Social Gaming Network recently launched its new iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad shooter game, EXO-Planet Elite. Due to the better performance capabilities and larger screen size, we decided to look at the iPad rendition. In short, it’s an app centered around the concept of multiplayer shooting matches, and set in a fully three-dimensional space environment.

Using all three axis, players battle one another between two space stations within the void of space. The biggest surprise, however, is how well the controls and combat work out for such a game; even if they are a bit clunky at first. Combined with some pretty unique movement mechanics, rewarding level up systems, and minor Facebook Connect integration, EXO-Planet makes for quite the interesting title. That is of course, if you are able to play a match.

Essentially players are plopped down into a level of two simplistic space stations and spiraling tunnel, of sorts, in between. Primarily centered around multiplayer, users can join into one-on-one matches locally via Bluetooth or one-on-one or two-on-two matches via online play. From here, there are two different modes: Capture the Flag and Deathmatch. Though this ought to be well known for shooter veterans, it basically breaks down to getting Flag A to Point B for the former, or kill everyone for the latter.

Though the modes are commonplace, the combat mechanics are far from it. On the iPad, players move using one finger on the left side of the screen and steer using the other side. It is extraordinarily awkward for users that regularly use controllers or a mouse and keyboard, but frankly, this control scheme works much better than games that attempt to recreate directional pads on screen. SGN is aware of the fast pace that comes from shooters, and realizes that without the tactile feedback of actual buttons, making the entire screen the movement controls is the next best thing.

Beyond this, shooting is done by pressing two fingers and is aimed the same way as steering. Moreover, the gun never seems to run out of ammunition or has to reload, so feel free to spray bullets everywhere. Again, this is likely also to mitigate the loss of accuracy that comes from a mouse or thumbstick. Of course, the coolest part of EXO-Planet is the 3D environment and the grappling hook.

Throughout the level there are metal surfaces in which your magnetic space boots can cling to. Tapping one of these surfaces hooks the player and then pulls them to that location. If used properly, users can grapple from surface to surface very quickly, shooting along the way. It’s tremendously faster than running, and is undoubtedly going to be a technique used by advanced players. Plus, it’s always fun to use it and attack people from above.

Unfortunately, this all only comes into play if you can find a match. For $4.99 on the iPhone and $6.99 on the iPad, it’s a game that not a whole lot of people are buying yet. Because of this, there’s not always a match to play, and when there is, it may not always be a full game (we got stuck with a few two-on-ones). Also, there are so few, that you just get put into one randomly. You don’t get to pick, thus playing with friends outside of Bluetooth appears a bit difficult. Since about 90% of this game is multiplayer-only, the level of fun that comes with the combat is immediately pointless if none pop up. That said, this is the most pressing issue, and more than likely the reason that the cross platform play was announced.

One surprise was that this game actually costs money initially. After the success of other free-to-play titles, like ngmoco’s Eliminate Pro, one would think that model would be wiser (especially because you need more people to make the game fun). It isn’t that EXO-Planet doesn’t have the means to do so, as there is a currency dubbed “Scrip” that is earned via playing and even a button to add more. With Scrip, players can purchase various upgrades – unlocked as they play and level up – to weapons and armor. Oddly, the “add more” button doesn’t actually let you buy any Scrip, but obviously the methods are all there. With more items, and maybe some purchasable maps, this is a title that could easily be turned into a freemium game.

Regarding any further elements to the new SGN title, it does have Facebook Connect, which allows you to link your EXO-Planet profile with your Facebook account. However, other than let you use your Facebook avatar as your EXO avatar, it doesn’t appear to do too much yet. There is a section for the newsfeed, but it appears empty for us, and we’ve yet to be prompted to post anything (even if we owned five kids without dying!). Beyond this, the visuals leave something to be desired. The characters look decent, but the environments feel a bit lifeless and devoid of any personality.

Overall, EXO-Planet Elite is a very cool game and has the potential to be a tremendously fun shooter. Sadly, it remains as “potential,” until the number of players picks up. With any luck, the new cross-platform capabilities will work well. Truthfully, it does appear to be working, as we did get more matches than user complaints previously suggested (though we still often had to wait a lot). Additionally, EXO-Planet has all the makings of a quality freemium title as well, which could earn even more players. Moreover, recent single player additions, such as the timed, target practice mode, Gauntlet, have been added, so that too is another means to improve the player experience; through single-player. Regardless of paths, here’s hoping things work out. That grappling mechanic is just too much fun to let die.

