Thinking of all my hardworking ancestors toiling away on family farms, trying to provide enough food for their sprawling German- and Irish-Catholic families makes me wonder: What would they think of an immensely popular game about farming where players can risk virtual cows for cash? Zynga, the makers of popular online game FarmVille, is taking the next step in gaming by applying for a license to gamble in Nevada. [More]
Zynga Files For Nevada Gambling License So Players Can Gamble Away The Virtual Farm
By December 6, 2012
Zynga-Branded AmEx Prepaid Card Lets You Earn FarmVille Cash In The Real World
By May 22, 2012
This site does not, in general, approve of Zynga’s freemium addiction-based gaming model or fee-laden prepaid debit cards. So we are amused and slightly dismayed to bring you the news that AmEx and Zynga have teamed up to bring a Farmville points rewards card into the world. Fill up your card, spend the money, earn points to buy in-game stuff. How could this product possibly go wrong? [More]
FarmVille, CityVille Are Bigger Than Madden, Halo
By February 4, 2011
Hardcore gamers my scoff at free-to-play Facebook games such as Zynga’s FarmVille and CityVille, but the social games have proven to be more popular and lucrative than most major video game titles, according to estimates from IGN. [More]
Game Developer Says Farmville Is Designed To Be "Negative" And "Draining"
By December 9, 2010
So-called social network games like Farmville and Mafia Wars are intentionally designed to not be fun and cause you anxiety, says a well-respected game developer. [More]
Advertisers Want To Manipulate Minds Via Social Gaming
By December 6, 2010
Social games such as Farmville and its ilk suck in loyal, engaged followers, making advertisers salivate. [More]
30 Million Farmville Users Get Lives, Stop Playing
By November 24, 2010
After a 15-month reign of inexplicable Facebook domination, Farmville has ceded its crown to Phrases, a quote, image and quiz-posting app. [More]
Mom Kills Baby For Interrupting Farmville Session
By October 29, 2010
Parenting and computer game obsessions don’t mix. News of unspeakably sad proof of this came from Jacksonville, where a mother has pleaded guilty to murdering her baby, who wouldn’t stop crying as she played Farmville. [More]
Congressmen Demand Answers On Facebook Privacy Issues
By October 19, 2010
It’s always nice when a Democrat from Massachusetts and a Republican from Texas can work together, though Facebook bigwig Mark Zuckerberg might disagree. The website’s CEO finds himself being asked to answer some tough questions from a pair of Congressmen from those two states. [More]
Report: All Top 10 Facebook Apps Leaking Personal Information
By October 18, 2010
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, a large number of the most popular applications on Facebook — including all of the 10 most popular apps — have been improperly transmitting user info, including names and possibly names of friends to advertising and internet tracking companies. [More]
Target Sells Facebook Gift Cards
By September 2, 2010
This holiday season, give the gift of Mafia Wars addiction with Facebook gift cards from Target. [More]
This Is Your Brain On Farmville
By August 30, 2010
“I justify this as being my only source of entertainment, and I’m forgoing movies and dinners out, so it’s OK,” one Farmville addict told Cnet. Frugality, or self-deluded rationalization? [More]
Woman Quits Job By Outing Boss's Farmville Addiction To Staff
By August 10, 2010
UPDATE: It appears that this was all a hoax perpetrated by the editors over at thechive.com. [More]
Tragedy Strikes: Facebook And Farmville Make Nice
By May 19, 2010
Facebook and Farmville and Mafia Wars-makers Zynga were bickering over in-game currency and the social network took a stand that hampered the game publisher’s ability to advertise through pseudo-updated on the site, causing the games to lose millions of players. [More]
Kid Racks Up $1,400 In Farmville After Stealing Mom's Credit Card
By April 8, 2010
A 12-year-old kid is probably getting his crops slashed and burned by his mum after he racked up $1,400 in Farmville purchases, draining his own savings and running up charges on her credit card. [More]
Mafia Wars CEO Brags About Scamming Users From Day One
By November 9, 2009
From the beginning, the profitability and viability of popular Facebook social networking games Mafia Wars and Farmville were predicated on the backs of scams, boasts Zynga CEO Mark Pincus in this video. “I did every horrible thing in the book just to get revenues,” he crows in the clip to a gathered bunch of fellow scumbag app developers.
