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PetVille lets the pups out with a free Cockapoo named Trubble

created by -cyberlinegames-

PetVille Designer Dogs: Paul the Puggle
PetVille Designer Dogs: Trubble the Cockapoo Prior to the weekend, PetVille announced their first ever Designer Dogs Collection. Unlike other Limited Edition items, these pups are free offerings on the game's gifts page. You'll be relying on cooperative players to distribute these puppies. Friday's Designer Dog #1 was Paul the Puggle, and today's Designer Dog #2 is Trubble the Cockapoo.

For those of you snickering out there -- and don't think I can't hear you! -- a Cockapoo is a real dog breed. It's a cross between a Poodle and a Cocker Spaniel. It's also known as a Spoodle, Cockerdoo, or Cockerdoodle. (Fine, the snickering may resume now.)

Anyway, our Trubble here is a sad, lonely pup with a heavy brow, tilting head, and the occassionally swishing tail. So he's animated, if only in the literal sense of the word.

But if he's too depressing to have around, you've always the option to sell Trubble off for 150 Coins

Get a Whoa! Double Rainbow and Four zLotto Unicorns ( PetVille)

created by -cyberlinegames-

PetVille zLotto prizes: Turquoise Unicorn, Purple Unicorn, Pink Unicorn, and Maureen Unicorn
PetVille Double RainbowZynga seems to think that the Double Rainbow meme still has some life in it. To recap, the Double Rainbow Guy became an instant hit on YouTube after he uploaded a video of himself going gaga over rainbows while hiking in Yosemite National Park.

In tribute, FrontierVille released their own Double Rainbow (25 Horseshoes) early this August. And now, PetVille is featuring one as part of their currently running, Enchanted Kingdom outdoors decor set.

(NOTE: As I've mentioned before, you must be Level 10 or above to be able to access the Outdoors Store. Moreover, you'll need to collect a dozen keys from friends to be able to unlock the door to any outdoors decor set, in order to buy from it.)

But PetVille's Double Rainbow (40 Pet Cash) is only available for the next 2 days. It's also currently being promoted with Maureen The Unicorn, one of the four PetVille prizes offered by zLotto, which is Zynga's official -- and FREE! -- games lottery. So grab a unicorn or four, while the promotion lasts! I personally won a Turquoise Unicorn. If I don't like it, this unicorn also sells for 2,000 Coins. Read this post by an official rep of Zynga's YoVille to learn how to get more tickets.

Super End of Summer Contest ( games.com )

created by -cyberlinegames-

End of Summer Contest

Celebrate the final days of summer with a Scavenger Hunt for Stamps to adorn your Player Profile! Visit the games below and complete the described Dare. Complete all three Dares before 9/7 and you will win the 'Dog Days of Summer' Stamp for your player profile!
Dog Days - Sarah Quest Stamp
Sarah Quest: The Pharaoh's Trap
DARE: Finish Level 5 in "Story" mode to win this Stamp.
Take Dare Now

+

Finish level 5 in the Book of Treasures Stamp
The Book of Treasures
DARE: Finish Level 5 in "Quest Mode" to win this Stamp.
Take Dare Now

+

Lost Island Mahjongg Purity Stamp
Lost Island Mahjongg
DARE: Solve a puzzle without using hints to win this Stamp.
Take Dare Now

=

Dog Days of Summer
Dog Days of Summer
This Stamp is yours when you complete the Dares in the three featured games!

Quote Slide ( game of the day )

created by -cyberlinegames-

Games.com Game of the Day: Quote Slide



Today's game is Quote Slide. It's another in our new line of newspaper inspired online daily games. Everyday you will get a new puzzle to play in Quote Slide. After you've finished today's puzzle, you'll have to come back for a new one, and a new game of the day!

Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.

Play
Quote Slide now -->

Zynga Texas Poker: Zynga doubles down in China with new poker game

created by -cyberlinegames-

zynga poker china

Zynga launched a localized version of its popular Zynga Poker in Hong Kong and Taiwan this week. This new version of the game, called Zynga Texas Poker, is available on Facebook, and while the social network is still banned in most of mainland China, CEO Mark Pincus says this game will give Zynga more access to a huge social gaming audience.

"We are excited to bring poker to Hong Kong and Taiwan and connect local players to the nearly 30 million people around the world who are already active on Zynga Poker," says Pincus.

And how do they expect to do that? By enticing new players with free chips and cold hard cash. Each newbie from Taiwan and Hong Kong will be welcomed with 8,888 free poker chips and the chance to win $880,000 Taiwanese dollars. Eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture, so this is a clear attempt to resonate with a new audience beyond translation.

