OUYA Dev Consoles Ship December 28

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By Kevin Parrish
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Developers will get special OUYA consoles starting December 28.

Seems like it's been a while since we've heard any news about the Android-based OUYA game console. The latest update on the Kickstarter page, posted on Friday, reveals that hardware units for developers will begin to ship on December 28. These will be early versions of the controller and console combo designed for testing Android games on the OUYA platform.

"When the final consoles ship, EVERY OUYA will be a dev console," the update reads. "We told you that already. What we didn’t tell you was that the advance dev consoles you ordered are pretty special – you’ll know what I mean when you open yours. They’re rare drops."

"The dev consoles aren’t cheap for us to make. And we heard from many of you during the Kickstarter campaign that you simply couldn’t afford one," the update adds. "We wish we could just give them away, and we decided for a few of you – we’d do just that!"

Developers will have to work for the freebies according to the team, and are directed to the Dev Console Giveaway page which provides more details.

In addition to the developer consoles, the team is also working on the OUYA Development Kit (ODK) that will be available to download once the hardware begins to ship in late December. The software will be provided via a web portal to all developers – not just those who receive testing units. This portal will eventually open up to allow developers to upload their games, and to receive help from the OUYA forums.

"While jamming on the ODK, we’ve also had a team focused on the user interface," the update states. "This involves optimizing Android Jelly Bean to play games on a big screen and spending time understanding the best ways gamers can search for and discover new games. It’s still in development, but it looks great, and the advance dev consoles include a sneak peek."

The first batch of $99 OUYA consoles for those who made a purchase without developer credentials is slated to ship sometime in March 2013. The Kickstarter project originally launched during the summer and reeled in 63,416 backers pledging $8,596,474 USD.

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Kevin Parrish
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • darkchazz
    Tegra 3? this thing will be outdated on release.
    Why power a gaming console with a chip that can barely even handle 720p resolution thanks to its abysmal memory bandwidth? not to mention the crappy GPU that is based on ancient PC tech scaled down to work on mobile.

    IMO they should've went with at least Snapdragon S4 Pro.
    But I guess with clever nvidia marketing you can fool most people.
    Reply
  • kawininjazx
    darkchazzTegra 3? this thing will be outdated on release.Why power a gaming console with a chip that can barely even handle 720p resolution thanks to its abysmal memory bandwidth? not to mention the crappy GPU that is based on ancient PC tech scaled down to work on mobile.IMO they should've went with at least Snapdragon S4 Pro.But I guess with clever nvidia marketing you can fool most people.
    I have to agree, while I love my Nexus 7, my Samsung GS3 is a lot faster overall with the Snapdragon Dual Core and 2GB of RAM. However, the games on the Nexus 7 still run great and look Playstation 2.5 quality.
    Reply
  • bigdog44
    Another reason MS is coming out with a set top box...
    Reply
  • tipoo
    I'll be keeping an interested eye on this, even if it doesn't go huge 99 dollars for a free to play based gaming console doesn't sound bad, and full versions of games will be much cheaper than traditional consoles.

    Those criticizing its its specs need to realize they had to bundle the console and controller in a certain price point, the Tegra 3 is some incredibly cheap and small silicon. I'm not sure about the S4 Pro but the T3 is far smaller and thus cheaper than most current gen mobile SoCs. And 28nm production still hasn't ramped up as much, so there's another ding for going with another chip.

    I hope something comes of this, an open gaming console seems like a very interesting idea.
    Reply
  • samwelaye
    darkchazzIMO they should've went with at least Snapdragon S4 Pro.But I guess with clever nvidia marketing you can fool most people.
    Snapdragon S4 Pro was not anywhere near being out when this device was conceived and manufacturing plans started. You can't design a device around a chip that isnt out, then expect to just put it in when the chip is released. Why do you think consoles are always behind PCs? There is a development cycle...
    Reply
  • tipoo
    They do take a 30% cut of game pro fits though, I wonder if another truly open gaming box will eventually overtake this idea.
    Reply
  • bustapr
    this will hopefully spawn some great indie game devs. thw tegra 3 may not be the best out there, but has enough juice to allow much unexplored creativity on android. im quite interested in seeing the games devs will start making now that an android console with controller is coming out.
    Reply
  • mousseng
    I'm still not convinced Ouya will be a success, but hey - I wish them the best, even though I'll likely pass it up. I am wondering, though, if they plan on updating the hardware standard (and if so, how often?) to keep up with the times, or if they'll go the way of their competition and simply release a new console entirely (rather than revising the same design).
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    As the very first poster said, I can't comprehend why this platform is considered viable by the inventors, and why the developers and consumers think anything productive will come of it. How much can one really optimize code to utilize hardware with fundamental flaws/limitations? And to what extent? Will consumers want to spend more than $10 on a Tegra3-based game, knowing full well that it's likely a limited lifespan and also more than likely will have poor backwards and forwards compatibility?
    Reply
  • bustapr
    teh_chemAs the very first poster said, I can't comprehend why this platform is considered viable by the inventors, and why the developers and consumers think anything productive will come of it. How much can one really optimize code to utilize hardware with fundamental flaws/limitations? And to what extent? Will consumers want to spend more than $10 on a Tegra3-based game, knowing full well that it's likely a limited lifespan and also more than likely will have poor backwards and forwards compatibility?and like some others pointed out, this was a kickstarter project that was started pretty much when tegra 3 was considered great and is to this day considered cheap. you cant just promise one thing in a kickstarter and end up changing plans. and you kind of wrong about devs not finding anything productive in it. devs dont look to make games with the best there is, they look to make games with the standard, kind of like consoles. if you release a console that at least around 60k people will have on release and thousands more will buy on day one, you can be sure devs will make games based on this console. also should notice that some of the best games on android are made in 2d with sprites and dont need crazy hardware to run and the most advanced games on android run well on tegra 3.
    Reply