TECHNOLOGY
“As the system has no physical media, all titles are installed on the console’s storage drive”
Inside the OUYA
The next-gen gamer Take a look at the major components inside this cutting-edge gaming system
Meet the open-platform console which lets you play your videogames on a system that was designed to evolve
The OUYA is a videogame console that runs on a custom version of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. Unlike many existing games consoles, however, the development Casing of this machine was achieved through crowdThe OUYA’s case is a 75 x 75 x sourced funding, with the maker – OUYA, Inc – 75mm (3 x 3 x 3in) plastic cube, raising a whopping $8.5 million (£5.6 million) in with tapered corners at the bottom. The console’s insides 2012. Breaking from the norm, the OUYA has been are accessed via a screwed-in designed as an open platform, with the device panel located on the top. capable of being modified easily by owners. As can be seen in greater detail in the teardown, the OUYA runs off an NVIDIA Tegra 3 system on a chip, which combines the console’s CPU, GPU and memory. This, in partnership with a selection of mainboard ports and connectivity chips – including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – allows the OUYA to be connected to a television or computer and run its own custom user interface (UI) off the Jelly Bean OS. Key to the OUYA’s UI is the OUYA store, which is the main conduit to the console’s selection of games. Indeed, as the system has no physical media, all titles are installed on the console’s storage drive (eight gigabits internal; expandable via USB or digital download). The majority of games currently available or confirmed are ports of titles already existing on the Android marketplace. Games are played via the OUYA’s own Bluetooth-linked control pad. The gaming side of things is combined with a host of media-related applications, including the open-source XBMC media player, TwitchTV live videogame stream broadcaster and iHeartRadio internet radio platform. Along with a selection of Potentiometers videogame emulators this completes the OUYA’s The controller’s two analogue thumb sticks are stock package, but due to the system’s open tracked by potentiometers, hardware and software architecture, many other which measure the sticks’ applications and services are in the pipeline. degree of tilt in two axes.
050 | How It Works
Fan A Sunon MagLev DC brushless fan is fixed to the mainboard’s heatsink. This is rated for 12V at 0.8W and cools the minimal hardware in the case.
Weights Five small 11g (0.4oz) weights are screwed to the base of the case. These are for keeping the lightweight console upright when plugged in.
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