The publisher behind Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega, is getting into the US social games business. While the company has worked on Japanese social games before like a Yakuza game, this marks the first time Sega will be going toe-to-toe with Zynga and Bitter Enemies Friends. Not to mention Sega was already on the lookout for American talent. Its line of Facebook and Hi5 games, Sega Play!, will begin by the end of Feb. with a localization of Sega Play! Baseball, Total Telecom reports.

In fact, the game is available now on Facebook, but it hasn't exactly been localized completely. Much of the game is still in Japanese, so we'll refrain from judgment ... for now. When it finally is ready for American audiences it will be one of the first baseball Facebook games released by a major publisher. In March, the company will launch Sega Play! Football on Hi5.

Of course, the games will be free to play, but will charge for premium items and boosts. In other words, standard Facebook game fare. But let's hope the gameplay is anything but standard. Sega already has plans for global expansion, according to Total Telecom, so watch out, Zynga.

Are you excited to play a baseball game on Facebook? How do you think Sega will fare against Zynga and the like? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.