GameStick Releasing September 30th

StewShearerOld

Geekdad News Writer
Jan 5, 2013
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GameStick Releasing September 30th



GameStick will launch in September at a price of $79.99.

Most minds in the gaming industry are understandably focused on the next-gen battle being fought by Sony and Microsoft for the hearts, minds and wallets of consumers. That said, there is another, smaller console war being waged between small companies trying to prove the merits of an Android based console. The Ouya, famous for its wildly GameStick, another Android console developed by PlayJam, is setting its sites on a September 30th release.

Like the Ouya, Gamestick received a lot of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121830-GameStick-Kickstarter-Closes-With-648-of-Funding-Goal>support on Kickstarter and will likewise attempt to appeal to gamers with its low price tag. The console, housed in a tiny HDMI plug-in, will cost only $79.99, undercutting its competitor by twenty dollars. The GameStick will come packaged with a Bluetooth controller as well as several extras like a dock and a carrying case. Gamers interested in pre-ordering can do so at Amazon and GameStop.

Whereas the Ouya, in part, sold itself on the flexibility of its hardware, GameStick's shtick has arguably been centered more around convenience and portability. Whether or not that strategy will help bring GameStick more success than the Ouya is something we'll be interested to see. Honestly, when you get down to it, both are niche products, and while there's definitely room for them to be successful, it's a success that arguably needs to be tempered by realistic expectations. That said, we'll be watching with interest when September 30th rolls around to see how GameStick pans out.

Source: VG247


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hazabaza1

Want Skyrim. Want. Do want.
Nov 26, 2008
9,612
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This whole "HD widescreen android" thing seems really fucking dumb to me. Like ridiculously stupid.
If I really want Android games, I'll get an Android. If I don't I can play hundreds of other, (let's not joke here, probably better) games on basically any platform. Having bad games on a big screen isn't going to make me like them more.
 

Vhite

New member
Aug 17, 2009
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*yawn* Call me when they will have widescreen HD on any flat vertical surface.
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
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hazabaza1 said:
This whole "HD widescreen android" thing seems really fucking dumb to me. Like ridiculously stupid.
If I really want Android games, I'll get an Android. If I don't I can play hundreds of other, (let's not joke here, probably better) games on basically any platform. Having bad games on a big screen isn't going to make me like them more.
The thing is though is that with the recent rise in android based consoles (Ouya, Gamestick, NVidia Shield, the Razer tablet...thing, etc) if they get popular enough then more and better games may start being made for Android. NVidia is already trying to work with developers to get Shield optimized ports and remakes and original games. Games like Max Payne, GTA Vice City,The Bard's Tale and many others have already been optimized for use on Android with a controller.

I'm not a huge believer in Android gaming either and I don't play android games too frequently, but there are some solid titles out there. For most core gamers, Android games are synonymous with "shitty touch screen game with microtransactions" but that's not always the case, and more and more games are being built with controller support or requirements in mind. You can connect wiimotes and PS3 controllers to android devices through bluetooth and you can fool an XBox 360 controller to work as well. You can use them to emulate classic old games and play them on the go.

There's lots of potential here, and even though the market is full to bursting with lazy F2P games there is a growing number of legitimately good games on Android, and if we continue to see high profile hardware being made to take advantage of Android as a gaming OS, I think that number will only continue to rise.
 

TiberiusEsuriens

New member
Jun 24, 2010
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Sight Unseen said:
hazabaza1 said:
This whole "HD widescreen android" thing seems really fucking dumb to me. Like ridiculously stupid.
If I really want Android games, I'll get an Android. If I don't I can play hundreds of other, (let's not joke here, probably better) games on basically any platform. Having bad games on a big screen isn't going to make me like them more.
The thing is though is that with the recent rise in android based consoles (Ouya, Gamestick, NVidia Shield, the Razer tablet...thing, etc) if they get popular enough then more and better games may start being made for Android. NVidia is already trying to work with developers to get Shield optimized ports and remakes and original games. Games like Max Payne, GTA Vice City,The Bard's Tale and many others have already been optimized for use on Android with a controller.

I'm not a huge believer in Android gaming either and I don't play android games too frequently, but there are some solid titles out there. For most core gamers, Android games are synonymous with "shitty touch screen game with microtransactions" but that's not always the case, and more and more games are being built with controller support or requirements in mind. You can connect wiimotes and PS3 controllers to android devices through bluetooth and you can fool an XBox 360 controller to work as well. You can use them to emulate classic old games and play them on the go.

There's lots of potential here, and even though the market is full to bursting with lazy F2P games there is a growing number of legitimately good games on Android, and if we continue to see high profile hardware being made to take advantage of Android as a gaming OS, I think that number will only continue to rise.
Agreed. Android games so far have been extremely limited by their hardware. Now that there are a bunch of big screens with controller support running android we'll start to see better games from it, so long as the idea of open source console doesn't completely die before they can get finished.

