Starting next year, GameStop is going to go more into the hardware business, offering its own certified gaming-centric tablet. Rather than manufacturing a separate model for themsevles, GameStop is going to select one of the 300 third-party Android-run devices already on market to certify and add both pre-loaded software and streaming console services onto – the latter through the recently acquired Spawn Labs. The retailer will also offer a wireless controller for the device. No release date, model, or price has been announced; but in the meantime, GameStop will now accept iPhones, iPads, and iPods for in-store trade-ins.
“…We’re in test phase right now. But we’re excited at the prospect of coming out with this tablet.” Tony Bartel, President of GameStop told GamesIndustry.biz (registration required), “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.”
“There’s not a lot of tablet/Android based games for the consumer that are designed to use an external controller,” Bartel explained. “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’ say Modern Warfare 3 — onto a tablet and then play it with your finger.”
(via 1UP)
Would GameStop be your choice destination for a gaming tablet? What price point would hope/expect from this retailer? Give your initial impressions below!
I’d rather not buy a dedicated gaming device that is owned by a gaming store. They already dictate physical game prices and such, I don’t need them messing with hardware. Selling the systems that already exist is fine, but not that tablet.