We backed it too, and despite a few of the teething problems, its a pretty nifty bit of kit for the $99 backer costs (£60)
Many said it wouldnt work and needed the Google Store, well thats not true because many are making games for the OUYA which are exclusive. Around 700 games are in the process of / have already hit the OUYA store - although only round a quarter of OUYA owners have ponied up for games which range from 99c to $14.99. Sideloading is easy and of course you are allowed root the unit.
So where does that leave the incoming Amazon console. Well the Kindle already has a market place that isnt Google and we assume that it will have the same DRM lock down also seen on the Kindle. Would be pretty easy for Amazon to modify their bastardised Android to fit a console with a game pad, although wouldnt they need to go back to devs and ask them to create software for them too !? Oh sideloading games is a good way but not sure Amazon will allow this as many apps that do let you do so are missing from the Amazon App Store.
Anyone who has an OUYA that has sideloaded games or installed direct from Google Play know that many games are not optimized for the hardware or the key mapping is out of wack.
Mad Katz say their console should be ready for release in Q4 and that will have the Google Play Store on board, and here is where the battle lays.
Assuming devs can get their software into the Google Play Store with unique mapping for that console we will see the winner. Remember the Sony Xperia Play ? while it didnt sell in huge numbers there are plenty of games which had the handsets key mapping already sorted. Games were optimized for the hardware and download was easy. Sony didnt care about getting revenue from the apps, they are in the hardware business and wanted to shift the handset. Mad Katz are the same, they are only interested in shifting the hardware. Where Amazon and OUYA receive revenue from apps too, meaning a duplicate purchase if its on muliplatform.
The benefit of playing games at home AND on the move without re-buying for each system is huge, we can understand why OUYA want to receive revenue from apps but Xperia Play had games what were optimized for that console right out the Google Store. So could OUYA become a hardware only business model, and open up Google Play to compete with Mad Katz ? Because if they dont they maybe in for a bumpy ride..
As for the Amazon console, they may get some traction, however just cant see XBMC or any of the other apps that allow streaming coming to the console, because Amazon want you to buy their content. Unless its going to have an open bootloader etc. Amazon will be more limited than the OUYA is, but for the masses, do they care ?! Kindle says no.
If Google release a console with Google TV built in, we may see a massive win for them, even better if it keeps the costs down, integrates Chromecast too. $199 for that !? If it includes Google TV then its certainly an attractive price.
IGN Looked at the OUYA and makes some good points, if you havent heard of OUYA then watch this review.
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