It stands to reason that Apple will be able to push the A8 much, much further than it ever has before given that the Apple TV is plugged into the wall, and not dependent on battery.This will enable developers of games and other resource-intensive applications to produce higher quality and more demanding apps. A native SDK that takes advantage of the hardware fully will, for the first time ever, turn the Apple TV into a platform, a self-sustaining life form that Apple likely hopes will dominate competitors who have done only slightly better about adding third-party support.
Source: Apple Is About To Lay Down Its TV Cards | TechCrunch