O3D is an open-source web API for creating rich, interactive 3D applications in the browser. This API is shared at an early stage as part of a conversation with the broader developer community about establishing an open web standard for 3D graphics.
http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/
I knew Google was going to bring a breeze of fresh air on the web since they dropped the bomb with Chrome, but I didn't expect it to be that fast and impressive.
I did not have the time to play with it yet, but if it's half impressive than what it looks, this new toy will singlehandedly change the web and the gaming industry as we know it, mark my words.
What does it mean for the gamers ?
It means that soon you might not have to;
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install a game on your machine
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backup your saved games
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reinstall the said game and restore your backups because you had to reinstall windows
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keep preciously your serial number
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connect to a server from within your game
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buy a boxed game
And your might be able to;
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just open a browser, login and start playing..
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from anywhere, any time, on any computer
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pay for what you use (micro-payments)
Sure there is already plenty of "cool" flash games available, but imagine doing that with World of Warcraft.
Why the game industry would want that ? Because if they don't jump in and exploit this new opportunity they might vanish very quickly, because others will find a new niche in it, which will eventually eat significant market shares of the gaming industry.
It might also be good for them to counter piracy since the game's source code would not be distributed at large, but rather kept on their servers. They would have to deal with other types of problems, but software crackers would not be a problem anymore.
Oh, and their games would run on Windows and Linux, or any other OS supported by Chrome.
I really hope this project is promising as it looks, but I apprehend the day my boss will ask me to create a 3D web page :|
Good job Google.
Biggest problem is people need to get the plug-in. Without the plug-in being supported, nobody will develop for it and without any games made for it nobody will make the plug-in.
Adoption will be slow, but perhaps in a few years it'll catch on enough to be successful...
@Dougal Matthews
I'm not sure about that. Would you say that Flash adoption was slow ? No, because people wanted all it's benefit. If you had the choice to either install WoW the traditional way on your computer or just install a browser plugin, which would you choose ?
Better, what if before playing the game the browser would ask you to install the required plugin, just like Flash. Do you think the adoption would still be slow ?
I think the only thing that might actually slow down the adoption is the other browsers. Because unlike Flash, this platform will probably not play well or easily be integrated in other browsers.
But who knows, Chrome is Open Source, anythings can happen.
Ars Technica interviewed the Google Product Manager on this new project.
http://arstechnica.com/software/news/2009/04/google-releases-3d-graphics-plugin-for-browsers.ars
The most interesting thing is that they want this technology to be embedded natively in browsers, bypassing the plugin installation step that is so crucial to adoption. They also say that they want to converge the technology with what Firefox is doing.
In a few years, this could mean that both Chrome and Firefox would already have this functionality present. This is not a small market share.
This isn't really anything new. GarageGames' 3D engine has been turned into a browser plugin for some time, and that's just one example of my 3D engines out there.