Mobile gaming has come on leaps and bounds as technology advances. And while touch screen games can still be good, you still can’t beat the feel of a full-size gamepad for proper gaming experience. For Android, that means the Stratus XL. It’s the latest mobile controller by SteelSeries and offers everything a gamepad should.
Along with the Nexus Player that Google announced a couple of weeks ago, the company said that a game controller—that looks a lot like a Wii U classic controller—would soon be available to buy separate of the Player’s $99 price. Up to four people would be able to play at once using this controller, and it looked like the Nexus Player could become the Ouya that never was with its help.
As Samsung works to capture more of the Android gaming market with the release of a new controller, a new analytics study shows Android gaming is on the rise. Apple may be considered the dominant leader in the mobile gaming category and it remains steadily in the driver’s seat, but 2013 indicated the Play Store is moving up fast.
Samsung’s riding the Android game train all the way to the bank with the introduction of the new Smartphone GamePad and Mobile Console app. The GamePad and app are made specifically to “enhance the gaming experience on Samsung’s popular line of Galaxy devices. Launched in response to the rapidly expanding global mobile gaming market, Smartphone GamePad provides consumers with a fun, convenient, and advanced gaming experience anytime, anywhere.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvKd7N8ifhI
9to5Google gave you a demo yesterday of the Archos Android-powered GamePad coming to the United States market in the next couple of months. While at the Archos booth on the show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center for CES this week, we also got the rundown on its new “TV Connect” Android 4.1.1-powered TV product. The set-top box packs a 1.5GHz “Smart Multi Core” CPU, 8GB of storage (microSD card slot up to 32GB), and 1GB of RAM, and it comes with a hybrid game controller/QWERTY keyboard that also includes Wiimote-like gesture support. The TV Connect will retail for $130 this February.
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YouTube recently rolled out an app to the Nintendo Wii Shop Channel for Wii users, and today it announced on the Official YouTube Blog that the app is now available for Wii U owners. While it appears you won’t be able to watch actual video from the GamePad, you will be able to search, flip through subscribed channels and categories, and view any video in 1080p on the big screen. The YouTube app is available as a free download from the Nintendo Wii U main menu.
You may have already noticed, but Google’s latest Olympic-related doodle on the homepage is an interactive HTML5 game that celebrates hurdle races. Users can notably pair a USB-powered gamepad, keyboard, or mouse to control the game’s runner and to help him conquer the track’s hurdles.
Google revealed in a Google+ post today (screenshot below) that the doodle “makes use of the brand-new Gamepad API, which uses JavaScript to read the state of any gamepad controller attached to your computer, and which was just added to Chrome last week.”
Check it out: Google.com
Speaking at a conference in Liverpool (via Develop), Google’s Paul Kinlan revealed a few of the company’s plans in regards to making more additions to Chrome in 2012. The changes he outlined include the browser supporting plug-and-play gamepads, a cool feature that would give gamers a better way to game through Google+ games. Kinland also said the browser would be receiving the open source WebRTC platform.
Google is to add plug-and-play gamepad, webcam and microphone support to its Chrome web browser early next year, Google’s Paul Kinlan has revealed.
Speaking at Develop Liverpool, Kinlan also claimed that the search engine giant would be adding open source video and voice chat application WebRTC to its web browser.
Both additions would allow Google to offer more cloud and gaming services. We’re sure these are the first changes of many for the year of 2012.
