Yesterday, Hasbro had actually reported its second quarter earnings, which showed a drop of 25 percent in profit as a result of falling sales in most major categories. But despite a lackluster earnings report, the company is optimistic that the partnership it has developed with Zynga can bring it back up by bringing together a digital a digital gaming experience with an analog one.

Zynga games are played by nearly 240 million people on Facebook each and every month. Nobody knows exactly how demand there may be for offline Zynga or Farmville products, but the partnership is likely to benefit both companies. Online gaming company Rovio is proof that it can work, with 30 percent of its revenue coming from merchandising and licensing in 2011.

[via TechCrunch]

The writers spoke with IGN this week about several things, one of them being their future affiliation with the Zynga gaming brand. Last we heard from Zynga, they were expanding their empire to a whole new site currently called Project Z. Before that, they were launching CityVille on Google+. Now what we’re hearing, through these Toy Story screenwriters, is that there may well be not just a Zynga movie right around the bent, but a Farmville movie at that. What could it all mean!?

“We’re in conversations with Zynga to do something with one of their brands. Can’t really say too much on that front yet, but ‘Old MacDonald’ didn’t have a factory, if you get our drift.”

Can you imagine a Farmville game? I remember back when I first heard there would be a movie about Facebook, and I poo poo’d it. I still haven’t seen it, but I hear it won some awards, so who am I to say? Will you be harvesting such a crop?

[via Q2]

Facebook and the rest of the current set of Zynga partners should rest assured that there’s nothing to fear, says Zynga in a regulatory filing, “any deterioration in our relationship with Facebook would harm our business.” On the other hand, the group has also noted that Facebook limiting access to game developers, modification of terms and services, favorable treatment toward Zynga’s rivals, and Facebook building its own games as the biggest threats it has in the near future.

Besides that, there’s this Project Z site which Zynga says will reduce their dependence on Facebook. Zynga notes that this site is part of a larger strategy called “Zynga Direct” which aims at “a direct relationship with consumers whether they are on the Web or mobile.” Thus spoke Chief Executive Officer of Zynga Mark Pincus today at an event at the group’s San Francisco headquarters. At the moment only a few details are known about the upcoming site including that each user will have their own individual “zTag” and that you’ll be able to start a game in Facebook, continue that game on Project Z, then continue it again on Facebook, forever!

Zynga also announced the games “Zynga Bingo,” “CastleVille” and “Hidden Chronicles,” Castleville being the first social game to include an original orchestral score. Neato!

[via BusinessWeek]

In addition, Best Buy will be selling Gaga branded Zynga $25 game cards, which will include a free download of Lady Gaga’s new album, and exclusive bonus tracks, exclusive Gaga virtual goods, and more.

But it doesn’t stop there. Zynga will also offer Gaga-branded virtual goods via Rewardville in ten of its games. Gamers will just log onto RewardVille to redeem zCoins for exclusive limited edition Gaga-inspired virtual items for Zynga games, plus there will be contests to win tickets to Gaga’s concerts.

Lady Gaga said in a statement: “I want to celebrate and share ‘Born This Way’ with my little monsters in a special way that’s never been done before…Zynga has created a magical place in FarmVille where my fans can come play, and be the first to listen to the album.”

Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. We can likely expect to see more of these types of partnerships in the future, though. What would you like to see in GagaVille?

[via TechCrunch]

Gorbie from the official Farmville forums has taken before and after pictures of the crop. When it’s ready for harvest a pink baby sprouts out the top complete with eyes, arms and mouth. When the crop dies the watermelon and baby begin looking less vibrant and both turn brown and colors fade. Then you have this brown watermelon baby monster left on your farm.

Players don’t seem to like having a dead baby on their farm and some may find it pretty upsetting. It certainly gives the game a different flavor and for anyone who’s seen the sci-fi classic Soylent Green, you’ll get a chuckle out of this. So if you get a chance to actually see a Watermelon Baby, you’ll get to scream “Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!” to your heart’s content. I just did.

[via Games]

Too bad that the cake is all the way in Puerto Rico, but maybe some state-side bakeries will pick up on this as well. It also makes us wonder what is next? A real CafeWorld restaurant, or a Mafia Wars theme park?

[via games.com]

Which is true. I spent hundreds of hours of my childhood huddled around a screen with three of my friends, blasting each other in GoldenEye or irreparably damaging our friendships over Mario Party. Nintendo games have always had a fairly strong social component.

But “social” today isn’t the same as “social” ten or fifteen years ago. Iwata continued, “When you hear the term ‘social network,’ it generally means a service taking advantage of social human relationships through a constantly connected network with smart phones and PCs. In contrast, Nintendo appreciates real human relationships among people.”

And that’s fantastic, but real humans appear to appreciate being able to integrate quality gaming into their social media. Now and, in the future, increasingly, they’re going to expect to be able to take those games with them wherever they go.

But Nintendo has always been dismissive about this sort of thing. As recently as April of 2010, Iwata blew off Apple as “not having an impact on Nintendo”. Six months later, Nintendo America President Reggie Fils-Aime admitted that Apple was more of a near-term threat than Microsoft.

If that trend continues, we can look forward to hearing Reggie admit that social media gaming represents a real threat by this time July.

[Via Games.com]

SlashVERIZON’D
Looks like blogger “Marley” of ShutterMug found a simple way to prove Verizon to be amongst those evil companies who sell your information unless you tell them specifically you’d like them not to do that. Upon signing up with a friend to FiOs with Verizon recently, Marley was asked if they’d like to use “an alias for [their] listing.” Not soon after signing up, a common bit of snail-mail spam came through the mail with none other than that alias printed quite clearly. Shucks.

