Amazon Sparks ‘Fire TV’ Streaming Device

Following months of rumors and speculation, Amazon on Wednesday revealed a TV-connected video streaming and gaming device called the Amazon Fire TV that will face off with a batch of competitors that includes Apple TV, the Google Chromecast and Roku’s device lineup.

Shipping now, the Amazon Fire TV sells for $99. Amazon is selling a separate, optional game controller for $39 that can also double as a remote control.

While earlier reports suggested that Amazon would launch a Chromecast-like HDMI “stick,” the Amazon Fire TV is a compact (0.7-inch-thin) yet powerful box outfitted with a dedicated GPU and a quad-core CPU that, the company claims, will provide more than three times the processing power of the Apple TV, Chromecast or Roku 3.

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