“Pac-Man” and “Dig Dug” are coming to Facebook.
Namco plans to announce today that Facebook users will be able to download the arcade classics directly from the social-networking site. The move marks one of the first times a major game publisher has used Facebook as a means of distributing downloadable games.
Facebook has become a popular place to play casual games such as Scrabble. But most games available through the site are Flash applications that run within the Facebook Web page.
Although “Dig Dug” and “Pac-Man” will run as applications separate from Facebook and a Web browser, Namco and its partner J2Play have built connections within them to the social-networking site. When they start the games, users will have the option to log into Facebook. If they do, the games will update their Facebook status pages with their latest achievements within the games: dots eaten or ghosts chomped in Pac-Man, for example. Users will also be able to see and chat with other Facebook members who are also playing the game at the same time.
Namco plans to roll out additional games for download from Facebook in the near future, including original, non-arcade games.
Contact Troy Wolverton at twolverton@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5021.