This new poker game, in addition to Zynga's purchase of Beijing-based XPD Media and recent entry into Japan with help of Softbank, shows that the social gaming giant is serious about finding new players in other parts of the world.

Why should you care? Well, while Zynga is reaching out internationally, that also opens the possibility that we'll see more international social games make their way to us. That might grant us access to a new breed of games, as in name brands that we've been playing on other plaftorms for years. Yup, we're talking to you Square Enix -- you know you're itching to release Final Fantasy on Facebook. If you do that, we're willing to bet that the odds are stacked in your favor.

Digital Chocolate lays out its Mafia Wars trademark case against Zynga

created by -cyberlinegames-

Games.com -- The Blog has obtained a complete copy of the lawsuit that Trip Hawkins' Digital Chocolate served against Zynga earlier this week over the company's use of the Mafia Wars trademark. In it, Digital Chocolate methodically lays out its argument that, "through duplicity and bad faith, [Zynga] effectively hijacked the MAFIA WARS mark" that Digital Chocolate had a prior right to.
 
Digital Chocolate's use of the name Mafia Wars began in June of 2004, when the company got the game in its acquisition of Finnish company Sumea Interactive. Sumea's Mafia Wars eventually spawned sequels under Digital Chocolate, including Scarlotti's Mafia Wars 2 in 2005 (here's an IGN preview from that game's release), Mafia Wars Yakuza Wars in 2005 and Mafia Wars New York in 2009 (astute observers may see similarities to Zynga's later Mafia Wars Bangkok and Mafia Wars New York in those titles). Though Digital Chocolate's Mafia Wars was never as big as Zynga's, the company claims that two million people worldwide downloaded games in the series (including "hundreds of thousands" in the U.S.)
While Zynga may have been unaware of Digital Chocolate's game when it launched its version of Mafia Wars in 2008, Digital Chocolate made sure to let them know about the conflict in a January 2009 letter, court documents state. In May of 2009, Digital Chocolate says they received a response to their letter in which Zynga, while claiming that their game didn't infringe on Digital Chocolate's, nonetheless "disclaims any trademark rights in the term 'Mafia Wars' in connection to the game."

But that state of affairs didn't last long, according to the court documents, as Zynga filed for a Mafia Wars trademark in the U.S. in July of 2009. The company later extended the trademark application to other countries and to use in a variety of branded products from memo pads to tank tops. These filings became especially ironic when Zynga filed a suit againt rival Playdom over the Mafia Wars name. At that time, Zynga stated their "belief no other person, firm, corporation or association has the right to use the mark in commerce, either in the identical form thereof or in such near resemblance thereto as to be likely..."

In the lawsuit, Digital Chocolate is seeking that Zynga "disgorge any and all revenues and profits that Defendant has derived from its wrongful actions;" as well as "treble damages, resonable attorney's fees and expenses; and costs," rights to the Mafiwawars.com domain name and "corrective advertising for double the amount spent" by Zynga.

While Digital Chocolate's case seems strong (assuming the facts are as they've been laid out here -- Zynga has offered only a prepared statement in response to the allegations), there are a few potential legal sticking points that might prevent them from winning untold millions from Zynga. For one, Digital Chocolate seems to have never formally registered a trademark for Mafia Wars in the United States, weakening their prior claim on the name. For another, Digital Chocolate would have to prove that Zynga's use of the Mafia Wars name produced "market confusion" over which game was which. This means they have to show that some consumers assumed Zynga's mega-hit Facebook game has some relationship with Digital Chocolate's largely unheard-of downloadable title.

Zynga Lotto: How to Get More Tickets

created by -cyberlinegames-

This is an official blog post by Zynga's Platinum Ninja.
Zynga Lotto Prizes - YoVille tab
Hey Everyone,

Do you want to test your luck on the new Z-Lotto Scratcher and win some exclusive YoVille items? You won't want to miss out on this opportunity to get your hands on these exclusive items only available through Z-Lotto before they are gone! Let's check out how to sign up for Z-Lotto for your chance to play and win some awesome items!

How Do I Sign Up?

To sign up for this Zynga promotion click HERE .You will then have to create your own Zynga account. Enter your Name, Birthday, Email, Create a Password :) Once you are done click sign up! Pretty simple huh?

How Do I Ask for more Tickets?


To ask your friends for more tickets click the Ask For Tickets Button.
Zynga Lotto Ask for Tickets Button
It will then prompt you to send an email to your friends requesting more tickets! Remember you can request up to 20 a day and give up to 20 a day! So test the boundaries and help your friends win big! Don't be shy, ask your friends for more today! You can always count on us too! We'll be providing you with a ticket per day.
Ask your friends for Zynga Lotto tickets
How Do I know if I have a New Z-Lotto Scratcher?