It’s hardly uncommon for game developers to take features from existing popular games, but with Wonder Island, developer Gamenauts has dipped into not one or two, but three different Facebook genres: farming, restaurants and island resorts. In essence, Wonder Island a Frankensteinian mixture of virtually any farming game, Zynga’s Café World, and Playdom’s Tiki Resort.

If you’ve played any of the above-named games, then Wonder Island won’t be terribly difficult to figure out. Starting off, you’re granted a surprisingly sizable amount of island real estate (if only it were that easy in reality). The largest chunk of change you can earn is from farming, through the usual series of plowing land, planting crops and trees, buying animals, and harvesting the results when they’re ready.

As per the typical arrangement, your harvest can be sold for a profit, but Wonder Island provides another alternative: using it with the game’s cooking features. However, grown crops are, oddly, not required to make dishes. Players simply cook them for a cost and place them on tables to be eaten Café World style. What the crops can do, however, is enhance each product. Whether it is before cooking starts, or during, users can add ingredients they’ve grown to the dish to improve its sale value. As an example, the most basic dish is a fruit salad that sells for 25 coins. If you add a piece of spinach, its value increases by 12. Add an apple, it grows by 18. And if you add a peach, it is worth an extra 50.

One of the nice things you’ll find in playing the Gamenauts app is a looser limitation in how much you can play. Players in farming games usually must plant a crop and wait, usually, for several hours — unless they pay. However, with Wonder Island, players can use the few stoves they start with to start cooking up dishes at as low as five minute intervals. It’s perfect for people doing something, like, say, writing a game review, in another window.

Beyond spicing up the slow-paced farming elements of the game, the cooking feature also makes it significantly easier to earn the coin needed to give your virtual space its added pizzazz. Of course, like most farming and restaurant sims, décor really doesn’t do much beyond sating your own creative palette. That’s a little bit disappointing, considering you do have touristy non-player characters wandering about, and the combination of farming and restaurants coupled with the large plot of land given to decorate suggests tremendous potential for a resort style, tycoon game with a micromanagement component. However, most Facebook games have not yet progressed this far.

Nevertheless, aesthetic appeal for the sake of aesthetics typically does well in social games. As far as it applies here, the style works pretty well. With saturated colors and an intentionally odd scale (many trees are smaller than your avatar), everything sort of works. The biggest complaint comes from movement. As nice as things look standing still, the animations all feel very stiff and jerky, almost like the game is lagging. It might seem minor, but it does detract from the experience.

Our other major qualm with Wonder Island is not so much an issue as it is a concern for the in-game economy. Though it’s easy to get started with a steady cash flow, one can’t help but wonder: is it too easy? If users earn money too easily, and progress too quickly, they reach goals faster (i.e. buying the best decorative items). This is a problem in two ways. The first is that if goals are reached too easily, they become meaningless. There is no accomplishment in that. Second, in games like this, part of the addictiveness is creating your own goals. You can do that here, but if you get through all of them too quickly, you have no reason to continue playing.

Thankfully, these problems wouldn’t be terribly difficult to fix with a few time versus cost tweaks here and there, and if content additions are kept at a good pace, the point becomes completely moot.

Truthfully, the biggest problem with Wonder Island is originality. Overall, the game doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It uses a visual style that has been seen before, combining games we’ve all played before. Even socially, everything feels the same: leaderboards, gifting, visiting each other’s islands, and helping them out by clicking a button that says you helped them. As far as original design goes, it’s an app that leaves much to be desired.

Still, despite its relative newness, Wonder Island is growing fairly well, with 164,000 monthly active users.

The first few entries on this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by monthly active users looks like a lineup of major developers: Zynga, CrowdStar, MindJolt and Electronic Arts have all added significant numbers of new users.

But the really big news this morning, especially over at our sister blog Inside Facebook, is that Facebook appears to have made a significant update to app statististics reporting that has caused several older apps to suddenly report millions more MAU (which they likely had all along). Luckily, relatively few games have been affected, although there are a couple for us to point out below.

