Amazon Fire TV Game Console Now Available For $99

Well folks, we were tipped off to this console beforehand when Amazon's dedicated, proprietary game controller leaked online, but now the word is official and the stamp of Amazon's foray into the gaming universe has become legit.

DarkZero lifted some images from Engadget's live-blog covering the live stage announcement and presentation of the Amazon Fire TV set top box and game console, which is more-so geared toward working as a TV-on-your-TV-box with some gaming offered up as a side dish.

The Fire TV console will support all the TV on your TV that your TV can handle, as pointed out in the recent post about the device over in the TV section of Cinema Blend. That's no joke, either. The Fire TV is all up in the business of Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, Vevo, Showtime, Amazon's own media offerings, as well as popular shows and series from both cable TV and network television. The Xbox One just got some serious competition in the home console TV on your TV arena.

But the console isn't just about TV on your TV... oh no, they also want to capture the casual gaming audience as well: people who don't play games often or who have kids who occasionally play games. In other words, they really want to eat into the same kind of market that Nintendo used to have a stranglehold on with just about all of their devices up until this point – and the very same market that OUYA sadly failed to encroach upon with its release last year.

The Fire TV sports support for popular kids games like Minecraft, as well as Disney Interactive titles, Ubisoft titles, Electronic Arts games, indie releases from Double Fine and even popular mobile shooter and strategy titles. They seem to have garnered quite a bit of support from the big dogs in the gaming arena, but that's not hard to do when you're "Amazon" and you wave some dollar bills in the faces of top-tier AAA publishers would sell their left nut for a coconut drink and an opportunity to gain a cent to a dollar in quarterly profits over the previous year.

But in addition to the above, the articles note that Amazon will also have a very strong line-up of their very own exclusive video game offerings, as hinted at when they purchased Double Helix not too long ago. Double Helix isn't the most recognized name in gaming and their track record before the critically acclaimed and tournament-friendly Killer Instinct released on the Xbox One hasn't been particularly stellar. Also, what sort of games Amazon will offer in the exclusivity department are still under wraps, but they won't be very big games as the Fire TV's specs are nothing to write home about.

The console runs on a specialized Amazon OS based on Android and sports the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8064 quad-core processor that outputs up to 1.7ghz of power. The system sports 8GB of internal storage and only 2GB of LPDDR2 RAM clocked at only 533mhz. In plain English: the specs match the console's price.

As the images show, the console comes with a remote control so you can manage all your TV properties from the couch with ease. You can also use the voice commands to search for things across the console, just like the Xbox One... except, you don't need to pay $500 to do so.

Nevertheless, if you want to get in on the gaming side of things, you'll need to purchase the Amazon controller for only $39.99. That's just a little above the same price to mod your PS4 or Xbox One controller at Modsticks. The controller also works just the same as the remote, so anything you can do with the remote you can also do with the wireless controller. Given that it's wireless, you'll also be able to play multiplayer games with multiple controllers without having to plug anything in. Of course, given that it runs on AA batteries, you will need a charging kit or station to keep the controllers powered up.

The console is available right now over on Amazon's official website for only $99.99.