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GameStick Set for E3 – Indie Micro Games Meet the Big Screen in Device the Size of a Candy Bar

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GameStick from British developers PlayJam, is a candy-bar sized wand that pops out of an SNES-style gamepad that subsequently jacks into your TV’s HDMI slot. You can then use the fully-featured Bluetooth Game Pad to play micro Android games on your big screen HDTV.

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The GameStick pops right into the Bluetooth controller for easy portability. Remove and stick into your HDMI jack to get playing,

One of the main attractions to the GameStick is in its own UI design – rather than slog through Google Play’s “Top Grossing” games menu for all those freemium pay-to-win titles, you can instead use GameStick’s very clean and intuitive storefront to get access to your titles.

GameStick’s cred comes in part via its successful Kickstarter campaign with US$647,658 raised by over 5,000 crowdfunders.

Some of the games already being touted are such popular and well received Android fare as Naught, EVAC, Shadow Gun and Nimble Quest, among several hundred others.

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Plug this right into your HDMI port.

Indie game developers interested in working with PlayJam to get their titles available for GameStick can apply quickly and easily to join their developer portal and get the SDK at the official PlayJam developers’ site. Please do so, it will make it all so much better, and it appears that the catalog is still fairly limited, though will likely grow quickly. This is a very nice platform for new indies to get seen – and filtered – away from the wild west that is the typical Android marketplace.

Amazingly, this little wonder will retail for only $79.00 so the likelihood of higher adoption rates is there.

GameStick Hardware Specs

Here’s what’s under the hood:

  • Processor – Amlogic 8726-MXS
  • Memory – 1GB DDR3 / 8GB FLASH
  • Content Download Manager w/ cloud storage for games.
  • WiFi – 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth – 4.0
  • O/S – Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
  • Controller – Bluetooth 3.0
  • Full 1080p HD video decoding
  • Upgrade memory via microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
  • Support for iOS and Android mobile devices to be used as controllers
  • Support for XBMC.

The GameStick Dock

GameStick-Dock-250wAdd even more versatility to your GameStick experience with our multi-function dock:

  • Wirelessly charge the GameStick controller
  • Add up to 64GB of additional storage
  • Connect peripheral hardware
  • Boost download speeds with an Ethernet connection.
  • Power the GameStick

The dock features 5 USB ports, allowing you to augment your gaming setup. Add cameras, keyboards, wired headsets, or anything other USB-enabled peripheral you might have. An ethernet port delivers access to the internet.

As the dock is wireless, it ensures that back-of-tv fumbling is kept to a minimum. Hook the GameStick to the dock, and run it to an HDMI port. Now you’re ready to game on your big screen.

Check out the new GameStick Trailer: Portable Big Screen Gaming

Here is a more informative product trailer: