There was a popular theory floated around the ether of the Internet that after Amazon bought the game video streaming service Twitch for close to $1 billion dollars it would start shoehorning its ads into video streams and adding "buy now" buttons everywhere. But according to Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, the company is not interested in selling games directly to consumers. Twitch's strength, he notes, is in promoting games natively with content like YouTube personalities have found success in doing.

If you missed Saturday's live broadcast of Super Podcast Action Committee (Episode 112), you can watch the video replay on YouTube or download it below.

According to a New York Times report (highlighted by Joystiq), Twitch draws more viewers than popular cable networks such as HLN, CNN, E!, MSNBC, TruTV and even MTV during peak hours. Twitch's viewer numbers have been on the uptick for two years, hitting an impressive milestone of about 800,000 viewers during peak (or in TV terms, "primetime") hours.

Many were positive that Google would be the one to buy Twitch but nope!  Amazon picked up the video-streaming service for a cool billion dollars.

For its part, Amazon says that "Twitch is absolutely doing a great job and we don't want to change that at all."

Prior to yesterday's announcement that Amazon had purchased Twitch, the prevailing rumor was that Google was going to snap up the video streaming service for over $1 billion.

While it is the typical line for a company to use when buying out something so beloved by the community as Twitch is, Amazon said last night that it has no plans to make any changes to the popular community-driven video game streaming service. Amazon announced yesterday that it had acquired Twitch for an estimated $970 million. Michael Frazzini, vice of president of Amazon Games, and Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said during a "town hall meeting" last night that the deal shouldn't worry Twitch users.

UPDATE: Twitch has confirmed that it has been acquired by Amazon.

Vietnam-based indie developer Dong Nguyen's popular mobile title, Flappy Birds, has returned with a new title, but it is only available via the Amazon Fire TV set-top box/micro console. While the core gameplay of the game - flying a goofy bird through pipes and ghosts - remains intact, the game does offer some new features such as multiplayer, Person vs Person mode, more obstacles, and (apparently) more challenging gameplay. The game supports the Amazon Fire TV remote and the compatible controller.

Amazon said in June that it would fight the Federal Trade Commission if it tried to make it settle complaints from parents who claim they did not authorize purchases for their children on various apps in its store. Apple settled a lawsuit in January to the tune of $32.5 million, but Amazon wrote a letter to the FTC last month telling them that they would not settle because they have been making changes to how children have access to purchasing power within its store and the apps that appear in it.

Amazon is refusing to comply with a Federal Trade Commission settlement plan related to in-app purchases. Apple settled for $32.5 million in refunds to parents who claim they were billed for games and in-app content their children were playing on their mobile or tablet devices without their express consent. Apple was also ordered to change its billing practices to make sure that in-app purchases require consent from parents or device owners before transactions could be completed.

First, Amazon bought Killer Instinct maker Double Helix, and now it is proving that gaming is more than just a passing hobby for the company by hiring two high profile seasoned veterans. Amazon Game Studios has hired Kim Swift and Clint Hocking.

Amazon is bolstering up talent in their video game development studio, and they've got two new high-profile snags: Portal designer Kim Swift and Far Cry 2 designer Clint Hocking have both joined Amazon Game Studios, Kotaku has learned.

Amazon revealed the Fire TV set-top streaming entertainment and gaming device on Wednesday. The $99 Android-powered device features 2GB of memory, a quad-core processor, a dedicated GPU and built-in Wi-Fi support. It also supports most of the popular entertainment apps including Netflix, Crackle, WWE Network and more. Today the company has revealed all the games available now for the Fire TV.

The tower-defense shooter title Sev Zero is the system's only major exclusive game. It was developed by Amazon Game Studios.

A full list - from free to $7.99 can be found below:

The long rumored set-top box/gaming device from Amazon has finally been revealed. The device is called the "Amazon Fire TV" and it is available today for $99. The device offers consumers the ability to play games and stream video from Amazon's video streaming service, Amazon Prime.

Rumors persist that Amazon will launch some sort of set box device or console later this year. According to a new report on the subject over at Recode, sources inside Amazon's "partners" have said that the Android-powered box is real and will compete with Apple TV and Roku's line of steaming devices..

Here's an odd but true story. Online retailer and Kindle Fire maker Amazon has acquired Killer Instinct creator Double Helix for an undisclosed amount of cash. The Irvine, California-based company that created Killer Instinct for the Xbox One console, was founded in 2007 through the merger of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment. The company currently employs around 75 people, who will continue to operate out of their Orange County offices, according to TechCrunch.

