Google Chrome Is Now a Gaming Platform

Google's Chrome Web Store hasn't taken the world by storm, but it has been growing, along with the browser. The recent update to the store has made it more interesting and a bit more useful, but it lives and dies by the apps in it.

Luckily for Google, the quality of the apps has been increasing lately, and Google is betting on the same thing Facebook did to grow its platform, games.

There have been games in the Web Store from the get go, but Google Chrome recently got support for Native Client, a technology which enables native code to be converted with ease to run in the browser.

Google wasted no time in making use of that technology and made a splash with the launch of several big titles, including Bastion a recent indie action RPG hit which was available in the Xbox 360 Live Arcade and for the PC.

With Christmas just around the corner, Google is reminding everyone of all the cool games they can get from the Chrome Web Store.

"Every year, lots of people have fun tracking Santa as he takes flight around the world to deliver gifts. This year, Santa is getting some help from the Chrome Web Store elves who have already started delivering the gifts of gaming to more than 200 million Chrome users," Google wrote.

Of course, it's not all about Native Client and impressive 3D graphics, a classic hit, Bejeweled is available in the Web Store, just like it is on any other platform on Earth. The interesting part about it is that it's built entirely on open web standards, the graphics are all powered by HMTL5 Canvas and nothing else.

With more than 200 million people using Google Chrome and that number growing all the time, even if a few of them use the Web Store and only if a few of those buy a game or an app, that could still mean a lot of people and a lot of money for developers.