I'm also not very interested in them, but it will interesting to see the little guys grow up.
 

Lightknight

Mugwamp Supreme
Nov 26, 2008
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But... I own a phone. Someone needs to call Ouya and Game stick up and tell them that we totally have phones that we carry in our pockets every day. Many are even Android devices... so...?

As far as I can tell, the Ouya is just a pirate box, right? A console that lets you easily play bootlegged copies of games like Super Mario Bros 3 and whatnot.
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
1,064
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Lightknight said:
But... I own a phone. Someone needs to call Ouya and Game stick up and tell them that we totally have phones that we carry in our pockets every day. Many are even Android devices... so...?

As far as I can tell, the Ouya is just a pirate box, right? A console that lets you easily play bootlegged copies of games like Super Mario Bros 3 and whatnot.
Read my post two above you. Android gaming isn't limited to only touch screen games. There are a growing number of games for Android which are much better with (or require) a controller, and also a lot of phones don't have the processing/battery power to reliably play some of the games compared to this new wave of consoles coming out. Phone batteries in particular are really bad for playing any kind of game beyond the super casual low demand games. But for instance, the NVidia Shield has a new Tegra 4 processor which I think puts most phones to shame, as well as a ton more batteries to run the thing for longer. Ouya and Gamestick are (i believe) plugged into power supplies, and so power is a non-issue for them.
 

Lightknight

Mugwamp Supreme
Nov 26, 2008
4,860
0
0
Sight Unseen said:
Lightknight said:
But... I own a phone. Someone needs to call Ouya and Game stick up and tell them that we totally have phones that we carry in our pockets every day. Many are even Android devices... so...?

As far as I can tell, the Ouya is just a pirate box, right? A console that lets you easily play bootlegged copies of games like Super Mario Bros 3 and whatnot.
Read my post two above you. Android gaming isn't limited to only touch screen games. There are a growing number of games for Android which are much better with (or require) a controller, and also a lot of phones don't have the processing/battery power to reliably play some of the games compared to this new wave of consoles coming out. Phone batteries in particular are really bad for playing any kind of game beyond the super casual low demand games. But for instance, the NVidia Shield has a new Tegra 4 processor which I think puts most phones to shame, as well as a ton more batteries to run the thing for longer. Ouya and Gamestick are (i believe) plugged into power supplies, and so power is a non-issue for them.
Is this USB stick supposed to provide processing power that exceeds a phone?
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
1,064
0
0
Lightknight said:
Sight Unseen said:
Lightknight said:
But... I own a phone. Someone needs to call Ouya and Game stick up and tell them that we totally have phones that we carry in our pockets every day. Many are even Android devices... so...?

As far as I can tell, the Ouya is just a pirate box, right? A console that lets you easily play bootlegged copies of games like Super Mario Bros 3 and whatnot.
Read my post two above you. Android gaming isn't limited to only touch screen games. There are a growing number of games for Android which are much better with (or require) a controller, and also a lot of phones don't have the processing/battery power to reliably play some of the games compared to this new wave of consoles coming out. Phone batteries in particular are really bad for playing any kind of game beyond the super casual low demand games. But for instance, the NVidia Shield has a new Tegra 4 processor which I think puts most phones to shame, as well as a ton more batteries to run the thing for longer. Ouya and Gamestick are (i believe) plugged into power supplies, and so power is a non-issue for them.
Is this USB stick supposed to provide processing power that exceeds a phone?
It's an HDMI stick not a USB stick, just for clarification. And I don't claim to be an expert on this particular device, however I do know for a fact that both the NVidia Shield and the Razer Edge Pro are considerably more powerful than most phones and even most tablets and those both run on Android. I think the Ouya is as powerful as a mid-range phone, but since it has way fewer features and less multitasking required, maybe it can get more power out of the processor than a phone, I don't know for sure.

Like I said, I'm not a huge proponent of Android gaming in it's current form, but I'm optimistic that this surge of Android consoles might lead to Android becoming a viable gaming option. I have an android tablet that I can use to emulate games for gameboy and even N64 if I want. I can attach a controller to it and play with a wii-mote, but most games don't support it natively. With these new consoles coming out, I hope that more games will embrace controller support and higher qualities. I also hope that less games go "freemium" and stick to more conventional pricing models. But these are all just hopes that they'll bank on the potential being shown by these pioneer consoles.
 

Smooth Operator

New member
Oct 5, 2010
8,162
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Well hopefully this means some proper games find their way into mobile development now that controllers are an option.
But I have to agree that playing the current horrid lineup is no system seller.
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
8,407
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so some androids my phone wont handle is going to come out now. well, time to get that android emulator then?