Streaming your favorite smartphone apps on Twitch is pretty hard. Through Facebook? Even harder. To simplify the process, Bluestacks is adding a Facebook Live option to its desktop Android emulator. So whether you're using a PC or Mac, you can now gr...
Twitch committed to mobile gaming in a big way by sponsoring a Vainglory tournament and it's making streaming easier by partnering with Bluestacks. As a reminder, Bluestacks makes an Android emulator for PC (or Mac) that lets you run most any mobile...
Four years and 90-million Windows users since it has debuted, this Android emulator is finally making its way into Apple territory.
Who would have thought that Apple and Android would someday have a common future? Apple is known to loathe emulators, and the fact that iOS 8.1 blocks them is clear proof of that. However, the Cupertino company may be a bit more permissive when it comes to its desktop OS. The BlueStacks Android emulator has been around for more than 4 years, but thus far it was only offered to Windows users. The company must have thought that it’s about time to expand its horizons to encompass OSX users, as well.
However, the idea of making an OS X version of their software didn’t come out of the blue. A limited alpha was developed back in 2012, and more recently there has been a beta version of the emulator. What we’re witnessing now is just the official launch of the App Player for Mac.
Overall, BlueStacks is a fully-functional emulator, with built-in support for a mouse and keyboard. On top of that, trackpads can be used for pinching and zooming, not to mention that the apps will be scaled properly to the Mac’s Retina display. What that means is that Android games will get to look extremely well on a Mac. Isn’t it ironic?
In the odd (but not entirely impossible) scenario that you’re using an Android smartphone and a Mac as your computer, you can sync files and data between mobile devices, and even get new apps from Google Play straight on your Mac.
As far as Android emulators for Windows go, I’ve grown fond of DuOS, which doesn’t have a subscription plan, like BlueStacks does, but offers unlimited functionality for a one-off payment of just $10. Some of you are probably asking themselves: “Wait, so BlueStacks is not free?” In its free form, it downloads sponsored Android apps (that eventual get to clog your computer) on a regular basis. To get rid of that, you’d have to pay $2 per PC per month. I’m pretty sure that a similar subscription plan will be offered to OSX users, too.
If you want to try the app player on either Windows or OSX, head over to the BlueStacks website and download the software.
Having realized how big of an app deficit Windows and Windows Phone have in comparison to Google’s mobile OS, Microsoft might bring Android apps to both of its operating systems.
One of the greatest shocks anyone can have while moving from iOS or Android to Windows Phone is that their favorite apps and games may not have a correspondent on smartphones running Microsoft’s OS. One such example is Flappy Bird, an addictive game that brought Android and iOS users to exasperation, especially when the developer decided to retire it and the price of smartphones carrying it skyrocketed.
Microsoft already collects license fees for every Android phone that is sold, but the Redmond company wants to tighten its connection to Google’s OS even more. Unnamed sources told The Verge that Microsoft is considering implementing support for Android Apps both in its desktop and mobile versions of its operating system. This would be a great change, and Microsoft needs to tread softly, especially since there are mixed feelings about this inside the company.
In terms of market share and adoption rate, Android is for mobile what Windows is for PCs, and despite the fact that Google and Microsoft are competitors, it might be good that the latter wants to adopt the former’s ecosystem. The Windows 8 Store is also extremely poor if compared to the Play Store, and making Android apps compatible with the desktop OS would be a radical move.
To make this happen, Microsoft might ask Intel and BlueStacks for help. AMD has partnered with the latter, a company in which Intel has also invested, in order to bring Android apps to Windows with the help of AMD’s chipsets that pack an ARM processor. BlueStacks also made a deal with Asus and Lenovo to ship its Android-emulating software on the PCs made by these two manufacturers.
The fact that Microsoft has been anything but successful at convincing developers to create apps for its operating systems doesn’t have to mean the death of Windows and Windows 8. In fact, this strategy might help Microsoft retain customers by preventing them to move to Android. Despite the “embrace, extend, and extinguish” phrase that Microsoft used internally for naming the actions required for competitors, the Redmond company may be able to embrace Android and extend its current operating systems by doing so, but I find it hard to believe that it will ever manage to extinguish Google’s OS.
