FarmVille

Zynga is now testing a sequel for "CityVille," the company wrote on its blog today.

The social games creator promises are more "visually rich game" with "CityVille 2," which was released today to specific players for testing.

"It has all the features in CityVille that players love -- from neighbor visits and crews to buildables -- blended with some of the innovations we introduced in CastleVille and FarmVille 2 such a crafting and 3D graphics," according to the post.

The company has said -- and Wall Street seems to agree -- that … Read more

If you're one of the tens of millions of former FarmVille players who gave up the old homestead, Zynga hopes it has a way to coax you back.

The game maker unveiled FarmVille 2 today, with the aim of bringing back former addicts as well as attracting new players.

The game was designed to more completely emulate farming with a stronger storyline and a virtual ecosystem. This means that when you grow crops, they're harvested to be used in a kitchen to make baked goods or sold on the roadside for coins. The coins can then be used … Read more

Zynga thought its success thus far could justify a $10-per-share stock price. But Wall Street disagrees.

The social-gaming company's stock closed the day today down 50 cents to $9.50, making it the first major Web IPO this year to close lower on its initial trading day.

The writing appeared to be on the wall earlier today when Zynga's shares were unable to sustain an early-morning surge that saw the stock climb to $11.50. Throughout much of the afternoon, Zynga's shares stayed in the red, hitting a low point of $9 before climbing back up to … Read more

Wanna be king of your own castle? Then go to it with Zynga's newest online game: "CastleVille."

Zynga, the world's top social games developer, today began rolling out its newest title in the company's popular 'Ville franchise. It's now live on Facebook where it has already attracted over a million likes.

CityVille and FarmVille are Zynga's most popular games with 54 million and 28 million monthly actives, respectively. The San Francisco-based company, which is widely expected to ready itself for an IPO after the Thanksgiving holiday, is surely betting hordes of online gamers … Read more

Social-gaming site Zynga may delay its initial public offering until November as a result of the current turmoil in the stock market, according to the New York Post.

Zynga was looking to raise up to $1 billion by going public as early as September. But citing sources "with knowledge of Zynga's plans," the Post said the company has been concerned by the stock market's recent up-and-down ride, prompting it to back off on its IPO for now.

Launched in 2007, Zynga has turned into a force for online social gaming with such popular titles as FarmVille, … Read more

After a bit of a delay, FarmVille creator Zynga has announced plans to go public.

The company filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today. According to the company, some of the shares will be sold by Zynga, while the remaining shares will be sold by "certain stockholders." Zynga has enlisted Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Merrill Lynch, among other investment banks, to act as underwriters.

According to The New York Times, citing "a figure used to calculate the registration fee," Zynga is expecting to raise about $1 billion … Read more

Denis Dyack, a longtime developer and founder of game studio Silicon Knights, doesn't see a healthy future for social gaming.

"It is damaging traditional gaming for sure but...how it's going to work out is anyone's guess," Dyack said in an interview with Industry Gamers published yesterday. "The trend that I see is it's probably going to be one of the biggest bubbles and explosions that our industry's seen in a long time and I think when it crashes it's going to crash very hard."

Dyack told the gaming publication … Read more

I have friends who play FarmVille. I find them very strange. They seem to believe there is some sort of joy to be obtained in caring about animals that don't exist. A little like Bigfoot-seekers.

However, Lady Gaga appears to understand them very well.

For, according to FarmVille maker Zynga, she has decided to create her own farm, creatively named GagaVille.

You might think that her Gaganess is merely having a little fun, communing with the virtual farming community to show her green credentials.

You might think Donald Trump's hair is made of gruyere. Because Gaga is reportedly using her new online Ville to release songs that you won't be able to hear anywhere else.

… Read more