Not to be outdone by any of the news streaming from the world of Apple, Google+ has finally gone live with an introductory lineup of their browser games. Following in the footsteps of titans such as Myspace and Facebook, Google+ had a chance to pick and chose the features that they were going to implement into their exclusive social media platform. After what has been months of tinkering with the specifics, the initial 16 games have been fully released to Google+ users and it looks like there is a little something for everyone.
Google+ Games
If you have not done so already, you can experience the upcoming games by signing up to Google+ as signup invitations currently are made available to everyone for the time being.
This special new area just for games can be accessed by Google+ subscribers with the little button perched right next to the profile and friend streams. This comes nearly two weeks after this feature was accidentally activated by Google and then immediately turned off. While it may have been a publicity stunt to draw attention to this new feature, it accomplished its desired effect. Google+ games began with just a dozen games, but was quickly bumped up to 16 total.
In a Google blog entry, Vic Gundotra, a senior vice president of engineering for Google, decided to ramp up the competition between Google+ and Facebook. Gundotra listed off some of the less desirable features of Facebook games, without mentioning the company by name, and claimed that Google+ had solved many of these problems. This mostly included the dreaded spam wall updates from games such as Farmville, a feature that had millions of Facebook subscribers in an uproar.
Google+ also decided to put its best foot forward with the first lineup of games. They relied heavily on Zynga, well known for their flagship game Farmville, to start off with a multi-player poker game. Another major name drawn from the world of mobile gaming is the ever popular Angry Birds, one of the most downloaded and played mobile games in the world. Other names include Bejeweled, Sudoku, and a lineup of strategy and tactic games.
For the users, there will be enhanced options for playing, adding, and even ignoring these games. Friends can opt out of updates or even send invites to competition over Gmail and Google+. Google’s spokespeople made a point to note that Google+ could be used and enjoyed without ever playing games or reading about friends playing games.
Google+ started into the social media race well after some of the other contestants, but it seems that they may slowly have a chance to catch up as they release more and more features, such as Google+ games, to attract subscribers.