[Via ShutterMug]

R3 Media Network

SlashPhone
HTC Merge Accessories Spotted in Wild
AT&T Announces Olympus Availabile December/January Via Facebook
BlackBerry Empathy Concept Made to Detect its Users Mood
Microsoft Retail Stores Offer Windows Phone 7 Devices For Free With Contract

Android Community
University of Missouri to offer goMizzou app on Android
Angry Birds on Android Downloads 7M copies
LG P990 Star smartphone surfaces with new UI pics
DROID 2 Global hits Wirefly for just $80
HTC considering E Ink and 3D displays/imaging for future devices?
Show off your Allegiance to the almighty Android in Call of Duty: Black Ops [LOLS]
AT&T and T-Mobile to possibly get Acer Liquid Metal?
NOOKcolor Rooted! [HOLY CRAP]
New LG Star Pictures and Details Leaked
Samsung GT-i9200 snapshots caught on Picasa
T-Mobile G2 hardware security hacked completely!
WiFi Syncing coming to Android via Winamp
HTC Merge Spotted Entrepreneur Magazine
Android 2.2 Froyo Now Available On Archos Array of Internet Tablets
Android Market Content Ratings Now Live
Samsung Posts GPS Fix Guide for Captivate and Vibrant
Verizon Offers Up Entire DROID Lineup BOGA through Christmas
Android Tablets in 5-inch and 8-inch Sizes Offered Up by View Quest in the UK
Verizon Pastes iPhone Maps App into Droid X Ad
RPG Zenonia 3 Available in Android Market in Korea [IN MAIN PICTURE ABOVE]

SlashGear
Barnes & Noble finances released: saved by NOOK
A Week with NOOKcolor: The Missing Link – Viewing Manually Loaded Books and What a Root Means for the Future [FEATURED]
FarmVille credit & exclusive items added to American Express reward scheme
Verizon 4G LTE event on December 1 will detail US roll-out
Windows Phone 7 update “took 3 months to do what Apple did in 3 years” tips developer
Google Earth 6 adds full Street View, 3D trees & more [Video] [MAP AS BIG AS WHATS MAPPED]
LG Optimus 7 uses NAND flash for storage
Project iPad magazine arrives in App Store [PROJECT]
NASA holding press conference Thursday, has it found extraterrestrial life? [NEATO]
Linutop 3 fanless Atom-powered PC surfaces
Microsoft takes i4i case to Supreme Court
135k Windows Phone 7 sales tip Facebook stat watchers
Microsoft Kinect sells 2.5 million units in 25 days
Buy.com blows up on Cyber Monday
BlueAnt unveils new Q2 Platinum Bluetooth headset
HTC E Ink plus 3D displays & cameras in consideration tips job spec
SiliconPower unveils speedy E20 SSD
Comcast accused of internet abuse in latest net neutrality spat [NET NEUTRALITY NOW!]
Sanyo Pedal Juice box gives guitarists staying-power
High-Speed 500MB/sec CompactFlash next-gen standard proposed by Sony, Nikon & SanDisk
iPad goes free in Japan with Softbank deal
Google social networking drive delayed until Spring 2011?
Apple block PhotoFast MacBook Air SSD kit production?
Dell Vostro V130 adds HDMI & Hyperbaric Cooling, keeps ultraportable style
LG Star leaks, blows benchmarking out the water with Tegra 2
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm to be Released Midnight, December 6th 2010 at (all?) Hastings Entertainment Locations
DIY Death Star Holiday Tree Ornament
ASUS and Lamborghini Present Backpack, Laptop Cases, Mouse, and HDD
Gifts for Smartphone Owners? Try Smartphone Accessories
Asetek Liquid Cooling for Small Gaming PCs, 3U Servers, and Workstations
Project Magazine for iPad Gets Hands-on, Takes a Swing at The Daily [PROJECT]
Happy Birthday To You Who Won’t Read This [COLUMN]
Google Sends out Holiday Media Party Invites to Publishers
Panasonic Jungle Being Tested in the United States
Samsung Mobile Display Shows Off Flexible 3D OLED Concept at FPD International
PlayStation Move Sells 4.1 Million Worldwide
LMP Keypad Bluetooth numeric pad for Mac hits FCC
Google under antitrust investigation over allegations it squeezed out search rivals

To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

It’s a sign, perhaps, that online gaming is transitioning very much to the mainstream, with in-game rewards in titles like FarmVille and Cafe World considered as valuable as airline discounts, hotel savings and even straightforward payments on Amazon and other sites. American Express gives you one point per dollar you spend, so you’ll need to splash out $540 if you want that special cow.

[via TechCrunch]

Reed Hastings came up on stage to talk about Netflix, and what it means to get it on your iPhone. Obviously one of the first things he wanted to bring up was how it was going to work on the go, and he informed the crowd that it’s going to use an adaptive bitrate technology, to make sure that if you switch “networks,” (like your 3G connection, to WiFi, for example), that the streaming isn’t ruined because of the transition. Ultimately, mobility isn’t sacrificed, and for something like the iPhone, that’s huge. As for a release date, Hastings was happy to announce that it’s coming as a free download to the iPhone App Store in the Summer.

Now, one of the biggest complaints about the iPhone’s lack of Flash is the fact that you can’t play Flash games. Luckily for the Cupertino juggernaut, you only need to create an application to get around that. And now Farmville is coming to the iPhone. “Farming for the iPhone.” It will allow you to sync up to your Facebook, and it will use push notifications to inform you of changes as they happen. It’s due out at the end of June.

For up-to-the-minute coverage, check out our liveblog: http://live.slashgear.com. And keep your eyes here for the news as it happens!