outunderthestars
Banned
Yep. Mine will be here tomorrow. Really looking forward to trying it out.
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Amazon FireTV Announced and Released [$99 box, $40 controller, game capable STB]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Yep. Mine will be here tomorrow. Really looking forward to trying it out.
AstroNut325
Member
So... all the people who bought GTA, COD, Battlefield, Halo, Mass Effect, God of War, Gears of War, Forza, GT... all just said... "Meh... smartphone games are good enough!"?
Edit:
Nice. Please post impressions.
PopcornMegaphone
Banned
The same type of arguments were made for traditional handhelds vs smartphones. We know how that is working out.
Even if these devices capture 25% of the traditional gaming market it will be catastrophic for core gaming devices and developers.
Dreamwriter
Member
What makes you say so? I'm pretty sure the OUYA has a more powerful graphics chip, and the third revision of the OUYA controller is pretty good.
Yup, I got a FireTV and controller coming tomorrow, gotta try it out. With Prime overnight shipping is only like $4.
Awesome. Cannot wait to see videos up on Youtube. Hopefully XBMC can be installed on it!
Goldenroad
Member
I have a PS4 and it doesn't have any of the media functionality this thing is claiming to have. Hell, it can't even play MP3's, nor does it have a Youtube App.
I've actually got an Ouya on the way as I type this, might even be arriving today, so this seems of very little value given that, and the fact that Amazon Instant video is not available in Canada.
My point is just that this thing can do a lot of things that the PS4 and XB1 can not do.
A certain number of those people. There will also be a certain number of those people that play those games on PC or Steambox or whatever now.
But the real question is where they are getting a sufficient number of new customers.
If sales remain the same, but costs increase, the industry is contracting. I don't know what you mean by "core titles" and "core software," by the way.
outunderthestars
Banned
I will. Not totally sold on it, but the free return shipping within 30 days made trying it out an easy decision to make.
Because Amazon is supporting this set-top box with, at worst, ports of games from the Amazon Appstore, and Amazon is going to be pushing this device, it will likely get a bigger library and not end up chucked into the dusty corner that not even Wii U and Vita sell bad enough to occupy. Though, admittingly, one could sideload the Amazon Appstore onto Ouya and get almost the same result, so Ouya might still be the better choice.
In that case, the console market has already been contracting for some time.
Absolutely, revenue was higher for core oriented games on PS3/360 platforms, no argument there. There was basically no profit in it, is my point. In aggregate, very little money was made last generation, and it certainly wasn't third party's huge Wii investments dragging them down (as they didn't exist).
That's because the industry was far less expensive than it is now. It's a pretty simple formula: if an audience is more less the same size, but games cost 4x as much to make, you're going to run in to problems pretty quickly.
The same will be true of the casual market in turn, of course. Profits gradually erode as markets become highly solidified and predictable.
Dreamwriter
Member
So you're not talking about them making a better device for gaming, but having a better potential service for gaming. Which I agree with, though really, OUYA got lots of ports for games from Google Play too, as well as some great new titles. In the end the huge advantage to the Fire TV is the fact that it's being pushed by a giant corporate machine that isn't likely to make huge mistakes which piss of its intended audience.
Joe_Incognito
Banned
I will buy this on day one, just like I did with the Ouya and the Mojo. I also look forward to a gaming enabled Apple TV, which I assume will be a better product with a wider catalog of games.
Some thoughts on the micro console phenomenon. Although they may not compete directly with the mainstream consoles, they do have the potential to erode that market by undermining the value of $500 consoles with $65 games. This may be especially true when you consider parents who will buy the Amazon Box or Apple TV for their own use, and then realize they also have video games for their kids. (Or even for themselves.)
This potential scenario may not seem likely to dedicated hardcore gamers, but as a person who dabbles in all forms of gaming, casual and hardcore, I can see this as a likely scenario.
Should you trust my opinion? Well, I love my Ouya and Mojo, so take that into consideration when you consider my words.
Some thoughts on the micro console phenomenon. Although they may not compete directly with the mainstream consoles, they do have the potential to erode that market by undermining the value of $500 consoles with $65 games. This may be especially true when you consider parents who will buy the Amazon Box or Apple TV for their own use, and then realize they also have video games for their kids. (Or even for themselves.)
This potential scenario may not seem likely to dedicated hardcore gamers, but as a person who dabbles in all forms of gaming, casual and hardcore, I can see this as a likely scenario.
Should you trust my opinion? Well, I love my Ouya and Mojo, so take that into consideration when you consider my words.
KojiKnight
Member
it's already out.It's happened before.
outunderthestars
Banned
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
I haven't made my mind up on this. If I were to pick it up, I'll have to send my Roku 2 to my parents and have this replace it as the main "streaming first" box in my HT. A ChromeCast and PS3/PS4 cover the other necessary.
No way am I dropping money on that controller. God damn no.
No way am I dropping money on that controller. God damn no.
