Facebook wants you to play games. Soon you'll see not only what games your friends are playing, but how they're doing. Some updates will appear on your wall, while others could be tucked away in a separate newsfeed. Facebook experimented with a single social game message, or "story," that named friends and the games they played. Of course, a handy link "Play Now" was included. In just six weeks, new player downloads increased 60 percent. The social media giant knows a good thing when it sees it. "Gamers and non-gamers alike will now see news feed stories when their friends get a new high score, pass other friends or earn an achievement in a game, according to this week's post on the Facebook blog. Game stories will post to players' timelines and to their friends' tickers if they authorize the app to do so. Casual gaming has exploded on Facebook. In the past week alone, "Angry Birds" leads a list compiled by the Inside Facebook blog, with 4.3 million new users. "Fruit Ninja Frenzy" and "Bubble Saga Witch" follow — each with more than 1 million first-time players. However, not everyone is a fan of these games or their accompanying stories. "I've been flagging the news feed stories as spam ," a disgruntled Facebook user commented on the blog. To help address complaints and keep gamers happy, Facebook is testing a new games-only feed found under Apps & Games on the homepage. Gamers can see their friends' latest scores and tournament results all in one place, while non-gamers can just ignore the link.
