The Sims Social: Country meets chic with Country Kitchen items

Is it just me, or is decorating our houses one of the best things to do in the Sims Social? I know I could personally spend plenty of time rearranging furniture in each room, only to ripe it all out and start over again, and to help us do that with even more themes is a new Country Kitchen theme that has launched in the game this week. These country kitchen items bring in all sorts of shades of brown and ivory, and it's one of the most complete themes we've seen released in the game yet. Here's a rundown of what to look out for in the store to make this theme complete in your own home.

Plate Collection

    Costs: 4 SimCash
    Value: $600


Perfecto Fruitbowl

    Costs: 4 SimCash
    Value $600


Vintage Wines

    Costs: 6 SimCash
    Value: $900


RuralU Deluxe C (Kitchen Counter Piece)

    Costs: 10 SimCash
    Value: $1500


RuralU Deluxe (Kitchen Counter Piece)

    Costs: 12 SimCash
    Value: $1750


Antiquitate Deco (Wall Sconce)

    Costs: 3 SimCash
    Value: $450


19th Century Lamp

    Costs: 10 SimCash
    Value: $1500


19th Century Pot (Flowers)

    Costs: 19 SimCash
    Value: $2800


Antiquitate Oil

    Costs: 325 Social Points
    Value: $700


Basinuate Marble (Sink)

    Costs: 12 SimCash
    Value: 1750
    Clean Stat: 5



FrancoFaux Chaise (Buildable item)

    Costs: 225 Social Points
    Value: $500


Cereal Shelf

    Costs: 250 Social Points
    Value: $550


19th Century Mat

    Costs: 19 SimCash
    Value: $2800


Clox Fruitful

    Costs: 350 Social Points
    Value: $800


RuralU Trove (Wall Cabinet Piece)

    Costs: 600 Social Points
    Value: $1450


RuralU Charm (Wall Cabinet Piece)

    Costs: 800 Social Points
    Value: $2050


FrancoFaux Tableau (Buildable item)

    Costs: 800 Social Points
    Value: $2050


RuralU Latch (Hutch - Buildable item)

    Costs: 1100 Social Points
    Value: $3100


G King Counter (Center Island - Buildable item)

    Costs: 15,000 Social Points
    Value: $21,250
    Happiness Stat: 3


Normanity Chair (Living Room Furniture - Buildable item)

    Costs: 450 Social Points
    Value: $1050


FrancoFaux Cafe (Living Room Furniture - Buildable item)

    Costs: 650 Social Points
    Value: $1600


Normanity Sofa (Living Room Furniture - Buildable item)

    Costs: 700 Social Points
    Value: $1750
    Sleep Stat: 3



In addition to all of these items, there's also a Cooking Skill vent hood called the SuxDelux that's available to users that have reached a Cooking Skill of 40 or higher. This item has a value of $3650.

In the Build Menu, you can also find a selection of new windows in the same matching dark wood color, ranging in price from 750 coins for the RealOak 2 Pane to 6,000 coins for the RealOak 5 Pane. If you want the window in the picture above, with the quaint ivory curtains, that will set you back a whopping 39 SimCash. Along with this, there are five new wallpapers and three new floor tiles to round out the theme.

There's no listed time limit on any of these items, so if you don't have enough Social Points or SimCash available to buy them now, you should be able to save up and purchase them well into the future. Still, if you want to get your hands on these items while they're fresh, I really couldn't blame you. I just hope your kitchen is big enough to hold them all!

[Final Image Credit: Playfish/EA]

What do you think of these Country Kitchen items? Are you more of a modern fan, or do you like country / southwestern items?

The Sims Social: Claim your free Pogo Arcade Machine

While you may already be the proud owner of one or two Arcade Machines in the Sims Social, if you're like me, you'll always be ready for one more - especially if it's free. Such is the case with this new goodie, a Pogo branded Arcade Machine, spotted by BadgeHungry. The single link to claim your reward has apparently been going around for about a week, but hasn't been heavily advertised. It does, however, still work (as of this writing).

