Last week, I talked to Punit Soni, who runs games and mobile for Google+, to get an update on Google’s plan for social games. Since the conversation took place before Facebook’s filing, Soni has no direct responses to the numbers.

But he addresses in general how Google expects to challenge Facebook’s dominance in social gaming, and the big opportunity in front of them to do something different.

“There’s no point in being in this game if we are a ‘me-too,’” he said. “We want to be different.”

Yesterday, in Facebook’s IPO filing we learned that substantially all of the company’s payments revenue is coming from virtual goods from inside social games, and that one game publisher alone — Zynga — is contributing 12 percent of the company’s revenue, payments and advertising included.

At those rates, it’s easy to see why Google is emphasizing games and wooing developers to its platform.

It started off with a bang in August, when it launched games. In talking to reporters, Soni announced the company was sharing 95 percent of the revenue from virtual goods with developers, and was keeping only 5 percent for itself.

That was, and remains, much more generous than the 30 percent cut that Facebook takes.

Still, with only 36 games on its network, and far fewer users (however you want to calculate it), Soni was pretty honest about how far they still have to go. He was also extremely enthusiastic, and at times looked as if he wanted to leap out of his chair to get going on some of the projects Google had planned.

First, and foremost, he said they are working hard to get virality right; and second, they want to nail cross-platform, so that games worked seamlessly across the Web and mobile.

Viral channels are the most common way for people to learn about a game, and also one of the most controversial.

More than a year ago, Facebook was forced to dial back those channels, because users complained about receiving too many unwanted messages.

“We err on the side of caution,” Soni said. “We are slowly giving more options to do things.”

Soni said they also see a big opportunity to differentiate by offering a multiplatform approach, and letting developers build games that work across Google+, Google’s Chrome Web Store and mobile. Of course, it has an advantage because of the millions of Android users, whereas Facebook’s mobile efforts are still nascent.

Already, there are some examples of cross-platform play.

Today, you can play Rovio’s Angry Birds and Bubble Witch Saga across both Google+ and the Chrome App Store, and can pick up where you left off between the two.

“These are not Google+ games, but games that are on Google,” Soni stressed. “A lot more is coming on mobile.”

Google has also focused on getting a number of games as exclusives that launch a few weeks on Google+ before they show up on Facebook. To date, it has scored at least three titles — including a major title, Kabam’s Godfather — and there are more coming.

Asked why the game developers are willing to go exclusively on Google+, Soni said there’s some marketing that Google is willing to put toward it, but otherwise, “they are betting on us.”

He says it’s mostly the potential of the platform, and the fact that he’s receptive to feedback, that helps him understand exactly what developers need. Developers also acknowledge that supporting more platforms is helpful in reaching more players and diversifying their risk.

“If they say it’s because the platform is the best ever — no, it’s not true. But the plans we have and the sensitivity that we have for our users and developers, we will be very good sometime soon. … That’s why you are seeing exclusives.”

Soni wasn’t wiling to spill specific plans about what was launching next, but said a lot more is coming.

“We are a start-up platform. We are humble and know our flaws. As we grow, you’ll see new things. My work has barely started,” he said.

In particular, what should be frightening is that Google is attempting to break today’s 30 percent cut that has become standard across both Facebook and Apple.

In a video interview with reporters, Google+ Games Product Manager Punit Soni explained that initially Google will share 95 percent of the revenue from virtual goods sold with the developers and keep only five percent for itself.

That confirms what I originally reported hearing from sources last month.

Soni said it could change in the future, but pricing today will be based on the company’s new in-app payments platform, which charges five percent for microtransactions on the Web (unlike the 30 percent Google charges on Android).

While it’s obvious how this might make Facebook uncomfortable, it should also worry Apple, if there’s enough pressure from developers to shift the standard to something less rich.

Soni also said today that Google is interested in allowing games to be played cross-platform, meaning a person could pause their game on the Web and then pick back up in the same place on their phone.

“There’s nothing to announce today, but it’s something we are looking at,” he added.

Of the 16 games that were released by 10 developers today, one of them was developed in HTML5. The rest were built in Flash. The industry has high hopes for HTML5 unifying both the Web and mobile, by making it possible for software to be written once and run across multiple devices.

If Google+ games could run through the browser on the iPhone or iPad, it could undercut Apple on its own device.

In that scenario, of course, consumers would have to find a compelling reason to switch from playing games that are downloaded through the App Store to playing games through a Google+ experience. Regardless, it should be comforting to developers who are uneasy with the control that either Apple or Facebook has from time to time.

Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product for Google+, also dropped in to the “hangout” session with reporters to give his thoughts on expanding into games.

“We don’t consider ourselves experts at making compelling games, but we can bring a lot to the party,” he said. “There were some internal debates about whether Google was well-suited to have games in our repertoire and what is the value of games to the users. There’s tremendous value for users. They provide a way for people to connect, discover and interact with each other … We don’t see games contrary to our mission, or a diversion. We see them as being core.”

Virtually everyone agrees that “OS X Leopard is far superior to Vista,” says Cook. He goes on to tout the Mac’s software. He speaks of compatibility and Boot Camp, which allows Windows to be run on a Mac.

Cook notes that Microsoft Vista’s failure at market–one of the greatest missteps in Microsoft (MSFT) history, according to Cook–has afforded Apple (AAPL) an unprecedented opportunity to win over Windows users to the Mac platform. He says Apple retail stores receive 400,000 visitors a day and that 50 percent of the company’s sales are now to Windows users.

Mac has outgrown the market 14 out of last 15 quarters, Cook continues. The Mac retail share has grown to 18 percent of U.S. retial sales, with a revenue share of over 31 percent, which means that one out of every three dollars spent on computers is spent on a Mac. Quite an achievement.

Finally, Cook points out that Macs now account for 47 percent of computers at universities. Apple has sold more Macs in in the last three quarters than it sold in all of 2007.

Virtually everyone agrees that “OS X Leopard is far superior to Vista,” says Cook. He goes on to tout the Mac’s software. He speaks of compatibility and Boot Camp, which allows Windows to be run on a Mac.

Cook notes that Microsoft Vista’s failure at market–one of the greatest missteps in Microsoft (MSFT) history, according to Cook–has afforded Apple (AAPL) an unprecedented opportunity to win over Windows users to the Mac platform. He says Apple retail stores receive 400,000 visitors a day and that 50 percent of the company’s sales are now to Windows users.

Mac has outgrown the market 14 out of last 15 quarters, Cook continues. The Mac retail share has grown to 18 percent of U.S. retial sales, with a revenue share of over 31 percent, which means that one out of every three dollars spent on computers is spent on a Mac. Quite an achievement.

Finally, Cook points out that Macs now account for 47 percent of computers at universities. Apple has sold more Macs in in the last three quarters than it sold in all of 2007.