Ouya Console Receives Exclusive Human Element Prequel

The creator of Jambox has a new console in-the-works. Ouya has been steadfast in its quest to prove it will be able to run with the big dogs…and it might have just struck gold. Robert Bowling, best known for his work on the Call of Duty series and now running his own studio, has announced on Ouya’s Kickstarter page that the new console will have exclusive rights to the Human Element prequel games.

Human Element, due to release in 2015, is a highly-anticipated action-RPG set in an apocalyptic, zombie-decimated world. The first title from studio Robotoki will offer cross-platform play for next-gen consoles, PC, tablets, and mobile devices. And if that wasn’t enough good news for the developer, Bowling is reportedly so taken with Ouya he donated $10,000 of his own money to the project.

If you haven’t heard of the Ouya (and don’t feel bad, a lot of us haven’t), it’s a freshly announced Android-based console priced at $99. It touts impressive features such as a free-to-play trial of each game launched, a touchpad allowing mobile and tablet games to be accessed on a T.V., a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 8 Gb internal flash storage, HDMI connection, WiFi capable, Bluetooth, 2.0 USB port, Android 4.0, and Ethernet port. Possibly one of the greatest, or worst, things about Ouya is it welcomes hackers to the console, allowing for maximum DIY design of peripherals and other aspects of the system.

It’s safe to say that when Ouya is released a large number of studios will hop on board and ride the wave of excitement sweeping the industry, as is the case with any promising technology. However, there are some holdouts who have looming questions: Will the titles be good? How easy will they be to come by? If the console is hackable, how will this affect gameplay? Will people dramatically alter releases, and if so, how will this change the idea of creative vision and authorship? Despite the murmurs of fear and disquiet from some corners of the game world, one thing remains certain: with Bowling as a supporter and the hype machine in full swing, Ouya has a green-light to become one of the better watershed moments in video game history. Gamers can only hope it’ll pan out for the best.

Stay tuned to Gaming Illustrated for the latest news involving the Ouya, Human Element, and more.

Becca Gray contributed to this article.