Tag Archives: gamestick

GameStick shipping dev units this month, marks progress on controller, SDK and UI

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GameStick shipping dev units this month, highlights progress on controller, SDK and UI

Things seem to be rolling along nicely for Kickstarter success story, GameStick. The makers of the compact Android console will be shipping a dev unit later this month, measuring slightly larger than the final version, thanks in part to a Type A USB slot for mousing / keyboarding. The company also used its Kickstarter newsletter to note that the controller is "nearing readiness," despite almost giving "the lead mechanical engineer a heart attack," due to its size. GameStick will be releasing an SDK later this week and will be announcing some unnamed partnerships soon (subtly hinting that it will be at ARM's GDC booth this month). The UI, meanwhile, is pretty much done, and the retail excitement is quite high, according to the company. Hopefully this all means that we'll be wrapping our hands around the console soon.

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Source: Kickstarter

Gamestick now available for preorder: stake your claim for $79

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The previously Kickstarter-funded games console has launched its pre-order page, powered by Amazon. You'll have to stump up the same $79 premium which nets you the same GameStick that those crowd-funders are getting. Pre-orders will ship once those early orders are fulfilled. However, anyone ponying up today can expect theirs to arrive a good few months before the global retail launch later this year. You also order those dock and case peripherals, priced up at $25 and $10, respectively. Pick any color (as long as it's white) at the source.

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Source: GameStick

GameStick wraps up successful Kickstarter run with nearly $650K

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With a sum totaling around six times what the folks at PlayJam initially requested, the GameStick Kickstarter campaign can certainly be called a success. The project ended today just shy of $650K ($647,658 to be precise), resulting in its successful funding. Now all the folks at PlayJam have to do is deliver on the promise of their Kickstarter: produce and ship around 5,500 GameStick's by April (not to mention the Dock, and various special edition versions of the GameStick itself). A tall order, but one no doubt assisted by an infusion of cash six times what PlayJam expected to be working with. The model seen above is the final controller design, remodeled based on feedback from the backers that brought GameStick to life. It's the final model backers will see when their unit arrives this April.

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GameStick reveals final backer-aided design, dock for peripherals

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Gamestick reveals final backeraided design

Now that the Android-powered game console on a stick, GameStick, has been fully funded (five times over), another piece of the puzzle is falling into place: its final design. Taking suggestions from the Kickstarter backers that supported the device in the first place, the final design of the controller reflects, "a more ergonomic form with extended grips and a tapered shape to better sit in the hand." The HDMI stick that previous popped out from the bottom of the controller now rests around back -- it's now got a MicroSD slot built in as well, allowing up to 32GB of expandable memory (bringing the maximum of expandable memory up to 104GB -- that's a lot of Android games).

A docking station is also in the cards, which enables a whole mess of peripherals via USB, HDMI, and ethernet ports -- it's powered separately, so you can charge your GameStick controller without having to turn on the console. You can also charge your controller on it wirelessly, according to PlayJam. All said, it's got one ethernet port, a full size SD card reader, three USB ports, and three HDMI ports (one out, two in), and comes as part of an option $109 bundle on the Kickstarter page. As for its sale price separately from the GameStick, PlayJam's staying mum for now.

Gallery: GameStick (final)

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GAMESTICK UNVEILS FINAL DESIGN INSPIRED BY KICKSTARTER COMMUNITY

London & San Francisco; January 29th, 2013; As the GameStick Kickstarter campaign (http://kck.st/12SSvMO) enters its final few days, the team announce their final designs of the device as well as a new docking station for every peripheral conceivable.

GameStick; Kickstarter´s most recent success story, currently sits at over 500% of its original target with over $500K raised at the time of writing. The team waits on tenterhooks to discover the final figure to be revealed at 04:23 PST on Friday 1st February.

"It´s hard to believe that we launched GameStick just a few short weeks ago. The Kickstarter campaign has been a roller coaster of a ride and one which has given us more feedback than we could ever have possibly imagined." says PlayJam´s CMO, Anthony Johnson, "We have been able to take that input and literally better shape our product to give our backers a truly bespoke creation - one which has been designed by the Kickstarter community that backed it."

