AMAZON Prime members might be missing out on one of the subscription's best perks.
There's an easy-to-overlook benefit of Prime that upgrades millions of devices around the world.
It's called Amazon Luna and it's a special app designed for gamers.
The app turns your devices – like a TV, phone, or laptop – into a proper games console. Importantly, you don't need to buy an actual console.
Instead, the games are streamed over the internet to you. It's a bit like Netflix, but for gaming.
Normally you'd need to pay for games on Luna – but Amazon Prime members can enjoy a rotating list of titles free of charge.
If you're paying the £8.99 / $14.99 monthly fee for Amazon Prime, you should get your money‘s worth.
The list of games that are currently free to play for Prime members in the UK includes:
- Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition
- Fortnite
- Fallout 3 – Game of the Year Edition
- Lego Fortnite Odyssey
- Trackmania
- Fortnite Battle Royale
- Rocket Racing
- Fortnite Festival
- WRC Generations
- Overcooked! 2
- Fortnite Ballistic
- Fortnite OG
- Strange Horticulture
- The Jackbox Party Pack 3
- Lego Fortnite Brick Life
- Spitlings
And the US list is as follows:
- Fortnite
- Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition
- Fallout 3 – Game of the Year Edition
- The Jackbox Party Pack 3
- Trackmania
- WRC Generations
- Overcooked! 2
- Spitlings
- Strange Horticulture
The idea behind Luna is that a console is expensive, is limited to the graphics its processors can handle, and takes up space in your home.
With Luna, all of the computing is handled far away on Amazon servers.
So when you press your joystick buttons, they're beamed to Amazon, and then visuals are sent back to your screen.
All of this happens in an instant over the internet, so your gameplay should feel smooth.
It does mean that you need a decent internet connection. Amazon recommends sustained speeds of 10Mbps, which isn't a huge bar to clear. You can check your internet speeds with an online test tool.
This means that you can play on lots of different devices. Amazon says Luna will work on:
- iOS (iPhone and iPad)
- Android
- PC
- Mac
- Fire tablets
- Chromebook devices
- Web browsers
- Fire TV
And because Amazon is handling the graphics processing, you can get better-than-console visuals even if you're playing on a phone or laptop.
HOW DOES AMAZON LUNA WORK?
Here's Amazon's official explanation...
“As the name implies, cloud gaming works by streaming games from cloud servers,” Amazon explains.
“And Luna runs on Amazon’s powerful cloud computing platform Amazon Web Services (AWS).
“AWS makes it easy to stream games without lengthy downloads or updates.
“It allows your device to run high-quality games without the need for an expensive gaming PC or console, a complicated setup, or heavy computer processing.”
Picture Credit: Amazon
You will need your own joypad. Amazon sells a Luna controller, but you can use an Xbox or PlayStation gamepad if you have one.
There's also the option to play with a standard mouse and keyboard.
Once you've got the app (or you've logged onto the website), you can link your Amazon Prime account and play the rolling list of free games.
You can also subscribe to Luna+ to get a load of extra games.
And then there's the option to buy specific games that you can play online too.
Luna already offers a large library of Ubisoft titles, and this week began offering a selection of EA games too.
For instance, Luna+ subscribers can now play Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Dead Space.
And EA has vowed to bring games from its EA Sports library to Luna in the “coming months” too, although we don't know which ones yet.
