OUYA First Impressions

It is a bit ironic that my OUYA showed up today, on June 4th.  That’s because the console was originally scheduled to be released through various retail outlets today.  It looks like production capacity has pushed that release date back to June 25th.  The weekly emails that have been sent out to backers of OUYA’s Kickstarter campaign indicate that up until very recently every OUYA made was needed to supply a Kickstarter backer.  This obviously made a June 4th launch impossible as there simply wasn’t any product available to sell through retail.  At least this delay means that I get my OUYA three weeks earlier than the public (for a while I was wondering if I would get mine after the retail release), but how much of a benefit is that?

The box arrived with a worrisome rattle.  Turns out one of the controller’s front plates that goes over the battery compartment had come loose and was rattling around in the box.  Other than that, the packaging and overall presentation of everything was very professional looking.  This obviously isn’t that important but it’s always nice to still be excited for something after unboxing it.  The actual console is quite small and looks well crafted and very sleek.

Setup was a breeze as the diminutive console easily hooked up to my network and found an update to download.  A few minutes and a reboot later and I arrived at the console’s main menu.  The whole ‘clean and simple’ style has been popular for a while thanks to Apple but it seems some companies are getting a bit extreme in their implementation.  The main menu consists of a plain, solid background with four words to pick from.  Definitely clean and simple but not very exciting.

Originally, one of the main reasons I decided to back the project was because of XBMC.  I was in the market for a small, relatively inexpensive HTPC and the notion that the OUYA could fulfill that and also double as a new type of gaming console seemed like a good gamble.  If nothing comes of OUYA I still have my little media box, but if OUYA takes off . . . double win.

Well, XBMC isn’t available for OUYA yet.  Yes, you can get into side-loading and other means to make it happen but there is no official release yet.  I browsed around to download some games I had heard of and some others that looked fun.  The first thing that became apparent was how slow the user interface is.  There is a noticeable delay every time you do anything in the menus.

I next began to notice some issues with the controller.  The O, U, Y, A buttons on the right have a very cheap feel when you push them.  The trigger buttons aren’t any better as you can feel and hear plastic grinding when you squeeze them.  Also, the straight sides of the controller don’t provide the most comfortable long-term grip.

I’ll post a final review sometime after the console’s official launch, as apparently I’m currently something akin to a beta tester.  Ongoing software updates are to be expected, but if my little OUYA box isn’t ready for prime time then I’m not sure what benefit there actually was in being an early backer.  Lastly, the idea that the boxes that ship to retail will contain hardware improvements is a little extra salt in the wound.