Spawn Labs Streams Console Games over Internet, Lets You Play Them on PC

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With the concept of playing video games remotely over an internet connection becoming more and more popular with upcoming services like Gaikai and OnLive, startup Spawn Labs expects to bring such functionality to your home consoles by November. The company recently unveiled the Spawn HD-720 (above), a $200 device it says can be hooked up to your Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 3, PS2, or GameCube consoles and allows them to be played remotely, such as from a laptop, over an internet connection.

The consoles themselves must be connected to the device through composite/component video and composite audio cables, along with an ethernet cable and a specialized "gamepad adapter" cable to allow input from a remote controller.

A "gamepad adapter" is required for each player. The HD-720 comes packed with one such adapter for PS3 or Xbox 360, with additional console-specific adapters at $30. A "beta feature" in the streaming software enables users to play with "just about any gamepad" thanks to the ability to map custom controls.

The video is streamed through the proprietary "Spawn Player" software, with bandwidth and hardware determining quality. Standard definition video requires "a minimum bandwidth of 500kbps per remote player" and "any reasonably modern processor."

Meanwhile, high definition 720p video requires "a minimum bandwidth of 2Mbps per remote player," with "3-5Mbps per remote player" recommended. As for the displaying hardware, the company recommends a system with a dual core processor.

"We plan to ship with an average end-to-end latency of approximately 100ms across a local area network, yielding a terrific and natural-feeling game play experience," says the company. "Playing across the Internet will typically add another 25-75ms of latency."

Along with singleplayer games, Spawn Labs notes that the hardware, which it expects to ship in November, even supports the ability to support multiple streaming players:

Multi-Player Support
With the Spawn HD-720, one or more gamers can play locally on the console and TV at home, while one or more gamers can simultaneously play remotely in the same game session from their computer over the network. Or multiple gamers can play remotely in the same game session with no local player at home with the console. Remote gamers use the Spawn Player software on their remote computer to access the console and play the game. The Spawn Player is a free download available on the Spawn Labs website. Spawn HD-720 owners may need to purchase Spawn Gamepad Adapters, depending on the number of simultaneous remote players they want to support from their console. The number of possible remote gamers is also constrained by the uplink bandwidth of your home network. You can get more information on this in our FAQ.

Remote Play vs. Watch
In addition to remote play, the Spawn HD-720 enables remote spectators, who can view your game play in real-time using the Spawn Player. When in Watch mode, the remote users cannot use a gamepad to play the game.

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 15, 2009 1:24 PM

    100ms when playing on the other side of my house? 175-200ms when playing a single player game at work? Not worth it. I got those speeds playing multiplayer on a dial up and in hindsight I would never go back, especially not for a single player game. No way.

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      September 15, 2009 1:28 PM

      i play online with 120-160 ping (i have 2 mb ADSL but not everyone lives in europe or u.s) and i find them very convenient

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        September 15, 2009 1:36 PM

        Playing against other people who also have a ping is different then playing against the computer itself though. If the console or the box is the server, it will functionally be an input delay right? I'm not sure but that's what I'm imagining. ALL the calculations would be server side. The graphics, the AI, the controls, everything.

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      September 15, 2009 4:53 PM

      Exactly! Any ping over ~40ms (for me, at least) adds a noticeable lag between input and response, and in games like first person shooters or platformers that require a lot of twitch reactions, that can mean a lot.

      I rarely play on internet servers online with a ping over ~50ms, I see no reason I should expect 100ms ping over a LAN. I know it's gotta take a couple dozen ms to encode the console's output signal, but it seems like there's gotta be some way to possibly pass the pure stream to the display PC and let its GPU do the conversion in parallel, or jack up the encoder in the console, or cap the frame rate at 30fps, or something.

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        September 15, 2009 5:18 PM

        I can't move to wireless mice because I notice the lag between moving the mouse and the response on the screen. That, and wireless mice are heavy with those batteries inside. I prefer my old Mx518 and current G5 over the wireless I have tried. Are there any wireless mice that don't have noticable lag now?

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          September 15, 2009 5:37 PM

          Not that I've seen. Bought my dad a mid range wireless about 8 months ago and you can tell the still tell the difference.

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      September 16, 2009 10:21 AM

      There is a PC version of this called streammygame.com you can try now for free, albeit software. Its not good, even over LAN.

    • reply
      September 16, 2009 10:24 AM

      check streammygame.com its a free-ish software version of this, and not very impressive. laggggg

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