Facebook Comment Editing Arrives At Last

Did you just write something stupid on Facebook? Delete no more, my friend, because Facebook comment editing is finally here.

The ability to edit Facebook comments extends only to replies for existing status updates and wall posts. It won't work for status updates themselves.

To edit, just click the "X" next to the comment, as if you're going to delete it, and the comment box will reappear. This trick only works for a few seconds, after which, your only recourse is to delete the comment and start afresh.

Ostensibly, the feature exists to help users clean up typos for the old post-proofread. The time limit on editing prevents users from rewriting history with their comments -- although you can still delete comments at any time. Inside Facebook reckons that Facebook's true motive is to encourage more confidence when commenting, resulting in longer, more thoughtful comments, and hence, more user engagement.

Or it's just a useful feature of web forums that's that's long overdue on Facebook. Good news, either way.

via techland

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FrontierVille Mission: Train 'Em Up

Part I:  Practice Makes Perfect

- Harvest 20 Crops on Horseback
- Tend 15 Neighbor Crops on Horseback
- Feed 30 Animals on Horseback

Part II:  Gettin’ Ready for the Rodeo

- Level Up any Horse to Level 9
- Collect 15 Ground Poles
- Feed 30 Cows

Part III:  Burnin’ Up the Track 


- Have or craft three bits
- Harvest 20 Peppermint
- Clobber 10 varmints on Horseback

Part IV:  Slow and Steady


- Chop neighbor trees 50 times on Horseback
- Collect 15 Course Markers
- Assign 2 Skill Points

Part V:  Spirited Away 


- Have or craft 4 Bridles
- Harvest 80 Red Roses
- Assign 2 Skill Points

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FrontierVille Mission: Horse Corral Upgrade

First of all, before starting, it’s worth noting that you won’t be able to upgrade your Horse Corral unless you are level 22 and have completed both the Horse Corral and the previous series of Horse Corral missions. These being said, here is the build menu for the Horse Corral upgrade:

 

As you can see, in order to complete the upgrade, you will need the following items that can be obtained from your neighbors:

- 15 fence beams, Saddle Rack and Lead Rope
- 10 Horse Salt Licks, Hay Nets and Mounting Block

After completing the Horse Corral Upgrade, first of all you should check it out since there are a bunch of new horses available for purchase: the Palomino Horse (awarded for completing the Spirited Away mission), Arabian, Silver Andalusian and Ivory Andalusian.

Even better is the fact that once you complete the Horse Corral Upgrade in FrontierVille, you will be allowed to increase the stats of your horses by using skill points (which are obtained when you level up the horse or which can be purchased for Horseshoes). You can invest the skill points in Horse skills like Speed, Agility, Endurance or Spirit and we all know what this means: new features based on Horses and their skills are on the way! (Maybe connected to the Oregon Trail!)

So my big advice to you for now, until we learn what will the Skill Points be used for is to only spend the 4 required for completing the Horse Corral Upgrade missions and keep the rest so you can assign them properly when the right time comes!

via FrontierVille Info

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Does Facebook Make You a Better Student

Facebook began as a way of connecting university students, but has it actually done anything for education? There's no question the social network is integral to college life today, with students keeping up with social events, reading campus news, and even collaborating on projects on the site. So what effect has this had on actual studies?
The infographic below attempts to break it down (click on it to see it enlarged). Weighing the positives and negatives of the many ways social media touches a student's experience, the results speak to how online networks can be both a tool and a distraction. The most obvious thing to look at is grades, though extracurricular activities and overall mental health can be just as important.
While the results don't definitively answer the graphic's question—"Is social media ruining students?"—some conclusions are apparent: First, sites like Facebook can be a powerful study tool. From simply staying current with class news to working collectively on projects, Facebook and Twitter can do a lot to keep students informed about topics they care about.
Also clear, though: the deeper students venture into social networks, the greater the risks. It's hardly a shock to learn that the more students uses Facebook, the more their grades tend to drop. At the same time, the public platform of social networks will see some personalities thrive in healthy attention, while others may become depressed or arrogant.
In the end, the question isn't so much whether Facebook makes you a better student—it's how can you best manage its presence in your life and studies. After all, the social network has become so integrated into student life, it's almost a prerequisite. Students can't just shut it off, but they can find its proper place in between textbooks and dorm rooms.
What's your take on Facebook's effect on student life? Let us know in the comments.

via PC Mag

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FarmVille Pig Breeding

Attention pig owners, pig breeding is now available! You can start making new piglets immediately if you have a Pig Pen on either your Home Farm or your English Countryside farm. If you don’t have a Pig Pen at all, don’t worry—we’ll give you another one for free via a pop-up window:

If you have one already built, fantastic! You’ll get a free boar as a prize. Note you will only get the free boar if your active farm has a Pig Pen constructed on it; if you're on an active farm without a built Pig Pen, you won't get the Boar until you construct the Pig Pen you get with the pop-up.

Important Note: If you get a prompt to place a Pig Pen, note that you cannot put it on a farm that already has one. If you do, you will go Out of Sync. It must be placed on your other farm (the one without the Pig Pen).

We’ve also streamlined the way truffle hunting works, and we’ve revised the rewards you get for redeeming truffles! Read on for all the details.

Let’s make some piglets!

Breeding new pigs is a lot like breeding new sheep. Click on your completed Pig Pen, and then choose “Look Inside” to see the new Pig Pen interface:

If your Pig Pen is empty, you’ll need to move some pigs (not to mention a boar) into it in order to start breeding. In the example above, we have three different kinds of pigs in the Pig Pen: a Purple Boar, a Pot Belly Pig and a Tamworth Pig.

