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Amazon invites customers to try Fire TV free for a month
Amazon is emailing some of its customers with an offer to try out the $99 Fire TV box free-of-charge for 30 days. If they don't get along with the little Android-powered streamer and gaming console, they can return it without obligation and without being left out of pocket -- so long as they follow the conditions of Amazon's returns policy, which includes keeping the hardware in new condition. Of course, a regular customer could get a similar end result without the invite, by dabbling with the Fire TV for a month and then using the normal returns procedure to get a full refund, but they'd have to pay upfront and possibly also pay for return shipping costs. Update: We incorrectly linked the 30-day trial with Amazon's standard returns policy, when the former might have some genuine advantages. The post has been changed to reflect that. [Thanks, Jeffrey]
PSA: GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas out now on Fire TV, Kindle Fire
Rockstar's PlayStation 2-era Grand Theft Auto trilogy is now available for Amazon's Android-powered Fire TV and Kindle Fire tablet devices. Starting this week, Android versions of Grand Theft Auto 3 ($4.99), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City ($4.99), and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ($6.99) are available for purchase directly from Amazon. Currently, buying San Andreas awards customers with 2,000 Amazon Coins -- enough digital currency to get both GTA 3 and Vice City for free, along with an additional $10 worth of Amazon apps. [Image: Rockstar]
The hidden value of Amazon's Fire TV
After a week with the Fire TV, I was confident that it was just another streamer, and our review reflects that. Amazon put a few nice tweaks on the existing set-top formula with an easy setup and voice search, but my TV stand is crowded with game consoles, dongles and other boxes that bring their own strengths. A month later, I've found that my initial experience didn't tell the entire story -- unlike other platforms that are locked down tight, letting the Fire TV languish as a Netflix/Amazon/Hulu box isn't showing what it can really do.
Amazon will add older HBO shows to Prime Instant Video, HBO Go to Fire TV
HBO's always been stingy about who gets to stream its cherished TV assets but on May 21st, some of the network's vintage material will get a wider release. The company has signed a deal with Amazon to bring its classic shows, including The Sopranos, The Wire and Deadwood to Prime Instant Video members (check out the list here). If you're waiting for newer fare -- by which we mean Game of Thrones -- you'll be disappointed, but seasons of HBO's other new shows, like True Blood and Veep will arrive roughly three years after their first broadcast. As part of the deal, HBO Go will launch as an app on Amazon's Fire TV set-top box, which is due to land at some point towards the end of the year. In the meantime, however, you can prepare yourself for a May binge-a-thon by buying in plenty of snacks and bottled water.
Amazon Fire TV's voice search expands to cover Hulu Plus and Showtime, but not Netflix
Fire TV came out of the gate with an impressive initial effort, however one of its rough edges is that the voice search is actually quite limited. At launch it could only provide results from Amazon's own movie and TV selections or music videos from Vevo, but the company is already adding new services to the mix. Hulu Plus, Showtime Anytime and Crackle are first up, which is a good list, but it's still missing Netflix. The new services will start popping up later this summer, which gives Amazon more than enough time to make sure a query for House of Cards pulls it up on both Netflix and Amazon video on-demand. This also makes it more competitive with similar features on competitors like Roku and Xbox, once it's filled out. Amazon is also working on new features, including one that we hadn't noticed before called "Prime Browse." Joning FreeTime parental controls and MP3 music access on the "coming soon" list, it appears that Prime browse will solve one of our other initial frustrations, and filter a view for only the content that's included with the Prime subscription service. More games and services are also on the way of course, but if you have a specific request for Amazon's developers, feel free to leave it here.
Weekends with Engadget: GS5 and Fire TV reviews, Sony's Yoshida on VR, and more!
Welcome to Weekends with Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines from the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. For even more action, subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Feedback Loop: Fire TV questions, remembering Windows XP, Chromebooks and more!
