{"id":657145,"date":"2013-05-09T15:06:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T19:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=643820"},"modified":"2013-05-09T15:06:38","modified_gmt":"2013-05-09T19:06:38","slug":"this-offline-video-game-with-xbox-controller-support-shows-chrome-os-isnt-just-a-browser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/657145","title":{"rendered":"This offline video game with Xbox controller support shows Chrome OS isn\u2019t \u201cjust a browser\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I expect we&#8217;ll hear much more about Chrome OS apps next week at the Google I\/O developer event. Some developers aren&#8217;t waiting to move forward with apps for Chrome OS, however, and that&#8217;s a good thing. Although it had humble beginnings as a browser-based interface on a prototype laptop in 2010, Google&#8217;s Chrome OS is poised to expand beyond the browser with true apps of its own.<\/p>\n<p>Take this game in the Chrome Web Store, for example. It&#8217;s called <a href=\"https:\/\/chrome.google.com\/webstore\/detail\/cracking-sands-racing\/pnafpgbiiobelphegdbieldnmojicndb\">Cracking Sands Racing<\/a> and comes from Polarbit, which has already released the game <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/app\/cracking-sands\/id565877878\">for iOS<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.polarbit.crackingsands&#38;hl=en\">Android<\/a>. That tells me it&#8217;s basically a port of the mobile version. Plus the 533 MB download and offline support verify this is an app; not a game that&#8217;s being powered by the cloud. Here&#8217;s a video of the gameplay, which is exactly what the game looks like on my Pixel:<\/p>\n<p> <span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='604' height='370' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zY2_mqNe78Q?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;%23038;fs=1&#038;%23038;showsearch=0&#038;%23038;showinfo=1&#038;%23038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;%23038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>I downloaded Cracking Sands to my Chromebook Pixel, turned off the laptop&#8217;s Wi-Fi radio, plugged in a wired Xbox 360 controller and had a ball with this.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s no rival to current high-end console games, of course, but it&#8217;s fun and can be placed on a Chromebook even without an internet connection. And since the game originated on mobile devices with touchscreens, I can even play it using the Pixel&#8217;s touchscreen, although I prefer using a controller.<\/p>\n<p>The point here is this: <a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2013\/05\/01\/more-offline-chrome-apps-arrive-chrome-web-store-previews-packaged-apps\/\">Google has been working on its Packaged Apps<\/a> and Native Client support for some time and I think this effort will be highly visible next week at Google I\/O.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of touting Chrome OS solely as a fast web experience with some web apps and extensions, I suspect Chrome OS will be shown as a true desktop operating system alternative. Developers are starting to jump on board, although I&#8217;d like to hear more from Google just how many are interested. As a full-time Chromebook user, I can&#8217;t wait to see what apps end up on the improved Chrome OS platform.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/stats.wordpress.com\/b.gif?host=gigaom.com&#038;blog=14960843&#038;%23038;post=643820&#038;%23038;subd=gigaom2&#038;%23038;ref=&#038;%23038;feed=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/jump?iu=\/1008864\/GigaOM_RSS_300x250&#038;sz=300x250&#038;%23038;c=163108\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ad?iu=\/1008864\/GigaOM_RSS_300x250&#038;sz=300x250&#038;%23038;c=163108\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:<\/strong><br \/>Subscriber content. <a 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Success With Netbooks<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/pro.gigaom.com\/2009\/08\/life-after-chrome-whats-next-for-android\/?utm_source=mobile&#038;utm_medium=editorial&#038;utm_campaign=auto3&#038;utm_term=643820+this-offline-video-game-with-xbox-controller-support-shows-chrome-os-isnt-just-a-browser&#038;utm_content=kevintofel\">Life After Chrome: What&#8217;s Next for Android<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img width='1' height='1' src='http:\/\/gigaom.feedsportal.com\/c\/34996\/f\/646446\/s\/2bb7fdc2\/mf.gif' border='0'\/><\/p>\n<div class='mf-viral'>\n<table border='0'>\n<tr>\n<td valign='middle'><a href=\"http:\/\/share.feedsportal.com\/share\/twitter\/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgigaom.com%2F2013%2F05%2F09%2Fthis-offline-video-game-with-xbox-controller-support-shows-chrome-os-isnt-just-a-browser%2F&#038;t=This+offline+video+game+with+Xbox+controller+support+shows+Chrome+OS+isn%E2%80%99t+%E2%80%9Cjust+a+browser%E2%80%9D\" ><img decoding=\"async\" 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Some developers aren&#8217;t waiting to move forward with apps for Chrome OS, however, and that&#8217;s a good thing. Although it had humble beginnings as a browser-based interface on a prototype laptop in 2010, Google&#8217;s Chrome OS is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-657145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}