Monstermind maker: Facebook games 'will be like the Atari Eighties crash'

If you have agreed to receive the occasional email from Zynga, you might have received a new survey in your inbox this week, asking for your opinions on a few Zynga games, and also giving you a chance to rate the potential of some new game ideas. While the majority of the questions are fairly basic (how often do you play a specific game, etc.), the survey quickly turns to the heart of the matter, detailing what could possibly be a new game in the company's lineup. Of course, Zynga wants to know what you think of the game concept first.

"Cook delicious food! Craft over 200 recipes in your world-class kitchen using fresh, exotic ingredients collected from local merchants, your garden, and your friends. Use top appliances to whip up amazing dishes that delight your customers and friends, and build the restaurant of your dreams."

From there, we're allowed to rate various features that could potentially be in this as-of-now unconfirmed game. We might be able to visit restaurants owned by real world celebrity chefs (Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, etc.), cook dishes using ingredients from real world brands, or cook dishes on state of the art kitchen equipment. All in all, there are tons of options here surrounding the use of real world brands or celebrities in this game concept. Could Zynga be planning to create a cooking game with direct involvement from some of these chefs, or even the Food Network as a whole? Or, is this all really just a large brain-storming session looking for fan feedback?

Either way, it's definitely easy to say that this game concept is incredibly familiar to Cafe World (in fact, the ingredient collection feature was already released in the game's Signature Dish event), so it will be interesting to see if anything actually comes from it (perhaps this could be Cafe World 2?). If you wish to take the survey yourself, you can do so by clicking right here.
If you're lucky enough to get FarmVille to work this evening, and have 10 Farm Cash or more to spend, you can now make one of your neighbors' day, week or even month by purchasing them a Mini Rose Horse as part of the Valentine's Presents event.

Similar to the Holiday Presents event that allowed us to give our friends Present Trees, this Valentine's Present event gives you a chance to send Mini Rose Horses to up to six friends at a time, from a fairly random selection of your neighbors. For sending a single Mini Rose Horse, you'll be charged 10 Farm Cash, but will receive an exclusive Romeo Bear for being so generous.

If you don't find the friend you'd like to send a gift to the first time you load this window, simply close it and open it back up by clicking on the box of candy in the top right corner of the FarmVille gameplay area. This will, in theory, show you six new friends. If you still can't find the person you're looking for, post a few item requests on your wall and then make sure they come and respond to them. This, according to the game, will make them a more "helpful" neighbor, and will likely make them show up.

Remember, if you want a horse for yourself, and you have a trustworthy friend, you can always swap items with each other. That is, you purchase a horse for them, and they purchase a horse for you. In that way, you'll both receive horses and bears for the equivalent of 5 Farm Cash each. Just remember to do that soon, as this feature won't be around forever.

Check out the rest of our Valentine's Day coverage right here.
Now, this is just getting out of hand. Bossa Studios co-founder Henrique Olifiers seems to think that, if the copycatting practices in social games persist, then the industry is doomed. In so many words, that's what Olifiers told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview. The Monstermind creator likened the path social games are headed down to the Atari crash in the '80s, when several blatantly similar iterations of the same games flooded the console.

"Social games for me were always on the cutting-edge until they became copycat, and after they became copycat I said, 'Well, this is not going anywhere,'" Olifiers told GI.biz. "This will be like the Atari Eighties crash. Everybody and their grandmother had a version of Space Invaders, and these guys are going to do the same thing."

The issue of copycatting, from accusations thrown at Zynga to lawsuits flung 6waves Lolapps' way, has come to a head in early 2012. While this issue isn't necessarily unique to social or mobile games--it's plagued the game industry for years--it's nevertheless an issue. That said, it's unlikely that copycatting will drive social games into the ground, given their instantly-global distribution and rapid release schedule.

But that's not to say game makers and gamers should be any less wary of it. And Bossa seems to have the right idea for how to make sure, regardless of whether it's likely, stop the social games world from crumbling. "[Our games] should look and feel like nothing else on Facebook," Bossa lead designer Mike Bithell said. "We're working really hard top use these amazing tools, because there are so many things in Facebook that, if used right, make it better than Xbox Live."

Zynga under fire (again) for copycatting: This time, it's Bingo Blitz

January has been a rather warm month in Zynga HQ. Between living with the doubts and expectations of analysts (and investors) and now the second copycatting allegation this month alone, the multibillion dollar social maker is in the hot seat. This time, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Buffalo Studios has lashed out at Zynga for allegedly copying its first social game, Bingo Blitz, one of Facebook's most recommended games of 2011.

The developer sent Zynga a letter in the same vein of NimbleBit's address regarding Tiny Tower, pointing out clear similarities between its game and Zynga Bingo, which currently is in a closed beta test. In fact, the letter is near identical to NimbleBit's, which Buffalo Studios does point out. (Though, we're not sure whether that exactly helps the developer's case. Just sayin'.)

The letter positions pictures of Bingo Blitz, which has garnered nearly 1 million daily players in the past year, according to AppData, next to Zynga Bingo. While it's admittedly tough to call Zynga out on its use of a Bingo board, the similarities between both games' mechanics like keys to open chests and boxes for power-ups as well as collection items are clear.

"We are moved that your new game was so inspired by our innovative product, Bingo Blitz," the snark-filled letter reads. "You've obviously played our game Bingo Blitz ... along with over 1 million other daily active users. Please tell your thousands of employees and shareholders that we hope they enjoy the games we're cooking up next." Ouch, and what if we told you that this is far from the first time?