Country Story Birthday Card Winners!

Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to be famous?

Being a movie star’s all well and good and we’re sure being an R&B singer with a song at number 1 is just peachy but what’s it like to experience true worldwide fame with millions of people seeing your hard work every single day?

Well ten people are about to find out.

That’s right, we’re rolling out the red carpet to the ten winners of our Country Story birthday card competition who’re going to have their birthday cards featured in Country Story for the whole world to see!

So who are our new A list celebrities?

First down the red carpet is luicei375 who collects their 100 Playfish Cash for their birthday card:

Next up is GayleWarfield, collecting 100 Playfish Cash:

Here’s -Milkah- who also collects 100 Playfish Cash for her work:

This is Requiem ♪’s work winning 100 Playfish Cash:

Rhini blew us away with this amazing entry taking 100 Playfish Cash:

Jullyet stole the show with this fine piece of work taking 100 Playfish Cash:

Cudz took things to a whole new level with this fantastic piece winning 100 Playfish Cash:

While Tsukuyomi pulled out all the stops with this exceptional effort bagging 100 Playfish Cash:

Damselwolf made it look easy pulling off this fine piece of work for a cool 200 Playfish Cash:

And last but certainly not least our big winner Chewbie secured 500 Playfish Cash for this masterpiece!

Congratulations everyone! See you on Country Story!

http://forum.playfish.com/showthread.php?t=1944750

Winners Announced for the Party with Pet Society Competition!

As part of Pet Society’s second birthday extravaganza we introduced the Party With Pet Society competition to get everyone in the spirit!

We invited you to show us how YOU were celebrating our second birthday, and boy do you know how to party in style! Balloon parties, food parties, loud parties, low key, elegant affairs – the range and creativity of the submissions were amazing! Now, three lucky players will win big prizes for being voted the best birthday party in town! Each of the Party With Pet Society winners have bagged themselves a whole stack of Playfish Cash to go on a spending spree!

And without further ado, here are the winners who received the most votes from Pet Society players for their entries!

In third place, Joa Waehlte wins 200 Playfish Cash! Joa’s party captured the imagination of the Pet Society community and got their vote with inviting balloons and the promise of good music! The Mayor had his eye on the presents under the balloons… we wonder if there were more hidden under the table!

Runner up and recipient of second prize is Chiara Spagnulo, who created this party chock full of gifts and lovely candy! Congratulations, Chiara – you’ll be receiving 300 Playfish Cash for your efforts! We hope you spend it on many more amazing parties to come!

And finally, in first place and winning herself 1000 Playfish Cash is Jennifer McConnell. This giant cake party received the most votes from the Pet Society community and no wonder – just look at the size of that cake! We were pretty sure we’d be eating birthday cake for the rest of the year if she threw a party for Playfish!

Whew, all this partying has been exhausting! Thanks to everyone who entered and captured how you celebrated Pet Society’s second birthday. Now, what shall we do next year…?

Pet Society Goes Haute Couture

Fashion is a major element of Pet Society’s culture and for the past two years its artists have helped pets ‘strut their stuff’ by creating chic and trendy outfits and accessories. Now, it’s your turn to design avant-garde fashion for your pets and their friends through the first-ever Pet Society Fashionista Competition. There are some great prizes up for grabs, so start channeling your pet’s inner fashionista and submit your fierce designs today!

To get started, choose from the following fashion categories to base your designs around:

·      Formal (e.g.: evening wear, suits, cocktail dresses, black tie)
·      Leisure (e.g.: casual, sporting)
·      Haute Couture (e.g.: high fashion, exclusive/unique designs)
·      Nightwear (e.g.: pajamas, night gowns)

Next, design a très chic outfit using the official Pet Society model template. Upload your design in .jpg, .gif, or .png file to the Pet Society Fashionista Competition tab by Tuesday, August 24 and you could win some amazing prizes! You can only enter the competitions once, but you can submit up to four images in your entry!

