The OUYA is a promising platform with sleek design and custom OS, it gives Indi developers a gateway to the gaming living room and players to an ever expanding library of free to try games. But in its attempt to fill the void between traditional gaming consoles and mobile devices, the OUYA struggles to find value and utility on its own. We review the 16GB variant for you guys right here.
Designed by Fuse Project that created the Jam Box, the OUYA is sleek and modern smooth tapering base is about as big as rubix cube making it simple to integrate it into any entertainment center. Though it includes Ethernet and USB 3.0 ports at the back, all you need is a power adapter(included in the box),its controller and an HDMI cable(also included in the box).
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The OUYA UI
Aside from encountering a few failed firmware updates, the initial setup was otherwise effortless. Just connect the controller to the OUYA over Bluetooth, then connect to a WiFi network and finally sign-in using an OUYA account. The UI is flat and simple. Broken down into 4 sections: Play, Discover, Make and Manage. Play is a shortcut to your library of games and Discover takes you to the store and Manage houses the system settings and more info. Games titles are presented as a thumbnails and arranged in rows, making for a visually resting albeit an unorganised experience. Without any means for sorting or categorizing, your collection quickly becomes cluttered and finding the game becomes very tiresome, especially when all of the games on the store are free to try. Hope OUYA pays attention to this and fixes it in its next update.
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The Gaming Experience
Under the hood there is a Quad Core 1.6Ghz Tegra 3 chipset that falls behind the latest Tegra 4, 16GB of internal storage and 1GB RAM. The more than capable CPU for the games and apps, performance was inconsistent to say the least. Less demanding titles like Temple run and other low-end ones run buttery smooth but when it comes to extreme graphics for ex: Shadow Gun 2 etc, the 3D rendering and shadows when enabled causes stuttering and lag. Even the primary UI hiccups when browsing through the library too quickly. Launching and loading games is otherwise fast. Every game on the OUYA store has been developed or modified to take advantage of the controller whereas other gaming android devices tack-it-on. If I were to describe the OUYA in one word then it'd be sleek and dense. The controller is very sturdy but otherwise bleek when pushing the additional buttons.
Conclusion
The new Ouya is now shipping in North America. Pony up $129 and you'll get the console and its power adapter, one controller plus two AA batteries, and an HDMI cable. The startup is also offering extra controllers for $49.99 a pop, as well as game credits in $10 and $25 increments. Overall, OUYA impresses us but not by much. With gaming becoming serious on mobile devices every year, this one seems to be an OK choice for those who wouldn't shell $300-$400 on a gaming console. This is in no way going to replace any of the existing consoles but the added benefit of slapping a Nintendo emulator or any other that this little box can handle, will become a favourite of yours very soon.
Author : Nadeem Ansari
Designation: Senior Editor
Bio: A gadget freak who can't make a day without his tiny little toys and is constantly trying to keep himself up to date with the latest events in tech history. Loves to read and write articles.
Bio: A gadget freak who can't make a day without his tiny little toys and is constantly trying to keep himself up to date with the latest events in tech history. Loves to read and write articles.
