Amazon has finally announced its long-rumoured game and streaming device Fire TV.
According to Amazon, the Fire TV is designed to outpace competitors like the Apple TV and Roku in performance: The box features a quad-core CPU and 2 GB of RAM, as well as a dedicated GPU, along with a dual-band wireless radio and two antennas.
The Verge reports that Amazon doesn’t intend the Fire TV to compete with gaming consoles; instead, its gaming capabilities are geared toward people who don’t already own a console but may play games on a smartphone or tablet. But it will have a dedicated controller that costs $39.99 and comes with 1,000 Amazon Coins with which you can buy games. The Fire game controller (see below), which resembles the images that leaked last month, can be used to play games; the Fire TV remote or a smartphone app are also supported.
Games set to be available on Fire TV include Minecraft; Asphalt 8: Airborne, the mobile title from Gameloft; and an endless runner based on Pixar’s Monsters University, all three of which were shown during the event. Amazon Game Studios is also working on original titles for Fire TV, such as a first-person shooter/tower defense hybrid called Sev Zero. Earlier this year, Amazon Game Studios acquired Killer Instinct developer Double Helix Games.
According to Mike Frazzini, director of Amazon Games, the average cost of a Fire TV game is $1.85, and free-to-play titles will be available as well. Developers and publishers bringing games to Fire TV include 2K Games, Disney, Double Fine Productions, Electronic Arts, Sega, Telltale Games and Ubisoft.
The Fire TV remote has integrated voice search: You speak your query into the remote. During an event today in New York, Amazon demoed features such as instant access to photos on Amazon Cloud Drive; an extension of Amazon’s X-Ray service for movies and TV shows, which allows users to look up details on actors and more while watching content; and a feature called “ASAP,” which predicts what you want to watch and cues it up for instant streaming.
The Fire TV supports more than movies and TV shows: Its navigation rail contains Games and Photos, among other choices. Apps set to be available on the box include one for Twitch, along with streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, MLB.TV, the WWE Network and more.
Music services such as Pandora and iTunes Radio, along with songs you’ve bought from Amazon, will also be available on Fire TV starting in May. X-Ray can be used to display lyrics while a song is playing. A feature called FreeTime allows parents to set up a cordoned-off area with kid-specific content.
So what are your thoughts? Is there room for another budget console?