Welcome to Feedback Loop, a weekly roundup of the most interesting discussions happening within the Engadget community. There's so much technology to talk about and so little time to enjoy it, but you have a lot of great ideas and opinions that need to be shared! Join us every Saturday as we highlight some of the most interesting discussions that happened during the past week. This week, we took a closer look at the Fire TV and answered your questions about Amazon's latest gadget, reflected on the end of Windows XP, discussed options for coding and writing on a Chromebook and shared our impressions of RBI Baseball 14. Head on past the break to find out what other Engadget users like you had to say and then join the conversation in the Engadget forums!
Daily Roundup: Fire TV review, our first time on the web and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Amazon Fire TV review: the set-top that tries to do everything
Here's the thing about Amazon: We can't figure the company out half the time. Few things embody that quite as well as the Fire TV. The company is adamant that the set-top box is not a gaming console, but it's invested heavily in original game development for it and even produced a shockingly good gamepad accessory. Still, video games are just a "bonus." One of the pillars of the streaming-media box is supposed to be openness, but there's no denying that other services like Netflix are treated like second-class citizens here. They're invited to the party; they just better not outshine the host. The Fire TV may be the next step for Amazon as it tries to build its own ecosystem, but it's also yet another entry in the crowded streaming-media market. And the big question is: Do we need another? We've got TV set-tops for cable, satellite and fiber (at one time joined by a disc player for movies and maybe a game system or two). The next-gen game consoles do double duty as entertainment hubs, and there's no shortage of cheap boxes designed specifically to stream Netflix, HBO Go and Pandora. Add in smart TVs and the rise of pint-sized dongles, and the question of what to watch becomes how to watch. The Fire TV is trying to muscle out competitors with its $99 price and a strong focus on performance, search and openness. Now that we've spent a few days living with one, we can judge whether it's just another option among many, or truly a standout that finally fixes problems the others have so far ignored.
Daily Roundup: 5-year-old hacks Xbox Live account, Amazon Fire TV teardown and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Daily Roundup: Amazon Fire TV, Microsoft announces Windows Phone 8.1 and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You Don't Know Jack dev brings two games to Amazon Fire TV
While the Amazon Fire TV is "absolutely not a game console," developers such as Telltale Games and now Jackbox Games are already supporting the media-streaming device. The Chicago-based developer launched both You Don't Know Jack Party and a new trivia party game Fibbage for free on the Fire TV today. You Don't Know Jack Party first arrived on iOS last fall. Fibbage, like You Don't Know Jack Party, uses smartphones and tablets as game controllers while linking up with the Fire TV for big-screen multiplayer sessions. In it, up to eight players trick one another by filling in the blanks of trivia statements with lies as they see fit. Each round of play lasts seven questions and includes special categories like "Celebrity Tweets" and "Road Trip." The free version of Fibbage offers a "handful" of questions, while the paid upgrade of Fibbage brings with it hundreds more. Jackbox didn't offer a price for the upgraded version, though it noted plans to launch DLC for the game in the future. Amazon just announced (and launched) the Fire TV today for $99. [Image: Jackbox Games]
An afternoon with the Fire TV
We came away relatively impressed with the Fire TV during our brief hands-on. But we all know that units set up specifically for press demonstrations are hardly the best indicator of how a device will function in the real world. So we immediately went back to our lair and began putting the newest kid on the streaming block through its paces. Once away from the carefully controlled demonstration area, it became clear that the Fire TV is more of a mixed bag -- and still tied to its Android/Google TV roots -- than Amazon would like you to believe.
