For gamers of greener years, near homogeny in the console market has until more recently had our options fixed with the big three. The newest console to be welcomed into your home was, after the sad demise of SEGA consoles after the Dreamcast, almost certain to have originated at a factory of one of the Big Three: Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo. But the times they are a’changin’ and the console market is diversifying. Consoles today are rarely in direct competition with each other, each offering comparable features, but each too with distinct nuances which cater to a given chunk of the market in which their makers want to stake their claim.
We’ve heard about Ouya, and a constant barrage of news about various Steam Machines slithering out from Gabe Newell’s nest in the often confusing and merciless pit of PC gaming and into the console market proper, there are even whispers of a new console on the Nintendo front after a disastrously muddled launch of their ‘next-gen’ contender, the Wii-U.
So strangely, there is word that a new entrant to this turbulent marketplace is lacing up their gloves and they can be found in…the Amazon corner. Apparently unsatisfied with dominating the E-reader market, being the go to name for online retail and developing a drone delivery system (!!!) the restless bods over at Amazon are working on a new console, according to various sources at VG247.
The Android-based unit, which has been speculated over to be priced at below $300 in the US (roughly £181 at today’s rates) and whilst its specs are as yet unknown, it will probably face off more directly, at least in gaming terms, against the Ouya and base-level Steam Machines. Where it might compete with the big boys, particularly Microsoft, however, is in its role as a content delivery device. By shifting their angle with the Xbox ONE to being an all encompassing media consumption terminal, Microsoft have left themselves vulnerable. If that is the market that MS are relying on to expand their userbase, something such as this new attempt from Amazon could really unseat them, given Amazon’s command of a developed and varied userbase, distribution network, film and music divisions and so on.
This dual-pronged attempt by Amazon to fight a war on two fronts is an interesting one and only time will tell whether these rumours reach fruition and whether the apple will prove ripe for the picking or full of maggots.
