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The Ouya microconsole now hosts more than 500 downloadable games in its Discover storefront, founder Julie Uhrman announced today.

Ouya reached the milestone shortly after announcing that the console has attracted more than 25,000 registered developers. All Discover store games are free to try, and if you want to keep a library of your favorites, Ouya will soon introduce external USB storage support in a forthcoming update.

Uhrman recently revealed that an Ouya hardware revision is due to launch next year.

Destructamundo is a new puzzle game from Robotube Games, a smaller label acquired by Gaijin Games that operates out of the studio's Santa Cruz offices. In Destructamundo, players must aid a race of scavenging aliens whose only means of survival is to travel to various star systems and detonate planets in order to harvest the resources left behind.

Each level is comprised of planets with orbiting satellites moving in a clockwise direction. Destroying planets is achieved by clearing its satellites, initiated by triggering an explosion that in turn chains together and causes more explosions throughout the level. The goal is to clear a level by setting off the least number of explosions. Simple.

Jason Cirillo, an artist with Gaijin Games, was on-hand to demo the game at Double Fine's Day of the Devs gathering in San Francisco today. Cirillo said the goal was to launch Destructamundo for "about $1 or $2," hopefully "in January" or some time "early next year."

The version I sampled was running on Ouya, one of the supported platforms, but Cirillo also added that iOS was part of the plan. Cirillo, unfortunately, wouldn't go into specifics regarding any other potential platform.

It's "inevitable" that big publishers will make games for Ouya, the company's CEO Julie Uhrman said at GamesBeat 2013.

"The publishers are always late to the newest business models," she said. "Is it likely an Activision or an [Electronic Arts] will come to Ouya? Absolutely."

Uhrman doesn't expect Activision to bring Call of Duty to her tiny Android console - the big publishers will make games specific to Ouya, she said: "The reason I don't have a Call of Duty or a Madden or a FIFA on Ouya is because there's a perfectly good place to play those games today. When those publishers come to us, they're going to bring the perfect game [for] our platform .... It won't be the same thing."

This week, Uhrman announced Ouya would begin shipping with a redesigned controller later in the year, and the hardware would get an update in 2014, fulfilling the company's promise to relaunch the console annually.

Ouya company founder Julie Uhrman revealed that the Android-powered microconsole will begin shipping with a redesigned controller later this year as work begins on a hardware revision due in 2014.

The new controller will address many issues customers cited with the original model, offering textured thumbsticks, more responsive triggers, and face buttons that no longer become stuck in the peripheral's faceplate. The improved controller may be difficult to spot at retail, however, as Ouya packaging will not reflect whether the redesigned accessory is included.

"The feel of the controller today is actually probably a lot better than in June," Uhrman told Polygon. "Our goal is to build a great controller. We wanted to build something that was ergonomic, that had great weight, that had a great feel, that offered developers a different way to develop games by including a touch pad in the design."

Uhrman additionally states that an improved version of the Ouya console itself is set to launch next year, delivering on the company's promise to launch revised hardware annually. The new console will feature backward compatibility with existing marketplace games, though hardware specs and a release date were not announced.

The Ouya's brick and mortar retail presence will grow to include 1,800 Target locations, Ouya founder Julie Uhrman told Polygon. While the Ouya has existed within Target stores for some time, its availability has been limited to select locations, rather than every location, as will be the case now.

The Android microconsole's retail packaging has been spruced up to take advantage of its new-found exposure, Uhrman said. Target will push the device in its winter circular, through video adverts in its electronics departments and with special displays starting in December, though the Ouya's expanded availability goes into effect this month. Demo units are planned for early next year - Uhrman called production of the kiosks "incredibly expensive," a fact compounded by the necessity to design a wired controller for the system.

In related news, Ouya is also in the process of negotiating availability at Wal-mart. "I would expect something, us to announce something with them soon," Uhrman said.

Fist of Awesome is now available on iOS, Android, and Ouya, allowing you to punch bears on a variety of platforms. The eccentric beat-em-up is priced $4 on the App Store and Google Play. A GameStick version is also due, while extended versions featuring local multiplayer are bearing down on PC and Mac this winter.

