Ouya, the Android-based gaming console that has secured more than $5 million in funding from Kickstarter, has a new partner: online gaming firm OnLive.
"We are pleased to announce that OnLive will be available on Ouya at launch, extending and building on our commitment to make the best games available to everyone, everywhere," Bruce Grove, general manager of Ouya, said in a blog post.
Los Angeles-based Ouya emerged earlier this month with a Kickstarter campaign aimed at developing a sub-$100, Android-powered video game console that offers free-to-play titles. Initially, it looked to raise $950,000 in 30 days, but by the end of day one, it had surpassed $1 million and now has more than $5.6 million with 12 days left to go.
OnLive's Grove said he was excited by the idea that console gaming might become "more available and open."
"Ouya is rethinking the console business, making waves by using standard technology to make gaming for your living room accessible, affordable and more innovative than ever," Grove said. "In OnLive's case, we pioneered a groundbreaking, cloud-based system that instantly delivers games to any device on demand."
OnLive said that once the Ouya ships, OnLive will provide on-demand access to the games from more than 80 publishers. Gamers can start playing on the Ouya and pick up on the PC, smartphone, or tablet.
OnLive promised free, 30-minute demos "for nearly every game in our ever-growing library," including Ravaged and Darksiders II.
Last week, Ouya said its first official game will be Human Element, a post-zombie apocalyptic game from game developer Robotoki. "Robotoki is the first studio to commit to building a game exclusively for OUYA: an episodic prequel that will set the stage for his eventual release of Human Element in 2015," Ouya said.
Today, meanwhile, Ouya released new images of its console and controller (above). "Please note that the design is still in progress - but we couldn't hold out any longer. We needed you to know that the controller has two handles. You can hold it in both hands," the company said.
Ouya said it is still deciding about the controller, and pondering an option that will let color-blind users play.
All eyes are on Ouya to see if it can actually deliver. As PCMag's Sascha Segan pointed out recently, it can be difficult to produce hardware-based Kickstarter projects, as they need a reliable supply chain. Someone who might help with that is Muffi Ghadiali, a former employee at Amazon's Lab126 who worked on the Kindle line and recently joined Ouya.
In recent weeks, Ouya revealed that it has been talking to Nvidia about its chipsets.
For more, see PCMag's reviews of OnLive for Android (slideshow below), OnLive for iPad, and the OnLive Wireless Controller.