New Chromecast gives Google an ‘advantage’ in gaming

Google joins its competitors in taking yet another step into the gaming market, claiming that their new Chromecast will give them an "advantage" in a lucrative market.

Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have all bossed the gaming industry for quite some time however we are now seeing a shift towards mobile gaming, something that the likes of Google and Apple are looking to exploit.

Previously the Chromecast would allow people to wirelessly stream video content from their mobile device straight to a connected television, however the new model will offer a gaming option which will allow gamers to play with their mobile device as a controller for the content that appears on-screen.

The vice president of Google's Chromecast, Mario Queiroz, brushed off comparisons with competitive products such as Apple TV, during an interview with The Guardian.

“There’s a fundamental difference between the other models out there and what we’re doing. Games require computing power, and the smartphone has superior computing power to any of the popular streaming boxes that are out there. It may be one or two generations more computing power,” he told the Guardian.

“By running the game on the smartphone, you’re taking advantage of much more powerful computing power than you are by downloading a game on to a streaming box and running it on that device."

For those that aren't aware, the Chromecast was originally released in 2013 and Google recorded around 17million sales by May 2015, with the technology not only compatible on many Android devices but on some iOS apps too.

“Our model gives us a huge advantage in being able to run games and render much higher quality graphics. And we are seeing a lot of takeup by game developers of our APIs, including those that allow them to build multiplayer games. Something we think will be very popular with the Cast model" Queiroz added.

Aside from the challenge of entering the gaming industry, Queiroz also suggested that the challenge of selling Wi-Fi connected speakers could prove a test of the company's metal, so to speak.

“Fewer than 5% of US households have speakers that can connect to Wi-Fi” he said.

Also, when asked if Google could reach a fair share of the other 95% and build a pretty mainstream product, he responded: “I think we will. That’s our objective. The pieces of this that are new – that can bring it mainstream – are firstly the apps that people already use to listen to music on their smartphones."

“Second, they already have speakers and wifi in their homes. And now for $35, you are bringing all of that together.”

If you would like to read more about the new Google Chromecast, click here.

[TheGuardian]