If you're familiar with the Whale Rescue feature in CityVille that asks you to expand out into the water surrounding your town in order to rescue lost baby whales, you'll feel right at home with the newest event in the game: the UFO Landing. This event sees you building a UFO Landing site and then expanding your city (not water) to reach four aliens that have been scattered around your land. This feature is available to players that have reached at least Level 15 in their cities, and we're here with a complete guide to finishing it off, thanks to Zynga. Let's get started!

Seeking Lifeforms
•Repair Alien Family's UFO to Level 2
•Find Papa Alien
•Get 12 Alien UV Goggles

The Alien UV Goggles are earned by asking your friends to send them to you, but since your requests are limitedeach day, make sure you ask for these items early and often until you have all 12. To repair the UFO Landing site, you'll need to collect a variety of building parts, starting with 12 Cockpit Controls. Throughout this event, you'll need to ask your friends for items or can earn them by tending UFO Landing themed buildings that are available in the store. These buildings are items like a Deep Space Communications Community Building or the Rocket Dealership Business, both of which are available for coins. Finally, to find Papa Alien, you can click on the "Show Me" button which will take you to the expansion that you need to reach that contains that particular alien. Once you can interact with him, simply move him next to the UFO to finish this task and goal. You'll receive two Zoning Permits and 50,000 coins for finishing this goal.

Launchpad
•Collect from 10 UFO Themed Buildings
•Find Mama and Baby Alien
•Repair Alien Family's UFO to Level 4

Luckily, two of these tasks can be completed at the same time, as you'll need to collect from buildings for the first goal task, but can also earn collectibles from those buildings, so you should be collecting from them anyway. The process to finding and moving both Mama and Baby Alien is the same, so expand your city until you reach them and then pull them back to the UFO to continue. You'll receive 200 XP and four Zoning Permits when you finish this goal.

New World
•Get 20 Sparkling Space Rock
•Completely Repair Alien Family's UFO
•Find Alien Dog

There are seven items you need to collect in all for the Alien Family UFO, so while you're working on collecting those materials from friends or themed buildings, you can also work on expanding out to the UFO Dog. You'll need to move it back to the UFO as well to finish the family, and will receive six Zoning Permits and 500,000 coins for completing this final goal. Good luck!

More CityVille Coverage from Games.com

• Whale Rescue Guide
• Dragon Castles Guide
• KaBOOM Charity Promotion

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Republished with permission from:
Brandy Shaul is an editor at Games.com

On March 7, Apple announced the iPad 3. "Look how shiny it is!" Apple's executives preached to a crowd full of cheering fans and press. "Retina display! Brand new graphics! You want one!"

The pitch worked on me, and I bought one right away. Sure, it cost $600, but between the spectacular resolution, the impressive graphical capabilities, and the robust iPad-only app library, it seemed like a necessary trinket for gaming in 2012.

I don't regret that decision. I've gotten a great deal of use out of Apple's glossy tablet. I've spent a whole lot of time playing iOS games—Kingdom Rush, Final Fantasy Dimensions, and many, many more—and used the iPad as a more-than-adequate substitute for my laptop when traveling or covering press events.

But then. Surprise! Today, October 23, Apple revealed the iPad 4. "Look how shiny it is!" Apple's executives preached to a crowd full of cheering fans and press. "New processing chip! Double the graphics power! You want one!"

Nowhere did Apple mention the iPad 3, the machine that was touted oh-so-passionately just seven months ago as the next big thing. Seven months ago. It's like a Simpsons parody of how often companies release new iterations of their hardware.

Nobody expected this. We all expected the iPad Mini, maybe a new MacBook, but none of the rumor-mongers predicted a brand new iPad with improved processing speed and brand new graphics. There was no reason for anyone to not buy an iPad 3 last month, two weeks ago, or even yesterday—and in fact, a number of people noted to me on Twitter that they just bought the third-generation tablet.

To add insult to injury, Apple didn't even mention the iPad 3, the machine that millions of people spent hundreds of dollars to buy just a few months ago. They swept it under the rug completely. It's not even part of their current line-up:

Now sure, this new iPad won't force me to get less enjoyment out of my current one. It won't suddenly explode or subliminally compel me to go throw it in a trash bin. I'll still have just as much fun playing games on my iPad 3 as I would on an iPad 4.

