\'Mafia Wars\' online game triumph marked with a blast

Rap music star Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, will help detonate the blast scheduled to be streamed live online at mafiawarslv.com during an event starting at 6:00 pm (0100 GMT Friday).

"Mafia Wars" has won a tremendous following since Zynga launched the game in 2009. The game is playable at online social networks such as Facebook and MySpace as well as by using an application tailored for the iPhone.

"Mafia Wars" essentially calls on players to build virtual mobster empires by completing "jobs" and recruiting allies.

Zynga launched a Las Vegas version of the game on August 4 and promised to blow up an armored car after hitting its 10 millionth player, which happened on Wednesday.

Las Vegas is the fifth city in the "Mafia Wars" world, and has already logged three billion "jobs" and 600 million robberies, according to the company.

A proven winner in the US "social games" arena, Zynga this week launched a "Texas Poker" title in traditional Chinese in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Zynga "Poker" was the first game launched by the San Francisco startup and made its US debut in 2007.

"We are excited to bring poker to Hong Kong and Taiwan and connect local players to the nearly 30 million people around the world who are already active on \'Zynga Poker,\' " Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus said in a release.

Players enter a virtual casino where they can "play at any table."

"Texas Poker" players in Taiwan and Hong Kong were being welcomed with a stack of 8,888 Vegas-style poker chips.

A "Shootout" tournament being held this month at zyngapoker.com entices players to compete for a grand prize of 880,000 Taiwanese dollars.

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