Come back daily to claim your Daily Z-Lotto Scratcher and check under the Your Tickets tab to find your daily Z-lotto Scratchers from us and from your friends. You can also bookmark this page so you will know when a friend sends you one or you receive one from us!
Zynga Lotto Bookmark this Page
Well folks that's about all! These items will only be available through Z-Lotto and will be available to win for a limited time so make sure to be a part of the Z-Lotto Scratcher and play daily! We hope you enjoy this free opportunity and can't wait to see you win some awesome prizes!

Thanks!

Platinum Ninja

This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.

Zynga Lotto offers players free exclusive prizes in FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and more

created by -cyberlinegames-

FarmVille zLotto Landing Page
Zynga has released an official Lottery for all its gamers to play on a newly launched website! Each Lottery ticket is valid for all of Zynga games and allows you to chose your prize coordinating with each participating game.

Lottery prizes include exclusive prizes including the Red animals for FarmVille!

To play Zynga Lotto you must register your account with a valid email address and follow the steps below.

1. Visit http://lotto.zynga.com/
2. Register your email account.
3. Confirm email validation by clicking on the link provided by Zynga within your email.
4. You get 3 chances to win a prize.
5. If a winner, select the prize that you want to claim that coordinates with the specific game (FarmVille, Mafia Wars, FrontierVille, etc.)
6. Claim your prize.

What prize did you win playing the Zynga Lottery? FarmVille zLotto Click Play To Start
FarmVille zLotto Prizes
FarmVille zLotto Scratch Off
FarmVille zLotto Claim Your Prize
FarmVille zLotto Claim Red Goat
FarmVille zLotto Here is your Prize
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.

Digital Chocolate slaps FarmVille maker Zynga with lawsuit over Mafia Wars

created by -cyberlinegames-

Digital Chocolate, the mobile and social gaming company founded by Trip Hawkins (also known as the founder of Electronic Arts and 3DO back in the day) has served Zynga with a lawsuit.

The suit purportedly has something to do with trademarks or intellectual properties, but no other details are known at this time. TechCrunch says Zynga has already commented on the suit: "We are surprised and disappointed by Digital Chocolate's lawsuit. The timing of the action appears to be opportunistic, and we plan to defend ourselves vigorously."

It will certainly be interesting to see if the lawsuit has something to do with Digital Chocolate's patent for "Creation of Game Element using Location Information." Read

Update (1 p.m.): Digital Chocolate is suing Zynga over the name Mafia Wars. From Courthouse News Service:

Digital Chocolate claims it notified Zynga last year that it owned rights to Mafia Wars. Zynga attorneys responded with a letter promising to stop using the name, then the company launched a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign with 7-Eleven to promote the game, and filed two trademark applications to register the Mafia Wars mark for a range of products, from beer mugs and napkins to sweatshirts and hats, according to the 69-page federal complaint...

Digital Chocolate wants Zynga enjoined from using the Mafia Wars name, and ordered to deliver up all Mafia Wars products and "engage in corrective advertising" costing twice what Zynga spent promoting Mafia Wars.
This is all rather ironic considering Zynga sued Playdom in 2009 for stepping on Mafia Wars' toes with advertising for its mafia-themed social game called Mobsters. We will continue

San Francisco takes aim at littering Mafia Wars marketer

created by -cyberlinegames-

If you stumbled upon a pile of $25,000 bills sitting on the street, you'd be overjoyed, wouldn't you? Well, apparently you are not the city of San Francisco, which recently called such bills "sidewalk vandalism" in a recent letter from City Attorney Alex Tse.

OK, to be fair the bills weren't real, but were fakes used as part of a marketing campaign for Zynga's Mafia Wars: Las Vegas expansion. And apparently the bills were actually glued to the sidewalk, which made them a bit difficult (and expensive) for the city to clean up. So maybe you wouldn't have been that overjoyed after all, would you?

Tse initially said he would pursue "pursue every available cause of action aggressively against Zynga for these illegal marketing tactics," but now seems to be focusing their legal efforts on marketing firm Davis Elen Advertising rather than Zynga. The ad agency has reportedly taken full responsibility for the campaign, effectively falling on their sword to protect their client (When did this become an episode of Mad Men?)

Between this fiasco and some recent Snoop-Dogg-related promotional problems in the Nevada desert, Zynga is having a bit of a bad marketing run of late. Then again, if there's no such thing as bad press, then Zynga seems to be getting a whole lot of not-bad press out of both of these snafus.

