If you told me that an AI-driven Snoop Dogg as a judge would fine me $100,000 for profusely petting a cat, I would have laughed it off and said, “that’s an incredibly random thought.” Well, with the redesigned Amazon Luna and its all-new GameNight hub, I can strike that off the bingo card.
Part of its big reimagining of its cloud gaming service, Amazon Luna now features a GameNight hub made for local, couch-friendly multiplayer games for those living room-worthy game night parties (as the name fittingly implies). Better yet, it’s now all part of any Amazon Prime membership.
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Instead of competing with the likes of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (featuring launch titles and an unfortunate price hike) or Nvidia GeForce Now (now offering 5K resolution at 120 FPS), Amazon has rethought what it wants its Luna gaming service to be, and is now focusing on the fun of playing together — in the same space.
That’s what it’s GameNight hub is all about, and considering the over 200 million Prime subscribers the tech giant has, it makes a lot of sense.
So, is this the right move? Well, I got the chance to play a few GameNight games with some “competitive” party gamers over at Twitch in London ahead of its launch today, and honestly, it’s the most fun I’ve had with multiplayer games in a while.
What is Amazon Luna GameNight?
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Amazon Luna’s big overhaul now includes GameNight, a new hub featuring over 25 local multiplayer-friendly games, with more exclusive and third-party titles being added to the service.
Being a cloud gaming service, Luna is available on multiple platforms, so all you need to access GameNight is an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a compatible smart TV, laptop, tablet or anything that has access to the service, including via web browser.
As Amazon notes, GameNight is designed to bring friends and family to play together in living rooms. Think of it like your typical game night (pun very much intended) with a bunch of games that are easy to pick up and everyone can play.
All you need is a smartphone to scan the QR code on screen to join, as it will act as your controller for whatever game is played. Plus, multiple local players up to 16 players, depending on the title, can jump in, and all that’s required is one Prime membership.
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The best part? GameNight, along with the new library of AAA games and recent titles, is available to all Prime members without any additional cost, as it comes for free as an additional perk for Prime memberships.
Bringing the fun back in local multiplayer
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Remember that PlayStation party game That’s You! back in 2017, which used a companion app on your smartphone to answer questions, guess drawings and take selfies? That’s the same type of experience Amazon Luna’s GameNight aims to offer, and from what I tried, it nails the fun vibes.
These aren’t hard-as-nails games to get a high score in, as the library of titles GameNight offers won’t require people to master complicated combos or twitch-like reflexes to gain the upper hand. This is fun, no experience required, gameplay, and this is telling by the unique, simplified controls that are using on your smartphone for each game.
There’s a bundle of games here, including recognizable party titles like Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (released back in 2015), Tetris Effect and Ultimate Chicken Horse, but also Cluedo, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader and plenty more. Amazon also included its own exclusives, such as Angry Birds Flock Party, too.
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During my time, I got to try three different titles, and all I had to do to join in and play was use a smartphone to scan the QR code. It was extremely simple to set up, one that doesn’t require connecting different remotes and such to make sure everyone can join in, and it takes the annoyances out of just getting to the game to play.
But the real highlight was Courtroom Chaos: Starring Snoop Dogg, Amazon’s exclusive party game where a human-built, AI-powered Judge Snoop creates random courtroom cases on the spot, and it’s up to you to defend your case against other players.
Snoop Dog specifically lent his likeness to the game as he always wanted to be a judge, or so the people at Amazon tell me. But wow, does he fit the role well — and he did not buy my innocence in the slightest.
I was sort of in shock by how well the AI was able to adapt to the scenarios it made up based on what was said. Essentially, four people can play, with players being chosen at random to be a plaintiff, defendant and witnesses. From here, I was chosen as a defendant, and had to use the microphone on a phone to state who I was — which could be anything.
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So, I chose to be a deep-sea oyster diver, because why not? As for my fellow plaintiff, she decided to be a Japanese voice actor. From there, Judge Snoop makes up a case scenario, which so happened to be me being accused of “profusely” petting the actor’s cat and being fined $100,000 for this feline now liking me too much.
I stated my case, but to no avail. Apparently, I was guilty, as Judge Snoop simply did not believe a word I said, replying with hilarious comebacks about how I was spreading lies and how “something smelled fishy.” It was completely random, and it had me laughing way more than I thought it would.
But there was more, as I also got to try Flappy Golf Party, where players control a bird and fly around a 2D golf course to be the first to reach the hole. It’s simple, yet hugely entertaining when trying to race everyone to the finish. There are only two controls (fly left, fly right), but they require precision to stop knocking into walls or falling into water. That made for some scream-worthy clutch moments when another player and I had to fight to drop into the hole first.
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Then there was Draw and Guess, where, unsurprisingly, I had to guess what others were drawing based on a word that pops up. It’s also where people got to see my atrocious drawing skills! For example, I chose to draw a trident, and made something akin to a mermaid with more of a three-pin fork in their hand. At the very least, the other players got what I was trying to show.
Is GameNight worth it?
I distinctly remember those nights in university where I’d stay up with friends until the silly hours of the morning playing party games like Super Mario Party or SpeedRunners and having a blast despite barely winning once. That’s exactly the sense of entertainment I got when playing through Amazon Luna’s GameNight hub, and I expect to keep playing through more of those games come game night with pals.
Since it comes included in Amazon Prime subscriptions, it’s worth anyone who is a member to give it a go. It’s available to check out right now, but if you have a family get-together or fun night in with friends planned, it’s worth booting up Amazon Luna on your TV and giving it a whirl.
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