It was only a matter of time until someone would do the math, and come up with such a brilliantly obvious idea.

The past few years brought forward interesting developments for the video-game industry: the astonishing rise of casual mobile gaming, the advent of low-cost, high-performance SOC’s (system-on-a-chip) such as NVidia’s Tegra 3; the demand for a particular standard of video-games from a crowd that never really took interest in gaming.

Technology evolved in such a way, it’s nowadays possible for independent developers to create visually advanced, state-of-the-art computer games with the help of game developing platforms like Xsolla, which run perfectly on devices that can be purchased for as low as $100.

Such as the much-anticipated Ouya GameStation, a project that threatens to revolutionize the video-game industry and threaten colossi like Sony and Nintendo, with a solid record of dominating the market with their dedicated gaming machines aimed at serious gamers.

What is the Oyua GameStation?

Simply put, the Oyua is a clever integration of the interesting developments taking place in the video-game and mobile industries, the past few years.

It caters to the high demand of mobile games, benefits from the technological opportunity to develop an incredibly low cost and universal game station, and hopes to deliver nothing short of a revolution.
Let’s look at the technical specs: from the outside, it’s a tiny cube with just 3 inches across; on the inside, there’s a 1.7 GHz Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with 1GB RAM – aka Tegra 3(T33),a full-HD output, 8 GB internal memory, USB and micro-USB port, wireless capabilities. It runs Android 4.1 out of the box, and will sell for a measly $99 when it’s released later this year (June 2013)

What are the major strengths of Oyua?

It’s incredibly cheap, unimaginably powerful, and promising beyond words. This tiny machine benefits heavily from the potential of Tegra 3’s massive graphical prowess (which some developers claim to rival that of the PS3), and it positions itself rather enticingly: as an open Android machine that anyone can develop applications for.

It may seem a trivial benefit, but the Ouya indeed opens a new world of possibilities for developers. You see.. so far, aspiring game designers had to face a challenging barrier to entry, since acquiring licenses to develop games for Nintendo or Playstation is difficult and expensive. With the Ouya, no licenses will be required, and that is just why this platform can be revolutionary. It will make way for the rise of a new generation of game developers and game players, while bringing down the cost of playing video-games quite significantly.

The Ouya-Kickstarter Catalysis

The Oyua project was originally announced with a Kickstarter campaign, and to say it was successful is a huge understatement: from the $950,000 goal they needed to fund the project, no less than $8,500,000 were pledged do far – that’s nine times their goal. And it clearly indicates there is a huge consumer interest in such a product as the Ouya. Here, you should watch the promotional video they used in their campaign:

What’s in it for the common user?

We don’t just throw the word “revolution” around unless we really mean it. And the potential behind the Oyua is terrific, not just for game developers – but especially for players. It could mean a veritable democratization of video-games. If this machine goes mainstream, it will bring forward a whole new standard that may bridge the gap between casual mobile gamers and dedicated hard-core gamers:

• A platform offering millions of games of every genre
• Everything from multi-million dollar franchises to independent games
• All games are free to try and can be downloaded directly via Wi-FI
• Games can be played on any television on a very compact game console
• Full On-line Multi-player capabilities
• Incredibly inexpensive entry price ($99 console)
• Games will tend to be much cheaper than in conventional physical media

Suffice to say, there is a lot of promise and potential here, and the Ouya will likely cause a stir when it comes out in the Summer of 2013. Granted, there are potential obstacles to its proliferation, and one may wonder whether it’s a genius concept or just plain gullible. Will the big players in the industry stand idly watching these newcomers prance around with their crazy innovative ideas? Will there be no unexpected obstacles before the Ouya manages to set foot in the big arena?

Only time will tell, but judging by the news and reports so far, thisu is something that all gamers should look forward to.