Wednesday, 11 July 2012

OUYA - The Cheap, Hackable Android Games Console For Your TV



In recent years, gaming has become subject to a growing trend in cheap, app-based gaming for your mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. It's a great, inexpensive way to get people playing games when they normally wouldn't. It's also a great way for existing gamers to experience something new and innovative However, ultimately I'm old school when it comes to gaming- I love my games on my TV, running from a console. Console hardware can often be expensive to purchase for consumers, and difficult to build games for for the developers.

Allow me, then, to introduce you to the OUYA- a cheap, hackable, Android-based games console, which plugs into your TV.




The people behind this up and coming device want it to flip the gaming industry on it's head, combining the ease of access and low cost that goes with both developing and purchasing Android-based games with what many will still feel is the best and proper way to play games- on your sofa in front of your nice, big HD TV (and surround sound would be nice, too).

The creators say that there will be a lot of free-to-play content featured, as the encourage anyone developing for the OUYA to make at least a portion of their games free-to-play, following in the footsteps of successful free-to-play games such as Team Fortress 2 and Leauge of Legends. It will also be hackable, allowing users to blow their OUYA wide-open and make it their own.

The OUYA will feature a Tegra-3 processor, 1GB of RAM, one USB and SD card slot, HDMI output, wifi and bluetooth, and will boast a nice-looking wireless controller.





The OUYA team opted to follow the Kickstarter program in order to fund its development. Bearing in mind they still have 28 days to go on their funding drive and need $950,000, they have already raised over $3.2 million.

To see what OUYA is all about, check out the video at the top of the page and visit their Kickstarter website.


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