I’ll admit, I was pretty skeptical about this Kickstarter project I kept hearing and reading about elsewhere to create a sub-$100 games console for Android-based games AND game development, but I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong.  Hey, I had every right to have that raised eyebrow, as I once sat in a room with a guy behind the Phantom console for about half an hour or so and he had me convinced the thing was coming out sooner than it never did. Anyway, The team behind the stylish-looking OUYA console not only made their $950,000 target in about eight hours, they still have close to a month to go before the funding closes. After poking about on their Kickstarter page, it looks as if they’ve got the right people at the right time and hell, there are plenty of indie games out there to go around…

Personally, in the future, I’d LOVE to see gog.com get represented as a “premium” service at some point (well, compared to free, a few bucks for a game could be “premium”) and/or a dedicated rpgmaker.net channel devoted to nothing but lovely retro RPGs such as Hellion, Fey or some of the other cool projects whipped up by hard-working genre fans.Then again, I have zero idea of how one goes about getting a game converted into an Android title or if it’s even possible, so my dreams of a smaller, more universal console might still be a wee bit too big. Yes, there’s a side of me that’s still not pleased about the idea of no physical media, but it looks as if the folks behind OUYA are at least on the right path at making sure almost anyone who wants to buy the system can.

Other possibilities seem equally grand or grander, but I do know that if I decide to grab a(n?) OUYA, I’d not get it to watch any e-Sports (or other sports *yawn*). I’m a gamer first and foremost, so that’s exactly the side I want my game system to cater to. Now, despite all my crazy game ideas from over 40 years holding some sort of controller, I’m no developer at all. Still, I’d personally also love to see a ton of original games made for the system that are as ambitious and impressive as some of this generation’s best… without the high price tag, of course. That said, I don’t mind paying a bit more for some games (longer epics or strategy games) and have to ask how developers who don’t take the “pay as you go” route are going to make a living making “free” content for the console (if making a living is something they want to do as a game designer).

Then again, I’m not as worried about that as I’m sure Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are at the possibility of their juggernaut systems being threatened by a console you can fit into a coat pocket or handbag. Apple, of course, doesn’t give a hoot at all, I’d bet… but they should, as their closed platform is annoying for all the reasons this new one isn’t and more. If anything really buzzes in my brain as a potential negative about OUYA, it’s that the console will share the same issues any digital-only device shares. if your internet sucks (like mine) or goes down for an extended period of time, how are users supposed to enjoy the revolution they’ve helped kick off. Hell, what will the tech industry do in general if (and when) there’s a major internet crash, cloud disaster or man-made problem that basically turns any device that relies on an online connection into a shiny brick?

The “funny” thing about that last sentence is it would be similar to one of the same arguments the big three would make in stating THEIR consoles are the “best” for gamers over OUYA. However, between the more expensive game content, closed-off platforms with all sorts of lousy excuses for hardware failures, premium service issues and so forth and so on, it’s no wonder at all that funding shot through the roof so quickly.  With a March 2013 launch coming and what’s starting to look like demand for the system growing by the minute, the next piece of the puzzle will be production of enough numbers of the unit to meet demand. That and producing lists of people working on original OUYA games so the library isn’t chock full of Android hits (and misses) and little in the way of “core” experiences.

As for third-party potential… I don’t care about sports games, big-name franchise mascot characters or the usual suspects that end up as showpieces for new tech. But I do want to see the platform succeed because it has enough new content to go with the already huge amount of titles already floating around on the Android marketplace. Then again, at $99 with an actual controller (and not a damned touchscreen-ONLY interface, thank the Great Machine for that), I’ll predict that a hacker-friendly open platform is going to make a LOT of people rich and a lot more people happy. It will also make a few other people sad, confused dinosaur clowns that go out of their way to try too hard to copy parts of the idea (and badly) or worse, claim that their current and upcoming products are a better value because the experiences you get on them are superior (and more expensive).

Anyway, I’ll make the popcorn, you bring the drinks. Pull up a chair and fasten those seatbelts, kids. things are about to get verrrrry innnnnnnnnnteresting in the otherwise dopey “console wars”…