Gameloft has launched an intriguing new service called Gameloft Live, which is a cross-platform chat and social networking service offering users free mobile games.

It's so far available in the UK, US, France, Spain, Germany and Italy, and lets people create groups for their friends, share photos, and ping messages back and forth.

Meanwhile, there's a mobile client, too, which you access by getting an SMS link sent to your phone.

The service is free, at least for now, and you can earn points for your activity which will then be redeemable towards free mobile games.

It's certainly a curveball move for the publisher, and it's unclear whether it represents an experiment, or a significant move into Web 2.0 style services.

Either way, Gameloft will be hoping Gameloft Live is more successful than its last venture into the PC world, Gameloft Connect, an iTunes-style application for selling mobile games which was later shut down.