- (Image: Ouya)
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Ouya is a small console created by a team including Yves Behar, the designer behind One Laptop per Child. It runs a version of the Android operating system and eschews the disc-based games of traditional consoles, offering download-only app store instead. The system's controller also hints at a mix between consoles and phones - it looks like an Xbox 360 controller with the addition of a touchpad.
The Ouya team promise that all games will also be free, up to a point - as a minimum, game developers will have to offer a free demo, but other games could be completely free with optional paid add-ons, as with many smartphone games. That is unlikely to put developers off however, as unlike traditional consoles there are no licensing fees to create games and every Ouya can be used as a development kit.
The company says they have already made prototypes of the system and now need funding from eager gamers to build production-ready models and help developers make the console's first batch of games. Having launched today, the Kickstarter is already over $100,000 and rising rapidly. Perhaps with Microsoft and Sony's next-generation consoles nowhere to be seen, gamers are anxious for any kind of new box in their living room.