So, if you haven’t heard already…OUYA. For those of you who don’t want to read through the Kickstarter page, I’ll summarize what the console is, as well as what it represents. OUYA is, at its core, an attempt to blow open the last closed market in gaming. That is to say, they’re trying to make console gaming- and console games development- open source. Their console, built upon a variant of Android, includes a freely available, openly distributed SDK. You can probably guess what that means- anyone, anywhere, at any time can create and distribute games for OUYA.

Let’s face it. The console market isn’t exactly developer friendly. Why do you think so many independent games release on PC first? Why do you think some of the best indie developers in the world port their games to Xbox Live and the PSN, rather than developing them for those markets from the ground up?

AAA development- the most prevalent kind of development for the console market- is expensive. It’s difficult, and draining, and time-consuming. While we’re certainly getting quite a few awesome games out of this process (and we’ll continue getting such games, even if OUYA should take off), there’s also a lot of innovation, a lot of creativity, a lot of passion that’s simply…not there. As I said in one of the previous editions of Gamer’s Corner about Indie development, a sort of general malaise has settled over the mainstream market.

We won’t get into that.

Instead, we’re going to get into what OUYA means for us. This project’s definitely happening. As of this writing, they’ve raised over $5 million towards their original goal of $950,000.  Not too shabby, right? The fact that it’s been covered by such huge sites as Engadget, IGN, The New York Times and Time Magazine certainly helps matters, no?

Basically, what OUYA means is this: First, it’s not going to break the bank. The project’s designers have stated right out the door that this console’s going to be affordable, as are the titles available on it (many of which will likely make use of some brand of the Free to Play model). Second, as with the current PC market, anyone can be a developer if they’ve got the time, passion, knowledge, and creativity. The sort of quality games we’re seeing in the various Humble Bundles will take the console market by storm. Oh, and if you want to mess with your console’s firmware, add a mod chip, hack the operating system or modify it so it’s capable of making toast…

Have at ‘er. Unlike Sony, OUYA’s copyright owners aren’t going to smack you with a lawsuit for daring to customize your product.

The current, somewhat hostile market of intellectual property, closed, restricted development kits and sequels being funneled out hand over fist has started to raise some pretty troubling questions about the direction of the console market. OUYA might well be the answer to those questions.

And it’s a bloody good one.

Image Credits: [Wired]

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