Gameloft is busy trying to reinvent itself as an online gaming company and the first steps it has taken appear to be mostly positive. While the company has long had a pretty good run as a maker of apps for the iPad and iPhone (News – Alert), Gameloft is now attempting to fuel its relationship with Google (News – Alert)+ by embracing HTML5. 

On mobile devices, Gameloft makes quite a bit of money by offering games for affordable prices that now include an annual sale right around Christmas. A new version of GT Racing: Motor Academy was released this week on Google’s social networking site. This particular release does mark a return to the social gaming genre after briefly flirting with these kinds of games on Facebook (News – Alert) earlier in the year. 

What makes the game stand apart from other social networking games, is that while the graphics will not blow you away, they will seem like they are leaping off the screen. This Gameloft game features 3D graphics thanks to the advanced deployment of HTML5 programming.

“We think there’s a future for the technology, and that’s why we’re investing in it and launching our HTML5 games on Google+,” Baudouin Corman, Gameloft’s VP of publishing told the gaming blog Gamasutra.

Usually, the upside of HTML5 is that a game made in this programming language should work not only on traditional desktops, but also on mobile devices such as the iPad or Kindle Fire. Corman points out that this particular game is so advanced that for right now, only desktop users will probably be able to enjoy all that the game offers up.

“Right now, we don’t have a mobile version for our HTML5 game,” Corman said. “Today, the power and the performance required to run HTML5 3D games on mobile just isn’t there. It will come in the foreseeable future, but so far I think that’s one of the main limitations of the platform.”  

Corman did add that as HTML5 continues to adapt and improve, he believes his company will be able to bring 3D games onto mobile devices. Gameloft has long had a company philosophy that they would like to make all of their games available on “anything that is digital.”