The Giant Wants to Be in Everyones’ Playrooms, Living Rooms, Dens, and More. Google is Making a Video Game Console.

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WASHINGTON, June 28, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The battle to control future home entertainment is getting more intense.

Google this year reportedly will launch a game console designed to immediately compete head-to-head with X-Box, PlayStation and Nintendo, but which insiders see as a ‘Trojan horse’ device that will download unlimited content.

The home entertainment world, long dominated by TV broadcast and cable networks, is being challenged by newcomers such as Amazon and Apple TV devices that feed Internet programming into home TV sets, and on-demand alternatives such as Netflix and Hulu.

Google’s entry into this battle opens an entirely new front, bringing with it Google’s popular Android operating system, which will connect wirelessly via Bluetooth to Google Glass, Google’s new wearable video screen, smart watches and other wireless devices.

And other potential players seem ready to compete as well. “Steambox,” a Linux-based box, is being planned by the popular gaming download service Steam. Consoles also have been introduced by start-ups GamePop and Ouya.

Source: EIN News

More on Google’s Game Console from CNN:

Google is reportedly working on a video game console that would be powered by its Android operating system, potentially putting another huge tech player in an arena dominated by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

Oh, and The Wall Street Journal reports Google is working on a smartwatch, too. Like almost everybody else in the industry.

Both a console and a watch would be moves to undercut rival Apple, which is widely expected to roll out its own smartwatch and is reportedly planning to add gaming as part of the next iteration of its Apple TV product.

Citing unnamed sources who have been “briefed on the matter,” the Journal also said Google is planning to release a revamped Nexus Q, a media-streaming device that was announced but never released for sale to the public.

An Android gaming console would come on the heels of the release of OUYA, a $99, open-platform console that runs on a version of the Google operating system. After raising $8 million on Kickstarter, OUYA went on sale to the public on Wednesday. Demand for the new console appears to be strong; it was sold out on Amazon earlier this week.

If the console report is true, it remains to be seen whether Google would go for the OUYA model of a more affordable, accessible system or try to compete with the so-called Big Three — Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Wii U.

All three carry heftier price tags but are more powerful and more well-established in the gaming world, with new games developed specifically for the devices.

An Android-powered smartwatch would enter Google in what’s becoming a crowded, if largely still theoretical, field. Credible leaks have most analysts convinced that Apple has a smartwatch in the works. In recent months, Samsung and LG have confirmed they’re working on connected watches, as well.

And a handful of those watches, a leading item in the emerging field of “wearable tech,” are already on the market. Consider Pebble, another Kickstarter success story.

A Google watch could partner with arguably the most exciting wearable tech product to date: Google’s Glass connected headset.

Google did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment for this story.

By Doug Gross, CNN