[OPINION PIECE]

The Ouya Console is a great development, and we have followed their Kickstarter Campaign closely. They reached over $8 million in pledges from public backers, and the console is set to be a success, but due to it running on Open Source software that is Android, does this open the doors for Piracy and Illegal Downloads within the console when blocks are in place on competition such as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3?

Android Phones are Tablets can be rooted, meaning that they can support alternative operating systems known as ROMs. These can then sometimes to be used to install software that would usually require payment before being able to use it. Perhaps the Ouya console will be able to work in the same way and open up issues with game piracy that already exist within the industry? It is easy enough to get games for free on the PC, and if you purchase particular hardware you can even use downloaded games on your Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 consoles. Of course, you won’t be able to go online in these games as you will be console banned by Sony or Microsoft as they have checks in place, but with offline games and no internet connection active, there is nothing they can do, and this is what harms the gaming industry as there are offline games out there costing around $40 a piece. Ouya Games will probably be cheaper as they are running mobile based games like Angry Birds, however this also means they are lower in size; therefore quicker and easier to download illegally and install onto the software as it is open source.

The Ouya console developers need to be aware of this, an perhaps will put some kind of check in place, similar to how the Xbox and Playstation consoles will do a block, rendering the devices unusable. Ouya looks to be a more online orientated console anyway, so perhaps this will deter some downloaders, but with the ease of it, and potential guides and “how-to’s” appearing online we can expect to see some issues and some news coverage surrounding it in the future after its official release around March 2013.