Five things we want to see in the Google Games network

The past few weeks have seen a distinct ramp up in rumors surrounding a new Google social network in the works -- with social gaming being a bigpart of those rumored plans. Even though we have no details on what such a service would look like, we're pretty excited about the potential of what a company like Google could do to revolutionize social gaming as we know it. Here are five features we'd like to see Google look into if and when they finally enter the social gaming arena.

Recommendations: One of the best things about Google's search algorithm is that it almost always seems to magically know exactly what you want, no matter how cryptic the search phrase. Imagine if you had these same sort of magical recommendations to guide you to interesting social games. Google's experience finding patterns in reams of data could help their social network lead players to the games they're most likely to like.

And rest assured, Google would have reams of data to work with; from the play habits of you and your friends to your physical location to your search history and even the contents of your Gmail and Google Docs accounts. Sure it's a little creepy to think about all the data Google collects about an average user, but if they're going to be mining that data anyway, they may as well pay you back with some interesting game recommendations, right?

YouTube/Picasa integration: Social gamers love to share their creations with the world, both in-game and with the wider web. But getting a video of your Pet Society apartment onto Youtube is an onerous process, involving arcane knowledge of screen capture and video editing programs. There's no reason these web-sharing features shouldn't be built in to social games, and Google seems well-positioned to provide it via its ownership of sharing sites Youtube and Picasa.

Imagine every Google Game having convenient "take screenshot" and "capture video" buttons in the corner, allowing players to post their in-game creations on the web with a single click. Imagine how thousands of these videos would help the viral spread of the most interesting of these games. Imagine a social gaming world opened up beyond the walls of the social network.

Keep reading for more features we'd like to see on a Google Games network.