The CES 2014 will be a clash of titans alright. Microsoft will be facing the music as the original equipment manufacturers are bound to showcase their stuff at the venue in Las Vegas. The Windows...
In an effort to outdo itself, BlueStacks is announcing the GamePop Mini for the cube-averse. The biggest difference between the Mini (seen above on the left) and the cube (the... uh... cube above) isn't the form factor; it's in pricing. Where the regular GamePop is $129 (unless you act soon) the Mini is "free" after a 12-month subscription of $7 per-month, or $84 total. At this price, it costs less than an OUYA, but slightly more than a GameStick. "If you keep it more than 12 months, you keep it forever," BlueStacks' Head of Marketing and Business Development John Gargiulo told us. Of course, there's not much to do with the Mini without a subscription. "It'd be like if Netflix did it this way and had hardware -- the unit would be useless without the subscription," he added. Additionally, if you return the Mini inside of 12 months, there's a $25 restocking fee.
The subscription gives users access to a plethora of games from 500 "popular mobile game partners." Those partners include the teams behind Jetpack Joyride and Fieldrunners. "Getting the kind of developer support we've gotten, it sets us apart," Gargiulo said. "We saw what happened with the Dreamcast and we saw what happened with the Wii U. You need to have good launch titles; there needs to be games everyone recognizes and wants to play."
To make GamePop more enticing to developers, BlueStacks created Looking Glass -- proprietary tech allowing iOS-only apps to run on its Android-4.2-based console. When an iOS app makes calls to Apple's hardware, Looking Glass interprets those calls and translates them to the GamePop Mini's hardware. Of course, a few changes within the code are necessary. "[Porting is] not easy, but I would submit it's not hard, relatively speaking," Gargiulo said.
BlueStacks becomes first company to bring Apple's iPhone, iPad games to your television with free game controller. GamePop gaming console is powered by Google Android. Company has officially revealed...
BlueStacks is taking on OUYA in a big way, having announced its Android-powered GamePop game console a few weeks ago. The company wouldn't give specifics on how much the device would cost when it was first unveiled, although it offered an option to get the console for free through May -- provided you were willing to subscribe to the $7-per-month service for at least a full year, which gives you full access to a large number of paid and free mobile games. Today, BlueStacks announced that the free offer has been extended through June, after which time the console can be yours for $129. What's more, the service has inked partnerships with more gaming developers, adding at least another $50 worth of titles to its overall catalog. One such company is COM2US, which will feature its very own channel in GamePop's UI. Head to the source link to get your pre-order in.
So you want a console for free, eh? BlueStacks is apparently prepared to offer you just that in its GamePop game console, which costs nothing for the month of May with a one-year subscription to the service (wouldn't you know it, that costs $93.83 -- just below the price of an OUYA at retail). Like its counterparts, the GamePop is powered by Android (4.2) and runs mostly mobile games. The company isn't sharing specs just yet, sadly. BlueStacks is promising "over 500" games, and has some top mobile devs offering credence with in testimonial.
"We've been a featured partner in App Player since early on and they've delivered on every promise in terms of distribution," Fruit Ninja studio head Shainiel Deo said, referencing BlueStacks' App Player software. "GamePop is a great incremental channel for us." Since games won't be bought, but included in the subscription, devs receive a 50 percent cut of subscription revenue, determined by how often users play their games. Should you be interested in getting in early, pre-orders are now open at the GamePop website; we've also included an intro video from BlueStacks just below.
Streaming your favorite smartphone apps on Twitch is pretty hard. Through Facebook? Even harder. To simplify the process, Bluestacks is adding a Facebook Live option to its desktop Android emulator. So whether you're using a PC or Mac, you can now gr...
Twitch committed to mobile gaming in a big way by sponsoring a Vainglory tournament and it's making streaming easier by partnering with Bluestacks. As a reminder, Bluestacks makes an Android emulator for PC (or Mac) that lets you run most any mobile...
That might not sound very revolutionary, but considering that this gaming console runs on Android, we’re talking about real cross-platform …
