gamestick hdmi console anyone else have one?

[northerngames]

gamestick hdmi console anyone else have one?

I just grabbed on off ebay and going to give it a try and just wondering if anyone else had one and thier thoughts on it.

if it can emu mkII correctly I am more then happy 

[Ginsu Victim]

It runs Android stuff, so couldn't you just get a FireTV stick for way less and sideload?

[SNAAKE]

its only $20 at gamestop??

thats what I am seeing online. its just an android stick and you can run mame on it??  does it have a USB port for arcade controls? or can I connect the provided control wired and just hax that controller?\

EDIT: looks like it is hax-friendly
http://gamestickers.net/index.php?topic=234.0

[akator]

I picked a few of these up back in August when the price dropped.  The extra dock (sold separately but now very cheap) adds USB and Ethernet ports.

My experiences were mixed.

Out of the box, it's locked into the GameStick ecosystem.  There are some decent games there, but they're all also available on Google Play and usually for less $.  Chances are that like me, you probably purchased those games for other devices.

Next up was to unlock the stick by converting to developer mode.  This is free and relatively easy, just sign up as a developer at the GameStick website.  As a dev stick it can sideload stuff but still doesn't have access to the Play Store.  Sideloading Google Play is possible, there are instructions at Gamestickers.net forums.  I tried several times before things took.

The performance with Google Play sideloaded was touch and go.  Eventually the stick bricked during updates.

Next I tried Custom Firmware, also available at Gamestickers.net.  This is a basic Android install customized for the GameStick.  It was much easier to install and get working than sideloading Google Play and apps on a dev stick.  Unfortunately, my experience with CFW was also mixed.  It performed well as a media client, but many of the games didn't recognize the video hardware properly and performed at less than full HD.  Using the GameStick Bluetooth controller was also hit and miss, mostly miss.  I found everything worked better with a USB mouse simulating touch controls than the controller.  MAME and other emulator performance was hampered by the failure to output HD video resolutions, something I've never encountered with my other Android devices.

So for the price, yeah, it's a cool toy to tinker with.  Considering that it comes with a Bluetooth controller, HDMI cable, and USB charger with cable, those things are pretty much worth the price even if you end up hating the stick.

Don't expect high Android software compatibility or Ouya performance from it, though

[Slippyblade]

Bah - I'd never even heard of this thing until this thread.  Had to go buy one - Gamestop has em for $16.99 right now.  Just got it plugged in, gonna screw with it tonight.

[yotsuya]

Bah - I'd never even heard of this thing until this thread.  Had to go buy one - Gamestop has em for $16.99 right now.  Just got it plugged in, gonna screw with it tonight.

Which one?

[Slippyblade]

Do you mean which Gamestop?  I bought the last one that Christown had.  If you want one, might wanna call around.

[yotsuya]

Do you mean which Gamestop?  I bought the last one that Christown had.  If you want one, might wanna call around.

For that price, I'd tinker because it's just down the street, but I'm not going to track one down. Thanks, tho.

[Slippyblade]

Not to shabby.  I turned on "Dev mode" and got an NES emulator installed.  Played some Zelda and Mario Bros just to test things out.

[northerngames]

alright how about this one then I bet it will do some mkII just fine and dandy yes sir e.

http://www.gamestop.com/pc/pc-hardware/alienware-alpha-i3-4130t-4gb-500gb/117477

only if the i7 would emu a ps3 & 360 now 

I am still rockin my old x1950 512mb pro, amd X2 4400+ on 4gigs of ddr1 and corsair 550V on xp, if anything happens software wise it's toast becuase there is no more support or downloading from M$ so all the files needed to run certain games are now gone and dont come on the xp disk type thing.

been thinking about going with a new pc and the size and price of these is not too bad compared to building one really plus I have no clue what modern pc stuff even is so it may be a win win but I will be looking into these a little deeper and throw one in a hd bartop.

[SNAAKE]

failure to output hd video as in no 1080p? or you have a defective unit? 

[Malenko]

I got a stick, dock and extra controller for $30. tried to use it out of the box and the 2 free games wouldn't download, kept getting stuck. loaded up the custom firmware and things got better.  Controllers are still hit or miss, so its plugged into my upstairs TV and I stream to it via Plex.

[pbj]

The market is so saturated with crap like this it's hard to get excited anymore.  Ho hum, another device to play Galaga on?

I'll stick to the old $20 Xbox for now.

[northerngames]

I was just interested to see how it emu'ed and displayed.

if I can take some mk on the go with it then that in it's own makes it worth it to me.

I seen a thread were you can bind the 360 and ps3 controllers to these also.

