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Editorial: OUYA or OH-NO? Problems in Ouya-land.

With the OUYA console just months away from consumers and it finally landing in the hands of developers, the “hands-on” impressions are starting to roll in. As it turns out, DroidGamers has yet to get their hands on a console to officially review. Also, as we get closer and closer to the OUYA release more of the promises or intentions of this platform are beginning to fall flat.

OUYA is claiming to be one of the most impressive “anti-mainstream” platforms we can get our hands on. With already out-dated hardware (with Tegra 4 on the horizon) we may be looking at a case of “the Wiis”. Claims to fame that are great on paper and in press releases but not so much when it hits the shelves. The Wii U is nothing more than an underpowered PS3 in a white chassis, without the Blu Ray and a lot of other components it really needs to compete in the market today… but I digress.

Security is one of the biggest factors that I have seen thus far. The claim that the console is fully rootable and completely modable all while maintaining security and stability… I don’t think so. With people’s overwhelming desire to achieve greatness by any means, I can promise you the integrity of this console going the way of PSN circa 2011. Constant attacks on the “dedicated android market” and modifications to consoles to allow people to circumvent micro-transactions or even bypassing payment to developers entirely is a very common problem on rooted and modded devices today. How OUYA intends to maintain the peace is a mystery considering any and all questions directly pointed at this topic in interviews with Julie Uhrman [many fine examples in that link] have been skimmed or deflected to date.

OUYA had also claimed to have over unique 400 launch titles at release, which is a very bold statement indeed. In consideration for the number of developers who came on board the Kickstarter and existing developers making a name for themselves in the existing Google Play market, this immediately rang untrue to my ears. I would be satisfied with that number if they stated that many of the titles already available on the Google Play store would be made available to the OUYA at launch, but in light of most everyone feeling the same way I do this claim has since been reduced to just over 100.

Now, I am sure a lot of you are waiting on the edge of your seat to see the official reviews come in. We are too, because every attempt to receive a comment from OUYA about these speculations has been ignored. I will be sure to let you know my updated opinions and concerns the moment I get my hands on the console, until then things are still looking very cloudy in the OUYA world.

I would like this console to succeed almost as much as I would like to see an alternative to PC or MAC. I hope they find the way to redeem themselves and prove me wrong. We will just have to wait and see…

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