When Google made the announcement about their upcoming Chrome Operating System, the first question that struck me was – What about gaming? Because I use Linux once in a while, (and when I do it is generally Ubuntu) the only way they can get me to use Chrome OS would be through a wider range of games made available through the service.

As of now, Windows continues to have a monopoly over PC based gaming, as there are very few existing games and very few being developed for Mac and Linux . But what needs to be kept in mind is the shift in gaming to browser environment, moving away from PC-hardware intensive gaming. The advantages include — reaching a wider audience, cost-effectiveness, easy distribution and control over piracy, albeit bandwidth intensive.

3D browsing as of now

Business Week had an interesting story a while back on how easy it has become to handle 3D graphics within a browser environment. They even mentioned the effort being put into building 3D games on iPhone, which till recent times, I thought, had very few genuine games. Most of the so-called games were touch-screen implementation of  flash games or just bling elements. The recent launch of games like Doom and the recent news of Duke Nukem being ported to iPhone, all sounds like good news, because if iPhone can handle those games, so can a Netbook with 1GB RAM.

I had earlier blogged about Vector entertainment who are developing a 3D racing game which will work within a browser using v3D engine. In the same story, I even mentioned the progress being made in Java to accommodate 3D objects within an applet. But java applets continue to be resource intensive and until this problem is sorted, the basic objective of games within a browser fails.

Window’s loss, is Google’s loss

If PC gaming move to a browser, Linux will gain a lot much more than any other OS, because primarily it’s free and more flexible than most OSes in the market. Secondly, Chrome is targeting Netbooks, which are low-spec, cheap and well, internet friendly. Gaming on such a platform is inconceivable, if not for a browser approach.

Apart from getting people to use Chrome OS, what does Google gain with an increase in browser based games? Well, most of these browser based games used in-game ads (remember Quake Live ?) for revenue, rather than charge users to play a game. We all know that Google is the king of contextual advertising, they can definitely use their platform to sell ads within a game. That said, in-game ads are a different ball game altogether. There is no option to click on an ad, you can leave a few bullet marks on the ad if you may. So technically speaking, in-game ads function as hoardings and lack the interactivity/customisation associated with Google ads.

But if they find a good work around and contribute to the developing support for 3D in browsers, they have a chance to push Windows out. Until then, I will happily stick with the “evil-empire”.

On Netbooks

When Google announced that the OS they made it pretty specific that their OS will be tailored to Netbooks. It needs to be remembered that the Netbook trend caught up just because of recession. What after recession? Will people continue to splurge money on high-end systems or will people opt for cloud based packages? If the latter turns out to be the future, Google just be able to do what they intend to do.

A while back, when Quake Live launched, I had pointed out how it’s not a browser game — as it was projected to be — but just a game which was launched in a browser. Now venturebeat reported of Vector entertainment, which making full scale 3D MMO flash games using v3D engine.

The game uses pixel shaded, vector graphics for vehicles and you will be able to interact with thousands of players in the game, which is in closed beta as of now. I wasn’t able to try out the game because of some problem with my flash security restrictions =(

The game is targeting kids in the 6-12 age group but hey am sure a lot of grown ups (including me) and gonna pounce on the site, come May 18, when the game gets out of beta.

In the game, you can even create your own car using “carstructor”. Not just tweaking the car like in NFS, but building a car from ground up, like creating a creature in Spore. You can do that even now, that too without signing-in. I really liked this part. I can’t show you people what I created but I don’t think it can be considered a car. oops!

The company is even running a contest asking people to design cars for the game and the winning car will become one of the official starter vehicles for Vector City Racers and the winner will receive tickets and roundtrip air travel to their choice of one of four national racing spectator events! The contest will officially begin on May 18, 2009 and ends on July 20, 2009

The v3D engine supports particle effects (to create rain, fire, smoke) and also realistic shadow, depth of field among other features.

Talking about 3D and browser based real-time rendering, Java’s 3D API deserves a mention.

As you can see in the video above, the APIs are pretty powerful but Java applets which can be embedded in browsers – like flash — has its own disadvantages (much like flash) which I won’t get into here. But in these two technologies, we see a taste of future of gaming, which is easy to build and distribute.

As appeared in DNA, Bangalore on March 8, 2009

Hardcore gamers will know that Quake III, much like Half-Life, is a cult game. Gamers get hooked on to it for years while trying on its different mods (modified versions). One even remembers a mode which let you play as any character from The Simpsons television series. However, like everything else, even computer games come with an expiry date. And the game developers know they are headed closer to this date when gamers start to look elsewhere for steamier entertainment.

