14 DAY TRIAL // Spawn Labs is a new company that aims to do for video-gaming something akin to what Slingbox has done for TV. Basically, the company is aiming to allow players to access their gaming consoles from any location, using only one piece of hardware. The newly launched Spawn HD Pro Box, which costs 199 dollars, allows them to connect to their home device and play any title that they have left in the disk drive of the home console. The graphics and sound are delivered via the Internet in one direction, while the player input is being sent the other way.
David Wilson, who is the chief executive officer and president of Spawn Labs, says that, “We have orders from several of the top game developers in the world for this” and that his team is working on adding new functionality to the device. There's a potential to send any time [sic] of content via the Spawn HD Pro, including content from set top boxes or mobile devices. If the device works as planned then it can mark a revolution in remote videogaming using home consoles like the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.”
The idea is somewhat related to the cloud-based initiatives that are OnLive and Gaikai. They don't rely on the existence of a home console and they will prompt players to buy the games they want to play, as opposed to Spawn HD pro, which allows them to play those titles that they already own.
The big limitation of the new device from Spawn Labs might just be the fact that you need to have the game you want to play in the disc drive, which limits the number of titles that you can get into remotely. Still, with beta stages ready to go for OnLive and Gaikai and with Spawn HD now out, the competition for the money of those who want to play without being tethered to their consoles is on.