Google+ and Native Client: A safe haven for hardcore game makers?

Joe Osborne
Updated
Google Chrome
Google Chrome

Google may have just made its biggest gaming play yet. During the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Google developer advocate Colt McAnlis pimped the company's newest technology for web-based gaming: Native Client. What it does essentially is allow traditional PC game developers to easily bring their games to the Chrome Web Store and Google+.

"Native Client is a technology that allows you to run C++ code in a web page with no plug-in, which is kind of amazing," McAnlis described, according to GamesIndustry International. "That means that these AAA developers who write code and shipped it on Xbox 360, like From Dust right here, can actually take this same code, compile it with Native Client, and put it right in a web page."

Nuts and bolts aside, this allows games that were traditionally exclusive to PCs and game consoles to live again in the browser. (Of course, we imagine that gamers would still need beefy hardware to run such games--this isn't Gaikai or OnLive.) In theory, it's a hardcore PC game maker's dream come true, as it has the potential to turn any PC game into a social game.

"We announced on Monday that Native Client games are now able to play on the Google+ canvas. This means that you can actually run C++ code on Google+. You get the full graph, you get full interaction with everything," noted McAnlis, according to GI International.

Better yet, McAnlis said that Google will not charge developers a dime to bring their games to either the Chrome Web Store or Google+, but will take a 5 percent cut should they opt to use Google Wallet for payments. Google already has big-time game makers like Square Enix and Ubisoft on board, along with other smaller studios. If this Native Client initiative pans out, Google could very well have found its social gaming niche.

Are you intrigued by Google's hardcore-heavy gaming move? Could this be what puts Google+ on the map as a viable social game destination for traditional gamers? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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