A company established in Los Angeles, California started out a Kickstarter to collect money to develop an open-source game console.

They set a pledge goal of $950,000 and surprisingly it got up to 1.92 million dollars in less than 24 hours. They had surpassed the goal in only 8 hours.

Boxer8 founder Julie Uhrman explains in this video how she visualizes an open-source game console where the console is cheap, the library of games is free-to-play, and developer cost to produce games is low. Julie wants the players back to their roots. Back to their TV, in a new era where mobile gaming has flourished and dominates the market and consoles like PlayStation and Nintendo are driving developers away with the costs and difficulty and setbacks to develop for their consoles.

The key for this open-source game console to succeed are:

  • It’s based on the android platform.
  • Developers already know android development.
  • OUYA is inexpensive.
  • Game Publishers can develop games and thrive in a flexible environment.
  • Their development cost is dramatically reduced.

Ouya seeks game publishers to innovate and bring all games genres into their platform. So far Minecraft and Twitch TV have jumped onboard. This is big.

Speculation

With Blizzard Entertainment’s Next-Gen MMO Titan in the horizon, and Blizzard having its own Mobile department, it would be awesome to see Blizzard jump into the mix developing games for OUYA.

This might be the best chance to bring StarCraft II and Diablo III to the HDTV with some couching and ideas from Blizzard. Especially if OUYA integrates keyboard and mouse to their game console.

With its open-source factor, we could even see Razer innovate new Blizzard licensed products to support Blizzard games.

Twitch TV partnership with OUYA to bring video stream to the HDTV directly benefits fans. It means watching StarCraft II, and Diablo III PvP eSports straight from your TV without the need of a PC.

I can foresee Blizzard and OUYA building a great relationship if this open-source console game becomes a reality. By the looks of it, that reality looks promising. So far there are 15,392 backers signed up at OUYA’s kickstarter in less than 24 hours.

Is a Blizzard / OUYA partnership far-fetched? Not necessarily. Rob Pardo has expressed in the past his concerns about the lack of flexibility in current game consoles and the lack of a keyboard/mouse. This android-powered OUYA might be the big changer to bridge console and PC gaming development.

Anyone knows Ed Fries? He was formerly Microsoft vice-president of game publishing involved in the XBox development, and most recently the founder of FigurePrints which sells World of Warcraft character replicas created with a 3D printer. Ed Fries is involved in the OUYA game console project. Booyah! This is getting interesting.

OUYA: The Revolution will be televised

OUYA is a new game console for the TV, powered by Android.

We’ve packed this little box full of power. Developers will have access to OUYA’s open design so they can produce their games for the living room, taking advantage of everything the TV has to offer.

Best of all, OUYA’s world-class controller, console, and interface come in one beautiful, inexpensive package. All the games on it will be free, at least to try.
Great games come from great developers.

Developers can wave farewell to the roadblocks of bringing a console game to market. Anyone can make a game: every OUYA console is a dev kit. No need to purchase a license or an expensive SDK. It’s built on Android, so developers already know how it works.

That doesn’t mean OUYA is an Android port. You can create the next big title in your bedroom – just like the good old days! Who needs pants!?

OUYA could change AAA game development, too. Forget about licensing fees, retail fees, and publishing fees.

Estimated Launch: March 2013

Hardware Specs

  • Tegra3 quad-core processor
  • 1GB RAM
  • 8GB of internal flash storage
  • HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth LE 4.0
  • USB 2.0 (one) (possibly more in the future)
  • Wireless controller sporting two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button, and 3″ touchpad
  • Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich

Check out the OUYA kickstarter page.