Boasting 24 million active users, Happy Aquarium is clearly the big fish to beat on Facebook. Now Zynga's dropped its hook to see if it can catch that many and more with the just-released FishVille. To test the waters, we decided to fillet both into categories to see which aquarium game swims... and which one sinks.

Eye Candy

Add fish, water and glass and you have a viable fish tank. Happy Aquarium's starter tank is barebones as players use coins to add plant, coral, rocks and other submergible treasures although five different sand colors are free. FishVille's basic tanks feature a eye-catching background and a must more simplified list of tanks accessories. While we were going to give the category to FishVille because Happy Aquarium's eye-pleasing backgrounds are purchased with Pearls (earned but easier to buy with real money)... but FishVille's backgrounds are "Coming Soon." Happy Aquarium takes the candy by offering one awesome feature, full-screen play.

Winner: Happy Aquarium

Feeding

Fish need food to grow and both games deal with those morsels in very different ways. Happy Aquarium requires players to purchase food whereas FishVille offers the ultimate in fish buffets, free food. If you like feeding fish all the time, FarmVille is for you. But we like Happy Aquarium's 3 Day Feeder option that lets us kick back to watch and sell fish instead of feeding them all the time. But that options comes with a real price... you have to buy it with real money.

Winner: FishVille

New seasonal crops are ready to be planted and harvested in FarmVille -- cranberries, pattypan squash and acorn squash. Sounds like we're getting ready for Thanksgiving...




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Mario, yes the Mario from Nintendo's famous Mario Bros. games, has been popping up on many farms in the Facebook game, FarmVille. It's nothing official, mind you, but creative players have been using crops and the multi-colored hay bales to create their own rural homage to all things Mario.

We scoured the Web to find almost 30 different Marios that users created. See them all in the gallery below -- then try your hand at making your own Mario. Then, post your pic on the official Games.com fan page and we will post them on the blog.


[Via FarmVille Official Forums]

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The makers of FarmVille have released a brand new simulation game on Facebook -- FishVille. Instead of virtual farming, FishVille puts you in charge of a fish tank, where you can raise and sell fish, and decorate your tank with a variety of themed items from an in-game store. The question is: will this new Facebook game make people put down their virtual hoes and pick up a fish net instead? Vote in the poll below.



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Zynga, makers of FarmVille and Cafe World have released their newest game - FishVille. This game promises to be a hit just like Zynga's previous efforts, even though it's still in it's infancy. We took a video of our first few moments playing the game, and you'll almost instantly see some familiar gameplay elements from both FarmVille and Cafe World.

Will fish tank simulators be the new farming game? Time will tell.

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Back in October, Games.com reported that Zynga, known for games such as FarmVille, YoVille, and Cafe World, had trademarked the term "FishVille." Today, the company launched the game based on the trademark. Just as Facebook players are enjoying the new found popularity if Happy Aquarium, My Fishbowl and Fish World, it seems like the Zynga's late to the party.

Similar to other games in the aquarium games genre, FishVille tasks the player with buying eggs, feeding hatched fish and selling them. In our first few minutes of the game, we've already seen a few differences. First, smaller fish require more constant feedings (two times in five minutes), and while hungry fish show their needs via thought bubbles, other fish may eat the food before it before it floats down. Thankfully, food is free.



Similar to the gameplay of Zynga's Cafe World, players go to the store and purchase eggs for various types of fish that take various lengths of time to mature. Once matured, scooping the fish is all that's required to get paid. Experience Points, used to level up in the game, is gained by adding new eggs and selling fish. One nice new feature we noticed is the ability to operate up to three fish tanks at a time.



Even with FishVille's relatively late arrival, it's worth checking out, especially for players of other aquarium games that feel slow in comparison.

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Early on, new players of Mafia Wars discover the true value of experience. While the first few levels are easy to pass through, jumping up in later levels means that players have to wait a day or sometimes several times before they get enough experience. With a complex game like Mafia Wars, there are several strategies and places where you may have not considered looking for additional experience points.

