????還記得我們漫步在街邊書店的時刻嗎？還記得從那些或嚴謹或荒誕或天馬行空的書籍中獲得快樂的感覺嗎？去書店買書曾經是天經地義的事。

????不過，這樣的時光已經一去不返。當然，大家可以把矛頭主要對準亞馬遜（Amazon）。這家市值高達1570億美元的科技巨擘以網上售書起家，價格屠刀是其不二的競爭法寶，而它的終極目標是擠走低利潤高成本的實體書店。而現在，亞馬遜的“邪惡”目標終于實現了。但它并不滿足，繼續在其他領域大開殺戒，而且還取得了不小成果。（電子產品已大獲成功。流行服飾還欠點火候。）

????4月2日，亞馬遜推出了機頂盒Fire TV。這一次，它把目光瞄準了游戲行業。Fire TV售價99美元，除了常見的流媒體播放功能，它還可以玩視頻游戲，而首發上市的游戲數高達100款。其中既有《我的世界》（Minecraft）和《怪獸大學》（Monster University）等熱門休閑游戲，又有世嘉（Sega）、電子藝界（EA）、育碧（Ubisoft）、Telltale Games和Gamelot等大牌公司推出的“物美價廉型”核心游戲。用戶可以選擇Fire TV標配遙控器、智能手機應用，也可以選擇亞馬遜最新發布的Fire專用手柄游戲。后者將于一個月內開始零售，售價為39.99美元。

????相比這款價格平易近人的手柄以及獨立的游戲服務，亞馬遜新成立的游戲工作室意義更為重大。亞馬遜游戲工作室專門為Fire TV開發獨占游戲，而且它的開發團隊正在迅速擴充：今年2月，亞馬遜剛剛收購了擁有75名員工的游戲工作室Double Helix。據最新消息，亞馬遜又挖來了兩名資深游戲制作人：《傳送門》（Portal）設計師金姆?斯威夫特和《孤島驚魂2》（Far Cry 2）設計師克林特?霍金。亞馬遜游戲工作室即將發布處女座《Sev Zero》。這是一款第三人稱射擊游戲，支持多人聯網。無論從畫面還是操作，這款游戲和電子藝界、世嘉等公司的核心游戲已經相差無幾。

????但按照亞馬遜的風格，Sev Zero肯定會走廉價路線，售價僅為6.99美元，購買Fire TV游戲手柄的玩家還可免費獲得游戲。Fire TV平臺上的游戲平均售價更是低至1.85美元。

????我們可以和Xbox、PlayStation等專用游戲機上的游戲做一番對比。最新版《魔獸世界》（World of Warcraft）的價格為49.99美元，如果是數字豪華版，價格更是高達69.99美元。PlayStation 3版本的《俠盜飛車5》（ Grand Theft Auto V ）售價54.99美元。目前還不能確定亞馬遜是否有意說服這些頂級工作室為Fire TV開發游戲。核心玩家仍然會繼續堅守自己的平臺和游戲。但亞馬遜通過Fire TV上的Sev Zero這類廉價游戲向大家宣告：游戲價格未來會降下來。

????音樂、電影、電視、新聞傳媒和書籍，無一不在數字化進程中經歷了劇烈的價格下跌，而唯有游戲能獨善其身。隨著Fire TV的推出，亞馬遜或將重新定價游戲行業。游戲工作室，現在該你出招了。（財富中文網）

????譯者：項航

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????Remember bookstores? Those adorable little places of curated and whimsy and fanciful stories? The place where we purchased books?

????They're gone, mostly, and you can blame Amazon (AMZN). The $157 billion company got its start selling books online, happy to lose money while driving prices down, waiting for its brick-and-mortar competitors, with their thin margins and high overhead, to starve. They did, and Amazon won. The company has repeated this process for a number of other categories, to varying degrees of success. (Electronics, yes. Fashion, not so much.)

????With Amazon Fire TV, announced yesterday, Amazon has its sights set on the gaming industry. The company's new Fire TV streaming system costs $99 and features, alongside ample video content, a suite of 100 games. That includes popular casual gaming titles like Minecraft andMonsters University, and other "high-quality, low-cost" hardcore games from Sega, EA (EA), Ubisoft, Telltale Games, and Gamelot. Users have the option to play games with the standard Fire TV remote, a smartphone app, or Amazon's newly revealed Fire game controller, which will retail for $39.99 starting in a month.

????More meaningful than an inexpensive controller, or a game section in its service, is Amazon's new gaming studio. Amazon Game Studios is developing games exclusively for Fire TV, with a growing team: In February the company acquired a gaming studio with 75 employees called Double Helix. Today reports revealed Amazon hired Kim Swift, a designer of Portal, and Clint Hocking, a designer of Far Cry 2. Amazon Game Studios' first release is a game called Sev Zero, a third-person shooter game with the ability to go multiplayer. It looks and plays like the hardcore games from EA or Sega.

????But in typical Amazon style, Sev Zero is a steal. The game only costs $6.99, and users who purchase the Fire game controller get it for free. Beyond that, the average price of paid games on Fire TV is just $1.85.

????Compare that to the average price of videogames for Xbox (MSFT) or PlayStation (SNE). The latest World of Warcraft edition costs $49.99, or $69.99 if you upgrade to the digital deluxe edition. Grand Theft Auto V costs $54.99 for PlayStation 3. It's not clear if Amazon would convince those studios to include their games on Fire TV. Hardcore gamers will remain loyal to their systems and titles. But with Sev Zero and the host of low-cost games on Fire TV, Amazon is making a statement: The price of games will come down.

????Compared with any other piece of digital media, from music, movies, and TV to news and books, games haven't taken a price hit with the shift to digital. With its entrance into the category, Amazon is likely to change that. Your move, game studios.