To claim your free Pogo Arcade Machine in the Sims Social just make sure you're logged into your Facebook account and click on this link right here. This will take you to Facebook, where you'll be told whether or not your claim attempt was successful. Once in your house, the Pogo Arcade Machine will go into your storage, where you can then freely place it anywhere in your house (or even outside).

As for interactivity, the machine allows you to do two things: Play Games (no energy required), and "Redeem Tokens at Pogo." This link will let you earn 25,000 free tokens on the site, but unfortunately, doesn't come with any free Simoleons back in the Sims Social. But hey, we've walked away with a free Arcade Machine; it's that all we could really ask for?

Have you already claimed your free Pogo Arcade Machine? What other sorts of goodies do you hope come to the Sims Social?

Wait, so farming's cool again? The Sims Social falls to third place

Whelp, that was fun while it lasted. EA and Playfish's mega hit The Sims Social is now the third most popular game on Facebook, as the game dipped beneath Zynga's FarmVille, according to AppData. The Facebook app tracking service chalks this up to a loss of 500,000 monthly players in December along with 1.8 million daily players gone in the past week alone.

This leaves The Sims Social with 5.9 million daily players and 30.4 million monthly players, while Zynga's farming simulator gained 200,000 daily players within the last week leaving it with 7 million daily players. However, the game is just a hair above the game all about Littlehaven with 30.9 million monthly players. If you ask us, there are two reasons for this unfortunate switcheroo.

For one, the Winter Wonderland expansion just hit FarmVille for those willing to pay up the Farm Cash to get in, hence the 200,000 more daily players. (That sounds like an accurate number for those willing to fork up the $10.) Zynga is taking the holidays seriously this year in FarmVille, as Winter Wonderland is an entirely new farm for fans to play around in. And that's in addition to the torrent of holiday crops, animals and decorations that has already hit the game and will likely continue into Dec. 25 and beyond.

The Sims Social, on the other hand, hasn't seen a major content update on the scale of FarmVille's Winter Wonderland since its release this summer. Sure, the game has been updated with numerous tweaks, themes and contests, but perhaps those aren't enough to keep players' attention. A hefty chunk of The Sims Social players are Zynga fans, after all, and they can be a fickle bunch. If The Sims Social wants to see second place again, it's going to take more than themes and gameplay refinements.

Are you still digging The Sims Social since its launch? Can the game be restored to its former glory, and if so, how?

Sims Social survey lets you sound off on item prices, favorite features and more

It's that time folks - time to let your collective voices be heard! EA wants to know how much fun (or not) you're having with the Sims Social on Facebook, and they've released a fairly long survey to help you tell them. This survey contains all sorts of questions, ranging from the basics of how often you play the game, to allowing you to rate your opinion on item pricing (are they too cheap? too expensive?) and what some of your favorite features are in the game.

Of course, the point of all of this is to gather enough opinions to actually sway the way the game develops in the future. Hopefully, with questions dealing with how much we like to "build" items with parts (bookcases, double beds, etc.), and the option to say that you don't like it at all, we may actually see a lessening in those kinds of items, if enough users agree. You can even rank various gameplay features (decorating your house, visiting friends, customizing your Sim, etc.) in the order that you like them. In this way, perhaps we'll see more focus being placed on the most (overall) liked feature, and you'll be able to say you helped to make that happen.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of survey that will allow you to give your opinion on future item sets, but there are plenty of blank text boxes for you to say exactly what you want to the developers in a place that you know they'll see it. Again, this survey is prety lengthy (when compared to other Facebook game surveys anyway), so you'll want to make sure you have around 5-10 minutes to set aside to take it.

We've taken this survey as well, and if we start to notice any gameplay changes arising because of options listed here, we'll make sure to let you know. In the meantime, head over to this link right here to take the survey for yourself.