Microsoft to release a free skiing game on its Edge browser

Much like porn decided the winner between VHS and Betamax, it is generally believed that where gamers go tech companies will follow. Lately it has been a big trend for a lot of companies to build things for gamers and game developers before opening them up to the more mainstream audience.

Microsoft knows this and is hoping to lure some gamers to use its Edge browsers by releasing a new skiing game, that is very similar to the classic Microsoft skiing game SkiFree released back in 1991 (as reported by The Verge). Yes, it’s that old. The game will be available with three modes: Classic surf mode, a time trial, and a slalom mode.

The standard classic surf mode is an endless surfer mode where you have to avoid obstacles and a Kraken following you at all times. The time trial is self-explanatory, but Microsoft has added in coins to collect so you can shorten the time and find speedy routes. The slalom mode is perhaps the most difficult, as you’ll need to navigate through a zig-zagging path of obstacles and hit every single gate otherwise the streak will get reset. A high score feature does exist, though this is just stored locally for bragging rights and won’t have some global board for you to boast about having your name on. Though the way I tend to play these games, that is a good thing.

It’s not the world’s greatest game, but if it’s anything like the original SkiFree, should be able to provide many hours of fun, give people a reason to use Edge browsers and hopefully find out how good it is to use in the process. The game will reportedly also support various input methods such as keyboard, mouse, touchpad and even gamepads like the Xbox One controller. Microsoft is adding this to Edge Canary and Dev builds of the browser today, and it’ll appear in the main stable version of the browser soon. You’ll be able to access it from edge://surf/ in the address bar in Edge. Happy surfing and please don’t try this at work, we cannot take the blame for your productivity nose-diving today.

Last Updated: February 27, 2020