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FarmVille Creators Launch 'Treasure Isle,' Bring Treasure Hunting to Facebook

by Amar Toor on April 12, 2010 at 03:55 PM

You've spent several, harrowing years climbing to the top of Facebook's organized crime pyramid. Tastemaker Michael Pollan has devoted an entire column to the nutritiousness of your virtual farm. You've conquered the mean streets and main street, so where does one of your prestige go next? The islands, of course.

The latest brainchild of Zynga, company of the monumentally addictive Mafia Wars and FarmVille games, is heading to the tropical with Treasure Isle. As you'd guess, it involves buried treasure... on an island. As the Wall Street Journal reports, each Treasure Isle user is placed on a secluded piece of land where they can dig for gold coins, jewels and Tiki statues. They can then use any excavated goodies to buy hammocks or huts for their home. When they're not lounging or watching the sun set over their computer screen, gamers can harvest fruit in their backyards, which they can 'eat' to gain the energy necessary to waste hours of their lives at the office.

As Zynga's Treasure Isle manager (captain?) Jeremy Verba says, the new game, for all its lustrous novelty, actually combines certain key elements from both FarmVille and Mafia Wars to create a molotov cocktail of luau-laden fun. Islanders, for example, can dress up their home islands in much the same exhibitionist fashion with which FarmVille users show off their land to all of their awestruck friends. At the same time, the mission-oriented, energy-gathering facets of Treasure Isle are rooted in the thug life ethos of Mafia Wars. As Verba explains, "The idea is that you want to mix up fun and accomplishment - 'Look, I'm digging!' - with decoration and self-expression - 'Look at my home island!'"

So far, Zynga's blend seems to have caught on with Facebook users. After launching on April 2, the game already had 2,000 active users after the first day and now, a week later, boasts 7.5 million scavengers. Lazy users beware, though: Treasure Isle, much like its brethren, features virtual goods and energy points that can be bought with real money. So if you don't want to gouge out a treasure-sized hole in your wallet, dig with caution. [From: WSJ]

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Tags: facebook, FacebookGames, FarmVille, mafia wars, MafiaWars, social networking, SocialNetworking, top, TreasureIsle, web, Zynga

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