Starcraft II promises Facebook integration with a purpose

Blizzard, the Makers of World of Warcraft, has taken the first step to introduce Facebook into its popular PC games. Anyone who uses Battle.net -- Blizzard's service that links players to their online games -- will be able to use Facebook to find and recruit fellow players.

The first implementation will be in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty beta and will roll out to to everyone when the game officially launches on July 27. The press release says that "information about other Facebook-related features on Battle.net will be announced at a later date," and we can't help but wonder if that means some kind of Facebook tie-in will be coming to World of Warcraft as well.

Integration with social networks is a trend that's taken hold of hardcore console and PC game makers. Last year, Uncharted 2 for PlayStation 3 launched last year with a well meaning, but ultimately annoying, Twitter integration and EA's Need for Speed World for PC will also have Facebook implementation (plus a few other console games we're not allowed to spill the beans on just yet).

It's nice to see traditional game companies embrace social networks, but does this integration really add to the game experience or is it more of a gimmick? So far, we'd vote for the latter, but if the Blizzard-Facebook connection can help you hook up with friends who are playing the same game, this might be the first useful implementation we've seen so far.