Leaks are springing, and word is out that a new mystery home video game console called Ouya is in development. This is a real thing.
Ouya is a $99 box running on the Android platform, with a focus on free gaming, according to details spotted in a listing on a site for tech start-ups spotted by the tech reporters at The Verge. The most tantalizing detail that they report is that: "Even the underlying hardware is 'built to be hacked'—every customer who buys a retail box will get a dev kit in the bargain, the site claims."
The look of the console is being designed by Yves Béhar, who crafted the look of the One Laptop Per Child computer. The project is also backed by ex-IGN exec Julie Uhrman, former Xbox gaming honcho Ed Fries, and some other top tech folks.
Sources close to the project tell me there are even more surprises to what is an altogether out-of-left field new entrant into the home video game console wars.
We've got Xbox, PlayStation and Wii. Have we got room for something like Ouya in our living rooms?
I'll have more on this very unusual project in the coming days.
Ouya: a $99 hackable Android game console designed by Yves Behar [The Verge]