Google's Next Frontier: Video Games?

Chris Morris of Forbes asks: Is Google as a video game publisher within the realm of possibility? He says the company is already testing the waters for the launch of its Web-based virtual world, "Google Lively," and the acquisition of AdScape, an in-game advertiser. So far, Google has downplayed talk of entering the game-publishing world, Morris says, but the company could approach gaming in the following ways:

With its financial war chest, the company could easily acquire one or several casual game development houses, using those to deliver in-game advertising via Adscape.... The company could just as easily acquire a top- or mid-tier developer and court the hardcore PC gamer.... Google also has several existing technologies that could be used to create games.

Motley Fool weighs in:

The rub, of course, is that Google isn't about to undertake a major investment in butting heads with three established console makers. The easiest way in would be to get its feet wet through online gaming.... Taking on the casual games market, as Electronic Arts has done with Pogo.com, would be another approach. This is a market that skews away from young teen diehard gamer boys to the attractive demographics group of adult women. The barriers to entry are low, and it certainly has the ad inventory to serve up between games.