Google begins gradual rollout of games in Google Plus [update]

by JC Fletcher on Aug 11th 2011 4:30PM

After early indications were discovered in Google Plus source code -- and after anyone ever looked at Google Plus and applied common sense -- we knew games would be available on the social network soon.

Today, Google began rolling out a small assortment of games, including the ubiquitous Angry Birds, EA2D's Dragon Age Legends, and sudoku. You know, Facebook stuff. A "Games" button at the top of your stream will take you to the available games, if the rollout has made it to your account. If it hasn't, Google says it will "soon."

Google's game implementation differs from Facebook in that game-related status updates are cordoned off into the "Games" page, so you can only see them when you are looking at game stuff. Unlike Facebook, you won't have to banish all your friends when they develop Zynga problems.

[Thanks, Dylan!]

Update: Venturebeat reports that Google is only taking 5 percent commission on its games, another advantage over Facebook (who takes 30). And on the new Google Plus platform blog, engineering director David Glazer claims Plus is taking a "quality over quantity" approach with its games. Developers and new game features will be added in "small steps."

Source: Google

Tags: angry-birds, dragon-age-legends, games, google-plus, pc, social-games

Reader Comments (41)

Is it just me or is Google+ completely unnecessary?

@TraceurRyuk Part III
Were social networks ever necessary?

@The Only Girl

Yes. Why aren't they? It's evolution in communication. Just as the phone was to sending hand-written letters. I just don't see getting anything out of Google+ that I don't already get out of Facebook. And moving to another site is so much of a hassle.

@TraceurRyuk Part III

its VERY useless... that is unless you are are letting the Google fanboy goggles blind you to the fact that its a Facbook that works with your google crap...

and as the person who said "friends seem to appreciate them." thats the FUNNIEST thing i read all day...

@PR0F3TA I use Google for two things: Gmail and Google Plus. I don't see why you have to be a google fangirl to like G+, it's a great service that's simple, transparent, and dare I say it, elegant ... I can't say any of that about Facebook. I love the idea of social networks, and G+ is the closest to come along to my own idea of how an all encompassing online social network should work.

I guess that must make me a google fanboy though ...

@Epoque

you don't have to be a fangirl to like Google+ but you DO have to be a Goggle+ fangirl to hate FaceBook but like Goggle+ which is the same exact thing but with Google services attached.

I don't care if someone prefers G+ to FB but people start coming off pretty stupid when you say how much one is better then the other when deep down its the exact same thing.

@Dickhole Pasta On the other hand if you're already on Facebook Google + is largely redundant.

@TraceurRyuk Part III
Is this not the same thing people said during the transition from Friendster to MySpace and MySpace to Facebook?

@PR0F3TA "
and as the person who said "friends seem to appreciate them." thats the FUNNIEST thing i read all day... "

I'm confused. Are you implying that having lots of friends on facebook/google+ makes you a loner?

If your answer is "yes" when the heck are you gonna move out of your mom's basement?

@einhanderkiller

Both of those services killed themselves. Myspace was overblown with ads and a confusing user interface. Facebook doesn't have those problems. The only thing Google+ adds is circles and the hangout thing. Which I don't see a lot of people switching over for.

Also don't forget that Google+ is basically Orkut 2.0. Or is it 3.0 now?

@TraceurRyuk Part III
Many people who have or want to leave Facebook view it as FB killing themselves with draconian and complex privacy rules, and persistent user-presence such as your name appearing in targeted ads to other users.

Now, you and I probably know how to turn all that crap off, assuming it can be turned off (Anonymous doesn't think so). And let's never mind that Google is the world leader in targeted ads. But the fact remains that G+ is the new thing, and it "feels" cleaner because it's so damn empty. People like the new thing. Especially people that are still bitter about FB's last interface change. BRING BACK THE OLD FACEBOOK petitions, and such. Craziness... it all just repeats itself.

@TraceurRyuk Part III

Well, in some respects, I think that Google+ runs circles around its competition. The ease with which it allows you to hang out virtually is an added plus.

Please excuse the puns, I couldn't resist. If anyone still wants an invite, leave a comment here: http://www.debugmind.com/2011/07/11/review-google-plus/

@TraceurRyuk Part III

It's just you.

@TraceurRyuk Part III

i agree

Get ready for "Google Points" cash cards, people.

@The Only Girl

You just received a PONY from NaeemTHM for your Farm!

CLICK HERE TO CLAIM IT!!

Ugh...suddenly I'm a lot less enthused about Google+

@The Only Girl If I can use them as pre-paid cards for the Android Market, I'm fine with that.

@MowDownJoe
Ooo good point!

