GameStick is Coming Soon

It seems like Android consoles are pretty popular right now. By "popular" I mean multiple companies are making them and shipping them out soon. Whether or not any of these will be successful is yet to be seen, but GameStick looks like it could be a contender.

 

 GameStick is being developed by PlayJam. It was funded by Kickstarter and it made $650,000, which surpassed it initial goal. It was originally going to release in April 2013, but after being so successful they had to delay it's release. Amazon.com has it listed for an August 26, 2013 release date.

 

 

 

Here are the Specs for the GameStick as listed by Amazon

• Includes: 1 GameStick HDMI Console + Bluetooth Controller
• Easy to navigate user interface with access to Android games at 1080p
• Under the hood: ARM Cortex A9 CPU / MALI 400 GPU
• Storage: 8GB internal flash storage (expandable to 32GB via SDMicro)
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n WiFi / Bluetooth 4.0

You get all of this for only $79.99 ($20 cheaper than an Ouya).

What really stands out about the GameStick is it's portability. All you do is plug in the HDMI dongle to your HDTV and you are ready to play.

GameStick is based on Android architecture, however it has it's own UI built specially for it. It looks nice and easy to use, but I'll have to play around with one to know how well it actually works.

One downside to the GameStick is that it wont use the GooglePlay App store. This means you will need to repurchase games you own. Also game selection could be limited since they must be approved by PlayJam. PlayJam has said that it has over a hundred developers who say they want to make games for it. So hopefully they will make good on their promise and keep the games coming.

We will have to wait and see if the GameStick is successful. It looks promising and hopefully it will deliver.

Tablet Gaming

Tablets are becoming more of an everyday product. Sales of tablets are higher than ever and will keep growing in the future. The question on my mind is how will tablets affect the future of the gaming industry. The next generation of consoles will probably be released over the next 2 years. By the time that happens more tablets will be sold and will likely cut into that market.

Right now a lot of tablets have HDMI outs and are capable of running HD games. Add a blue tooth or USB controller and you have a game system. Gamestop is actually selling gaming tablets now. Which come preloaded with a hand full of games.

What makes this even better is the price of these games. The average game on a tablet runs from free to $7. The average console game is $60. Plenty of people would still argue that tablet games are cheap knock off games. BUT with games like Grand Theft Auto 3, Shadow Gun, Dead Space, Infinity Blade, Mass Effect,  Real Racing and Modern Combat that statement can't be backed up. There are thousands of games at your fingertips with a tablet. Even if only 10% are high quality games that is still a few hundred games.

So will tablet gaming kill the next generation of gaming platforms? If the next gen consoles don't offer something new and inventive then yes it's very possible.