Amazon Luna Review: Solid Tech, But What About That Games Library?

Amazon Luna Review: Solid Tech But What About That Games Library

Can Amazon Luna compete among the evolving lineup of cloud gaming services from Microsoft, NVIDIA, Stadia, and Sony?

Hi folks and welcome to the Cord Cutters News channel. In this video, we’re getting some hands-on time with Amazon Luna. That’s Amazon’s own spin on cloud gaming and it’s powered by the company’s AWS, or Amazon Web Services. Amazon’s pitching it as a way to enjoy console-level games on your TV, computer, tablets, and mobile devices — all without having to plunk down cash for a dedicated gaming console. But we’ve heard promises like that before, including when we spent time exploring Google’s Stadia service. Amazon Luna Review: Solid Tech But What About That Games Library

So what is Amazon bringing to the table and is Luna worth checking out? Well, the company sent over one of its Gaming Bundles, which packs together a Luna Controller and, in this case, a Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

Amazon Luna Review: Solid Tech But What About That Games Library

So let’s see what Luna can do. And just to be clear: Yes, Amazon did send us a Luna Gaming Bundle for free, but they are not sponsoring this video and our opinions of the hardware and service remain 100% our own. So with all that in mind, let’s talk about Luna.

What Is Amazon Luna? We discussed the basics of cloud gaming a while back in our video on Google’s Stadia, so definitely check that one out if you’d like to learn more about the concept. But as a refresher: Cloud gaming services basically work like this. Instead of running a game on a computer or game console inside your home, cloud gaming services run those same games on powerful servers usually located far from your house. You then run an app on your smart TV, streaming device, or other compatible gear and you control the game through an internet connection. amazon review products, amazon best gadgets foxshopcenter, amazon dropshipping,shopify dropshipping,amazon and aliexpress gadgets.

The perk is that a cloud gaming service can offer relatively quick access to dozens of titles and you don’t need to shell out money for your own console. On the downside, as you might imagine, this approach is highly dependent on your internet connection and your home network. In Amazon Luna’s case, the company is offering what it’s calling Channels, which are essentially collections of games you can play through the cloud. Prices vary for those channels, starting with the Prime Gaming option, which is free with an Amazon Prime account. That channel gets a small, rotating selection of games to play. amazon review products, amazon best gadgets foxshopcenter, amazon dropshipping,shopify dropshipping,amazon and aliexpress gadgets.

There’s also Luna+, which runs for $9.99 per month and gets you a much wider selection of games to choose from. Beyond that, Amazon is currently also offering Channels dedicated to Ubisoft games, family-friendly titles, retro games, and a selection of Jackbox party games.

And you can see some details for each channel on your screen right now. And in keeping with that “play on all sorts of devices” approach, Luna currently supports a variety of input methods, including a standard mouse and keyboard, the Xbox One controller, and the DualShock 4.

Those third-party options might require some driver downloads and Amazon has some support pages dedicated to getting those set up. You can also opt for Amazon’s own Luna controller, which retails for $49.99 and comes included in the company’s Gaming bundles. And you can see the bundles currently on offer on your screen right now, and they range in price from the Fire TV Stick bundle on up to the Fire HD10 tablet package. In our case, Amazon sent over a Fire TV Stick 4K Max for us to try out with the Luna controller, so let’s talk about that experience next.

Setting Up and Using Amazon Luna The Luna app installed on our Fire TV Stick 4K Max just like most any other app. 

As for the Luna controller, we had to take a quick detour to get that up and running. Amazon says the Luna controller can connect directly to its game servers — rather than using the standard Bluetooth connection that would pair it to a device in your home, which then communicates with the server as a sort-of go-between. The company says this approach allows for more responsive gameplay, which we’ll get into shortly. amazon review products, amazon best gadgets foxshopcenter, amazon dropshipping,shopify dropshipping,amazon and aliexpress gadgets.

In any case, we downloaded the Luna Controller app on an iPhone, powered on the controller, connected it to our local network and then we could return to our Fire TV to try out Luna.

The main menu should feel pretty familiar to anyone who’s used a Fire TV device recently. You’ll get a long list of categories arranged into rows you can explore. There’s a row for Prime subscribers, and there’s another for the aforementioned Retro channel. And hey, our colleagues over at Metacritic get a mention in their own row for highly rated games. Selecting a game to play is easy enough. Amazon Luna Review: Solid Tech But What About That Games Library

The Luna app will let you know if a particular title is free to play on your current account, or if you need to sign up for an additional channel to gain access. Once we launched a title, the app gave us a heads-up that our current 2.4GHz WiFi connection might not be best for gaming. We decided to try it anyway, just to see how playable games can be in less-than-ideal scenarios. We tested Luna in a room across the house from our WiFi router as well as in the same room as our router.