Mafia Wars Mumbai Challenge Mission opens for business

created by -cyberlinegames-

mafia wars mumbai

Mafia Wars Mumbai Challenge Mission Chapter 1: Hooray for Hollywood is officially open for business. So far Mumbai seems to be a pretty standard Challenge Mission, much like London and Africa. You have about two weeks to complete the jobs in each Chapter, and you'll need to collect lots of Bollywood Film Reels to get 'em all done.

Reels can be collected in Mumbai every 24 hours, and they can also be earned while doing jobs, fighting or robbing, as free gifts sent from friends, and by recruiting new members to your mafia.


mafia wars my crew

As usual, the omnipresent Heat Meter makes an appearance, and after doing a few jobs the meter will fill up, turn red, and you'll be forced lay low for 8 hours until the 'heat' loses your scent. You can wait it out, or kill time by going back to finish what you've started in New York, Cuba, Thailand or Las Vegas. Just make sure you don't exhaust that daily energy supply.

mafia wars chapter 1 jobs

Mumbai Chapter 1 consists of four jobs: Steal a Bollywood Script, Re-Write the Film's Villain, Get the Script Greenlit, Put Out A Casting Call. Once you're done with all of these jobs you will be able to move on to Chapter 2, which unlocks in about a week, and then Chapter 3, which unlocks in 12 days.

mafia wars mumbai rewards

Of course, you will be rewarded for your hard work after completing each chapter -- with these exclusive items.

Chapter 1: Bambaiyya Rahah (Vehicle), A 60, D 55
Chapter 2: Bollywood Superhit (Weapon), A 47, D 81
Chapter 3: Slumdog Billionaire (Bodyguard) A 86, D 115

The first two rewards aren't really over-the-top in terms of stats, but couldn't hurt to have that Slumdog Billionaire in your corner. After all, nobody said becoming the new king of Bollywood was gonna be easy.

Got any tips on how to beat Mafia Wars Mumbai fast? Looking for new mafia members? Leave a note in the comments below.

MMA Pro Fighter Cheats & Tips: Getting Started Guide

created by -cyberlinegames-

MMA Pro Fighter beginner's guide
MMA Pro Fighter, from Digital Chocolate, is a really high quality social game that keeps drawing more and more players to the ring. In this game, you become a MMA Pro Fighter, choose your own fighting skills and start training to become the best MMA fighter in the world. In this article we'll go through the basic aspects of the game and learn how to play MMA Pro Fighter.

1. Your Fighter

This is the overview window where you can check your fighter's status, the techniques you can use in fights as well the ones you use the most, as well as details on the equipment and other items you own.

Every time you gain a level, you'll be awarded attribute points which can be used to improve your fighter - it would be wise to only improve your health and stamina, in order to get a really powerful fighter.

In the Fighter menu you can also change your tattoos or hairstyle to look more as a fighter you'd like to be in real life. Also, you can customize your fighter with shorts from your country and much more.
MMA Pro Fighter Fight
2. Fights
In the Fight tab you can choose other fighters for matches. Here you should play smart and choose for fighters with similar techniques as yours and maybe lower condition. You can see the amount of experience and cash you can win from winning your fight, so always choose carefully.

There are three types of fights you can access here, all of them with similar results:

1) Fights against other MMA avatars
2) Fights against your Friends
3) Fights against special MMA Pro Fighter Champions which get unlocked at certain levels.
MMA Pro Fighter Training
3. Training
Here you can gain those extra bits of experience and keep your fighter at the highest condition possible. Unlike in other games, it shouldn't be really wise to train as much as possible since training only gives you experience and levels you up very fasy. However, you need money to learn new techniques (and you can get money via fighting only or purchase them for real cash), so a high level doesn't really mean that you're a lot better. So only use the training when needed and don't overdo it!
MMA Pro Fighter Techniques
4. Fighting techniques
As I said before, you can learn fighting techniques and master them - all being done from the SHOP. These can be from your preferred fighting style or any other style available in the game. Also, there are offensive, defensive and combos - all of them costingmoney to learn and having more levels to master. A general advice would be to learn the defensive techniques first in order to avoid getting a one hit KO from a nobody, and only then train your offense. Choose carefully sincemoney is limited and you can't become an expert in all the fighting styles! Also have in mind that learning techniques from other styles than your favorite ones costs more!

5. The importance of adding friends
Even though MMA Pro Fighter is not a game that puts a huge accent on the social element, your sparring friends can not only send you valuable free gifts (like health replenishers), but you also earn more experience thanks to your friends. Even more, sometraining can't be done without the help of friends, so it would be wise to add a few active ones early on! However, they don't play such an important role as in other more peaceful games, like FarmVille.

6. Complete Challenges
These are the game's achievements are a great and easy way to earn extra dollars and experience. Make sure you check this area as often as possible and complete as many challenges as possible to further improve your fighter!

