Joel Brodie

Ranch Town, a new farming game by Meteor Games, has launched on Facebook. According to our friends at Frisky Mongoose, this farming game may be familiar those of us who like to farm online, but with the difference being the inclusion of machines. You do not just milk the cow, you churn the butter with a butter machine. You unlock other machines like juice maker, windmill, and we imagine, a lot more, as you play the game. According to an article on IGN, the game will also introduce new concepts such as mining, fishing, and you will of course be able to decorate the farm. Go to our Ranch Town page to play the game and follow the game for alerts when our reviews and strategy guides come out.

Is Zynga the nicest social games company or are they doing good to make you forget about all the not-so-good stories that came out earlier this year (cynical me, pondering)? Either way, they are raising a lot of money for worthy charities, which is a very good thing.

Playdom just released a new Facebook game, Big City Life, aimed at Facebook gamers who deem themselves fashionistas and socialites. Will Big City Life be the next Facebook fashion trend or fall off the fashion runway? Play Big City Life and click READ MORE for more details.

Big Fish Games just released Treasure Quest which can best be described as a casual games portal built for the social platform. Players can play a variety of free games based on the most popular genres, such as hidden object, brain/logic, match 3 puzzle, strategy, card, and riddle games. As you play, you level up and earn gold that you can use to unlock new games content and access new power ups. Big Fish Games plans to add different treasure quest challenges daily. You can click read more for a specific list of games as well as to view video and screen shots and play Treasure Quest here.

You know the social games market is piping hot M&A news pops up about the deals that happened and the deals that didn't. Playdom buys Three Melons and CrowdStar says no to Microsoft.