In those first tests in our far-off room, playing a fast-paced game like Dirt 5 was playable and responsive enough, though we did run into frequent frame-rate hiccups that marred the overall experience. It was mostly playable and a fun experience overall, but it definitely wasn’t as consistent or as smooth as playing on a local, dedicated gaming console or computer. So we switched over to our 5GHz WiFi, like the app recommended. And, oddly enough, frame rates and the overall experience did seem smoother and more consistent once we made the switch. Unsurprisingly, we had our smoothest, most lag-free Luna experience when we were in ideal conditions.

Amazon Luna Review: 

Namely: With the Fire TV Stick 4K Max connected to our living room TV just a few feet away from our router. That setup provided us with the most consistent and console-like experience through games like Dirt 5, Control, Sonic Team Racing and several more. As is always the case with these cloud-based gaming options, your mileage may vary and it depends a lot on your individual internet speeds so your experience may not line up with what we’ve seen so far.

You can adjust quality settings to max out at 1080p or knock it down to 720p. That top-end option uses around 10 gigabytes per hour, while the 720p option halves that to around 5 gigabytes an hour. Amazon Luna Review: Solid Tech But What About That Games Library

That could be a useful tweak if you’re trying to improve performance or just concerned about monthly bandwidth quotas. We did run into more obvious issues playing Sonic Mania via our iPhone, where the frame rate and audio dipped back and forth. You can listen to an example here. We had a much more enjoyable time playing the game on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, but it does highlight how the experience can vary depending on the device, the WiFi connection, and more. Essentially then, when it works, it works well, but as with many cloud-based services, there are times where the remote-access roots shine through.

The Luna controller itself is a fairly solid way to enjoy games.

It sort of resembles Nintendo’s Switch Pro controller in terms of overall looks, though the grips are slightly thinner and have a rougher, textured feel that I’m not personally a huge fan of. The directional pad is a fair bit clickier than either the Switch Pro pad or the DualSense 5 we had handy. Perhaps the part that took the most time to get used to was the central Luna button that turns the peripheral on and off. It sits flush with the surface of the controller, surrounded by three other buttons, so it was sometimes easy to forget there was a button there. amazon review products, amazon best gadgets foxshopcenter, amazon dropshipping,shopify dropshipping,amazon and aliexpress gadgets.

Amazon also sent over a handy clip that attaches a smartphone to the controller for mobile gaming. That setup was a bit top-heavy with our iPhone 11 Pro, but the experience was enjoyable overall and the phone stayed solidly in place. Our Thoughts on Amazon Luna So on a technological level, Amazon Luna  definitely works. We don’t exactly have the fastest or most robust internet connection in our home, but we were still able to enjoy some fast-paced games without too many quirks, especially after we jumped to the 5GHz WiFi network.

And the Luna controller is a good way to control most games.

It might not be as comfortable in the hands as, say, the DualSense 5, but it seems well-built and able to tackle lengthy gaming sessions. The main concern, as with any gaming service, is the overall library. If the rotating selection of freebies that come with a Prime membership aren’t to your liking, you’ll have to explore the various channels on offer to see which, if any, are the most appealing. Much like traditional consoles, you should absolutely consider the available games when considering a cloud service, so definitely look over what’s on offer to see if Luna would be a good fit. Versus the competition, it’ll be interesting to see how much Amazon invests in Luna moving forward. Amazon Luna Review: Solid Tech But What About That Games Library

While Google has scaled back its Stadia plans, Microsoft is still going full steam ahead with Game Pass, and it looks like Sony’s reworking its offerings as well. amazon review products, amazon best gadgets foxshopcenter, amazon dropshipping,shopify dropshipping,amazon and aliexpress gadgets.

And without access to the back catalogs of first-party Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo titles, Amazon will face some challenges touting Luna’s value in comparison. That said, the technology behind Luna seems to work well. And it’s too early to tell if Luna itself is a worthy competitor or just an interesting experiment. If you’re a Prime member and you’re curious what Luna’s like, it might be worth checking out those free titles to test performance in your home.

And definitely let us know in the comments section below if you’ve already given Luna a shot. We’d love to hear from you. Wrapping It All Up… And so there you go, that was our hands-on look at Amazon Luna. And if you’ve made it this far, thanks for watching. Before you click on to something else, please take a moment to consider clicking on those Like and Subscribe buttons down below. amazon review products, amazon best gadgets foxshopcenter, amazon dropshipping,shopify dropshipping,amazon and aliexpress gadgets.

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And don’t forget to check out our news website, Cord Cutters News dot com, for all the latest streaming and cord cutting headlines 24/7. For now, though, my name is Philip Palermo. Thanks again for tuning and we’ll see you next time. Take care.

Amazon Luna Review: Solid Tech But What About That Games Library