Can GameStick lead an Android invasion of our living rooms?

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http://media.edge-online.com/wp-content/uploads/edgeonline/2013/07/GameStick-610x343.jpg (http://media.edge-online.com/wp-content/uploads/edgeonline/2013/07/GameStick.jpg)GameStick is part of the vanguard of the crowdfunded microconsole movement, and the challenge for any would-be platform holder now is how to differentiate your product from the rest. For PlayJam, a UK-based company that made its name and its millions creating casual games for smart TVs, its console’s USP is volume. Not in terms of production run – just 80,000 will be manufactured initially, the majority destined to fulfil the orders of the system’s Kickstarter backers – but the space it occupies. GameStick is a dongle-sized console that plugs into your TV via HDMI, runs Android games, and can be carried around in your pocket.Fashioned in conjunction with an unnamed product design company, it may not match Apple’s line for sleek mainstream desirability, but it holds its own next to the broader console crowd. But looks are largely irrelevant to a home system’s success, and the more pressing question is whether the ease of transporting consoles is a problem that needs solving. In this age of expansive widescreen sets, televisions are as inert as the boxes beneath them. And with the ubiquity of Android-based smartphones, which already act as portable gaming systems, why do we need a TV-tethered plug-in console?Anthony Johnson, PlayJam’s chief marketing officer, is certain there is a need for GameStick. “I think there’s a huge market for this product,” he says. “You can’t carry around a plasma TV with you, but generally there’s a TV most places you go. Imagine you’re travelling on holiday, [and] your kids want to bring a videogame console with them. You don’t want to lug an Xbox One to your hotel. GameStick solves the problem, slipping imperceptibly into a bag or rucksack. Or for people reluctantly visiting their mother-in-law who want some entertainment to make the stay more bearable, GameStick is ideal. We believe there’s an appetite for a portable big-screen gaming solution.”

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