Quake had reached that stage of its life and just when the gaming community thought it was dying an inevitable death, id Software, the American game developers, pulled out its trump card — a free version of Quake, which is playable through a browser. And suddenly, gamers were talking with feverish excitement about a game which you could play without worrying about system specs or DRMs or patches — nothing. Just plug and play.
What makes Quake Live a must-try is the ease with which it allows you to play multiplayer matches. It provides you exceptional gameplay and multiplayer experience, a first, almost, in gaming. There is no need to ‘join a server’ or to download a map-pack. Just when you begin to think that plug-and-play sound too good to be true, you figure there’s a hitch. It’s in the form of a compulsory tutorial level for first-time players. This, you will later discover, is really a ploy to distract you while the game quietly downloads some 250MB to your computer.
Once you’re over the shock of this game’s invasion of precious space on your hard drive, focus on its other interesting features — all minor options, but they make a world of difference. The game dices your performance into figures and gives you the choice to flaunt it or hide it. As the game is almost embedded in a webpage, your personal stats, and those of your friends, are just a click away. The available statistics start with basics such as your ranking and performance in recent battles. It then goes in-depth, listing individual performance ratings — your score with individual guns, performance from map to map and so on.
Every new achievement can bring you an award. But the ultimate goal of every Quake fan is to get his name on the international leader board. This board is sub-divided into most wins, frags, games played, time played, efficiency, accuracy and medals.
The graphics are a bit of a let down. The very last-gen graphics in Quake Live is bound to put off gamers addicted to the Crysis variety of games. But the more-than-impressive gameplay makes up for all the missing bells and whistles. Plus, dated graphics are the price you pay for high frame rates on a browser-based game.
With its automatic skill-matching feature, you need not worry about being posted against a tougher opponent. But you’ve got to be alert every second of the high-voltage game, as even the slightest distraction, and you could turn to face a rail gun pointed at you. The controls scheme too is similar to the one in Quake III — the usual ‘aswd’ combo we have come to terms with in numerous first-person shooters through the years.
As of now, you can pick and choose from 40 arenas with three team-based game modes — capture the flag, deathmatch and clan arena. The game can be set in any of the two individual game modes — duel mode and free-for-all.
What’s sorely missing from this otherwise near-perfect game is that among its many options for minor settings, it leaves no room for the gamer to add mods of his choice. The developers have announced that such a feature will be made available in the near future. We’re waiting.

Clouded vision

Lock and load and you are ready to go,
But the sense of betrayal doesn’t let you so.
You were promised manna from the heaven,
But given the forbidden fruit instead then.

So what is it about Quake Live, the new “browser-based” game from developers id Software that makes me feel betrayed? The game was initially promoted as one which is playable through a browser after installation of an add-on. This had many thinking that the game would make use of cloud computing technology, which would be a first in gaming. And so the game was awaited with much nervous anticipation. 

However, those who signed up for the game at quakelive.com where initially told to download a small plugin – a .msi file.

And the dream was a short one. It turned out the game required much more than an add-on to be downloaded. After installing the downloaded add-on, you can immediately login to the site and get gaming. You are forced to go through a training session – disappointing and annoying for those who have spent entire nights away playing first person shooter games. But it’s useful for first-timers. After this, you are pitted against a computer player who will try to blast missile after missile aimed straight at your head. How well you duck and dodge will decided if you begin with a “beginner” rating or as an “expert”.

Now, let me get back to the story about being betrayed. While going through the training session and fighting a crazy bot with the rocket launcher, the game had downloaded files more than 250MB into the system. So the core parts of the game will be on your system and not on the cloud! So why does this game play through a browser? id Software thinks it helps boost multiplayer element of the game and helps in better tracking of the user base.

Bad news for all fans of cloud computing. The shift from PC to cloud, you will know, happens only when all games adopt the cloud. Many thoughtQuake Live would show the light. Unfortunately, it has taken the road much-trodden. The wait continues.

RATING: 4/5

I hate queues! No matter what its for – registration, paying bills, checking out stuff at malls aaargh I hate them. But there are times when you put your grudge against queues aside and wait like an obedient boy. I am in one such queue now.. in line for Quake Live.. I don’t care even if there are 19k something people ahead of me in the queue as long as I get to play it.

For the uninitiated, Quake Live is a service from id which lets you play good ol’ Quake through a browser absolutely free. Now stop that bittorrent downloads, you don’t want any lag do you?

Apparently id, the developers of the epic Quake game, are releasing a multiplayer mode of the game which will be playable through a browser.

The beta testing will be made open for public in a few hours at the Quake live site

Now if you wondering “what’s the catch?” none would be my answer. id is planning to milk ad-revenue and let gamers be gamers –  have fun for free folks!

Game according to Wikipedia — Free For All, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Clan Arena