Relaunched as a social gaming platform, Friendster is now gaining momentum with increasing users and premium games.

MOL Global, the company that acquired the pioneer social networking site says Friendster has attracted more than half a million new users and now includes over 40 premium games in 2 months after it was introduced to the public on June 28. The new site is aimed at bringing social games to young Asians and helping games publishers and developers tap the robust gaming Asian markets.

Social gaming is a new genre of easy to play online game that is played by a wide demographic of users with their friends on social networks. Some of today's most popular social games on Friendster includes BoomZ and Dragon's Call.

Friendster's Chief Executive Officer Ganesh Kumar Bangah, said: "Social gaming is rapidly gaining momentum in Asia. The early results attest to the fact that social gaming is proving to be creating deeper engagements and interactions for these young Asian users."

Bangah further explained that the service continues to be developed and additional features are regularly being added in. Friendster has already added in Facebook Connect which allows users to login to Friendster using their Facebook account. Just last week, the new site allows users to choose Simplified Chinese as their main interface. Popular gaming features such as chat will be introduced in the coming weeks.

Though social games on Friendster are offered free, exclusive in-game items can to be purchased. Friendster's virtual currency, Friendster Coins, has seen a healthy increase since the site was relaunched. Friendster, which was relaunched with a new brand and logo, has also introduced a free wireless Internet services at popular outlets such as Starbucks and Papa Johns across Malaysia.

Friendster was acquired by MOL Global in late 2009. MOL Global also operates MOL Access Portal, a leading Internet payment provider for social networking sites, virtual worlds and social gaming platforms. As part of the relaunch, Friendster moved its business operations out of the U.S. to Asia. Friendster is leveraging gaming specialists within the MOL team and the company now operates mainly from three Asian countries namely in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.