Check out the top headlines and insights this week from Inside Social Game, where we track all the latest developments at the intersection of games and social platforms. Especially notable stories included IMVU’s revenue growth, a possible Playdom funding and Zynga’s Café World going from 0 to 8.6 million users in a week.

And, on a related note, get ready for our Inside Virtual Goods report coming next week.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Baseball Superstars 2010 is Odd and Addictive
Preview: Sniper Vs Sniper Online
IMVU’s Road To Riches Already Paved with Virtual Goods
Virtual Environments, Chinese Developers Among Top 20 Facebook Games This Week

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A Playdom Funding Would Mean No Quick Exit
Mixpanel’s Real-Time Analytics Show How Social Games Grow and Die
Announcing Inside Virtual Goods: Tracking the US Virtual Goods Market, 2009 – 2010
PopCap Moves Deeper into Social Gaming with $22.5M Round

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Friendster’s Future to Include Social Gaming Focus
Touch Pets: Dogs — Ngmoco Aims to Take Virtual Pets Genre to Next Level
FarmVille Users Grow Virtual Goods, Raise $320,000 for Charity
Habbo Owner Sulake to Lay Off 40 Employees

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Meet Plinga, Apparently Zynga’s German Copycat
Zynga’s Café World Goes from 0 to 8.6 Million Users in a Week, with Big Implications
See You at Virtual Goods Summit 2009 in San Francisco
GratisPay Announces Samwer Brothers, Holtzbrinck Funding, Social Gaming Focus

Friday, October 9, 2009

AdNectar Brings its Branded Virtual Goods to Twitter and LiveJournal
Top 20 Up-and-Coming Facebook Games: Animal Hunter, Jungle Jewels, Quiztastic
Is Appointment Gaming Where the Money Is?
Social Gaming Roundup: OpenFeint+Digital Chocolate, iPhone Gaming, FarmVille Protest, ljji Growth