Google Play Game Services Includes Leaderboards, Cloud Saves, Achievements, and Better Multiplayer

Google’s I/O event brought us a few surprises, but a new games service from Google Play wasn’t one. Most tech writers predicted the new game services before the event took place, although the details of the service were sketchy. Well, we can now confirm details about Google Play’s new gaming platform, which is a very cool way of bringing Android gamers together while giving them an addictive motivation to continue their compulsive mobile gaming habits.

Here’s how the new Google Play game services work:

Cloud Save: Cloud Saving allows gamers to save game progression and custom settings to the cloud. This data will then y synced across all Android devices, including smartphones and tablets. In other words, you can start playing a game on your smartphone on the train from work, then pick up that game on your tablet once you get home. Achievements: Achievements have been popular on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam (PC) for years. Although individual mobile games have had their own achievement systems, Android now has a universal achievement system that should make mobile gaming more addictive than ever before. Leaderboards: If achievements weren’t enough to make your fingers excited to start gaming, then leaderboards might do it for you. New leaderboard systems will track scores across all mobile games, making it easy to show off the fact that yes, you really did get three stars on all Angry Birds levels.

Google+ Circles: This is the main feature of Google Play’s new gaming services. Basically, users can connect to their friends and family….but only if they use their Google+ account. Once connected, you can invite friends to multiplayer matches with the tap of a button and compete with multiple friends at the same time – provided you all have a particular multiplayer mobile game installed on your system.

Available for web browsers and iOS devices

Google Play’s new gaming services aren’t an Android-exclusive; Google appears to be releasing them for web browsers and iOS devices as well. So far, a release date for the gaming services hasn’t been released, although testing should begin very shortly.