Check Out Cube Slam, Google’s New Experimental Chrome Game

Google revealed its latest Chrome experiment today. It’s a two-player game call Chrome Slam, and lets two Chrome users with web cams play a type of 3D Pong/air hockey-like game against one anoth...
Check Out Cube Slam, Google’s New Experimental Chrome Game
Written by Chris Crum
  • Google revealed its latest Chrome experiment today. It’s a two-player game call Chrome Slam, and lets two Chrome users with web cams play a type of 3D Pong/air hockey-like game against one another, while looking at each others’ faces on opposite ends of a virtual table.

    To play against a friend, just start a game, then send your friend the link Google provides.

    “To win Cube Slam, hit the cube against your friend’s screen three times until the screen explodes,” says Google Creative Lab’s Clem Wright. “Shields, obstacles, and gravity fields change with every new level, and you can unlock power-ups including fireballs, lasers, multi-balls, mirrored controls, bulletproof shields, fog, ghost balls, time bombs, resized paddles, extra lives, and death balls––though you might want to avoid the death balls. If none of your friends are online, you can always play against Bob the Bear and see what level you can reach. If you install the Cube Slam app, you can even play Bob when you’re offline.”

    “Cube Slam’s graphics are rendered in WebGL and CSS 3D, and its custom soundtrack is delivered dynamically through Web Audio,” adds Clem. “WebRTC, which enables the two-person game, is available on desktop Chrome and Chrome OS, and will be available on mobile later this year. In the meantime, you can play Cube Slam against Bob the Bear on your phone or tablet.”

    The game was a little buggy in my experience, but it is an experiment. You can read more about the tech behind it here.

    Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit