Why is there so much scepticism about this being another example of vapour(hard)ware? Almost everything I read about the Ouya says something along the lines of, "I'll believe it when I see it", but I can't see how this is so much more unlikely than anything else on Kickstarter.

I ended up dropping the money for a pre-purchase (as opposed to Kickstarter contributing), either I get a console, or I cancel my pre-purchase and get my money back. Either way, as a tinkerer (as opposed to a tinkler?) this thing greatly appeals to me and I think I'll have some fun modding the hell out of it. I was actually tempted to change the casing to resemble the Lament Configuration.

Maybe, if I do that I'll re-shave my head, get some fake pinhead make up going and take some pictures. :P I think that would look pretty bad ass, if I do say so myself.

If this pans out, I might just get back into console gaming again :)

They can definitely make hardware for $100, onLive sells their micro-console for that. The skepticism is that they ran their KS campaign without providing finalized controllers or software shoppe.

Those two things, particularly the software shoppe, could easily sink the entire thing. What's more, their definition of "free" is that there's a demo available. And they're promising developers that piracy wont' be a problem while they're also promising gamers that they'll be able to mod it.

Balancing those two things is extremely tricky and nobody's really gotten it right. I think GOG comes the closest, but let's be honest, people do pirate gogs all the time, just not any more often than the games were previously being pirated.

Clever!

Thank you, thank you, I may come across as an eccentric crackpot, but I pride myself on being crafty in matters such as this. :P

With a large project that has guaranteed funding, as long as you aren't missing out on too many kickstarter bonuses it makes sense to give yourself the option of canceling your preorder down the line.

Not that I mean to suggest the Ouya will be disappointing.

Oh, I seriously doubt the Ouya will be disappointing for those who like tweaking things such as myself, and it could encourage others into learning HOW to tweak things which I think is a BIG bonus to the device. Yeah, I pretty much always like having a way out of any deal, hense why I jumped at the pre-purchase option. I support the Ouya but I learned a long time ago NEVER put yourself in a situation you can't walk away from, no matter how much you support it.

I really don't see the appeal of it. What can that do, what my PC can't?

To each their own, I just look at it as something else I can tinker with...but I understand not everyone is either adept at OR just really want to sit around toying with a piece of electronics. Then again, I just happen to be one of those people who gets bored if they aren't constantly fiddling with a device, painting/drawling, writing or constructing musical arrangements. :P

Considering there's a couple of same sized Android set top boxes out there already it would have been troubling if they wouldn't have a proto by now. But still, Ouya will crash and burn. The modders will love it, but the regular folks not that much.

I remember this now - A friend pointed it out to me earlier this year.

It's cashing in on the fact that most of the world is unemployed and sitting home making amateur games nowadays.

It's mostly aimed towards amateur developers and modders who want developer and share with one another but can not afford or be bothered to learn a PC to do so.

Special thought went into comfort as well - most people are not comfortable sitting at their computer desks for too long (unless you've got your own personal little computer office with a couch pulled up to your computer desk like I do.).