Games By James Plafke Mar. 18, 2014 10:05 am
For a while now, rumors have been floating around that Amazon is working on a video game console. There hasn’t been much pinned down about it, but most rumors suggested that it would be yet another Android console — because those have done so well — but at least be some sort of hybrid machine equipped with media streaming capabilities (just like every modern game console, or even phone). Recently, we got a look at the console’s supposed controller — seen again above — which seemed to suggest that Amazon was working on an actual set-top box. However, reports now claim that Amazon’s game console isn’t a console at all, but a Chromecast-style dongle that unobtrusively sits in the back of your television.
TechCrunch reports that Amazon’s console will not only be a dongle form factor, but will have the capability to stream full PC games to your television. This, of course, would be bonkers, and would immediately challenge the Steam Machine for PC-games-in-your-living-room supremacy. However, as we’ve seen with Valve’s Steam Machine, it’s not particularly difficult to get PC games running on a television — but it*is difficult to control PC games with a standard controller, which is why Valve continues to redesign the Steam Controller. Amazon’s console, though, is said to be more like OnLive or PlayStation Now, where the PC games are streamed through a service rather than from your computer. Either way, the controller we’ve seen so far won’t suffice unless the PC games are hand-picked to work well with controllers, such as*Rogue Legacy or*Don’t Starve.
According to the report, the games will be “top-tier,” which barely means anything in this day and age of indie gaming.*Papers, Please is a top-tier PC gaming experience, but is an indie game.*Don’t Starve is an indie game, but hugely popular and made by a successful company.*Civilization V is a top-tier franchise made by a top-tier company. The report also claims the games will be streaming at 30fps.
Whether or not Amazon’s console is only powered by Android or can stream popular PC games, game streaming does appear to be the future. Sony is working on it with PlayStation Now, Valve with the Steam Machine, and now Amazon might be getting in on that future as well.
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TechCrunch reports that Amazon’s console will not only be a dongle form factor, but will have the capability to stream full PC games to your television. This, of course, would be bonkers, and would immediately challenge the Steam Machine for PC-games-in-your-living-room supremacy. However, as we’ve seen with Valve’s Steam Machine, it’s not particularly difficult to get PC games running on a television — but it*is difficult to control PC games with a standard controller, which is why Valve continues to redesign the Steam Controller. Amazon’s console, though, is said to be more like OnLive or PlayStation Now, where the PC games are streamed through a service rather than from your computer. Either way, the controller we’ve seen so far won’t suffice unless the PC games are hand-picked to work well with controllers, such as*Rogue Legacy or*Don’t Starve.
According to the report, the games will be “top-tier,” which barely means anything in this day and age of indie gaming.*Papers, Please is a top-tier PC gaming experience, but is an indie game.*Don’t Starve is an indie game, but hugely popular and made by a successful company.*Civilization V is a top-tier franchise made by a top-tier company. The report also claims the games will be streaming at 30fps.
Whether or not Amazon’s console is only powered by Android or can stream popular PC games, game streaming does appear to be the future. Sony is working on it with PlayStation Now, Valve with the Steam Machine, and now Amazon might be getting in on that future as well.
More...
