Google I/O Conference 2013 LIVE: Google Play Game Services Will Revolutionize Android Gaming
The announcements continue to come in fast and furious. The speculated and mostly confirmed Google Play Game Service was officially announced and comes with its own family of API’s that will bring some seriously cool features:
-Instantaneous cloud game saves: Users will be able to play their save games across multiple devices, (e.g. can play one level of a game on smartphone and second level on a tablet)
-Leaderboards and Achievements, now you can compare yourself against everyone who plays the game and be ranked against friends.
-Multiplayer support: Multiplayer will be available real-time and you can invite friends to play with you through the game itself. The demonstration unfortunately went a little bit awry during the conference when the three players were unable to connect. Hopefully that won’t happen during regular play.
Developers will be able to incorporate these new features into their apps starting today. Any developer will have access to the service but, "We won't make it a mandatory exercise, or have any certification process around it," said Google lead product manager Greg Hartrell, "We create fantastic services that allow developers to create these great game experiences, and help promote their discovery, help retain their users and keep them engaged."
This is in some ways similar to Apple’s Game Center but will be cross-platform so it can work on Android, iOS and the Web. This means you can play against smug friends with iPad’s and iPhones.
Interested in Google I/O? We’ll be following it all week starting today!
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