Google isn't above killing a little productivity to prove the power of its web browser. The search engine king has released a special free browser-based version of Rovio's avian-flinging sensation Angry Birds on the Chrome Web Store, just to prove it can be done.

Announced earlier today at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco, the new browser-based version of Angry Birds is a testament to how far Google's Chrome browser has come in a short time. According to Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome, Angry Birds in a web browser wouldn't have been possible a year ago. With a graphics rendering speed ten-times-faster than earlier versions, today's Chrome can make it happen.

As can, incidentally, today's version of Safari. Today's version of Firefox, on the other hand, was a bust. No one uses Internet Explorer anymore, so we didn't even bother.

The free version of Angry Birds features the game's first level, Poached Eggs, along with a set of exclusive Chrome-themed levels. You can install it now via the Chrome Web Store. It runs rather nicely, and as an added bonus, remains cached for offline play.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got pigs to kill.

Angry Birds flutters over to Chrome [VentureBeat]

Today Google made lots of news: They unveiled their new "cloud based" browser, they opened up a Google Store and, they started carrying a library of in-browser games including a new Mirror's Edge title.

Electronic Arts is teaming up with Google to bundle Poppit! with future releases of Chrome and say that thanks to Google's Web Toolkit the HTML5 version of the game has never looked better.

Other games coming to the Chrome store include quite a few titles we've already seen and played quite a bit on web browsers, games like Lords of Ultima, FIFA Superstars and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online.

One Chrome store surprise is the inclusion of Mirror's Edge 2D, which I hope is an awful lot like the wonderful iPhone and iPad versions of the game.

"The web has become an incredibly powerful platform for innovation, allowing users to do much more online than they ever imagined," said Sundar Pichai, VP of product management for Google Chrome. "The Chrome Web Store showcases the power of the open web and we're excited to have several gaming titles from EA as a part of it."