OUYA ships developer consoles and open sources dev kit

The first OUYA developer consoles have been shipped on time. The games console caused a stir in July when the developers launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of it and raised $2.2 million in 24 hours – in the end they raised over $8 million but there were still concerns that the creators wouldn't be able to deliver. But the first milestone appears to have been met with the shipping of 1200 developer consoles.

The OUYA is a Tegra 3 based console, with 1GB of RAM, 8GB of flash storage, a HDMI connection, 802.11bgn Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth 4 and USB 2.0 and runs Android 4.0. The developer console has an added Micro-USB port for connecting to PCs. The company's CEO also posted a YouTube video, unboxing one of the developer versions of the device, the OUYA controllers and also shows a fan has been added to the device:

Unboxing the developer version of the OUYA

The dev version of the console is coming in translucent plastic – "We're, ahem open" – and are a one-off design for developers who committed over $700 for early access. The company says much of the developer console is a work in progress and elements like the D-pad and triggers need work.

The OUYA developer kit software, the ODK, has also been open sourced under an Apache 2.0 licence. The ODK is available to download and the documentation is available from OUYA's GitHub repository. The code is not completely available at the moment say OUYA, but they are working on getting it ready for public consumption.

The company notes, though, that it will be "holding back some sections of the code to preserve the security of OUYA, especially when it comes to payments for developers and gamers". Looking ahead, it adds that "'open' does not mean 'anarchy'" and that they would be screening games for copyright content and offensive material and making sure that "OUYA is a secure place to discover great games and conduct business".

The OUYA console is due to ship to Kickstarter contributors in March 2013, by which time the company's plans should be more tangible.

(djwm)