Hasta La Gadget!

The little Android-based gaming console that could is in on track for March as promised for Kickstarter backers, but the public launch in June looks to be an equally splashy affair with retail support from some of the biggest U.S. chains. OUYA announced today to backers that it would be selling the console to the general public beginning in June at Amazon, Best Buy, Target and GameStop.

Pre-orders begin today for retail partners (they’re currently live at Best Buy, Amazon and Target), with pricing set at $99.99 for the console and one controller. Additional controllers are available as well, for $49.99 each (the console supports up to four controllers at one time.

OUYA founder Julie Uhrman sat down with the Wall Street Journal to discuss the upcoming launch and some of the details around it, laying out that Kickstarter backers would get their units first, followed by pre-order customers who ordered through the OUYA website in April, and then wide retail release including physical store presence beginning in June. She reiterated some of the details around launch day content previously announced, including the fact that there will be around 200 titles coming to OUYA as of right now, with Final Fantasy 3 one of the premiere titles from launch partner Square Enix, which will feature exclusive content.

Uhrman also revealed that part of the funds the company raised on Kickstarter are going towards directly supporting game development. “There are games that we are supporting today,” she said, but she remained mum about any specific software OUYA itself was backing for the platform. Uhrman also said that while she couldn’t reveal specifics about how many pre-orders the console currently has, the number made since the Kickstarter campaign definitely exceeds the 68,000 backers it picked up during the crowdfunding effort. That, she told the WSJ, was a key factor in attracting big retail partners.

OUYA has come a long way from its origins as a project many were skeptical would ever be anything other than a vaporware dream. The company shipped out its developer units on time, and then worked to redesign the controller in response to user feedback about ergonomics, components used and control location. Now, it looks poised to deliver on its original timeline and hit full scale production shortly after. It’ll be well worth watching how the OUYA competes with this year’s crop of new consoles from players like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, since we’re in a period of transition for each of those companies.

The open source, Android-powered games console Ouya will, according to the company’s CEO Julie Uhrman, be available from Target, Best Buy, and Gamestop for $100 as of June. More »

You still can’t touch an OUYA. Not until March, at the earliest, and that’s only if you’re a Kickstarter backer. However, one lucky group of folks already has access: game developers. Those among us who shelled out $700 — as well as the 10 lucky studios who won that contest — got an early jump on a pre-rooted OUYA dev kit, while those of us who dropped $95 (or more) are left in the lurch. Of course, those early units aren’t exactly the couch-friendly consoles we expect to arrive in a few months, but they are representative of the final hardware.

And let’s face it — the OUYA is important. A crowdfunded, extremely inexpensive, open-source game console? That’s not exactly the standard (heck, Sony’s PlayStation 3 debuted with a $500 baseline). The OUYA is essentially taking the low-cost / high-performance aspect of mobile gaming and moving it into a TV-friendly space, and that concept has even spawned some imitators (the likes of which we’ll assuredly see more).

But what do we know about actually using the OUYA? Beyond basic specs and a sporadic showering of images, we’ve never actually touched the thing. With that in mind, we asked a trio of developers who’ve spent the last month with their dev kits how they feel about the console thus far, and we’ve compiled their thoughts below. One month out, how does the OUYA dev kit stack up for developers? Let’s find out!

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD

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A big gaming company like Microsoft couldn’t be bested for controller polish by a tiny, Kickstart-funded startup, right? Wrong, says OUYA, which has been detailing the tweaks made to its wireless control pads after developer feedback on the palm-sized Android console. Several changes have been made, all intended to refine the experience for gamers and help OUYA play up in the big leagues.

So, gone is the disc D-pad, replaced by a more traditional cross-style that’s easier to thumb accurately, while the sticks get a rubberized hat since developers were complaining of undue slipperiness. The triggers are more streamlined into the housing, as well as being mechanically altered for improved feel, while the battery bay has also been reworked to ensure the power pack fits securely without shifting around during more frantic play.

Unlike most controllers, OUYA’s has a touchpad for menu navigation, and that’s in line for a new finish and more responsiveness. For the moment, OUYA recommends developers set the cursor speed to its maximum for the most immediacy in use.

Controller finessing might sound like an odd thing for OUYA to be spending a disproportionate amount of its time on, but there’s good reason for it. Android gaming isn’t new, but a common complaint is that the experience of actually playing on an Android games system – whether it be a phone, a tablet, or something else – is distinctly subpar compared to what players are used to from their Xbox, PS3, or something else.

If OUYA wants to be taken seriously, it needs to tick all the right boxes with the one part of the system that players’ will come into contact with most often, and that’s the controller. If it doesn’t feel right, or doesn’t work as it should, then gamers simply won’t bother picking it up and playing, and that could mean death to the platform.

OUYA tweaks pre-launch hardware is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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The team behind the OUYA Android game console clearly paid a lot of attention to its looks — they nabbed Yves Behar to design the thing, after all — but not every component has passed muster with the masses. Thankfully, after hearing some discontent from early backers and developers, OUYA has taken some crucial feedback about the console’s controller seriously and has decided to make some changes.

According to recent post on the official OUYA blog, the console’s controller will no longer sport those flat, disc-like d-pads — they’ve been replaced by a more standard cross-shaped affair that should look familiar to anyone to who’s done so much as glance a console controller in the last 20 years. The controller’s dual analog sticks have undergone a bit of a makeover too, as they now feature a grippier finish for increased precision, and the small touchpad nestled in the center of the controller has had its sensitivity bumped up to boot. Throw in some slightly-shifted left and right triggers and a battery door that isn’t as much of a hassle to open, and you’ve got yourself the makings of a half-decent controller.

Sure, some of these may seem like minor tweaks, but any avid gamer could tell you about the importance of fit, finish, and feel when it comes to a device they’re going to be clutching for hours. And hey, by reacting to feedback early enough in the development process, OUYA (with any luck) doesn’t have to deal with the wide-scale blowback from an underwhelming controller the way Microsoft did with its original, roasted ham-sized Xbox controller. It’s heartening to see that OUYA’s community-first approach to this whole undertaking wasn’t just limited to its means of raising money — hopefully the final product will be just as thoughtful when it starts shipping to the rest of us later this year.