Here’s the AppData top 20 list:

	Name	MAU	Gain	Gain, %
1.	FrontierVille	6,284,067	+5,452,890	+656.04
2.	Gift Creator	4,591,694	+4,485,404	+4,219.97
3.	Hello City	4,402,158	+1,624,120	+58.46
4.	MindJolt Games	19,706,872	+978,801	+5.23
5.	JibJab	784,581	+738,076	+1,587.09
6.	EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars	1,854,728	+688,355	+59.02
7.	School of Wizardry	1,669,564	+543,734	+48.30
8.	Birthday Cards	23,275,752	+532,292	+2.34
9.	Baking Life	1,509,909	+484,907	+47.31
10.	Evony	797,525	+469,694	+143.27
11.	My Empire	4,547,241	+466,275	+11.43
12.	Name Analyzer	2,927,640	+432,065	+17.31
13.	Bejeweled Blitz	10,238,112	+366,292	+3.71
14.	Bola	4,058,453	+325,520	+8.72
15.	Family Feud	7,054,016	+324,201	+4.82
16.	Fashion World	752,423	+320,665	+74.27
17.	Crazy Cow Music Quiz	1,029,648	+297,463	+40.63
18.	Millionaire City	690,282	+290,381	+72.61
19.	Nightclub City	4,002,642	+248,566	+6.62
20.	Phrases	898,177	+237,055	+35.86

FrontierVille, the latest by Zynga, leads off the list. Some might call this game truly original, while others deem it FarmVille plus, even sharing the same initials; but regardless of the various opinions (including ours) floating about the blogosphere, players are streaming in. We’ll have a bit more on that later.

Gift Creator is one of the apps affected by Facebook’s reporting changes; however, we can mostly ignore it here, along with JibJab, since neither is a full-fledged game. But Evony, at number 10, has definitely been affected, turning out to be about twice as large as Facebook previously reported with near 800,000 MAU. School of Wizardry also shows a significant jump on June 15th, the day of the change; the independently developed game, it turns out, has almost 1.7 million MAU.

Moving back up the list, Crowdstar’s Hello City is plugging along quite nicely, and has almost caught up with its city-building rival from EA, My Empire, which you can find at number 11 with only a quarter as many new MAU. Both have done spectacularly well for new entrants into a fairly well-worn genre, although each puts its own creative spin on the concept.

MindJolt Games continues to climb, and is currently threatening to break 20 million MAU. Finally, we’ll point out EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars, which continues to take advantage of soccer World Cup traffic. However, the team management game isn’t doing as well as other major, similarly-hyped releases have, which may show that sports games are still a tough sell on Facebook — or simply that this one is a bit too complex.

Check out the top headlines and insights this week from Inside Facebook— tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.

Monday, June 14th, 2010

• Quiz Monster and City Games Lead Off This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Apps by MAU
• Note to Facebook Page Owners: Any Page Admin Is Now Removable
• Where are the Peanut Labs/RockYou Offers in Facebook’s Credits Payment Options?
• Apple’s iOS 4 Includes Option to Upload Videos to Facebook
• Facebook Expands Free Credits Promotion in CrowdStar’s Hello City

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

• The World Cup Joins Music and TV on This Wekk’s Top 20 Facebook Pages
• Mideast Growth on Facebook Fell Back to Normal in May 2010
• Last Week to Pre-Order Inside Virtual Goods: Spending and Usage Patterns of the Social Gaming Audience
• Post Voicemail to Facebook Walls with Voice Wall
• Speed of New Facebook Graph API with PHP SDK Slowing Developer Adoption
• User Survey Results: Which Ads Do Facebook Users Like Most (and Least)?