Winners from each category will win 150 Playfish cash, while category runners-up will take away 100 Playfish cash. And the Grand Prize winner will win an iPad^® and 500 Playfish cash! Also, all winning entries will see their designs featured in Pet Society and made available to the game’s millions of players to buy for their pets.

Will you and your pet be the first to start the hottest fashion trends of this season?

For more information on the Pet Society Fashionista Competition check out the terms and conditions!

Good luck everyone!

Announcing our latest game – Pirates Ahoy!

Avast, me hearties! Pirates Ahoy! be a brand new game from Playfish, filled with high seas, swashbuckling adventure, excitement and a fantastical bounty of riches. As you might have guessed already, the theme is PIRATES!

When you come aboard Pirates Ahoy! you’ll set sail straight away in your trusty pirate vessel, recruiting crew members as you go. With your fellow sea-dogs in tow, you’ll explore the oceans searching for treasure and high seas adventure. Each crew member brings a contribution in the form of extra energy – vital for all pirate activities.

The waters in Pirates Ahoy! are full of scary sea monsters and other fearsome beasties. Meaner than a barnacle’s bank manager and uglier than the underside of a whale, they pop up when you least expect and are always ready for a fight. Take them on in battle, and if you win, you’ll receive a reward in the form of food, coins or other valuable booty.

Sometimes the sea monsters will release a map to a hidden location as they’re defeated. That’s when things get really interesting! Go to the location and search it square by square and you’ll unearth food items, coins, gems or if you’re lucky – precious treasure!

The treasures you find are usually in a bit of a poor state and need to be restored to their original luster using gems and metals (which you’ll collect on your travels). Find and restore all the treasures in a collection to unlock a final special item which you can display on your home island!

Once you’ve learned the ways of the pirate, you can take on quests to increase your riches and your infamy. As your achievements grow, you’ll be challenged to even greater feats of pirate glory and unlock a world of fascinating and wonderful adventures. We’re adding features and places to explore all the time, so keep your eye out for uncharted areas and new challenges!

When you’re not out treasure-seeking, you and your crew will return to your home island, where there’s a very lucrative sideline to be had producing pirate goods such as peg legs and eye patches in your Island Workshops.

Your island is also where you can display your restored treasures and express your creativity with buildings, decorations, plants, and other luxurious items. Make your island into a tropical paradise to impress your friends. Your imagination is the only limit!

The same applies to your ship, which can be decked out with a colorful variety of sails, cabins, and figureheads to express your personality. As you progress in the game you’ll also earn badges, which can be proudly displayed on the side of your ship and in some cases, add benefits to help you out in the game!

Of course, Pirates Ahoy! is a game that gets better when you play with your friends and fellow scallywags. Neighboring pirates can send each other gifts of food and energy, visit each other’s islands and pass each other’s distinctively decorated ships on rollicking seas.

So whether you’re a bold adventurer, a shrewd business-minded buccaneer or an intrepid explorer, Pirates Ahoy! has something to shiver your timbers.

Click here to play the game now!

Win 1000 Playfish Cash in Pet Society’s 2nd Birthday Competition!

Love Pet Society? Love parties? Want to win 1000 Playfish Cash?

Well you’ve come to the right place! We’re celebrating Pet Society’s 2nd birthday by having a big party all over the world and for a chance at winning the 1000 Playfish Cash all you have to do is show us how you party with Pet Society!

Just decorate one of your Pet Society rooms using Pet Society items from the shops, take a picture using Pet Society’s camera button and upload it to the contest tab here by Sunday 15th August 2010 at 00:00 PST.

You don’t even have to decorate a room to join the party, just come along to see the entries and vote for the one you like most! That’s right, we’ll choose our favorite 15 parties and let you know which they are, then YOU get to vote which should be the top 3!

3rd place will earn themselves a cool 200 Playfish Cash, 2nd place in the votes will bag themselves 300 Playfish Cash and the winner of the competition as voted by YOU will be instantly catapulted to Pet Society’s A List with a stunning 1000 Playfish Cash prize!