1) Do Jobs

The most obvious way to earn experience points in Mafia War is by using up your energy to do jobs. The obvious strategy here is that if your goal is to level up, using the lowest amount of energy to gain the most experience points is what you should do. Of course, use the remaining energy points for other jobs that you haven't mastered yet.

2) Help Friends with Jobs

As your mafia list grows, friends and contacts will often send updates to your Facebook wall in order to ask for help with their jobs. While you only have a short time before others help (only 25 friends can accept the offer), helping will give you several experience points for little effort.

If you're not familiar with Sebastien de Halleux, he's the co-founder and COO of Playfish, the company responsible for such games as Pet Society, Restaurant City, Who Has the Biggest Brain? and more. Today, November 6, also happens to be his birthday.

According to his bio on the official Playfish Web site -- he worked at Nokia and Macrospace LTD, helping both companies translate their services into dollars. He has a civil engineering degree from Imperial College London and lives in San Francisco. Sebastien also enjoys snazzy cocktails and has earned the moniker as the "most handsome man in gaming,"

Join us in raising a toast to Sebastien -- without you, we'd know a whole lot less about poo (in Pet Society, of course).

Related:
Watch Sebastien in action in our AOL GameShow videocast >

Decking out your Cafe World chef adds an extra little bit of you to your burgeoning food empire. Now the Cafe World team has added several new clothing options that players of the Facebook game can use to cater their chef to their tastes. From a traditional waiter outfit (also available in yellow, blue, green and red) to new eye wear including slotted red glasses to a mystery mask, the new options look to make your favorite preparer of food into a veritable fashion palette.

Play Cafe World on Facebook Now >

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Late Thursday night, Farmville released a round of new updates. Although none of these updates included the highly anticipated 22 x 22 and 24 x 24 land expansions or the much needed Vaulting system, one new feature seemed to temporarily pacify the Expansionists.

The Garden Shed, a new functional building, was introduced to the FarmVille Market as another building with purpose. The Garden Shed joins the Dairy Farm as the two current buildings that do more than just decorate your farm. It can be purchased for 30,000 coins or 30 FV$.

If you are wondering why you haven't seen the Garden Shed it's because only a select group of FarmVille users currently have the privilege of accessing the Garden Shed and its features. So what can we expect from the Garden Shed?

The Garden shed combines several features making it the most functional item in FarmVille. First, it allows you to save "perfect bunches" of flowers. While harvesting crops of flowers, you will be notified that you've harvested a "perfect bunch". You may save up to 30 bunches. In addition to storing these flowers, you may also choose to use them to decorate your own farm or gift them to your FarmVille neighbors! Finally, for those that do not have a Garden Shed or do not want to store perfect bunches, there will be an option for you to post a notice into your Facebook newsfeed which will make the flowers available to your neighbors in the same way that adoptable animals work.

For now, Expansionists and Team Vault will have to wait as Zynga continues to work on these issues and makes promises of "Coming Soon."

Angela Morales, aka the FarmGoddess, runs FarmVilleFreak.com, a blog covering news, tips and other info about the Facebook game FarmVille.

Bejeweled Blitz, the addictive Facebook game that gives you one minute to match as many colored gems as possible, is headed to the iPhone. The mobile game includes Facebook Connect, so you'll be able to log in and then show off your sweet gem-matching skills by posting high scores on your Facebook page.

We got our hands on the Bejeweled Blitz iPhone update early and after extensive hands-on testing, are happy to report that it works seamlessly with the Facebook version of the game. It also has the same high production values expected from any official Bejeweled game -- a lush soundtrack, good-looking graphics and over-the-top sound effects, including -- our favorite -- a chain of bro-tastic explosions at the end of every round.

The iPhone version also includes all of the same power-ups -- score multipliers and laser gems -- vital to pushing your score to unbeatable heights. Your high scores will automatically show up on the leaderboard in the Facebook version, and you'll be able to post brag notes on your Facebook page anytime you score a metal in the game (see example below). We were impressed to see our new high scores appeared in the Facebook version's leaderboard in real time, as well as our brag notes.


