OUYA, a $99 Console That’s Making Waves

oyua

Personally, I’m loathe the give attention to Kickstarter campaigns, which is why, aside from the Double Fine and Banner Saga posts, you haven’t seen any mention of that website on here. The gaming journalism industry at large has latched on to Kickstarter as an easy source of news, so I quickly became jaded towards it.

That said, I can’t seem to ignore OUYA, a new open-source console that’s powered by Android that is currently sitting at $3,686,126 of its $950,000 goal. Suffice to say, people are excited about OUYA, and the developers themselves give a pretty nice description on the Kickstarter page. Games on the OUYA have to be free to play to start out, but it mentions that games are free to adopt the microtransaction model made popular by Team Fortress 2 and League of Legends. The OUYA also comes with an app to stream stuff from Twitch.TV right out of the box.

What exactly is inside the OUYA, though? Here are the specs:

  • Tegra3 quad-core processor
  • 1GB RAM
  • 8GB of internal flash storage
  • HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth LE 4.0
  • USB 2.0 (one)
  • Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad
  • Android 4.0

The OUYA is totally open to hacking and the page even encourages it. All this for $99 dollars, folks.

Personally I don’t see what they big deal is about this whole thing, but it’s been blowing up pretty big so I thought you guys would like the opportunity to talk about it. So, the OUYA. Do you think it will actually deliver?

Update: Ben Kuchera over at The Penny-Arcade Report has a great article up about the OUYA and the many red flags that it raises. All of this stuff seems fairly obvious to me as things you would look for when buying a console (example: does it actually exist?), but people seem so hyped about the posibilites that this is getting passed over.

Source – OUYA Kickstarter

Written by

mitch@gamersushi.com Twitter: @mi7ch Gamertag: Lubeius PSN ID: Lubeius SteamID: Mister_L Origin/EA:Lube182 Currently Playing: PUBG, Rainbow 6: Siege, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Total War: Warhammer 2

8 thoughts on “OUYA, a $99 Console That’s Making Waves”

  1. What seems to be the big deal is that it would allow for so much more freedom for indie devs and the fact that honestly people are getting pretty exhausted of this console generation. I don’t see myself buying one, but I’m glad it exists.

  3. Guys Guys… hear me out. The reason that this “console” is fairly cheap is because it is a way to get a telescreen in many households… Big Brother Man

    aside from all that I really like the idea and concept and would be something I definitely would check out. Is that an actually look at the controller because that is pretty sex.

  4. I updated the post with an article from The Penny-Arcade Report about the OUYA, and this is what the developers said about that controller:

    “That design is not final,” I was told. “We are in a prototype phase and exploring several options.”

    So, it doesn’t exist in a functional form. 3 million for some concept sketches.

  7. Two problems: First, the TEGRA Processor. Most low-end smartphones already have that installed. That means you’ll only have processing power that’s just a little better than most of what’s on the Play store. Of course, it could be a version that’s designed specifically for the console, meaning they didn’t just put a smartphone circuit board in a big plastic box.

    The second is that they don’t reveal video details. For all we know, this system, while it may be open-source and I totally love the concept, could basically make the Wii look like a Crysis Computer. Especially since the console can supposedly output to 1080P, support bluetooth, run and cast Twitch, and handle two touch-sensitive wireless controllers. They’re promising a lot.

    I think it has potential, but they’re going to have to hook me in with something more than promises, which is one of Kickstarter’s biggest issues.

    Also, their encouraging people to hack the system is nice, but it could backfire in very malicious ways. Multiplayer cheating being one of them, system compromise and/or virus hosting being another.

  8. I am also concerned about the processor and multiplayer hacks to cheat. Although this system is a great idea i like the concept but usb 2.0 1 port. Humm why not a 3.0 port multi port.

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