You're gonna' get a free mobile social game, Charlie Brown!

Perhaps Charlie Brown isn't hopeless after all. Snoopy and the gang are going social, thanks to a partnership between Capcom and Peanuts Worldwide. More specifically, Capcom's new mobile division, Beeline Interactive, will develop a new "freemium" game for smartphones and tablets. However, all we know about the game at this point is that it's slated for a fall release and will include Peanuts staples like Charlie Brown, Lucy and, of course, Snoopy.

This move comes hot off the heels of the (perhaps too) wild success of Smurfs Village for iOS devices and Zombie Cafe, both developed by Capcom. Now, the Japanese developer will hand off the duties to Beeline as it pursues its ... manlier franchises like Street Fighter and Resident Evil. According to Pocket Gamer, Beeline plans to release three other mobile games in around the same time frame: Smurfs' Grabber, Dream Park and Monster Pet Shop.

However, it's also important to note that Iconix Brand Group, which now owns the Peanuts brand, is taking the iconic cartoons-turned-traditional holiday specials way farther than just mobile social games. The Peanuts theme park rides are now featured in Amazement Park, a Facebook game created by Cedar Fair Amusement Parks, owner of 11 theme parks nationwide. Certainly more Facebook adventures for Snoopy aren't out the realm of possibility. All we hope is that they involve at least one epic battle between Snoopy and The Red Baron--at least one.

The creator of Mega Man has a Facebook game sans the blue bomber

Wow, what's next, Miyamoto announces a Facebook game? (Wait, no, that'll never happen.) Keiji Inafune, the legendary Japanese game producer and co-designer behind the original Mega Man, has announced his first project since leaving publisher Capcom. He left to make his own studio, Comcept, and The Island of Dr. Momo is the final result.

Set to release in Japan initially through the Gree social mobile games network, Dr. Momo a mysterious character that Touch Arcade reports is a lover of cute stuff, so your mission is to help him gather the cutest animals on Earth for some super-secret, super-cute project. Of course, the game will be supported through micro-transactions like paid currency and digital items. Inafune didn't mention a U.S. release, though we're not going to get our hopes up, and neither should you.

Seriously though, what Japanese (or American) designer can we see head to social games next? Hey, maybe this will be the next battle of the mega designers like the glory days of the SNES and Sega Genesis. If that's the case, social games are headed down a road filled with awesome.

Do you hope the man behind Mega Man will bring Dr. Momo overseas? What do you think the amount of major designers behind social games means?

Capcom feels the power of The Smurf, gets bullish on social games

Seriously, those blue buggers must be hypnotizing or something. Capcom, the Japanese games company behind serious game franchises like Resident Evil, has revealed serious intention to take advantage of the social games movement. 1UP reports that Capcom will employ a laser focus on the social games industry, the same industry that kept it in the black in 2011.

"Capcom has decided to look at the social-game field from the scope of the entire company," Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono told Famitsu Magazine, translated by 1UP. "Instead of framing it in its own section like consoles or mobile games, it's something that all of Capcom development is involved with."

The news comes just as Capcom announced that the next game in the wildly popular (in Japan) Monster Hunter series would appear on mobile phones through Japanese social game publisher Gree. Ono, who will lead the charge, went on to say that this company-wide push into social will ultimately lead to new properties, as not many social gamers are also fans of, say, Street Fighter, even in Japan. (Though, Ono has admitted that fighting games would fit right on Facebook.)

"We discuss all the issues that go behind a platform choice, then go with what we think is the best solution," Ono said. "If we have titles suitable for the overseas market, for example, then Facebook or Google+ are viable choices for that."

Capcom's strictly-social subsidiary, Beeline Interactive, has enjoyed immense success in the U.S. with games like Smurfs' Village. That said, we'd be surprised if this new found social initiative didn't creep over into Capcom's Western efforts. Facebook gamers: Better start practicing your Hadouken.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Do you think Capcom is making a smart move in focusing more on social games company-wide? What Capcom franchise do you hope hits Facebook or Google+ first?