OUYA? Oh yeah!

[cawshis]

So some genius has designed an open gaming console (leveraging android!) and kickstarted it:

OUYA Kickstarter.

The crazy thing? In 2 days, they've raised nearly $3MM. That's 3x their initial goal.

I worry that it's vapourware, but they claim to have it ready to go and release in March of 2013. Is it worth the $100 bucks to see if they can do it?

I think it might be. I plan to give up $100 bucks later today for a console (actually $130 for the console and extra controller!). I'm happy to throw money at a very interesting idea to make a console open. I worry about the hackability, but then...folks have been hacking forever...so how is this going to be different?

Anyway this goes, I'm excited to see how it goes. I'm rooting for these bastards to put this crazy idea into a functioning box near my tv.

[BaronHelix]

Thanks to Seth's lady, I read an interesting article here.

[Evilyn]

Oooo. As a counsel fan, I'm in. As a stranger to Android I have no idea what it will mean.

[Emukt]

I'm totally interested in this! I sent in a question about finding an ethical manufacture or atleast one in a country that has higher standards for workplaces. It would be cool if this could be made in the US, but I'd settle for some third-party certification for fair-trade.

[Evilyn]

I sent in a question about finding an ethical manufacture or atleast one in a country that has higher standards for workplaces. It would be cool if this could be made in the US, but I'd settle for some third-party certification for fair-trade.

This! This could really make this stand out even more. Fair trade electronics!

In regards to the content, I'm just a shred nervous. What little I've experienced of indie video games is a mixed bag...some good, some less than thrilling. I'm hoping that there will be some degree of "curating" so I don't have to sift through too much crap to find nuggets of gold.

[cawshis]

I too worry about sifting through turds to get to the "good" games. My hope is that there will be a small industry of folks on the webs that review games (like for iOS or Android or everything else) that can help me laser target the good acquisitions.

With the free demos though, I figure a night or two of trying out games wouldn't be too horrifying.

I'm most excited for the open source aspect of it. I'm curious as to how a system like this might shake up the big guys. Assuming they are working on their consoles now for 2013, so I wonder if they'll have a chance to react at all.

Right now, they're up to $4MM bucks! And nearly 50,000 preorders! That's not a huge launch, but damn fine for hardware that's essentially unproving. This will be interesting!

Anyway, I picked up a console and 2 controllers. Part of the grand experiment! Maybe this will get me off my butt and reinvorgorate my interest in hacking/modding again.

[Seth]

I just can't stop reading it as "Ouija".

[Gundabad]

I really hope you guys aren't putting $100 into this. I say this only because I don't want to see you lose your money.

This Kickstarter page is riddled with contradictions and tries to make you believe it is much further along in the hardware design process than it actually is. You may never ever see this product. If you do, it won't be by the promised March 2013 delivery date, and I am very skeptical that there will be any games worth playing on it. They currently have zero agreements to make games, and claim that some of the $100 (which will be a challenge to cover hardware costs with) will also support first party game design (by who? There are no experienced game designers involved). The software platform for Ouya, aside from the Android OS, exists only in a conceptual state.

I don't think this is someone being deceptive to steal your money. I think this the case of a group of romantic indies putting together a Kickstarter b/c Kickstarter is their only option. 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.

[cawshis]

Totally a gamble, gundabad! No argument here.

But I'm willing to take it. It makes me intrigued that they have so many others willing.

Worst case? I get a crappy Andriod box I can play around with on my own.

[Gundabad]

Totally a gamble, gundabad! No argument here.

But I'm willing to take it. It makes me intrigued that they have so many others willing.

Worst case? I get a crappy Andriod box I can play around with on my own.

If you are cool with low expectations, it's hard to put together a strong argument against funding, but I am still left with the fear that your worst case is actually "get nothing."