Amazon Enters The Console Race With Fire TV (With Update)

Amazon

It’s been rumored for a long time that Amazon was putting together a games machine, and today they finally revealed their new product: the Fire TV.

It’s an all-in-one box that combines streaming and gaming in one very attractive slim box that echoes the PS2 Slim’s sexy lines. There have already been a ton of announcements that have come thick and fast about third part support: Netflix, ESPN, Hulu, Pandora, YouTube, Crackle, Showtime, TuneIn, Pandora, iHeartRadio and VEVO. These (of course) will sit next to Amazon’s own video and music streaming services.

Specs-wise, it’s got a quad-core CPU with 2GB of RAM all squeezed in with HDMI and ethernet ports, perfect for the raft of games that are incoming: a thousand over the next month, apparently. The first exclusive is *Sev Zero*, a third-person sci-fi tower defense hybrid that actually looks very nice. There’s already a custom build of *Minecraft* up and running, with lots of third party support promised from companies like Ubisoft and EA. This, along with Amazon recently buying out *Killer Instinct* developer Double Helix, all points to a real focus of quality games in the Fire’s future. Hopefully.

The most attractive aspect, though, is the aggressive price: in the US, it’s already on sale for $99 with an additional $39 for the game controller (which is probably pretty much essential if you want to use the machine to its fullest). It’s a very tempting prospect and could be the first Android-based TV system to really take hold. It may not be real competition for the PS4/Xbox One generation but, with the right games, there’s a good chance this thing could really take off.

UPDATE: [Kotaku](http://kotaku.com/amazon-hires-portals-kim-swift-far-cry-2s-clint-hock-1557091175) are now reporting that Amazon Game Studios has added Kim Swift (creater of *Portal*) and Clint Hocking (designer of *Far Cry 2* and *Splinter Cell*) to their roster. This expands an already impressive gaming division and I really hope that it translates into something special. For now, here’s a trailer for the Fire TV exclusive *Sev Zero*: