X

How-to: Browse the Web while gaming

Gamespot takes a look at the Web browsers you can use while continuing to play games on your PC.

Josh_Lowensohn.jpg
Josh_Lowensohn.jpg
Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
See full bio
Josh Lowensohn

My CNET colleague Sarju Shah over at Gamespot has put together a great rundown of Web browsers you can run inside of the latest video games. The four solutions tested include PlayXpert, Steam, Rogue, and Xfire

Why run these instead of your standard browser? Simple, these browsers have been designed to run as lean and mean as possible, and play nice with an application that's running in full-screen mode. They also feature niceties you won't find in your standard Web browser like hot keys that can make them appear or disappear in an instant, and transparency that lets you continue to play a game in full screen while looking up things like cheat codes and walkthroughs, right on top of the action.

Shah has put four different solutions through their paces, and has screenshots that will show you what each one looks like in various games. Worth noting is that all of the included options are PC only, which means Mac and console gamers are out of luck.
In-game browsers let you surf the Web while keeping you from having to alt+tab to another application. Pictured here is PlayXpert running on top of Bethesda's Fallout 3. CNET Networks / Gamespot.com