Facebook just announced that it’s launching the ability for people to play games directly in the news feed.

“With feed gaming, you can include a short sample of your game in the stories people share from your game that friends can play in line with just a click,” says Facebook’s Gareth Morris in a post on the Facebook Developers Blog. “Because the game is just a sample, people can try out the game without needing to authorize it first. However, you won’t receive any personal information from the user.”

Games currently taking advantage of the functionality include: Idle Worship, Angry Birds and Bubble Witch Saga. Feed gaming, as Facebook is referring to it as, enables friends to compete with one another, and encourage engagement.

The documentation lists the following example use cases:

• Post a high score on a particular level and challenge friends to beat it.
• Enable a replay of interesting user activity so friends can see how to complete a level for example.
• Create a mini-game that users can play in-line to get them excited to play the game.

“At the end of feed game sessions, many games prompt players to install the app, converting trial players into new installs,” notes Morris.

Developers can also track the performance of the gaming stories. According to Morris, Facebook will begin tracking the story type in insights for your app.

Documentation is here.