Virginia based Mpowerplayer, the online mobile game platform, has launched a Facebook app that lets you play and purchase mobile games. Creating a sort of portal for mobile games like Sims Bowling and Guitar Hero, Mpowerplayer has combined the mobile gaming experience with the online environment, inside of a Facebook application.

We’ve seen other gaming platforms such as SGN and Zynga that are taking advantage of Facebook’s platform in order to market games in their network. And we’ve also seen mobile gaming platforms such as Frengo that have combined Facebook apps with their own mobile game offerings. what we don’t see very often, however, is the combination of all three of these components.

Mpowerplayer’s application acts as a mini gaming directory, giving Facebook users direct access to pages of mobile games. It also features a mobile game preview feature so you can play the game on Facebook in the same way you would play the game on your mobile phone. In some scenarios this makes the game preview more complicated, as mobile phones use the numeric keypad for controlling game moves, whereas an online preview relies on mouse clicks for the mobile game interface, or the use of designated keys (arrows, numbers, etc.).

If you come across a game you like, you can recommend it, share it with others, and even purchase the full version for your mobile phone. While the purchasing of a mobile games can’t be done directly through Facebook, it’s clear that Mpowerplayer is hoping to use this game preview application as a promotional tool for its main service. I don’t think this portal/directory approach would work without the mobile preview feature, as it brings a more complete gaming experience to end users on Facebook.

What’s missing, however, is an integrated gaming experience that fully tracks your high scores, or a social component that lets you see what your friends are playing or recommended. If there’s a way to layer in some more of the social leveraging that Facebook apps are capable of, the Mpowerplayer application could be all the more useful.

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