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

• Buzzeo Acquisition is Latest Move in Context Optional’s Facebook Business Expansion
• Nielsen, Compete Show Normal US Traffic Gains for Facebook in May 2010
• Facebook Adds Likes to Comments
• Facebook Tests Using Profile Picture Thumbnails in More Feeds Stories
• Performance Advertising’s Future on Social Platforms: Bright, but with Room for Improvement
• RockYou Apps Win a Reprieve on This Week’s List of Facebook Gainers by DAU

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

• Home Page Headline Urges Users to Invite Their Skype Contacts to Join Facebook
• Nigeria Regained Lost Ground in May 2010, Leading African Growth
• Facebook’s New Hires This Week: From Loopt, Microsoft, and Yahoo
• Who’s Playing Social Games Outside the US? App Demographics for Facebook’s Second Largest Market, the UK
• The Top 25 Facebook Pages People Like Most

Friday, June 18th, 2010

• Facebook Ads: Do Users Really Love Gaming and Hate Dating
• Report: Facebook Was Profitable in 2009, with Revenue Up to $800M
• Out of Zynga’s Confusing Deal Terms Come Big New Fundings
• Compete Shows Entertainment Sites Sending More Traffic to Facebook in May 2010
• CrowdStar Runs Its Own Virtual Goods Campaign to Help Out with the Oil Spill
• Facebook Roundup: Localeze, Videos, Virtual Goods, Privacy, Amazon, TiVo and More

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

• Facebook for iPhone 3.1.3 Brings Video Watching, Event Walls, and Better Pictures
• Facebook Engineer: Key Issue Slowing Down Graph API with PHP SDK Fixed

Forget farming, raising kingdoms, or fighting monsters, it’s summer time and that means it’s time to hit the beaches. Sadly, not everyone has a seaside abode, so French company Intellysurf has created the YouRiding Bodyboarding Game for Facebook, taken from one of the four game modes on their site YouRiding.com. Most comparable to console titles like Tony Hawk — combined with the controls of old mobile title Fly Ribbon — this streamlined rendition has players traversing the globe and catching waves in some of the world’s most famous surf locals.

YouRiding, while not a unique game concept, is certainly more original than most other recent Facebook titles, managing to be both fun and amusing. Each game also feels rather short, but the length of play reflects the wave-based nature of the sport and fits well with its competitive social elements. That said, YouRiding can be a bit clunky in the controls at times, and the overall presentation value leaves something to be desired. Here’s a closer look at the details:

Starting of, the app is pretty straightforward, with minimal direction needed to figure out the basics. You’ll begin on the famous waves of Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii as rider Ryan Hardy (your avatar for that area — different avatars come with different levels). From here, the game is completely controlled with the keyboard as you ride a 2D wave using the arrow keys to control horizontal and vertical direction.

The mechanics behind the riding are pretty well done too, as you must balance out the two stats of speed and balance. For example, if you hold down a direction (right or left) you gain speed. If you hold that direction and ride down to the base of the wave you’ll pick up even more speed. As in real bodyboarding or surfing, though, you must not remain at the base or their balance will drop. If balance reaches zero, you wipe out.

This is where the YouRiding begins to take shape. Each area has its own moderately unique set of waves; they could be higher, they could break sooner or more often, and so on. What these differences do is provide a few extra sets of challenges and a means to perform various tricks.

From take off to wipe-out, you earn a steady stream of points. Of course, just doing that, with the noted controls, really would make it Fly Ribbon with waves. To make it interesting, Intellysurf integrates the trick mechanic that is most similar with the previously mentioned Tony Hawk titles. There are about nine simple two-button tricks to be performed such as a forward spin, air roll spin, or backflip used to earn significant points for the score. In addition to these, points are also garnered through quick turns or riding inside the tube of a breaking wave.

This is where the game brings in the oldest and most stable of social mechanics: the competitive leaderboard. While the mechanic is a bit dated, it works well for this particular game as professional bodyboarding is all about competition, which also helps the scores feel meaningful. They have almost an arcade feel as they are earned through the classic means of twitch skill rather than who has the best spreadsheet or has been playing the longest — ala most farming titles. This is further enhanced by independent rankings at each location including Pipeline, North Point, La Graviere, and so on.

It is also worth noting that there are three other locations that can be unlocked – Shark Island, El Gringo, and The Wedge. Evidentially, this is intended to be the primary monetization as for $3, the extra three, as well as a few new tricks can be purchased through your mobile phone, premium calling, or Zeevex.

Of course, it’s hard to say whether or not many will find the purchase worth it, as the small differences between levels don’t really feel different enough. Granted, you get a special trick based on the rider and the waves break differently, but those features don’t feel particularly special. Even the visuals are virtually the same, sans a hue change in water and sand.

