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Good news: more original content for OUYA. Bad news: it’s chess

Can the sequel to a 2,000-year-old game resuscitate the OUYA, the hackable system the Internet willed into existence? You’d think not, but then again there’s no bigger name in games than, uh… chess? Ludeme Games is either really good at playing it straight or they’re really serious about this whole thing. Chess 2: The Sequel is a poker-faced “mod” of chess, coming to OUYA on January 21st in dazzling high-definition graphics. As described on its website, the game isn’t so much a sequel as it is a variant, introducing new armies in different arrangements that will have you swiping rooks…

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Can these easy-to-use dev tools may make Ouya relevant again?

The Ouya is a charming little system that hasn’t had much love. It garnered a lot of attention and excitement on Kickstarter, positioned as a console for the little guy, but it hasn’t made much of a splash since then.  It’s now getting a shot in the arm, as Google has released a toolkit that makes it easier to develop for. The demo of the Android update shows off things that only mobile game creators would care about, like swirling particles and water flowing down a chute. But this is important because the Ouya was positioned as the “indie” console—a…

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Slayers proves the Ouya belongs in the living room

When Jo Lammert from White Whale Games handed me a controller to play Slayers, she might as well have stolen a C-note from my wallet. – – – The transaction was like a good Pixar joke: To her, she was giving me a fun thing to play; to me, I saw the act though an adult’s eyes, calculating investment and time. Because Slayers is the game that finally sold me on buying an Ouya, the small $99 mini-console with the record-breaking Kickstarter that was sent out to early backers last week before a wide retail release on June 4th. Slayers…