Ouya passes $3 million in pledges – and isn't slowing down

"Do you realize what you've done? You proved consoles aren't dead. You shocked the world. And us!" Ouya founder Julie Uhrman told supporters on funding site Kickstarter.

|
Ouya/Kickstarter
The Ouya is a video game console based on the Android platform.

Gaming is splitting into two completely different worlds – the high-end console titles like the "Call of Duty" franchsie on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and little amusements like "Angry Birds" and "Fruit Ninja" on mobile devices.

A new company called Ouya is aiming for an in-between product – an Android-based game console that displays on the TV. The company began accepting pledges on funding site Kickstarter Monday and already more than tripled its $950,000 pledge by Wednesday afternoon. In other words, it's on.

Ouya, first of all, will be cheap for players: $99 buys the console and what looks like a slimmed-down version of an Xbox 60 controller. Yves Behar, creator of the One Laptop per Child devices, the Jambox wireless speaker and others, designed the console and controller.

The Ouya will also offer cheap games. Every title has to be either totally free or offer some free play options.

But the deal for developers could ultimately be best for consumers. Developers won't have to pay licensing fees to create games for Ouya (the company take s cut of game sales, instead), and they can order consoles that are already "rooted" — open for people to tinker.

If all goes well, Ouya hopes to have its silver boxes on sale in early 2013. If you're excited and don't want to be stuck waiting, you can pledge the full price now on Kickstarter to guarantee one will be available before they reach stores.

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Ouya passes $3 million in pledges – and isn't slowing down
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0711/Ouya-passes-3-million-in-pledges-and-isn-t-slowing-down
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe