100,000 users have received invitations to Google Wave, which features realtime instant messaging and document editing. Users can, for instance, simultaneously discuss and work on the same document remotely. Google first showed Wave off in May this year and claims that it now creates all its internal design documents using Wave.
Because Google has chosen to make most of Wave’s code open-source any developer can create extensions for it, with efforts so far already ranging from trip planning apps to video conference calling. And naturally, developers have produced games on the platform, such as Labpixies’ collaborative take on sudoku and Google’s own Play Chess.
Browser-based, realtime, inherently social and open-source, it’s hard not to see great potential in Wave as a basis to a new breed of online gaming, from RPGs to puzzle games, trivia to strategy games.
We have approached Google for comment from the Wave team as to their attitude to gaming, but received the response that, “They're busy getting the product to scale from 5,000 to one million users.” Google is planning to open Wave to full public access next year.