The new design sees subtle changes to the controller, which gets a more ergonomic form with extended grips and a tapered shape to better sit in the hand. The housing for the HDMI stick has been moved to the rear of the controller and the stick itself now supports an expandable 32GB MicroSD card slot in response to overwhelming demand. The finish has also been meticulously designed meet the highest of standards.

Additional requests from the backer community resulted last week in the GameStick team announcing support for peripheral hardware through a previously unspecified docking station. The dock brings on board a number of sought after features such as; wire-free charging for the controller, a number of USB and HDMI ports to support peripheral hardware such as keyboards, mice, microphones and cameras as well as support for yet more storage bringing the total potential capacity of the bundle up to 104GB.

"The GameStick Dock is a prime example of how we have moved rapidly to innovate while still in the pre-production phase," continued Johnson, "it has made for a 'hairy' 30 days but we think the results are worth it and we are delighted that we have been able to tailor the product as much as we have in such a short time-frame"

The GameStick Kickstarter campaign has reached its first two stretch goals with just under $60K to go to hit it´s third and final stretch which will add a number of colour options to its range; a target the team hopes to hit before close. Backers have been urged to vote for their favourite colours on the GameStick Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/GameStickNews) in a poll to establish the final color.

To visit the Kickstarter page and pledge your support, please visit: http://kck.st/12SSvMO

To visit the GameStick website for more information or to apply for an SDK please go to: www.gamestick.tv

To follow GameStick news, join the conversation and give your opinion on Facebook or Twitter please go: www.facebook.com/GameStickNews and www.twitter.com/Game_Stick / @Game_Stick

To subcribe to YouTube,please go to: www.youtube.com/GameStickVideos

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GameStick Kickstarter adds new indie dev-targeted tier, trades $250 for six months of 100% revenue

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GameStick Kickstarter adds new indie devtargeted tier, trades $250 for six months of 100% revenue

The PlayJam folks are taking another cue from the Android-powered Ouya with their own GameStick, today adding a dev-focused $250 tier to the already successful Kickstarter campaign. The twist with GameStick's dev tier is its aimed at indies, and it offers a six month window of 100 percent revenue on any games released before July 2013 (in addition to a GameStick bundle, of course). The dev version costs quite a bit more than the usual $79 asking price, but guaranteeing full revenue near launch may be a worthy tradeoff for developers looking to cash-in on early adopters (the industry standard is a 70 / 30 split, with game devs taking the larger share). Sadly, you won't get the unit any earlier than the general public; PlayJam's putting an April window on launch. The deal's only available to 250 developers -- or at least the first 250 people to buy in -- so interested parties may want to act quickly.

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GAMESTICK KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES A NEW INDIE DEVELOPER
PLEDGE TIER AS IT RACES TOWARDS THE 500% FUNDING MARK

London & San Francisco; January 23rd, 2013; The team behind GameStick today announced a new
pledge tier specifically to support the Indie developer community in making the leap to the big
screen as it's Kickstarter campaign rapidly approaches the 500% mark with over a week still to go.

The new tier, which sits at just $249 has been limited to just 250 backers, and gives indie developers
aone-time offer to gain an unprecedented 100% revenue share for their game for a fullsix months as
well as a GameStick bundle at launch in April.

"In the few short weeks following the campaign launch, we have had hundreds of developers sign
up for access to our SDK, from established games studios to smaller Indie developers", says Baroova,
Head of Games at GameStick, "what better way to repay this incredible support and to accelerate
the big screen gaming revolution than with an offer that directly rewards those who were first to
support us?"

The team behind GameStick have made a number of popular announcements this week in response
to direct requests from the Kickstarter community such as the inclusion of an SDMicro memory
expansion slot on the device itself and a dock providing support for peripheral hardware such as
keyboard, mice, microphones and cameras.

