After an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign that raised the company over $8 million last June, the OUYA console is just about ready to ship. The first batch of pre-ordered devices will go out this Friday, but for anyone who didn't grab one through Kickstarter, the game system has been officially confirmed to hit stores on June 4.
The console will be available through a number of retailers including Best Buy, Target, and Gamestop; as well as online through the company's official website and Amazon. It will be priced at $99, with a tentative UK price of £99.99. The OUYA package will include the base console hardware, a single wireless controller, power and HDMI cables, and two batteries for the controller. Additional controllers will be available for $49 each.
While the company has not yet officially confirmed any bundle deals, multiple OUYA packages were previously planned, including ones that included extra controllers at a discount.
The OUYA is an upcoming console running on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. The keystone of the company's pitch was to create an open platform, with each console also able to function as a development kit with no licensing fees. Additionally, the console is designed to be easy to open up, making it possible for both first and third party hardware and aesthetic mods in the future. For those on the consumer end, all games on the platform will also be required, at least initially, to be free in some way; whether that entails a demo, free trial, microtransaction model, or otherwise.
The company took their idea to Kickstarter and easily surpassed their $950,000 goal in less than 24 hours. With many doubting that a small company could successfully design and ship such a product, it is great to see that they'll be hitting store shelves so soon.
Those who aren't fully convinced may want to hold off on purchasing one though, as CEO Julie Uhrman announced earlier this week that the OUYA would follow a mobile-esque development cycle, releasing a new model each year.
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