Topic: New platform by Amazon revealed - $99 - $139 with controller

[Phil]

http://darkzero.co.uk/game-news/amazon-reveals-its-streaming-and-gaming-console-first-pics-on-console-and-controller/

[BlackNMild2k1]

Nintendo getting beaten to the punch in all directions.

I've been saying from near the start that the Wii U should double as a media streaming box and get all those Roku like channels ASAP.

HBOgo on the gamepad and then to the TV, Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Youtube, etc etc and then real games ontop of that!? Nintendo could have been the premium choice in this niche market, but they move so slow that everything just continually seems to pass them by.

I'm curious to see what Amazon plans on having Double Helix do with the games section.
I didn't follow the link, but do they show real games, or mostly mobile style games to be played on the TV?

[Ian Sane]

Ten years ago I would have said that this is going to bomb because Amazon doesn't know games.  We saw companies like Philips, Nokia and even Apple fail with such ventures because they just assumed that making the technology was all that was needed.  Sony and MS going from non-gaming to gaming was exceptional.  They made a really conscious effort to learn what was expected of a gaming system and worked to meet those expectations.  Everyone else seems to think that some custom computer that can run software is all that is needed.

But in the past there was no casual market like there is now.  If you tried to release junk like most of the cellphone games out these days you would have been soundly rejected.  But now there is a whole market that has very low standards and is content with some mindless diversion where you have some control over what happens on the screen.  A company that doesn't know how to make videogames could possibly still succeed with this market because this market won't notice.  Make it cheap and market it well and they'll probably eat it up.  I don't think Amazon will release a worthwhile system but I don't think that will sink them.  I can see this being successful.

And that just shows what a bind Nintendo is in.  Nintendo had a major impact on creating this casual market but that market is a race to the bottom and Nintendo doesn't make the sort of product that can be sold at the very low price point that casuals now expect.  If Nintendo wants to make Mario platformers and Pokemon RPGs they need core gamers to buy them because that's the only market that will support $50-60 games.  But they've made a console that that market does not want.  Sony and MS have a sit-down restaurant, Amazon and Apple have fast food, Nintendo is this weird in-between casual dining place.  The Wii U is an overpriced casual console or an underpowered and underfeatured core console.

You got Amazon coming in.  Oculus Rift now has Facebook financing it.  Steam Machine is due to drop soon.  New guys are coming in to the videogame market and the most vulnerable to lose their spot is Nintendo who seemingly has no audience beyond handhelds.  The competition is going to lock down every market demographic while Nintendo is fumbling around with their pants at their ankles.

[Soren]

You got Amazon coming in.  Oculus Rift now has Facebook financing it.  Steam Machine is due to drop soon.  New guys are coming in to the videogame market and the most vulnerable to lose their spot is Nintendo who seemingly has no audience beyond handhelds.  The competition is going to lock down every market demographic while Nintendo is fumbling around with their pants at their ankles.

So in the Oculus thread you say Rift is going to be at best a fad akin to motion controls. But here it's a threat to lock down a piece of the market and...take it from Nintendo?


From a streaming standpoint yes, it has Nintendo beat. Although the lack of HBO Go is a real killer. Gaming? It's probably a way better Ouya.

[Ceric]

This console Screams Generic Cheap.

I'll take a pass on this.  There is nothing new but a name.

[Ian Sane]

You got Amazon coming in.  Oculus Rift now has Facebook financing it.  Steam Machine is due to drop soon.  New guys are coming in to the videogame market and the most vulnerable to lose their spot is Nintendo who seemingly has no audience beyond handhelds.  The competition is going to lock down every market demographic while Nintendo is fumbling around with their pants at their ankles.

So in the Oculus thread you say Rift is going to be at best a fad akin to motion controls. But here it's a threat to lock down a piece of the market and...take it from Nintendo?

I don't have much confidence in Oculus but it's still another new guy coming in.  I think Amazon has the best chance to hurt Nintendo but overall it's just a bad time for Nintendo to be tripping up.  You don't want to be struggling to find an audience just as new competitors are coming in.  And when I mention the competition locking down the different demographics I'm including Sony and MS.

I don't see Oculus Rift succeeding but what if it does?  What if the Amazon console succeeds?  What if instead of being in third, Nintendo is in fourth, fifth or sixth?  That probably won't happen but I don't think like a casual gamer so I find it hard to predict what they'll embrace.  Even if Oculus Rift was a fad for a bit just a few years of being a big fad could hurt Nintendo enough to force them out.  The Wii U is barely hanging on as the third choice.  A Rift fad could put it in fourth place for two or three years and that could be enough to cause major problems for Nintendo.  Any of these guys just needs to take Nintendo's spot for a little while to hurt them badly.

