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Google said to be creating game console and smartwatch

With Google Glass out in the open, is the tech giant continuing to move deeper into the hardware market?

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
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The Google Nexus Q, a media-streaming orb that was never offered for sale. Sarah Tew/CNET

Google appears to be boosting both its wearable tech and its gaming status. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the tech giant is working on developing both a video game console and a smartwatch that could run on Android.

Last year, Google unveiled a Web-connected media-playing console, dubbed the Nexus Q, but it never sold it to the public. The spherical device featured glowing LEDs that responded to music. The Q also streamed content directly from Google Play Music, Google Play TV & Movies, and YouTube, using an Android phone or tablet as the controller. However, a couple of months after Google announced the Q, the company said it was delaying its commercial release to "work on making it even better."

Besides the rumored gaming console, a second version of the Nexus Q is also reportedly on the way, according to the Journal. Apparently, one of these devices could be released as soon as this fall.

As far as the smartwatch, this isn't the first rumor that's been floated about Google working on wrist-tech. In March, a report by The Financial Times said that Google was working on a smartwatch that was being developed by the company's Android unit, rather than its X Lab (which created Google Glass). This is telling because it means that, unlike Google Glass, the company may be looking to get a consumer product out to users on a speedier timeline.

A lot of the major tech companies seem to be branching out from developing just smartphones and tablets to creating other types of hardware. Apple and Samsung are both reportedly working on smartwatches and Apple already has its streaming-media gadget -- the Apple TV.

CNET contacted Google for comment. We'll update this story when we get more information.

Corrected July 1 at 5:55 p.m. PT to say a possible second version of the Nexus Q would be a separate device from the rumored gaming console.