7. Ring Girls
These beauties need Pro Points to keep you happy and healthy. Pro Points are the in-game currency you can only get for completing in-game offers or purchasing them for realcash. So be really careful when spending them!

8. How to get more cash in MMA Pro Fighter?
As I said, it's really difficult to gain money in this game and money is essential for improving your fighting and also getting some boosts, plus that you need some extra money to be able to train.

Most of the money will be won by winning fights, so you should make sure you fight as often as possible and win as much as possible. This will be your main source of income and it's better to fight for lower rewards (but certain wins) than trying to fight against better players and losing, since you'll have to wait a lot for your health to replenish.

Also, you're awarded quite a few bucks for completing the challenges, so make sure you visit that page often and claim your rewards.

Finally, you can simply buy Cash for Pro Points (the in-game currency).

9. How to level up faster in MMA Pro Fighter?
The easiest way to level up in the game is by completing training sessions. However, have in mind that it's not the wisest idea to have a high level fighter who isn't a master of many fighting techniques. So, as strange as it might sound, you shouldn't focus on levelling up too fast since that will hurt your fighter!

I hope you've found this guide helpful and you'll find it easier to play MMA Pro Fighter!

This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.

Las Vegas District 6: The Upper Strip

created by -cyberlinegames-

Long time no post! Figured I should get around to posting some information up on Episode 6 of Mafia Was Las Vegas.

Here is the new job tier:


Each tier this time around is actually independent. You can get to the boss through either the Social, Fighting, or Energy tiers. However, you still have to mastery each job type to move on to the next level of mastery.

Loot

Aside from the job mastery rewards, I found the following items while leveling up in this tier:

Gila Monster: 36 attack, 48 defense (animal)

P0lice Riot Helmet: 30 attack, 44 defense (armor)

Rangefinder Rifle: 37 attack, 54 defense (weapon)

Performance Sports Car: 47 attack, 38 defense (vehicle)

Goldsmobile: 40 attack, 55 defense (vehicle) - actually good

Diamondback: 56 attack, 48 defense (animal) - actually good

Reinhardt and Otto: 57 attack, 36 defense (armor) - actually good


Boss

The bosses of District 6 are the Hill Brothers. They start out with quite a bit of HP (8,000 in bronze, 16,000 in silver) and it only scales up from there. Here are the rewards:


Bronze Level of Mastery: 96 attack, 119 defense
Silver: 117 attack, 138 defense
Gold: 137 attack, 155 defense
Ruby: 160 attack, 175 defense

---

Killing them will be the tougher part, given their massive HP total. I was able to kill them pretty easy by spending a few Godfather points and this strategy:

- Attack the Hill Brothers

- Attack until you die. You will get 2 attacks off at a minimum, one for each of your henchman.

- Go to the marketplace and purchase a Health refill. These only cost 1 Reward Point now.

- Attack the Hill Brothers again until you lose again.

- Get another health refill at the marketplace (there is no cool down to this)

...repeat until they are dead.

I was able to beat each level of mastery while spending a handful of reward points. This was a lot less frustrating than trying to collect a million stun guns over and over again.

It's not that bad at all doing it this way and you can earn all of the points you will need simply by playing your free spins each day.

---


And yes, I know I have not posted in a long time. I think the time has come for me to move on to other games and other projects.

My decision to stop updating this page is not about money. This blog was never about making money and was always something I did for fun. The guide I wrote did make a little bit of money (thanks to everyone who bought it), but really writing a 200 page e-book and throwing up 300+ posts on this site in the past year certainly involved much more time than whatever I made back.

The moment the game stopped being fun for me was the moment I stopped making updates. Like anyone, I only have a so much free time in the day to dedicate to gaming and I am currently digging Starcraft 2 and the upcoming FF14 and am looking to shift my attention elsewhere.

At any rate, it's been a good ride, and I want to thank all the dedicated readers who have been coming back day after day for the past several months or even year(s).

If Mafia Wars 2 ever comes out, you know where to find me! I'll be right here.

--

Mafia Wars Mumbai Challenge Mission: The countdown begins

created by -cyberlinegames-

mafia wars challenge mission: killing at box office

Hope you're a master of multi-tasking because Mafia Wars is adding yet another special mission to your plate -- the Mumbai Challenge Mission. Now, in addition to taking over Vegas and beating the feds, you'll be tasked with "making a killing" in Bollywood. Like previous Challenge Missions, Mumbai will only be around for a limited time, will be comprised if three chapters and -- to do the job -- you'll need to collect a special item, in this case Bollywood Film Reels.

Chapter 1 kicks off in a little over a day, so start collecting as many Film Reels as possible and get ready to take Mumbai by storm.

