OUYA Promises XBMC Support

OUYA, the Android-based gaming console, has secured yet another high-profile app. The team behind the console has courted the XBMC development team, promising that early prototypes will be delivered that should enable XBMC to run on the platform smoothly and without any issues. According to the OUYA Kickstarter page, the team behind OUYA fully support XBMC, with "nearly a third" of the XBMC development team having backed the "open" console.

It shouldn't come as a huge surprise: the console is running Android after all, so anything that works on Android will work on OUYA without much issue, but it's good to see that the experience will be customized for the OUYA interface as well as the specific hardware. OUYA has managed to promised backers that they'll see a wealth of games, with this latest announcement covering the entertainment and media side of the equation.

In addition to the promise of XBMC support, OUYA has added radio support via a partnership with TuneIn. The service allows users to listen in on free radio stations across the world, plus on-demand content. The network is said to cover 70,000 stations and two million on-demand programs across 230 countries.

As of writing, there are 39 hours left until the Kickstarter project has finished. So far 52,173 members have backed the project, with OUYA accumulating over $6.9 million in funding. Backers will receive a small Android-based console with a customized interface and wireless hardware controller, all running on an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor for $99. The streaming game company OnLive will support OUYA at launch, and Square Enix has promised a Final Fantasy III port among other games.

[via The Verge]