[Kytim89]

The era of big $500.00 consoles are over. If all of these streaming boxes take over it is going to leave the likes of Sony and Microsoft in the dust with third parties. If something like this Amazon Fire box supported Ps3 and 360 controllers with third party games on the service then I would be really worried.

[shingi_70]

The era of big $500.00 consoles are over. If all of these streaming boxes take over it is going to leave the likes of Sony and Microsoft in the dust with third parties. If something like this Amazon Fire box supported Ps3 and 360 controllers with third party games on the service then I would be really worried.

Well this plays a different type of game than the regular consoles do. You also have to wonder with the controller not being wth the system how much gaming traction this thing will have.


Trailer's for Sev Zero and the other Amazon first party games

[shingi_70]

Amazon is going hard, they already have my guys at Double helix and Eric Nylund.  But now Kim Swift (The creative mind behind portal) and Clint Hocking (Far Cry 2 Lead)  are joining Amazon studios.


http://kotaku.com/amazon-hires-portals-kim-swift-far-cry-2s-clint-hock-1557091175

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

I don't know this thing looks like just another Roku/GoogleTV/WDTV Live/Apple TV/Ouya type device to me. I think that market is over crowded. Oculus is different because there is a genuine desire for virtual reality to take off we all want it we just have been waiting for the technology to catch up, that is starting to happen. It's why the Wii was such a success in the first place, it was as close to getting into the game as we could get at the time, if Wii U was Wii + VR head set instead of Wii + Gamepad it would be a monster right now, but Nintendo might not learn that lesson in time. Facebook as a near bottomless pit of money as does Amazon so these companies can ride this out for a while. Facebook having bigger ambitions than just pure gaming will benefit the Oculus rift because it can reach a greater market. The biggest draw for the Wii U is the off TV play, having your own private headset is the holy grail of gaming, but it has to be done right or otherwise people get headaches and nose bleeds and crap like that. Nintendo is just too scared to get back into that market after their past failure and chances are they won't realize this is the future until it is too late. To them the future is more Fitness and health crap.

[Kytim89]

Amazon is going hard, they already have my guys at Double helix and Eric Nylund.  But now Kim Swift (The creative mind behind portal) and Clint Hocking (Far Cry 2 Lead)  are joining Amazon studios.


http://kotaku.com/amazon-hires-portals-kim-swift-far-cry-2s-clint-hock-1557091175

Could the people that have recently departed Sony make their way to Amazon's game division? Does anyone think that all of these streaming boxes might pose a threat to Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft?

[ShyGuy]

This reminds me of that Hazy period from later 16 bit era into the early 3D era. CD-i, Neo Geo, Atari Jaguar, 3D0...

It was fun times. Now we got Ouya, Steambox and Fire TV. Ready for the Roku Game system and the Apple TV Plus.

If the Kindle was doing better in as a multimedia competitor to the iPad and Android tablets, I would take this more seriously. We will see how it goes.

[Wah]

One word for this:
Mehh!

[Ceric]

This reminds me of that Hazy period from later 16 bit era into the early 3D era. CD-i, Neo Geo, Atari Jaguar, 3D0...

It was fun times. Now we got Ouya, Steambox and Fire TV. Ready for the Roku Game system and the Apple TV Plus.

If the Kindle was doing better in as a multimedia competitor to the iPad and Android tablets, I would take this more seriously. We will see how it goes.

The only surviver that time was Nintendo and Nintendo Derived Playstation.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

It's kind of a no-win if if you think about it. Back then the problem was the devices were over priced and did too little, today it's the opposite their too cheap and do too much and there are too many on the market for consumers to stick to one. What has changed since then is companies now target narrow markets instead of trying to make everything have "mass appeal" which is smarter business because some stuff would never exist if it had to have mass appeal.

[Stratos]

Interesting looking games. These are indeed curious times.


I agree with Shyguy, this may be a repeat of the post-16-bit/32-bit/pre-64 era. It was a strange time. My neighbor had an uncle who would get him a different system each time he visited and I remember playing 3DO, Saturn and Jaguar among other 'off brand' systems at his house.


After the initial wow factor wore off we ended up back at my house playing SNES and N64 games again. I expect that Nintendo will endure this time through the 'haze'. Though it probably won't be like the last outcome where we lost Sega and got the N64 out of it. I'm hoping for another 'Nintendo Renaissance Era' a decade from now.

[Louieturkey]

It was fun times. Now we got Ouya, Steambox and Fire TV. Ready for the Roku Game system and the Apple TV Plus.

Actually, all Roku devices since the 2nd generation have had games on them.  My Roku 2 came with Angry Birds.

Though I think the Fire TV is much more ambitious than any streaming device before it.  The power alone is beefy.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

Yeah so did mine which is why I compared it to a Roku. I think this is overkill there is going to be a big crash paving the way for who knows what to come and clean up the mess.