Android-based console GameStick shipments delayed till June

Android-based gaming system GameStick’s manufacturers, PlayJam, have announced that Kickstarter backers won’t be able to get their hands on the device for two more months. The reason for this is said to be very high demand.

Originally, 1,000 units were expected, but the orders rose to 5,000. It also doesn’t help that the company seems to be low on money. The original plan to air-freight the system to backers has been canned, because “the volumes are now too large for us to be able to afford”.

Shipments for the GameStick have been delayed for two months

The Kickstarter campaign for the GameStick came to an end in February, earning the company $647,658 through 5,691 backers. The GameStick will be released in four colours—white, black, red and another colour that will be picked through a vote on Facebook. There is no release date for the Android-based console yet.

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The portability afforded by the GameStick’s small form factor could be one of the system’s main selling points, as it isn’t much larger than a flash drive. The form factor allows the console to be stowed inside its own gamepad and draw power from the HDMI port. It will run on Jelly Bean and will be powered by a dual-core Amlogic processor. While not as powerful as the Ouya, which runs on Nvidia’s Tegra 3 CPU, the GameStick does have the price on its side, costing $79 as opposed to the Ouya’s $99 price tag.

The console has 1GB of DDR3 RAM with 8GB of in-built storage, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n support, Bluetooth 4.0, support for mouse and keyboard setup and full 1080p HD video decoding.

Much like the Ouya, the GameStick also aims to be open source. PlayJam said, “Harnessing the Android ecosystem, GameStick is a completely open platform. If you love creating or playing games, you will love GameStick.”

The company is relying on Android’s ecosystem of over 700,000 games to be the main source of entertainment on the GameStick. PlayJam has also stated that it is working with its network of over 250 developers, including Hutch, Disney and Madfinger. The GameStick will have games costing as much as a typical Android game, and many will also be free to play.

PlayJam is making its tools available to other manufacturers. The company’s Kickstarter page states, “We’re about driving and supporting innovation, and to prove that, we are making everything we build—our tools, services and developer community available to other manufacturers. We think this will really accelerate change; a good thing for players and the industry as a whole.”