Web explorer for gaming platform interface

1. A method, comprising:

sending, over a network to a client device, game title icons for inclusion in a gaming platform interface rendered to a display device, the game title icons identifying video games that are accessible through the gaming platform interface using the client device;

receiving, over the network from the client device, user selection data indicating selection of a game title icon, and, responsive to the user selection data indicating selection of the game title icon, presenting through the client device options to play a video game corresponding to the game title icon or explore Internet content related to the corresponding video game;

responsive to receiving user selection data indicating selection of the option to explore the Internet content, generating a search query based on the identified video game, transmitting the search query over the network to a search engine, and receiving results of the search query over the network from the search engine, the results identifying Internet content items related to the video game;

generating preview images of at least some of the Internet content items;

further responsive to receiving the user selection data indicating selection of the option to explore the Internet content, sending the preview images to the client device for rendering in association with the identified video game via the gaming platform interface, wherein the preview images are rendered as selectable preview icons, wherein selection of a rendered preview icon provides navigation to a corresponding Internet content item via the gaming platform interface, and wherein rendering the preview icons in association with the identified video game includes moving the game title icon to a center position of a grid configuration and arranging the preview icons in the grid configuration surrounding the game title icon of the identified video game, and wherein the rendering of the preview icons occurs without leaving a context of the gaming platform interface;

predicting a selection of one of the preview icons, and generating a second search query based on the internet content item corresponding to the predicted one of the preview icons, and storing results of the second search query to a cache.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the video games that are accessible through the gaming platform interface include cloud-executed video games that are accessible for interactive gameplay through the gaming platform interface, the interactive gameplay of a given cloud-executed video game including streaming of video content, generated from execution of the cloud-executed video game by a cloud-based game machine, to the client device for rendering to the display device, and further including processing of input data received from the client device to drive the execution of the cloud-executed video game.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating and transmitting the search query includes accessing an application program interface (API) of the search engine.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search query includes one or more keywords associated with the video game, the keywords including one or more of a title of the video game, a genre of the video game, a character of the video game, an object of the video game, a developer of the video game, a gameplay mechanic of the video game.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the preview image of a given Internet content item includes accessing a web server to retrieve the given Internet content item, generating a graphic rendering of the given Internet content item, and processing the graphic rendering of the Internet content item to generate the preview image.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Internet content items include one or more of a web page, a video, or a social network feed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering the results based on user preference data that identifies preferred Internet-related activities associated to a user account, the filtered results defining the at least some of the Internet content items for which preview images are generated.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid configuration includes at least three rows and at least three columns for placement of the game title icon and the preview icons, such that the game title icon and the preview icons are aligned along the rows and the columns.

9. A method, comprising:

rendering, by a client device, game title icons in a gaming platform interface, to a display device, the game title icons identifying video games that are accessible through the gaming platform interface using the client device, wherein the video games that are accessible through the gaming platform interface include cloud-executed video games that are accessible for interactive gameplay through the gaming platform interface, the interactive gameplay of a given cloud-executed video game including streaming of video content, generated from execution of the cloud-executed video game by a cloud-based game machine, to the client device for rendering to the display device, and further including processing of input data received from the client device to drive the execution of the cloud-executed video game;

receiving, by the client device, user selection data indicating selection of a game title icon and identifying a corresponding video game for exploration of related Internet content;

generating a search query based on the identified video game, transmitting the search query over the network to a search engine, and receiving results of the search query over the network from the search engine, the results identifying Internet content items related to the video game, the search engine configured to index news content from one or more news sites, the Internet content items including news content items from the one or more news sites;

generating preview images of at least some of the Internet content items, including preview images of at least some of the news content items;

further responsive to receiving the user selection data indicating selection of the game title icon and identifying the corresponding video game for exploration of related Internet content, rendering the preview images in association with the identified video game via the gaming platform interface, wherein the preview images are rendered as selectable preview icons, wherein selection of a rendered preview icon provides navigation to a corresponding Internet content item via the gaming platform interface, wherein rendering the preview icons in association with the identified video game includes moving the game title icon to a center position and arranging the preview icons in a configuration surrounding the game title icon of the identified video game, and wherein the rendering of the preview icons occurs without leaving a context of the gaming platform interface;

predicting a selection of one of the preview icons, and generating a second search query based on the internet content item corresponding to the predicted one of the preview icons, and storing results of the second search query to a cache.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating and transmitting the search query includes accessing an application program interface (API) of the search engine.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the search query includes one or more keywords associated with the video game, the keywords including one or more of a title of the video game, a genre of the video game, a character of the video game, an object of the video game, a developer of the video game, a gameplay mechanic of the video game.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the preview image of a given Internet content item includes accessing a web server to retrieve the given Internet content item, generating a graphic rendering of the given Internet content item, and processing the graphic rendering of the Internet content item to generate the preview image.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein rendering the preview icons in association with the identified video game includes arranging the preview icons in a grid configuration surrounding the game title icon of the identified video game.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the Internet content items include one or more of a web page, a video, or a social network feed.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

filtering the results based on user preference data that identifies preferred Internet-related activities associated to a user account, the filtered results defining the at least some of the Internet content items for which preview images are generated.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the search query and generating the preview images are performed in advance of receiving the user selection data, based on a prediction of the selection of the game title icon, the preview images being stored to a cache of the client device, and wherein rendering the preview images includes retrieving the preview images from the cache.

17. A method, comprising:

rendering, by a client device, icons in a gaming platform interface, to a display device, the icons identifying content items that are accessible through the gaming platform interface using the client device, wherein the content items that are accessible through the gaming platform interface include cloud-executed video games that are accessible for interactive gameplay through the gaming platform interface, the interactive gameplay of a given cloud-executed video game including streaming of video content, generated from execution of the cloud-executed video game by a cloud-based game machine, to the client device for rendering to the display device, and further including processing of input data received from the client device to drive the execution of the cloud-executed video game;

receiving, by the client device, user selection data indicating selection of an icon and identifying a corresponding content item for exploration of related Internet content;

generating a search query based on the identified content item, transmitting the search query over the network to a search engine, and receiving results of the search query over the network from the search engine, the results identifying Internet content items related to the identified content item;

generating preview images of at least some of the Internet content items;

further responsive to receiving the user selection data indicating selection of the game title icon and identifying the corresponding video game for exploration of related Internet content, rendering the preview images in association with the identified video game via the gaming platform interface, wherein the preview images are rendered as selectable preview icons, wherein selection of a rendered preview icon provides navigation to a corresponding Internet content item via the gaming platform interface, wherein rendering the preview icons in association with the identified video game includes moving the game title icon to a center position and arranging the preview icons in a configuration surrounding the game title icon of the identified video game, wherein the rendering of the preview icons occurs without leaving a context of the gaming platform interface, wherein selection of a preview icon provides access to options to view the corresponding Internet content item of the selected preview icon or select the corresponding Internet content item for further exploration of related Internet content;

predicting a selection of one of the preview icons, and generating a second search query based on the internet content item corresponding to the predicted one of the preview icons, and storing results of the second search query to a cache.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the content items are selected from the group consisting of video games, videos, and music.

19. The method of claim 17 ,

wherein generating and transmitting the search query includes accessing an application program interface (API) of the search engine;

wherein the search query includes one or more keywords associated with the content item, the keywords including one or more of a title of the video game, a genre of the video game, a character of the video game, an object of the video game, a developer of the video game, a gameplay mechanic of the video game.