Gamestick Android games console set for release

THE ANDROID BASED Gamestick games console is headed towards Kickstarter investors and is on track for an April release.

The Kickstarter target smashing pocket sized living room games machine finished funding 40 days ago and, despite some production problems early bird investors should start getting their second prototype beta machines before the end of this month.

Our investor got in late, so we expect our Gamestick in April. The beta units released in March will have a testable user interface and even a few games.

A vey big game revelation is due in March. We can only guess what that will be, so we are going to guess Angry Birds. Those feathered, pig hating kamikaze birds are everywhere, so why not the Android based games machine?

Anyway, the firm has hired someone from Popcap, home of the time sucking Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled, to turn its games roster up to eleven, so we should expect some good things. Starting tomorrow the firm will announce one launch title a day until the console ships.

Game developers waiting for SDK details should start checking their front door mats or email inboxes next week.

Gamestick arrived on Kickstarter with a $100,000 goal. It easily raised six times as much as that, $647,658, and Playjam, the firm behind it is under a lot of pressure to produce something good, playable and has decent games.

We already know it looks good. But a console, however small it is, lives or dies by its user interface and its games. µ