FarmVille creator Zynga buys mobile developer, forms Zynga with Friends

Zynga returns to round two of the ongoing mobile title bout swinging. Zynga With Friends, the company's brand new, mobile-focused studio, is thanks to Zynga's most recent acquisition of Texas-based NewToy. Developer of iOS hits such as Words With Friends and We Rule, NewToy will now be Zynga's premiere mobile developer, unifying the company's mobile efforts into one single platform. NewToy's studio will become the location of Zynga With Friends Studio, which is convenient considering the company just opened Zynga Dallas recently.

words with friends is now part of zynga with friends"Our goal is to have is to have Zynga games available to anyone, anywhere on any device," says Zynga SVP of Mobile David Ko. "At Zynga, we're committed to provide the best-of-breed mobile game experiences."

Founded in 2008 by brothers Paul and David Bettner, NewToy has reached over 12 million mobile gamers through games like Words With Friends and Zynga hopes to bring that success to its presence in your phones. Paul, the company's CEO and co-founder will take the helm of Zynga With Friends as vice president and general manager and his brother David will become the studio's director.

"Throughout our acquisition talks we utilized a secret code name for the operation--that codename was 'jet pack,'" Zynga With Friends VP and general manager Paul Bettner says. "We chose jetpack because, to us, that's what this acquisition represented--the potential to strap jet packs to our backs and move even faster toward our shared goals."

However, it's unsure at this point what this means for the company's games that have already landed on mobile such as FarmVille's iPhone game and Mafia Wars: Atlantic City on mobile web browsers. Zynga declined to comment on how NewToy will handle making its new bosses' games--both old and new--available for all mobile devices at once.

Reuters to social, mobile gamers: 2011 will be better

Oh, the possibilities
Aside from the burgeoning and indisputably successful social and mobile games markets, video game sales suffered a year long slump in 2010. Industry professionals predict that game sales for this year will total four percent lower than 2009. But if a recent Reuters report is any indication, 2011 will be the year of the mobile and social, bringing revenue growth to the industry. And of course, that means more money to make even better social games, which Mark Skaggs, vice president of product development at Zynga, says will have "deeper gameplay, more polish, and be much more and better social experiences."

Carnegie Mellon professor and game developer Jesse Schell predicts that 2011 will ring in games that exist on all platforms from the PC to our phones and to our consoles and TVs, Reuters reports. The news service also predicts that 3D and motion gaming will grow in 2011 thanks to the oncoming Nintendo 3DS, the Xbox Kinect and 3D TVs that will be on display at this year's CES. (Well, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, at least.)

But as for social and mobile gaming, we've already seen signs of this predicted boom in 2010 with marvels like Angry Birds on iPhone and Android along with the recent CityVille explosion on Facebook. So, 2011 could very well mean even more growth for social and mobile, but don't expect leaps and bounds when it comes to cross-platform play. Well, unless companies like Zynga continue to make use of HTML5 and the mobile web--then we're onto something.

Monster Galaxy makes iPhones even more addictive at no charge

At this rate, we may as well just graft iPhones to our arms ... or make iWatches (©®™). Gaia Online has released Monster Galaxy, its hit Pokemon-style Facebook game with over 9 million monthly players, to iOS devices, Inside Social Games reports. However, the game is a standalone version of what you'll find on Facebook, meaning there is no connection to your Facebook friends in this version.

The game is much similar to its popular Facebook counterpart in that players become Moga Tamers--the Mogas being the 137 monsters you must capture on a linear journey. The game, officially titled "Monster Galaxy: The Zodiac Islands," relies heavily on the astrological theme with many of its monsters and much of its art reflecting the Zodiac. Players navigate several islands, finding wild Moga to capture and plenty of other Moga Tamers to do battle with.

Speaking of which, combat in Monster Galaxy is a turn-based affair, much like its primary source of inspiration, but rewards players for good timing as well as matching up Zodiac types correctly. (Just like in Pokemon, certain Mogas are more powerful or weaker against other types.)

Monster Galaxy: The Zodiac Islands
Unlike Pokemon and more like Facebook games, Monster Galaxy limits how much players can do in a given sitting, as each step the player takes between battles consumes Energy. Yes, the Facebook gaming staple has encroached upon iPhone games, and this is far from the first. Of course, you can buy more Energy and other items for the green stuff. Hey, the game is free, and looks to be the only Pokemon-like fix you'll ever get on your iPhone. Is that enough convincing for ya?