Hasta La Gadget!

OUYA, one of Kickstarter’s more high-profile success stories, is looking to make more of an impact overseas. The company announced plans today for its massively funded Android mini-console to be available across a wider swath of European markets. According to a report on Gamasutra, deals with select distributors are already in place and consumers in both Western and Eastern Europe should see stock appear at retail outlets by the end of October. It’s not yet known exactly which Eastern European countries will be privy to this retail expansion, but chances are, if you’re living on the Western end, you’re more than adequately covered.

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Source: Gamasutra

It looks like outspoken indie devs are finally getting their wish: OUYA is revising the rules for its “Free the Games” fund. The matching contest (which provides additional funding to Kickstarter campaigns that meet certain goals) has come under fire recently due to OUYA’s tepid response to exploitation controversy. One developer, Sophie Houlden of Rose and Time, even pulled her
game from console’s marketplace, accusing the company of being “incapable of ever correcting their mistakes.” Now, it seems, the OUYA is ready to take a stab at doing just that, modifying the contest guidelines to lower pledge requirements, reduce participant exclusivity terms and limit loopholes.

Projects applying to the fund now only need to reach a minimum pledge requirement of $10,000 (down from $50,000 previously), and to prevent exploitation of the system, every $10k a project raises must be funded by at least 100 individuals. This is a direct response to criticism of the fund’s backing of Gridiron Thunder, which raised $171,009 from only 183 backers (Gridiron Thunder has since withdrawn from the program). Exclusivity requirements are now scalable too, and last for one month for each $10k funded to a maximum of six months. According to OUYA’s Julie Uhrman, these changes are designed to protect the original intent of the fund, but suspicious projects will be still be reviewed on a case by case basis. “You need to play by the spirit of the fund as much as the rules. We can’t account for every loophole,” write Uhrman on the company blog. “So, if we, or our community, feel you are gaming the system, we will review your project (and consult with our developer friends for their advice) and determine whether to fund it or not.” OUYA continues to explain the changes in an accompanying video (at the source and after the break), promising that if these changes don’t fix the program, that they’ll continue to tweak the rules until developers are satisfied.

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Via: Joystiq

Source: OUYA

It’s safe to say The Walking Dead game has had a pretty successful term on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 — still, there’s always a chance to grow beyond the more traditional consoles. With that in mind, Telltale Games announced today its plans to bring the zombie-heavy gaming series to the OUYA later this year. The game studio behind the title doesn’t go beyond saying it’ll be “coming this winter.” However, it did say the release will include The Walking Dead: Season One along with the 400 Days DLC. The second season, meanwhile, is said to be in the works and due to follow at some point in the future. Owners of the tiny, Android-based box will be able to play the first episode at no cost, which should help decide if they want to carry on with the rest of the story or, you know, keep playing You Don’t know Jack.

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Via: The Verge

Source: Telltale Games

OUYA has launched its promised fund-matching campaign to spur development of games for its recently launched Android console. Now known as the Free the Games Fund, the effort rewards successful Kickstarter campaigns with a matching $50,000 to $250,000; OUYA will back as many games as its $1 million pool allows. There are a few conditions, of course. Producers have to meet that $50,000 minimum, end their campaigns within the next year and agree to a six-month OUYA exclusive. The console maker will also stagger payments across the development cycle, although the company promises an additional $100,000 to the most successful project. If you’re looking for help in building a game and are willing to take a chance on a young platform, full details of the fund await at the source link.

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Source: Free the Games Fund

Based on our experience, product launches rarely go the way many companies intend. For example the demand could be greater than expected thus leading to customers waiting for their products to arrive, or there could be some hardware defects that lead to a lot of unhappy customers, or buggy software that kind of kills the overall experience, and the OUYA Android gaming console is not excluded as the console faced a bit of delay, missing its intended 4^th of June rollout. While the console has slowly been making its way into the hands of its customers, the people behind the console have not forgotten the hurdles and the various unhappy customers and have since issued an apology, and are reimbursing customers.

In a forum post, OUYA stated that they thought it wasn’t “OK” that some of the console’s loyal supporters only got their console after it arrived on shelves, even though the plan was for some of these backers to get the console a tad bit earlier. There were also issues with customer service that OUYA ran into, bugs, and whatnot and the company has since announced their plans to offer up $13.37 (1337 in game-speak) in store credit that they can use towards purchases of games and other items. For more information on how to redeem the credit or to see if you’re eligible, hit up the OUYA forums for the details.

OUYA Reimburses Customers As A Token Of Apology For Initial Delay original content from Ubergizmo.