There is still debate raging as to whether or not HTML5 is suitable for gaming, but the fact of the matter is, the technology is being used to make games. Sure, there are still obstacles to overcome — Keepskor CEO Tristan Louis cited shortcomings involving caching and accessing core memory as major roadblocks for HTML5 and gaming — but 2013 looks promising.
Still, there hasn't been much from the major game development studios in terms of HTML5 — except that Epic Games' popular game engine, Unreal Engine 3, was recently ported to the Web. This is huge as it means that native code games and Web games running through a browser will be nearly impossible to tell apart. In other words, gamers can now expect a native gaming experience from browser gaming.
This breakthrough is only made more viable by the fact that as browsers improve, so does browser-based gaming. For example, upcoming versions of Mozilla's Firefox browser will feature the new OdinMonkey JavaScript engine, which is said to offer a performance boost of, no kidding, about 1,000 percent over existing engines. Those kinds of performance improvements will go a long way to ensure an excellent gaming experience in the browser.
Ok, that all sounds great, but it sounds like it's all a long way off, right? Well, those interested in taking a quick look at the future of Web-based 3D gaming can do so now via Mozilla's BananaBread demo, which is a 3D first-person shooter that runs entirely on Web technologies; it was coded with C++ and OpenGL and is compiled with Emscripten into JavaScript and WebGL.
Perhaps most impressively is the fact that BananaBread's multiplayer capabilities even integrate WebRTC, allowing players to engage in real-time Web communications with friends all from within a single browser window. Currently, though, this capability is only open to users running Firefox's latest bleeding-edge Nightly build.
While it's clear that Web gaming is still far from perfected, it's also clear that all the tools are there to provide an excellent Web-based gaming experience to match that of traditional PC and console gaming.
Edited by
Rich Steeves