Some changes have been made: Pig Slop is no longer a Pig Pen feature, and there are now a row of stalls at the upper left (also similar to the Sheep Pen, you get one stall for each constructed level of the Pig Pen).

You’ll need a boar and a pig (or sow) to start breeding, the result of which is a piglet, which once fully grown will take on some of the characteristics of the parents, such as colors and perhaps the patterns. More than likely there will be some variation in the colors, depending on the colors of the parents. The pattern can only be inherited from the boar, but if both parents have the same pattern, the chance of pattern inheritance is much higher.

Now let's start breeding. Click on the boar you want to breed with—in the case of this example, the Purple Boar. You’ll see options to Breed with it, or Remove it from the Pig Pen (or click on the X to close the pop-up):

After clicking on Breed, the pigs/sows you can breed with the boar will remain in full color while the available boards will grey out. Click on the pig/sow you want to breed with and you’ll see some similar options. Here I’m choosing the Tamworth Pig:

Select Breed again and you’ll see the Breeding window:

Breeding a new pig is a 24 hour process and carries (by default) a 50% success rate, meaning if you’re not successful you have to start all over again. You can improve your chance of success (while decreasing the amount of time it takes to breed) by using Love Potions. You can acquire Love Potions by:

• Buying them via the Buy Potions button in the Pig Pen window (5 Love Potions at a time)
• Asking your neighbors for Love Potions via the Ask for Potions button in the Pig Pen window.

Here’s the impact of using Love Potions:

• No Love Potions used: 50% success rate, breed time: 24 hours
• 1 Love Potion used: 60% success rate, breed time: 12 hours
• 2 Love Potions used: 70% success rate, breed time: 6 hours
• 3 Love Potions used: 80% success rate, breed time: 3 hours
• 4 Love Potions used: 90% success rate, breed time: 1 hour
• 5 Love Potions used: 100% success rate, breed time: instant

You can use the up and down arrows to choose how many Love Potions you want to spend. If you don’t have enough, you’ll be prompted to buy more. When you’re satisfied with your chances, click on Breed (or Cancel if you don’t want to try breeding at this time). You may have to wait a few seconds…

The stall at the upper left is occupied and their places in the Pig Pen pasture are replaced with helpful signs. If there’s a timer, a clock in the stall will show how much time is left to go. Once the boar and pig are done doing their thing (or you used instant breeding), the Ready! button will show up over the stall. Click on it.

With any luck, you’ve bred a new piglet! You can choose to name your piglet (choose anything within the Terms of Service), choose to Give it Away (this will make a post to your feed) or you can keep it. At this moment, you still don’t know how the piglet will turn out—you’ll need to grow it up. Once you click on “Keep Piglet” you’ll get the option to place it on your farm.

Click anywhere on your farm to place it. You can click on the piglet at any time to get a menu of options:

A piglet can be fully grown using 10 Baby Bottles. You can acquire or give Baby Bottles by:

• Asking your neighbors directly by clicking on “Ask for Bottles”
• Purchasing Bottles in the Market for 1 Farm Cash each
• Acquire all the needed Bottles by spending Farm Cash (click on the “Complete Now” button to purchase the remaining Bottles). The Cost is X Farm Cash, where X is the number of Bottles needed to grow the Piglet.
• Gifting the bottles via the Free Gifts page.

Also note you can change the name of the piglet at any time by choosing Change Name (even after the piglet is fully grown). Selecting Feed Bottles will give as many bottles as you have in your inventory (up to the maximum needed of 10) to your piglet. Once you’ve applied 10 Bottles the piglet will now grow up into a full boar or pig:

You’ll also get this pop-up asking you to celebrate by sharing some baby bottles with your neighbors via a feed post:

Currently boars only come in two different patterns: plain (which is really not a pattern at all, or if you want to get really technical it’s a pattern of the exact same color as the boar) and spotted. As noted above, the colors available for pig breeding is a somewhat random process, based on the colors and patterns of the parents used. Each color a parent possesses has a certain color range to it that can be applied to the piglet in question, so you never really know what you’re getting exactly.

Finally, note that there is a limit as to how many bred boars and pigs you can have on each farm at any one time. The limit is 100, which includes all bred pigs on that particular farm, in that farm’s Pig Pen, and in the Gift Box. This is per farm, so you can have up to 100 for each the Home Farm and the English Countryside farm.

And that’s pig breeding!

Truffle hunting and other Pig Pen changes

As we noted above, Pig Slop has been removed from the Pig Pen (and in fact from the game altogether). If you still have some in your Gift Box or elsewhere, go ahead and get rid of it.

Truffle hunting has been streamlined tremendously. When you click to harvest your Pig Pen, you’ll start your only truffle hunt of the day. The pig chosen to hunt with is completely random, as is the neighbor’s farm you can find the truffle on:

If you find a truffle (there is a chance you won’t), you’ll see this pop up with the note to share the truffle with that neighbor. Clicking Share will ask you to make a post to their wall, informing them that you found a truffle on their farm. They can then respond by returning the same type of truffle to you by posting on your wall.

Again, this will be the only truffle hunt of the day; once your Pig Pen is ready to be harvested again (once every 24 hours), you can try for another truffle hunt.

The prizes for redeeming a truffle (you can find them in your Gift Box) have been heavily revised. You can get building parts, bottles, love potions, and all sorts of other treats (including other animals) by redeeming truffles now.

