What's changed, and what still needs changing, about Apple's Game Center

Apple's social gaming platform Game Center - which now boasts more users than Microsoft's Xbox Live service - already allows you to compete with friends, unlock achievements, compare leaderboards, and generally brag to your buddies.

Compare it with third-party offerings such as the multi-platform OpenFeint, however, and it somewhat pales in comparison.

With the forthcoming release of Apple's iOS 5 in the autumn, Game Center will receive some much needed care and attention, and several new features, additions, and tweaks to boot.

Based on Scott Forstall's WWDC 2011 keynote, though, we won't be getting our hands on everything we crave.

Let's have a look at what changes the Cupertino giant is making to its gaming network, as well as the adjustments that will still seemingly be absent.

Although, with iOS 5 not set to drop until at least September, it's plausible that extra elements not showcased at last week's WWDC event will also sneak in.

Anyway, away we go.

Cash in your points

One of the biggest additions to Game Center through iOS 5 is a new leaderboard for all of those useless points you've earned tapping, swiping, and prodding your way through games.

The 40 points you earned for slicing three pears in Fruit Ninja and the ten Street Fighter IV points you grabbed for performing super combos will finally be aggregated to rank you against your friends and the rest of the world.

It's a long overdue feature.

Apple's social gaming hub is - ironically - far from social, but iOS 5 aims to change that, starting with your friends.

Firstly, you'll have the ability to take a peek at a list of your pals' buddies, check out these friends of friends' gaming prowess, and send them a friend request if they float your boat.

You'll also receive friend recommendations based on the people you're already chummy with, as well as on the games you've played in the past.

Sticking with recommendations, Game Center will also suggest several titles for you to try out in a similar fashion to the App Store's Genius system.

And if you like the look of the game, you'll even be able to download it directly from within Game Center. Finally.

In the background, Apple has added full support for turn-based games such as Disc Drivin' and the popular Words With Friends.

You, as the consumer, probably won't notice much difference on the front end, but it should make developers' jobs a whole lot easier.

Finally, you can spruce up your Game Center profile with an avatar, though this is simply a photograph of your mug and not an Xbox Live-alike customisable character - a little disappointing to say the least.

So, no outfitting your avatar with a Steve Jobs-esque turtleneck, then.

Some of the biggest gripes with Game Center are its hideous green, brown, and yellow colour scheme, its poorly designed layout, and its general lack of usability.

In short, Game Center needs a complete design and UI overhaul, beginning with alphabetised iPod-style lists for your friends and games.

A new screen from which you can view your friends' latest status updates, achievements, and unlockables wouldn't go amiss either.

One of iOS's greatest flaws - especially when it comes to gaming - is the inability to quickly and easily back up all of your saved data.

During Steve Jobs's iCloud keynote speech, the backing up of app data was mentioned, though it's unclear whether this extends to games and Game Center.

In any case, it'd be great to delete a game from your device without losing your progress, your cash collected, your stars earned, or the amount of green pigs you've smashed into oblivion.

Game Center should also be able to sync your progress across your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, so that you can continue your assault on the God King, regardless of which device you pick up.

There's a good chance this will be added before iOS 5's September launch.

Chat-'em-up

One of the most sought-after features in Game Center is the ability to chat to friends and send messages to them in the lobby, but this also appears to be absent from the announced additions.

Plenty of iOS titles such as Disc Drivin' already allow in-game text chat (with some even granting voice chat), but Pocket Gamer Towers wants to be able to have a good natter from within the Game Center app itself.

The ability to fire off a quick message to see which of your friends is available for a butt-kicking would be perfect, as would being able to see which of your friends are currently online.

Social savvy

One of the great things about Sony's PSN service is being able to post your unlocked achievements to Facebook for your friends to admire, or - more than likely - despise.

Again, titles like Firemint's Real Racing 2 already possess this functionality, but it should be a standard feature across Game Center.

Even integration with Apple's own Ping service would be a plus. Hell, it's not like anybody is using it for anything else.

And last, but by no means least: the facility to view a friend's achievements, even if you don't own the game in question.

As it stands, tapping on an app that isn't installed on your device boots you out of Game Center and straight into the App Store. That's just plain silly.

What would YOU like to see? Tell us below.