Google's new World Cup-themed Chrome game demos new web tech

Published June 20, 2014 4:31pm

Google is hitting two birds with one stone by rolling out a new FIFA World Cup-themed browser game to entertain smartphone users - while showing off new browser technologies.

Aptly dubbed "Kick with Chrome," the "experiment" has three games: Infinite Dribble, Space Kick, and Shootout, all optimized for the mobile version of Chrome.

"Thanks to the latest mobile web platform technologies, your phone or tablet is always your game controller in Kick with Chrome, and you can play with or without your desktop computer," product marketing manager Julia Harter said in a blog post.

In Infinite Dribble, a player can tilt his or her phone or tablet to "dodge defenders and roadblocks," or kick the ball high in the sky in Space Kick.

The third game, "Shootout," is a best-of-three game where a player can kick and block penalty shots.

CLICK HERE TO TRY THE GAME

But there's another reason for Google to roll out the games - to demonstrate the limits of web technologies.

"Web technologies like WebRTC DataChannel and WebSockets enable the real-time mobile-to-desktop connection, and the HTML5 Fullscreen, Accelerometer and Vibration APIs create the rich mobile web experience," Harter said.

A separate report on The Next Web said that while players may need a smartphone or tablet to play, "you can also use your desktop browser as a big screen for multiplayer experiences."

"Kick with Chrome does a great job showing off how powerful desktop and mobile browsers have become at creating app-like experiences," it added. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

Tags: google, googlechrome, videogaming