Finally, Pig Pens now visually show which pigs you have in it, similar to Sheep Pens. The pigs you put in last show up in each of the 3 stalls as well as the mud yard in front of the pen.

via FarmVille Forums

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CityVille Goal: Eating Contest

What better way to celebrate the start of Spring than to stuff your mouth silly, eating anything and everything in site? Ok, so maybe that doesn't exactly scream of a Spring-like activity (maybe Summer, if you're an American), but either way, Zynga has decided to celebrate gluttony with a new goal series in CityVille, beginning with a quest called "Eating Contest."

As you might have guessed, Eating Contest deals with food, with you having to plant two crops to complete this first quest:

Ask friends for 3 Napkins
Harvest 40 Strawberries
Harvest 25 Corn

At least the napkins are a nice touch - we won't look completely sloppy while stuffing our faces. As for the crops, you'll be able to harvest Strawberries after just five minutes, while Corn takes one full day to grow.


After completing this goal, you'll move onto "Paul Packs It In," a goal that's more about puns than it is about actually eating anything. You'll need to visit some Packing Stores, hence the name of the goal (Get it? Packing it in? Packing Store? Yeah, it's a corny one).

Visit 3 Neighbors' Packing Stores
Have 10 Shade Trees in your City

If you don't have ten Shade Trees before this mission starts, you can buy a single tree from the store for just 50 coins. You earn a single 1% bonus for each tree you place, so you'll at least gain something from the addition of all of this greenery.

Moving on, you'll reach the Training On Track goal, which deals with Charlie and (you guessed it) your town's Train.

Send 6 Trains
Ask friends for 4 Mustards

Remember, the quickest way to complete any train requirement is to send a train that only takes five minutes to return. In that way, you can finish this entire step (and even the entire mission, if you have helpful enough friends) in 30 minutes flat. Not bad, all things considered.

The eating-themed fun isn't over yet, as we'll move onto the Vote for Eating goal next. This one brings Phil back to the story as he tries to win the "Eat to Win" campaign.

Supply your Franchises 5 Times
Visit 10 Neighbors
Water 30 Neighbors' Crops

While the story in this entire goal series has been light, It think one takes the cake (no pun intended). How does supplying franchises help someone prepare for an eating contest? Ah well, we'll let that one slide, and we'll move onto the actual Eating Contest itself in the next goal.

It's Eating Time looks is the last goal currently available in this mission series, and it asks you to complete three actual food-related tasks:

Have 3 Strawberry Shortcakes
Have 2 Pumpkin Breads
Have 1 Corn Bread

If you're been holding onto your crop collection items, you'll likely have these on hand already. If you don't, you'll be able to earn them by harvesting strawberries (five minute crop), pumpkins (eight hour crop) and corn (one day crop). Finishing this goal leads the story to a bit of a shocking upset, but I won't spoil that for those who haven't made it that far yet. Hint: The winner will surprise you!

Finishing these goals will allow you access to two unlocked rewards. The first is the Hotdog Kiosk, which earns 450 coins for every 90 Goods supplied. The other item is a decoration - the Hotdog Eating Contest - that offers a bonus 12% payout to surrounding buildings.

While there's no actual expiration date on these items, it is possible that they won't be around forever. Finish these missions sooner, rather than later, to have the best chance at finishing them.

via blog.games.com

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FrontierVille Mission: Trouble on the Trail

Can you hear it? That's the call of destiny--Manifest Destiny, to be exact. The Oregon Trail is almost upon us in FrontierVille, and Zynga is slowly releasing a massive set of 12 Goals to send us off. The McBaggins family has stumbled onto your homestead with dashed hopes and a broken wagon, and it's up to you to help them get back on their feet and onto the Trail.

Ma McBaggins will soon leave you a letter explaining her family's plight, and will later offer one Goal daily for 12 days to help them. It's sort of like the 12 Days of Christmas Goals, only with something far cooler waiting on the other side. Join us behind the break for a full guide on how to complete all 12 Goals and reach the Oregon Trail.

Once you agree to help Ma McBaggins and her family, your homestead will expand to display the whole miserable gang. Click on the family and a window containing all 12 Goals will appear. However, only one Goal will become available daily, though you don't need to complete them in succession. Complete all 12 Goals and you'll earn your very own Conestoga Wagon and a map to the trail. In other words, it looks like there's no other around it: You'll have to finish these Goals to get to the Oregon Trail expansion content.

Trouble on the Trail Part I of XII

• Harvest 10 Crops on Your Homestead
• Tend 10 Apple Trees on Your Homestead
• Tend 10 Sheep on Your Homestead

It seems that harvesting any crop counts toward this Goal, so just plant 10 Clovers and call it a day. If you don't have 10 Sheep or 10 Apple Trees, they cost 280 and 800 coins, respectively.

Trouble on the Trail Part II of XII

• Clear 20 Debris on Your Homestead
• Collect 12 Dead Bugs (These will be consumed)
• Tend 40 Pigs on Your Homestead

The 12 Dead Bugs don't seem to exist yet in FrontierVille, so we're going to assume this is an item you'll need to collect from friends through the Goal window. Tending 40 Pigs will take some time, but if you're loaded, it'll cost you 14,600 coins to complete this requirement almost instantly.

 
Trouble on the Trail Part III of XII

• Collect 3 Building Bonuses
• Chop Trees 15 Times on Your Homestead
• Visit Eight Neighbors

All of this is pretty self-explanatory, but remember that you can grab some Sharp Axes from leveling up in Mafia Wars. That is, if you're up to being apart from the homestead for a while.

