Major launch day issues for the Blaze GameGadget? #fb

After such a promising mission statement, 'The iPod for games', the problems keep mounting for Blaze's new flagship console, the Gamegadget.

From day one the idea of a portable gaming device with cheap game downloads via an iTunes like piece of software for your computer seemed like a great prospect and really got me excited, so I decided to take the punt and pre-order, especially when offered a £20 discount and 10 free games!

With the release date looming no further information was forthcoming from the HQ of Blaze until the day after the device should have been shipped when we were informed by Facebook, and much later via personal email, that shipping would need to be delayed for at least a week. By this point many of the early adopters had begun to notice other retail outlets such as Play.com and Grainger Games not only listing the release date as late April but also offering the item at a much cheaper price. Our fears were somewhat eased when informed by Blaze that if we e-mailed a link they would price match (still waiting on this!).

So initial release date came and went, with little contact and even less said about what games would be available and for what price - until the website finally announced 30 free games with all pre-orders and a very tempting list of games. The only downside to this being the games listed being worth £4.99 each, which was a fair jump from the free to £2 price point touted before pre-orders were taken.

Several days ago I received a much needed email informing me of a new release date of 6^th of April, and low and behold today my much anticipated Gamegadget arrived at work.

 

At first appearance everything seemed brilliant. The device itself looked nice, albeit feeling a little plastic. A set of headphones were separately packaged in the envelope along with a letter which understandably was put to one side whilst the box was opened.

 

So with Gamegadget open on the desk the letter was read.

In the letter it thanked the purchaser for pre-ordering, stated the number of the device (0039), information about an enclosed TV out AV cable (for later use), information about the 30 games and also unfortunately some further rather more disturbing information.

The letter stated that in final testing a bug was discovered involving the sound on the device, the speakers themselves only work if you plug and unplug the headphones first.

So this apparently was the reason for the free headphones, but never fear… the problem will be sorted in a later software patch.

Ok so not a brilliant start to my life with the Gamegadget but all new ventures have glitches.

Further problems were being revealed on the Facebook fan page however. The software needed for actually activating the device and being able to enjoy it wasn’t available and was being worked on as a priority. So this left me with a device with a glitch that I can’t actually use at the current time.

I decided whilst digesting this information to get on with the initial 12 hour charge recommended in the instruction manual. Having plugged the device into my usb socket on my work computer the handheld informed on the screen that I needed to download the unavailable software to activate... This I already knew.

After around 4 hours of the charge the screen flashed off and has since not returned (see image below). It appears at this moment I am the only person with this problem which leaves me thinking that maybe console number 39 is a faulty item... Annoyed is a little bit of an understatement.

 

I have written an e-mail to Blaze but don't expect any reply until after the bank holiday weekend, by which time I hope other people who pre-ordered are actually able to enjoy their new gadgets...I though will be spending my Easter weekend rather disheartened considering sending it back and demanding a refund and using my hard earned money to purchase one of the many different, proven, emulating handhelds available on the market.

Words: A Reliable And Angry Games Shed Source

This article was submitted to The Games Shed by a concerned owner of the new GameGadget. If you are having similar issues or know of any other problems let us know by dropping us a tweet @gamesshed