The games comes courtesy of Nicoll Hunt, an ex-Realtime Worlds dev who also previously worked on iOS hit Hard Lines. Hunt's Kickstarter for Fist of Awesome was a big success last year, earning over double its £5,000 goal. Then again, a retro beat-em-up starring a time-traveling lumberjack who uppercuts bear-jaws to save the world was always a winner.

Ouya is preparing to unlock USB storage capabilities through a limited closed beta run, which will be rolled out in phases starting next week. Those who wish to participate in the closed beta may sign up through this page right now.

Outside of USB storage, this update - which Ouya is calling "Ogopogo" - also adds videos to game pages, so developers can upload footage to better sell their experiences to prospective buyers. Then there are the requisite bug fixes that come with any update, including a fix for the HDMI wakeup issue that has been bothering some Ouya owners out there.

Earlier this week, Ouya trumpeted a new milestone: 25,000 registered developers creating or have created Ouya games. Close to 500 games and apps exist on Ouya, which launched in July for $100. We spent a lot of time with the console, so if you'd like to know more our review is a great place to start.

Ouya has hit a "major milestone" of 25,000 registered developers, and is "rapidly" nearing 500 games and apps on its digital storefront, an Ouya spokesperson has announced. It was not announced how many of the 25,000 developers are actively creating content, or if the number takes into account developers who have since parted ways from Ouya.

Commemorating the occasion, Ouya also released a video from this year's IndieCade, showcasing developer support for the console. You can watch it above. The Ouya launched four months ago to mixed feelings, and recently struggled with its controversial Free The Games program, which it overhauled last month.

Gridiron Thunder, the Kickstarted game that dropped out of Ouya's Free the Games Fund after weeks of controversy, has been delayed to October 30. It was originally scheduled to launch on September 30, but on September 29, developer MogoTXT updated the Kickstarter:

"Because we recently chose not to participate in the Free The Games Fund, we are no longer bound by the exclusivity requirement of the program and can make Gridiron Thunder available on all Android and iOS phones and tablets, in addition to the Ouya. In order to make Gridiron Thunder fully cross-platform, we have decided to postpone the launch of the game until October 30."

Gridiron Thunder raised $171,009 on Kickstarter and would have received matching funds from Ouya, had it remained in Free the Games Fund. The game raised suspicion during its campaign when backers noticed odd, large funding spikes. The average pledge per person ended at $934.48, much higher than the standard average pledge of $50.59 per person, or even that of a comparable project, $275.05 per person.

When Ouya overhauled Free the Games Fund on September 18, MogoTXT announced it had voluntarily dropped out of the program, since it had raised enough money to launch on its own.

"Gridiron Thunder is coming along very well and looking great," MogoTXT writes in its most recent update. "Thanks for your patience and get ready for a great game!"

Kickstarted microconsole Ouya is set to expand its retail presence in Europe this month, following up on its UK launch earlier this year.

The standalone £99 unit will hit stores in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Benelux, Scandanavia, Norway and Denmark starting in late October. Distributors Flashpoint and Digital Brothers will handle distribution duties in Western Europe, while Action and P.A. will keep shelves stocked in Eastern Europe.

To date, the Ouya hosts 457 games in its online storefront, all of which are available as free trial downloads. Company representatives aim to bulk up the console's catalog with the recently overhauled Free the Games Fund, which matches money earned for Kickstarter-funded Ouya projects.

Starbound, the 2D space exploration game from Chucklefish that features randomized worlds, is gearing up to offer a beta test to players soon. In the latest edition of the Starbound newsletter (via Destructoid), Chucklefish says the beta will launch before the year, with the game on track for launch sometime next year.

Chucklefish has secured over $1 million already in pre-orders for Starbound, with each of those individuals eligible to dive into the beta once it's made available. Starbound, which is set to explore Windows PC, Mac, Linux and Ouya, will feature numerous races to interact with, planets to explore and pets to befriend.

Neverending Nightmares' Kickstarter project concluded with $106,722 in funding yesterday. The horror game is both inspired by games like Silent Hill 2 and Amnesia: The Dark Descent as well as developer Matt Gilgenbach's personal struggles with mental illness. It achieved its funding goals, but not without a last-minute financial mishap that momentarily put the project's success in question.

