News - GameStick portable HDMI games console project nears completion

[HEXUS]

Final redesign agreed and only 2.5 more days Kickstarter time left.

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[Kanoe]

Too many of these things now to gain any real traction with developers I think. So many different specs and power in them. Segregation of the market isn't going to help it gain mass appeal.

[OilSheikh]

Too many of these things now to gain any real traction with developers I think. So many different specs and power in them. Segregation of the market isn't going to help it gain mass appeal.

Agreed! Too many varieties of the same thing and all will fail!

[Lucio]

I don't think the situation is any worse than already exists for your typical Android Developer, or PC developer for that matter.

What would be nice to see is for screen manufacturers to offer compatible portabable displays with their own power-packs to work with the planned devices. Without the need to include a touchscreen component, hopefully they can be offered as a sensible price

[kingpotnoodle]

Too many of these things now to gain any real traction with developers I think. So many different specs and power in them. Segregation of the market isn't going to help it gain mass appeal.

How is it different to phones, they're pretty fragmented and lots of people gaming on Android phones with lots of games anyway. All these things are is an Android platform built into a controller and using your TV for the display, you don't need to develop for them specifically, any game that works on Android ARM should work.

Personally I see these type of devices as a solution looking for a problem, surely the better route to Android-on-a-big-screen is actually using your phone, MHL/Miracast etc and a wireless controller, then you could take the same game on the move rather more easily. Long-term I doubt handheld consoles have a future, they'll join MP3 and video players on the "redundant now my phone/tablet/converged-device does it" list. I'd not be surprised if the Vita is Sony's last one but perhaps Nintendo will do another one or two as they have more presence in markets of people who don't have smartphones like little kids and old folk. As a Vita owner it is good but it's no more powerful or better screen than my Nexus 4, cost the same money and has less features except for the all critical controller buttons. Downloadable apps to phones and a controller with extended battery you slip the phone into seems better - it could become a standard phone accessory for gamers.

[TooNice]

Long-term I doubt handheld consoles have a future, they'll join MP3 and video players on the "redundant now my phone/tablet/converged-device does it" list.

Perhaps, but I hope not. For one, I find that there is a lack of truly epic iOS/Android games. If the Nexus 4 is as good hardware wise as the Vita, then by association, it is better than the DS. But I find the best DS games far more fun than any smartphones games I've tried so far. Secondly, I think that control will remain an issue. Just because you can theoretically have controllers for tablets, it doesn't mean that it will be common, and we will fall into the chicken and egg problem of developers not bothering to make games that make use of it because there is not enough hardware, yet people don't buy the hardware because there is a lack of support. Kinda like mouse and keyboards on consoles. They exist (AFAIK), but I don't know anyone who play FPS with such on a console.. actually, I am not even sure if it's supported, even though the hardware is there. Perhaps if one of those devices succeed, it will open to that possibility.