Trouble on the Trail Part IV of XII

• Tend 20 Neighbor Crops
• Collect 12 Gnawed Bones (These will be consumed)
• Tend 20 Neighbor Sheep

The 12 Gnawed Bones are likely another item to be requested from friends. As for the other two requirements, we're sure you can finish that in a day's worth of Neighbor visits. Otherwise, find some friends in the comments!

Trouble on the Trail Part V of XII

• Clobber 3 Groundhogs
• Clobber 1 Bear
• Harvest 10 Peaches

To make sure Groundhogs pop up even more quickly, plant and harvest lots of Potatoes. All you can do to attract the Bear is chop those trees down. As for the Peaches, we're going to assume this was meant to say, "Tend to 10 Peach Trees," as these are not crops in the game.

 
Trouble on the Trail Part VI of XII

• Purchase 5 Meals from the Market
• Hire 5 Friends on Your Homestead
• Collect 12 Prospectin' Gear (These will be consumed)

At the very least, buying five Meals from the Market will cost 300 Food, so be prepared. Hiring friends is as easy as clicking on their portrait on the Friends bar and choosing "Hire." However, you can only hire two friends at a time, so this Goal is going to take at least two days. The Prospectin' Gear is likely another friend request item.

Trouble on the Trail Part VII of XII

• Tend 25 Neighbor Cows
• Tend 15 Neighbor Oxen
• Craft 5 Sawhorses (These'll be used up to complete the mission)

Unless all of your friends have loads of Cow and Oxen, this Goal could easily take a few days. To craft the five Sawhorses, you'll need to have at least the Barn finished, as it's your workbench for this crafted item. To finish all five, you'll need 25 Planks and 10 Tools. The Planks are crafted using Wood and coins in the Wagon, and Tools are acquired by being hired or posting them your Wish List.

Trouble on the Trail Part VIII of XII

• Harvest 30 Peppermint
• Clear 15 Wildflowers
• Collect 20 Glass Vials (These'll be used up to complete the mission)

The 30 Peppermint is going to cost you a total of 6 thousand coins, while finding 15 Wildflowers will prove to be much more difficult. To increase your chances of finding them, check out this guide. As for the 20 Glass Vials, they're found through posting to the News Feed.

Trouble on the Trail Part IX of XII

• Have 500 Food (This will be consumed)
• Sell 25 Fully Grown Pigs
• Craft 10 Cakes (This will also be consumed)

Now things get serious. After spending at least 300 Food, you'll have to amass 500 more, only for it to be spent completing this Goal. To sell 25 fully grown Pigs, it will cost you at least 9,125 coins. In order to craft 10 Cakes, you will need to have finished the Inn, which is the Workbench for this item. Then, you'll need a total of 20 Fire and 40 Batter. The Fire is crafted in the Wagon using Wood and Cloth, and 20 of them would call for 140 Wood and 50 Cloth. The 40 Batter requires even more Food, 800 to be exact. In other words, start conserving your Energy.

 
Trouble on the Trail Part X of XII

• Craft 12 Clothing (This will be consumed)
• Craft 4 Comforters (This will also be consumed)
• Collect 20 Heavy Boots (All items will be donated to complete the mission)

To craft the Clothing and Comforters, you will need at least the basic Cabin. But to make 12 pieces of Clothing, you will need at least 72 Cloth and 6 thousand coins. If you own the recent Ponderosa Lodge, cut those figures in half. The Comforter requires a finished Chicken Coop as the Workbench, and four of them will cost 60 more Cloth and 4 Downy Feathers, which are part of the Chicken Coop and Goose Collections. The 20 Heavy Boots will likely be yet another item to request from your friends.

Trouble on the Trail Part XI of XII

• Tend 30 Neighbor Pigs
• Harvest 30 Corn on Your Homestead
• Revive 20 Withered Crops on Your Neighbor's Homestead

To harvest 30 Corn, you will need at least 6,750 coins and 12 hours to spare. As for the other two requirements, just let the generosity begin.

Trouble on the Trail Part XII of XII

• Clobber 8 Bears
• Craft 5 Powder Kegs (This will be consumed)
• Collect 20 Huntin' Knives (This will also be consumed)

Those eight clobbered Bears could easily deforest your homestead with how rare they are, so consider planting some Trees from the Market first. To create five Powder Kegs, you will need the Foundry finished and ready to go. Then, collect five Saltpeter by turning in the Manure Collection five times. To craft the 25 Fire needed for these Powder Kegs, bring 175 Wood and 125 Cloth to the Wagon and craft away. All things considered, you're going to have to earn your place in the Oregon Trail.

via blog.games.com

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Friendster to Delete Users' Content by May 31

Attention, Friendster users: You have until May 31 to save your account contents including photos, testimonials, and blogs —or else you'll lose them in the social network's upcoming major reformat.

Friendster, a pioneer social networking site launched in 2002, issued the warning as it prepares a "new and improved version" in the coming weeks.

"Your Friendster account will not be deleted. You will still have the same email login and password in the new Friendster. Also, your list of friends will be preserved, along with your basic profile information. However, all the photos, messages, comments, testimonials, shoutouts, blogs, forums and groups that you may have now will no longer be part of your account by May 31, 2011," it said in its help forum.

To be preserved are the user's list of friends, along with basic profile information, wallet, and games.

But to help the user save his or her account content, Friendster offered an application to help download or export photos and blogs securely to third party sites, such as Flickr or Multiply.

