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Amazon
all-in-one

Amazon announces Fire TV, its set-top streaming box and gaming device

Amazon Fire TV will allow users to watch shows on Instant Video and Netflix and will include games like Minecraft, The Walking Dead and NBA2K14.

AMAZON HAS REVEALED its Android-powered set-top box Amazon Fire TV today, which also doubles up as a gaming system.

The device, which will cost $99 and will ship in the US today, is powered by a quad-core processor, and has 2GB of RAM. Amazon claim it has three times as powerful as its competitors, Apple TV, Roku and Chromecast.

Announcing the device at an event in New York, the device will allow you to watch shows and videos from Hulu, YouTube, Vimeo, ESPN, and other web apps and stations.

Some of the features include ASAP which predicts which shows you want to watch, and queues up episodes so they start instantly.

It’s also a gaming device, which can be played with your remote, an app or a specialised controller. The controller will cost $39.99 and will come with 1,000 Amazon coins to buy games through its service like Minecraft, The Walking Dead, and NBA14.

The company promises to have thousands of games on the service by next month, and has developers such as Disney, Gameloft, SEGA, EA and Double Fine on board.

The company is also developing its own games through Amazon Game Studios, and demoed a number such as first-person shooter and tower defense game, Sev Zero.

sev-zero Businesswire Businesswire

Other features that come with the service include X-ray, which provides details on actors and movies as you’re watching them and provides lyrics for music are included.

Amazon had been competing against similar services like Netflix by producing its own shows and securing the rights to shows. Yesterday, it the show 24 will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Read: Amazon gain patent allowing it to ship goods before you order them >

Read: Netflix pulled off the greatest April Fools’ prank >

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