Games helping to connect us all.

A funny thing happened to the video game industry in 2009. While most of us were focused on the console war and the rise of the iPhone as a gaming platform, Facebook quietly became a big player in the space.

Games like Mafia Wars and FarmVille began to consume people’s time – and distract them from more traditional styles of play.

That’s likely to continue this year, and traditional publishers are taking note. Electronic Arts paid $300 million for PlayFish in November, and analysts expect more buyouts to occur this year.

PlayFish and Zynga dominate the world of social gaming right now, but 2010 will bring some new players to the market. Among the companies looking to expand into the space are:

Take Two Interactive Software

The publisher last year announced plans to enter the social gaming space with Sid Meier’s Civilization Network, a new take on one of gaming’s most loved (and most addictive) franchises, expected to roll out later this year.

"Civilization Network will allow you to join together with your friends to create the world’s most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization," said Meier in a note announcing the game. "The game will offer everything you enjoy in Civ in a fully persistent environment - you can play as much as you like, whenever you like, and it’ll be free to play."

Excitement level: High
Civilization is the king of "just one more turn" games. If the solo PC version can glue you to your seat, just imagine how sticky it will be when you can play competitive or cooperatively with friends.

PlayFirst

Best known as the developer of casual PC games, PlayFirst is looking to expand into the social media space this year.

The company has one title out now, but look for its hit Diner Dash to make the move later this year.

While the game’s not officially announced yet, it’s a move that makes sense. The Diner Dash series, which has been dominating sales charts for 5 years, is already on all of the existing gaming systems (and the iPhone). To date, its various iterations have been downloaded more than 550 million times worldwide. A Facebook fan page for the game boasts just shy of 18,000 fans.

PlayFirst doesn’t seem to be making much of an effort to hide its plans.

“We’re very much bringing our brand and our IP to the social space, but we’re not necessarily bringing the same game mechanics from the PC side,” says Mitali Tappniak, general manager of social games for PlayFirst.

Excitement level: High
Diner Dash is extraordinarily popular with women, who also are big users of Facebook. Once it hits, this could well be one of the biggest games in social networking.

Break Media

The parent of Break.com and other men’s entertainment Websites has built a 30-person Shanghai-based studio to develop social games for its network of sites.

The first, MMAFight Picker, will launch Feb. 1 on its MMA-themed CagePotato.com site. Throughout the year, Break plans to roll out another five games to its other holdings.

Excitement level: Low
Break seems to have some good ideas, but by fencing the games in their own network of sites, they’re cutting out a large potential audience. If the company wises up and extends the games to other social sites, though, it could be a win-win for both players and Break.

Heatwave Interactive

The developer of the iSamJackson iPhone app is moving into the social gaming arena with Platinum Life, a hip-hop lifestyle game due in Feb.

Players will create and customize avatars, build an entourage, then interact with real-life celebrity hip hop stars, such as T.I.

Excitement level: Medium
Heatwave's still building its track record, but the iSamJackson app is a fun one. And the hip-hop world is currently woefully underrepresented in social network gaming; this one could change that.

Booyah

Best known as an iPhone app developer, Booyah is looking to expand its reach into social gaming this year. The company plans to roll its hit MyTown app onto Facebook as a way to expand its reach. Other upcoming projects may include Facebook versions as well.

Booyah may not be alone, either. ngmoco, creator of Rolando and Topple for the iPhone, hasn’t formally unveiled plans to expand beyond Apple’s products, but chief publishing officer Simon Jeffery notes that “mobile and social network gaming is merging now – it’s a completely new territory and the opportunities are still being defined.”

Excitement level: Medium
MyTown is growing fast on the iPhone, so it will likely do well on social networks as well. It’s a new style of gaming, though, which may take a little time for players to adjust to. Should ngmoco bring some of its hits to Facebook, though, we’ll quickly raise that excitement level to high.