But my new iPad is now one half-step closer to obsolescence. In 2012, game developers are creating software only for iOS hardware that is one or two generations old: most games you'd want to play on your Apple tablet will only support the iPad 2 or higher. Now that there's an iPad 4, we're even closer to a point where developers are creating software that can only run on its A6 processor. It's faster! It's more powerful! Gotta have it!

Remember, this isn't like upgrading a PC. As a closed system, the iPad can't be upgraded or modified. People who bought the iPad 3 can't spend $150 to swap in new processors or beef up their graphics cards. We're stuck with what we got. Our iPad 3s—released, let me again reiterate, in March 2012—are now old news. And here I am still calling it "the new iPad."

So if you dished out $500, $600, or $700 this year expecting to be able to show off the hottest new piece of hardware for at least a whole year, you're out of luck. Apple claims that the iPad 4 is twice as powerful as the iPad 3. And god help you if you have an iPad 2 or—perish the thought—one of those useless original iPads (released, believe it or not, in April 2010—only two-and-a-half years ago).

Seems like I'm not the only one who feels this way. In a poll on Cult of Mac, some 1,500 people (so far) said they're pissed that their iPad 3 is "now obsolete." And I bet the number is significantly higher than that—as Apple themselves bragged today, they've sold 100 million iPads so far. Close to 45 million this year alone.

I've never understood some folks' fervent obsession with Apple, and I certainly don't expect the iPad makers to look out for my or any customers' interests. But I also don't expect my ridiculously-expensive new hardware to feel stale after only half a year. How could I not feel like a chump?

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is getting something new with its Slingshot DLC: a self-contained story.

Players tend to create a number of their own stories in XCOM, through customizing their squads and telling stories about what happens to them as they undertake missions. The Slingshot DLC is a little different: it comes with a specific background, a specific look, and a specific story to tell.

The Slingshot content adds an arc of missions to XCOM, XCOM lead producer Garth DeAngelis and lead DLC designer Ananda Gupta explained in a call. Players receive the new assignment from the Council. In a set of three linked missions, players move through a mini storyline taking place on new maps with new gameplay. The Slingshot DLC also adds a new, unique squad member, with a different backstory, voice, and customization options. After completing the DLC, players can take their rewards and new squad member back into the "core" game.

"We're trying to take the concept of the funding council a little further," Gupta explained. "In XCOM, we're not heavy-handed with the story," he added. "We're a strategy game, we like the players to sort of dictate that themselves." The idea, then, is that players can jump into this story, experience it briefly, and then return to XCOM as usual.

"I'm a huge fan of the emergent narrative aspect of [XCOM]," DeAngelis added, "but this really gives you more of the designed narrative, and you get a specific character as a result of completing these three missions."

A second piece of DLC will follow in the same "story within a story" style, but there is as yet no comment on what that DLC might be or when players might expect to see it.

2K Games has not yet announced either the price or the release date for the Slingshot DLC.

Players can, however, now purchase the "Elite Soldier Pack" on all platforms. The Elite pack was included as a pre-order bonus with XCOM, includes the "classic" looking soldier (with a well-known hairstyle) and allows players to decorate and dye soldiers' armor. The Elite pack runs for 400 Microsoft points (360) or $4.99 (PC/PS3).

What? You've never heard of Action Movie FX before? Oh man.

It's a simple iOS app. Point the camera at any flat surface, place a kitty on said flat surface, and record for about 5 seconds. Then watch the kitty explode from an EMP blast-damaged helicopter, or from missiles from Call of Duty: Black Ops II. And then feel really bad about yourself because you just made a kitty explode, you bastard.

The iPhone/iPad application that lets you make explodey home videos with impressive effects recently got an update to include special effects taken directly from the upcoming Call of Duty game. Of the four, three are currently available (one of which you have to unlock through some silly ad campaign). I made simple videos of each so you can see what they look like. Minus the kitty, because I'm not the one that's a terrible human being. Hmph.

The fourth and (as far as I know) final special effect from Black Ops II will arrive on October 29th, in tandem with the release of a new live action trailer.

