Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Reviews

OUYA signs Portal’s creator to an exclusive, while one of ‘Journey’s’ creators joins the team

By

Ouya consoleCheck out our review of the Ouya Android-based gaming console.

The OUYA approaches with ever increasing speed. If all goes according to plan, the Google Android-powered game console that’s a mere $99 will start showing up on the doorsteps of the 63,000 people that helped fund its creation through Kickstarter this March. By the end of June, you’ll be able to walk into a Best Buy or GameStop and by the system then and there. Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman promised at the beginning of February that some 200 titles are in development for the platform and a number of exclusives are among them. On Thursday, OUYA shed more light on who will provide some of those exclusives.

Recommended Videos

First up is Kim Swift and her studio Airtight Games. Game aficionados may remember Swift from her famous student project Narbacular Drop, which was remade and recast as Portal when she joined a little studio called Valve. Swift went on to work on Left 4 Dead before leaving Valve to work on Quantum Conundrum. Her next game will only be available on OUYA.

“We truly feel that this platform will give us the freedom to fully realize the funky, unique game we have in mind,” writes Swift, “Though the title will definitely appeal to core gamers in terms of skill and difficulty, it really has a completely unexpected, imaginative slant that’s totally at home on this console.”

TripWire Interactive is also bringing it’s much loved indie hit from a few years back, The Ball, to OUYA but it’s also developing an original, exclusive game for the console as well.

Though not exclusive, OUYA also confirmed that Papo & Yo studio Minority Media is bringing its next game to the platform as is nWay’s ChronoBlade.

OUYA had built up a lot of enthusiasm from independent game developers even before it opened its multi-million dollar raising Kickstarter campaign in 2012, and major game publishers like Square-Enix and Namco Bandai followed suit. Now OUYA has another star of indie development wrangling these studios for the company.

GameSpot tweeted on Thursday that none other than Kellee Santiago, co-founder of thatgamecompany and one of the minds behind Journey and Flower, has signed on with OUYA as the head of its developer relations team. Santiago’s artistic track record is nearly flawless, so if nothing else she should be able to sniff out interesting games and creators for the budding console.

Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Is Helldivers 2 coming to Xbox?
A soldier in silhouette in Helldivers 2.

Helldivers 2 was a massive hit right out of the gate for developer Arrowhead Game Studios, and the game's popularity has only grown since its release in February of this year. Shedding the top-down perspective of the first Helldivers, this cooperative third-person shooter took the world by surprise by being equally hilarious, fun, and challenging. It demands everyone work together to overcome massive hordes of bugs while also dealing with the fact that one player's slipup could derail the whole mission in the most humorous fashion. It's a total riot, and it's not hard to see why.

However, players on Xbox haven't had an opportunity to join in on the fun, as the game is only available on PlayStation 5 and PC. Since so many modern games have timed exclusivity, you may be wondering if that's the case for Helldivers 2, and we've got the answer for you below.
Will Helldivers 2 ever come to Xbox?
It's very unlikely that Helldivers 2 will ever come to Xbox consoles. The primary reason for this is that Helldivers 2 is published by Sony Computer Entertainment, which is a direct competitor to Microsoft. Sony is known for being very protective of IPs and brands, meaning the company tends to keep its published games off of competing consoles.

Read more
Marvel’s Midnight Suns dev confirms romance options were never in the game
Magik after opening a portal for the first time in Marvel's Midnight Suns.

When Marvel's Midnight Suns was released in 2022, some were disappointed that players were unable to romance any of the superhero characters in the game. While players have wondered whether or not that was Marvel or Firaxis' decision, Midnight Suns' Creative Director Jake Solomon has now affirmed to Digital Trends in an interview that he truly never considered romance for the game.

"I’ve seen people say romance was a part of this, but it never was. I never even brought it up to Marvel because I couldn’t find a way," Solomon told Digital Trends as part of a wider discussion about his work on XCOM and Marvel's Midnight Suns, as well as the formation of Midsummer Studios. "I think the best way for romance to work is for the characters to respond to what the main character wants, right? I think it has to be like that, so it’s hard to mess with these really defined characters. They have these defined sexualities, and it would be hard to fulfill fantasies for all players in terms of what it is they want to do."

Read more
Assassin’s Creed Shadows: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more
The two heroes of Assassin's Creed Shadows stand side by side.

We've been asking for it ever since the series debut, and now we're finally getting an Assassin's Creed game set in Feudal Japan. Previously known by the code name Assassin's Creed Red, Assassin's Creed Shadows will be the latest entry in the long-running Assassin's saga. Ubisoft let us know we would be getting the world premiere trailer first, but it turns out there was a lot more to show than just a first glimpse at the game. We've managed to gather all the footage and information shared online to deliver you the goods about Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Release date

You will be able to wear the hidden blade once more in Assassin's Creed Shadows when it launches on November 15, 2024.
Platforms

Read more