OUYA Console brings Android to the big screen
September 2013, we received one of the Kickstarted funded OUYA consoles to take a look at the new entry price point into the console to the big screen market. The Nvidia Tegra 3 based console supports a Bluetooth wireless traditional console-sharped game controller on an open hardware environment. The core of console is the open software development platform with a free to play marketplace (development kit available at Ouya Creative Kit – ).
The $99 console (with one controller) sports a full 1080p graphics environment with an HDMI output, this output will drive a standard 3M or shorter cable. For connectivity, it has a 1Gbps Ethernet port and an 802.11 b/g/n wireless interface along with Bluetooth. The console has 1GB of internal RAM, an 8GB Flash storage and both a standard USB 2.0 and a microUSB port for expanded storage. The quad-core ARM A9 chip runs Android 4.1.2 so it is very tablet like in functionality.
OUYA Console and Controller
Under the plan of bringing a new level of creativity and openness to the console marketplace I think the device works. It loads up easy, the menu loads quickly, and it provides at the initial level a large screen experience for the “crowded graphics” tablet and smart phone games that include battles and high object counts. The console has some visual issues filling the big screen for some of the more simple games that are ported to the platform. This diversity is a key part of the platform – as the open development environment and the free to play model for launch of the games has brought a larch range of developers for the games. The open development includes peripherals and applications to the Android Operating system.
The highlight is the game play marketplace. It is the first option for the user which takes you to the game listings which include Ouya Exclusive and optimized games, top Trending games, and other games from the Android community. At this time the majority (over 90%) are single user games, however the open environment does not limit this in the development community, and multiplayer games should be arriving shortly. The other options on the menu are Play, Create and Manage.
Screen Shot – Pinball Arcade on the Ouya Platform
It is a key part of the open community, that the standard platform is also a development system with the Create option, which should encourage a larger diversity of games, and an increase number of developers. The free downloads can quickly fill up the internal storage of the device, so it supports a USB2.0 port for expanded storage. These storage devices can be USB thumbdrives, SSDs and HDDs, so the capacity is unlimited. This is a key for the development community that may need to have the game builds under a revision control system and be testable on the console.
The controller is pretty well made for an early release device. It is slightly lighter than the Xbox 360 & PS3 controllers, so it requires a bit of a softer touch. The connectivity is via bluetooth so there is moderate to low latency, but it does not impact the game play for the majority of titles tested. The joysticks are standard digital control, and lack the refinement of the new generation of high speed controllers from Sony & Xbox, but at the price point, are well above the capability of most third party controllers in that price range.
Overall, for a first generation release from an open source community, it is a good product at a good price. The open development community, will soon figure out how to take advantage of the high speed HDMI interface to a large screen and create games accordingly, so it will not be dominated by games targeted for the phone market. The $99 price is a bargain for the console gaming market, and those who get the platform, while it will not displace the multi-player high end community of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, will provide a great single user experience, with no monthly fees, that will be sure to improve the game content in the future.
