We knew Crytek had their eyes on the mobile gaming arena for some time now thanks to previous job postings for Android and mobile developers as well as some leaks. Now we have a much better idea of at least one thing they are working on and it is called GFACE.
In a nutshell, GFACE is a platform Crytek is developing to combine PC and mobile multiplayer with browser-based gaming. Essentially it will bring multiplayer gaming to a slew of platforms, sort of like OnLive does. Where OnLive still requires ketboards, mice and controllers for a lot of their games, Crytek’s approach is a bit different. Granted with Ice Cream Sandwich’s improved support for controllers, playing OnLive games with a controller on your Android device isn’t a huge deal.
What Crytek is doing though is tailoring games towards a device’s unique characteristics instead of trying to bring identical gameplay to a PC, mobile devices and whatever else you play games on. The GFACE platform will unite players on PC and mobile devices in the same games by having them play it through their browser. This comes with some benefits like not having anything to actually install if you want to play a specific game as well as not having to worry about taking on any gameplay that doesn’t benefit the device you are playing on.
An example of this would be someone playing a standard 3D FPS on their PC can be aided by a player connecting via their smartphone or tablet, tackling command or support roles specifically designed to make best use of their handset’s strengths.
For more information you can hit up the GFACE website for all the details that have been released. Currently GFACE is in Closed Beta testing.
Website Referenced: PocketGamer
