a Frigimetric Encabulator.

At this point, you'll have finished the "normal" goals for this Chapter 2 series, and will be ready to move onto three Bonus Challenges. Yes, Bonus Challenges have returned from Lighthouse Cove, but it doesn't look like these will be too difficult, so long as you use our guide to plan ahead.

By the Fire (Bonus Challenge 1)

    Get 10 Hot Chocolate
    Harvest 60 Glacial Roses
    Harvest 2 Winter Animal Pens


See? It's not that bad of a goal, so long as you build a second Winter Animal Pen just as soon as you land in this new farm. Since many of your in-game neighbors will also be frantically building new items, gathering extra building materials shouldn't be as difficult as usual either. For finishing this goal, you'll receive 500 XP, 5,000 coins and an Ice Cave.

White Snow (Bonus Challenge 2)

    Get 11 Snow Polish
    Make 3 Candied Yam Pies
    Master Le Emperor Penguin to 1-star


When trying to decide what makes this particular goal a challenge, I'd have to speculate that the Candied Yam Pies are going to be a Level 2 or higher dish within our new crafting building. Unfortunately, that can't be known for sure until the farm launches. Once you finish this goal, you'll receive 500 XP, 5,000 coins and an Arctic Explorer Gnome.

Super Conductor (Bonus Challenge 3)

    Get 12 Gold Pocketwatches
    Harvest 2 Orchards
    Master Frosty Mini-Horse to 1-star


Again, so long as you work on two Orchards when first given the opportunity, this goal shouldn't give you too much trouble. That is, so long as you're not running out of time when you finally do reach this goal (considering that you've already completed 11 goals before it). If you can make it to the very end of this Chapter 2 goal series, you'll receive 1,000 XP, 10,000 coins and a Gilded Holiday Sleigh.

It will be interesting to see if we're given cross-farm storage to bring extra Winter / Christmas items over to our new farm, but either way, this goal series will give us plenty of animals and decorations to already flesh out the look of our new land. We'll make sure to bring you a complete look at any future goals in this new farm just as soon as we know more.

[Via FarmVille Freak]

Which of these expected prizes is your favorite? Are you looking forward to playing in Winter Wonderland as much as we are?

FarmVille Winter Wonderland Sneak Peek: Make Smores inside the Sweet Shoppe

As we draw closer and closer to the launch of Winter Wonderland in FarmVille, we've finally learned what the new crafting building will be called in the game. Where we've had Bakeries, Pubs, and even a traditional Restaurant in other farms, we'll now have access to a Sweet Shoppe in Winter Wonderland.

This building is highly decorated, with lights, snow and candy cane swirls at every corner. There are pieces of candy sitting outside on the ground, and even a friendly gingerbread man to greet us at the door. We're told that we can craft items like Ginger Smores, which will apparently be a pretty common thing in the game's Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 goals. Here's the full word from Zynga:

"Are you ready to make Ginger Smores, Rock Candy and other yummy winter treats in Winter Wonderland's Sweet Shoppe? Get ready for a tasty adventure on FarmVille's next expansion, coming soon!"

While we've already had access to growing things like Ginger in FarmVille, when we take into account other ingredients that are required for Smores, or even Rock Candy, it allows us to speculate even more about the crops that might be available to grow. Perhaps we'll get to grow Marshmallows or Chocolate Bars for the Smores, or blooms of colored sugar for the Rock Candy! We already know a few of the expected Winter Wonderland crops, but we'll make sure to give you all of the details about the final lineup, and this new Sweet Shoppe just as soon as Winter Wonderland launches.

Are you excited about Winter Wonderland, and every thing it contains, or are you specifically excited about this Sweet Shoppe and crafting? What sorts of holiday / sweet recipes would you like to see available to craft?

CityVille Get to the Chopper Timed Goal: Everything you need to know

If you're a fan of timed goals in CityVille, you'll be happy to know that a new goal has launched in the game this weekend called "Get to the Chopper!" It's apparently Samantha's birthday, and the local police force is fulfilling her birthday wish by taking her up in helicopter tour of your city. You'll have 120 hours to finish this entire goal for the Gold Trophy, which is much longer than you normally have, but we'll see why in a minute. Here's what you need to do.

Ask friends for 20 News Cameras
Expand to the News Helicopter
Collect from a Level 3 Television Tower 3 Times

Luckily, you can start this goal whenever you'd like, as there doesn't seem to be a time limit for when you need to actually start it (that is, before the goal would vanish entirely, whether you've done it or not). So long as you're above level 25, you'll be able to complete this one. The largest of these requirements - expanding to the News Helicopter - is a situation similar to that of the Halloween Monster event, when you had to expand out to get the witches. Here, the helicopter is circling around a square that is three expands left of the train tracks. That being the case, of course the farther you've already expanded west, the easier this task becomes.

As for the Level 3 Television Tower, its upgrades come through adding additional crew members to the building, rather than requiring you to collect building materials (a more time consuming process, all things considered). If you've yet to upgrade your tower, here's a look at the exact steps to doing so.

Finally, the News Cameras are acquired by simply asking your friends to help out via a general news post that you'll place on your wall. If you can complete all three steps within the first 120 hours (five days), you'll receive the Gold Trophy, the News Helicopter (obviously, since you expanded out specifically to get it) and 10,000 coins. The Silver Trophy is awarded for finishing after 120 hours but before 168 hours have passed (5-7 days), and it offers you 7,500 coins and 5 energy as well. Finally, completing this goal at any point after the first 168 hours, or seven days of starting gives you just the Bronze Trophy and 5,000 coins.

This is definitely a goal where you'll want to plan ahead as much as possible before actually starting the goal. The helicopter is already viewable in your city, even if you haven't expanded your land to the west, or even started the goal in your city. This gives you an advantage, as you know exactly where to expand to, saving you plenty of time as you can do it at your leisure. Once you start the goal, the only tasks left should be simply collecting from the Television Tower and asking your friends for News Cameras - fairly simple tasks, given your five day limit. Good luck!

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

What do you think of this newest Timed Goal? Had you already expanded the left-side of your city, or will this be extra work for you now in expanding out to reach the helicopter?

CityVille Sneak Peek: Cars will fill your roads soon

For all of the realism that Zynga has attempted to portray in CityVille by allowing us to see our citizens walk along the sidewalks or in and out of businesses, there's always been missing link that stops these cities from becoming "real" towns. That gap comes when simply looking at our roads. Whether you've built a complex road system, or just have a few pieces scattered here and there, there have never been any persistent cars actually driving on the roads.

Sure, we've seen police cars, moving trucks and tourist buses take to the streets, but where are the sedans, SUVs and vans carpooling kids off to school or daycare? Once you've activated your tourist buses, or the moving vans have dropped off new citizens, your streets go back to being empty. That will soon change, however, for users above Level 27, as the folks at Zynga have posted a single image on the game's official forums, letting us know that "Cars [are] coming soon!"

Since this is a level-locked feature, it's likely that we'll need to complete a series of goals, or perhaps build a new building (a license branch, perhaps?) before we'll unlock cars on our streets, but the possibilities after that are fairly endless. Will these cars be entirely passive, simply driving back and forth around the roads with no personality? Or, will we see other features take advantage of them? For instance, will police officers now be able to enter into high-speed chases with the robbers that spawn outside of businesses, rather than chasing them down on foot? Or, will this allow us to build Rental-Car Businesses, that see guest characters driving around our streets?

This is all speculation of course, but they are two options that I would personally enjoy seeing in my town. Whether it's a school bus dropping off kids around town, or just a set of family sedans driving on a loop, we'll make sure to let you know how to get cars into your game just as soon as we know more.

Are you excited to see cars take to the streets in your city, or have you been fine without them (and the potential for additional bugs that they bring to the game)?