The initial version of the OUYA shows promise, but it needs a lot of polish before the final retail release if it wants to impress gamers.

The promise of the console is far more appealing, and the time we've spent with the OUYA has us even more excited for its unknown future.

The Ouya is positioning itself as a different kind of console, and the little box certainly has a lot of potential. Its curated approach to discovery could help the truly good games get the recognition they deserve.

Like the console itself, the Ouya user interface and storefront is pretty simple. From the main menu, you have four options: Play, Discover, Make and Manage.

I liked what I saw during my brief time with Ouya. The idea of an indie-focused device that nearly obliterates the barrier of entry for would-be console developers gets me excited as a gamer. Its low price, small size, and free-to-try model should appeal to families on a budget as well.

The interface is simple, just a menu of four words: Play, Discover, Make and Manage. The latter lets you adjust the system settings; the first is a list of the games you own. It’s in the middle two options where things get interesting.

Booting into an Ouya game takes just 3-5 seconds from the menu. All the titles looked great on the approximately 40’’ demo display. Perhaps best of all, every Ouya game must offer a free component, allowing gamers try out the title before being asked to pay up.

We got a good look at both the user interface for the console and its new games. The look and feel of Ouya is pretty on the big screen, but the company doesn’t have any killer games yet.

Despite having actually seen, touched and played an Ouya, the console still feels pretty enigmatic. Like any video game system, it's going to live or die by its games, and we're still not sure what those will be. While we found the titles from our demo to be well adapted to the console and...

Overall, having had a brief play on the Ouya we're pretty impressed, with the device offering an enjoyable and disturbingly polished gaming experience.