OUYA available to buy on June 4th, Kickstarter units shipping now

OUYA, the Android gaming box that took Kickstarter by storm, will be available to purchase on June 4th for $99.99.

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OUYA, the Android gaming box that took Kickstarter by storm, will be available to purchase on June 4th for $99.99. Early systems are being shipped today for qualifying pre-purchasers. However, if you missed the crowdfunding storm, you'll be able to buy a system from Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, and on ouya.tv. Additional controllers for the system can be purchased for $49.99 each.

Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman says that there are already 104 published games on the platform, although very few recognizable names. Perhaps the biggest: Final Fantasy 3. There are also a few entertainment apps, including XBMC, Flixster, and TwitchTV. "And developers are releasing new games for OUYA everyday. Eight thousand developers have created developer accounts with us so far," Uhrman said on the official blog.

With its budget price and focus on smaller games, Uhrman believes she can carve out a unique market for her Android console. "Core gamers on average own more than one console. We don't really think it's an either/or situation. We're offering something different," she told GI.biz.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • reply
    March 28, 2013 9:15 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, OUYA available to buy on June 4th, Kickstarter units shipping now.

    OUYA, the Android gaming box that took Kickstarter by storm, will be available to purchase on June 4th for $99.99.

    • reply
      March 28, 2013 10:17 PM

      They had me with 'XBMC.' If there is one thing I'm not impressed with from either my PS3 or my 360, it's the media playback capabilities.

      My old soft-modded Xbox, running XBMC, smokes either of them.

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        March 28, 2013 10:19 PM

        Will this have enough horsepower to stream 1080p mkvs?

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          March 29, 2013 1:22 AM

          Tegra 3 has more than enough horsepower to stream 1080p.

      • reply
        March 28, 2013 10:20 PM

        My old modded Xbox with XBMC does not stream 1080p video smoothly at all. My PS3 and 360 can though.

      • reply
        March 29, 2013 1:53 AM

        Except with high def content. It's sad the PS3 loophole was closed for XBMC under linux possibilities.

        Also, Ouya for XBMC will be laughable.

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        March 29, 2013 1:56 AM

        have you tried plex? run media server on a machine and it should work well on a ps3, I finally converted from xbmc to plex and run the player on my mac mini while hosting from my windows server

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          March 29, 2013 1:57 AM

          How can plex work on a PS3?

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            March 29, 2013 1:59 AM

            if you run the media server on a pc the ps3 will detect the media server

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              March 29, 2013 2:01 AM

              so will the 360 iirc, I've tested it with my ps3 and it seemed to work, does transcoding from the pc

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              March 29, 2013 2:01 AM

              Does it then somehow go into a Plex video stream or something? How do you get the nice library and UI?

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                March 29, 2013 2:02 AM

                it stays with the ps3 xmb interface but lets you browse/play your content it finds from the plex media center

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                  March 29, 2013 2:05 AM

                  Yeah but any old app will do that, I suspect NickDelious up there wants the fully library / thumbnail look of original XBMC (which a HTPC can provide (and) Apple TV, Little Android media players can shittily provide)

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                    March 29, 2013 2:06 AM

                    perhaps but the playback has been flawless via plex and the ps3 when i tested it so if that's what he wants it'll work.. better than the underpowered OUYA

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                      March 29, 2013 2:08 AM

                      I think you'll find the Ouya will have enough power for full 1080p, where it'll fall down is the flash memory - scrolling through a big library of movies is a total disk thrash for the thumbnails.

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                        March 29, 2013 2:19 AM

                        I've heard some reports online speaking ill about the OUYA and XBMC, could be lack of software maturity but who knows

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                          March 29, 2013 2:36 AM

                          I've used XBMC on an Apple TV2, - as I said not 5 hours ago today on this site, there's a lot more to a good XBMC machine than just decoding video and displaying it at 1080p.
                          When you've got a 1450 movie library and you want to scroll through it quickly or sort shit, or hell even navigate the UI at a reasonable pace, shit like the ATV2 fall right the fuck over.

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                      March 29, 2013 3:48 AM

                      PLEX DLNA transcoding to the PS3 has issues with mkv files. You lose the ability to pause, rewind or fastforward and MPG-2 files will break up if they switch audio (like HBO shows tend to do if recorded from the source).

                      The PS3s media player is significantly flawed and doesn't handle things cleanly, so it has all kinds of minor issues like this. It also ignores chapter skips.

                      It's much better to use a dedicated plex client with the Plex Media Server.

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                        March 29, 2013 3:15 PM

                        i agree, i tried to use DLNA with the ps3 for over a year before i just said fuck it and bought a media PC. it works most of the time, but it's annoying as hell.

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          March 29, 2013 1:58 AM

          but yeah, xbmc on the original xbox is the most stable and awesome media player ever made, too bad it couldn't be duplicated but with HD support..

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            March 29, 2013 2:01 AM

            Well it has - just not on the Xbox 1 - it's simply not powerful enough.

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              March 29, 2013 2:04 AM

              I know, I still have an xbox 1 and for non-HD content it's the fucking most awesome media player ever made..

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                March 29, 2013 2:05 AM

                Time to pony up for an N54L, slim video card and some hard disks - my HTPC is amazing

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                  March 29, 2013 2:08 AM

                  I have a C2D mac mini with an SSD for all my content now, the xbox isn't used anymore but it's stilled hooked up as a reminder of how awesome shit used to be.

                  • reply
                    March 29, 2013 2:11 AM

                    Xbox 1 was amazing, the emulation - all the shit I did on it - I sold it for 80$ recently :( it's not much but it's out of my damn house.

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            March 29, 2013 3:17 PM

            I'm running xbmc on a raspberry pi, loving that thing.

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