By 
OUYA said out to redefine console gaming, and they are well on their way. Here’s another way that the company plans to do things differently: yearly updates to hardware. CEO Julie Uhrman continues her PR tour as the first OUYA consoles are prepped to ship in March to early backers of the project, revealing that the console’s cycle will be based more on mobile strategy, not the traditionally long lifecycle of hardware like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
We would have been more surprised if she had announced something the other way around. With hardware based on mobile technology, running an operating system meant for mobile devices, it would be a disservice to not provide customers with the option to purchase a refreshed console every year. After all, the first-generation is powered by the already outdated Tegra 3 platform. Gamers will be hungry for a Tegra 4 upgrade in no time.
Aside from the $99 price tag, OUYA will make it easy for customers to upgrade by linking their game library to the user, not the system. Games will be backwards compatible, meaning switching over to the latest hardware should be as easy as entering a few account credentials.
After reaching buyers who backed the project on Kickstarter, a first batch of general pre-orders will arrive in April. A second round of OUYA consoles is set to launch in June with availability both online and in stores such as Best Buy and Gamestop.
[via Engadget]
interested. but i’ll wait for a Generation 2 or 3 to see how the platform develops.
yer waiting until the 2nd gen is what I’m going to do as well, however I’m hoping not all people think like that or the platform is screwed. They need people to adopt this for it to survive, grow and improve.
Yeah updates at least every year. Don’t they always say that.
no. no they don’t. most consoles update much slower and without a public schedule.
I think that the 1st gen buyers will have perks that you jerks won’t get by waiting for 2nd or 3rd gen. That’s the only way that makes sense as far as doing upgrades every year.
i seen a lot of projects come and go. OUYA is no expection. I really do hope them the best, but i’m not wasting my money frivolously. they still have to prove themselves and deliver some first in class consoles. meanwhile, i need to spend that $100 on more essential things.
but i do hope they keep that $99 selling point. it’s a sweet price.
not buying because $100 needs to go elsewhere is smart.
for $100 though, this console could fall flat on its face after just a year and buyers would get their money’s worth. that’s just the cost of ~2-3 games on most consoles…
i like this idea – perks for early adopters. i hope it happens.
I’d love to see the next one have a swappable chip set and ram so you spend a little less (maybe $59 instead of $99) to upgrade. It could keep the shell, ports, and, controller, and power supply.
Pin outs changed between Tegra 3 and Tegra 4, I don’t imagine OUYA being big enough to have NVIDIA do a hardware revision just for them where their pins don’t change.
I agree, that’s why I said in the next generation start doing it. I. Know it doesn’t save a lot, but it would be a major selling point for gamers and techies, not so much casual users or soccer moms.
“Games will be backwards compatible, meaning switching over to the latest
hardware should be as easy as entering a few account credentials.”
not to nit-pick, but a backwards-compatible game will run on OLDER hardware than it was designed for… a backwards-compatible CONSOLE will run older games… maybe you meant to say “forward compatible” here?
Oh!! You’re right. This is the 1st release. How can it be backwards compatible? LoL!!
I think he got it right. He’s saying that the new consoles will still be able to play any older games that you already own. So backwards-compatible (playing games designed for the last gen) would be correct.
nvm. I read it wrong. You’re right. But yeah, more of a semantics issue than anything.
so… the consoles will be backwards compatible, not the games. we’re on the same page here.
So will a guy be able to buy a second gen console for $70 sans controller?
So instead of paying $500 for a console that will last 5-10 years, I get to buy anew console every year for $70-90? Wow, what a deal! [/sarcasm]
Either you’re fixing your own console or you’re not using it very much if it lasts you 5-10 years.
Or you keep the original one, maybe upgrade every other year?
I backed early, and am really looking forward to getting mine. This device, along with the Steam Box and Project Shield, could really disrupt the console gaming business. Mobile has disturbed it, but these projects are really hitting them head-on for the first time.
If nothing else, this thing is going to be an awesome and very portable emulator/classic gaming machine. I’m sure most of the Android emulators will be available early, if not on day one.
i’m surprised no one has dropped the F word yet
….
(fragmentation)
I don’t have a problem with it at this price range.
I’m really looking forward to April!