You don’t need a console, microconsole, or even a cord to play games on your television. You’ll only need a Chromecast.
During its Nexus event today, Google revealed that it is working with developers to stream games from your smartphone to your TV-connected Chromecast (Google also announced the Chromecast 2 and Chromecast audio today). This feature enables gamers to control apps like Angry Birds Go, a kart-racing game, with their phones while the visuals display on your television.
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With this Chromecast solution, Google isn’t just mirroring the phone display to the TV. Chromecast’s gaming capabilities enable it to smartly understand what it is the player is doing. For example, if two people want to both play multiplayer Angry Birds Go on the TV (even if one has an iPhone), the Chromecast will put up a splitscreen display. The gamers can use their phones either as a motion or touchscreen controller.
Google showed another example with the WGT Golf game. This app had the visuals of the course and golfer up on the TV and a ball-whacking control interface on the phone or tablet. This maximizes the screen real estate on both devices to give players the most control and the best view on their powerful smartphone graphics.
This feature is coming to Chromecast in several games over the next few months.