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It’s been awhile since we’ve received a status update from the boys at OUYA but if you’re an early backer (or hoping to be an early adopter), don’t let that worry you. OUYA took to their Kickstarter page today to give us a progress report on the world’s first Android console and it looks like everything is moving along right on schedule. They even uploaded a few pics of their early printed circuit board (PCB) which now has OUYA entering into the Engineering Verification Testing (EVT) phase.
The biggest change comes with the inclusion of Jelly Bean to come preloaded on the mini-console. Initially, when the OUYA was first announced, Ice Cream Sandwich was the latest Android dessert and while we don’t have specifics on the whether they’ll be going with Android 4.1 or 4.2, either one is an improvement.
For developers looking to cash in on OUYA, they’ve also announced that the Software Developer Kits are on their way, and even if you missed out on backing OUYA through Kickstarter, they’ve ordered a few extra units specially for devs who were late to the party. Nice guys.
Guess it’s all downhill from here. Don’t forget, our sister site, GameFans, will be reporting live from the launch event scheduled for March, in which Phandroid will also be on hand bringing you the latest (and giving away some cool stuff too). Anyone still excited about the OUYA?
[via GameFans]
I guess everyone’s more excited about making up costumes for the contest..
I need to draw up my “slutty Android” costume and post! :D
you mean you havent done it already
Implying he doesn’t have one made for every girl he sleeps with to wear….
exactly chris we need pics of your android sluts
@LawrenceMcatee:disqus @chuckles87:disqus Wait- you guys got it all wrong. I’M the Android slut! O_o
Naughty!
More like ouYAAAAAAAAAWWWWNNNN.
-_-
Don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy having guys like EA and Microsoft control how I play my games. Someone new has a chance to shake things up and really benefit the consumers of the games industry.
Or they can take your approach.
Did you just say EA?
Something new for android should mean something BESIDES freemium games. But ouya looks like it is all about the cursed freemium games instead of real games like Uncharted or Assassin’s Creed
What makes you say that? They’re going with their own app store so hopefully most titles will be ad-free, paid titles.
Google also has an app store and most of the games have IAP.
You need real hardware innovation to get the innovative games.
yup
It isn’t exactly freemium. There will be games like that, obviously, but the more accurate description would be ‘games have to have demos.’ Think Xbox Live, not Free To Play MMOs.
Each game has to have a demo of the game. That isn’t a bad thing. Some will be freeium, some will just have a little bit of the game playable before you have ot purchase. It’s a system that has been in place on the Xbox for years.
The SDKs are a big one to get out.
Looks like a 6 ounce board…
Ha! I see what you did there…
I am starting to not see the point of this OUYA device. If our phones are going to be rocking 2ghz and able to MHL connect to a tv, use keyboard, mice, gamepads, and many other peripherals, what is the point of this. I cannot take it with me the same way I can my phone and it is in no way pocketable. Anyone have good reasons to use this device?
Remember, the Nexus 4 is only available in 8GB or 16GB varieties. Heavy Tegra optimized games are pushing 3GB’s in file sizes and I’m sure they’re only gonna get bigger.
For people like me that think tablets are too pricey and just aren’t worth a purchase, a $99 OUYA sounds like a nice option.
Don’t forget your secret ‘Personal Movies’ folder, that thing has 10+ gigs. OUYA sounds like it will be good with the general public who have no idea how to root & MHL & all the other crap needed to hook a phone up to a tv. I might still get one if it seems über awesome. I am planning on getting the new DNA or Note 2 which both have expandable memory so I can plop in the extra 64 gigs of space, I flat out will not get the N4 for the lack of physical space. I have 8 gigs of MS DOS games alone, what were they thinking?
why the downvotes? N4 hate?
Nope. Subtle mention of porn without actually saying it :$
So you need an extra whole other device now because you’ve made the conscious decision to buy an “uber device” that doesn’t have enough internal storage to hold all the stuff to do everything you want to do and features no local external storage options, even though the rest of the specs are identical or BETTER than the whole other device you are getting?
Please explain again to me how not having control of how much storage your device has is the way to go?
Isn’t the cloud and your always available always speedy data connection going to fix this?
It’s for gaming at the obvious console sweet spot of $100. I am not going to plug my phone up every stinking time to use it to game on. What I would do is drop $100 on a console running Android that no adapters will be needed for. There is definitely a market for this. A lot of folks can’t afford a smartphone plan every month plus the initial cost of the phone coming in at $300 now days. Tons of games out there now for under $5 a pop.
