The Ouya is an upcoming video game console designed around an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor and Android 4.0 operating system. The developers hope to use Android as a platform for playing video games on a TV, which will make it easier for game developers to create titles for the big screen without jumping through the hoops necessary to get a game on the Xbox, Wii or PlayStation.

Whether you believe the Ouya will revolutionize the gaming console market or not, the  project has generated a lot of interest. More than 40,000 people have pledged over $5 million to the project, and many of those people will be among the first to get developer kits when they’re available in December or Ouya gaming consoles when they launch in March, 2013.

But here’s something you might not have known: The box is going to be small. Like, about the size of a Rubik’s Cube small.

Ouya

Up until now we’ve only seen rendered pictures showing what the Ouya will actually look like when it ships — and I always figured the game console looked smaller than the controller because it was in the distance. But designer Yves Behar says it will be “quite small, around the size of a Rubik’s cube.”

That will make the little console small enough to place almost anywhere in your living room, or to throw in a bag and carry with you.

Behar’s comments came during a Q&A with readers at video game blog Kotaku.

The small size makes sense. After all, the video game console has the same guts as a smartphone, which is designed to fit in your pocket. But somehow I kind of thought it’d be bigger.

In addition to the Tegra 3 processor, the box will have 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, an HDMI port, USB 2.0 port, and Ethernet port. It will features 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a wireless game controller that can be used over a Bluetooth or USB connection.

via Droid Gamers

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6 replies on “Ouya $99 video game console: It’s the size of a Rubik’s Cube”

  1. What’s so interesting about this Android console? Looking at their Kickstarter page, they’re just repeatedly emphasizing how cheap it is to make a game for the Ouya. I don’t know, if a gaming company can’t afford to make games for a particular console then I probably doubt they could make a good console game.

    Of course, there will probably be some excellent games made by single individuals (which seems to be Ouya’s target developer) for Ouya but that’s likely to be a very small amount. Probably not enough to buy the system and better to just save that $99 towards something else. Besides, someone capable of doing that is likely to be already working for an existing gaming company.

  2. Perhaps the best example of bottom-up innovation we have seen in the gaming world in a very long time. The Ouya team includes some experienced heads, with a clear vision of where they’re going with this platform. I bet many would agree that the gaming world will benefit from this fresh approach. Kickstarter is a terrific concept that delivers as well. Much excitement here!

  3. That’s nice but I’m still not considering buying one until after it’s been released for a while. The games will make or break its success. If it just gets ports of regular Android games then I’m definitely going to pass.

    With only 8 GB of storage, how many console type games can it fit? Don’t really like the idea of re-downloading games I want to play again. If the bandwidth of the single USB 2.0 port can support directly playing games from an external drive that’d be okay. If they’re going to do something like OnLive then I’m also going to pass since my Charter internet goes down and varies in speeds every now and then.

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