The open-source gaming console OUYA has officially started shipping units to developers, keeping on track with the company's planned production schedule. The first batch of developer hardware should be arriving before January 10th, giving devs plenty of time to work on games and apps prior to the planned March or April consumer release date.
OUYA was a highly publicized Kickstarter project, which closed a public funding round with more than $8.5 million from over 63 thousand backers. The development schedule for the Android-based OUYA console was very aggressive, promising developer units just four months after funding. This announcement means that the gaming startup is still on track, which can't be said for other high-profile Kickstarter campaigns such as the Pebble watch or the Elevation Dock.
More and more games and apps are announcing OUYA support, such as the OnLive! streaming game service, VEVO music videos, XBMC and TuneIn radio. OUYA is also partnering with Square Enix to bring the popular RPG series Final Fantasy to the console, starting with Final Fantasy III.
The OUYA console is based open source, making big-screen gaming more accessible to indie developers. The consumer OUYA hardware costs only $99, much less than an Xbox or Playstation 3. If the OUYA console is a success, it could revolutionize the living room gaming industry.
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