Dubbed the Friendster Exporter, the app will be rolled out gradually and is now available for users inSingapore.

Users in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia can expect the app to be available in a few days after April 14, it added.

It said that the app will be available to all Friendster users before the end of April 2011.

Relaunching Friendster

Friendster was acquired in December 2009 by MOL Global, the parent company of Asia’s leading online payment solutions provider MOL AccessPortal Berhad.

Friendster said that it and MOL have been combined to create Asia's largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network, pairing MOL's offline retail channel partners and payment platform with Friendster's large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia.

But MOL CEO Ganesh Bangah explained that the new Friendster aims not to compete with, but instead to complement, Facebook.

Complementing Facebook

He noted that, while Facebook is a site where people can communicate with and find out what their real-life friends are doing, Friendster will be the place where people can meet new friends and play games and enjoy music with them. The pioneering social network will continue to innovate and be at the forefront of the social networking scene, he said in an article on ZDNet Asia.

Friendster said that its "new and improved" version will be focused on entertainment and fun, and will have new features to better enable users to connect with friends or engage new friends with similar interests.

"Our improved site is designed to create new profiles that allow you to connect differently with people and do things differently than other networking sites. Basically, the new site will complement your existing online presence in other social networking sites," the company said.

Popular in Asia

A July 15, 2010 article in the Global Post said that, while Friendster lost users in the United States to MySpace and Facebook in the mid-2000s, the social network exploded in the Philippines, where nearly half of its userbase is located.

It said that Friendster later spread to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Now, roughly 80 percent of Friendster’s 116 million users live in Southeast Asia, the report said.

via Yahoo! News Philippines

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The 12 Best Games For Flexing Your PC's Muscle

You there! Yes, you. We can see it: you're glowing. Are you about to give birth to a brand new bouncing baby rig? That sounds terrifying. We usually build ours. Regardless, you can't just put that thing on your desk and let it gather dust. You need to show it off to everyone within a two-mile radius with an audiovisual assault that sends small woodland animals fleeing for higher ground. But where to start? There are so many games and so little time before your machine becomes completely obsolete.

 

Fortunately, we're here to help. So, without further ado, here are 12 games that'll have your friends going green with envy at your bleeding-edge PC's bulging Technology Biceps. Jump past the break to see them all.

Realistic Graphics (Tie): Crysis 2

      Regardless of how you feel about the game, there's no denying it: Crysis 2 is a looker. Sure, it might have blown even more minds if it hadn't made the nanosuit-powered leap to consoles, but the game's hyper-detailed decaying cityscapes and alien-devoured slices of scorched earth are truly sights to behold. The level of variation in environments, too, elevates this one's showcase potential beyond that of its predecessors. 

Realistic Graphics (Tie): Bulletstorm

       When it comes to frightening levels of detail, CryEngine 3 and Unreal Engine 3 are at the top of the game. And so, just as CryEngine's most recent product is a clear best-in-class, so too is Bulletstorm. On top of being loud, crass, and utterly unashamed, Bulletstorm's gorgeous. It's also insanely colorful – something once thought impossible from an engine that invented new shades of brown to avoid exploring the visible light spectrum.

      Devil's in The Details: Metro 2033

      Metro may not be in quite the same league as Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm when it comes to sheer visual oomph, but that's not the point. Instead, the game's locations teem with tiny details – dust flecks floating about, makeshift clotheslines, rotting bar tables, crowds of people. In its own way, Metro is one of the most beautiful games out there. It's a post-apocalyptic world whose every inch hides some new treat for your senses.
 

Most Characters On-Screen at Once: Shogun 2: Total War

 
      The Total War franchise has always been known for its ludicrously large armies, and the latest entry in the franchise doesn't disappoint. Sometimes, we find ourselves motionlessly marveling at all the tiny men duking it out on our screen. Not-so-coincidentally, those are the same times we find ourselves losing. Horrendously. 

Best Draw Distance: Just Cause 2

 
      Fog. It's dreary, depressing, and has rendered many a videogame character all but invisible the second you stepped more than two feet away from them. Not so with Just Cause 2. Near, far, wherever you are, details abound. Lush jungles, snow-capped mountains, airplanes that have been grappling-hooked to other airplanes – Just Cause 2 has it all. 400 square miles of “it all,” to be more specific. Also Bolo Santosi, but we don't talk about her.

 FIRE: Far Cry 2

 
      Far Cry 2 is far from perfect, but when it gets something right, it goes all the way. Its environments look great, but you know what's even better? Setting them on fire. Smokey Bear would have a field day with this one, but he's not in Africa. Also, fictional. At any rate, Far Cry 2's fire spreads into a sea of all-devouring orange. It's the perfect game for the arsonist in your life who you'd really like to distract so that he stops trying to burn down your house.
 

Physics: Red Faction Guerrilla

 
      Physics is the king of sciences. Disagree? Try playing Guerrilla and saying that again. Put simply, everything breaks. And it's glorious. Concrete turns to dust, sheets of metal tumble every which way, and – with startling frequency – something explodes. Really, it's like watching a train wreck, only you're not just watching. Destruction completely alters the way you play, and it's an absolute joy to behold. Also, two words: Ostrich Hammer.

Best 3D: Crysis 2

 
      Love it or hate it blah blah blah we already did that part. Bottom line: Crysis 2 is a technical marvel, and that extends to its 3D implementation as well. The game was designed from the ground-up with 3D in mind, and it shows. Even your HUD pops when the third dimension's involved. This isn't some slapdash attempt to catch a ride on the 3D bandwagon. It's the real deal – one of the few games we'd deem worthy of investing in the necessary hardware for full effect.