This leads to one of the chief complaints to be had with YouRiding. The presentation outside the still menus just feels old and overly simplified. The visuals are reminiscent of an old mobile phone game or the Super Nintendo, and considering that one of the big draws to surfing and bodyboarding as a whole are beautiful locations, it just doesn’t do the sport justice.

Beyond aesthetics, the other problem area is the controls. While the basic movement control using the arrows is fine, the tricks, which use letter keys, feel a little bit awkward. Examples include hitting E then G, or E then V. It’s not so much the chosen letters, as this can be gotten used to (not to mention learning the tricks is part of the skill), but the keyboard itself doesn’t feel suited to button combinations like this. For most computer games using the keyboard, the common controls include W, A, S, D for movement, the mouse, and spacebar. Those are also what should be used for the fast-paced, twitch elements of a game like YouRiding, even on Facebook.

Overall, YouRiding is still a nice change from the usual. The premise is very different from what we normally see, and while it has a few issues here and there, it’s fun for a few minutes — though most users may not feel inclined to play for any longer, since playing one level for a few minutes pretty much feels like having played them all. All the same, it is certainly a concept worth further exploration.

Android Market Share Hits 20% – According to new data released by Quantcast, Android’s Google OS has reached 19.9% in operating system market share for mobile devices. The iPhone OS (iOS) still leads, however, at 58.8%.

Criterion Capital Partners Acquires Bebo – Earlier this week, financial advisory firm Criterion Capital Partners, LLC (CCP) announced that it has acquired the social media network Bebo from AOL Inc. Not all details behind the deal have been revealed, but CCP is said to have purchased the social network for $10 million or less and has assumed all rights to and complete global operating control of the youth-oriented site.

GodFinger Launches Globally – For the longest time, the only way to get a hold of ngmoco’s GodFinger outside of Canada was through the iPad. This week, the company launched the free-to-play app on a global scale for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

Ning Adds Game Channels – Wednesday, social network platform Ning announced partnerships with CafePress and HeyZap. Now, users that use Ning to create their own social networks will be able to integrate custom CafePress shops that sell branded items, as well as HeyZap’s collection of pay-to-play games to their networks.

GameCoins Going Mobile – Sometric’s virtual currency portal GameCoins.com looks to be expanding its market. Chief executive Ian Swanson says the company will soon move beyond its typically supported games and begin adding support for the mobile games space as well.

Worlize to Build User-Generated Social Gaming Platform – According to TechCrunch a small startup by the name of Worlize is launching the private beta of its coming product this week. Unfortunately, all that is known at this time is that it is being called the first user-created social gaming and chat platform for Facebook and other such networks.

Nexon May Get Facebook Connect – According to CEO Daniel Kim, Nexon America is currently “researching” ways that it could integrate Facebook Connect with its currently collection of free-to-play games. Moreover, the integration would not be game to game but rather based on a player’s account, thus affecting any Nexon games the user currently plays.

Social Gaming Network Raises Funds – Though they’ve been quiet for some time, Social Gaming Network has just recently come back onto the scene after raising $2 million in financing from Tomorrow Ventures. Additionally, the social developer has also launched its newest title EXO-Planet Elite for the various iDevices.

Microsoft’s Xbox Cashes in on Virtual Goods - Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, via the Xbox 360, has apparently been raking in the cash with its virtual goods business. This revenue includes movies, music, content pack downloads and “bite-sized” games in addition to avatars’ clothes and accessories and has been growing steadily, according to Microsoft executive Dennis Durkin. With 25 million Xbox Live members around the world, about 56% upgraded to the Gold subscription service ($50 a year).

Zynga has been assembling a big cash hoard in the last year. Between the $180 million it said it raised in December from a consortium led by Digital Sky Technologies, and $147 million that it has not confirmed it has raised from SoftBank, the company could have something like $327 million in new funding.

Except it doesn’t, according to a string of deal terms pieced together over the last year by finance data company VC Experts. Here’s a quick look at what data we have available, and what it might mean; note that Zynga has steadfastly not commented on any of its funding moves in years, aside from announcing the DST deal.

Up until last fall, Zynga had a pretty typical-looking set of filings: when it raised money, the company would authorize stock and sell it as you’d expect, with filings showing up afterward.

