Facebook games to hit the red carpet at 2011 Golden Joystick Awards

This year, you may see CityVille Sam strutting or the Zuma Blitz frog hopping along the red carpet at the 2011 Golden Joystick Awards on Oct. 21 at the Westminster Bridge Park Plaza in London. (OK, probably not, but that would be seriously awesome.) Future, hosts of the awards for 29 years running, have teamed up with UK games magazine GamesMaster this time around and have introduced a new category: free-to-play games.

More importantly, there is a number of Facebook games on the list that could win the coveted honor of Free-to-play Game of the Year. CityVille, Empires & Allies, FIFA Superstars and Zuma Blitz have all been put up for a vote by the public starting now. However, they're beset on all sides by plenty more free-to-play MMOs (massively multiplayer online games) like the popular League of Legends, RuneScape and Champions Online among eight others.

Everyone knows that Facebook games are popular. But it's only recently that they have been publicly recognized at large media events. For instance, FarmVille and social other games scored nominations at this year's Webby Awards, while a number of upcoming social games like Sims Social and MargaritaVille were featured at this year's E3. (Even a game about illegal farming was nominated for an award recently.) So, consider this a call to action.

Voting in the Golden Joysticks is absolutely free and available now right here. And those who vote in every category will be eligible for prizes like copies of the nominated games and even a PS Vita--but back to the mission. Should you accept it, you must vote for your favorite Facebook game and make sure that the world's biggest place for games is not only recognized, but beats the competition. Dismissed!