The game is also the second project to achieve funding as part of Ouya's Free the Games Fund. The first, Gridiron Thunder, pulled itself from eligibility following criticism over discrepancies in its funding. Gilgenbach offered his thoughts on the program in mid-September, worrying that the controversy within the program might cause backers to lose "confidence in our project and what we are trying to do." Given the developer's crowdfunding success, they apparently did not. Neverending Nightmares is expected to launch in August 2014 on PC, Mac, Linux and Ouya.

Neverending Nightmares, the semi-autobiographical horror game about depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder from Retro/Grade creator Matt Gilgenbach, has been funded on Kickstarter, but not before a financial mishap caused a fan to pledge $9,000 more than he intended.

During the campaign's final hours, Gabriel Pinto, a backer from Brazil, wanted to raise his pledge. Brazil denotes cents with a comma instead of a decimal point, so when Pinto raised his pledge to "$95,00," the Kickstarter system interpreted it as "$9,500."

This boosted Neverending Nightmares across its $99,000 goal, but Pinto would not have been able to pay off his contribution. Unfortunately for Pinto, Kickstarter rules stipulated that he could not withdraw funds if doing so would reduce the campaign below its goal. Pinto reduced his contribution by what he could, but was still several thousand dollars above what he had intended.

"I felt terrible," Pinto told Joystiq. "Moments later I was on the project comments crying and breathing heavily."

Neverending Nightmares is now slated to launch on PC, Mac, Linux and Ouya simultaneously, following changes to Ouya's Free the Games Fund program. Yesterday Ouya announced that developers contracted to receive matching funds via Free the Games Fund will be able to launch on PC platforms at the same time as Ouya, among other loophole closures.

Neverending Nightmares creator Matt Gilgenbach says he never had a problem with Ouya exclusivity in theory, but it doesn't make sense in terms of Kickstarter:

"I feel (and always felt) that making backers wait six months to get the game they funded was not cool. I expressed this to Ouya before our campaign launched, and they understood where I was coming from and wanted to address my concerns. While there has been some negative press surrounding the FTGF, in my own experience, Ouya has been amazing to work with. Those of you who know me personally know that I am honest to a fault and am perhaps a little too reluctant to give out praise, so that means a lot."

Neverending Nightmares needs $99,000 by September 29 to fulfill its Kickstarter campaign; it currently has $43,000. We took a look at it in a video preview before the Kickstarter launched and found its Gorey-inspired, macabre art style to be rather horrifying, along with the game itself.

OUYA have announced that their much criticised Free The Games Fund is to receive some dramatic changes, and most significantly to us, no longer prevent developers from releasing their games on PC.

The fund, that was designed to match Kickstarter-raised funds in return for six months of OUYA exclusivity, had led to accusations of and admissions from developers of fixing their Kickstarters with their own money, in order to receive the cash, all in return for releasing a game on a system without the userbase in place to sustain such exclusivity. It was, in short, a very bad idea. It’s getting better.

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A few weeks back, Ouya launched a campaign with the very best intentions. They wanted to encourage developers to make games for their platform, by matching the amount of money made in a Kickstarter. Thing is, this is the real world, and it didn't work out too great.Read more...

When Golden Axe-inspired Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus met its funding goal thanks to help from a family member and was just two days from seeing the end of its Kickstarter campaign, Ouya removed the project from its Free the Games Fund program. In an update on the project's page, SuckerFree Games developer William McDonald wrote, "If we had remained silent we very likely would have received the funds, our transparency and honesty apparently was our undoing."

That transparency came from a backers-only update on the project last week, which explained how the project ultimately reached $54,067 with donations from just 180 people. McDonald states in the update that although his family and friends initially refused to offer financial support, his father spent a large retirement check to help fund Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus' three episodes, thereby making it eligible for rewards earned from Ouya's Free the Games Fund.

