Man Ports Original Command and Conquer to HTML5
If you have any doubt that technology has come a hell of a long ways since the early ‘90s, look no further than this HTML5 version of ‘Command and Conquer.’ Originally released in 1995, Command and Conquer pretty much revolutionized real time strategy games with its mixture of polish, balance and multiplayer.
To duplicate it with modern, cross-platform web technologies, however, only took one web developer three and a half weeks.
The build is still in the alpha stage, with a .3 designator, so expect some bugs and a lack of a few features. But as far as tech demos go, this is pretty good. Electronic Arts has already released a free2play, web based version of the game, but that relies on Google’s Native Client, letting native computer code be interpreted in the browser, rather than being based on open web standards like Javascript.
It’s examples like this that show just how powerful modern web technologies have become. Not too long ago, this type of thing could only be achieved in Flash (and then only with some odd interaction design).
Now, we are seeing entire, complex games being coded for the browser. But the advances aren’t relegated to novelties like decades old video games: check out Acko.net with a Webkit browser (Chrome, Safari, the browsers on the iPhone and iPad) and see some amazing examples of what the web will look like in half a decade.
You can check out a video of the game in action below.
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