The first Ouya consoles have started to arrive for backers of the Kickstarter campaign, and the first reviews of the much-ballyhooed $99 Android-based console have been less than glowing.
The Verge and Engadget have both published reviews of the hardware, and they agree that the system simply isn’t ready for release. The Verge gave the system a 3.5 score out of 10; Engadget does not include scores with its hardware reviews.
As The Verge’s David Pierce wrote, “For $99, everyone who backed Ouya’s Kickstarter has unwittingly signed up to beta-test a game console. Alpha-test, even: this is a product with some good ideas and a potentially promising future, but it’s a million miles away from something worth spending your money on.
Engadget’s Tim Stevens agreed, saying, “It’s simply not ready for retail. The system is rough around the edges in many ways, quite literally when regarding the controller, but the interface and menus also could use work.”
Among the system’s listed faults were its interface (much of which is stock Android menus), its lack of exclusive games, the fact that many of the offerings were designed for phones and don’t look as nice blown up onto a big-screen TV, lack of options, and problematic controller (with build quality to input lag). On the plus side, Pierce said the Ouya made good on its promise of being a hackable console, with easy access to its physical innards and loads of potential for users who don’t mind getting their hands dirty.
“The company opened a door, then hid that door on the other side of the world and burned the maps,” Pierce said of the convoluted process by which users can sideload apps.
Both reviews noted that the Ouya is a work in progress. There are still two months before the system’s June 4 retail launch, perhaps allowing the company time to address some of the issues before the system’s proper debut.
