Ouya launch still on track, dumps Ice Cream Sandwich in favor of Jelly Bean

The developers of the Ouya, the kickstarter darling, say it is already upgrading the yet-to-be-released Android gaming console to Jelly Bean. They didn’t specify whether the update would be to 4.1 or the recently announced Android 4.2, but it’s good news either way. The progress report also stated they’ve been refining the hardware design and are now in the EVT (Engineering Verification Testing) phase. Once hardware testing is complete in the EVT phase, Ouya says it will be on track for a December launch of its SDK (Software Developer Kit).

Ouya’s hardware progress report said the device won’t have the familiar menu, back and volume buttons seen on most Android devices. The Ouya will instead have a single button that will pause and bring up the Ouya menu. This button may be similar to the Xbox 360 guide button gamers are familiar with. The controller is described as a “standard gamepad” and will include a touchpad capable of only single-touch input. Since the Ouya will come with a Tegra 3 CPU, they suggested eager developers test their games on Android tablets with a NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor. “That’ll give you an accurate representation as to how your game will perform on an OUYA.” It sounds like my Nexus 7 will be my personal mini-Ouya until the March 2013 launch.

Source: Ouya