Google+ Games

They promised, and now it’s here. Facebook officially has competition in the “social gaming” genre, thanks to the debut of Google+ Games, which is slowly rolling out to G+ users as we speak. Now this next bit is going to come as a shock, so please sit down before you read any further…

Google+ Games already has Angry Birds.

The G+Games library is rather small at the moment, with just 16 titles, but apparently there’s no place on earth those furious fowl won’t go.

If you’re on Google+ and want to try out some of their games, look at the top of your stream, where the “Home,” “Photos,” “Profile,” and “Circles” buttons are. There will be a fifth button there for Games if you’ve got access. (If it’s not there yet, don’t worry. It will be soon.)

Besides Angry Birds, you’ll find a few other familiar favorites there such as Bejeweled Blitz and Zynga Poker. But frankly I’m stunned that there’s no CityVille, FarmVille, or Mafia Wars. Good grief — hardly a day goes by on Facebook when somebody doesn’t send me a request for those three! But I’m sure more games will be added all the time.

Just like on Facebook, all of the games include a social element so that you can share the experience with friends and acquaintances. But just like with everything else about Google+, it remains to be seen if these Games can make a dent in Facebook’s dominance.

Available for every platform known to man (there’s even a compact version played by millions on Facebook), Bejeweled 2 was originally released in 2004 but remains one of the most addictive and most-played puzzle games of all time. A new copy of the game is sold every 4.3 seconds! Six years is a long time to wait for a sequel — particularly for a puzzle game, which take far less time to create than their FPS, RPG, and racing big brothers — but PopCap Games has finally delivered.

Bejeweled 3 is coming on December 7th, 2010. At first it will be available only for PC and Mac, but other platforms are expected to follow, such as Xbox Live, PSN, iOS, etc. So how do you update a game with such a simple, match-3 mechanic, keeping the core gameplay intact but offering enough innovation and new features to warrant a new entry?

PopCap’s answer is to virtually overhaul the entire game. Don’t read that the wrong way — Bejeweled fans aren’t in for a stunningly different game. But fans will get improved HD graphics, all new music and sound, and completely re-conceptualized versions of the four primary gameplay modes. Now, the four main modes are known as Classic, Quest (a multi-mode challenge of 40 levels), Zen (a relaxing mode with ambient sounds), and Lightning (a beat-the-clock mode similar to Facebook’s Bejeweled Blitz). There’s also a new fantasy-world setting (which you can see in the trailer above), along with four new secret game modes to unlock, including Ice Storm, Poker, Sandstorm, and Butterflies.

Bejeweled 3 is expected to retail for $20. Take a look at the screenshots below.

For Twitter fanatics, here is another great proposal by Sean Bonner to Tara Brown. Take a look at the screenshot to see for yourself. I don’t know about you guys but this is awfully cute, isn’t it?

Here’s another one on Twitter. The proposal:

The reply:

Ahuh – and who said that only men give proposals?

Last, but not the least, is the proposal to Kathleen Fent. This one took all of 15 minutes to get a yes, but get a yes it did!

And who said geeks were boring? Eat your words, people. These geeks have proven that proposing marriage the good old fashioned way doesn’t come close to what they can come up with with a little help from their friends (Twitter, Nintendo DS, and whatever other gadget or technology you prefer.)