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Chinese action star Jackie Chan has appeared hawking a number of things in his life. He's even had a very popular children's cartoon show named after himself. This cartoon even spawn a video game—but today, we're here to talk about one of the lesser known Jackie Chan titles, Jackie Chan Martial Arts Legend.Read more...

Casual games publisher Zynga is now testing the use of Bitcoin in its games, a decision that has had a drastic (if temporary) impact on the overall value of the virtual currency.

"In response to Bitcoin's rise in popularity around the world, Zynga, with help from BitPay, is testing expanded payment options for players to make in-game purchases using Bitcoin," Zynga representatives wrote on Reddit. "The Bitcoin test is only available to Zynga.com players playing FarmVille 2, CastleVille, ChefVille, CoasterVille, Hidden Chronicles, Hidden Shadows and CityVille." Despite that relatively short list, the games mentioned are Zynga's most popular, flagship offerings, demonstrating that the company has quite a bit of faith in Bitcoin, an open-source, peer-to-peer substitute for real-world cash that has achieved impressive fame in the wake of numerous international economic catastrophes.

Following Zynga's announcement, the value of Bitcoin immediately jumped to a high of $1,093 per Bitcoin, according to the Los Angeles Times. It has since receded to $955.60, and continues to drop, though overall Bitcoin value remains about $50 higher than it was immediately prior to Zynga's revelation.

(Image: Coin Desk)

Bitcoin, the "currency of the Internet," is now accepted by Zynga, whose FarmVille franchise also celebrates the economic ideal of paying real cash to acquire completely abstract commodities.Read more...

January of this year marked the first time in ages a non-Zynga game made it to the top of the Facebook app charts, as FarmVille 2 was passed in active users by King's ridiculously popular Candy Crush Saga. According to the latest estimates from app metrics site AppData, today King took the crown as overall top Facebook developer. For years the developer that defined casual social gaming has rested easy atop the list of top Facebook app developers, with hundreds of millions of players logging in to play games like FarmVille, CityVille, Mafia Wars and Texas HoldEm Poker, easily doubling the monthly active users of its closest competitors. The estimated number of monthly active users for Zynga games is still a mind-boggling 147.7 million. But now, as reported by Inside Social Games, King boasts 150.5 million, thanks largely to the success of Candy Crush Saga (44.7 million), Pet Rescue Saga (26.5 million) and its most recent smash hit puzzle game, the incredibly addictive Farm Heroes Saga, which I may have been playing for an hour this morning. Can Zynga stage a comeback? More to the point, does Zynga want to stage a comeback? The future for the seemingly perpetually-struggling company likely lies in the social mobile sector, rather than on Facebook, though it remains to be seen which direction former Xbox boss Don Mattrick will be steering Zynga in as its new CEO. Congratulations, King. I knew you had it in you. King overtakes Zynga as top Facebook app developer [Inside Social Games]

The bursting of the Facebook gaming bubble was as inevitable as post-feeding projectile vomit from my newborn daughter (which is why I’ve not been on the site for the last three weeks, but fear not, I shall not be turning my every sentence into a parenting reference as a result. For the record, obviously she’s beautiful and amazing though. And very vomity). Much as I’m glad to see the industry-wide madness about wait/spam/pay anti-games dying down, it gives me no pleasure to hear that the cost of this is so many jobs. Around 500 hundred people were yesterday put out of work as a result of one-time social gaming goliath/habitual copycat Zynga plunging into chaos.(more…)

If you think the only thing holding back Farmville from becoming a truly exciting cross-platform brand is the addition of Brett Ratner, then you're probably Brett Ratner. The brash bad boy director of Rush Hour fame is adapting Zynga's game for television. Ratner will serve as executive producer on the half-hour animated series, aided by Canadian television production firm Six Eleven Media.

"FarmVille is one of the most exciting brands out there today and its cross-platform opportunities are endless," Ratner said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal. "I am thrilled to be expanding the brand with existing fans and also engaging a whole new audience."

