Could Google Become a Game Publisher?

Forbes is running a story examining the possibility of Google becoming a games publisher. The launch of their Google Lively 3D world and the acquisition of in-game advertiser AdScape has analysts speculating on whether Google will use its enormous reach to tap into the lucrative games market. "Google also has several existing technologies that could be used to create games. Imagine a flight simulator that uses Google Earth as a backdrop or tracking a spy in a major city via Google Maps' street view. While there would still be significant work required to create a game using these tools, the underlying technology is already fundamentally finished."

Interesting...

[PunkOfLinux]

I know I ask this every time I see a game article...but...
Will it run on Linux?

Multiplatform

[djveer]

I almost hope so, that way we'd have a few more multi-platform games on the market.

Re:Multiplatform

[Naughty Bob]

Gotta stick my oar in here- Whenever the old 'will this game run on Linux' question is asked, a bunch of, er, people weigh in with a load of pro-microsoft ranting.

Fair enough, in that no serious PC gamer can really do without a Windows install somewhere on their drives.

But they should realise that competition can only improve their own experience, regardless of which platform they chose to actually play on.

I've played the same game, same settings, on both XP and via WINE, with higher FPS on the latter (though the other way around is more usual). Surely this should tell you something?...

Competition is good for everyone.

Yes and No

[JaredOfEuropa]

A good game has a good concept, content, gameplay and eye candy. What Google has is just eye candy, and from a gamer's perspective it's not even very good eye candy.

They are not really any closer to being a game publisher than any other company, though they can throw a lot of cash at the problem to get there. If they want to publish games, I am sure they can make that happen. Whether they'll be succesfull games is anyone's guess.

Re:Multiplatform

[somersault]

True in most cases, but then again, look at the port of the source engine to PS3. Valve did the Xbox 360 port themselves but left the PS3 one to EA, who royally screwed it up. Competition is usually good, but developers can only stretch themselves so far.. I'd rather the competition be to make the actual games themselves great, rather than resources being split between too many platforms.

Besides, the whole ethos of Linux itself promotes enough competition among the different components you can use for filesystem, graphics drivers and APIs, sound APIs, window managers, etc.. even if it became the dominant OS there would still be innovation taking place simply because people can mess about with it legally and without jumping through too many hoops.