2D Graphics: Braid

 
      2D's days in the spotlight may be long passed, but that doesn't mean it's a dead form. Evidence? Well, Braid, for one. The time-bending 2D platformer will almost certainly tie your brain in knots with its devious puzzles and bottomless plot, but your eyes will be too busy learning how to love to notice. Rich, warm colors and lavish hand-drawn vistas are the stars of the show here. Are games art? Who knows? But Braid is like looking at a painting.

Sound (Explodey): BF Bad Company 2

      Plenty of games toss around fancy words like “surround sound” and “guns that don't remind you of watching flies ping harmlessly off a bug zapper,” but few really use them. BC2, however, sounds like an actual, well, battlefield. Explosions pound, gunfire closes in, and each weapon has its own sonic signature. If you want to put your brand new speakers through their paces and probably wake your neighbors (and the dead), this is your game.

Sound (Scary): Dead Space 2

 

      Generally, we consider ourselves mature, well-adjusted adults. There are certain things, however, that will reduce us to cowering children in the blink of an eye. All of them are Dead Space 2. Every gory piece of the game is horrifying in some way or another, but incredible sound design stitches the experience together. Pained screams, clumsy thunking sounds, and so much more create a haunting aural landscape that feels like it's out to get you.

Music: Audiosurf

 

      We're not including this one as a game so much as we're considering it a really awesome visualizer. Audiosurf takes your music, chews on it for a couple seconds, and then spits out an entire racing track based on your music's tempo, variation, etc. It's an incredibly fun (and often relaxing) way to experience music, making it the perfect way to break in a new speaker system.

via Maximum PC

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Top 25 Facebook Games for April 2011

April kicks off with 14 games shrinking in terms of monthly active users and 15 with fewer daily active users than they enjoyed a month ago. Between the two charts, generated using AppData‘s Top Applications Leaderboard, we see that Mafia Wars sits higher in MAU versus DAU as the result of a late month cross-promotion campaign in CityVille. On the day the campaign launched, Mafia Wars hit a high of nearly 5.6 million DAU compared to its April 1 showing of 2.3 million DAU.

We find that drawing overt conclusions from shifts in our top 25 Facebook games by DAU presents some challenges. While the DAU is generally a better measure of a game’s engagement and monetization potential, it’s also vulnerable to external factors in a way that MAU is not. For example, we watched CityVille’s DAU dip around the week of March 15, reaching a low of 19 million on March 22 before creeping back up toward its April 1 level. A possible explanation for this fluctuation is that this period of March is about the time when most schools in the United States go on Spring Break; and how many people really play CityVille on vacation? Or on weekends or holidays when kids are home from school? Note that we saw this possible DAU “Spring Break dip” throughout most, but not all, games in our top 25 games by DAU.

Second, a DAU count does not always factor in a game’s intended play cycle. For example, a player only needs to play Zuma Blitz once a week to maintain a presence on the leaderboards. Additionally, developer PopCap Games features a community-oriented video only on Mondays, which may explain some of the zigzags we see when viewing Zuma Blitz’s DAU flow for the month. Third, and perhaps most difficult to interpret, how do factor out the percentage DAU that comes from the heavy user influx spurred by an ad or cross-promotion campaign? An example would be the spike Mafia Wars enjoyed as a result of the CityVille cross-promotion; if we attempted to take an average DAU for the entire month of March or if this campaign happened to fall on April 1 instead of March 20, this one-day spike would’ve skewed the game’s DAU ranking significantly.

via Inside Social Games

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Facebook Send Button (How to get, How to install)

Facebook on Monday announced that it has rolled out new improvements to Groups. Users of Facebook Groups can now post questions and polls for only members to participate. In a post, Facebook said that Groups members are now able to get quick responses to questions.

If you're a member of any Facebook Groups you have now an option to upload entire albums directly to your group, making it even easier to share your photos with the people who most want to see them.

And that's not all, for group owners, Facebook also added a control that lets you approve people before they are added to the group. At last, FB has realized this feature which was once a clamor among Groups owners.

Facebook likewise created a tool that makes it easy to upgrade to the new Groups format. It said that owners and members of old Groups will be receiving information about how to upgrade Facebook Groups within the coming weeks.

Now for the most exciting part.

Facebook has introduced the Send button. Unlike the Like button, which lets you share content from websites and blogs to your Facebook connections, the Facebook Send button lets you share something with a few specific people.


The new Facebook Send button allows you to share things with any of your Groups or individual friends on Facebook. The company said it has already made the Send button available on over 50 leading websites, and it will appear in more places soon.

But if you wanted to can have your very own Facebook Send button, just follow these steps:

• For a standalone Send Button, click here and create your button.
• For a combined Facebook Like and Send button, follow the instructions here.

Please like this post on Facebook if you find it useful.

via CBTech

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Facebook How to See Who Viewed Your Profile Event Invitation SCAM

We have a lot of TP Friends asking us if this Facebook event invite is for real --

How to see who viewed your profile!!

Once and for all, let me tell you, it is NOT. This invite is actually a SCAM. So whatever you do, don't click on it, lest you want your account to be high-jacked.

Facebook has long made it clear that it won't support this feature.

