Google Play adds cloud saves, leaderboards, matchmaking
Gamers now can save and sync game progress across devices and get matched up with other players on Android or iOS.
Google is trying to make gaming a little better on its Android and iOS platforms with a handful of new features for developers. Chief among them is a new cloud save service, which stores game progress on Google's servers and syncs up gaming activity between devices.
Google also has a new matchmaking service, which like Apple's Game Center, can match up players for live games. Google says this works on both Android and Apple's iOS. A demo of the feature at Google's I/O keynote crashed and burned, but the company says it works in less severe networking conditions.
Other new features include achievements and leaderboards.
Some of the early developers on board include Gameloft, Glu, Ironhide Games, and Miniclip.
The new features, which will go out to Android devices on version 2.2 and up, were unveiled during the company's keynote at I/O on Wednesday. Details of Google's gaming plans leaked out late last week and were reported by Android Police.