In-game web browser round-up

By David Hollingworth
11:00 Feb 20, 2009 | 9 Comments
Tags: web | browsing | steam

Essential linkage: Say frack-off to Alt-tabbing with this in-depth guide to in-game web browsers.

It's happened to all of us, really. You're gaming away, pleasantly nailing AWPers with precision M4 bursts, and then you get curious about something. Hmm, you wonder; what spec-ops units are currently using the M4? Ah, you realise, Wikipedia will tell me.

Alt-tab, curiousity is satisfied. Alt-tab back to... CRASH. Swearing ensues.

And, it appears, we're not alone. CNET has put together a great piece on the modern wonder that is the in-game web browser, a browser you can enjoy without leaving your team-mates uncovered or those gold deposits un-mined. Here's a taste:

More than just a browser, PlayXpert acts as your one-stop hub to the outside world all within the confines of a game. Through PlayXpert's taskbar-like menu, you can access all sort of tools. You can easily browse the Web, play music, and chat over IM with your buddies right out of the initial install. According to PlayXpert CEO Charles Manning, "The program has broad compatibility and minimizes hits to performance by injecting its UI into the DirectX command stream as the information goes to the GPU." When translated into English that means that PlayXpert does not trigger anticheat software, and it doesn't need an update for new games or recently patched games.

So, if you're as ADD-addled as we are when we're gaming, this is a must-read article.

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9 Comments

orcone Feb 20, 2009 11:39 AM	I don't understand how a 'windowed' version of a game set to the same dimensions of your screen can be minimised and restored in a flash without a problem. But as soon as you set it to 'fullscreen' the same program fucks up ENORMOUSLY if you alt tab. What the fuck.
sirsquidness Feb 20, 2009 12:02 PM	Originally when I saw these, I thought they were useless. Then I just had a brain wave. Now I know what to do on the TF2 maps with 20 second respawn times!
AIMBOT Feb 20, 2009 12:19 PM	Watch RedTube?
kikz Feb 20, 2009 1:51 PM	Lol. srsly people get a triple monitor setup and run your games in windowed mode!
azn_warez Feb 20, 2009 2:06 PM	Image Link not working... 404 error.
Hawkeye Feb 20, 2009 2:30 PM	sirsquidiness: Or while you're waiting for respawn in Left 4 Dead! Aimbot: I have no idea what you're talking about... azn: That's... odd. Should be working.
SquallStrife Feb 20, 2009 2:41 PM	I did this a year or two ago with Steam, and some hosts file trickery. It's brillant. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/GGF_SquallStrife/rocks.jpg
ozacube Feb 20, 2009 4:21 PM	A windowed version of a game goes through the OS windowing system. Not sure about other systems, but on Windows the graphics driver is given lower level access when in fullscreen. It no longer goes through the windowing system. It also allows for better performance, as there is no overhead from drawing the window (or any windows at all, since windows is no compositing onto the screen). It also means, however, that you can;t simply go from fullscreen to windowed as that changes how the program needs to initialise it's graphics.
smadge1 Feb 22, 2009 9:04 PM	Steam now has a web browser, not sure if it has flash support though.

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