On this week's show hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight talk about the possibility of Amazon releasing a home console of some sort this year, a study that says relaxing games make people more prosocial, Killer Instinct's new jail system for rage quitters, the PS3 trade-in for Xbox One promotion from Microsoft, and Microsoft buying Gears of War from Epic. Download Episode 86 now: SuperPAC Episode 86 (1 hour, 11 minutes) 81 MB.

Amazon is going to raise the cost of its yearly membership for its Prime service, which gives consumers discounts on overnight shipping, free two-day shipping on select items, and access to its streaming video on demand services via various devices including iOS, Android, Roku, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, etc.

So, Amazon (that big, online retailer where you probably a buy a bunch of stuff) is reportedly making a video game console and will release it sometime this year.

Yep.

According to VG247, the console will run the Android OS, feature streaming and downloadable games (and music, movies and TV shows) and come in at under $300.

Which probably means $299.99.

According to a VG247 report citing multiple sources, Amazon is planning on pushing out a micro-console of sorts later this year. According to the report, Amazon has been showing select development and publishing partners the new device, which - much like the Kindle Fire - is capable of playing high-definition videos through its Amazon Prime streaming services, Android games, and more.

To celebrate 15 years in business Amazon UK has released its best selling games list of all time, and the Call of Duty series is prominently highlighted throughout. According to Amazon UK, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (all platforms) is the best selling game in the service's history, followed by Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3, Grand Theft Auto V (which has only been out since September in the UK), and Black Ops 2.

Game Informer reports that Amazon is moving into the home console space, with plans to launch its own console by year's end. Speaking to GI, several sources close to the situation say that Amazon is developing an Android-based console that will release by the year's end - perhaps on Black Friday.

Apple and Amazon have settled a lawsuit (Apple Inc v. Amazon.com Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Case No. 11-01327) over who has the right to use the term "app store," as a destination to sell applications for their respective platforms. U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California, on Tuesday dismissed the case at the companies' request, killing a trial that was set to begin on August 19. The settlement came about when Apple promised not to sue, and Amazon promised to ditch its counterclaim in the case.

It's been a pretty rough day for both customers who bought SimCity and the developers trying everything under the sun to get it working at full capacity. While EA has been trying to solve the problem and get gamers playing the game, some fans have been very vocal about how the game's DRM has broken it beyond repair.

Temple Run 2 has been downloaded over 50 million times on iOS, Android and Kindle devices, according to developer Imangi Studios. The latest game from Imangi Studios reached that milestone in just 13 days, breaking the previously set record for the fastest growing mobile game (Angry Birds held the previous record with 50 million downloads in 35 days in April of 2012).

Perhaps realizing that to compete with the Samsungs and Apples of the world in the tablet market it needed to expand its reach beyond its own website, Amazon is now offerings its Kindle Fire devices at GameStop. GameStop is now selling the Kindle Fire tablet at their retail stores and is offering a nifty promotional $25 Amazon.com gift card as an incentive. The device is available now for $199.99 in all 4,400 U.S. GameStop stores. The Kindle Fire HD and 7" versions of the tablet are also available in select stores.

Online retailer Amazon has apologized to UK customers who purchased a premium Wii U bundle but didn't get a copy of the game Nintendo Land. The retailer blamed supplier error for the omission of the game and said that the error only affected a small number of customers.

"It's been brought to our attention that a small number of orders for this item may have been delivered without the advertised game, Nintendo Land, due to supplier error," an email to customers confirmed.

The judge hearing Apple's lawsuit against Amazon for having an "appstore" has expressed some strong skepticism in Apple's core arguments. Today in an Oakland federal court US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton expressed strong doubt that Apple will be able to prove its case that consumers are confused or deceived by Amazon's use of the word "Appstore." This is not a new view by Judge Hamilton, who said pretty much the same thing a year ago after hearing Apple's arguments and denied a request by the company for a preliminary injunction against Amazon.

A "day late and 30 minutes short" would be the best way to describe Episode 23 of the Super Podcast Action Committee as host Andrew Eisen struggles with being sick and co-host E. Zachary Knight rails against the wickedness of the state of Oklahoma keeping his preferred candidate off the ballot. In between these trials and tribulations, Andrew and EZK talk about Kevin Butler being sued by Sony, Nintendo's non-gamer ad, the latest poll on GamePolitics, and troubles at the drive-in.

Let’s play a word association game.  I’m going to say a word, and you tell me what pops in your head.  Ready?  Okay, here we go…

“Appstore”

Amazon.com has asked California U.S. District Court judge to dismiss Apple's claim that the online retailer's use of the term "appstore" is a case of false advertising. The request is in response to an Apple lawsuit filed in March 2011 that alleged that that Amazon.com's use of the name "Amazon Appstore" violated its App Store trademark. In November of last year Apple amended the complaint to include allegations that the use of "appstore" amounted to false advertising and would cause consumer confusion.