Tag Archives: Quake II browser
Gaming Could be a Possible Growth Area for Google
Posted on 17. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 
1 Comments
Last week, TechCrunch deftly pointed out that Google is on the hunt for someone to fill the role of Product Management Leader, Games. Currently, Google really does have too much going in the gaming market. It did, however, recently purchase LabPixies which creates widget-like games for the iGoogle portal as well as making games for Apple products, Android systems and social networking sites.
So the gaming arena could in fact be another engine of growth for Google, one that diversifies the company from advertising and its stated goal of profiting from enterprise cloud applications. If they move aggressively in this space, they may find themselves at an advantage when you consider that the console industry is now experiencing an overall decline in sales. More often than ever, multipurpose devices such as the iPad and smartphones allow people more flexibility to play video games without having to pay a lot of money for gaming titles. This is also true when you consider how successful some companies have become offering games on social networks.
Even some internal Google employees have ported a first person game like Quake II to the browser as one of their projects. Games are now capable of being ported over to HTML5 and run in the current generation of browsers, such as the Asteroids port that is available at the Chrome Experiments site.
Even OnLive, which plans on streaming games to your PC or television, will be launching this summer, allowing gamers to play their favorite titles from top publishers in an entirely new way. Although the bandwidth requirements may be quite high, OnLive is dubbing their service as “the future of gaming” which is most likely true.
Bottom line? There is a lot of room for Google to grow in gaming since their footprint right now is nascent. I would not be surprised if they would go with the now-classic free model that is supported by advertising, expertise that a mobile ad company like AdMob can lend to Google’s wealth of knowledge from utilizing AdWords on web sites and Apps like Gmail. That is, if the Federal Trade Comission ever approves the Google-AdMob deal.
WPilot is a Browser-Based Multiplayer Space Shooter (No Flash Required)
Posted on 18. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
The Chrome Experiments keep coming.
The site, which is owned by Google, is a place where developers who are interested in creating new and interesting browser-based technologies can put up their latest ideas. There are some interesting mash-ups that take the web browser user experience to the next level – without using Flash. One of which is a port of the Asteroids game to the browser using HTML5.
This new nugget, called WPilot, allows players to fight one another in a game that seems eerily similar to the Asteroids game I mentioned before. Nevertheless, WPilot bugs and all is a sign that the browser will become the window with which we use for almost everything that is computer related – even multiplayer games.
WPilot uses HTML5′s canvas and audio elements, WebSocket API and WebGL although sound does not seem to be working for Chrome browser right now. Here are the browsers and their compatibility/performance with the game.
I’m still waiting for those Googlers to release a standalone version of Quake II for the browser that is multiplayer. I’m sure that they have it running by now; they’re probably just hoarding it. Ok, maybe “closed beta testing”. But you don’t create a Quake II browser port to play the game by yourself.
Anyways, check out WPilot. Right now the multiplayer servers are empty, so head over there because I need something to do for the rest of my night.