Baroovahas been coordinating with many top named studios as well as indies developers happy to
publically support GameStick in its quest to bring affordable gaming to the big screen:

Roman Tisserand, CTO and Co-Founder of DotEmusaid, "We are very excited to bring our portfolio
on games (including Another World, R-TYPE and Raiden Legacy) to GameStick"

Says Jason Kingsley OBE, Founder of Rebellion and owner of AD2000, "The video games industry
has benefitted time and time again from ideas that disrupt the status quo. A new wave of devices
such as GameStick - built on truly open platforms that bring affordable gaming to the big screen
could prove the start of an interesting revolution - one which I thoroughly support and watch with
interest."

Hendrik Lesser, Board Member of the German Association of Game Developers added, " I think
the opportunity for micro consoles such as GameStick has never been bigger than now.They are
perfectly suited to disrupt the console space."

Says Paulina Bozek, creator of SingStar and founder of Inensu added; "GameStick's ability to
support peripheral hardware such as microphones and dance mats is a great opportunity for indie
developers looking to create a truly social experience around the big-screen".

Concluded Chris Bergstresser, EVP Miniclip, "What GameStick offers is a direct and easy route to the
big screen. We look forward to working with them to bring some of our classic titles to TV"

The team have also released details of the core feature set behind theSDK that powers Gamestick
on the Kickstarter update page for all developers supporting the project or visiting the page to see.
Details of which can be found here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/872297630/gamestick-
the-most-portable-tv-games-console-ever/posts

To register for the SDK visit the GameStick website: www.gamestick.tv

To visit the Kickstarter page, pledge and get access to one of the limited Indie Developer tiers,
please visit: http://kck.st/VrByGf

Tier details:
Price: $249
Delivery: April
Limit 250
INDIE LOVE - GameStick Bundle, (console + controller) at launch, free SDK and a limited, one-time
offer to gain 100% rev share, (minus transaction costs), for 6 months on a single title launched by
July 2013.

Technical Specifications:

Processor - Amlogic 8726-MXS, Dual Core Cortex A9 CPU, Dual Core Mali 400 GPU
Memory - 1GB DDR3/ 4GB NAND FLASH / 8GB Micro-SD / 32GB MicroSD Expansion Slot
WiFi - 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth - LE 4.0
O/S - Android Jelly Bean

To follow GameStick news, join the conversation and give your opinion on Facebook or Twitter
please go: www.facebook.com/GameStickNews and
www.twitter.com/Game_Stick / @Game_Stick
To see new videos published throughout the campaign on YouTube please subscribe to:
www.youtube.com/GameStickVideos

About PlayJam:
PlayJam is the premier global platform for casual and social games on TV. By partnering with
all major Smart TV brands, we've created the largest and most vibrant games network of currently
free to play games for millions ofplayers around the world.

12 months ago, PlayJam embarked on Project GameStick, a dedicated TV games console running the
Android operating platform and small enough to fit in the pocket. GameStick launched on Kickstarter
to much acclaim on the 2nd of January 2013 to secure the funding required to bring it to production.

The campaign reached 100% of its funding target in just 30 hours and is set to close at over 500% of
that target.

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GameStick pulled from Kickstarter due to IP dispute (update: it’s back!)

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The Android-based gaming console GameStick was just pulled from Kickstarter, according to an email we just received from Kickstarter support. Its project page is no longer accessible, and the only information given in our support email says it was removed due to, "an intellectual property dispute." As a result, the project page was taken down ("removed from public view," says the email), and it may end up getting canned altogether. "If we are not able to re-post it within 30 days, we will cancel the project," says the email. Yikes! Should that occur, all pledges for the project will expire (Kickstarter doesn't charge pledges until a project is approved), and the project, "will be permanently unavailable."

We're following up with Playjam, the project's creator, for more and will let you know if we hear back.

Update: PlayJam's taken to Facebook to respond, saying, "This IP issue has NOTHING to do with our design or product! It's a small snag in one of our promo videos demonstrating a game that was exposed without clearance. An oversight and one that we're editing in the video now. We'll get back up and running hopefully as soon as possible. Thanks, everyone, for your support and understanding!"

