What if Google did video games?

[Soulburner]

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/36270/128/

Analyst Opinion - The gaming market is in a real mess right now. We have 4 active game systems the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360, the PS3, and, not to forget, the PS2, which outsold all of the others last year. On the PC side, we have Windows XP games, Windows Vista Games, Flash-based games, and some folks are still porting to the Mac.

Looking at how technology has changed over time, and looking at what is being done to create the 3D Web, it won’t be long until folks step back and realize that this huge hardware diversity just isn’t working. Instead, centralizing and standardizing hardware could not only turn out as a better way to enter the segment, but as a more profitable way to remain in it as well.

[WeaponX]

Google could do it but then again, they could probably do a lot of things but choose not to.

[DeathReborn]

Google would keep the games as Beta products & they'd be online based. I don't want to be forced to connect to the internet every time I fancy playing a bit of Google Football or Googlefield 2008.

They would probably have pretty good modding tools/support though.

[WeaponX]

Yeah, wth is up with Gmail still being in beta?

[vitaminc]

it will probably have some junk graphics, unoriginal content with advertising links everywhere

the only upside is you could search through your inventory much faster

[Bobsama]

Having a PC standardized for minimal hardware diversity.... isn't that a PSOne, Nintendo Game Cube, PS2, X-Box, X-Box 360, Nintendo Wii, and PS3? Those are consoles--computers with basically no hardware diversity out of their own line.

EDIT: Seeing something connecting a giant to an existing market is always sickening. Google holds too many cards in too many different places for this to be done correctly. I personally think the current model works, though the problem is people who game often don't know enough about components to differentiate a hard drive from RAM from graphics memory. I'm not saying we should change all that, but having Windows, for example, report all the CORRECT info about your computer would work well. The Vista "Experience" benchmarking is actually more where it should head, since most people can look at a set of clearly labled numbers and differentiate good machines from bad machines togame on. It's more where the market needs to go than "GeForce 7600 or greater or Radeon x1650 or greater" after "DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card" and "128MB or more graphics memory". To rate it as Vista does is a lot easier for those gamers who aren't enthusiasts, though the scores shuold have a different base-line then MS gave it. Some things like a quad-core should be a 6.9 but a dual-core of equal speed should be a 6.5. A HD3870 should be a 6.7, a HD3850 512 should be a 6.6, a 256 should be a 6.4, and so on. Save the top scores for the actual top hardware.

That, and include accurate information about each and every PC--including number of empty memory slots and correct type, number of PCI Express x1/x16 slots and Gen1.0, 1.1, and 2.0. All that good stuff that takes so long to extract when helping non-enthusiasts.

[iTravis]

Internet search to space exploration, healthcare, mobile phone...and now video games. Is there anything Google can't think of doing?

[GrimReaperGuy]

It's the next step. We already have a very diverse set of web applications... why not fully fledged modern games?
Well, actually, I'm certain there are a number of reasons why not, but only time will tell.

[Blauhung]

the only upside is you could search through your inventory much faster

I chuckled at this one:p:

I think they could try their hand at a few varsities of games. They wouln't be able to break their way into FPS's where Graphics and to a lesser extent story are the major factors in a good game. they might be able to break into some form of user influinceable type of MMO or the likes, but it's not like we really need anymore of them now.

[mr_knowitall15]

The only thing google would do is install their POS google desktop and google toolbars everywhere.
I can see it now,
"to use this google game, you MUST have google toolbar and google desktop installed. To accept, hit agree"
Agree/Agree

[Der_KHAN]

centralizing and standardizing hardware could not only turn out as a better way to enter the segment, but as a more profitable way to remain in it as welllol, yeah even more profitable for the companies and worse for the gamers :D

look what standardizing hardware/APIs has brought us: The "Games for Windows" programme! now we can all enjoy pc games that were made for consoles and can only be played decently with an xbox controller. thank you profitable gaming companies :)

[gallardo]

Well... if they launched a game right now it would sell like crazy just because it's Google, but it would probably be crap. Google is good at keeping things simple and that's what everybody loves about them. Whenever they try to complicate things, they screw up. If they'd stick to Zuma and Solitaire like games, maybe they'd be good. Go up against the likes of EA, Crytek and Blizzard and they will bleed money.

[swami]

Hell no!! The damage will be irreversible!

Resident Google 5

World Of Google

Command and Google

Call of Google 5

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