Google announced Google Play game services at I/O 2013. It essentially lets you save games to the cloud, so you can carry on playing on any device you are signed into. As we predicted this week, it includes social Achievements and Leaderboards too. The service will allow cross-platform gaming, between Android and web games.
It is promising a very low-latency (fast and responsive) multiplayer service, which includes quick matchmaking so you can easily find suitable opponents, or connect with friends. At the conference the connection failed, as they often do at these events as the presenters tried to play Riptide, the jet-ski racing game.
It’s not the most innovative service, more of a catch-up with Microsoft’s LIVE and Apple’s Game Center. This means Android finally has a good replacement for OpenFeint. Google also announced lots of developers who are getting involved in the new gaming service, including World of Goo’s 2D boy.
