Why OUYA will Change the World. (Of Video Games)BY BRIAN PFEIFFER 04.26.13 3:17 AM

OUYA founder Julie Uhrman. Photo: Alex Washburn

As the first round of OUYAs ship to its Kickstarter backers, you should know its importance to the video game industry couldn’t be overstated. With developers turning toward mobile and web based platforms, OUYA is the breath of fresh air we all need. In my previous paper on the problems plaguing the video game industry, I mention several ways industry leaders can avoid a potential crisis. The OUYA is a current possible fix to many of the problems the gaming industry faces today. OUYA uses the Android OS and plugs into the TV. Inside are a respectable Nvidia Tegra 3, 8 GB of storage, and 1 GB of RAM. It is designed to be modded and hacked, and all content is downloaded or streamed to the device

over the Internet. Although it is still a living room device, it has the wider appeal mobile and web based games that offer flexibility and money saving options to the consumer. Despite its many critics and skeptics, OUYA has the potential to succeed where others are failing and here’s why:

Free games: When OUYA launches, players will be able to try out a small portion of every game in the store without paying a cent. This could be the best way to appealing to heavy app users.

Price: The device costs an affordable $99 and the store has an app store-like feel. This is a huge aspect of the OUYA that the money conscience customers will gravitate toward. It’s cheaper than most cell phones and it has games that can be downloaded which are just as cheap as smartphone apps. The freemium model will continue to grow with the console.

Technology: OUYA uses easy to use technology that developers are familiar with. No cell processors to be found! Since the device is easy to hack, even amateurs can code games for it. The entire ecosystem of the console will change over time and be a major source of indie

innovation.

Fees: For developers there are none (retail, publishing, licensing). You won’t have to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for development kits. The console is its own dev kit! This also encourages an active homebrew community.

OUYA has the features that are needed to compete in todays socially connected, on the go world. The rest of the industry would be wise to take notice and support this new and ambitious project. It goes against the norm of a typical video game console and blends features to appeal to mobile and web gamers looking to get into the TV.

Official Website OUYA Kickstarter