UK retro-gaming company, Blaze, has announced a new gadget that may potentially change the way we play we play games – or not. The GameGadget is a handheld Linux-based device whose exterior looks a bit like the Gameboy Micro‘s. This innovative device will be making its debut at the end of the year and will have a £99.99 price tag attached to it.
Game creator, Jason Cooper said, “GameGadget has been designed with the ultimate goal of playing every game on a single device, just as the “iPod” was for music.” Speaking of the iPod, as well as using it for music can’t it also be used as a gaming device? Cooper then went on to say, “The launch of GameGadget creates a market for gamers to play the games they want to play. The GameGadget Games service, just like “Apple’s App Store”, allows the owners of these games, to re-market their back catalogue, in their original format, set the appropriate pricing and gain incremental revenue, BUT with no additional investment”. So basically what we have is a gaming device which developers can create games for and put it on an App store-like market. Sound familiar?
So Blaze doesn’t seem to be bringing a revolutionary gadget to the table but it’s still a remarkable device, especially coming from a small UK company. It is also a brave move amidst the talk of declining usage of traditional portable gaming devices like the PSP or the Nintendo DS. What I’m not sure of is this device’s chance of competing with Android or iOS, which are multifunctional. For more info on Blaze’s GameGadget, visit their official site here.
What do you think about this new gadget? Do you think it has the potential to compete with other portable gaming devices? Please leave any thoughts below.