I'm echoing this. Very interested in this hardware; seems like it will mitigate my interest in a streaming box from Roku 3, depending on reviews, feature set, available content, and impressions.
Give it a few months.
If we discount all of the Wii users (which I admit isn't 100% accurate because plenty of core users like myself owned one), last generation saw 160m consoles sold. That is down compared to the previous generation, which saw 40m GCN+Xbox sales and 150~m PS2s, around 190/200m total.
PS2 sales were monstrous, and the system managed to reduce cost like crazy so it had great penetration in developing markets. Being a cheap DVD player was also pretty huge. But the generation before that? 100m PSXs, 9.5m Saturns, 33m N64s, 145~m total. Thats a little under what the PS3/360 did, and those are still on the market.
Really the biggest problem from last generation is lack of reduced cost in hardware over time. The PS3 and 360 didn't scale down fast enough (or even enough period), which prevents them from breaking into developing markets as well. It will be interesting to see how the PS4/Xbone handle this, as they are much more straight forward hardware architectures that should reduce in complexity (and cost) much easier.
The fact that neither the 360 or PS3 is under $100 (with no sales) is mind boggling at this point.
While development of AAA is certainly more expensive, there are gaps being filled by indie developers. I suspect we're going to see an influx of A or AA style games that will fill out the $20-$40 price range, especially now that Unity has started a price war for engines.
And while development is definitely more expensive, we never had a generation where games pulled in $1 billion in sales on their own before. The ceiling for profits is definitely higher then it has ever been before.
Quixz
Member
No SD card expansion, but there is a USB 2 slot for extra storage.
To bring up a counterpoint, Game Boy sold on Tetris, a puzzle game, and Pokemon, a turn-based RPG. DS sold on casual games like Nintendogs and Brain Age. Smartphones can, of course, play casual games easy, but it can also play puzzle games and turn-based RPGs rather well. Smartphones can theoretically play any game that was a selling point of a dedicated handheld since the touchscreen does not hamper either the puzzle game genre or the turn-based RPG genre. Basically, smartphones stole all the USP of dedicated handhelds. However, handhelds do seem to do pretty well in Japan where instead it is the console market that has died. I suppose Vita TV ought to be in the West sooner rather than later so Sony at least has their foot in the door with a microconsole, and Nintendo would probably do well to make their next console a microconsole based on their next handheld with game compatibility between the two.
Yes, a better service and future. Please don't think I am blasting the Ouya, since I actually kind of like the little thing on principle, but the thing is pretty niche and I have my doubts that Ouya will survive as a company.
Im still not sure if I could play my own movies and files from the USB. Its time to upgrade my media player, this could be it.
Community Forum
Member
Controller isn't even in stock until April 7. Guess I'll wait until I read impressions instead of impulse-buying.
Outtrigger888
Member
What's the chances they release a better box for the holidays? I'm thinking about ordering this right now.
It was in stock earlier. The first batch seems to have sold out.
Community Forum
Member
Amazon FireTV has an optical audio port.
TheSlySoul
Member
By the holiday, you will see Google's response. Nexus came out pretty quick after the Fire. So I would wait to see honestly.
Do you know when they will announce it?
Ok, but where does the Amazon Fire TV fit into the power scale that I put below (from most to least)?
PS4
X1
Wii U
PS3
Xbox360
Xbox
Gamecube
PS2
Dreamcast
Goldenroad
Member
I have. Almost 5 months at this point. No Youtube app is ridiculous. The Wii has a Youtube app...the Wii! I get that "it's a gaming machine first"...fine, then at least give me such a glut of games that I don't have time to use Youtube.
Way off topic sorry.
Like I say, I think this will be great for American's, but much like the Kindle Fire, it just has no relevance for people who can not access Amazon's instant streaming/prime services.
And they'll be selling all of these consoles and games (via sellers) while selling their own box and games as well. $$$
My question is, will MS and Sony see a downside to this? Or perhaps they won't care as long as Amazon helps their sales.
PS Vita.
TheSlySoul
Member
Currently, Android devices can run DS and PSP, so the power is probably less than a Vita, but more than a PSP.
So probably X360.
family_guy
Member
So no SD card storage? I'm trying to understand the reasoning for only 8 gigs unless that's not really for gaming but other apps.
TheSlySoul
Member
Well in the case of OUYA, you have flash drive support. Really going to be useless for gaming unless you got some option to expand it to 16 GB.
Shmuely Bully
Member
While Bezos has proven his doubters wrong plenty of times before, I can't help but feel that they don't care about games nearly as much as all the hires would imply if this is all they have.
They're pulling a Sega by launching immediately and adding onto it by making the controller optional. Surely Amazon has more than this planned, right?
They're pulling a Sega by launching immediately and adding onto it by making the controller optional. Surely Amazon has more than this planned, right?
It's got a usb port so maybe external storage? If this can run XBMC i'll be getting one.