Pet Society: The Power of Pink in Pet Society and Beyond

pet society pink
Pink used to be my favorite color when I was like, seven. It probably came from my mother's influence. She liked feminine, flirty things and dressed me up in all shades of pink-creamy pink, rosy pink, hot neon pink. The carpet in my childhood room was a cotton candy pink.

By the time I was in college, I had abandoned pink in favor of dark, moody colors. Every time I visited my mother, I couldn't stand going into my old room, let alone sleep in it. The carpet had taken on a grayish tone, and reminded me of a pig's intestines. I didn't wear pink for many, many years.
pet society pink
Now, I am finding myself slowly returning to pink. This past winter, I kept warm in a fuschia cap (see the About page). In the spring, I bought a fitted shirt from Banana Republic in a very light pink. It's the standard white business shirt, except it's not white. Banana calls the color "Blissful Lavendar." It's barely pink; it whispers pink.

I love this. It's become my go-to shirt for days when I have an important meeting and I need to impress. I want to buy six more of these and wear them every day... that's how much I love this shirt.

My Pet Society pet Sushi, however, still reflects my teenage rebellion stage. He looks best in blue or black. He is not built for pink. He hates pink and thinks these new items he dug out of the Enchanted Forest make him look like a third-rate drag queen trying to be Marie Antoinette. And he is so above that. He deserves better.

This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

Michael Jackson remembered by Pet Society players

"Hey, look! It's Michael Jackson! No, wait, it's my Pet Society pet, Richard Jackson!" writes Anza. This is such a great picture and a nice way to commemorate Michael Jackson, who died a year ago today. I wish Playfish had released a sparkly white glove for this week!

If you're a fan of Michael, CNN.com has a great site about him. Netflix also released the movie, "This is It." It's available on Instant Play.

I admit, I wasn't a big fan of Michael when he was alive. His various scandals and weird facial transformations made it embarrassing to admit that you were a fan. But after he died, and radio stations played his music over and over, I found myself singing along. It made me realize how important his work had been.
When you had something to celebrate, Michael Jackson was most likely there. He was there with you during birthday parties, wedding receptions, and those nights at a club when you were trying to meet someone cute. Whether you realized it or not, he was there for so many moments of your life. And even if you didn't meet anyone cute at the club, you still had a pretty good time dancing to "Thriller."

This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

Pet Society Enchanted Forest

pet society enchanted forest
This gorgeous scene comes from Ivy, who says that she loves digging in Pet Society's Enchanted Forest. She's finished getting the Enchanted Fountain and a pair of pink wings. She reports that the fountain sparkles and that the wings can flap. We think the wings, white dress and dyed Anime wig make a stunning combo.


Below are some more Enchanted Forest items from my own digs: the Hot Air Balloon, Mushrooms (the ones on the right), and Pixie Forest floor. After I saw that most of these items were in shades of pink and purple, I made a special psychedelic room for everything that I owned in these colors.
pet society anonymous
The Romantic Pixie wig, Pixie dress, and Pixie shoes are also from the Enchanted Forest. I know that they look awful on Sushi, but sometimes I like to torture him with these ridiculous outfits. It's not easy being a model!

This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.

EA, Playfish developing 'the hell out of SimCity' for Facebook [Report]

Hey, if The Sims Social struck gold, it only makes sense at this point. Business Insider reports, citing nameless sources, that a China-based Playfish team has suspended all other projects to "develop the hell out of SimCity" for Facebook. Of course, the idea is that the second place developer is doing so to go toe-to-toe directly with CityVille, the number one game on Facebook.

Zynga's city-builder has held the top spot on Facebook for over a year, and EA is reportedly doing everything in its power to dethrone the king of social games. According to Business Insider, multiple sources within the company say that SimCity has been in development for over a year, around the same time that Zynga started work on CityVile. But when the game broke every record in the book over the past year, EA had no choice but to ramp up work on SimCity.

At the time, Zynga had more time and resources to pour into CityVille than EA did with SimCity, which had "doubled down" on The Sims Social. Since the game has now proven itself, putting a dent into Zynga's then spotless lineup, the veteran games publisher has placed a laser focus on the social iteration of game designer Will Wright's masterpiece.

According to the news outlet, Playfish's Norway and San Francisco teams are working on entirely new games for EA. And yes, it's OK to be more excited by that rumor than yet another city-builder. This better be good.

[Via IndustryGamers]

Are you excited by the thought of SimCity hitting Facebook? Do you think it could give CityVille a run for its (boatloads of) money?

Is EA bringing Need for Speed to Facebook?

EA reported recently in an earnings call to investors that its 'digital service' games revenue skyrocketed 46 percent to $211 million and its net income boosted fivefold from $30 million to a whopping $151 million compared to last year. However, as Inside Social Games reports, "digital service" games covers a swathe of properties--not just its Facebook games. Regardless, the company teased that it has 15 more "digital service" games in beta testing, which includes a potential social adaptation of its hit racing franchise, Need for Speed.

As for the other 14 mysterious games, not all of them necessarily have to be on Facebook, as EA's use of the phrase "digital service" games covers its 3D browser adaptations of franchises like PGA Golf and FIFA Soccer. But according to the company, the FIFA franchise alone raised a sweet $100 million in revenue, though how much of that is thanks to FIFA Superstars for Facebook isn't clear.

Speaking of which, just how well is EA doing on Facebook? Well, the company still sits in third place behind Badoo (a dating app) and the immovable Zynga with 34.5 million monthly players across all of its social games, according to AppData. That's only a hair above CrowdStar's 31 million, but miles ahead of Playdom's paltry 21.7 million. However, that number is boosted by 27 games that don't even reach 1 million monthly players, with Playfish's Pet Society sitting pretty at number one with 9.5 million players.

In comparison to those below it, EA and Playfish seem to be doing just fine, and they're not far from claiming the coveted second place slot. (Though, in the social games space, they're already there.) It sure is enough to keep Playfish afloat, who drives most of EA's revenue, so don't worry about Pet Society going anywhere. What we should worry about, however, are these 14 other games that EA is waving in our faces.

Considering EA's recent partnership with Hasbro to bring Monopoly Millionaires to Facebook, we could very well see more games come of that. Board game adaptations seem to do well on Facebook, so why not bring in even deeper games like Risk or Trivial Pursuit? How about Twister?

Would you play Need for Speed on Facebook? What other games do you think EA is brewing up on the platform?

Internet safety expert accuses The Sims Social of promoting cybersex

While playing the game, players can build asynchronous relationships with one another that can quickly grow into romantic relationships. Ultimately, those relationships will draw the players' avatars closer and can result in them having Woo-Hoo. And like any social activity in the game, players are rewarded Social Points for this that they can use to buy new items.