If you're here in the Panel Discussion programming block, you might be a lapsed comics reader, trying to find a way back to the JLA Satellite. Or you might someone killing time until you pick up your weekly Wednesday pull list. Or maybe you've said goodbye to dozens of longboxes to embrace the promise of digital comics. Whichever it is, you're still interested in the good stuff.

Welcome, then, to the Panel Discussion Dozen Tentet, where I pick out just-released or out-soon comics that I think are worth paying attention to. Ready? Then, let's meet the sequential art that'll be draining your wallet this week. Be sure to chime in with the books you'll be picking up or that you think everybody should be ready in the comments.

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Batman Incorporated #4
Y'know, before the recent developments in Batman Incorporated, Talia Al Gul never felt like a real villain. Oh, sure, she'd team up with Lex Luthor and other archenemies from time to time. But it never seemed as if she was really that agreeable to her father's plans for world domination or that she'd ever leave the side of the Demon's Head to live with Bruce Wayne. That's why this current storyline that pits her against Batman for the soul of their son Damian—who's currently Robin—reads so great. It's as if all the indecision that seemed a part of the character has burned away to reveal a more ruthless version of herself, one that the men in her life never even thought was there. With the psychological attachments she has to her opponents, Talia may have an upper hand on Batman and Ra's Al Ghul that they never had on each other.

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I Vampire #13
The best thing about Joshua Hale Fialkov's nosferatu-centric series is how it's rotated on a series of reversals that have found power shift to and from its principal characters in the book. We've seen lead bloodsucker Andrew Bennett go from reluctant vampire hunter to benevolent leader of a nightstalker nation to, as of last issue, something very, very bad. Now his lover Mary—who once lead vampires in a nearly apocalyptic war against humans—is the only chance mankind has against an evil Andrew. And she doesn't have any powers any more. The turnarounds in I Vampire also get at a subtext that's always present in vampire lore, which is how predators run amok become prey for other creatures by virtue of their own excesses. Enough to keep me reading.

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Talon #1
I liked the Talons from the Court of Owls crossover as remorseless killing machines, since their singlemindedness made them impressive enemies for Batman and his allies. This series casts a former assassin from the Court of Owls as its heroic lead, in yet another riff on the ol' bad-guy-rebels-against-former-masters plot. However, the writing in this first issue—provided to me early by DC Comics—moves things along well and the art by Guillem March features some nicely dynamic page layouts. What Talon is really going to need to succeed is a milieu and heroic character that feels distinct from similar ones already in play in the crowded DC Universe. Time will tell if writers Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV will be able to pull it off.

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Avengers #32
Invincible Iron Man #527
Captain America #19
Incredible Hulk #15
FF #23 These are all books that are either at finales or in the endstages of long, definitive runs by acclaimed creators. Moments like this afford talent the opportunity to not just tie up storylines but also spool out thematic subplots and re-visit characters in a way that could winding up being grandiose. Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca's Iron Man gave us a Tony Stark whose worst enemy was at times his own psychological make-up and Bendis' Avengers worked off an emotionally charged dynamic that made it feel simultaneously more grounded and more cosmic.

Ed Brubaker's work on Captain America did the impossible—killing off an icon, resurrecting Bucky and making readers love him as a replacement Cap and bringing Steve Rogers back—while slyly folding in commentary about how America sees itself and is seen around the world. Jason Aaron's tenure on Incredible Hulk has been shorter than some of these other runs but he's still managed to create a hilariously twisted version of the Banner-vs-Hulk dynamic while still touching on the lonely, sad and dangerous psychological realities at the core of Marvel's strongest hero. And Jonathan Hickman's writing for Fantastic Four and FF has been a poignant exercise in delivering stories that scale emotions up to the point where they feel like universe-changing powers. Together, they all make a strong case as to why it's always better to follow a creator than a character.

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Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity #1
Prophet #30

Praise be that we get two Brandon Graham comics this week. I've written before about how Graham may be wielding the best imagination in comics. But, if you think I'm just blowing smoke, read the solicitation copy for his newest work:

Prophet #30
Old man Prophet's team goes looking for supplies on a city built into the torso of a giant at war with its other body parts. And an old acquaintance.

Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity #1
Sexica and her Werewolf boyfriend Nikoli travel across a sci-fi, fantasy Russia smoking singing cigarettes. Meanwhile the organ hunter Nura is sent out with a severed head and instructions to find its body.

Look: whatever happens inside those comics is likely to have at least a few cool sequences, isn't it? Me, I just want to know what singing cigarettes sound like.

The beta test for Gazillion's massively multiplayer metahuman brawl launched a while back. What's that, you say? You've been trying and trying but haven't been able to get in?

Well, you've hit the jackpot, tiger. Below are ten codes to make like a radioactive spider bite and give you the superpowers to swing into the Marvel Heroes beta. Just follow these simple steps.

1. Create an account on MarvelHeroes.com

2. After registration click 'redeem key' in the account management page.

3. Enter the key *exactly as shown* (including hyphens).

4. You should then be taken you to a client download page.

5. Avenge death of loved one.

OVAC-XTJC-P00Q-47CO
DQFE-JLRD-DVLC-47CO
CBAW-TT8M-Y4TK-47CO
7IFA-S7MY-ZLT2-47CO
YCKS-OIBJ-ACFZ-47CO
771T-JHBD-H8E1-47CO
42Q1-E7O8-BPC9-47CO
VPYC-4QRO-R76D-47CO
CJLX-LQWM-8OL4-47CO
X9UR-5WYL-SBRJ-47CO

If you have any problems getting in, e-mail support@marvelheroes.com. And if you weren't lucky to snag a code here, head over Marvel Heroes and try signing up for a beta key there.

When comics fans rattle off catalogs of great X-Men artists, there are a few names practically guaranteed to be on their lists. Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, John Byrne and Jim Lee are all givens. But me? I love Paul Smith. That's his stuff up there. To me, he's one of comics' greatest unsung comics talents. Who do you think deserves more love?

Taste in artistic styles is a subjective thing. While I think Paul Smith's clean-line minimalism is great, others may prefer a different look to their sequential storytelling. So, who do you think is a great under-appreciated comics artist? Share some artwork from your personal favorites below.

Zynga has shut down their Boston office entirely and performed significant layoffs in their Austin office this afternoon, reports say.

Boston-area game developers are reporting on Twitter that Zynga Boston has been completely shuttered today. The Boston studio, known as Conduit Labs before being acquired by Zynga in 2010, created the Indiana Jones Adventure World Facebook game.

Reports are also beginning to surface of major layoffs at Zynga's Chicago office, and at Zynga Austin:

Zynga's Austin office created city-building game The Ville, the subject of a lawsuit by SimCity owners EA.

Gamasutra is confirming the reports of the Austin layoffs.

The news about the studio closures and layoffs began to circulate during Apple's big press conference, in a piece of timing not unlike THQ's decision earlier this year to announce layoffs during the first day of E3.

We have asked Zynga for comment and will update as soon as we hear back.

UPDATE: Zynga CEO Mark Pincus just sent out a memo confirming the closure of Zynga Boston and that layoffs took place at Zynga Austin. See the full note for more.

Surprise! Apple today announced a brand new fourth-generation iPad that will be significantly more powerful than the last one.

Showing off the new hardware's specs at a press conference today, Apple's Phil Schiller said it will have a ten-hour battery life and significantly more powerful graphics than the iPad 3, which was released in March.

(Well now I certainly feel like a sucker, buying a new iPad when it launched just seven months ago.)

It will use an A6 chip—with double the performance of the third iPad's A5 chip, Apple says—and the Lightning connector pin announced last month with the iPhone 5. The fourth-gen iPad will also have the same price and configurations as the third iPad. It comes in both black and white.

Surprising no one, that Borderlands Legends iOS game will officially be a reality on Halloween. You can buy it for your iPhone for $5 or your iPad for $7.

Entertainment Weekly has the first look on the mobile Borderlands shooter game that lets you control the four original vault hunters simultaneously and from a top-down view. Though not as robust as either of the pre-existing console/PC editions of the franchise, the iOS game will actually have a skill tree for you to prioritize new abilities (of which there are six).

Check the EW link for more details until we get our hands on the game for our own impressions.

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'Borderlands' blows up iPads! — EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK [Entertainment Weekly]