Slingbox owners love their devices. They allow you to watch your home television content anywhere you are in the world with an Internet connection. A new startup, Spawn Labs, launching today at TechCrunch50 wants to extend that concept to video games.
But Spawn Labs offering is actually a bit more robust because it includes a social element as well. A key part to playing video games is playing them against other people. And with the Spawn HD Pro appliance, you’ll be able to do just that. Say a friend has an Xbox 360 in California and wants to play a game against you, but you’re in New York. From New York, you would simply install the Spawn Player application on your computer, and you could remotely connect to their system, to play a game.
The key to all of this is of course the Spawn HD Pro box, which will retail for $199 (available on their site today). These boxes will be able to transmit HD-quality (720p) content over the Internet to the computer on the other end. On those computers, users can play the game with an input device of their choosing.
The idea of playing popular video games over the web is a hot area right now. The two most well-known names in this field are OnLive and OTOY. But both of those are attempting to use their own servers to create a completely online experience, Spawn Labs is simply allowing you to take an existing console and transmit the content over the Internet. Of course, one potential issue with this method is that someone must be on the other end (where the console is) to make sure it has the game disc you want to play inside of it.
Eventually, the plan is to expand Spawn Labs’ technology beyond video games as well. They’d basically like to handle any and all video content over their box. Computers, other set-top boxes, and even mobile devices are all in the pipeline to be hooked up to Spawn Labs’ services.
Today, President and CEO David Wilson presented alongside QA engineer Daniel Bethke.
Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased)
The experts: Don Dodge, Yossi Vardi, Ron Conway, George Zachary, and Jason Hirschhorn.
Q: Is it a weakness to have one game in at a time?
DW: That is something we thought about, but the direction of the industry is to have games on console’s hard drives.
Q: How do the graphics travel? And is this software on the console itself eventually?
DW: When you’re in a bandwidth constrained around, the network will downscale.
Q: So this is more targeted in the home?
DW: We’re targeting both.
Q: The bet is that customers will pay $200 for a hardware device to play games remotely. How often do players do that?
DW: Right now they can’t do it. But there is a strong desire for this. We have orders from several of the top game developers in the world for this.
Q: What kind of support?
DW: It runs any game on the supported consoles. (Xbox 360, Wii, Gabecube, PS3, etc)
Q: This also assumes the player has their controller?
DW: You don’t need one, but you can use any controller you want.
Q: What about the handhelds?
DW: Theoretically yes, not sure yet though.
Pictures
TC50: Spawn Labs lets you play your console games on your laptop VentureBeat.
TechCrunch50: Remote-Controlled Xboxes, Cableless Cables Gearlog.
Spawn Labs launches way to play console games remotely on PC BigDownload
Spawn Labs HD-720 enables streaming of console gamesjoystiq.
Gaming Tech Firm Spawn Labs Launches With $1 Million In FundingpaidContent.
Spawn: It’s SlingBox for Your Console GamesTechnologizer.
Spawn Labs launches at TechCrunch 50 AustinStartup.
Spawn Labs Allows You To Play Your Console Games On Any PC #TC50 Techgeist
Spawn Labs launches at TechCrunch 50 Austin Entrepreneur Network.
Startup lets you play console video games remotely Yahoo! Tech.
Word Of Mouth Has The Most Influence On GamersWebProNews.
Finally — a ‘SlingBox’ for Your Games PC World.
Not sure why we need a $199 box for this. Doesn’t Onlive just work in the browser?
Do the game developers have to modify their games to work with OnLive? Spawn works with every game supported by the platform.
The Spawn HD-720 works with your console(s) and all the games that you already own. It is located in your home so you can play games either locally around the house or remotely while traveling. It lets you play with your friends when your friends can’t come over, and they don’t have to own the product or pay any subscription fees. Lots of other important differences. Bottom line is it extends what you already own/control/love for mobile and social gaming rather than asking you to throw what you have away, and rely completely on an Internet streamed service.
This is a *great* concept. Price point is a little high, but not a deal-killer. Good luck guys!
