“GameBox For Facebook” Tunnels Facebook Games To The iPad

Love them or hate them, one thing holds true of Facebook games: they’re crazy addictive. So addictive, in fact, that full-grown adults are having trouble pulling themselves away from the social network, all because of a few virtual strawberries. Luckily, a new iPad app has emerged that will let you play some of your favorite Facebook games outside where the sun shines, instead of in your musty, dark, virtual-fruit-filled room. It’s called GameBox.

For now, only two games have made their way into the GameBox app: Digital Chocolate’s Army Attack, and Zynga’s CityVille. More games are on the way though, promises the app’s developer. And don’t worry that things will look different on the iPad — everything about the user interface remains completely the same as it looks on Facebook.

So, how does it all work? Voodoo and sorcery. More accurately, it seems like all of the actual flash rendering is happening up in the cloud, with the GameBox app relaying things back and forth — sort of like a considerably less intense OnLive. With that being the case, we’d hope that the developer got some sort of permission from Zynga and co. before setting this thing free — with place-shifting technology like this being something of a legal grey area, it seems like a quick way to get a fancy new cease-and-desist letter dropped in your mailbox.

The GameBox for Facebook app is currently listed for $2.99 in the Apple App Store.