The makers of the GameStick video game console have announced that they’ll be shipping the first dev kits to game makers later this month.
The GameStick is a small device with an ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Android-based operating system, and an HDMI port that lets you plug the stick into a TV to play games on a big screen. Â It will also come with a wireless game controller, and you can even store the stick in the controller when you’re not using it.
After raising more than $647,000 in a Kickstarter campaign earlier this year, the developers hope to ship GameStick devices to backers starting in April.
Folks who didn’t get in on the crowd-funding project can also pre-order for $79 fom GameStick.tv — but those orders aren’t expected to ship until June.
The dev kits which should go out by the end of March will be a little larger than the final unit in order to accommodate a full-sized Type A USB port developers can use to plug in a mouse, keyboard, or other peripherals.
A software developer kit will be released later this week.
In an update on the Kickstarter project page, the company also says the final design of the game controller has been finalized, more than 500 developers have expressed interest in the GameStick, and retailers in a number of countries have expressed interest in selling the GameStick locally.
While developers will be able to start tinkering with GameStick devices by the end of the month, another Android-based video game console could start shipping to customers by the end of March. Ouya has announced it would start shipping that NVIDIA Tegra 3-powered game console to backers of its Kickstarter campaign on March 28th.
Pretty cool. I somehow doubt that android can be the future of console gaming, though.