The erstwhile Internet social networking leader MySpace, which has steadily been losing ground to competitors like Facebook, is venturing into the video games arena, in an attempt to regain some of its Internet foothold.

That social games are heading to become a key component in MySpace’s line of attack is evident from the Wednesday launch of the “MySpace Games” strategy – which will display online games on the site and attract developers – by the co-President Mike Jones, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Despite the fact that MySpace has been in dire straits for almost a year - with diminishing users; profound layoffs; two management reshuffles; and a practical obliteration by rival Facebook –, Jones had said in an interview that the company still has over 100 million users, of which 80 percent are in the US.

With social gaming fast becoming one of the newest uses of social networks, Jones elaborated that nearly one-third of the members of the Beverly Hills-based MySpace - an entity of media conglomerate News Corp - play games daily, adding up to almost 1 billion minutes every month. MySpace is looking to boost those figures to about 50 percent by 2010-end.

Jones said: “Just as MySpace made a real commitment to music, to have the best musicians and have the best content, we're now making the same type of commitment with games.”