It looks like people really do want a $US99 Android-based hackable console. A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the console that went live today has already hits its $US950,000 goal.
The Ouya console and controller are slated for a March 2013 release. Should they really be made and released, it would comprise the first significant new home console to battle Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in over a decade.
Find out much more about Ouya, its promise and it’s potential pitfalls in our in-depth feature about the machine.
This sounds awesome.
Not sure about everyone else but when I jailbreaked (jailbroke?) my iphone I am completely lost with the amount of 'apps' that all do the same thing (or a meant to anyway). Let's hope the same doesn't happen here.
Im willing to be it will be vapourware.
On paper this sounds great. In reality it's probably going to be like trawling through the Android Market avoiding Furious Birds, Tiny Angry Birds, Call of Honour Shooter for Android FPS!!!1!
this has gone from 1mill this morning to 1.7 as i type this... about 4 hours... incredible..
i've jumped on board and can't wait to get one
I hope someone ports XBMC to this, I could use a good cheap media player.
It's running android 4, so at the very least VLC could run on it.
Cool, i just backed $99, its not the worst thing i have wasted $100 on, i cant remember what it was but i have blown a lot of money on crap before.
The only thing that worries me is would there be localised electricity plugs? if it were to come as an American unit and plugging it in would blow it sky high, they run on (iirc) 110-120 volts where we run on 240v, with out a transformer this thing would be useless everywhere outside the US.
it said u had to add $20 for international shipping, if u forgot its best to add now
Oops, yeah, i pledged $150, $30 for a second controller and the $20 for international delivery.
Is there a need for a hardware version of this? Why not just build software emulation of the same thing and release it on windows PC, linux PC, maybe iOS etc?
To me it seems the power of PC's can handle what this console is going to deliver anyhow so why not sell emulation software that does the same thing for half the price?
I'm guessing you haven't actually read anything about this then. Since the point of it is to be able to connect to your TV but be a fully hackable console vs teh locked out consoles that we have. No everyone was to connect a computer to there tv.
I see little difference between open source hardware/software and open source emulation software. In the end it's all up to the core development team, the tools they provide and the knowledge end users or end-hackers have.
I just thought having one standard software would be better resources spent rather than loss leading on hardware and all the development, manufacturing, warranty, testing etc that goes along with console hardware.
I think they've underestimated the resources involved in supporting hardware. For the moment I assume they'll simply state it "as-is" and you hack what you want while giving little support. Not my idea of fostering a hacker/indie platform at all.
It's not a loss-leader. It's essentially one of those little Android USB sticks that you plug into a TV and you get a smartphone UI, only this has been skinned and includes a bluetooth controller (already compatible with Android). They're not making a loss on this since the development, testing and manufacturing are not treading new ground.
All this is doing is making it easier for normal people to use, they get it and plug it in with a fool-proof UX. And since they're bypassing the retailers by selling direct to consumer, they cut out middlemen and legal red-tape. The business model is to get the device on as many eyeballs as possible, then get dev support.
Whilst the concept and idea behind is sound, it just seems like an inexpensive solution to drag games on mobile platform and put them onto the tv, which so far i've only played iOS games for about 2 weeks max before i stop caring for the game. Probably it's just not my thing, but i'm sure there are people who will find benefit out of the Ouya.
While the idea has a certain appeal, I can't help but think it would be very annoying to end up with a "freemium" console. The good non-freemium games are out there, but it can be difficult to find them amongst all the crap.