Farmville creator zynga's stocks have nosedived - and it looks like its leaders sold off stock before the crash.

OMGPOP's CEO has gone off pop at a previous colleague over twitter

They may be a social games Behemoth, but it appears that the gaming development behind the scenes at Zynga is also one that uses underhanded tactics to make as many dollars as possible, as one former employee pointed out recently.

The deliberately psychologically addictive nature of Facebook games like FarmVille and its ilk is under the spotlight again, this time highlighted as one of causes of the death of a 13 month old boy. These games aren’t violent, don’t contain disturbing imagery or mature themes, but are increasingly becoming implicated in game-related deaths. Last Updated: April 18, 2011

Rumour has it that Microsoft will start to allow free to play games such as Farmville and Cityville onto the Xbox 360 in the near future.

Take THAT all you gamers who sneer at casual games on Facebook (I’m including myself in that group by the way). It’s somewhat depressing to learn that Zynga’s estimated market value is now greater than Electronic Arts’. This shows two things: how quickly the social gaming market has grown; and how quickly the mantle of “largest game publisher in the …

Are you inundated with unsolicited advertising of the spam variety? Ever wondered where the bastard gets your info from? If you’re a regular player of unfathomably popular Facebook games like Mafia Wars and the ubiquitous Farmville, they may be the source. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the games – and many other Facebook apps -  violate Facebook’s privacy …