Mafia Wars taps Snoop Dogg for explosive publicity stunt (Watch it live at 9 p.m. EST, right here!)

created by -cyberlinegames-


snoop dog blowin it up

It's official -- there's nothing rapper Snoop Dogg 
won't do. But seriously, August 19 (tonight) at 9 p.m. EST, the D-O-Double G will be on hand to light up the armored truck in honor of Mafia Wars Vegas reaching 10 million players. You will be able to watch the big bang streamed live from inside the game.

Fingers crossed that the truck will explode in a way that's worthy of Michael Bay, but even if it's a dud, this will easily go down as the hottest Facebook game publicity stunt in history. 
snoop blowing it up
Are you planning to tune in to watch the armored truck go up in flames?

Pet Society releases buildable Roller Skate Car

created by -cyberlinegames-

Pet Society Roller Skate Car
Pet Society is a game that we don't cover too often here, but it's awfully popular. Over 13 million players enjoy this game, which makes it one of the most popular Facebook games. Today, Pet Society has released a new buildable item in the Pet Workshop, which is a Roller Skate Car. This new Roller Skate Car is silly, fun, and just a little bit crazy - but that's okay! It's still cute.

To make the Roller Skate Car, you have to get the help of 20 friends. To do this, open up the Pet Workshop and click on the car. You can then either post a wall post asking your friends for help, or you can buy the item outright for 25 Playfish Cash. Once you've posted the wall post, 20 friends need to click on the link in order to help you unlock the prize.

The other items currently available in the Pet Workshop include the Hot Air Balloon, Playhouse, Party Invitation, and Magic Warrior statue.

Is Zynga about to rock Facebook with a new music game?

created by -cyberlinegames-

zynga cranking to 11
FarmVille maker Zynga purchased the Boston-based Conduit Labs, the creators of Super Dance and Music Pets on Facebook, on August 17. Neither of these games reached critical mass on Facebook (and in fact, Music Pets and Super Dance are now both officially closed), but this does seems like a possible indication that the Big Z is preparing to kick off the music game revolution on Facebook.

Think about it -- some of the the most popular social games outside of Facebook are music games. For years, many iterations of Rock Band and Guitar Hero have brought groups of people together to jam out on plastic instruments to hits from the past several decades. The games have brought in billions of dollars, and have helped make games more accessible to the masses. We've seen this music phenomenon translate fairly well onto iPhone with Tap Tap Revenge, Rock Band for iPhone and several other games, but we haven't seen a music game rock the Facebook gaming world.

That's starting to change, though. Booyah's Nightclub City, a nightclub simulation game that features dance music from real-life indie artists, broke into the top 25 Facebook games this past month. Heatwave's Platinum Life Web Edition, a hip-hop superstar sim game with licensed music and cartoon likenesses of real-life artists like Ludacris, has also been growing at a steady pace. The Las Vegas based Instant Action just launched a beta of its new music game Instant Jam -- a Guitar Hero clone that lets you play along to music in your personal digital library.

No one is better situated than Zynga to create a music game using the talent at Conduit Labs (now renamed Zynga Boston), launch it and then crank it up to 11 using the all-powerful game cross-promotion bar that sits atop FarmVille, Mafia Wars and all of Zynga's other wildly popular games, which means millions of guaranteed eyeballs for any new game.

Of course, this is all wild speculation, but just in case Zynga is on the hunt for a few ideas, these are mine: Mafia Wars: The Musical and The FarmVille Follies. What those would actually be like, I don't know -- I'll just leave it to the pros at Zynga to fill in the blanks.

Mafia Wars big bang: Less than 100K visits before armored truck goes boom

created by -cyberlinegames-

mafia wars blow up truck imminent

Update (11 p.m.): Mafia Wars will be blowing up an armored truck on Thursday, August 19th at 6:00 pm PST.

Update: The 10 million mark has been reached (!), but still no announcement as to when the truck will be blown up. Stay tuned.

We'll soon see if the Mafia Wars marketing team makes good on the promise -- that after 10 million players logged into play Mafia Wars Las Vegas -- they would drive an armored truck into the Nevada desert, pack it full of dynamite and blow it up.

Right now, the player count is less than 100K away from 10 million -- and it took a little over two weeks to hit this target. That means we can expect the big kaboom to happen relatively soon, and, you'll be able watch it all go down on mafiawars.com.

