Ouya launches new black console with twice the memory

A new Ouya console has been launched, boasting a matte black finish, twice the flash memory and a few other small tweaks.

If you weren't sure about the Ouya console, this might be a good time to jump on the bandwagon. A new and improved version has just launched, promising better performance.

Compared to the original Ouya, it has a couple of significant upgrades: namely, the console has been finished in sleek matte black, the controller has been redesigned, and it now boasts 16GB of flash memory as opposed to the original console's pretty small 8GB.

It's also had some new ports added. Like the original Ouya, it has just one USB port, but it also now has a micro-USB port, an Ethernet port and an HDMI port, supporting resolutions up to 1080p. The Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n) has been supplemented with Bluetooth, which is also used to connect to the controller.

The firmware has also been upgraded, which is undoubtedly a welcome change, after the original Ouya was plagued with bugs at launch. The company makes no mention, however, of which operating system it runs on; we assume it's still Android 4.0. Likewise, it still uses a Tegra 3 quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM.

It's a little pricier — US$129 as opposed to the original console's US$99. In the box, you get the console, the new controller, an HDMI cable, two AA batteries for the controller and a power adapter.

You can buy it from the Ouya website. Australian customers will have to add shipping on top, which brings the total price to around US$150.