Zynga is no stranger to cross-promotion, having already struck up a deal with Hasbro to produce a line of board games based on its properties last year, one of which was - you guessed it - Farmville. Zynga also just reported a $209.4 million loss for 2012, subsequently shutting down three of its games, including CityVille 2.

#farmville Oh calm down, FarmVille fans, it's not like Brett Ratner is directing the upcoming 30-minute cartoon series based on your Facebook obsession. According to the Wall Street Journal he's just producing the show, so it might still be good. More »

In a conference call yesterday, Zynga revealed plans to close three titles: The Friend Game, Party Place, and CityVille 2. The closure of CityVille 2 especially stands out since the game launched a few short months ago and lead designer Brian Reynolds announced he was leaving the social game giant in January.

In the company's 2012 financial statement, Zynga posted a loss of $209.4 million.

On a positive note, Zynga said FarmVille 2 is exceeding expectations by 100% last quarter and generating $100 million in gross bookings since launch.

Zynga admitted to analysts that FarmVille 2 may have cannibalized some of CityVille 2's attention, having launched a month before CityVille's sequel. The company said that in the future it will make sure to have fewer titles in general, and leave more space between planned game launches. Zynga is also excited about upcoming mobile and "midcore" titles (defined as "hardcore" games that can be played for only a few minutes at a time), and CEO Mark Pincus says 2013 will be a "pivotal year" for Zynga, with a goal to "make it easier and better to play across mobile and social."

#mylittlefarmville Today Zynga transforms FarmVille into a magical wonderland of joy and laughter and joyness with the Enchanted Glen update, now live for players level 15 and up that didn't manage to secure early access. Can I farm ponies now? More »

#gamescom As with all new farms in FarmVille, Enchanted Glen comes with a series of immovable "treasures" that can only be opened and removed after collecting a variety of materials from friends. In this case, however, these treasures are moving, apparently living creatures called Stone Trolls. They like to stomp in place and shake their arms, bringing life and personality to your farm while they're around. More »

#facebook Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house, these are the games that are keeping parents from cooking and wrapping presents and the children from stumbling over internet porn. More »

#gamescom It's another Monday in the holiday season, which means that another chapter of the Christmas-themed goals in FarmVille's Mistletoe Lane is now available. We've made it to Chapter 6, which contains six goals for us to complete over the next seven days. We're here with a complete guide to finishing these quests, thanks to Zynga. More »

#gamescom The Mistletoe Lane storyline has progressed in FarmVille this evening as a series of six new goals has been released in the farm's Chapter 5 goal series. These goals will be available for the next week, and you'll need to work and plan ahead as much as you can along the way to stand the best chance of finishing all six goals in time. We're here with a complete guide to completing these goals, thanks in part to Zynga. More »

Facebook and Zynga have worked out a new set of terms in their partnership, according to Reuters, that both leave Zynga responsible for following more of Facebook's rules, but also leave the two parties open to making and promoting their own games as well. For a long time, Zynga and Facebook have maintained a close partnership, in that Zynga was required to use Facebook's monetization platform, and Facebook couldn't create its own titles to compete with Zynga's. But the latest agreement undoes both of those rules, and opens up both sides for more independence.

At this time, neither side has announced that it wants to change the way things work, so Zynga will likely still use Facebook's payments system, and Facebook hasn't announced plans to make any official games. A spokesperson for Facebook reiterated that "we will continue to work with Zynga, just as we do with developers of all sizes." So it's not a divorce, or even a break-up just yet. But both Facebook and Zynga have agreed that, maybe sometimes, a dinner out with someone else would probably be OK.