[nitrogen_widget]

I picked one of these up & put this ROM on it.
http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?17204-ROM-Gamestick-CFW-v1-3-%29&highlight=gamestick

Works ok for me.
I keep an xbox360 controller & mini handheld trackball attached to it because my BT keyboard & the gamestick gamepad are sometimes spotty after they goto sleep & you needed to connected them via the setting tab.

so I use the trackball to select my emulator and the xbox gamepad to play.
I keep the gamestick hooked up to a 20" widescreen monitor via an hdmi to vga adaptor with my recliner in front of it in my computer room.
I play emulators on it.

Seems to do N64 and PSP games fairly well but  i've only tried monster hunter & final fantasy 7 I think and I had to play with some settings to get each one to run & just decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

I lowered the RES down to 720p because the 16:10 monitor was lower res than 1080 and it gave the bonus of running the heavier emulators better.
I haven't tried the dreamcast emulator yet.

I'm surprised by how powerful this little guy is but it sure runs HOT.
I had no problems watching HULU on it with the case off but once I put it on hulu would lock up on me.

It won't run newer golden tee roms on mame4droid reloaded very well (mame .139)
but most things on retro-arch (mame .78 I think) seemed to work well from what I recall.
Only issue with retroarch is I hate its interface.

We really need a front end for android.

Gamesome works well enough but it was built for a touch screen and not controller friendly.
but decent with the trackball I have.
Trackballs with a mouse interface don't appear to be supported on android with mame though.
I think if I used a trackball attached to a kade it might work.

[ark_ader]

I ordered one so I am sure it will be the same as the mk808.  If I can root it, then I will just underclock it, and that will take care of the heat issues.  Get mybackup from the play store and download all the emulators for android or whatever apps you want installed, then use the mybackup utility which will move all the apk files to your Android stick of preference.

[JDFan]

Picked one up at the local GameStop along with the Dock for about $25 after tax ($16.97 for the stick and controller and $4.97 for the dock). Also ordered a $6 HDMI to DVI adapter so can use this on one of the extra monitors from ArrowDirect, I have laying around - Should be fun to play with for the price. Has anyone tried hooking up one of the Kades to it ? Figure if it can run some of the old classics it might make a good base for a bartop build considering the small size and price.

I just feel sorry for the Kickstarter Backers that Spent $100+ for the thing with the dock and had to wait a year for someone to find a way to root it.

[Slippyblade]

I'm using an SNES -> USB adapter with it right now.  Works fine.  Haven't used a KADE yet but can't imagine why it wouldn't work.

[JDFan]

I'm using an SNES -> USB adapter with it right now.  Works fine.  Haven't used a KADE yet but can't imagine why it wouldn't work.

Was thinking the same but was just wondering if anyone had tried it yet (I've got a couple of the Minimus AVR that I picked up for $5 so figure this combination should make for a low budget build ($25 for the Console and dock (dock for the estra USB ports - $6 for an HDMI to DVI converter - $5 for the controller - $20 for a 4:3 19" monitor and another $40-$50 for a couple decent joystick(s)/buttons and for around $100 you've got a pretty decent start to a build.

[Malenko]

does the HDMI to DVI adapter have some sort of sound output? if not, how are you going to get sound?

[JDFan]

does the HDMI to DVI adapter have some sort of sound output? if not, how are you going to get sound?

Haven't really thought about it yet - Perhaps something like this USB sound card for $5 ($1.99 + $2.98 shipping)
Figure one of the reviews says it works with the MK808 so would think it might work with the gamestick also 

good sound, works with android mini pc mk808
11/25/2013
Customer review by GeoBuyer
4.0 stars by GeoBuyer

i bought it for my android mini pc mk808. works ok. sound is good. plastic quality is not so good but device is doing its job perfectly.

[JDFan]

does the HDMI to DVI adapter have some sort of sound output? if not, how are you going to get sound?

Quick Update -- Got the USB soundcard (similar to one linked but got it for $1.06 shipped from China) and unfortunately seems the Gamestick does not support USB sound devices (haven't rooted it yet so not sure if it will work after rooting but instead I went with a $7 HDMI to VGA w audio adapter ( like this one - http://www.ebay.com/itm/221588431594?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&var=520447402104&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT ) and it works fine - the gamestick plugs into the HDMI input and then using a VGA cable from the adapter out to the monitor input and the audio jack plugged into a cheap pair of Logitech speakers.

For now I've been checking out a few of the free gamestick games but will try changing to the Custom Firmware to try Mame and/or the google playstore on it when I get some free time.

[ark_ader]

I goofed and should have bought more docking stations.  Those are nice little devices.