Amazon goes after gamers with the new Fire TV Gaming Edition

As well as refreshing its Fire TV and Fire TV Stick streaming hardware, Amazon has also introduced a new variation of its set top box aimed squarely at gamers.

The new Amazon Fire TV Gaming Edition combines the updated Amazon Fire TV box with a game controller, a 32 GB microSD card, and two free games: Shovel Knight and Disney’s Ducktales.

The new Fire TV Game Controller (which is also available to purchase separately) features an ergonomic design that I suspect will appeal to Xbox gamers, an audio jack for Dolby-enhanced private listening, and instant voice search with access to Alexa. According to Amazon you can expect 90 hours of battery life on just one set of AA batteries.

SEE ALSO: Amazon announces three new tablets -- Fire HD, Fire, and Fire Kids Edition

"Since we launched Amazon Fire TV last year, gaming has been a customer-favorite. Today, we’re excited to expand gaming on Fire TV by providing a new option -- Fire TV Gaming Edition -- for customers and families who are looking for affordable and high-quality gaming", said Peter Larsen, Vice President, Amazon Devices. "The team has worked hard to bring software and feature updates that are important to gamers -- the new Fire TV has 75 percent more processing power, expandable microSD storage, 2x GPU performance, and more games than any other streaming media player".

Amazon Fire TV Gaming Edition is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.com/fire-tv-gaming-edition for $139.99 and will start shipping October 5.

The new Amazon Fire TV Game Controller is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-gaming-controller for $49.99 and will start shipping in October.