OUYA? Oh yeah!

[stormsweeper]

You'll get a cheap white-label Android device in a fancy shell, most likely. Something like this:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/58199 ... droid.html

There has been at least one other kickstarter for a similar product:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/484 ... a-smart-tv

It's also not the first open-source console.

[Mk1]

Hmm... Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but this feels to me like paying $100 for an imaginary version of XBox Live Arcade.

[Questionor]

Hmm... Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but this feels to me like paying $100 for an imaginary version of XBox Live Arcade.

I agree.
I wouldn't even buy a console from MS/Sony/Nintendo/etc until there are a significant number of games out for it.
And yada yada, I know there are already android games but those games were designed for small form factors not for a big tv.

But you get to fight the man and stick it to the big guys with this!

[gronti]

http://kotaku.com/5926678/ouyas-top-peo ... -this-week

Ouya’s Top People Will Answer Your Questions Live on Kotaku Later This Week

We've interviewed Julie Uhrman, the driving force behind the Kickstarter-funded $99 hackable Android console Ouya. On Thursday, it will be your turn. Uhrman will be taking Kotaku reader questions live—and answering them live—from 1:30-2:00 PM (ET).

[daethwing188]

...Their project has no solid business plan, so they need to sell you on hopes and dreams. They've already over-funded. Pull your money out and buy one later if it actually succeeds in coming to market.

I both agree and disagree with you here Gundabad; I think they're not as far along the track as they'd like others to believe, but I'm sure their business plan is solid and I'm fairly certain that they have a working prototype they can reproduce. Contrary to popular belief, it's actually a lot harder to get on Kickstarter than one may think. If a company doesn't present a solid business plan, they have no chance of getting their project up on Kickstarter (granted, the system is not always 100% fool-proof). My guess is that they'll plug along until it's released, then it will start to slowly stagnate as interest dies off... but I've been wrong before.

ALL THAT SAID; they have my $130. *shrug*

[Questionor]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconside ... n=20120903

[Seth]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/09/03/160505449/when-a-kickstarter-campaign-fails-does-anyone-get-their-money-back?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20120903

Could be just my perception of it, but when I first heard about kickstarter the concept of it, how it was described to me, was it's a kind of charity. You give to support something you like or someone you like, with no real expecation of getting anything. The stuff they promise for whatever level of money is equivelent to when public television does one of their fund drives and promises a totebag for a cirtain level of pledge. The totebag was just a token, worth far less that the pledge. If you never got the totebag, it's not that big a deal since that wasn't supposed to be the point anyway. The way I understood it, with Kickstarter, since it was for the kind of projects it was for, for the kind of people they're for, nevermind the totebag, you were supposed to go in assuming it might not actually happen at all. So, you're supposed to just give the kind of money you're ok with if it's wasted.

Very interesting to see the direction it's gone in now. The whole totebag thing is flipped and people are buying in because they're expecting to get a great deal on a totebag, and pnoneying up the kind of money they can't just write off if they don't.

I think the Kickstarter guys are letting things get away from them because they're so jazzed about the commission they're taking off the top. It's big money. So much money, some of these projects have GOT to be a "Springtime for Hitler" kind of scheme, or even just end up that way starting from good intentions. People are watching all this waiting for it to implode.

[Pillar]

Could be just my perception of it, but when I first heard about kickstarter the concept of it, how it was described to me, was it's a kind of charity. You give to support something you like or someone you like, with no real expecation of getting anything.

I don't believe that is the case. It isn't charity -- its fund-raising. A better analogy is venture capital, on a micro-level. They don't call the money donations -- they are contributions. Contributors are right to expect some form of return on the money they contribute -- even if that return is just knowing something interesting got made.

When the reward level specifically says, "If you give this much, you will get X by date Y", that's a promise being made. If that promise can't be kept, the better Kickstarters will make it clear to their backers why, and what will be done about it.

Pillar

[cawshis]

So I guess shipments are going out. PAR reviews it and seems satisfied, especially when you compare it to Ben's previous "it's fucking vapourware, why are you giving it money??" article.

I'm excited for it - it's been ages since I bought a first gen piece of equipment and I'm fully expecting a total disaster of mixed expectations and surprises. I cannot wait for someone to get the emulators on there. Anyone else picking up the system? We'll need to form a support group before the rest of the world gets the better version in June.

Also, I feel like I misread the specs. Did it say "wired" internet? As in...not wireless? So I'll need to get an adapter for it?

[TanRu]

Wow, all right! Definitely want to hear from anyone who backed about how it is.