Gamers better watch the console market this year, because it seems as if 2013 is the arrival of a much needed new console generation.
The Wii U has been out for a while, the Playstation 4 has been announced two months ago, the Xbox 720 was announced a few days ago, but it seems as if three companies, Wikipad, Archos and OUYA have decided to dip their hands in the increasingly competitive console market.
Out of irony, both Wikipad and OUYA have named their first console after their company, with Archos, who isn’t exactly new to Android itself, who named it the GamePad. Both Wikipad and Archos went to go for a portable experience, so their consoles are also tablet hybrids
What’s unique about these devices is that they run Android OS, which now outsells iOS. And it being open source, allows for a much more flexible experience and since Android uses Java, developers will not have a problem making games for them. Along with that, developers won’t have to buy a licence to make games.
So let’s take a look under the hood of these graphics.
The graphics of both the Wikipad and the OUYA are incredible, with both of them being powered by Tegra 3, a graphics chip only rivaled slightly by the A5X, and Tegra 4, which is supposed to be released in mid-June this year.
Archos however, decided to go with a chip called the ARM Cortex, which is good, but doesn’t come near to Tegra 3.
Moving on, let’s look at the controls. We have the OYUA, with a controller that is still a work in progress, with the standard dual joysticks, start and select, d-pad, four shoulder buttons, and the four buttons on the right (which were cleverly renamed as O,Y,U,A).
The Wikipad also has your standard dual joysticks, four shoulder buttons, start and select, and all of that other good stuff that’s on a controller. The GamePad has the same expected buttons, but with only two shoulder buttons.
The GamePad and the Wikipad also have a mapping feature that allows you to manually set the controls for games if they don’t set themselves. The mapping feature also has a profile saving option so that you don’t have to edit the controls constantly every time you use a different game.
Another thing that should be looked into is the gaming services. All of these consoles have access to Google Play, which nothing special, since almost all Androids have access to this.
That’s about it for the GamePad, there is still quite a bit more for the WikiPad and OUYA.
The OUYA, will have it’s own gaming service (name unannounced), and the Wikipad will have Playstation Mobile, which is basically slimmed down version of Playstation Network.
And who could forget about the Nvidia TegraZone, which is another Playstation Network service that’s exclusively for Tegra devices.
And the overall look of these devices is astounding, they all have a steel frame and body, which is the same material that is used on the back of iTouch devices.
Now let’s not forget about a few extra features that come with these consoles. The first one being gamepad support.
While you won’t need this because of the physical controls you can hook up bluetooth controllers such as PS3 Controllers and Wii Remotes and the PlayPad Pro.And HDMI.
This allows you to hook up your Android to your HDTV for a big screen experience without having to go to an Apple Store and buy a hyper-expensive HDMI cable that only works on their devices. And you can remove the controller dongle off of the Wikipad for a normal tablet.
Thankfully these high-end devices are cheap, with the OUYA being $99, the Archos GamePad being $200 and the Wikipad being a $250 dent in your pocket.
So it may not be a problem to get your hands on one of these consoles, unless of course, you are saving money for a new car.