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RUMOR: Amazons Android console to launch this year priced below $300
- Thread starter chadskin
- Start date
DieEnteWurzel
Member
Why would I pay 300 bucks for a console that plays mostly tablet games or am I missing something?
How does this compete with Sony/MS/BigN at all?
How does this compete with Sony/MS/BigN at all?
$199 is a bomba.
Why the hell would i pay half the price of a ps4 OR almost the price of a current/the price of a current gen console during sales- on an ANDROID device?
Its illogical
Probably should be even lower than that.
Who the hell wants to pay that much money to play phone games on their TV?
Vinterbird
Member
Hasn't Amazon been hiring some big talent from the industry for the past two years or so? This might be more then just an Ouya.
KoopaTheCasual
Junior Member
Well, I doubt they'll have trouble marketing the damn thing, since it's going to be all over Amazon for like a month, but I wonder how many units they expect it to sell lifetime?
It's obvious that they are aiming for more than Mobile games, though. And unlike Ouya, Amazon has the resources to do so.
Graphics Horse
Member
Will be interesting to see how this fares against what Apple is baking.
FinalStageBoss
Banned
To play android games? Good luck, I wouldn't pay 50.
Baroquemantic
Member
Amazon doesn't even that many phone games. Their app store is terrible and really no better than the Windows Phone store. Compared to the iTunes app store and Google Play, it's pretty sparse.
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
No doubt it wont use Google Play, i'm not buying games twice or tying myself into another store.
andromeduck
Member
probably going to be some kind of semi-custom tegra chip
KoopaTheCasual
Junior Member
I don't think people understand we're no longer talking about an Ouya anymore....
This sounds like a legit competitor.
Supposedly, Amazon is building their 1st party studios that will craft content for this console...
No, it's gonna use a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC according to some of articles from last year.
maneil99
Member
it run most likely include google play if it were android no?
ashecitism
Member
Didn't they put together a pretty impressive 1st party studio? Nirolak made a thread about it I think.
Vinterbird
Member
Yup, it's much more then just a box they are hoping people will make games for.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
In what country?
Baroquemantic
Member
That's true, but if it's using an ARM/mobile processor, what will their studios even have to work with? That sounds like it would be incredibly underpowered to get any of the games that people buy dedicated gaming systems for. Are mobile processors even capable of matching a PS3, 360, out Wii U yet?
Nope. Amazon's version of Android is forked. It's their own thing. Their version of Android is, to put it simply, "unofficial" or incompatible with official, Google-certified Android.
Aad
Member
Techcrunch Rumor: Amazon's console is powered by Snapdragon, presumably Adreno 330
Rumor: Amazon's new game console is core oriented, Amazon snapping up game devs
Since people might have some questions about what this is and isn't, I thought I would make a list explaining the processor inside and showing what it does.
I am making the assumption it's the Snapdragon 800/Adreno 330, but given Amazon's job postings and tons of other devices launching this Fall, I feel very confident in this prediction.
What This WILL Do:
What This WONT Do:
- Have support for modern game engine architectures (it supports GPGPU computation and a lot of modern graphical effects through OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL, Renderscript Compute, and other modern mobile APIs).
- Generally have a modern GPU featureset.
- Support things like realtime reflections, refractions, moving cloth, and the kinds of things you would expect to see in a game from the seventh generation.
- Have good performance when running modern mobile games or games targeted at the hardware.
- Be a bit more powerful than the tablet version as it's plugged into a wall socket and thus has less wattage restrictions.
Here are a few images and a video showing off their demos and performance so far:
- Be a direct competitor to the PS4 and Xbox One.
- Have modern CPU/GPU computational/rendering performance.
- Look quite as good as a higher end 360/PS3 games.
- Run The Witcher 3.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HuheI31Wuo
And a performance chart for their early demos:
Via: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3126_7-57589962/qualcomm-snapdragon-800-incinerates-the-competition/
And here's the rumor article:
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/09/am...d-games-console-and-media-box-by-end-of-year/
Rumor: Amazon's new game console is core oriented, Amazon snapping up game devs
Yeah, I remember them doing this as well.
I'll be interested to see what it ends up being. I think it's too soon to put it to one side as a glorified Ouya. There's nothing inherently wrong with Android as an operating system.
KoopaTheCasual
Junior Member
What exactly is so unbelievable about a giant company like Amazon putting out competitive hardware? (and when I say competitive, I don't mean spec matched to PS4, i mean providing a solid price/power ratio) That has been Nintendo's mantra for a long time (please ignore the WiiU), so a company not burned by the "kiddy" stigma, with more avenues for marketing could potentially do well.
Is "below $300" likely going to mean $299?
Because at that price it does not stand a snowball's chance in hell of selling well.
Even if it was a lot cheaper, it would still not be real competition for the console makers due to a lack of power and being designed around running tablet/phone games.
So it is going to be a pile of crap GPU wise https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2013/09/26/dolphin-emulator-and-opengl-drivers-hall-fameshame/
Because at that price it does not stand a snowball's chance in hell of selling well.
Even if it was a lot cheaper, it would still not be real competition for the console makers due to a lack of power and being designed around running tablet/phone games.
So it is going to be a pile of crap GPU wise https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2013/09/26/dolphin-emulator-and-opengl-drivers-hall-fameshame/
Yeah, and I hate it. It's great for a Kindle, which is meant to be a tablet for people who are new to tablets, in a way. But they should absolutely utilize the full potential of Android and not lock the system down.
I don't really see a market for this, like the Ouya. Lots of games are designed around a touchscreen for the phones and tablets. At $300 I think it's a hard sell when the sort of person this appeals to probably has a device or two capable of doing the same thing already.
soviet prince
Member
this seem familiar 
James Coote
Neo Member
As a massive OUYA fan and having made a game for that device, I think Amazon are making a mistake.
The hardcore gamer market don't want a slightly cheaper, slightly inferior machine (as shown by Wii-U). Those consumers are going to want the real deal, which is a PS4 or Xbox One, not some watered down crap. Plus that end of the market is already seriously overcrowded.
Microconsoles really should be aiming at the casual market, with a cheap, impulse purchase price range box, and bright cartoony games.
Most casual gamers don't identify themselves as gamers, so aren't likely to buy something specifically pitched as a games console. On tablets/smartphones, people don't buy those for the games, even if that is what they end up actually using the devices for most of the time.
Amazon have the opportunity to stealth sneak their console under the TV by pitching it as an Nextflix / TV streaming box primarily, but that also has some games as well.
The hardcore gamer market don't want a slightly cheaper, slightly inferior machine (as shown by Wii-U). Those consumers are going to want the real deal, which is a PS4 or Xbox One, not some watered down crap. Plus that end of the market is already seriously overcrowded.
Microconsoles really should be aiming at the casual market, with a cheap, impulse purchase price range box, and bright cartoony games.
Most casual gamers don't identify themselves as gamers, so aren't likely to buy something specifically pitched as a games console. On tablets/smartphones, people don't buy those for the games, even if that is what they end up actually using the devices for most of the time.
Amazon have the opportunity to stealth sneak their console under the TV by pitching it as an Nextflix / TV streaming box primarily, but that also has some games as well.
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