Another player is entering the consoles arena as RealNetworks purchases Game Trust, the company that developed the Game Frame platform. With the acquisition, Real hopes to expand its treasure chest of games with the added function of social networking. Soon they hope to expand their PC games to consoles.

With the advent and rise of social networks in the next-gen consoles - Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and soon-to-be WiiWare - Real wants to implement the function in their games to give their gamers a sense of community. Soon their games will be seeing chat, leaderboards, buddy lists and multiplayer functions.

Real's decision to implement social networking in their games also came with the announcement that they will be expanding their business into the consoles, so we should expect to see more casual games hit the market soon. And with their arsenal of more than 200 casual games in the PC world, we should expect that Real would make their presence known in the community.