The situation got stranger in mid-November, when a regulatory “Form D” filing showed up stating that the company had raised $15.2 million from previous investors as an extension to its second round of funding from back in 2008. A reliable source had told us in the spring of 2009 that the company was raising around this amount of money, but that was never confirmed. The filing that appeared last November may have actually been raised then, and just filed later — more on this, further down.

Then the DST deal got announced in December. That $180 million stock purchase by investors has never shown up in a regulatory filing — at least not all at once, and not yet. Instead, there has been a trickle of stock authorizations and small stock sales, beginning in late April of this year.

[Editor's note: Full copies of the filings and more details are available on VC Experts' Valuation & Deal Term Database.]

The most notable recent filing happened on May 11th, when the company authorized new shares of class “Series B-2″ preferred stock; when valued at the latest share price, the value of this class increased from around $25 million to $315 million. Preferred stock is intended for investors, often connected to strategic partnership agreements or other deals. The amount is also just $13 million less than the combined DST and SoftBank funding.

This filing could represent the majority of the stock that DST and SoftBank are getting, meaning Zynga delayed any filings related to DST from last December through when it finalized SoftBank’s deal. There are other complications, to this idea, though.

The company also made a few much smaller adjustments and added smaller new stock classes to its capitalization table in the past few months. Some of these may have had to do with recent acquisitions, including Challenge Games and XPD Media. The big new investors may also be getting other types of stock, which helps explain the difference between the $315 million worth of B-2 shares and the combined $327 million of the latest investment. A third complication is that Zynga may be issuing more stock for employees that it does not bring in through acquisitions, but rather because of individual hires or compensation package increases. Finally, it could be that DST and/or SoftBank have some sort of “subscription agreement,” where they agree to buy stock over a period of time at agreed-upon terms.

The bigger question is why the filings are happening this way. Authorizations, stock purchases and announcements about new investors normally happen within a month or three of each other, and investor data services, finance news publications and competitors track them closely to try to understand what hot companies are doing.

Zynga’s unusual approach, while not unheard of, is likely because the company has wanted to tightly control what everyone else knew about its strategies. For example, it launched what became its biggest hit, farm simulation FarmVille, in June of 2009. By this point it already had figured out how to get a solid return on investment in Facebook’s performance advertising system — well before most other developers had. By delaying that funding until many months later, it may have helped hide its intense focus on launching FarmVille until after the game had gotten going. Then, by delaying filings related to DST, the company was able to obscure the fact that it was doubling down on its business even as many other social gaming competitors raised smaller amounts or sold.

This interpretation is, to be clear, speculation based on possibly incomplete filings and an unusual and drawn-out process. If there is any clear takeaway here, it is that Zynga is willing to keep raising the stakes even as its traffic on its core platform, Facebook, has ebbed, and as it has faced new monetization changes like Facebook Credits. And it’s raising the stakes in ways that potentially confuse the rest of the market.

While Zynga has had some successful new games this year, like Treasure Isle and now FrontierVille, it faces a slow-growing, increasingly expensive Facebook platform, and risky or inadequate alternatives. The new money does not look like it’s just going towards more growth, but also towards a more mature and challenging period for social gaming. The long-term goal is still, we assume, for Zynga to go public eventually.

The sale of virtual goods has always been a primary monetization method for social games, and with the world’s most popular sport, soccer, already in the heat of the 2010 World Cup, you can bet that a number of social developers are taking advantage. We’ve already tracked a number of recently-released soccer apps, so below we’re taking a closer look at what non-sports games are doing in recognition of what is, arguably, the world’s largest sporting event.

CrowdStar: Zoo Paradise, Happy Pets, & Happy Aquarium

We’ve taken a keen interest in what CrowdStar is doing for the World Cup, as this particular developer has consciously sought an international image. Taking interest in the soccer tournament makes sense for CrowdStar, as soccer is traditionally more popular abroad than in the United States.

CrowdStar’s most noticeable collection of World Cup virtual goods is in one of its newer titles, Zoo Paradise. Like the majority of games offering related virtual goods, Paradise prominently features flags from the 32 competing countries in the tournament. But flags alone are a bit boring, so CrowdStar got more creative with a second item: a “Soccer Field” habitat for players’ virtual zoos. In order to populate this field, Paradise also offers users three new World Cup animals, including a soccer-playing rhino, a World Cup leopard, and an actual soccer ball animal.

