AirConsole: A New Way to Play in your Web Browser
The advent of smartphones has caused the downfall of web browser games. On one hand, Apple has decided not to support Flash on its devices, with reasons that were outlined in Steve Jobs’ infamous open letter to Adobe called “Thoughts on Flash”. Next, smartphone apps became the dominant form of gaming on smartphones, and smartphones became the dominant platform for casual games, which has led to dwindling audiences for browser games and concerns about their future.
Browser games are not welcome on smartphones as developers prefer building apps, and users prefer downloading and installing them. In some businesses, they have remained the platform of choice, though. A selection of over 600 Microgaming-powered online games at Vegas Palms Canada can be played in a web browser and the 150+ games at the Vegas Palms Mobile is available for mobile browser play – in the traditional way, that is.
But browser gaming is not dead yet. Aside from a handful of truly popular browser-based strategy games and shooters, there is one startup that may revive the idea of browser gaming: AirConsole.
Turn your PC into a console
N-Dream, the company behind AirConsole, describes its product as a “cloud gaming console” that runs in a browser window and uses smartphones as controllers. Users can download and install the AirConsole app on their iOS and Android-powered smartphones or use the browser-based version on Windows Phone, pair it with the console running on their PCs, tablets or smart TVs, and they are ready to play.
AirConsole comes with a library of more than 80 titles – a few single-player games and a bunch of multiplayer titles – that can be controlled through the paired smartphones, and each game comes with its specific controller.
Always at hand
AirConsole doesn’t want to compete with dedicated gaming rigs – it is a collection of casual games designed with multiple players in mind. It doesn’t involve any spending on the players’ part – it runs on hardware they (likely) already own: a large-screen device with a web browser and smartphones. The best part is that players can join in at any time – all they need to do is pair their smartphones and wait for the next round to join the fun.
Show them the money
AirConsole is free – but it has a subscription-based version, AirConsole Hero, that costs $2.99 a month (after a one-month free trial). For this, players get an ad-free local multiplayer experience, exclusive in-game content, and access to fresh games before free users. The subscription can be purchased directly from the AirConsole app. It is the perfect game platform to spend the night with among friends, for a quick fun session at work, for team buildings, and so on. And only one player needs to be a Hero for all others to benefit from the subscription.
AirConsole is an ingenious gaming platform that might be the thing browser gaming needs to live on.