Director Brett Ratner has signed on to produce a half-hour animated TV series based on the hit Facebook-based virtual farming game.

According to reports, he’s signed on to work with a Canadian production company called Six Eleven Media.

Brett Ratner is best known for directing the Rush Hour films, as well as Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand. Ratner has over 30 film and TV producing credits under his belt.

“FarmVille is one of the most exciting brands out there today and its cross-platform opportunities are endless. I am thrilled to be expanding the brand with existing fans and also engaging a whole new audience,” said Ratner in a statement.

Earlier this week, Zynga posted Q4 revenues of $1.28 billion, a 12% increase year-over-year – but a quarterly loss. They also reported that Daily and Monthly active users were down since Q3, six and four percent respectively.

They also reported that they would be shuttering some of their games in order to cut costs including CityVille 2. FarmVille 2, the sequel, has been a success for Zynga however.

This parody ad, though funny, will probably not do much to further popularize FarmVille. That’s probably a good thing.

If there is a God, I can’t imagine that he would have made FarmVille.

[Whatstrending via Fark]

Social gaming company Zynga and longtime physical game maker Hasbro have teamed up to produce a line of board games inspired by the online Zynga games played by millions around the world. This partnership was first announced back in February, and we’re now getting a picture of what the games will look like.

Some of the games are entirely based on a Zynga property, and some combine classic board games with the Zynga properties. For example, one of the offerings is a straight up physical adaptation of Draw Something – and another is a mashup called “CityVille Monopoly.”

You also have FarmVille Hungry Hungry Herd (a Hungry Hungry Hippos mashup), FarmVille Animal Game featuring Memory, and FarmVille Old Maid & Go Fish.

And yes, there will be a Words with Friends board game available – which will of course resemble Scrabble, but with slightly different point values and letter distributions.

Zynga isn’t completely abandoning digital with this partnership, as many of the games include digital values – for instance, a purchase of the Words with Friends board game give players access to a bunch of new digital features.

“We are proud to team up with Hasbro and excited for our players to experience their favorite Zynga games in a new way,” said Barry Cottle, Executive Vice President, Corporate and Business Development, Zynga. “Our hope is to enhance relationships through play through our web and mobile social games and now with the new games from Hasbro, we can make those connections even stronger for our players.”

“We are thrilled to be working with Zynga to give their millions of fans an exciting experience with the Zynga games they love,” said Eric Nyman, Senior Vice President, Global Brand Leader, Hasbro Gaming. “Gaming brings people together, especially during the holidays, and we can’t wait to offer friends and families even more great options to play.”

Zynga and Hasbro are definitely hoping for a big holiday hit. In all, eight games will be launched this fall with price points around $19.99 to $24.99.

You can expect to see many of these games hit the shelves this month in the U.S., and later this fall in the U.K., Australia, and Canada.

“FarmVille 2 is now live!” Zynga said in a status update. “Grow and harvest beautiful crops, raise adorable animals, and craft delicious treats while you customize your very own lifelike farm. It’s time to grow wild!”

Comments on the Facebook page, so far, include things like:

“It won’t load.”

“So far, I like it.”

and

“Why not just fix the f—ing regular Farmville game?”

There’s also a dash of “Looks cute,” and “Awesome.”

In a recent SEC filing (via TechCrunch), Zynga reported that online game revenue increased $27.6 million in the second quarter of 2012, as compared to the same period of 2011. Farmville accounted for $11.1 million of that.

“The increase in revenue from FarmVille was due to new content releases, which resulted in higher bookings over the last several quarters as compared to bookings generated prior to the second quarter of 2011,” Zynga said in the filing.

Zynga shares are up 3.18% at $2.92 at the time of this writing.

This video has a catchy tune and even features a bleeped out swear word which is one of my favorites. It obviously pokes fun at Farmville the most.

The biggest thing this video does is to show some of the functions that the game will feature and it seems to be a pretty good facsimile of Sim City. The game obviously has a social part to it, but I really hope this game bucks the trend of having to post crap on your wall to get people to send you stuff. I can’t stand games like that and have lost more than one Facebook friend in the past because of it. It’s like most social game developers do not care that your friends don’t want to see that you need wood to build a new house in Frontierville.

With their announcement that they were going to have a second Unleashed event, the buzz is palpable and their stock is up in anticipation of what might lie in store for the gaming company. It is highly expected that they will announce a plethora of new games for Facebook, mobile, and their gaming platform at Zynga.com.

At last years event they announced 10 new games and this year is expected to be no different. The anticipation is that they will focus on the extremely fast paced and highly competitive mobile market. Included in this are bound to be a couple of games from their highly successful “Ville” franchise.

This event is also supposed to be a lot louder than last years as far as pomp and circumstance because last year Zynga was getting ready to launch their IPO so they were all focused on that.

Zynga announced today that it’s partnering with American Express to launch the Zynga Serve Rewards Program, a prepaid card program that will give you a Farm Cash kickback with purchases over $25 or more. For those unfamiliar with the service, Serve is a digital wallet where you can transfer and receive funds that’s provided by American Express.

It works like this: you register for the Serve Rewards program in order to receive the prepaid card in the mail. Add money to the card via your real credit card, bank card, or cash (you have to use a GreenDot MoneyPak for that last option). Activate the card and then set out to the mall or boutique or wherever American Express is accepted, make some purchases, and then you’ll receive the in-game rewards in real time.

Dan Schulman, President of Enterprise Growth, American Express, said he’s thrilled to be a Zynga partner. “As the commerce landscape continues to change, and online and offline spending converges, Serve is focused on partnering with companies like Zynga to create unique value for our customers in the environments they love,” he said in a statement.

This isn’t the first partnership that Zynga’s entered with a credit card company to provide benefits to fans of its games. In December, Zynga partnered with Discover Card to launch an in-game rewards program that allowed players to trade in rewards points for a Zynga gift card.

Zynga expects to launch a similar rewards program for additional games later this year, such as CastleVille and CityVille.

Humph. I guess us avid players of Words With Friends just get to keep on keeping on without any fun in-game rewards. That’s fine, Zynga. I don’t need those bonus features anyways to continue to kick everybody’s ass at that game.

Instead of simply hiring a team to design, develop, and program the next big hit, Zynga is looking to acquire as many money-making titles as humanly possible to keep their name synonymous with quality casual gaming. Barry Cottle, who was once employed by Electronic Arts, is spearheading the acquisitions team, which is charged with obtaining potentially awesome games that have already made a splash in the marketplace. In other words, the company has roughly $1.8 billion in cash, and they’re not afraid to spend it.

For the uninitiated, Zynga creates “free” games for Facebook, enticing players to spend real money on virtual items. In “Farmville”, for example, users can drop some serious coinage to bring home additions to the ever-expanding gardens. “Mafia Wars”, meanwhile, gives players the opportunity to buy weapons, vehicles, and other items in their quest for underworld domination.

However, Zynga is looking to expand their horizons by offering titles on other social media networks, as well as various mobile devices. One company that Zynga has a close eye on is ZeptoLab, creators of the popular Apple game “Cut the Rope”. Rovio Entertainment, creators of “Angry Birds”, is rumored to have turned down Zynga’s offer of close to $2 billion for the company, clearly indicating that they’re not afraid to spend vast amounts of cash to acquire their competition.

Zynga, however, isn’t the only company looking to acquire popular casual games. They recently lost a bid to purchase PopGames, which was snapped up for a very pretty penny by EA. With all of this money being tossed around, one has to wonder how long Zynga can afford to make such outrageous bids.

“I question the price they are paying,” Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. analyst Arvind Bhatia told Bloomberg. “If they have to every time go out and acquire the next number-one developer for $200 million, how long can you do that?”

Until people stop spending money on pixelated bushes, I’d say.

Zynga, the company responsible for crushing what’s left of your free time with their insanely addicting Facebook games, has made plans for Farmville 2, the highly-anticipated follow-up to their wildly popular farming simulation. However, launch dates for the title are currently unavailable.

In Farmville, players assume the role of a pixelated farmer who must take extra special care of their virtual farm. Crops grow in real time, so if you’re not around to make sure they’re harvested in a timely manner, you may find yourself knee-deep in acres of dead plants. Although it may not sound like much on paper, the game has ensnared countless gamers over the years, many of whom spend their hard-earned money to acquire in-game currency.

Zynga, as you may recall, recently acquired OMGPOP, creator of the popular Draw Something app, for a cool $210 million. The company also unleashed Mafia Wars 2, the successor to their equally-addictive crime game, in fall of 2011.

Frito-Lay and Zynga have teamed up for a promotion that allows Facebook gamers to unlock prizes in FarmVille, CityVille, and CastleVille by purchasing certain snack-sized bags of chips. Players can purchase the specially marked bags at WalMart, and once they’re done munching they must enter a code into the Game Card Tab on the specific game on Facebook.

There’s a different prize for each game and for each different bag of chips. For instance, a FarmVille-labeled bag of Ruffles nets players the “Chip to-go Bistro” while a CityVille-marked bag of Cheetos gets you a “Brilliant Beach House.”

Also part of the promotion are Zynga gift cards, in the amounts of $15 and $25. Buying those will also give you access to a special item. But it you pair a gift card with the codes of 4 out of the 5 participating snacks, you can unlock a “Super Item.” For FarmVille, a Spring Pegacorn; For CityVille, a Glowing Glass Condo; and for CastleVille, a Red Knight’s Horse.

Speaking of food and Facebook social gaming, last month we told you about a new reward service that awards Facebook credits for eating out at various restaurants. Plink allows you to sync up your credit card so whenever you slide it at a Taco Bell or a Quiznos, you earn credits that can be used toward items in CityVille, Mafia Wars, and more.

As Zynga expands promotions and attempts to make nearly everything and Facebook credit-earning opportunity, they might also have something else in mind. CEO Mark Pincus recently said that he thinks Zynga and online gambling is a “good natural fit.”

The Frito-Lay promotion will run from March 1st to April 12th. Here’s a full chart of what you will get from each snack: