Google's Chrome browser will soon have greatly enhanced gaming capabilities, with plug-and-play support for gamepads on the way.

The news was revealed by Google developer advocate Paul Kinlan during a talk earler today at Develop Liverpool. Due in the first quarter of next year, the update will also see Chrome support cameras and microphones without the need for plug-ins, with Kinlan hinting at the possibilities for augmented reality games and player tracking.

Also planned is support for WebRTC, an open-source video chat application that will run directly in-browser with no plug-in required. It's technology that could support an OnLive-style cloud gaming service, though Google is not working on creating one at present.