Another way for social media to distract you
Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Galaga and other arcade classics are now playable on another platform: Facebook. The social media giant has introduced Instant Games, a new gaming feature, to Messenger and the news feed, making popular titles easily accessible while visiting Facebook.
Instant Games is now in closed beta, with a full launch date not yet specified. Players can launch the feature by tapping an icon in the messaging field, as well as while scrolling through the news feed. The feature will work on mobile and web, and will include social features without any added installations. Watch the how-to video above for a sense of how Instant Games will work once it’s live for everyone.
The full list of 17 games included in the Instant Games launch library features those familiar to heavy Facebook users, like Shuffle Cats and Words with Friends. More exciting are the old-school favorites, which run the gamut from Bandai Namco’s Pac-Man, to Konami’s Track & Field 100M, to Taito Corporation’s Puzzle Bobble. Here’s what’s playable starting today:
- PAC-MAN (BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.)
- Galaga (BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.)
- ARKANOID (TAITO CORPORATION)
- SPACE INVADERS (TAITO CORPORATION)
- TRACK & FIELD 100M (Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.)
- Words with Friends: Frenzy (Zynga)
- Shuffle Cats Mini (King)
- EverWing (Blackstorm)
- Hex (FRVR)
- Endless Lake (Spilgames)
- Templar 2048 (Vonvon)
- The Tribez: Puzzle Rush (Game Insight)
- 2020 Connect (Softgames)
- Puzzle Bobble (TAITO CORPORATION / Blackstorm)
- Zookeeper (Kiteretsu)
- Brick Pop (Gamee)
- Wordalot Express (MAG Interactive)
Facebook also has an array of games available as separate apps within the platform. While many of these remain popular, the Facebook game craze reached an apex in the late-00s, thanks to free-to-play titles like FarmVille.
In 2013, Dan Morris, Facebook’s head of gaming partnerships, told us that the social media company was looking into ways to keep players gaming on the site as downloadable, off-platform mobile games grew in popularity. Mobile gaming is now a huge industry, and Instant Games seems to be the realization of Facebook’s years of trying to break its way inside.
Read the full article here by Polygon
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