As far as I know OUYA does not run Google Play but offers apps through their own third-party distribution hub. This means all your games you hope to run will not run or be available at all until someone ports it over. I read allover their website again and it does not mention Google Play anywhere. The device also has only 1 Gig of RAM and 8 Gigs of flash memory and a Tegra 3, so it will be sluggish to run future games with 1 or 1 1/2 year old hardware when it launches mid next year. You are going to want to plug in your phone if it can run Shadowgun, Modern War, countless emulators, and the other 700,000 apps out there. I understand the $100 plug & play ease of use, but not if its only playing angry birds. For $100 you can buy an MHL adapter, bluetooth keyboard & mouse, bluetooth controller/gamepad, and even some apps to play.
Games won’t really need to be ported as such just released on both markets, one thing that I don’t see mentioned much is that this is good for gaming on Android as a whole as it will encourage development of games with peripheral support.
Lookin’ forward to this……
There is a huge potential for this product, but as I’ve read about it since the beginning it’s had “flop” all over it… My concerns are as follows:
1. It should be shipping with top-end SOC. On par with the S4 Pro and A6 class SOCs coming out now. A general goal here should be to render a game like Modern Warfare 3 at 720p resolution (yes, i know COD is rendered at lower than this on current consoles). This shouldn’t be terribly hard with 2H 2012 SOCs, especially that this will be plugged in, thus can run at a higher clock and voltage levels (say 2GHz) with a head sink.
2. 2GB RAM is almost mandatory. Current-gen consoles have showed how starved they are for RAM with 512mb, and they aren’t running Android too. Game storage is a concern as well.
3. Support for Voice Chat is a must, console gamers (i.e. people that game on TVs currently) are accustomed to all multiplayer games supporting voice chat for the past 5+ years. This feature is a must for MP gaming.
4. Out of the box support for select Google Play apps like Netflix, Chrome, etc. Things to keep people using the console as a TV box. This may keep people interested in it for more than just the lackluster library it’ll probably launch with.
***5. Biggest one – support from big game developers. EA, Activision, etc. It needs AAA launch titles. Not Angry Birds, but something real, I daresay along the lines of Black Ops 2, and sports games. Something to sell and drive the console.
Yea, I think that could save it. I understand that it may have to sell like the Nexus 7 does with no profit, but this is normal for consoles, but game sells always drive the profit.
1. Not everyone cares, or needs, graphics to enjoy games. It’s been said many times that gameplay>graphics. This console isn’t trying to be like Xbox or PS, it’s a casual gamer’s console.
2. Why 2gb? Did you test the console and decide that the RAM is the bottleneck? I’m sure there’s people who a lot smarter than you working on this, and obviously decided that the spec’d ram is enough.
3. I remember watching one of my roommates use voicechat in games. Lame. If you are that serious about ‘chatting’ with someone while you play, invite them over. You know, actual facetime? Again, seems like you are trying to turn this into a 360/live clone. However, remember that it’s an open source console, there maybe someone to make this feature hardware/software support.
4. It’s coming with XBMC. Research XBMC plugins and it’s also an Android console. C’mon keep up.
5. Screw all the companies and games you listed. They are the reason current consoles are locked down in development and innovative games. Those games and companies are just pushing out FPS and racing/sports games in nauseating amounts.
#All what you described is an Xbox 360. If that’s what you want, get it. This console isn’t focused on being like the rest, it’s trying to open up and do more. XBMC, Android (lots of apps), inevitable emulators (like SNES, GBA, ect.). The potential is limitless with this console. But, you seem so sure of yourself, start your own kickstarter for your console and see how far you get, or quit being an armchair quarterback.
I agree – OUYA is completely different market segment than established consoles. It’s a console for regular people, not hardcore gamers, who knows in what resolution COD is rendered on each platform. Phinn’s requirements for a $100 gadget is just being unreasonable and cheap.
XBMC implementation will be a decision point for me. If it comes with all the features of current XBMC, most importantly a shared library support, then I’ll jump on.
I was jacked to see that CLASSIC FAIL updated it’s app to work on Jelly Bean!!!
This thing is launching way to late. Its going to be a catastrophe months after launch.
Hey dude , guy who said we dont need voice chat , I have friends in other parts of the world , I cant just “invite them over” so i voice chat , And your saying we dont need that , and he didnt describe a xbox , is a xbox 360 is what we need?(Well i own one) but nevertheless , i want this mofo android console to come out