WebRTC Gaming: How OUYA can be Even Cooler

OUYA + WebRTC = Bliss

I just received my little OUYA machine. For those who aren't in the know, OUYA is one of the highly successful Kickstarter projects. One that raised all the money they asked for (I think it was 100K or a million dollars) in record time, and ended up with 8 million in crowd funding. I don't usually "do" Kickstarter, but on OUYA I am one of their early backers.

Living out of the US means I received my OUYA last, but I am fine with that. Now that I have it all installed and prepped to go, there's something I believe can make this machine even cooler and assist the WebRTC industry at the same time.

What if a webcam could be connected to the OUYA gaming cube? I wouldn’t be using it for video calling (well, I might, but that's not the point) – I'd use it for casual gaming.

If you haven't played Cube Slam yet, then you should. It is a Google example of what gaming can be with WebRTC. Cube Slam is simple – you can call it a casual game. You end up looking at the person you play with only occasionally, but the fact that you know he is there increases the fun.

My assumption is that Google invested in it to show how the technology can be used and let game developers get creative. My only problem? A web browser on a laptop isn't the right medium – at least not the one I think that make sense.

But one that runs on the real deal?

OUYA runs Android. It has a good enough processor. With a webcam, and one that might even do VP8 encoding in hardware, the notion of fusing video calling into casual games is one that seems natural to me.

With Google rumored to be in the development of a gaming console and the number of other competitors in this space, there is a need for some more differentiation. I'd go for adding video calling to games.

OUYA – Please add WebRTC and a camera to your device. I promise to be the first in line to buy one. (but first, bring some streaming goodness as well)