'Mafia Wars' online game triumph marked with a blast

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Social network game developer Zynga will mark the success of its "Mafia Wars: Las Vegas" online game by blowing up a real-world armored car Thursday in the desert near Sin City.

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.

You can read the full article here.