Over the past year, there’s been a huge effort to get Android games on PC. After the success of emulators like Bluestacks, companies like Windows have been working hard to get mobile software running properly on computers.
However, controlling touchscreen software with just a mouse has proven more troublesome than many believed it would. As such, a new ChromeOS overlay is aiming to make Android games on PC better to play.
ChromeOS fixes Android games on PC
Designed for Chromebook users, the new ChromeOS gaming overlay is designed to make Android gaming much easier for keyboard and mouse users. With millions of children playing Android games on Chromebooks, this is a much needed feature.
Via The Verge, the gaming overlay allows you to map a keyboard button or mouse action to a specific gesture. So, you could set W,A,S,D as swipes to move in some games. Furthermore, you could assign, say, Q to a three button tap.
Currently, the software is still in an alpha state, despite being worked on for a long time. While it will allow Android games on PC to be more playable, it can’t get rid of some of the jank that’s left behind. However, there are plans to make things even better.
More customisation
Currently, the Chrome OS gaming overlay only works on a small number of Android games. These games include Pixel Blade R – Revolution, 2048, Hill Climb Racing, Tap Titans 2 and a few more.
As the software evolves, Google wants to allow every game to become playable with this feature. This will be done via a customisable service that will allow you to assign any possible gesture to a keyboard press or mouse click.
The early state of this software is bound to be infuriating for ChromeBook users. After all, phones have received a litany of overlays to map touch controls to controllers, but it’s taken years for this basic overlay to arrive on PC.
