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GameStick boss is "absolutely certain" the console will be released in August 

GameStick will "absolutely" be released in August, according to Playjam's head of games, Sameer Baroova.

Speaking with Joystiq, Baroova said the firm originally "underestimated the whole power of being a public product," and the number of orders, pre-orders, and backers on Kickstarter meant its volume went higher than it originally assessed.

"The orders and pre-orders, and the number of backers on Kickstarter meant that our volume went larger, and the product feedback also meant that we had a lot more suggestions than we had originally planned [for]," Baroova said.

"At the moment we'e curating the [GameStick] store, taking care to bring content that makes sense on TV. There are loads of Android games, but not everything will be a perfect fit for a brand new platform."

Baroova also said the firm isn't concerned over competition with Ouya, as each are targeted at different audiences.

"Simply put, [Ouya is] trying to be a fifth console, to have very console-y games," he said. "The controller is such that it's just another controller made to play long games, in a similar fashion to how games are played on PS3 and other TV consoles.

"[Our] controller, we purposefully made it to look the way it looks because of our belief that it'll take people back to the era of easy and abundant gaming, the NES era. So we have that kind of retro look. [W]e wanted to be portable. One of our USPs over Ouya is that [GameStick] is portable."

Playjam, "barring any final issues," will run around 300 units next week before strating its Kickstarter production run.

The console was originally set for release in April, then slated for June, until the developers of the Android-powered microconsole realized it was going to take longer than anticipated to develop the user interface.

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Stephany Nunneley-Jackson

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Stephany is VG247’s News Editor, with 22 years experience (with 15 of them at VG247). With a brain that lacks adhesive ducks, the ill-tempered, chaotic neutral fembot does her best to bring you the most interesting gaming news. She is also unofficially the site’s Lord of the Rings/Elder Scrolls Editor.

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