Last week we reported on OUYA, a project that is being undertaken by some pretty big names in the design and gaming industry, which will bring an Android home game console to us for a mere $99 bucks. Aside from being up on AngelList for seed funding, the developers have also tossed it up on Kickstarter.
OUYA is the latest attempt to bring an Android gaming console to market after past attempts by other companies have fizzled. However, with who is working on this project, there is very little chance that this will follow in the same footsteps as it’s predecessors.
Yves Behar will be in charge of designing the Ouya as a high-quality home gaming console which will cater to developers as much as it will to gamers. Also on board is Ed Fries who was the Vice President of game publishing at Microsoft during the majority of the Xbox’s life span, Amol Sarva from Peek.com, Julie Uhrman of IGN is labeled as the CEO and Co-Founder, Muffi Ghadiali from Amazon Lab126 who helped make the Kindle, and finally Peter Pham from Color.
We also have the specs for the hardware OUYA will come with:
– 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
Any developer will be able to publish a game for OUYA and every game will be a free-to-play title. A fair amount of developers are already keeping an eye on it including Mojang, Jordan Mechner (creator of Prince of Persia, Karateka), Adam Saltsman (Semi Secret, creator of Canabalt) , Marek Rabas (Madfinger Games). All of them have come out openly supporting this new console and the open gaming platform it will support.
Everyone will also received an development kit with their purchase of OUYA and the unit is completely hacker friendly (modding the OS won’t void the warranty either) so anyone can mod the hell out of their unit if they wish to do so. The developers already have a prototype working so it is mainly now getting certification and production going which is what the Kickstarter is for.
As of right now the OUYA Kickstarter has been up for about a day and has already received $212K+ in funding. With 29 days to go there shouldn’t be a problem getting the $950K they are seeking in funding. Check out the video below to learn more.
Website Referenced: The Guardian
Kickstarter: OUYA