We can’t wait to see what you all come up with! Oh, and remember to read the terms and conditions on the contest tab before you enter folks!

Good luck everyone, see you at the party!

Announcing the Lounge Bar competition results!

Firstly thank you all for taking part in the Lounge Bar competition. We were as overwhelmed as ever at the sheer skill and creativity on show, and let us tell you now that makes us pretty darn overwhelmed!

We’ve sent our roving restaurant critic to report on the winning restaurants, so take it away roving restaurant critic!

I’m reporting live from the winning restaurant tapping the results of the competition into my trusty laptop. I’m not going to say too much about where I am just yet so I don’t spoil the surprise but I will tell you that from where I’m sitting I can see a rather nice collection of bottles and a drinks keg, decorated tastefully with a fine black marble pillar.

But more about where I’m sitting later. The competition was split into four parts. As well as asking you to show us the last word in lounge bar dining there were  three other categories — the More Than A Bouncer Award, the Oops! I Can’t Believe That Just Happened! Award and the relatively sensible sounding Best Lounge Bar Name Award.

Bouncers are the unsung heroes of Restaurant City. They don’t get paid like the other staff do. They don’t get to rest like other staff do. They just have to stand there and wait just in case someone causes trouble. And touch wood, no customer has ever caused any trouble in the history of Restaurant City. The hours are long and the work can be a little uneventful. So we wanted to give the bouncers a chance to show what they can really do. And you know what? It turns out they’re good at being big. But not, y’know, bouncer big. We’re talking really big. Like, this big:

So congratulations gemesimo, the 100 Playfish Cash for the More Than A Bouncer Award is yours. We’d come visit your restaurant to congratulate you in person but we’re a bit put off by the whole scary giant bouncer being in there thing. By the way, I just ordered this pink fruit cocktail from behind the well stock drinks bar in the overall winning restaurant but it was kind of sugary for me and I haven’t got much of a sweet tooth. Between you and me I poured it into one of the blue and white Ming vases that were close to my table and- oops, I think I just gave another clue where I was didn’t I? No. Bad roving reporter. Think before you type.

Anyway, for the next entry, well, we shouldn’t really laugh but we have to admit it made us chuckle. This one comes courtesy of “LOL!!” and we really hope the 100 Playfish Cash they just won helps to repair some of the flood damage in their restaurant.

As you can see, LOL!!’s staff have paddled out of the restaurant to go on strike outside. Having said that they don’t seem to be in agreement on the terms, with some claiming the restaurant needs a bar, some arguing what the restaurant needs is a new stove and one who we’re guessing has had enough because all he really wants is a new job. Well done LOL!!, we hope you get your restaurant back in business soon. And to the guy outside asking for a new job, we really hope that works out for you.

Next up is the Best Lounge Bar Name Award. VIP Lounge (Very Important Pharaohs) takes the top spot earning khoi1979 100 Playfish Cash! Special mention must go to Cocoa Cabana by PunkiC and The Codfather by Spursy79 which came a close 2nd. 1979 must have been a good year for restaurant naming!

So now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The top 3 winning restaurants as voted for by the Playfish team. A picture paints a thousand words so we’ll let your photography skills do the talking:

Pinky25 wins 200 Playfish Cash for Exquisite

Davidk wins 250 Playfish Cash for The Full Moon

So that just leaves one restaurant. The restaurant which I’m sitting in now enjoying the duck confit, which might I say is every bit as exquisite as the ambience. The winner of the Lounge Bar Competition and the 300 Playfish Cash grand prize is…

BUTTERCUP with Black Magic Bar! Congratulations BUTTERCUP!