Mafia Wars rep says big gifting changes are in the works

created by -cyberlinegames-

mafia wars gifting: share the wealth

When you have 501 mafia members (or even 100), it's hard to swallow the fact that you can only bestow free gifts upon 30 or so mafiosos per day. Mafia Wars Community Manager Jonezie Malone says that that's all going to change soon, and that more information will be spilled this week:

"Gifting is a natural and fun part of the social sharing within Mafia Wars. Many of you have requested the ability to send more gifts daily. We are working on solutions to this request. We have some changes coming to our system that we hope you are going to enjoy and that make your life a little bit easier. We'll be able to share more specifics about these changes with you early next week as we get final approval and testing on the things we have been working on since Vegas was released and Myspace was updated."
Fingers crossed that we'll no longer have to bounce back and forth between the game and Facebook to accept gifts, and it would be great if there were an easier way to send gifts to specific mafia members, especially those who send us gifts the most. Read

What gifting changes do you want to see in Mafia Wars?

FarmVille parody app FarmVillain lands on iPhone

created by -cyberlinegames-

farmvilllian itunes store

FarmVille's evil twin, FarmVillain has had a troubled start from the beginning. The parody app designed to give frustrated Facebookers a way to strike back at FarmVille spam was almost banned from the social network for its crude humor. Three times. Then the app was rejected three more times from the iTunes App store.

It looks like the fourth time's the charm, however, as FarmVillain finally makes its debut on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The app costs 99 cents, and if you're tired of seeing friends' endless FarmVille gifting requests (or even if you're not), you can zing 'em back by posting the funny, and often crass, farm-bashing messages on their Facebook Wall. Two of my personal faves are below:

farmvillian tractor post
farmvillian gremlins post

If you don't want to pay $1 for to send these silly messages, you can always use the FarmVillain app on Facebook for the low price of free.

The cheeky company behind the FarmVillain app, Jolt Online, also has a handful of free online games under its belt, with more on its way. Earlier this year, Jolt partnered with Gamestop to create the tongue-in-cheek Legends of Zork and are currently at work on another game that might raise a few eyebrows -- Playboy Manager, a "massively casual online game set in the world of Playboy."

Would you pay 99 cents to use FarmVillain from your iPhone? Leave a note in the comments below.

Zynga poker! What legal online gambling could mean to social gaming

created by -cyberlinegames-

Since 2006, online gambling has been illegal in the United States, forcing the lucrative market overseas. The law has also forced social gaming companies to make their Facebook poker games into strictly fake-money affairs (even though many players buy and sell chips for real money through shady third-party services).

That could all be set to change though, with word that the House Financial Services Committee has passed a measure that would legalize and regulate many forms of online gambling, including online poker. If and when the bill eventually becomes law, social games like Zynga's HoldEm Poker, Playdom's World Series of Poker and the millions of other Facebook poker games would seem perfectly positioned to open up the floodgates for real-money bets (assuming Facebook was willing to allow them to, that is). Apparently we're not the only ones to think so, either -- Business Insider quotes a "source close to Zynga" as saying that the company "would be excited to move into real-money poker given the opportunity."

But why stop there? Legal gambling could spread to all sorts of social games. Imagine an in-game Farmville slot machine that takes real money (in the form of Facebook Credits) and occasionally gives back a Farmville cash jackpot. Or imagine having the ability to bet with friends on the outcome of a Bejeweled Blitz high score contest. With many social games already resembling glorified slot machines, we shudder to think at the addictive (and pocketbook-destroying) potential that real-world gambling could have on the social gaming space.
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Mafia Wars Beat the Feds yanked for a second time -- foiled again!

created by -cyberlinegames-

Mafia Wars launched the new Beat the Feds challenge today and after complaints about various bugs, rolled back the new mission with no indication on when it would be back again. This is the second time that this special mission has launched and was rolled back again -- the first time, the challenge went live for a few hours and was yanked as well.

Below is the error message I got when I tried to attack Agent Karlin. When I hit the red button, the bar under Karlin said 'undefined/900' and nothing happened. Clicked again -- nothing happened. Then Mafia Wars wouldn't load and when it finally refreshed, the event had disappeared from the game.

mafia wars beat the feds In the official message boards, one player posted their chat conversation with Zynga help, which confirmed that Zynga has pulled Beat the Feds again and that they did not know when it would be back in action. I just went back to the message boards to pull direct quotes from this chat, but now it's no where to be found. Not sure if the comment was deleted or moved to another spot in the forums.

Other players who had already beat some of the bosses, came back to find their loot missing and others couldn't play at all because the game was frozen. Either way, Beat the Feds is no longer in the game for now.

Update: The official word from a Zynga community manager is that they've 'slowed down the release' to handle the bugs.

We're seeing some technical issues with the Fight Event, so we've slowed down our release while we work on resolving the situation. We want to thank our players for their patience and for immediately providing us with helpful info which we're using to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

We'll keep you posted on the status of the event as soon as we have more information for you. Again, thanks for your support!

