Zynga to launch its own social network

Zynga has announced at a San Francsico press conference that it will launch a social network separate from Facebook, along with multiple new titles.
Though the company intends to keep close business ties to Facebook, it will also launch ‘Zynga Direct’, a game-oriented network of its own. In conjunction with this, Zynga will introduce ‘zTags’, the Zynga Direct equivalent of an Xbox Live gamertag. It’s possible to sign up for one of these right now.
You won’t just be playing Farmville on Zynga Direct though, because the company has announced a host of new titles today. These include a trio of gambling titles; Zynga Poker, Zynga Casino and Zynga Bingo, as well as hidden object game Hidden Chronicles and all-new ‘ville’, Castleville.
That last one, Zynga promise, is their “most beautiful” title to date.