Don’t worry, we didn’t forget the community vote. We wanted to save it until last because there otherwise we’d have given away which restaurant came in first place. So, we asked you to vote for your favourites which would take 4th, 5th and 6th place in the competition and earn their owners a cool 150 Playfish Cash each. And you know what? It turns out great minds think alike. Black Magic Bar was your top voted restaurant with an impressive 23.3% of the vote and it was our top voted restaurant too. Your 3rd choice, The Full Moon with 14.87% of the vote, was actually our choice to come 2nd overall. So that means your 2nd choice, Euphoria with 17.89% of the vote, takes 4th place overall. Cocoa Cabana takes 5th place with 11.33% of the vote and Carpe Noctum takes the 6th spot with 10.36% (apologies to C and H who were wrongly credited with 6th place). Give yourselves a pat on the back for a job well done, folks.

Well that’s a wrap. We hope you’ve enjoyed the competition and all those amazing lounge bars. Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who took part! You’re all awesome!

Playfish Kicks Off EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars with London Football Match

The recent launch of Playfish’s EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars was a great success and the game is proving to be a big hit worldwide.  We are especially pleased to be able to bring the beautiful game of football to Facebook and to Playfish fans everywhere – especially just as the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa has gotten under way.

To celebrate the release of the game, Playfish hosted a FIFA Superstars “friendly” – a spirited football match featuring several members of the London media at a pitch in Battersea Park. The teams hit the pitch wearing exclusive FIFA Superstars blue and white kit made especially for the match.

At kick off, Team White came out with guns blazing and shots hitting the mark, building a quick lead over Team Blue.

Though down, but definitely not out, Team Blue found itself on the short end of a 7-2 score at the end of the 20-minute mark.

In a lively second half, an undaunted Team Blue stepped up the pace, outscoring Team White 5-3.

Alas, it was too little too late and Team White ultimately prevailed 10-8.

Nicely done, lads! And a special congratulations to Michael Sawh of Team White, who was awarded Man of the Match.

With the match over, but players still hungry for more football, everyone headed to a nearby pub for FIFA Superstars demos from members of the game’s production team. Playfishers Henrique Olifiers, John Earner, Raf Keustermans, Andy Watson and Tom Sarris were on hand to provide our special guests with valuable tips for claiming ultimate victory in FIFA Superstars. In all, it was a great afternoon and a fun way to kick off FIFA Superstars!

LONG LIVE FOOTBALL!  LONG LIVE FIFA SUPERSTARS!

Exclusive Interview with Henrique Olifiers, Producer of FIFA Superstars

Get the ball rolling during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and check out EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars, only on Facebook. Here’s an exclusive interview with Playfish’s Henrique Olifiers, the producer of the first official FIFA football social game.

Welcome, Henrique. Tell us about yourself.
Hi, as producer of this exciting game, I’m responsible for coordinating the original concept for FIFA Superstars. I work with a very talented team and determine what each person’s role is. If you like, think of me like a movie director.

What experience do you have ‘directing’ games?
Well, I’ve been doing this for about 10 years and I started working on games 20 years ago, back on the ZX Spectrum computer, which some of you may or may not remember. So yeah, I bring some good experience to FIFA Superstars.

What about experience working on football games?
I worked on two football titles prior to FIFA Superstars. Both posed similar challenges: finding the delicate balance between providing the player with an abundance of information and features, and making it all accessible and manageable.

Give us the score – what is FIFA Superstars?
It’s a really fun game to start with if you’ve never played a football game. It’s been created with the novice in mind. You start by building and managing your own team around the players you like. You’ll be able to play your friends and others around the world or face the virtual version of real world teams. Can you imagine scoring 5-nil against Man U? Or bragging about scoring a 3-nil victory against a friend or a random FIFA Superstars player? I think that’s pretty cool.

What inspired the look of FIFA Superstars?
First… it’s FIFA – it deserves the same level of polish and quality that all Playfish games and the FIFA series give our players. Second, I had several images of what it would look like in my mind. I saw what it could be as an action game, or a simulation like FIFA 10; or what it could be as a fantasy game where players buy and sell members of their team. It could have been a managing game, where players build a team from scratch and train, the list goes on…

What kind of game is FIFA Superstars?
All three: it’s a simulation, a fantasy and a managing game rolled into one sweet package available from anywhere you can log onto Facebook. It’s really unlike any football game that’s come before. I’m really proud of that. However, I find myself frustrated that I couldn’t put everything into the game from the day of release. But the really great thing about FIFA Superstars – and social games in general – is that we will be adding a lot of really cool features as the game grows, so I’m really looking forward to its evolution.