Did you try to play Beat the Feds and then found it disappear agani? What happened? Leave a note in the comments below.

Mafia Wars Beat the Feds event: Ten days and counting to beat these four bosses

created by -cyberlinegames-


Update (9:50 p.m.) : Looks like Beat the Feds challenge is back in action, though I'd encourage you to tread with caution

Update: (5:30 p.m.)
A Mafia Wars community manager says the release was 'slowed down' as they resolve the problem.
More here.
Update (5 p.m. ): Annnd.. It's gone. Beat the Feds has disappeared with no explanation.

Update (4:30 p.m.): It's here! More info at the end of this article.

Update (4:15 p.m.): Watched the clock countdown to zero and still don't see the challenge. Anyone else?

Update (2:30 p.m.):
Beat the Feds countdown has now been added to the game (see below)-- looks like this new challenge will officially kick off at 4 p.m. EST.

mafia wars feds are watching

Many mafiosos may remember that a Beat the Feds job made a brief appearance before, but was yanked before many could complete the job. Looks like everyone's getting a second chance to test their mafia's mettle with a new Mafia Wars Beat the Feds event that kicks off Friday, August 13.

Over the next 10 days, you and your pals will be tasked with beating down these four feds. These guys are going to be tough so be sure to stock up on shivs, stun guns and health kits before you head into battle. (Is it just me or does the fed on the lower right look more like an angry bum than a government employee? I digress.) Of course, you will be rewarded for your efforts, see more after the jump.

In this challenge, you will need need to defeat these four feds: Agent Karlin, Agent Miller, D.E.A. Iverson and D.A. Embry. These throwdowns will work similar to other Vegas bosses -- after you beat each boss, you will get an item that will be leveled up the more times you defeat them, which will earn you mastery levels.

The first time you beat them, you'll earn bronze mastery and then you'll work your way up to silver and gold mastery levels. You will also be able to try for a special Mastery item called the Rain Maker, which will give you a 5% increase in cash from Vegas Fights for beating all four bosses at a gold level.

mafia wars beat the feds

To start the Beat the Feds Challenge, go the front page of Mafia Wars, and it's impossible to miss the giant 'Beat the Feds' module on the homepage. Your first mission will be to take out Agent Karlin.

Click start to begin and you'll be taken to a pop-up page, where you'll can post a request on your Wall for help. Karlin has 900 health, so you're most likely going to need all of the assists you can get to knock him down. In addition to being tough to beat, you have a certain time limit that you need to defeat the boss in, or else you have to start over from scratch.

agent karlin mafia wars

In the meantime, check out all of the stats for each boss and the rewards you get for beating them, courtesy of Mafia Wars Wiki, so you'll know what to expect. It's bad enough that these bosses have tons of health, but that you also have to take them down within a certain amount of time.

Beat Agent Karlin








Health

Bronze: 900 Health
Silver: 6,000 Health
Gold: 24,000 Health

Time to Defeat
Bronze: 9 hours
Silver: 7 hours
Gold: 5 hours

Win: Silk Thunder (Weapon)
A: 84 D: 59

Beat Agent Miller








Health:

Bronze: 1,000 Health
Silver: 7,200 Health
Gold: 28,800 Health

Time to Defeat:
Bronze: 9 hours
Silver: 7 hours
Gold: 5 hours

Win: Combat Chopper (Vehicle)
A: 90
D: 72

Beat DEA Iverson








Health:

Bronze: 1,800 Health
Silver: 8,400 Health
Gold: 33,600 Health

Time to Defeat:
Bronze: 9 hours
Silver: 7 hours
Gold: 5 hours
Win: Ballistic Vest (Armor)
A: 72
D: 103


Beat DEA Wimbry







Health:

Bronze: 2,000 Health
Silver: 9,600 Health
Gold: ? Health

Time to Defeat:
Bronze: 9 hours
Silver: 7 hours
Gold: 5 hours

Win: Bald Eagle (Animal)
A: 115
D: 109

Here are a few other tips to consider before taking on this challenge, courtesy of the Mafia Wars Facebook fan page:

You'll have to work quickly to beat the clock, so you can spread the word to your mafia to give you a hand. Helpers will be able to fight a boss as if they are facing the boss themselves. Here's where it pays to be strong - the toughest helpers who do the most damage per boss fight will receive additional rewards like experience, Vegas cash, fight tokens, and LE items for their help.

If you want to pack a solid punch, you can prepare for battle by making sure you have plenty of consumables like health kits, shivs, and stun guns to help you along the way. There's also safety in numbers - go recruit some new members to your mafia before the battle begins to better your odds of victory.

Have any more advice on how to take these feds down fast? Or just looking for friends to help you defeat the feds? Leave a note in the comments below.

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