Crytek, the studio behind the Crysis series and the CryEngine technology behind it, is helping develop a new social network service centered around gaming. Dubbed Gface – a mash between gaming and Facebook, perhaps? – the service is currently in a closed beta phase and apparently it will include a built-in game streaming service that will rival OnLive by allowing you to team up with friends and play.
Gface runs completely in the browser so it's cross platform and, similar to OnLive, games are run on an off-site server so it is also independent of hardware. There's a drag and drop party creation system that Kotaku likens to Battlefield 3's Battlelog which can be used to start matches, watch movies, or broadcast live video.
Besides its game streaming capabilities, the service also includes a bunch of social features inspired on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ such as adding friends and throwing them onto different groups, posting your interests and following other people's interests, uploading pictures, and so on.
According to the Gface website, the service will include both casual and 'core' 3D titles for serious gamers. Although at this point there's no specific information regarding the service's games library, the company envisions a type of gameplay that can scale depending on what device you're using. For example, as shown in the image above, someone could be playing a first-person shooter on their PC while other players are connected to the game via their mobile devices, but with secondary roles such as air support.
Gface is still at an early stage of development so it currently only contains a basic feature set that includes profile creation, posting text and links, connecting with users and following people's interests – no gaming yet. You can sign up for the closed beta at www.gface.com and check the service's live feed here.