Review: brings indie games to your TV 26 June 2013, by Lou Kesten

around 's 3 processor, used mostly in smartphones and other mobile devices. That should make it easy to port over the thousands of games already made for Android phones and tablets, but for now you're limited to software specifically designed for Ouya. Nearly 180 games are available so far through Ouya's online store, with many more expected.

Each game has a version you can download for free. If you like what you see, you can download a full version for a few bucks. By contrast, games for one of the big three consoles can cost as much as $60 each—usually with no free trial.

This photo provided by Ouya shows an Ouya, the The device itself is a cube measuring 3 inches (8 Android-based that aims to centimeters) on each side, with slightly rounded challenge the dominance of the Xboxes, Nintendos and corners on the bottom. The controller is a bit PlayStations of the world. The console goes on sale chunkier. It resembles what's available with Tuesday, June 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Ouya) 's and Sony's PlayStation, with two exceptions: The Ouya controller has a touchpad in the middle (although none of the games I sampled took advantage of it), and its grips are longer, each The ongoing explosion in independently accommodating an AA battery. One controller developed, low-budget video games has been a comes with the Ouya, and extra ones cost $50 boon for players who travel. Whether I'm on the each. road with an iPad, an Android smartphone or a laptop, I know there's a huge library of games to Setup is easy once you connect the Ouya to your play. high-definition set using a supplied HDMI cable. When you turn on the console, it When I get home, though, I want to play on a automatically searches for Wi-Fi connections. You bigger screen. That's where the Ouya comes in. It can also connect to the Internet through an promises to deliver the best in inexpensive indie cable, which you have to provide yourself. gaming on a high-resolution screen, through a Once connected, you need to create an account small device that runs the Android operating and supply credit card information. system designed for phones and tablets. Then you're taken to a simple menu with four Ouya costs just $100—a few hundred dollars less options: play, discover, make and manage. "Make" than what you'd pay for a major game console. takes you to an area for potential game developers, Thousands of and game developers got while "manage" lets you tinker with system settings. Ouyas over the past few months after contributing at least $95 to Ouya's creators through the group- "Discover" takes you to Ouya's game store. You fundraising site Kickstarter. The device went on can find games by genre, such as role-playing, sale more broadly on Tuesday. sim/strategy and "meditative." You can also check out showcases such as "couch gaming with Ouya runs 's Android system and is built friends."

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Download speeds aren't bad; it took about 20 old-school graphics with game play that's more minutes for me to transfer a 725-megabyte file over sophisticated than most big-budget console Comcast high-speed Internet. Smaller games are, releases offer. Nothing currently on Ouya matches of course, much faster. The device has 8 the quality of those games, but if the system can of internal storage, and you can add more by attract that of talent, it will be a console to be connecting an external hard drive to the Ouya with reckoned with. If you're a hardcore , it won't a USB cable. replace your Xbox or PlayStation, but for $100 it's a worthy supplement. Once you have your game, clicking "play" on the home page takes you to your personal library. About Ouya: Compared with the sometimes daunting menus on the Microsoft's and Sony's PlayStation 3, The $100 device plays games designed for it on Ouya's displays are clean and elegant. high-definition screens. Although it runs the Android used in smartphones and tablets, The offerings on the Ouya store vary wildly in games need to be specifically adapted to work on quality and ambition. Android is an open platform, Ouya. Nearly 180 games are available through so anyone can write software for it. That means you Ouya's online store. have professionally executed games such as the beloved "You Don't Know Jack" competing head-to- Initially available only to people who made head with the sloppy trivia game "Quizania." Some donations through Kickstarter, Ouya is now sold popular console games, including "The Bard's Tale" through Ouya's website as well as Amazon.com, and "Final Fantasy III," have been adapted for the Target, Best Buy and GameStop. Ouya, but it isn't the place for blockbuster titles such as the latest "Call of Duty" and "Grand Theft © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Auto."

More prevalent are games that have been cult hits on PCs and smartphones, including "Canabalt," ''Saturday Morning RPG" and "." There are a few Ouya exclusives, including the 3-D puzzler "Polarity" and the multiplayer archery game "TowerFall."

Ouya offers high-resolution displays in , comparable to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and 's U. Most of the Ouya's offerings are fairly low-def, though, and if you're looking for the wide-screen majesty of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" or "BioShock Infinite," you won't find it here. If your video-game habit dates back to the 1970s, you'll notice a distinct retro feel to the Ouya's library. That's not a complaint; there's something refreshing about taking on a simple running-and-jumping game such as "Canabalt" after you've survived a grueling epic like Sony's PS3 hit "The Last of Us."

Indeed, some of the more satisfying indie releases of the last few years—say, "Fez," ''Hotline Miami" or "Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine"—have combined

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APA citation: Review: Ouya brings indie games to your TV (2013, June 26) retrieved 24 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2013-06-ouya-indie-games-tv.html

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