The open source TV game console OUYA is surely a hit. In just the first day of funding round in Kickstarter, the open source video game console project raised $2 million. It got 17,782 backers till the report was written. And, it will gather a lot more in the rest 28 days of the funding round. The gamers and developers were surely longing for a game console that is cheap, based on a popular platform, and open for all to pour their heart’s will into. I can give the traditional console makers only one advice now – watch out!
OUYA is scheduled to launch commercially in March 2013. The console with a controller was offered at $95 at the lowest. Other packages were offered at $99, $225, $699 and on. All the options till $699 were sold out in the first 24 hour of the funding round.
The wining factors behind the TV game console were two-fold. One is the designer’s choice of building a fully open and free system based on Android for developers. Game developers won’t have to buy any SDK, the console itself is the development kit. The other winning factor was the startup’s decision to offer a free-to-play gaming model. As the Kickstarter page reads, “All the games on it will be free, at least to try.”
The startup has teamed up with award-winning designer, Yves Behar, and his firm fuseproject (designer of the Jambox) to offer a great user experience. And, they are also very serious about offering the right controller with fast buttons, triggers, laser-precise analog sticks, a D-Pad and a touch pad to the gamers.
The specifications of the console and the controller are as follows.
- 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
If you want to back the idea too, then head over to Kickstarter. Just remember, the early birds have taken the entire front row, the left seats are only for the privileged ones with heavy pockets.
Source: Kickstarter
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