Quoting Facebook Help Center,

Facebook does not provide the ability to track who is viewing your profile, or parts of your profile, such as your photos. Applications by outside developers cannot provide this functionality, either. Applications that claim to give you this ability will be removed from Facebook for violating policy. You can report applications that provide untrustworthy experiences by clicking the "Report Application" at the bottom of the application’s About page, or by clicking "Report" at the bottom of any canvas page within the application.

There you go. Please let your friends know by sharing this post on FB.

via Techpinas

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FrontierVille Mission: Pet Shop

Remember that old puppy you rescued and nursed back to health in FrontierVille? Well, good going, because he told all of his friends about you and now they all expect a home and food. If you associate Spring with all things cute (like myself), Zynga released a brand new building to the game in time for the season: The Pet Shop. Of course, a new series of five Goals is bundled in the content package, so join us behind the break to find out what lies ahead.

*Please keep in mind that you need to be at least Level 20 to begin these Goals. Sorry, newbies.

1. Heavy Petting

• Place the Pet Shop on your Homestead
• Tend 20 Geese on your Homestead
• Hire 2 neighbors

This first Goal will take some time if you don't have close to 20 Geese, which cost 300 coins a piece. The Pet Shop will cost a measly 100 coins and 20 Wood to place, but we're sure the expenses will come later. To hire your friends, just click on their portrait on the bottom half of the game screen and click "Hire." Follow the on screen instruction, and it's that simple. Finish this Goal for 200 XP and some Chunky Chow.

2. Tell Me About the Rabbits

• Harvest 20 Wheat on your homestead
• Harvest 20 Corn on your homestead
• Collect 15 Flea Powders

This second mission in the series will take some time, for sure. The 20 Wheat will cost you 7,300 coins and take at least 24 hours to harvest, while the 20 Corn will run you 4,500 coins and take at least 12 hours to harvest. So, either way this Goal will take a whole day if you don't have any Boosts. This is fine considering you have to collect 15 Flea Powders by asking your friends through the Goal window. This Goal will reward you with 100 Food and one Goldfish.

3. Sick as a Dog

• Have or Collect one Chicken Broth
• Have or Construct one Comforter
• Collect one Doghouse Daily Bonus

The Chicken Broth is part of the Chicken Collection, so this could take a while, if you're unlucky. The Comforter is crafted in the Chicken Coop using 15 Cloth and one Downy Feather, which can be found as a reward for completing the entire Chicken Coop Collection. So, sit tight on this one it's going to take a while. If you don't have a Doghouse already, you must build one and collect its Daily Bonus once to finish the Goal. Do this and enjoy one more Chunky Chow and a Lizard in Aquarium as your reward.

4. Animal House

• Clobber 2 Groundhogs
• Clobber 2 Snakes
• Collect 10 Marrow Bones

This Goal could easily be the toughest, especially considering how tough it can be to find Critters at times. Harvest lots of Potatoes for Groundhogs to appear more frequently. As for Snakes, just keep clearing that debris and eventually two will pop up. The 10 Marrow Bones are gifts that you must request from friends, which is something we're all familiar with. This Goal rewards players with 250 XP and a Dog Crate.

5.Puppies, Puppies, Puppies

• Complete the Pet Shop
• Purchase a new Puppy in the Pet Shop
• Get the Puppy to follow you

Finally, it's time to complete the Pet Shop, which you can read all about right here. Then, it's time to buy your first Puppy from the Pet Shop and get it to follow. All of these tips are available in this post. Complete this Goal and receive 250 XP and a Bunny in a Hutch. Enjoy the herd of pets you've just tacked onto your family.

via blog.games.com

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FrontierVille Mission: Water Well

To end the week, Zynga has launched another mission in FrontierVille, the Water Well.  This new building on your homestead will give you crop and animal boosts. 
 

Part I:  May as well find a Spring!

Clear 20 Grass
Discover a Wellspring
Begin Building a Well

Finishing the goal will give you 100 XP, five Peanut Ready Boosts, and two Well Pulleys.

Part II:

Harvest 10 Flax
Unwither Neighbors' Crops 15 Times
Collect 5 Dowsing Rods

Completing this mission gives you 150 XP and two Corn Ready Boosts.

Part III:

Complete the Well
Remove Two Stumps (on your own Homestead)
Find a second Wellspring

Once completed you'll receive 250 XP, five Unwither Crop Boosts, and a Bucket O' Duckies.

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Cafe World Bread Oven Goal

Part I: 

Place your Bread Oven
Build your Bread Oven
Ask for 1 Packet of Yeast

Part II:

Serve 5 Sweet Dinner Rolls
Serve 5 Pumpkin Pies
Ask for 2 Bananas

Part III:

Serve 10 Sweet Dinner Rolls
Ask for 10 Eggs
Ask for 10 Bananas

Part IV:

Serve 10 Sweet Dinner Rolls
Serve 10 Banana Bread
Spice Neighbors' Stoves 5 Times

Part V:

Serve 10 Banana Bread
Ask for 10 Packets of Yeast
Ask for 10 Teaspoons of Cinnamon

Part VI:

Serve 10 Banana Bread
Serve 10 Sticky Buns
Spice Neighbors' Stoves 5 Times

Part VII:

Ask for 10 Measuring Spoons
Serve 10 Sticky Buns
Ask for 10 Cups of Bread Flour

Part VIII:

Sweet Dinner Rolls
Parisian Baguette
Sticky Buns

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FrontierVille Mission: Granny's Home

The Ponderosa Lodge wasn't enough. Now, Granny has come to FrontierVille, and she wants an even bigger house to stay in. But in order to score the Adobe Bricks needed to complete the Fancy Cabin upgrade (which seems to only appear in the Market after completing the Lodge), you must complete two sets of tasks for old g-mom. Just don't question why Granny would want an even bigger place. Don't worry, the "Granny's Home" series is almost too easy. 

