The Android-based OUYA gaming system never panned out quite like everyone expected. After receiving $8.5 million in funding via Kickstater, the device received mixed reviews and never caught on with the average consumer. Now, Forbes reports that OUYA is in desperate need of a buyer. According to the report, investment bank Mesa Global, which also handled Songza’s sale to Google, has been brought in to manage the sale of OUYA.
OnePlus’ Carl Pei came out to say earlier this month at the Mobile World Congress that the smartphone maker is about to enter a new product category, but the company has reiterated multiple times that the product will not a tablet nor a smartwatch. It wasn’t until just today that we had any idea what kind of product it would be, and based on the latest teaser images, it looks like OnePlus has plans on entering the gaming market.
“Start a new game,” one of the teasers says. OnePlus has taken to its forum to push the #OneGameChanger hashtag, but we’re otherwise left pretty empty handed in trying to guess what could be up the company’s sleeve. “It’s not a tablet, and it’s not a smartwatch. But it is a game changer,” the post says. The most logical guess in my mind seems to be an Android TV device of some kind, along the lines of the Nexus Player.
Personally, I just hope that I don’t have to stand in line for months before I can get the opportunity to order one. Here are a couple more images:
According to a new report from GameInformer, sources have informed the publication that Amazon is working on a new Android-based gaming console that could land as early as the end of this year. There’s not much to go on other than the fact that the console is said to have its own dedicated hardware controller and take advantage of content already available through the Amazon Appstore. The news follows a report from Bloomberg in April that claimed Amazon is planning to release a set-top-box to compete with Apple and Google.
According to those we spoke with who have knowledge of the in-development hardware, Amazon will be leveraging the titles already available on its platform. Each day, the company offers one productivity or game app for free and stocks a healthy library for its own devices, like the Kindle Fire. The console will also have its own, dedicated controller.
The two reports could very well be describing the same product, and VentureBeat adds that it has heard similar rumors but nothing solid enough to post prior to the GameInformer story. It’s also worth noting that Amazon has continued to hire game developers for its recently launched Amazon Game Studios, which published its first mobile title on iOS and Android last year.
Of course an Android console from Amazon makes us think of the $99 OUYA and the upcoming GamePop consoles, but whether it will be a full-fledged Apple/Google TV competitor or a dedicated gaming system is still unclear. GameInformer says the Amazon Android console will launch “most likely by Black Friday.” Expand Expanding Close
According to a report from Nikkei (via Reuters), Microsoft has signed up Japan-based game developer Klab Inc to bring some of its console and PC games to the iPhone and Android devices. There aren’t many other details, but the report claims Microsoft’s next title to arrive on smartphones will be a free-to-play version of Age of the Empires:
Microsoft’s “Age of the Empires” will be available as a free-to-play game worldwide on smartphones by the end of the fiscal year 2013 and other titles will follow, the report said.
KLab is behind a few titles already on the App Store and Google Play, including Arcadia, Gigabot Wars, Eternal Uprising, and Lord of the Dragons.
It actually wouldn’t be the first game that Microsoft has published for smartphones as it recently brought its previously Windows Phone only title “Tentacles: Enter the Dolphin” to the App Store for both iPhone and iPad.
The two reports could very well be describing the same product, and VentureBeat 