Google Targets Gaming With Chrome 22 Browser

Google has upgraded its Chrome web browser, with version 22 offering 3D gaming improvements as well as a Pointer Lock JavaScript API (also called Mouse Lock) that will allow more accurate gaming while using a computer mouse.

The upgrade was one of several features highlighting the latest stable release of Google Chrome, which was announced in a 25 September post by Jason Kersey, technical program manager of the Google Chrome team, on the Google Chrome Releases blog page.

Gaming Improvements

The latest Chrome 22 version also includes 24 bug fixes as well as Windows 8 enhancements and continuing improvements to the browser’s interoperability with Apple’s Retina screen technologies. The Retina screen support was first added in the previous version of Chrome, Version 21, back in August and is continuing to be polished, according to Kersey’s post.

With the JavaScript API, new classes of applications will be more compatible with Chrome, according to a related Google Chrome post by Vincent Scheib, a Chrome software engineer. “Now, 3D applications such as first-person games can allow users to control their perspective naturally with the mouse, without moving outside the window or bumping into the edge of their screen,” wrote Scheib. A 3D, first-person shooter demo was created by Mozilla to demonstrate the feature, he added.

“While games are fun, these capabilities also empower other types of applications such as medical and scientific visualisation, training, simulation, modelling, authoring packages, and more,” wrote Scheib. The new feature will now combine with other related features that already are built into Chrome, including WebGL, Web Audio, Fullscreen, WebSockets, Gamepad, and Pointer Lock to provide a richer gaming experience for Chrome users.

Chrome 22 is available immediately for free download for Windows, Apple OS X and Linux users.

Bug Fixes

The bug fixes in Chrome 22 include one critical fix and 14 that correct high level threats, according to the Chrome team. Six medium level and three low level threats are also repaired in the new stable release.

The debut of Chrome 22 keeps Google on its schedule of new versions about every six weeks to fix bugs and add new features for users. The last version, Chrome 21, was moved to Google’s stable development channel on 31 July.

The last Chrome 21 release added new APIs for high-quality video and audio communications, as well as deeper Google Cloud Print integration.

Happy Birthday

Chrome celebrated its fourth birthday 4 September and has accomplished a lot in the four years since its birth in September 2008. This past June, it surpassed Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the world’s most used browser for the first time and it has added lots of useful features and strengths over the years to encourage even more users to adopt it.

In June, when Chrome unseated Internet Explorer for Web supremacy for the first time, it was a watershed moment for the young browser. StatCounter data from more than 15 billion page views (4 billion from the United States; 850 million from the United Kingdom) for the full month of May shows Chrome took 32.43 percent of the worldwide market, compared with 32.12 percent for IE and 25.55 percent for Firefox.

Microsoft still holds a comfortable lead in the United States with the IE browser, capturing 38.35 percent of the market in May, while Chrome trailed with 23.66 percent. Firefox followed close behind in third place with 22.41 percent market share, while other browsers (1.41 percent) and Opera (0.67 percent) rounded out the top five.

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