@lordnerdstorm

@lordnerdstorm

I know the word has lost most of its meaning these days but I still can't help but say it.

Fail.

To whoever that has used google+, how is it?

@philmcfail

I personally love it. The edit feature, Circles, bold, underlined, and crossed-out words, and a lot more are huge improvements over Facebook.

@philmcfail

Pretty good. It's basically Facebook with better options. You can post status updates to certain people, and doesn't have to be to "everyone" you are friends with (using smart creations of your circles).

@philmcfail

It's AWESOME!

If only they'd let me in already! *shakes fist angrily*

@Schlecht
Shake harder, boy!

@Schlecht and here I thought they were pretty much open now.

Use this, there are 150 invites:
https://plus.google.com/_/notifications/ngemlink?path=%2F%3Fgpinv%3DBEe6N-mMg3Y%3Az2gDmJ1cYi0

@(Unverified) I think he's saying he wants to be let into the group that can use games on Google+. The blog says that's being rolled out. I checked and I don't have that games tab, so this feature isn't available to everybody yet.

@(Unverified) I just asked someone I knew for an invite. Turns out it's not hard to get in if you have friends?

@(Unverified)
arigato!

@Trojan Hm, maybe... but since posting my invite link, 30 people have joined, so SOMEbody needed in.

I had the games button earlier today, but it's gone this evening.

@(Unverified)
awesome thanks

I wonder how long it will take for the game score\requests to be posted like a normal message...

Are they going to make Googler?

Your welcome Joystiq, always a pleasure to contribute to the site ;D

I really enjoy Google+. I also get enjoyment out of social networking. Got tired of myspace, moved on to facebook. Now I'm really tired of facebook and I can't wait till the rest of the world moves on to Google+.

I enjoy it much more because it just seems a lot neater and simpler than facebook. Social Networking sites always seem to start of great, then they start getting worse and worse as more updates come along so it's something I actually enjoy jumping from one to the other on.

Anyways, time to do my part in spreading Google+

https://plus.google.com/_/notifications/ngemlink?path=%2F%3Fgpinv%3DfZDBYloK20o%3AHg6Qs_b2EEk

No matter how many times I force refresh, still no games!! Dagnabit.

I don't care for Google+ because I don't think it does anything that much better. It's reinventing the wheel, and whilst it may look a bit fancier, it's still pouring more fat in a market already saturated with the stuff.

I'll use Google+ if I'm ever forced to do so due to the majority of people switching over from Facebook to Google+. Otherwise, I can't be bothered with it.

The difference with me however, is that I couldn't care less about Facebook, either. I don't really care that much for social networking; I use Facebook because it looked easier to use than things like MySpace and Bebo and because all my friends used it, as opposed to anything else.

No games yet in my Google+ acount. I will continue for now to use http://www.findfiles.net till further notice. In any case, these classcial games like Angry Birds, Bejeweled and Sudoku are around on hundreds of sites free to play and download.

Promoting google+ votes is becoming a very hot business. Using these types of services could have negative or positive affects on SEO.
We just have to see how google treats them. Another place to buy google plus votes is bulkones.com
Will be interesting to see how this evolves over the next few months.

Google begins gradual rollout of games in Google Plus [update]

Reader Comments (41)

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:31PM TraceurRyuk Part III said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:33PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 5:15PM TraceurRyuk Part III said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 5:19PM PR0F3TA said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 5:44PM Epoque said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 6:17PM PR0F3TA said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 6:18PM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 6:42PM einhanderkiller said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 6:58PM Hank Hill said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 7:18PM TraceurRyuk Part III said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 8:20PM Solar Jetman said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 10:01PM debugmind said

Posted: Aug 12th 2011 8:44AM Dubya75 said

Posted: Aug 12th 2011 12:48PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:33PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:48PM NaeemTHM said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 5:47PM MowDownJoe said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 10:24PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:38PM lordnerdstorm said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:39PM lordnerdstorm said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:53PM squallgengar said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:42PM philmcfail said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:55PM Xiegfried said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:58PM teamnintendo said

Posted: Aug 12th 2011 8:47AM Dubya75 said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:47PM Schlecht said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:49PM Manifest37 said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:54PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 5:53PM Trojan said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 6:31PM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 9:26PM Manifest37 said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 11:33PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 12th 2011 9:06AM matthew2718 said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 4:55PM IronClawt said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 5:02PM GMB Brian said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 6:57PM dylanspronck said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 7:18PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 7:57PM Xoonaka said

Posted: Aug 11th 2011 8:10PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 12th 2011 7:55AM houjeabi said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 4:16AM sultanhossain said

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