Amazon creating game playing, media streaming TV device, reports say

Amazon plans to release a game-playing, media-streaming TV box this year, if multiple reports are accurate. Game Informer and TechCrunch cite anonymous sources who say the online retail giant is preparing an Android-based system with a custom built controller.

TechCrunch reports the system could be powered by a Snapdragon processor built specifically for smart TVs and set-top boxes. Amazon already has a substantial games and media marketplace built for its Kindle Fire tablet and others, so this could be its front line push from mobile to the living room.

Though the device's capabilities will extend beyond games, Amazon has reportedly approached several developers about creating games for the system.

An Amazon-backed, low-priced system would be bad news for smaller contenders like Ouya, but we'll have to wait and see what, if anything, the company decides to reveal.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.