None of these goods can be bought with in-game currency, instead costing anywhere from 10 to 62 Facebook Credits (equivalent to $1 to $6 dollars). Additionally, all of the items are only available until the end of the World Cup series.

CrowdStar has also incorporated limited edition items in two of its other popular apps, Happy Pets and Happy Aquarium. The latter is nothing terribly extravagant, limiting itself to a World Cup stadium and flag backgrounds and an amusing walrus referee. Curiously, however, none of the items explicitly state that they are limited. They still cost either Facebook Credits or the game’s virtual currency, “Pearls,” with the second option requiring marginally more currency.

Happy Pets’ World Cup items, on the other hand, feel a lot more creative in that CrowdStar has provided a way to simultaneously care for virtual pets and support your teams. From French horses, to Italian dogs, to a “World Cup Hamster,” these currently non-limited edition pets take on the color schemes of their homes, and run 88 Facebook Credits apiece. Oh, and for the record, the green hamster rolling about in a glass soccer ball: Awesome.

Zynga: Treasure Isle

While CrowdStar has done a lot, this wouldn’t be a proper roundup without taking a look at Zynga. But, oddly enough, the social gaming behemoth has not contributed as many virtual items as one might expect to the World Cup craze.

Currently Zynga’s third most popular app with just shy of 22 million monthly active users, Treasure Isle, has the most sizable selection of World Cup items, using them to help players decorate their own personal island. Unlike CrowdStar, Zynga is charging its own Cash virtual currency for the special items.

Thus far, the goods consist of animated soccer ball flavor items, some Robinson Crusoe’esque goals, a few flags, and some… “different” soccer playing animals. Beyond a monkey referee, which is pretty cool, Zynga does do something very interesting here; two of the three World Cup animals can be purchased with in-game currency. It’s a hefty chunk of change (11,000 coins), but considering that every other animal in the game, not just special ones, cost virtual currency, it certainly makes for a curious choice. Unlike CrowdStar, the limited purchase time is not until the end of the World Cup, but only a few days from now, so Zynga may be planning a fresh wave of items.

RockYou & Playdom: My Casino & Tiki Resort

On a smaller scale, RockYou! And Playdom have also gotten into the spirit of competition. Beyond mere flags, RockYou! is also selling a virtual rendition of the World Cup trophy within one its newest creations, My Casino. However, in a different approach, the game is not using in-game nor virtual currency for the transactions. Instead, the older company is getting straight to the point through PayPal with items costing anywhere from $0.99 to $5.99.

Playdom, on the other hand, is keeping things simple with a limited stock item for its title Tiki Resort. From within the 5 million MAU strong app, players can purchase a special concession item dubbed “Zulu Concessions” for Facebook Credits. As it stands, there are just over 8300 left.

Foursquare & Bing: Foursqare

While most of these goods have been made available through Facebook games, that does not mean they are limited to the platform. TechCrunch points out that the location-based smartphone game Foursquare is also in the World Cup spirit.

Though they are technically not virtual goods, the game is promoting itself through Bing, offering a World Cup badge for anyone that follows Bing on the service. Additionally, the badge has been tied to any number of sports bars showcasing the World Cup in major cities such as Las Vegas and New York, and can be found via a Bing Map App called HomeTurfFinder on Bing Maps. Moreover, those that follow Bing and check into such locations may also be offered specials there.

In the recent past, we’ve seen virtual goods make up to $1 million a day for occasions like Mother’s Day, as well as Christmas, the Super Bowl, and even Valentine’s Day. If anything, what’s happening around the World Cup is an acceleration of the real and virtual worlds’ convergence — though given the importance of the World Cup everywhere besides the United States, it seems likely that these mostly US-based developers are actually underplaying their hand. On the other hand, there are still four weeks to go for the World Cup, so we may just be seeing the beginning of the marketing push.

We’ve been watching San Francisco developer LOLapps with interest since the company decided last year to focus on games over its highly successful user-generated quiz business. While it hasn’t had a massive hit gaming yet, LOLapps has produced a few solid successes to date.

