Take an Android phone or tablet with a powerful Tegra 3 CPU, 1GB of RAM and a HDMI outout. Now, take out the expensive high-resolution capacitive screen, the camera, the Bluetooth, GSM radio kit and battery. You’re left with something which costs a lot less to build.
Put this inside a box and plug it into your TV. Add a wireless controller with a D-Pad, touchpad and triggers. Bingo, you’ve got yourself a games console.
The guys at Ouya have done just that, and shortly after listing the project on Kickstarter it’s netted more than double the amount they needed. A cool $2.5 million has been added to their funds, and the box could soon be in shops for less than $99. Existing Android games on a big screen will be playable through the touchpad on their controller, and a custom user interface will deliver further “free to try” games to Ouya owners.
The boys at Ouya tell us…
Smartphones and tablets are getting all the new titles – they’re “what’s hot”. The console market is pushing developers away. We’ve seen a brain drain. Some of the best, most creative gamemakers are focused on mobile and social games because these platforms are more developer-friendly. And the ones who remain focused on console games can’t be as creative as they’d like.
Against the likes of Microsoft and Sony, these guys have got quite a fight on their hands. Let’s not forget what happened when Sony Ericsson launched the Xperia PLAY.
But maybe, just maybe, this could do well. What do you guys think? Check out the video below…
Link – Ouya (Kickstarter)
its android so it will be cheap and keep crashing…..lol
this will be massive. all those matching three jems type games and mindless but addictive type games that millions of people have dowloaded…..and now avaliable on the TV…for a very small cost…Half the screen on the game and half on FB or Twitter….this will be massive…a duplicate sim card and you have live feeds ect ect…
I could be totally wrong here, but the big advantage here seems to be the fact that loads of games are already available for Android. Whether the control pad will be compatible, I guess is another matter, but I think it’s a fabulous idea. The Tegra 3 certainly is a decent enough pixel pusher, and I dare say it’d wipe the floor with a Nintendo Wii for raw power, even if it wouldn’t quite match a PS3 or Xbox.
Nonetheless, it seems that it could become a widely used open console format, which is really what the big guys have to worry about. I’m sure I’m not the only person who is bored with console games – this could be the thing to change all that.