OK, so the weekend's almost here, but if you need a little something to get you through the workday, jump on over to Facebook to check out our new game, Shivering Kittens.

Don't let the sad-sounding name throw you. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to rescue the chilly kitties from a frigid fate—and invite your friends to join in. As a bonus, they'll learn a bit about how to help protect cats here in the real world. Gameplay is simplicity itself (think Tetris with a twist), and the grateful felines will even give you a thankful "meow" when you help them out of their predicament. Who knows? Trying to beat my high score of 134 saved kittens could even inspire you to spend the rest of your weekend—or your life—being a champion for animals!

Written by Jeff Mackey

The popular Facebook game Mafia Wars has just introduced a new game "tool": animals to use in the fights, including but not limited to snarling pit bulls.

This is not the image of pit bulls that people should be promoting.

Sure, it's just a game, but perpetuating the image of pit bulls as fighting machines is reckless and wrong. It is particularly troubling in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a law banning the distribution of videos glorifying such cruelty to animals. Pit bulls already face a public relations battle and are the most abused breed of dog. PETA's fieldworkers see pit bulls in horrific conditions every day. They are frequently kept chained or penned, they are taunted and trained to be aggressive, and they are beaten and starved—sometimes to death.

This is a rare, er, misfire for Zynga, the maker of lots of popular online games (you might have heard of a little one called Farmville). Zynga recently started offering special bulldogs in YoVille, the proceeds of which are donated to the San Francisco SPCA. So let's hope that it will listen to our appeal. You can also send the company your own polite comments asking it to leave animals out of Mafia Wars.

Thanks for all your support and your fantastic comments about this awful addition to Mafia Wars. Please be sure to let Zynga know how you feel, too, by sending a polite comment to Zynga's customer help center.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor