SHIPPIN’

So… we made a game console.

And by “we” I mean you. OUYA wouldn’t exist without you.

Just last summer, we shared an idea for a simple, beautiful, powerful game console that lets any developer publish a game for the TV. We were driven by our love for couch gaming. And when you (and the rest of our early supporters) rallied around us, you inspired us.

We got here together.

Today, we honor you. Today we start shipping our early backers their OUYAs. And at our unveiling event this evening, the first of you will get to see OUYA in the flesh (or, metal, as it were).

Thank you.

Thank you for your encouraging words, for your belief when doubters doubted, for your feedback and ideas, and for your trust. And, I have to personally thank the OUYA team for the sleepless nights and sacrifices they’ve made to make OUYA for you.

A couple things our team wants you to know when you get your OUYA:

When you first boot it up, you’ll experience our first update :) This will either be super fast (seconds) or allow you to get a drink (minutes) based on your connection speed. Eventually, we want to do these updates in the background…
You’ll need a credit/debit card to download games. All games are still free to try. Your card will only be charged if you buy content you love. We do want valid payment information for everyone. This is to ensure that game developers can get paid when you love their game.
OUYA supports up to four controllers (you can always get more at http://ouya.tv). And, because we support Bluetooth, you can pair other devices as well.  We are testing now and will start publishing a list of devices soon.
This is only the beginning.  Today begins an exclusive preview period as we gear up to launch in June. We’ll continue to add features, refine the user interface, and keep building the software as we head toward our retail launch — now announced for June 4.

We hope that you, our founding backers, continue to shape OUYA as we prepare to launch to the masses. Your feedback, to date, has been incredibly helpful and as you know, we’ve acted on many of your ideas and suggestions. We want your feedback on these first units. You know how to find us — but we are also creating forums keep the convo going.  In fact, we are planning an “AMA” (ask me anything) on Reddit to get your ideas. We’ll do this in April (date still TBD), after you’ve had time to give OUYA a whirl.

Start checking your mailboxes daily as these units roll out over the next few weeks. You’ll get an email when your console ships out of our factory. Keep in mind, it’s a rolling shipment, and consoles will be arriving at houses every day for the next several weeks.

Once your OUYA arrives: get playing!

As of 7:59 p.m. PT, there are already 104 published games on OUYA (all still free to try), like Final Fantasy III and some new surprises we think you’ll love: Beast Boxing Turbo, Stalagflight, Knightmare Tower, and even one called Save the Puppies. There are already a few entertainment apps, too. You can watch the TV shows and movies you already own with XBMC and Flixster, or watch games streamed through TwitchTV.

And developers are releasing new games for OUYA everyday. Eight thousand developers have created developer accounts with us so far.

Our hope is to see these game developers express their most creative ambitions through OUYA. We can’t wait to see what they unleash on our TVs.

OUYA on…

Julie

P.S. In case you missed it, as part of making OUYA the most open game platform around, we just announced that we published all the diagrams you’ll need to 3D print an OUYA yourself! Thanks MakerBot (who has a sweet 3D printer, and runs the Thingiverse community site)!