Google updates Play Services with turn-based multiplayer, improved battery life, and more

Google last updated its Play Services app back in October when KitKat and the Nexus 5 launched with a plethora of improvements. Today via the official Android Developers Blog, the company has announced another rather significant update to the app, brining it to version 4.1.

First off, the update will allow for developers to start implementing turn-based multiplayer capabilities into games entirely with Play Services. This will allow for improved asynchronous games with friends and opponents. The update also adds a developer preview of a new Google Drive API that lets users read and write Google Drive files from any device, with or without a data connection, and have their changes synced across other devices and platforms.

One of the most important changes to non-develoeprs is improved battery life for users that have Google Location Reporting enabled, which has been a problem in the past. Finally, Google also notes of improvements to mobile ads, as well as the Google+ and Gmail integration we reported on earlier today.

With Google Play services 4.1, the Google Mobile Ads SDK now fully supports DoubleClick for Publishers, DoubleClick Ad Exchange, and Search Ads for Mobile Apps. You can also use a new publisher-provided location API to provide Google with the location when requesting ads. Location-based ads can improve your app monetization.

The update is rolling out now through the Play Store. Though, it is a staged rollout and may take a few days for it to hit your device .