Chrome to add gamepad support

[nsane.forums]

Google has plans to add gamepad support and web video chat for its Google Chrome web browser, which could lead to Chrome supporting such features as streaming games and more.

Google's Chrome web browser is gaining more and more users and Google itself continues to update the browser every few weeks with new features. Some of those new features could be of interest to gamers. The Edge web site reports that during a gaming development conference in London this week, Google developer advocate Paul Kinlan indicated that Chrome would soon be able to support gamepads in an upcoming update.

The plug-and-play gamepad support will be added to Chrome sometime in the first quarter of 2012, according to Kinlan. The fact that Google is bothering to add gamepad support at all to Chrome may indicate a bigger interest by Google in supporting games in the first place. In addition to the additional support for gamepads, Google will also be adding support for microphones and cameras for Chrome in the near future. Another future addition for Chrome is WebRTC, an open source-based web video chat program that can run in Chrome with no need for a plug-in program.

With plans to offer gamepad support, Google is setting the Chrome browser, and perhaps the Chrome operating system, as a more friendly outlet for PC game developers. Microsoft's Windows OS has dominated the PC game space for decades but we have seen how the mobile game space has shifted over to the iOS and Android in just a few years.

View: Original Article