I’ve never been a Sega Soldier. The Dreamcast was a mystery to me during the short time it was a contender. Ever since Sega got fragged in the console wars, the big three monopolizing the market have been Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. For the whole seventh generation there have been no serious challengers. But now that the open source movement is gaining momentum as gamers are becoming more tech savvy there may be some new faces in the market come the eighth generation.
The Ouya is a tiny home console based on Android made with the purpose of disrupting the current home console ecosystem. Using Kickstarter it raised nearly $8 million more than its $950k goal and has the support from over 63k backers. As you can see in the video the makers of the Ouya want to make it easy for anyone to get their game in your living room. And since the Ouya has Android running under the hood, it has the potential to host the apps of any Android developer. If this sounds good to you then you’re probably wondering how much it costs. This amazing little box will run $99 brand new including the controller. To give some perspective, the Wii cost $250 and the Xbox 360′s cheapest launch model ran $300. When you remember that indie games usually don’t run more than $20 (and that’s if they charge) your favorite hobby just got a lot cheaper. All games on the Ouya will be free-to-try if not free altogether. The Ouya should launch in April and you can preorder here. I think I might even pick up one myself.
So you’ve got an awesome Ouya console in your living room but you still want some open source love on the road. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the Pandora. You probably haven’t heard of it (I say while wearing my hipster glasses) but it’s actually not very new. The Pandora has been in development for over five years. The main purpose is to be a handheld gaming console but it is heavily stressed that it’s capable of much more than that. Unlike the Ouya, Pandora runs off of Linux, even letting users install their favorite distros. This makes the Pandora closer to a small laptop than a console. Featuring a full QWERTY keyboard, two analog sticks, a D-pad, a touchscreen, and a standard ABXY set the Pandora is ready to give you just about any handheld gaming experience you’re looking for. In addition to this it’s armed to the teeth with TV out, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB out and two SD card slots. You can run your own or others’ homebrew games easier on this bad boy than on anything else that will fit in your pocket.
But unfortunately I really can’t recommend it to anyone at this point. The Pandora is apparently really expensive to produce, making the price run from $500-$700. Also the production and shipping thus far has been pretty sketchy. There have been numerous times when shipping deadlines have been missed or people who have ordered it just plain didn’t get one. Maybe if they moved their operations to America and tried a Kickstarter it would have a success similar to the Ouya’s. I’ve been watching the Pandora for a couple years and I really want to see it thrive.
What do you guys think of these consoles? Do they have a chance against the big three? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Article from Gamersyndrome.com
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Norbert Daniels Jr. is a sandal-wearing, Linux-using, ska-loving gamer who hates going to bed just as much as getting out of it. Keep up to date on his Pepsi-fueled ramblings at TheLateNightGamer.com. His blog also has a Tumblr (thelatenightgamer.tumblr.com), if you’re into that kind of thing. 
Sure, the Pandora is pricey on first look, especially if you only want it as a gaming device.
It cannot be compared to the Ouya in my opinion though – there’s nothing really out there right now that compares to the Pandora.
The Ouya will be a small Android system with a Bluetooth Gaming controller that connects to your HDMI TV (though I don’t know what’s so special about that… anyone who got an Android phone with HDMI out can do the same already with a Bluetooth Controller, but that’s something different).
The Pandora however is not an Android system. Well, better say: Not only, as it also runs Android, but that’s just one part of it.
With the Pandora, you can…
* … play Linux and Homebrew games. They can easily be ported, no special SDK or development tools needed. Just a standard Crosscompiler on any dev system is enough.
* … play emulators for classic systems, up to PSX in fullspeed. Amiga with keyboard and harddisk-support (WHDLoad included) is a dream as well.
* … use a full desktop system. Yep, you can run stuff like LibreOffice or the normal FireFox. Awesome if you need to do some things on-the-go.
* … connect USB-Devices. Whether you just want to copy something to or from a USB-Stick, use a DVB-T-Stick to watch TV or connect a USB Midi Interface to either use the Pandora as Synthesizer or Midi Controller – it’s all possible.
* … run Android stuff. With proper DPad. And a keyboard.
* … enjoy an awesome battery life. Yep, as mentioned above, normal usage is over 10 hours, MP3 listening is about 50 hours and standby is about 150 hours. Those are true values, no marketing claims.
* … do anything you like without having to hack or open the system. You’re encouraged to play around with it. Want a full Linux distribution? Sure, install it.
* … talk to the developers, give suggestions. And I’m not talking about the software developers (that works as well with some software projects), you can have a chat with the guys behind the system.
* … be sure the people who actually assemble this system get proper wages and fair working conditions, as it’s being done in Germany.
So yeah, it is more than just a gaming device.
It’s a complete Miniature PC with proper gaming controls, that does basically everything you want.
The hardware is basically the same as a smartphone, so the price is similar. Sure, it’s not the latest Quad-Core CPU, but that wouldn’t help much. N64 emulation would run a bit better, but that’s about it. PSX is fullspeed already and PS2 or GameCube won’t work on current Quad-Core Smartphones as well.
So the CPU would only bring minor advantages but would need a bit more power.
The Vita is 250 EUR, okay. Then buy 4 games and you got the same price as a Pandora. However, you still can’t do all the things you can do with the Pandora…
Don’t forget that the Pandora is not a major mass production. It’s a small production run made by a few people, so production costs ARE higher.
If you’re interested in playing the latest top-notch games:
The Pandora is not for you, and surely too pricey.
If you have fun playing classic and classic-like games, want to do more with the system than just gaming and/or like the open idea and want to support small companies: You will surely enjoy the Pandora.
It’s as easy as that