Mafia Wars big bang: Less than 100K visits before armored truck goes boom

Update (11 p.m.): Mafia Wars will be blowing up an armored truck on Thursday, August 19th at 6:00 pm PST.

Update: The 10 million mark has been reached (!), but still no announcement as to when the truck will be blown up. Stay tuned.

We'll soon see if the Mafia Wars marketing team makes good on the promise -- that after 10 million players logged into play Mafia Wars Las Vegas -- they would drive an armored truck into the Nevada desert, pack it full of dynamite and blow it up.

Right now, the player count is less than 100K away from 10 million -- and it took a little over two weeks to hit this target. That means we can expect the big kaboom to happen relatively soon, and, you'll be able watch it all go down on mafiawars.com.

Mafia Wars Masked Robbery Event: Make the 'Executive Decision' to win

In addition to the HDSA event going on this weekend as well as the Silence Don Romo limited-time job, Zynga wants you to live the dream of donning a president's face and smacking the banking system silly with this weekend's Masked Robbery event in Mafia Wars. Much similar to the surprisingly adorable Prized Pigs event, for five days starting this weekend you'll be able to gift and request each mask for your collection: Dubya, Bubba and Rock.

Check behind the cut for a breakdown of what each mask will get you at each level of Mastery as well as how to nab that nasty Grand Prize weapon.

Bubba Mask

    Bronze (3 masks): Electric Ear Armor (33 ATT, 61 DEF)
    Silver (5 masks): Electric Ear Armor (37 ATT, 69 DEF)
    Gold (10 masks): Electric Ear Armor (39 ATT, 74 DEF)



Dubya Mask

    Bronze (3 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (62 ATT 30 DEF)
    Silver (5 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (68 ATT, 33 DEF)
    Gold (10 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (75 ATT, 41 DEF)



Rock Mask

    Bronze (3 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (63 ATT, 31 DEF)
    Silver (5 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (70 ATT, 34 DEF)
    Gold (10 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (76 ATT, 42 DEF)



Just like before, collecting more of each mask will upgrade the item attached to it all the way to Gold Mastery. Collecting all 30 masks will reward you with the Executive Decision, a massive (and kind of frightening) machine gun with 130 ATT and 102 DEF. The first three days of the Masked Robbery event will introduce a new mask with the last two days meant to give you time to catch up. We're just going to go out on a limb and say that we're all going to be extremely busy this weekend.

Zynga sends Mafia Wars on the warpath with 'Declare War' revamp

If there is one shining light in Mafia Wars' list of features, it's the focus on competitive collaboration. However, Zynga decided that its relatively new Declare War feature, sort of a mob-wide extension of standard fights, was in dire need of a upgrade. While the new Declare War operates much like the original, it's the little things that count. However, only a few of the imminent changes are live now, but let's take a look at what Zynga has in store for this fixer-upper.

These are all the features teased by Zynga as either in the game right now or coming soon:

    Healing wounded friends (Coming Soon)
    Splash damage effects
    New Achievements
    Live Chat (Coming Soon)


First of all, we should point out that not much has changed in the general flow of the Declare War feature--at least not yet. Wars still last eight hours or until one mob falls, and players still need to ask fellow mob members to attack individual players. But soon, players will be able to heal their wounded friends when in War, extending their survivability in combat.

However, Zynga added something called "Splash Damage" to balance that out. When you eliminate an enemy, some extra damage will be applied to an adjacent opponent, signified with a single line rather than an "X." This will make your friends' lives easier and, if your mob is fast, could create a potentially unstoppable chain effect of damage that your opponents might not be able to keep up with.

Mafia Wars Declare War Achievements
There are new Achievements to be hoarded in the new Declare War feature. And while they're all either hidden or not yet released, we do know how to get them: collect loot. It's that simple, really. There are 16 rewards in total, and some can only be acquired by leading a War or helping in one. So, to get the new Achievements you'll have to play multiple roles.

Last but most certainly not least, Zynga will soon add a Live Chat function to Mafia Wars. This will allow players who are online at the same time to, well, chat. But more importantly, it will make coordinating attacks or defense during War that much easier. Not to mention the implications it has for cooperative Missions, Jobs and Fights. Could it be that Mafia Wars is about to become truly social? We'll reserve our judgment for when it officially releases, but we sure as hell hope so.