0 comments

Ouya Missing Online Features at Launch

by on March 12, 2013
 

Ouya Coming to Retail in June, Pre-order It and Get It SoonerOuya, the $100 Android game playing white box, won’t feature voice chat, friends lists or achievements when it launches in a fortnight.

Spotted by The Verge, company founder Julie Uhrman revealed in a talk at the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, that the console will launch without key online elements.

Online multiplayer will be supported at launch, as long as the game supports it. You just won’t be able to discuss Game of Thrones whilst you’re at it.

Julie Uhrman actually thinks that Ouya’s place is more as a local multiplayer device. “I think Ouya is going to bring back couch play,” commented Ohrman, holding a blind eye in the direction of Mario Kart and Smash Bros.

With only two weeks to go until the system’s release, and questions of the console’s success still largely airborne, this news is slightly concerning – is the Ouya being rushed to meet its Kickstarter supporters expectations? Surely launching a new system without expected features isn’t the best way to keep your backers happy. Sure they’ll be there later on in the year, but it’s that out of the box experience that will define the console for a lot of people.

News


James Bowden

If writing ability was a flavour, I would be the warming embrace of apple and cinnamon - wonderfully familiar and pleasantly spiced. Ever the optimist, I spend most of my game time diligently failing at fighting games (BlazBlue and Persona 4 Arena being the preferred titles), Monster Hunter and Dark Souls. As you can surely ascertain from such preferences I'm a gamer at my most content when a title is punishing me, abusing my feeble abilities and forcing me to improve myself in order to overcome life affirming challenges. Feel free to question my opinions and such on Twitter, @Dalagonash, or find me on every gaming network available as Dalagonash.