Telltale's Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us, Game of Thrones coming to Amazon Fire TV
Telltale Games is bringing three of its story-driven adventures to Amazon Fire TV starting with the first season of The Walking Dead, which launched today with the media streaming device. The second season, in addition to The Wolf Among Us and the developer's Game of Thrones-based adventure, will arrive on Fire TV later this year, Telltale confirmed with Joystiq and Engadget. Amazon launched the $99 game and video streaming machine today, announcing it alongside a $40 game pad (though developers have the option to support other Bluetooth controllers). Telltale unveiled its own Game of Thrones adaptation in December before launching the second episode of The Wolf Among Us in February. The developer offered a new trailer for the third episode of the game today, though no release date was given for it. [Image: Telltale Games]
Amazon Fire TV games work with other Bluetooth controllers
Amazon just revealed its $99 Fire TV game and video streaming device today, and unveiled a $40 Bluetooth game pad to go along with it. As it turns out, developers appear to have the option to make their Amazon Fire TV games compatible with other controllers. "I don't have the full data set, if any is the right term. Generally speaking, it's a Bluetooth controller," Mike Frazzini, VP of Amazon Games told Engadget today when asked about the Fire TV's controller support. "And the same thing vice-versa. Third-party controllers can work on Fire TV as well." According to a mandatory configuration file for all Amazon Fire TV game developers listed on Amazon's site, developers must note if the app "supports a game controller, either the Amazon Fire game controller or a Bluetooth game controller from another manufacturer." While Amazon doesn't confirm official Fire TV support with the game pads, other Bluetooth controllers like Nintendo's Wii Remote and Sony's DualShock 4 could feasibly work with some games if developers so choose. Likewise, while the Amazon Fire TV supports up to seven Bluetooth game controllers simultaneously, software development kit documentation notes that "only four of those controllers are assigned to player numbers." This seemingly caps local multiplayer gaming on Amazon Fire TV at four players at a given moment, which may not be an issue since gaming is more or less a "bonus" for the streaming device.
Amazon's Fire TV promises a premium set-top experience (update: hands-on video)
The first thing you notice when you pick up the Fire TV is how incredibly dense it is. It's tiny and encased in black matte plastic, but it feels like a solid brick of aluminum. That's not terribly surprising when you consider all of the power Amazon has crammed inside this thing. Though we're not sure about the speeds on its quad-core CPU and dedicated GPU, the company claims it has three times the processing power of its rivals like Roku and Apple TV. In any case, it's clear the silicon inside is pretty beefy, and it's likely that the chassis is a giant heatsink. During our brief time with the device, it was every bit as quick and impressive as it was during the on-stage demo. Voice searches were quick, if not exactly flawless thanks to the rather noisy demo area. It was less than a second from when I finished speaking to when the results popped up on screen (though, it seemed odd that Amazon assumed I meant "Klint Eastwood"). Despite its insistence that it handled search better than platforms like Roku, we'd have to say things aren't so cut and dry. Sure, you can voice search using the microphone on the remote, but searching with text requires the same cumbersome reliance on the remote's directional pad and an onscreen keyboard. Not to mention that Roku and Chromecast are also able to deliver voice search through their respective mobile apps.
Here's the Amazon Fire TV game controller
Amazon has finally revealed the game controller for its new Fire TV video streaming device. Lo and behold, it looks exactly like the controller that was leaked last month. It sports a familiar layout with dual analogue sticks, a D-pad, and typical face and function buttons. It also features what look like media controls for watching video on services like Netflix and Twitch. According to Mike Frazzini of Amazon Games, it will cost around $40 and will include some Amazon Coins as well. You won't necessarily need a controller to play games on Fire TV, as users will also be able to use the device's normal remote control or a special app that Amazon will release next month.
Amazon reveals game, movie streaming hardware 'Amazon Fire TV' [Update]
Amazon announced Amazon Fire TV today, a device that streams games and movies over the web. The Fire TV features 2 GB of RAM and a dedicated GPU, which Amazon said is the kind "usually found in smartphones." Additionally, Fire TV is based on Android and HTML, so apps are expected to be easy for developers to port to the device. It comes with a TV remote-like controller that includes a microphone on it, which can be used for the device's voice search functions. The Fire TV's separate dual-stick game pad costs $40. The device's UI includes sections for movies, television, apps and photos in addition to games. Among the app icons shown during Amazon's presentation were Twitch, WWE Network, Watch ESPN, Netflix and Hulu Plus. Amazon said it is "starting off with Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video of course, and we're rolling in other partners over time." As for the games available on Fire TV, the device will host "thousands" from publishers like EA and Ubisoft, and will include Minecraft shortly after it launches. Earlier in March, we got a look at what Amazon's Bluetooth gamepads might look like. The company founded Amazon Game Studios in 2012 and acquired Double Helix, the studio behind Killer Instinct, in February. Update: The Amazon Fire TV will cost $99 and is available to purchase today on Amazon's store.