Facebook Arcade: Launch and manage all your games

One of Facebook’s major drags is that thick, sticky layer of socially interactive components in video games that invariably end up posting links on your wall. Not to mention the endless stream of hateful notifications that pop up to much annoyance to those of us devils who’d prefer to know absolute zilch about farms, lives, and shiny candy. Luckily, albeit en retard, they’ve finally come up with a tool (in beta, for now) that lets you install and launch games on an external interface that in many lights bears a striking resemblance to Steam and GOG. Welcome Facebook Arcade.

Once locked and loaded, you’ll log on automatically on the account you’re already using on your browser. Take a look at their catalogue of available titles for Facebook categorized by themes, or browse your own library with direct access to the games you play the most. Check out all the latest news in the notification area where you’ll get to take a peek at your friends newest plays as well as the hottest topics within the world of gaming.

Silencing your gaming activity is a great feature for those of you shy violets who’d prefer to opt out of letting your whole posse know what you’re up to until the wee hours of the morn, or if you’d just rather not be that guy who’s always sending invites for random games. On one hand, most of those games are already on Android, anyway, and on the other the era of desktop gaming seems to be in its twilight years. Although that’s not to say that social gaming’s hey day has completely faded to the bygones just yet. In any case, we’re not one to judge.