A MAJOR upgrade to Amazon Fire Sticks that turns the device into a games console is coming to even more models.
Since July, gamers have been able to play Xbox titles via their Amazon Fire Stick even if they don’t own the console itself.
Now it’s launching on more gadgets.
It’s all possible due to Xbox Cloud Gaming, which as the title suggests uses the power of the cloud to beam games into homes without any extra physical kit.
The only thing you do still need is an Xbox Wireless Controller.
In the absence of a console, Microsoft does the hard computing work, so you’ll be able to get high-quality visuals on games like Starfield, Fallout 4, and Forza Horizon 5.
Users need to download the Xbox app and have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to benefit.
Ultimate usually costs £14.99 / $19.99 per month but you can trial the service for 14 days at £1 / $1 if you want to give it a test first.
At launch, the perk was only available to a Fire TV Stick Max (2023) or Fire TV Stick 4K (2023) or later.
Now, it’s coming to older Fire Stick gadgets.
Amazon has added support for the Fire TV Stick 4K Max (1st generation) and Fire TV Cube (3rd generation).
“Just got my Fire TV Stick! Can’t wait to check this out,” one user reacted on X.
“more reason to not buy an xbox! nice,” another wrote.
A third added: “When you stop and think about it this makes perfect sense.
“playing games on a streaming stick that has ultra crazy latency and the usual 30FPS Xbox games are a match made in heaven.”
You may be wondering how it's possible to play games without a bulky console in your living room.
Powerful cloud tech makes it possible these days.
So, when you stream a movie, the footage is pre-rendered: it’s ready to watch in an instant, requiring very little processing power.
But with a computer game it has no idea what you’ll do next, so it needs to render the visuals on the fly.
To achieve this, a console needs powerful enough hardware to generate the graphics.
But nowadays a console is no longer necessary because internet speeds are quicker, meaning graphics can be rendered from a server elsewhere.
The visuals generated can be beamed back to you in fractions of a second – so you can play just as if you were gaming on a console.
Of course, the only snag is that you need a decent connection at all times – if the internet goes down or there’s a problem slowing it down significantly, it will affect the performance of the game you’re trying to play.
If you don’t own a Fire Stick, you can get the 4K Max from Amazon at £49.99 (Amazon UK) / $39.99 (Amazon USA).
And for those without a Fire Stick or an Xbox controller, Amazon has a special bundle with one month’s Game Pass Ultimate included for £102.99 – buy here.
Aside from this, it’s also worth noting that Xbox Cloud Gaming also works with Samsung TVs.
All prices in this article were correct at the time of writing, but may have since changed.
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