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Filed under: Fun, Games, Google, Browsers
One day in the not-so-distant future, we'll all be playing plug-in free games thanks to technologies like HTML5 and WebGL.

It all sounds good, but what about a demo? Ok, says Google. How about a little Quake 2 in your browser?

They started off with Bytonic Software's Jake2, a Java port of the open source Quake engine. From there, they re-compiled the engine using the Google Web Toolkit (also OSS), created a WebGL renderer to display the graphics, moved multiplayer communications from UDP to WebSockets (part of the HTML5 spec), and bolted on an emulated filesystem to allow game and preference saves.

Google's not the only one pushing web 3d, of course. Ambiera's Copperlicht is another exciting project. It's a JavaScript 3D engine which, like Google's recompile, utilizes WebGL and the HTML5 canvas tag. No browser plug-ins required!

Ambiera has some impressive screens posted of Copperlicht-powered Quake 3 — check 'em out after the break!

Those who have gotten the Google Quake 2 port to run report FPS of between 30-40. Ambiera claims Copperlicht is capable of pushing 110 FPS. They've got three interactive demos posted on their site — just make sure you have a compatible browser before you head over.

Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari should all work but you might need to enable WebGL first. Check the instructions at the Khronos project wiki if you need help!

[via Google Web Toolkit blog]
Google, Ambiera show off what WebGL and HTML5 can do for browser-based 3D gaming

Source: Download Squad