#gamescom It's time for another chapter in FarmVille's Mistletoe Lane saga, and we're ready for Chapter 4 in the tale of Nick and the elves from Winter Wonderland. This goal series sees Zang taking a trip from Winter Wonderland to help Nick restore the town's Toy Factory, and we're here with a guide to finishing them off. More »

#gamescom Today marks the free launch of Mistletoe Lane in FarmVille for those players that didn't pay Farm Cash to get to the game's newest Christmas farm early. Waiting for all players when they arrive is a new chapter of goals to complete in the game's storyline, with the six new Chapter 3 goals being available to complete for a limited time (seven days, to be exact). We're here with a guide to finishing these goals off, thanks to Zynga. More »

#gamescom Back in September, FarmVille players were introduced to Juicy Joe, a health conscious character that brought us a series of "Juicy Joe" goals, along with prizes like fruit-themed animals and trees. Now that cider season has rolled around, Joe reappears on our farms via a series of goals called simply: "Cider Brewing." There are nine goals to complete in this entire series, but you can multitask and work on them across your many farms to save time. More »

#gamescom FarmVille's Mistletoe Lane expansion won't be available for free until November 19, but if you've already made your way into Zynga's second holiday farm, you'll find a second series of goals available for a limited time. Mistletoe Lane's Chapter 2 contains six goals to finish over the next week, but again, only players that have purchased a ticket into Mistletoe Lane early can complete them. Here's our look at the goals and prizes in Chapter 2 of Mistletoe Lane, thanks to Zynga. More »

#gamescom As part of Zynga's incredibly early Christmas celebration in FarmVille, players that are willing to shell out the 35 Farm Cash for early access to Mistletoe Lane are greeted with weeks of exclusive content that won't be available to those that wait for free access to release later this month. For instance, as soon as you arrive in Mistletoe Lane, you'll have the ability to complete a series of six new goals, earning items like Silver Jackalopes and Baby Llamas along the way. We're here with a look at this first chapter of goals in Mistletoe Lane, thanks to Zynga. More »

#gamescom A brand new event has launched in FarmVille, giving players a chance to deal with the past, present and future by collecting Tarot Cards for their Fortune Teller booth. This feature is like a puzzle, as you'll need to collect dozens or even hundreds of Tarot Cards that fall into one of three categories. From there, players are required to determine the right combinations of those three types of cards in order to win 10 prizes. Let's take a look at this new feature, which is now available on our farms! More »

#zynga Some people don't like Zynga very much. In the wake of news last week that the FarmVille makers laid off 5% of their worldwide staff (around 150 people), some people really don't like Zynga very much. More »

#zynga Shortly after firing about 150 people, Zynga has even better news for investors. It's getting into a sure-thing moneymaker, online gambling. More »

#zynga 2012 has been rough for the company behind FarmVille. Zynga has lost a total of $160 million during the nine month period from January to September 30, 2012, the company said in an earnings report today. More »

#socialgaming Research by a "social game analysis firm,"—the existence of that title tells you a lot about the state of the business—indicates that 85 percent of social gamers, who began a new title sometime between July and September, quit playing it after just one day. Nine out of ten of them didn't play it after September. More »

#gamescom The next series of goals in the Haunted Hollow saga in FarmVille has now launched, bringing us into Chapter 5. This chapter allows us to win items like decorations, animals and trees for our new farm, and we're here with a guide on finishing them off, thanks to Zynga. More »

#cityville Currently the fastest-growing game on Facebook, FarmVille 2 is a bright spot for the financially troubled social gaming masters at Zynga. Its 3D graphics and crafting system have drawn in new players and kept them in the game (that's me testifying). So it's no surprise that the newly-revealed CityVille 2 features the same friend-driven gameplay of the original, plus 3D graphics and crafting. More »

#zynga It's not lost on us that a good chunk of Kotaku's readership and commentariat is perplexed by our decision to play, study, and write about Zynga's latest free Facebook game FarmVille 2. More »

#farmville If you are a company who rakes in millions making social games for Facebook, I have good news for you. Researchers at N.C. State University have developed the means of more accurately detecting bot accounts without alerting their owners, so the game's developers can shut them down and kick those freeloading sons of bots out of the cityville. More »

#farmville This past weekend, I took a trip out of town. I went outdoors, I sat in the sun. I drove through Northern California, past vinyards and polo fields, plots of land with a strip of earth out front for growing tomatoes and corn. I didn't really have my computer with me. More »

#menumusic Well, that didn't take long. I've been playing FarmVille 2 for just over a week, and I am 100% ready to light the theme music on fire. More »