Browser games have been around for years if not decades and despite their advantage in terms of being cross platform, they never dethroned native PC and console games, simply because they couldn't match them in performance and graphics quality. Google claims that "Native Client" technology - available in its Chrome web browser - has what it takes to break this curse and kickstart a new wave of browser gaming.
More than a few developers have shown interest in the new technology. Perhaps the most prominent of those developers is Square Enix which has already created a version of its Mini Ninjas game for Chrome's Native Client.
"Let us begin this new era together," Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada told the attendants at a Google conference. "Google's native client will be welcomed worldwide as a truly innovative technology for the information technology industry and game industry as well."
Wada then explained the dilemma put forth at the beginning of this article. "Google's native client solves this problem," he added. "It is an excellent solution for browser gaming."
Another notable game that has been released for the Google Chrome Native Client platform is Supergiant Games' Bastion.
Google is busy in talks with graphics-engine and tools developers to enable porting games created using their technologies to be ported to Chrome's Native Client platform. Unity Technologies has already added export to Chrome Native Client option to their popular Unity Engine.
Marketing speak aside, Native Client applications don't have all the functionality available to true native applications. They are also faster than current web technologies such as flash and Silverlight, but they do not perform as well as true native applications. Additionally, Native Client apps must be compiled for different platforms explicitly.