"It appears we were thrown under the FTG bus. Ouya gets their fall guy and Grid Iron keeps their money," McDonald wrote regarding Ouya's decision, referencing Gridiron Thunder, a game that received $171,009 on Kickstarter from just 183 backers as part of Ouya's program. Due to Ouya's decision, McDonald said the team opted to cancel the Kickstarter project, noting that the developer has "no plans to develop for Ouya further."

This isn't the first time Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus has received funding, as it earned $5,177 on Kickstarter back in May 2011. In an August 18 update on that project's page, McDonald notified backers of his plans to enter Ouya's funding program, and that the developer had invested over $10,000 of its own money into the project since the first Kickstarter campaign ended.

We've reached out to McDonald and Ouya, and will update as we learn more. For a brief summary on the Ouya Free the Games Fund's issues so far, check out our recap video.

Suppressive Fire Games recently launched a Kickstarter project to fund its first game, Blood Alloy, a 2D "Metroidvania-styled" action game. The game is in development for PC, Mac and Ouya.

Blood Alloy has players running-and-gunning through a dystopian, futuristic world "teetering on the brink of apocalypse." The game's creator, Frank Washburn, cites the Metroid, Turrican and Dark Souls series as inspirations for Blood Alloy's "non-linear exploration with optional pathways, hub areas, shortcut creation and discovery, and tons of secrets."

Washburn is seeking $50,000 by October 10 on Kickstarter, and says that 75 percent of the Blood Alloy's funding will go towards paying the independent contractors that will help develop the game, while another eight percent will cover marketing, legal and licensing fees.

[Thanks, Hannah!]

Something strange is afoot in the land of OUYA. The Kickstarted console, running on Android, is obviously not usually in RPS’s purview. But a recently launched incentive to get developers to create OUYA games is treading on our toes, and merits a look. OUYA’s Free The Games Fund offers to match money raised by Kickstarted games, if they can reach a minimum of $50,000, in exchange for six months OUYA exclusivity. It’s hard to known where to begin pointing out what’s dumb about that. And OUYA’s failure to recognise why is causing a number of indie names to loudly complain, some to even stop developing for the console. We’ve spoken to a few of them to find out why.

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Gridiron Thunder's Kickstarter project ended over the weekend, earning $171,009 in its 30-day campaign.

Gridiron Thunder was under suspicion when it first met its funding goal in late August, thanks to curious funding spikes witnessed by backers. To reach its goal, it received more than $10,000 apiece from a limited number of funders, as revealed by Kicktraq. It was one of two games that reached its goal as part of Ouya's Free the Games Fund, a program that rewards successful Kickstarter project creators by matching the crowdfunding results in exchange for six months of Ouya exclusivity.

The game had just 183 total backers, making for a rate of $934.48 per person. In recent months, the closest any project has come to that average is Yargis, which had an average of $275.05 per backer thanks to a lone $5,000 pledge. The results of 84 projects in the past three months revealed a mean average of $50.59 pledged per person, making Gridiron Thunder a statistical anomaly.

The other Ouya game in question, Elementary, My Dear Holmes, was suspended by Kickstarter on Friday after the developer addressed concerns to both Kickstarter and Amazon surrounding "suspicious accounts" that backed the project. The game's creator, Sam Chandola, said the developer "wanted to get on top of this and did not want anything to do with any of what was happening as it was an extremely negative campaign for us." Kickstarter declined to comment on the project's suspension.

Ouya's "Free the Games Fund" promises to double a crowdfunded game's money—if it releases exclusively for the Android console. The potential for abuse should be apparent to anyone with a brain. Two games are accused of backing themselves with fake funding to claim the prize, and one has been suspended by Kickstarter.Read more...

Advanced Gaming Innovations LLC began its Kickstarter campaign last week for the Cross Plane, a controller with a touch-less, seven-inch screen that functions as a main display for PC, 360, PS3 and Ouya users. The campaign is seeking $350,000 to begin production of the controllers, which backers can receive one of by contributing $350.

The Cross Plane will use a wireless HDMI transmitter to send data to "control paks," which can be swapped out from the back of the Cross Plane to make the hardware compatible with different platforms. While the project's Kickstarter page notes that the 360 control pak will be a one-trick pony, the PS3 control pak will also work for the PC and Ouya due to "compatible Bluetooth connectivity technology." Support for the Xbox One and PS4 is also planned "should the project be successful."

