WWDC 2011: Major upgrade to Game Center for iPhone and iPad announced for iOS 5

During the keynote speech of WWDC 2011 tonight, Apple lifted the lid on the changes to Game Center due to be introduced in iOS 5, which effectively brings the service more into line with Xbox Live’s functionality on Windows Phone.

That means there will now be now be inbuilt support for turn-based gaming, and the friends list has been improved so that you can directly compare games against each other, and see friends of a friend.

For people ‘who like that sort of thing’, there’s now also the option of using an avatar for your account, although thankfully this isn’t a gurning 3D model and can be merely a photo of your real-life gurning face.

Of further note is the fact that you’ll be able to download games from within Game Center itself - something that should have really been there from the start given how much screen space on the iPad edition of the app is devoted to showing you Game Center-enabled titles.

It’s a long wait until us customers see the new features in action, though, as iOS 5 complete with the improved Game Center service is not scheduled to launch until the autumn.