Update 2: The Kickstarter is back up! Looks like that IP dispute was little more than a fleeting issue. "We're writing to inform you that the DMCA process for GameStick: The Most Portable TV Games Console Ever Created is complete. The project is now available," an email from Kickstarter support reads.

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GameStick gets expandable microSD … if its Kickstarter campaign tops $560K

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GameStick -- that other Kickstarter-funded Android game console -- may get microSD support added ... that is, if it's Kickstarter campaign tops $560,000. The company behind GameStick, PlayJam, added a slew of "reach" goals to its fundraising campaign this morning, including black/white color options for the stick at $320K and yet another color choice (chosen by the device's Facebook page fans) at $450K. Currently, the campaign's passed its initial goal of $100K, but PlayJam thinks it's got good odds at hitting these new heights. And considering that there's another 22 days to go, we're pretty confident in that possibility as well.

Continue reading GameStick gets expandable microSD ... if its Kickstarter campaign tops $560K

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PlayJam’s GameStick Redefines Android Gaming on the Telly

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Video gaming made a transition from fully fledged consoles to portable devices. Nowadays, console manufacturers have turned their attention to devices powered by mobile operating systems that work on tellies, simply because… well, bigger is better, at least when it comes to the diagonal of the screen.

The GameStick, as PlayJam’s ...
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GameStick topples Kickstarter goal in 30 hours, adds XBMC and DLNA post-launch

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GameStick topples Kickstarter goal in just over one day, adds XBMC and DLNA support postlaunch

Now that PlayJam's Kickstarter project, "GameStick," is funded -- reaching and crossing its $100K goal in around 30 hours with over 1,000 backers -- the team's turning to other news, like adding XBMC and DLNA support. That support will arrive via an "optional firmware update in September," says PlayJam CMO Anthony Johnson. That other Android-based, Kickstarter-funded game console, the Ouya, also added XBMC functionality to the console's feature list late last summer, though it's unclear if GameStick's support includes the Android app XBMC is porting to Ouya.

But just because the GameStick is funded doesn't mean you can't still pledge dough for one yourself. The $70 tier is sold out, but backing the project for $79 or more will still get you one of the first GameSticks on the market. The project is slated to launch this April.

Continue reading GameStick topples Kickstarter goal in 30 hours, adds XBMC and DLNA post-launch

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Source: Kickstarter

GameStick: The World’s Smallest Gaming Console Fits in Its Own Controller

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Gamers, get ready for the next big thing on Kickstarter. What you’re looking at here is an entire gaming console that fits inside of a 2-inch-long stick, and neatly travels inside of its controller.

gamestick

Developed by PlayJam, the GameStick is an incredible engineering marvel that crams an entire Android 4 gaming system into a portable stick you can take with you anywhere. All you do is plug it into the HDMI port on any HDTV, and you’ll be gaming in seconds. I love the idea of this, because you can throw the entire console in your bag and take it with you wherever you go. Keep in mind that your set needs to be MHL-compliant to self-power via the HDMI port, otherwise, you’ll need to plug the GameStick into a USB power source.

gamestick ui

Since the system is based on Android, it will be easy for developers to get their games up and running on the console. In fact, the team behind the GameStick has already identified about 200 titles that will work great out-of-the-box, and is working with over 250 developers and game studios to create content for the console. Games will be delivered wirelessly, and will sell for much less than traditional console titles. They’re also expecting a library of free games to hit the console as well.

The system is powered by an Amlogic 8726-MX processor, with 1GB of DDR3 RAM and 8GB of flash memory for storage. It supports 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and uses Bluetooth LE 4.0 to communicate with the controller. Here’s some early demo footage of a prototype device to give you a sense of how powerful it actually is:

The GameStick project just launched over on Kickstarter with a goal of $100,000 to go into production. I think they’ll have no problem reaching – and likely blowing well through this goal in the next 29 days. If you move quickly, a pledge of $69(USD) will get you one of the first 250 GameStick/Controller bundles, and after those sell out, the price goes up to $79 for supporters. For $115 or more, you get the bundle with an additional controller. Based on the current production timeline, the first GameSticks should ship in April 2013, so you won’t even have to wait that long to get your hands on one.