Bejeweled Blitz, officially announced today, is not a standalone game. The gem-swapper is actually an add-on to the existing Bejeweled 2 for iPhone, and will be available starting next week as soon as Apple says 'go' ("Coming soon," a Popcap rep says). If you already own Bejeweled 2, the Blitz add-on update can be downloaded from the app store for free, and if you don't, you can buy it for $2.99 at the app store and Blitz will automatically be included.

This is the first time that PopCap has created a game that will work across platforms, something that other social game companies, such as Zynga, have not managed to pull off yet. We'd love our iPhone version of Mafia Wars to work just as seamlessly with the Facebook version, and vice versa. We expect Bejeweled Blitz is just the beginning of being able to play our favorite social game whenever, wherever.



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Write, play, write, play, that's all I ever do. Thankfully, I have a plan to cut out the boring half of my day... work. So here's the days most interesting social gaming news from all the corners of the Internet that, when studied, will make you the trendiest person at work... tomorrow.


- The cake lovers at Zynga got pictures of another elaborate cake. Inspired by the company's most popular game, FarmVille. The story around the cake gives it a real global feel with a group of players from the four corners of the globe. Shipping slices of that cake must have been pricey. (Zynga)

- The film series Twilight turned a group of teen vampires into pop idols. With the second movie in the series, Twilight: New Moon, teens can expect to see and hear about flick before it arrives on November 20, 2009. They'll also get to play too, as the teen-focused online gaming site Habbo will be add movie-themed rooms, virtual goods including a dreamcatcher, a piano and the Volturi crest. Look for those items in Habbo, starting tomorrow. (New Media Age)

- Green is the new black nowadays as gamers are looking to save the planet, save money and save themselves. Soon, there could be an app for competing to see who's greener. Adrian Tuck, CEO of Tendril, which makes Smart Grid technology, says that his company is already working on an Eco Warrior game with a "well-known" California-based developer that will let players earns virtual rewards for real world conservation. Might be real funky to add that to my Facebook page, "Micheal is 33% less efficient today!" (GreenBeat)

- How bad did iPhone/iPod Touch players want an action online fighting game? Eliminate Pro from ngmoco (best known for its other games Topple and Rolando) hit 500,000 downloads. While the game is free, you can only play so much each day as your energy gets used up. Want to play more? Then you can buy more energy. Yeah, sounds like a drug deal if it wasn't so much fun to play. (Casualgaming.biz)

- Zombies might be the "in" thing but there are millions all over the world who still pay to live out their digital lives as an Orc in World of Warcraft. Now, a little part of social gaming is coming to WoW. Players will now be able to purchase in-game pets through the Blizzard Store. Only two pets are currently available for $10 each. There's a Paris Hilton joke in here somewhere... (Inside Social Games)

Listen up, Sorority sisters. Have you ever wished that you could use a J Crew catalog to buy clothes, shoes and a perfect boyfriend? While that's not likely to happen in real life, you can now buy and sell boyfriends in Sorority Life for MySpace and Facebook.

To acquire a new boyfriend (for yourself and the rest of your housemates), hit the Glam tab at the top of the screen. Once you arrive, scroll down to the bottom of the page, where the boyfriends are listed. We're at level 8, so we had two options to pick from -- Fletcher the Frat Boy and Serge the Foreign Exchange student. These boyfriends each cost $600 and in addition to providing your sorority with arm candy, also add to your overall charm and popularity scores, which are vital to winning fights against rivals.



If you're tired of having too many boys around -- you can simply sell off your boyfriends for half the cost -- $300. We've seen other boyfriends out there as well (which cost a lot more), so we're assuming that means you'll unlock more options as your influence grows.

All this talk about buying and selling boyfriends sounds a little ... wrong, amirite? Then again, we'll do whatever it takes to be the queen bee of the sorority social scene.

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How to Play Sorority Life on Facebook and MySpace

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We've been hearing a lot of chatter about unicorns and dinosaurs wandering around in FarmVille. Much like the black cat, ugly duckling and other creatures before it -- you'll be able to adopt these creatures once your friends find them on their farms.

Below -- a screengrab of one of the first unicorn sightings. We've only heard rumors about the dinosaurs. Have you found either of them yet? Let us know the details!



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