Google+ games launch with Angry Birds, Bejeweled Blitz, and more

The official Google blog has announced that games are now playable in Google Plus.

August 11, 2011 2:30 PM

We knew it was only a matter of time. Today, Google has announced that games will be playable via the company's social networking service, Google+. At the time of this post, the promised "Games button" that will allow access hasn't yet appeared for me, but the roll-out is being done in stages, so some will see it sooner than others. When the "Games" button does appear, it'll be nestled next to the "Circles" button at the top of the activity stream. The initial games lineup will include some immediately recognizable titles, though it's not yet clear how many games will be included, or at what frequency new ones will be added. The announcement explains how you'll be able to access games on Google+, and seems to indicate that game related updates and notifications won't clutter up the activity streams of friends who have no interest in knowing when you've bested a high score. It reads, in part:

Click the games button at the top of your stream. You can see the latest game updates from your circles, browse the invites you’ve received and check out games that people you know have played recently. The Games page is also where your game accomplishments will appear. So you can comfortably share your latest high score—your circles will only see the updates when they're interested in playing games too.

Angry Birds, Bejeweled Blitz, and Zynga Poker are three of the more well-known games included in the initial batch of sixteen revealed. Feel free to check out the Google blog for the complete list.

Google+ is getting games today.

We're curious to see how this all plays out. If you happen to notice a "Games" button on your Google Plus account in the near future, we'd like to hear your comments on how it all works in-practice.

Jeff Mattas

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Shacknews

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August 11, 2011 2:30 PM

Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Google+ gets games.

The official Google blog has announced that games are now playable in Google Plus.
- Wisp!
  
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  August 11, 2011 2:38 PM
  
  It begins.
- ajvitaly
  
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  August 11, 2011 2:48 PM
  
  Let me know when Steam mobile comes out and devs start porting titles over to ARM based processors. =D
- dantastic
  
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  August 11, 2011 2:54 PM
  
  the lack of app spam was the only thing G+ had over facebook
  - zehh
    
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    August 11, 2011 3:04 PM
    
    The app/api spam apparently will be in a separate tab, so.. I guess this is good?
  - SkipperMcG
    
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    August 11, 2011 3:15 PM
    
    Have you logged into facebook in the last year? I have no app spam. It will tell me if someone has started using an app or started playing a game and that's it. You never hear anything again.
    
    Funny how this is understanding of apps on facebook that many people still have.
    - dantastic
      
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      August 11, 2011 3:19 PM
      
      i have little app spam because i've been manually blocking all notifications from the app every time something comes up. i guess there are only so many apps out there.
      - zehh
        
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        August 11, 2011 4:06 PM
        
        They've changed the way apps work drastically over the past 12 months. Application shit (requests) is kept on a separate tab. They're also removed the old game notification system from the api. The only thing you'd normally see is when one application posts to a user's wall, and it has some spam limits built in. It's still possible to spam someone but definitely not as much as before.
  - Conan
    
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    August 11, 2011 4:09 PM
    
    And it still has that; it'll never show up in your stream.
    - rosewood
      
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      August 11, 2011 6:32 PM
      
      Stop looking at my stream -- keep your eyes straight ahead god damn it
- SkipperMcG
  
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  August 11, 2011 3:09 PM
  
  Google snobs will claim that somehow, the way this is done, is "superior to how facebook does it because facebook spams you all the time".
  
  These people have not logged into facebook for 2-3 years I assume.
- Donborvio
  
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  August 11, 2011 7:21 PM
  
  Just after I deleted my G+ account lol