Facebook today launched new features to make it easier to find new games and play with friends on the social network. The move is a direct response to Google adding games to Google+ (it launched with 16 new games today), and I’ll get into that more tomorrow. First, let’s take a look at what Facebook has added.
Facebook now has a new game ticker that is only visible when you’re playing games. The Game Ticker, located where you currently have Facebook Chat in the right-hand column, is a separate stream of your friends’ game activity, scores, and achievements. Facebook still wants its users to find new games, and it believes that the best way to do that is by leveraging your friends (as with anything the social networking giant). Click on a story telling you what game your Facebook friend is playing to start playing the game yourself.
Furthermore, you can now control who can see these stories for each individual app in your Privacy Preference (you must be logged into Facebook for this link to work). If you want your friends to see you’re playing one game but not another, you can change that. You can also limit visibility directly from the ticker by clicking “X” on a story to remove it.
Facebook is also introducing a bigger screen for gameplay (as you can see in the screenshot above) and its partners will soon be rolling out games that can expand to full screen. Developers can learn more about this on the Facebook Developers blog: Redesigned Canvas.
You can also now bookmark your favorite apps or games and put them at the top of your bookmarks so they’re accessible from the News Feed by clicking the menu next to the bookmark. Apps and games can be rearranged and removed from the same menu.
“Whether you like sports games, word games, strategy or classic games, they are all better when played with your friends,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “We hope these updates make playing games on Facebook even more fun.”
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it seems every now and then facebook is countering google+...whether it be like buttons or games...they both are topping off one another. 
