The thumb-sized GameStick console from developer PlayJam is adding new features as its Kickstarter campaign rages on.
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“PlayJam is an innovator in gaming on TV through smart TVs and their upcoming GameStick,” said Green Throttle Games chief executive officer Charles Huang in a statement. “When you add this to our analog Green Throttle Atlas controller, any Android game developer can now become a ‘console’ developer and bring their game to new audiences of TV gamers.”
The Atlas isn’t just a controller to Green Throttle. The company is (separate from this GameStick business) the controller as a simple way for gamers to transform their phones into a TV-enabled console.
Where something like Ouya or GameStick are Android consoles, Green Throttle wants players to just plug the smartphones they already have into their TVs and use the Atlas as the controller. To this end, the company sells the cables required to connect a smartphone to an external display, and it has its own curated app store for controller-optimized Android games.
“[This year] promises to be truly exciting and defining with a wide range of Android-powered devices targeted at the TV due to launch in the coming months — such as Ouya, Nvidia’s Project Shield, and of course GameStick,” said PlayJam chief executive officer Jasper Smith. “By working openly and in collaboration with other visionaries in this space, such as Charles Huang of Green Throttle Games, we hope to support mass-market user adoption at the most affordable price point possible. At $79, we think we have achieved this.”
That Android-powered, TV-targeted market is getting crowded fast. I think its time we all go out and buy stock in the companies that make HDMI ports.