The Kickstarter page states that the prototype is capable of a 20 foot line-of-sight range, but Lead Designer Chris Downing clarified to Joystiq in an email that the range of the final product should be increased by rearranging internal hardware. "The remedy is simply a matter of relocating the receiver at which point I'm confident we'll be able to get back to the 60-plus foot range," Downing said.

The crowdfunding campaign for Elementary, My Dear Holmes was suspended by Kickstarter today. The point-and-click adventure game had already reached its $50,000 goal, earning $58,770 before its suspension, days before it was slated to end on September 13. The reasons for the project's suspension by Kickstarter are unclear, though the developer said it addressed concerns regarding "suspicious accounts" that supported the game.

"When the uproar against Elementary, My Dear Holmes was brought up, we contacted Kickstarter and Amazon, asking them to investigate the accounts and take action accordingly," the game's creator Sam Chandola told backers. "We wanted to get on top of this and did not want anything to do with any of what was happening as it was an extremely negative campaign for us. Strong personal accusations were going up against us, and it was a huge drain on our time, energy and resources."

Ouya announced its $1 million Free the Games Fund program in July as a means of encouraging developer support of its console by offering monetary rewards for successful Kickstarter-funded games that vow to remain Ouya-exclusive for six months. Elementary, My Dear Holmes was one of two games that reached its funding goals last week as part of the program. The other game, Gridiron Thunder, fell under scrutiny for the amount of funding it received from just 126 backers. According to Ouya, the project "successfully qualified to receive the match," and is still up on Kickstarter, sitting at $114,437 from 161 funders with 46 hours before the campaign ends.

Earlier in the week, the developers of upcoming Ouya exclusive Gridiron Thunder faced allegations that their Kickstarter was a scam, something they tell Kotaku is simply not true.Read more...

Neverending Nightmares is now on Kickstarter, seeking $99,000 by September 29. Created by Retro/Grade developer Matt Gilgenbach, the survival horror game is inspired by the likes of Silent Hill 2 and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and also is the result of Gilgenbach's personal struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.

Neverending Nightmares is part of Ouya's Free the Games Fund, and will accordingly be Ouya-exclusive for the first six months of its release in Q3 2014. Kickstarter rewards also include DRM-free versions of the game for Windows, Mac and Linux, which will launch at a later time.

Through the game and accompanying developer diaries, Gilgenbach said he hopes to "make a difference in peoples' lives. I can show them that they are not suffering alone! I can tell them that things can get better." Our video preview describes some of Neverending Nightmares' gory scenes as well as its Edward Gorey art inspiration.

Company offers to double the money a game makes on Kickstarter in exchange for exclusivity. What could possibly go wrong?Read more...

The first two games from Ouya's Free the Games promotion have been funded on Kickstarter. Gridiron Thunder, a football game that uses official NFL licensing, reached its $75,000 goal with 13 days left in its campaign. The other funded game, Elementary, My Dear Holmes met its $50,000 goal with 17 days left. Developed by Vancouver-based Victory Square Games, point-and-click adventure game Elementary, My Dear Holmes has players investigating mysteries not as the famous Baker Street sleuth, but as his faithful companion John Watson.

Ouya's $1 million Free the Games campaign has the company matching funds for successfully Kickstarted projects that earn at least $50,000. Ouya will match up to $250,000 for an individual project, the trade-off being that each game must remain Ouya-exclusive for six months. The company said more than 40 games have been submitted for the program, and 11 campaigns are live, including that of Gridiron Thunder and Elementary, My Dear Holmes.

I don't really have the words to describe this ad, but as far as I can tell, this cartoon from YouTube user "Ouyas" seems official. But assuming it's not official, this sure is a ridiculous way to try to sell someone on an Ouya.Read more...

Thanks to an investment from the Ouya team, Ryan Green and Josh Larson's interactive exploration of a family coping with a young child's terminal cancer diagnosis comes to fruition in 2014. The game will be exclusive to the Android home console. Read more...