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There is a spot in your living room right now that is one of the most sought after spots in America. No, its not that spot on the couch where Sheldon sits or Dad’s recliner. It’s the game console, hooked to your TV. With the holiday season upon us and the forthcoming releases of two power house systems, this spot is happening.
In our house, there are more video consoles then there are TV’s. We have a problem with video games. Video games are a fun distraction from everyday life that are creative and engaging. One of the inhibiting factors with video games can be cost. Video game consoles have been creeping up in cost over the years as have the games themselves. With this in mind we are taking a look at the new kid on the block- Ouya.
Ouya started life as a Kick starter campaign, and quickly became fully funded and then some, becoming one of the most funded projects. Ouya is an android, 4.1 jelly bean, based micro console. The hardware itself is quite small, measuring only 2.95 and cubic in shape, it is about the size of half a pound of butter, but with way less calories. Under the hood the console sports a Quad-core 1.7 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 MP Core and 1 GB of RAM. The hardware does its job well and because of Ouya’s open source thought process has great potential for upgrades and do it yourself add-ons.
Currently there are over 400 games available for Ouya ranging from racing games to role playing to action games, all of which feature a free to play element. These are either in the form of free levels, free trials, or being completely free. The games are varied in quality with some of the stars being: Towerfall, Fist of Awesome, Final Fantasy III, and Sonic the Hedgehog 4. With a growing library there is always something new to check out. With the free to play element you can actually try every game before buying it. I love this component of the system. Paying good money for a not-so-good game bothers me immensely, and won’t happen with the Ouya.
The console comes packed with one Blue Tooth controller. The controller itself feels a little light compared to others, but still works quite well. Additional controllers can be purchased and other Blue Tooth controllers can be paired with the console in a pinch.
Ouya retails for $99 and is available at fine stores everywhere as well as from Ouya.tv.
Looks good and price is reasonable too.
This looks like something to consider getting my teen nieces and nephew for Christmas.