If you've always wanted to game like the big boys but don't have the console, platform or space in your computer to do so, an upcoming Firefox goodie could change all that. Mozilla today (Oct. 14) unleashed its first Humble Bundle, giving you an 8-pack of popular indie game titles that you can play from within your browser. As with other Humble Bundles, you can pay any amount you want for the games, but paying more will unlock extra games.
Called the Humble Mozilla Bundle, the new pack includes games such as Voxatron, FTL: Faster Than Light, Democracy 3 and Dustforce DX. These were previously only available for PC and mobile download, but with the new pack, you can now play these within your browser just by typing a URL into Firefox.
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Since these games use a Javascript subset called asm.js, you can run them from basically any modern browser, such as Chrome. But Mozilla said that Firefox will deliver better performance since that browser is optimized to support the scripts and engines behind those games. In fact, the company announced earlier this year that it supports Epic Games' Unreal Engine, which is the backbone of many major 3D video games.
The sale is in partnership with Humble Bundle, an online video game store that also offers timed "bundles" of video games, usually DRM-free. Humble Bundle lets users pay whatever they want for these bundles, but paying above the average of what previous buyers have paid will unlock bonus games. Buyers can also choose to specify that a portion of their Humble Bundle purchase go to one of the various charities with which Humble Bundle works.
The Humble Mozilla Bundle will work in much the same way. In addition to URLs for browser-based gaming, the bundle will also offer the same games via Steam codes as well, so users can pick how they want to play.
The beauty of this development is that you won't have to download or install any additional software to play these games from your browser window. You'll use your mouse and keyboard to control characters, but the games will also support additional controllers that you attach. Saved data is stored in a cloud storage service managed by Humble Bundle, Mozilla representatives told us, so users can play from any Internet-connected computer.
You'll be able to play Voxatron right from the Firefox home page, and Mozilla advises that you set your Firefox home page to the default to get a special goodie above the search bar and better experience the demo versions and games from the Humble Bundle.
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Staff writer Cherlynn Low loves point-and-click room escape games and sometimes plays League of Legends. Follow her @cherlynnlow. Jill Scharr is a staff writer for Tom's Guide, where she regularly covers security, 3D printing and video games. You can follow Jill on Twitter @JillScharr. Follow Tom's Guide at @tomsguide and on Facebook.
