Ouya Update

Now at $5,000,000 in donations and with 22 days left in their campaign, Ouya is off to a great start in getting out to the public and helping shape the course of games and consoles for the next decade. I’ve been keeping up with all things Ouya, and compiled a short list of new information to pass along.

Here are the Specifications (which I didn’t list before) for the Ouya:

• Tegra3 quad-core processor
• 1GB RAM
• 8GB of internal flash storage
• HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth LE 4.0
• USB 2.0 (one)
• Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad
• Android 4.0

The big announcement is that the Ouya will be ready to ship in March and will be usable in other countries (so long as those users purchase of an adapter). At the beginning, though, the Ouya will only be available in English.

Now for what everyone really wants to know about, the games. Games, games, games. A console without games would just be a pricy paperweight so here we go.

Meteor, the maker of Hawken recently pledged their support for the Ouya putting their free to play mech mmo on the console as well. Mojang has committed that Minecraft (and their other games) will be on Ouya with some conditions. The console has to be good and people have to want it. To that end, the Ouya development team has put up a survey for those interested to fill out saying what games they want to see available on the Ouya. It can be found here.

More games have yet to be announced as apparently the developers of the console are swamped with requests and want to release a full list all at one time. So, more information on games will be coming, but, while not gaming exactly, the Ouya can support any apps built for Android and will be launching with Twitch.TV.

After a lot of questions, they’ve also said this about how they want their console and its free to play model to work:

We want you to pay only for the games you love. A “free to play” model works when everyone (gamers and game makers) benefits from directly rewarding amazing games.

For gamers, every game will be free to play: what this means is that there will at least be a free demo, or you’ll be able to play the entirety of the game for free but may have access to additional items, upgrades, or other features that come at a cost.

For developers, free to play means that they can set their own prices. Developers know best: There is no better way to sell a game than to have folks that have actually touched the game share glowing reviews with their friends. By allowing some form of free play, we’ll help them do just that. The only reason you used to pay for games before playing them is that you couldn’t try them at the store before you brought them home – it’s a relic of an old way of doing business, and one of the many things about the games business we plan to change.

For more news and updates on the Ouya, check back here and follow @playouya