BlueStacks, the company behind a series of apps allowing consumers to run Android apps on a variety of platforms, is about to stake a claim to the apparently lucrative microconsole gaming market, rivaling products such as the Kickstarter phenomenon that is the OUYA gaming console. Having seen just how quickly BlueStacks Android App Player has become a household name thanks to its ability to facilitate the running of Android titles on OS X, Windows and others, it was perhaps only a matter of time before the company looked to expand, and having seen how much hype the OUYA has generated in its short, crowd-funded life, has come up with an alternative device in the form of the GamePop.

The Ouya games console, which paints itself as something of a dream machine to modders and developers, has become the fastest-grossing Kickstarter campaign in just a few short days, and at the time of writing, has just passed the $4.5 million mark with over 35,000 backers. Not bad going really, considering the initial target was a comparatively-meager $950,000, and with the device, which is pronounced “ooh-yah”, taking up a great deal of column inches right now, the future looks bright for the $99 console.

Although plenty of successful inroads and developments have been made over the years in the modding and jailbreaking of the popular games consoles (most notably Geohot and his famous PS3 jailbreak), they can often take a while to arise due to the tight-belted nature of the console vendors, most of whom tend not to be accommodating.