Spawn HD-720 Puts Console Games on Your PC

Ever wanted to stream your console games so that you can play them on your PC? Me neither!

The Spawn HD-720 from Spawn labs retails for $199.95 and allows you to connect your console to a networked PC or laptop. If you then connect a controller with a USB port to your PC, you can play your console from anywhere within your LAN. The Spawn currently works with the Xbox 360, Xbox, PS3, PS2 and Gamecube, and soon will work with the Wii. If the Spawn is connected to the internet, it will also allow you to play your console from a remote location.

Being touted as the "Slingbox for games," hacker enthusiasts imagine many possible uses for a device like this, including playing your console remotely over the internet, allowing your friends to play your console games, or just letting your friends look in while you play. None of these are officially supported, and some might break a few copyright laws, but when has that ever deterred the hacking community?

A hands-on from Joystiq reveals, however, the Spawn HD-720 delivers a gaming experience that is far from perfect. "When you first play a game through the Spawn," Justin McElroy said. "You're undoubtedly going to notice a delay between what you're doing and what you're seeing on the screen."

While a small delay won't matter in turn-based or slow action games, any game which demands a timed response would be decidedly unfun. Playing anything with "Hero" or "Band" in the title is probably going to epicly fail. The guys at Joystiq did say that the delay become less noticeable the more you played, but I'm not sure if the Spawn HD-720 is something that will appear on a lot of gamer's holiday wish lists.

I personally don't see the point. It will take more than a black plastic box to turn console gamers into PC gamers.

Source: Joystiq