Quite impressive. Already Spawn has a very good name with home television content which allows us to watch quite easily with an Internet connection. I’m excited to hear about their concept of video games.Because playing popular video games over the web is a hot area right now.
Love this !! Would they release an API allowing developers to “play” with it?
The only hic is the cost..$200 for a hardware that doesnt include games..mhhh
Keep in mind that the $200 is leveraged across your entire investment in the consoles and games you own today, plus all the games you haven’t bought yet. Brings mobility and social gaming to all of it. Re: API, definitely a good idea!
Sounds like a cool idea…yet a bit skeptical on two things: 1) Users having enough upload bandwidth for this to be enjoyable and 2) An actual market for this. Do hardcore gamers really travel this often to need such a device?
Have to agree with Sam, with console games increasingly becoming net connected the only real users are “out of spot” users. Is this really a large scale problem?
The Spawn Labs products aren’t only useful when you travel. If someone else is watching the TV to which your console is attached, you can easily go into another room in your house and play. Also, you can play at home on your console and TV while your friend(s) play with you remotely in real-time from their home on their computer (don’t have to come over and sit on your couch). Plus other use cases. Playing when you travel is one biggie, but it’s just one benefit. Re: bandwidth, you can play in SD at just 500kbps and get a really nice SD experience at 1Mbps, which is easily within reach for 10’s of millions. If you are in an area with Verizon FiOs, you can get 20Mbps down/up for very cheap (maybe $60/month)? This would allow probably 3-4 remote HD players. Bandwidth is here for much of the country and coming fast for the rest.
Fatal Flaw. If you live alone and are traveling for work, you can only play whatever game you left in the console, there is no way to switch games. This will fail miserably, and how is a product that is launching today already on backorder till November? Something is fishy there, does TC fully vet these companies before allowing them to present?
Both MS and Sony are beginning to ramp up digital downloads of full games, so that potentially reduces the problems with game selection. Biggest problem I see is that this would be useless for multiplayer games that require low latency.
What I want to know is how this will work on the Wii with it’s motion based controllers. I don’t see how it will be possible to make that work.
Or single-player games that require low latency.
Your “fatal flaw” will go away over time. More and more game media will move from DVD to hard drive, especially as distribution goes virtual. Regarding your “fishy backorder” status… give the guys a break, they’re building a cutting edge hardware product. Stop looking for a conspiracy and admit that this is an ambitious product that has great potential.
FYI the product is on back-order because we are currently manufacturing our first high-volume run of the hardware, and because we are quality hardening the software and user experience. We plan to ship in November.
About Hard Drive Games:
Although people initially thought that digitally distributed games would reduce costs and be a great idea, the reality is it is way more expensive to the consumer than buying a “real” copy. Why is this? Because it would seem only the Console Company determines the price, or even the manufacturer. This means there will be no sales or competing prices, just whatever static and overpriced games they offer.
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About Controllers:
I would hope that the system requires the use of console controllers ONLY. I am fine with Xbox/PS3/Wii controller cross-platforming. But using a mouse and keyboard is instantly breaking the rules. For obvious reasons.
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Overall it is a good idea though. Arcade games and such are always on the HDD and playable nonetheless as far as that goes. And usually if you are travelling I am sure you can find one good game to play. On the PS3 I think you might be able to install without needing to boot from DVD, but with the 360 I know this is a requirement.
Pretty good idea. I get the social aspect of the remote multi-player, great for co-op mode of existing games.
I was surprised they didn’t mention that PSP+PS3 had already remote play for some games and also videos since the launch 2 years ago. This Sony combinaison is also cheaper with the PSP roughly the price of the spawn labs box, and it includes the screen and can play other games locally. Sony should just think about enabling multiplayer gaming.
I think that the latency will be the killer for the hard core gamer whom I assume is their target audience. Even if they get down to 70 ms on a LAN, that amount of latency will affect the user experience on certain types of games like FPSs. In reality they are going to be facing 150 ms+ on the internet.
wow now thats tight i got to look into that software i think that is a great idea and a new style to software sharing and as long they don’t take any software or claim any brand name they wont have to worry about Xbox or PS3 or any video game companies coming after them for copy right laws it’s a perfect idea well planed