Several of these have been in conjunction with big brands. Last December, the company published Dante’s Inferno on Facebook to help hype up Electronic Arts’ release of the console version several months later. At the time, it looked like a possible template for future collaboration between social and traditional game companies.

However, that phase is now over for LOLapps, according to CEO Arjun Sethi. When we talked with Sethi last week, he said that the company is more interested in becoming a brand of its own, and will only publish original titles of its own.

Like many other developers, Sethi sees an inflection point approaching on Facebook. “People will begin demanding better experiences,” he told us. Unlike the me-too social games created last year, original experiences and creativity will be valued.

Another major change taking place at LOLapps is a switch to Facebook Credits. A number of developers are testing Credits or offer them alongside an in-game virtual currency, but LOLapps will join CrowdStar as the only other large developer to use Credits exclusively.

It’s a big move, but Sethi says that he’s been satisfied so far with Credits. “We haven’t seen a significant drop in transactions. To the contrary, we’re starting to see increased usage,” he said. “We’re actually excited to figure out how to use Credits in our games.”

In general, Sethi is also happy with Facebook’s platform, and says that LOLapps has actually grown after each of Facebook’s policy changes (a number of larger developers saw decreases after Facebook’s notification adjustments). For LOLapps, the key is in learning more about users through Facebook’s data APIs. “It should be our job to know our users better than we’ve known them in the past,” Sethis said.

LOLapps’ last big release was Garden Life, which is currently at around a million monthly active users. The company has several more games in the pipeline, which it expects to release over the summer.

There are several interesting developments on this week’s list of emerging Facebook games, defined as those growing strongly but still under a million monthly active users. The most notable change seems to be the sudden growth of Evony — which is actually number two on the list — to over twice its former size.

Over the two months since Evony, an online game once known for its racy ads, launched onto Facebook, the app has appeared to grow moderately well. Now, the game suddenly appears to be booming. Whatever the reason, the news of Evony’s size should come as welcome news to Playdom, which recently launched a very similar game called Verdonia.

	Name	MAU	Gain	Gain, %
1.	Evony	778,358	+430,053	+123.47
2.	Fashion World	529,442	+282,862	+114.71
3.	Crazy Cow Music Quiz	847,760	+255,393	+43.11
4.	Millionaire City	533,176	+251,482	+89.27
5.	City Life	547,010	+196,393	+56.01
6.	Middle Kingdom	429,961	+160,982	+59.85
7.	Lovely Farm	328,324	+155,637	+90.13
8.	Phrases	792,486	+151,794	+23.69
9.	Jeux Flash Gratuits	905,382	+149,859	+19.84
10.	遊戲基地 gamebase	156,531	+149,573	+2,149.66
11.	Mahjong	638,552	+134,409	+26.66
12.	Jumping Dog	908,866	+129,795	+16.66
13.	GamePoints.com	124,025	+122,182	+6,629.52
14.	Il Meteo dell’Umore	351,162	+113,236	+47.59
15.	- Clicks Racer Challenge	400,575	+107,748	+36.80
16.	Godfather	411,284	+103,790	+33.75
17.	Goooaaal	124,395	+103,395	+492.36
18.	Age of Champions	693,707	+92,934	+15.47
19.	American Flag	309,539	+86,389	+38.71
20.	NanoStar Siege	511,570	+81,618	+18.98

Fashion World, the latest from Metrogames, has risen to number three with, and now has just over half a million MAU. It’s part of a store-management genre that’s currently doing well in several other games, like Baking Life, which just passed a million MAU.

At number four, Crazy Cow Music Quiz is still enjoying success with multiple-choice music trivia. Millionaire City is another city-building game, with a “tycoon” theme; and City Life, following directly after, might be best described as a girly simulation. This last app has actually been around since February, and had hit a plateau before beginning to grow again a few days ago.

We’ll use our last slot to point out Middle Kingdom, at number seven. This game is in the basic Mafia Wars mold that we have seen many times; the mechanics, though, are not the interesting part. What’s notable here is the fantasy theme, which we’re seeing crop up much more often this year. While the average Facebook gamer may not have a yen for dwarves and dragons, games like Middle Kingdom are definitely proving that there’s a large and active audience looking for some fantasy.