The first Ouya units may have shipped last week to early backers of the Android-powered console, but the company says it remains committed to ironing out any last minute bugs before the system goes live for the masses in June 2013.
“There is still much to do (we’re listening, promise) and we are on it,” Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman wrote in a blog post.
“I want to make sure you know what we are building, when, and to keep you updated on how we are constantly evolving and incorporating both your feedback and our [understanding of such matters.]”
Indeed, says Uhrman, Ouya received early feedback from developers when it sent out the developer consoles.
“Now we want feedback from you. The software, store, games will continue to evolve and grow, and as early backers who have exclusive access during this period before launch, we want you to be a part of that process,” she explained.
“We will continue to obsess over quality and performance. For example, we are considering adding additional magnets to the controllers so that the faceplates are more secure–no more falling off during shipments.”
Uhrman also acknowledged that Ouya’s software was constantly evolving, with the team currently focused on streamlining “responsiveness,” along with a “host” of new features, including external storage for games, simpler game install process, more metrics for developers, controller support for video players and additional payment options.
“Our UI is simple. It will stay simple. We want it to be easy (and OBVIOUS!) for you to know what to do on OUYA. However, as more games come in, we will continue to work on discovery and curation of current games.
“Over 100 games and counting and they run the gamut — exclusives to OUYA, new developers, experienced developers, ports, you name it. That’s the whole promise of OUYA: A world of great games among which you are sure to find new favorites,” she added.
It should be noted that Uhrman’s above-mentioned blog post comes just days after
the folks at Engadget chose to highlight what they termed as a “noticeable lag” between the game controller and the Ouya console itself.
“From games to UI, the lag was a noticeable issue – other journalists we spoke with encountered the same issue. It’s not something that’s impossible to fix, of course. Even Nintendo’s speeding up its Wii U software issues in an upcoming patch, so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see OUYA correcting the lag issue before June’s retail launch,” wrote Engadget’s Ben Gilbert.
“It’s also hard to fault what is – for now – a niggling issue with a $100 game console that went from Kickstarter to available in around 10 months. The promise of the console is far more appealing, and the time we’ve spent with the Ouya has us even more excited for its unknown future.”
For the uninitiated, the Ouya console runs Android Jelly Bean (4.1-4.2) and is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 chip. Additional specs include 8 GB internal flash memory, 1 GB RAM, HDMI (1080p), Nvidia ULP GeForce GPU, USB 2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth LE 4.0, Ethernet port and a wireless controller.
