"Video games" used to refer solely to one type of product; if you wanted to get granular, you could say there were "video games" and "computer games" (the phrase "video games" encompassing both home consoles and arcades). Fast forward to now, and games have diversified so much by platform, specific genre and target audience that the word often feels inappropriate -- Farmville is nothing like Modern Warfare 2 which is nothing like World of Warcraft which is nothing like Wii Play, for example. We can embrace that there are loosely different sub-spaces, or vertices, of the game industry that have entirely disparate audiences and means of delivery, and therefore often completely separate design goals.
Which is why it's kind of nice when you start to see spaces converge, with design lessons from, say, Facebook gaming employed on Xbox Live. Have you tried Facebook on your Xbox 360 yet* (or will you try it on your PS3)? I'm actually skeptical that anyone will make their console a primary means of engaging with Facebook; Facebook works so well because on a computer, it integrates so easily and so thoughtlessly with the device on which users spend a significant share of their working or student lives.
Rather than accessing Facebook via console instead of on a computer, it's pretty clear that users will simply be able to augment their Facebook use -- if video game activity is a part of their lives, they'll now be able to reflect that on their social networking profile.
Which is why the Facebook integration is an even bigger value-add for video game platform holders -- and for gaming itself -- than it is for its users. Think about how many of your non-gaming friends and family will be able to see, at a glance, how much fun you're having unlocking achievements and earning trophies; it's like built-in social outreach not only for the fact you own a console, but for every single game you play.
Developers will also be able to work with their own ideas for Facebook integration and what kind of updates their games send. There could be some fun design implementations for this, don't you think? Taking the the socialization around games outside of the game itself and into the real world could create some cool game mechanics if you got creative.
Major facebook games like Pet Society and Farmville have millions of users because of the viral principle -- your friends see you playing it, and these days, those kinds of games are so pervasive that it no longer takes them sending you an invite for you to join them; you know whether or not you're interested because you're observing friends' activity.
Facebook integration with game consoles means major titles have the potential to tap into some of that "virality" (no, that's not a real world, but two-point-oh marketing types think it is). That's huge for traditional gaming. You might ask why Xbox Live needs access to a social network when it is a social network -- this is why.
During my coverage of Microsoft's E3 presentation, I said the biggest game-changer of E3 would be the one that received the least gamer buzz, and I stand by it!
*Note that if you're a Silver member, Microsoft's gonna let you try Facebook and Twitter, among other things, for free this weekend.
