Onya

The emergence of Crowdsourced funding platforms has provided a quick way for startups to create a buzz around a new product or concept and quickly secure funding. On sites like www.kickstarter.com entrepreneurs use short videos to  “pitch” their ideas to potential funders. They offer various benefits depending on the investment level (this varies from $5 up to thousands of dollars), most often the product at discounted price before it hits the market. Funders are sent updates during the development/production process.

I’ve funded a couple of ideas and seen the product from concept to delivery had the product. It's been fun.  eg. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2107726947/hidden-radio-and-bluetooth-speaker

One of the biggest funding successes kickstarter has had is Ouya, an Android-based game console… at $99 cheap way to bring Android games to the flatscreen tv, it quickly raised around $8.6 million from more than 63,000 backers. It's still in production.

The stated aim of Ouya is to “lower the barrier for game development compared to traditional game consoles, so there are no licensing fees, and every console will include a software development kit. There's just one big rule that all developers must follow: All games must have a free-to-play element, whether it's a timed trial, a feature-locked demo or a complete experience filled with microtransactions” 

(source:http://www.pcworld.com/article/259026/ouya_to_enter_gaming_market_with_99_android_powered_console.html)

You'll find other game concepts on kickstarter. On thing is for sure is that it has provided a new awareness, funding and distribution channel that allows small independent players to take games & consoles to market at a lower cost. Maybe some of the bigger companies will look to this model to get early involvement in new game concepts, as it lowers risk.

In the meantime here comes the Onya. Whether the games provide a rich immersive experience... well that's another, critical, thing.

http://www.ouya.tv