OUYA and Kickstarter: The Future of Consoles
With the gaming world a buzz about the upcoming consoles from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo at an all time high, Julie Uhrman founder of OUYA and Kickstarter have decided to throw their hat into the ring. Using what is know as crowd-funding to drive this project, OUYA is looking to enter the market with a $99 console. With almost 6500 backers providing $807,063 of the $950,000 needed to get started it is looking promising that the remaining 29 days will raise enough of the remaining money.
The Machine:
Ouya is on par with high-end Android phones and tablets, including a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage. Its displays in 1080p video through an HDMI slot and had Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 2.0 for connecting external devices and includes a wireless controller. The wireless controller will feature both traditional buttons, analog sticks, and a built-in trackpad for playing games normally designed for touchscreen phones and tablets This Android base set top will be able to run current Android titles but promises this is only the base operating system for its only gaming platform. But developers promised, "We’ve built this badboy to play the most creative content from today’s best known AAA game designers as well as adored indie gamemakers."; Another bonus is OUYA will be one of the first consoles with eSports capabilities, allowing StarCarft 2 Tournaments to be viewed on a large TV rather than a small monitor.
The Philosophy:
One of the main points that Uhrman and her team have for the OUYA is, "It's time we brought back innovation, experimentation, and creativity to the big screen. Let’s make the games less expensive to make, and less expensive to buy. With all our technological advancements, shouldn't costs be going down? Gaming could be cheaper!" OUYA is looking brake down the road blocks and current challenges for game developers. What does this mean for developers? Unlike the current consoles OUYA has no licensing fees, and every console will include a software development kit. Games are also required to be in some part free to play, with at bare minimum a demo version. This means that the next great franchise can be made in someones living room.
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