We hope everyone is enjoying our Thanksgiving-themed loot event, "Food Fight" and is gearing up for our biggest sale of the year, Black Friday starting at midnight tonight.

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and give thanks to the special people in our lives. The Mafia Wars team is thankful for you, all of our dedicated players who make Mafia Wars the best game on the web. We hope you’re all enjoying the holiday and are rejoicing in the company of your family, friends, and loved ones.

Thank you for your continued support. 

Happy Thanksgiving,

Justin, General Manager, click here to play

You may have noticed a download link in the homepage promo box for a Mafia Wars toolbar. That's right, we created a special Mafia Wars toolbar, and we're really pleased to put it in your hands, or should I say browser. When you download the toolbar, it’ll be visible at the top of your browser so you can conveniently keep track of your Health, Energy, and Stamina in real-time when you’re browsing the web without the need to have your game page open. You can also easily Do Jobs, Fights, go to the Godfather, and access the Mafia Wars home page with just a single click in the drop-down menu. Another exciting perk to the toolbar is that when you download it now, you’ll receive a special Limited Edition item!

The toolbar is free to use, and installs in seconds on most browsers. You can either download it in the game or via this link. Just follow the step-by-step instructions and you’ll be up and running in no time. We hope you guys love it!

Thanks,

Erik, Product Manager, click here to play

It’s exciting to see how many of you have shown interest in the contest already. Just to clarify a few things...

This is your chance to be a boss in Mafia Wars, not some nameless picture that you hold up for us. We’re not interested in that dude, we’re interested in you. When making the video, get as creative as you want (while staying within the guidelines, please). If you want to get in character, by all means do it. Want to sing a song? Want to get in full costume and act? We’re game! There's absolutely no doubt in our minds how creative all of you are. Many of you have already shown us in countless ways. 

Once your video is complete, share it with us through YouTube. To do that, login to your YouTube account. Go to the watch page of the video you’ve uploaded for the contest. At the bottom of the video there will be a "Share" link. Click on it and under the “Send this video from YouTube:” link, in the “to” column, type in OfficialMafiaWars. Then click send. It’s that easy!

We look forward to continuing to see your awesome ideas. Keep them coming!

Cheers,

Parizad, Community Manager, click here to play

On November 5th, we made a performance upgrade to our game. Although the performance upgrade made the game faster for most of our users, a small portion of our users experienced problems. This was especially the case for users who had antivirus software such as CA Security, or anti-XSS browser add-ons like NoScript.

The upgrade, though awesome for performance, meant some of you couldn't enjoy and interact with your friends. Thus, on November 8th, we decided to revert to the previous version to make sure everyone who wanted to play, could. 

For those who enjoyed the improved performance, we too are disappointed about the rollback. However, we have a temporary solution that will hopefully benefit everyone. We set up a beta version of Mafia Wars that will have faster gameplay and less latency. We'll make this a limited opt-in-only beta (limit 1,000 users), so switching to this new version is completely up to you. Please keep in mind that this version will NOT be updated with new features that we release going forward so continue to use the full-release version. 

Now here's the part where you can help us. If you come come across any issues or bugs, please make note of it and report it back to us via this blog or through the forums. Please include what computing environment you are using, e.g. browser, antivirus software, computer, and operating system, etc.

Oh I almost forgot, the link to the beta app can be found here. Enjoy!

Thanks,

Vee, Product Manager, click here to play

·  Chevalier Exoskeleton

·  EMP Grenade

·  Executioner Drone

·  Gene Splicer

·  Gravity Gun

·  Ocular Implants

·  Vortex Ring Gun

Check out our Facebook fan page to see the pictures.

Moscow Re-Tuned

We listened to your suggestions and have made it easier to progress in Moscow.

·  All businesses are now unlocked. So you can buy them no matter which Episode you’re working on.

·  The economy in Moscow is booming, and the businesses are paying out more than before.

·  Bribe penalties have been removed.

Big Apple Event

A lot of you have been stuck in New York. We listened and here's your chance to finally finish New York! Double the loot drops and double the mastery. There is also a limited time job. It will be available starting Sunday, November 15th and go through November 22nd. 

Money Laundering

Money Laundering is a new feature whereby when you are doing a job, there's a chance of hitting a bigger payday than usual. When this happens, if you can get your friends to help you launder this big payday, you can keep the cash and gain additional experience points. Your friends in turn will also benefit by getting a cut of your stash and a special collection item. Give it a shot, it'll be well worth it. 

Until next time,

The Mafia Wars Team, click here to play

Start spreading the news, Big Apple Week starts this Sunday, November 15^th. During that week, all jobs in New York will provide double the mastery and double the normal loot. What this means for you is if you’re still working on mastering the levels in New York, you’ll have the opportunity to finish much quicker than usual. This is also a great time to collect loot such as those elusive cell phones and blackmail photos.

And if that wasn't enough, there's also a special featured job, where your objective is to raid the docks and if successful, you'll receive a limited edition item - a Cargo Ship!

Big Apple Event is a limited time event and ends next Sunday, November 22nd, so make sure to take advantage of it.

Cheers,

Henry, Senior Game Designer, click here to play