Android gets with the times, new Facebook brings FarmVille Express

Android just got caught up with the Joneses. Facebook announced recently that the new Facebook Mobile platform has hit Android devices everywhere, meaning fans of Google's smartphone operating system can access all the mobile web apps Facebook Mobile has to offer. Most importantly (of course), that includes HTML5 games like Zynga's FarmVille Express.

In fact, that means a number of HTML5-based social games are now available through Facebook Mobile for Android, including wooga's Magic Land, Moblyng's Word Racer Live, Storm8's World War and more. That's according to Facebook's announcement, which doesn't include games like the HTML5-based Words With Friends and Zynga Poker.

However, HTML5--a web application development method used commonly for games played in mobile web browsers--is largely available on both iPhone, iPad and Android devices, it's a safe bet that these games are accessible through Facebook on Android. (Before the Facebook update, Android users could simply visit "m.farmville.com" to access FarmVille Express.) HTML5 is making big strides in becoming a viable method for making and playing social games.

In fact, Happy Aquarium maker CrowdStar's CEO Peter Relan thinks that HTML5 is the path to 1 billion players of a single game. However, if you ask folks like Zynga Germany's Paul Bakaus, we're a long way from that kind of reach through HTML5. If game makers want to beat Rovio's Angry Birds to the coveted 1 billion fans, they might have to do it the old-fashioned (?) way: get on every game platform you can possibly imagine.

How do you prefer to play games like FarmVille while on the go: mobile web or mobile app? How long will it be before HTML5 games look like their standard app counterparts?

Wooga sees PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz with Diamond Dash for iOS

The Facebook Game Faceoff continues, but this time, on a much smaller screen. Wooga announced that its hit Facebook gem-basher, Diamond Dash, will hit iOS devices this summer. Inside Social Apps reports that the Berlin-based company will release the mobile version of 10 million-player-strong Facebook game will join a brand new experimental HTML5 game. And despite being a late bloomer on iOS compared to Zynga and PopCap, Wooga CEO Jens Begemann appears confident.

We feel the timing is right. For us, it's not about sprinting. We're not in here to sell the company in a year," Begemann said. "We think that our audience and our target group is coming onto mobile now." However, this version of the game is being create by a different team entirely from the folks who crafted the Facebook game. "We know that if we copy the Facebook game, we won't be successful," he told ISA.

The game will be available for iPhones and iPads at first, but an HTML5 version for Android devices is on the way as well, according to ISA. Like its competitors, Diamond Dash for iOS will be supported through micro-transactions. Hey, as long as we can set gems aflame with massive crashing fireballs, we're so game.

Are you psyched to see Wooga finally entering the mobile games space with Diamond Dash? Do you think the company is too late coming with mobile versions of its hit game?