How likely is it that everyone will pick the same players for their teams?
It’s very unlikely that you will have the same team as someone else; FIFA Superstars has more than 15,000 football players from which to choose. They range from players who have not played for a long time to living legends virtually everyone knows of. As you start winning matches you can afford to hire more experienced players for your FIFA Superstars team.

What was the most challenging aspect of bringing FIFA Superstars to life?
I’d say the usability of the game – that is, how easy or difficult it is to understand what you should do with the information presented to you in the game. As there is a simulation aspect to FIFA Superstars there is a ton of information involved in bringing that to the gamer. It was about looking at how to consolidate all of that into easy and relevant statistics per player on your team.

What is your favorite aspect of the game?
The players are definitely my favourite aspect. I’m a massive football fan – I scour the statistics of each player like a hawk before making my choices for my team. Each one of the stats used for a player – be that shooting, pace, energy – all goes into making a unique player. And I’ve got to have the best.

The best, huh? What did you call your team?
Zombies – it was a total no brainer – no pun intended! It’s in homage to the team of people I work with at Playfish, the Zombiefish team.

You didn’t name your team after your favorite football team?
My favorite real-world football team is the Brazilian Flamengo FC but the Zombies definitely come first, without a doubt. The entire Zombiefish team was just outstanding in pulling together, especially the last month of development, which was a big stretch. I’ll always be their biggest fan.

How are you feeling now that the FIFA Superstars is out?
Super excited. We already broke the first day record for number of players to start playing the game, beating both My Empire and Hotel City – both of which are currently very popular. That’s a very positive sign.

What new features will you be bringing out and when?
What you’re seeing is about 20% of the game that we’ve already planned out. There’s a lot for us to add. For example, expanding the stadium styles and setting up more training facilities. These will have a bigger impact on the game as more people play.  Essentially, if you want it, it’s more than likely we’re already working on it.

EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars Brings the ‘Beautiful Game’ to Facebook

Have you ever dreamt of managing a football team comprised of the world’s greatest players? Now, just in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup^TM, we’re pleased to announce EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars!

Here’s your chance to take control of the ‘beautiful game’ to see if you can do a better job than the pros. FIFA Superstars lets you build a team of real players and compete with the whole world on the football pitch.

First, you’re assigned a set of football players to develop your team around. Players are rated on their shooting, control, stamina and strength, with the ratings based on real world statistics. So if you’re lucky enough to have, say, Cristiano Ronaldo on your team, he’s going to have much higher stats than a less accomplished player.

So you’ve got your team lined up, but what if they’re just not all that hot? Well, that’s where the game starts getting really fun! Buying Bronze, Silver or Gold transfer sets gives you a random group of players of roughly similar skill range. Bronze players are international quality, Silver players are star footballers and Gold players are the football world’s superstars – the best of the best.

Once you’re happy with your team you can take them to the pitch to play some games with other players. You can play each of your friends once a day, earning cash and building experience. You also can play league games, climbing ever higher to face better and better players around the world. The more cash you earn, the more you can spend on transfers and taking your team to the big time.

You’ll also need to ensure your team has a consistently high standard of training and fitness, which improves its abilities on the pitch. Additionally, stadium upgrades increase your team’s revenue and training levels.

FIFA Superstars features four modes of exciting play: Friendly matches, League matches, Premier League (and more of the world’s top leagues to come soon), and 2010 FIFA World Cup^TM.

