With the success of Ouya, many had speculated that the funds crowdsourcing model may finally be ripe to disrupt the mainstream gaming industry. Ouya certainly has been a wild success and right on its heels, PlayJam has now launched GameStick, being touted as the tiniest and most portable TV games console.
For long, the major portion of the gaming industry has turned itself to notable games consoles and the arena of mobile gaming. Ouya was different in that it was based on open-source software, something which made it attract $8 million on KickStarter.
What is GameStick?
GameStick, on the other hand, arrives with a rather different focus. The company behind the development of this tiny console is PlayJam which has long focused on Smart TV games. PlayJam has positioned GameStick as the most portable games console that you can easily pair up with a large screen TV and start your gaming session.
In all honesty, GameStick does hold a lot of promise; and all of it emanates from the fact that it is ultra-tiny. Measuring nearly the same as a normal USB stick, the game console plugs directly into a TV’s HDMI slot and packs a Bluetooth controller. The controller also includes a tiny slot so that if you are on the move, you can snugly slip the console into the slot and the two separate units become one.
Without a doubt, it is akin to carrying your entire gaming thrill in your pocket and plugging it to a TV whenever and wherever you like.
Specifications:
GameStick packs an Amlogic 8726-MX chip and 1GB of RAM together with the ability to decode full 1080p HD video, enabling the console to be used with larger screens. Right out of the box, it runs Android Jelly Bean which means that the interface would be already familiar to many users. It supports up to 4 controllers, including the Bluetooth controller that arrives with it. Priced at a mere $79 right now, GamesStick is certainly a highly affordable and sweet deal for most gamers out there.
How many games can it run?
Well, to boot, since it hosts Android Jelly Bean, you can access any of the 700,000 Android games available for the Android platform in general. Apart from that, PlayJam has been working with a number of gaming studios such as Disney and Hutch to roll out more games for the tiny console. The company is also collaborating with another 250 developers to same ends.
So what’s the weak point?
Well, for one, GameStick has been styled to be a TV games console and TV games haven’t much too popular among avid gamers for quite a while now. However, with the vast repository of Android games at its back, PlayJam may indeed be all set to disrupt that trend. Whether or not it will succeed in that effort is a question of time and a matter of GameStick’s popularity. Either way, we shall be able to talk about it more confidently once the KickStarter campaign concludes.
The KickStarter campaign:
For now, PlayJam has launched a 30-day campaign at KickStarter, hoping to raise $100,000. According to the company, it needs the funds to finally push through the mass production stage of the product, having afforded the expenses of design, R&D and other stages of development on its own. For a mere $79, you get to have your very own GameStick together with the Bluetooth controller. Needless to state, the price tag is too tempting even to the casually disinterested ones.
If the gamer in you is all intrigued at the prospect of holding a really tiny game console and carrying it around with you with the greatest ease, you may want to pledge a place on the campaign. You can do so below:
Source: KickStarter
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