Pre-orders open for Ouya dev kit

Crowdfunded and hackable console Ouya has begun taking pre-orders for developer kits.

The system is due for a March 2013 release, and dev kits are said to ship as early as January.

A number of studios have already pledged to release games on the console, such as Square Enix, Namco Bandai and U4ia, which seeks combine the strengths of indie and mobile gaming in the living room.

The developer toolset is priced at $800 comes with a console, two controllers, and the Ouya developer kit.

The Ouya platform itself is to be powered by a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, and will also include 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal flash storage.

Other features include a HDMI connection for 1080p, Bluetooth and Ethernet. The console itself will run on the Android Jelly Bean operating system.

Ouya rose to prominence in July when it launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project, eventually shattering the funding record on the site by raising $8.5m.

Despite capturing the imagination of many consumers and developers through its crowdfunding campaign, there has been some controversy over how Ouya would be funded; with suggestions Kickstarter will not be the only form of funding.

This statement was subsequently retracted by Ouya founder Julie Uhrman, who claimed there had been a misunderstanding.

For more information, visit the Ouya developer page.