Today’s browsers have long outgrown their status as “web browsers” and are racing to become platforms in their own right. A variety of web applications can now perform a wide range of tasks, and in the future their capabilities will only expand, making the browser the main, and perhaps only, program installed on the computer.
A great role in this process can play computer games, because no one is a secret what role in the development of modern technology plays the entertainment industry. The eternal race of system requirements of games and computer hardware performance is a driver for the development of the industry for more than a year. For many users, the ability to access the most modern and exciting games is the main reason to buy or upgrade a computer. It goes without saying that Google understands that having a rich gaming experience can make Chrome the most appealing browser for users. The company has already taken a number of steps to realize Chrome’s gaming potential. First and foremost, it’s about incorporating new technologies into the browser to run increasingly complex and visually enhanced games. Let’s take a look at some of them.
First of all, we should mention the Native Client (NaCl) feature, which is a technology that allows you to run compiled code in the web browser. This allows you to use already existing C/C++ libraries and game engines, and also to increase application performance by providing access to special instruction sets SSE or NEON. Native Client has a number of features that can be useful for developers of browser games, such as integration with Chromium Javascript engine, safe isolated “sandbox”, OpenGL ES 2.0 support with extensions, CD-quality stereo sound and so on. Despite the fact that the implementation of NaCl is still in its early stages, developers already have a powerful and functional tool for creating computer games for Google Chrome browser.
HTML5 is the most advanced HTML5 web standard, with better multimedia support, threading support and graphics processing on the GPU graphics card. Games made with HTML5 and Javascript can run in almost any modern browser on any device, including smartphones, expanding the audience. Chrome’s proprietary engine, Chrome V8, delivers record-breaking performance in such applications.
Flash technology, though on the decline, is still a popular tool for game development. Google Chrome has a corresponding plugin built in by default and can even update it automatically, so you’ll always have the most up-to-date version of Flash.
Chrome not only supports all the existing popular technologies used in browser games, but also offers its own promising developments. With over 200 million users and a convenient Chrome Web Store offering both free and paid games, the potential of Chrome as a gaming platform should not be underestimated.
Game developers have already picked up on this trend, and they’ve been quick to release a number of interesting projects for Google Chrome. Some of them are new games, while others are reborn as a result of being ported to Chrome. The Chrome Web Store has many game apps, among which we have selected some of the most interesting ones for you.