zynga

Draw Something!

Draw Something offers turn-based gameplay that brings friends together as teammates to draw basic items (and sometimes more-complex ones) to see how long they can continue to guess each others' drawings correctly. Once you've created a game with a friend through Facebook, Twitter, or by registering within the game, you're given three choices (easy, medium, or hard) of objects to draw that your friend will need to identify. Once your friend receives the drawing, he or she is given only a handful of available letters to use for the word (probably to make it a little easier to … Read more

Draw Something!

Draw Something offers turn-based gameplay that brings friends together as teammates to draw basic items (and sometimes more-complex ones) to see how long they can continue to guess each others' drawings correctly. Once you've created a game with a friend through Facebook, Twitter, or by registering within the game, you're given three choices (easy, medium, or hard) of objects to draw that your friend will need to identify. Once your friend receives the drawing, he or she is given only a handful of available letters to use for the word (probably to make it a little easier to … Read more

Draw Something!

Draw Something offers turn-based gameplay that brings friends together as teammates to draw basic items (and sometimes more-complex ones) to see how long they can continue to guess each others' drawings correctly. Once you've created a game with a friend through Facebook, Twitter, or by registering within the game, you're given three choices (easy, medium, or hard) of objects to draw that your friend will need to identify. Once your friend receives the drawing, he or she is given only a handful of available letters to use for the word (probably to make it a little easier to … Read more

Draw Something!

Draw Something offers turn-based gameplay that brings friends together as teammates to draw basic items (and sometimes more-complex ones) to see how long they can continue to guess each others' drawings correctly. Once you've created a game with a friend through Facebook, Twitter, or by registering within the game, you're given three choices (easy, medium, or hard) of objects to draw that your friend will need to identify. Once your friend receives the drawing, he or she is given only a handful of available letters to use for the word (probably to make it a little easier to … Read more

How to own someone at Scramble With Friends

How many points do you usually score in a two-minute round of Scramble With Friends? In certain rounds, with double letters and triple-word bonuses, hundreds of points can quickly add up with each word found.

As with Boggle, the object of Scramble With Friends is to find as many words as you can in a jumbled grid of letters by connecting adjacent letters to form words. A fellow known on YouTube as thedotnetkid grew tired of people accusing him of cheating after he amassed thousands of points in mere minutes.

To silence the critics, he uploaded a video showing how he scored an astounding 2,740 points in the final session of a match against some unfortunate soul. For those fluent with the game, he uses the "freeze time" perk. … Read more

OMGPOP chief backtracks after trading barbs with ex-employee

It's not uncommon for a disgruntled employee to share issues about a former employer with the world. But when the CEO gets into the mix, everything escalates. OMGPOP Chief Executive Dan Porter is learning that lesson right now.

The trouble started last week when OMGPOP employee Shay Pierce wrote an editorial on gaming site Gamasutra, saying that he refused to work for Zynga -- the company that had acquired his employer -- because he didn't want to sign over rights to an iOS game he created, called Connectrode. But his troubles with his [prospective new employer extended far … Read more

SecondMarket expected to lay off 20 percent of staff

Update: SecondMarket confirms layoffs and gives specifics in a statement.

The online private equity market SecondMarket will layoff 30 of its 130 employees, a source familiar with the company's plans told CNET. The company has risen to prominence in recent years as a venue for buying and selling stocks for private companies, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga.

With Facebook set to go public this spring, the layoffs could be indicative of a forthcoming drought in private equity. Just yesterday, reports began to surface that Facebook would this week halt secondary-market trading, a move that will weigh heavily on … Read more

Low Latency No. 16: If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em

In an effort to scoop up the smash-hit social-gaming app Draw Something, mobile gaming publisher Zynga acquired OMGPOP for an unprecedented $180 million, plus an extra $30 million in employee retention.

Not only is it the first major acquisition for Zynga, it's also a bit out of character for the company, especially considering some recent controversy the mobile powerhouse ran into with the developer of Tiny Tower, NimbleBit. … Read more

Zynga prices secondary offering at $12 a share

Zynga has priced its secondary stock offering at $12 a share, the social-gaming company announced this afternoon.

All the shares offered -- nearly 43 million -- will be sold by existing stockholders, and the company will not receive any proceeds from the current offering. The offering, which was announced two weeks ago in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, comes just a few months after Zynga went public and before the end of the 165-day lockout period that bans shareholders from selling any shares.

"The principal purposes of the offering are to facilitate an orderly distribution of … Read more