Zynga — the king of social gaming — continues its seemingly nonstop rollout of new games with yet another game announcement. The company behind hits like "FarmVille" and "CityVille" announced Tuesday that it will be launching "Mafia Wars 2" sometime "soon," revamping and updating a game that was an early Facebook hit.
Although they haven't revealed many details about "Mafia Wars 2," Zynga says the game will be set in Las Vegas. According to the game's brand new website:
Build your crime empire piece by bloody piece in Mafia Wars 2, the latest evolution in games from Zynga. Grow your home turf, increase your power and experience a compelling storyline that takes you from the small-time crime of Casino Row to the international intrigue of globe-spanning crime cartels.
And don't go thinking you'll be playing "FarmVille" nicey-nice with your friends. Zynga says you'll be able to "beat down other players with a host of weapons — crush them with baseball bats, shank them with knives, plug them full of holes with dozens of guns, roast them with flamethrowers, or blow them up with rocket launchers!"
For a sneak peek at the game's brutal tone, check out the following trailer (why yes, that IS someone getting a lit cigar shoved in their ear):
All in all, Zynga promises that "Mafia Wars 2" will be its "most immersive game to date" indicating it will feature 3-D graphics rather than the text-heavy style of the original "Mafia Wars."
The first "Mafia Wars" launched in 2008 and invited players to work with their Facebook friends to build virtual crime empires by completing a host of dirty virtual deeds. The game was an early hit for Zynga and, at its peak, boasted more than 28 million monthly active users, according to App Data. But the original "Mafia Wars" has steadily declined with time and in the face of so many newer games made by both Zynga and its competitors. It currently counts a little more than 5 million monthly active users.
The "Mafia Wars 2" announcement follows a string of recent game launches from Zynga, a company that is thus far the unseatable king of Facebook gaming.
Earlier this month, Zynga launched the swashbuckling "Adventure World" game on Facebook and in August it launched the Facebook game "The Pioneer Trail." In June it released "Empires & Allies" to the social network — a game that now boasts more than 37 million monthly active users. Meanwhile, it moved its popular iOS game "Words With Friends" over to Facebook in August.
But Zynga hasn't confined its flurry of activity to Facebook. On Tuesday the company also announced that it's launching its "Hanging With Friends" game on Android mobile devices. Zynga only just launched the game on iOS devices in July.
Of course, all of this begs the question ... who has time to play all these games?
For more gaming news, please see:
- Zynga cracks the whip in new Facebook game 'Adventure World'
- Will your Xbox 360 become a cable set-top box?
- Holy price cut Batman! 'DC Universe Online' goes free-to-play
- Hardcore porn stars plan to pwn hardcore gamers
Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+. And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.