FrontierVille 'Purple Dog' glitch stumps players, forum moderators

Have any of you seen that purple doggie on the FrontierVille homestead? You know, the one with the waggly tail ... and the word "Temp" painted on its body? Unfortunately, it appears that this purple pup is not for sale, but a coding glitch that appeared around the same time the Injured Critter Goals were introduced. Several players on the forums report seeing this Purple Dog and have been asking why, but the moderators' guess is as good as ours.

"This has been discussed a few times now, Mizz Faith said, a FrontierVille forums Super Moderator. "The overall consensus is, we're baffled. I'm gonna ask again and see if it was ever figured out. It's quite a creepy looking little thing!" So if the moderators don't know a thing, it's likely that we won't either. My best guess is that this little scrapper is a placeholder for future items or animals. Perhaps it's used in testing new features before the artwork for items and animals is finalized. That said, it's just as likely that we'll never know and all we'll have to work with are screen shots. So, if you see the Purple Dog, be sure to snap a picture of it as you might never see this elusive creature again.

[Image Credit: iRonX]

Have you seen the Purple Dog on your homestead? What do you think it represents to the FrontierVille studios?

Aliens vs. Predator developer Rebellion opens social games division

Unfortunately, this does not necessarily mean that AvP is coming to Facebook. Develop reports that Rebellion, the UK-based studio behind the Aliens vs. Predator games, has opened a social gaming division. This internal team will focus on Facebook games after having recently released Evil Genius, its first social game. Rebellion will still focus on creating high-profile games with high production values, but after seeing its first social game leave the nest, Rebellion appears hungry for more.

"The release of Evil Genius has given us an appetite to look at other opportunities in the area," said Rebellion co-founder Jason Kingsley. "One thing that has become increasingly apparent over the last few years is that gamers can't be defined as just people who own consoles – people who use social media like Facebook or use smart phones all play games and this is an exciting new opportunity that we want to explore."

Rebellion follows several traditional gaming companies into the Facebook scene like EA, Konami, Sega and Ubisoft. If anything, this move is yet another example of massive shifts in the gaming industry. In other words, expect to see more (and even bigger) companies follow suit in 2011.

[Via Shacknews]

[Image Credit: Squidoo]

How do you think Rebellion will fare in the social games space? Do you think it's to traditional developers' benefit that they focus at least some talent toward Facebook?