You can win some amazing prizes in 2010 FIFA World Cup^TM mode. Just predict the scores for upcoming games, and if you guess the winner or the score correctly you’ll earn points which add up to Coin prizes, Match Credits and even Gold rated players! Even better, the more friends who play the 2010 FIFA World Cup^TM Mode, the better your chances at winning prizes – so remember to get everyone involved. Not only will you earn more together but you can finally prove once and for all who really knows football best!

Just like the start of your favorite team’s professional league, this is only the beginning for EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars. There’ll be all kinds of amazing new features to try in future and much, much more. So step onto the pitch, make wise training and transfer choices, and you’ll have the chance to take your team all the way to the top of the world! Do you have what it takes?

Interview with Andrew Ow, Product Manager of My Empire!

Hear ye, hear ye! Playfish has released a new game and we, the People, demand word from the Product Manager of My Empire! Join us now and be part of an audience with Andrew Ow!

Good sir, would you kindly begin by explaining to us your role in bringing My Empire to us?
Hello and of course.  My name is Andrew Ow. I am the product manager of My Empire and responsible for deciding what the game will look like and play like. It is a really exciting job and working with the whole My Empire team has been great.

A leading role in My Empire? We are not worthy! But my lord, why create My Empire? (Though we are grateful!)
Building an empire is fun! We wanted to create a beautiful and easy game to get into which lets you have play with ancient themes. You can interact with friends, expand your land and create really stunning empires due to our lovingly detailed graphics. The My Empire team is extremely excited to see what the players make of it since we think we have created something really different and fun.

Indeed, My Empire is a delight for the eye! Can you describe to your humble audience the aim of the game?
The goal of My Empire is to create a glorious ancient empire – but what that means is completely up to you! Players can aim to create the most beautiful empire, build a Wonder (or all of them!), or have the largest population. It’s very open ended. I think new players will love the feeling of constructing Wonders. We have some really great Wonders like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and the Parthenon. Our artists have really done a fantastic job creating them – they look stunning, and do great things for your empire as well!

So many things to choose from! It baffles the mind! But, my lord, perhaps you can help narrow this down with a suggestion as to where to begin?
My tip would be to be sure to building both houses and happiness buildings. Houses allow more citizens to live on your island, but you need to keep your citizens happy as well. Keeping a good balance is a key part of having a growing empire!

Wise words… surely such wisdom is learnt from having faced challenges during your reign?
I’d say the most challenging aspect of working on My Empire has been deciding which of the many exciting features to add.  We had so many ideas that we really had to pick and choose what to do each day.  The good news is we have many ideas for new features in the future and we hope you’ll be enjoying them with us!

Then it seems, my lord, you have had a most joyful experience building My Empire?
Yes! The most fun aspect has been seeing the game get better and better each week in all ways.  For example, we started without any art for the Wonders, so it was hard to imagine how cool or impressive they would look. The week we added the Wonder art everyone at the office was so impressed, our whole studio was racing to be the first to complete Stonehenge!

Ah, a tale to be told for years to come! And as the months come and go, what do you foresee for the citizen of My Empire?
I don’t want to give away anything too exciting – but it will definitely give old and new players something fun to do. All I can suggest is keep a close eye on the My Empire Facebook page for the latest news.

Ah my lord, you are a tease! But sir, so that I may know it when I pass by, what have you called your empire and why?
My empire is named Haogang, after one of My Empire‘s excellent programmers.  He accomplished some truly legendary work during the course of our project, so I had to commemorate him!

*Wipes a tear from eyes* That is so sweet… ahem… I mean… Bravo! And what kind of leader would you describe yourself as, my lord?
I am a leader obsessed with empire beautification!  I try to lay out parks and open areas for my citizens to enjoy. My roads are lined with trees, and one time I even constructed a hedge maze.   As you can imagine, I am excited when I unlock new decoration items each level!

My lord, I feel our time is coming to an end. Before we leave, what wise words would you like to leave with us?
First of all, thanks so much for playing!  I would also like to let our players to know that they can leave feedback on our game’s Facebook page or forum. We are listening to you and will do everything we can to make this game great!