GameStop won’t just be selling iPads in its retail locations in the future. The company has revealed that it is also planning to launch its own branded gaming tablet. The tablet hardware has already been chosen and the onboard OS will be Google’s Android. GameStop president Tony Bartel told GI.biz that the tablet will be the “GameStop certified gaming platform”.
"I don't see any need to create a new one with the three hundred or so on the market already," said Bartel about going with an existing tablet. "We have a refurbishment centre and we can bring in the product and preload certain games onto it. It's an Android device."
"We definitely have selected one," he added. "We're in test phase right now. But we're excited at the prospect of coming out with this tablet. I would call it a 'GameStop certified gaming platform.' We looked at all the tablets and these are the ones that really worked for gaming and we're going to give you a few benefits that you're not going to get elsewhere."
Consumers in Dallas, Texas were the first to get a hands-on with the hardware when the beta began two weeks ago. GameStop intends to use its Spawn Labs tech to stream games to the device, and will also be releasing a dedicated controller for the device.
"There's not a lot of tablet/android based games for the consumer that are designed to use an external controller," Bartel said. "There are a few games out there and more that are coming, but our thought is that the tablet is a great immersive gaming device so it's hard for us to envision how that tablet will really function as such without some sort of controller.
"So we've created a controller that we're testing to really allow for immersive gameplay. It's hard to imagine how to stream a game - let's say Modern Warfare 3 - onto a tablet and then play it with your finger.”
GameStop is focused on getting its tablet into the hands of consumers first, with the developers following later.
“As it stands now, I think we're seeing developer interest in developing immersive games that use the controller as well, but our first foray is to really be working with developers to create an install base of devices with the controller to allow them to develop immersive games.”
With GameStop bringing an Android device to retail and Amazon launching its own Android tablet soon, is Google’s Android getting ready for the mainstream? Can it beat Apple by playing a different game?