Part I:  Granny's Home

    * Clobber 1 Snake
    * Clobber 1 Bear
    * Place the Fancy Cabin

Granny's RockerOf course, finding Snakes and Bears is as easy as clearing debris and chopping down trees, respectively. The Fancy Cabin upgrade will be in the Market to place, though its price is unknown as of this writing. (If you couldn't already tell, this information just recently leaked, so details are scarce.) Finish this mission and 500 XP and a Varmint Surprise await you.

Part II:  Granny's Rocker

    * Craft or have 4 Saltpeter
    * Craft or have 40 Planks
    * Tend 40 Cotton


The 4 Saltpeter are obtained through the Manure Collection, as almost everyone should know, which of course is completed by tending to animals and beating up varmints. In other words, it's going to take a while. The 40 Planks can be crafted in the Wagon for 7 Wood and 250 coins a piece, which will cost 280 Wood and 10 thousand coins total. The 40 Cotton will cost 24 thousand coins and take three whole days to harvest. For completing this Goal, a Granny Rocker, 1,000 XP and 20 Adobe Bricks are yours.

via blog.games.com

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FrontierVille Mission: Critter Coddlin

If you started to miss those Timed Missions in FrontierVille, worry no more – Zynga is planning the release of a new timed mission, the Critter Coddlin’ mission and we have all the details about it below. Fortunately (after the Canning Master missions, at least), we’re talking about a very simple mission. 


Here are the requirements for Critter Coddlin’:

- Help an injured Critter Twice

- Collect 10 Wishes

- Request 10 Critter Clothes

As you can see, this is more of a “spam” mission as players call it, since you will have to ask your neighbors for all the items required to complete the Critter Coddlin’ mission: Wishes and Critter Clothes can be obtained by asking neighbors directly, while helping injured Critters requires you to have Berries, milk or fuzzy blankets which can be obtained from the neighbors as well.

via Frontierville Info

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FrontierVille Mission: Growin' Room

Part I:  Wishes Come True

• Purchase the Ponderosa Lodge
• Tend 20 Oxen
• Craft 4 Sawhorse

Complete this Goal and receive 200 XP and a collectible item.

Part II:  Gussy Up the Place

• Harvest 15 White Roses
• Collect 15 Elegant Paintings
• Tend 12 Peach Trees

Completing this goal gives you an Oak Tree and 500 XP.

Part III:  Packin' Up

• Visit 15 Neighbors
• Harvest 20 Cotton
• Send 5 Neighbor wishlist items

For completing the goal, 750 XP and one Rivet are yours.

Part IV:  A Man's Home is His Castle

• Collect 10 Throne Plungers
• Have 500 wood
• Plant 20 Sunflowers

Completing this goal will reward you with the Adobe Bricks needed to complete the Ponderosa Lodge, and you'll get a Box of Kittens and 1,000 XP.

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New Facebook Game: Gardens of Time

Gardens of Time is now in Closed Beta! Use your Time Machine to locate hidden objects throughout history, unravel the intrigues of a secret society, and protect the world from sinister forces! 

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FrontierVille Mission: Extra, Extra!

A News Stand collection has appeared in FrontierVille, and that can only mean one thing - the News Stand building will soon be rolling out to all users in the game. A lucky few of you have already received this building on your land, which lets you communicate with your friends, telling them the tasks that you'd like completed when they visit, or simply notifying them that you'd like to receive a certain item as a gift.

A series of missions goes along with this building, and we have all of the details about those missions right here. 
 
Part I:

Buy a News Stand
Visit 2 Neighbors
Chop Neighbors' Oak Trees 25 Times

Completing these simple goals rewards you with 100 XP and 100 coins. It also unlocks the second mission in this series, so make sure to meet us behind the break for all of the details you need about these other goals.
 
Part II:

Have 1 Bundle Cord
Have 10 Newsprints
Have Five Sets of Clothes

The Bundle Cord is the News Stand Collection item, while the Newsprints can be earned by posting a general news item to your feed asking your friends to send them to you. Clothes, meanwhile, are crafted inside your Cabin for 6 Cloth and 500 coins each. Finishing this quest gives you 150 XP, 150 coins, and a Stuffed Mailbox decoration. Unfortunately, this isn't a "stuffed animal" mailbox, but rather just a mailbox that's overflowing with mail (I know, I got excited about a Mailbox plushie decoration too).

Part III:

Answer a Classified Ad
Publish a Classified Ad (also called a Daily Edition)
Chop Neighbors' Pine Trees 50 Times

The rewards for this quest are slightly increased over the last, giving you 150 XP and 200 coins. Unfortunately, you won't receive a new decorative item for this quest, but you will be able to move onto the finale, which might be a big enough prize in and of itself.

Part IV:

Collect 10 Photographs
Publish 10 Daily Editions
Answer 10 Classified Ads

You'll be able to collect the Photographs by sending out individual requests to those friends that you think can help you. For finishing this quest, you'll receive a Newspaper Hat clothing item for your avatar(s), 200 XP and 500 coins.

And there you have it! A goal series that is slightly shorter than most (as most goal series have five missions to complete), that also doesn't seem to be overly difficult. Of course, whether or not you'll have an easy time at answering classified ads really depends on how many active neighbors you have in your game. Either way, we wish you luck as you try to complete these goals for yourself!

via blog.games.com

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