China Gets its First Knock-Off Console

With China having lifted its long-standing ban on consoles, it means a few things: it means that the console industry has a gigantic new market of potential customers. It means that the mobile and PC gaming explosion that’s been happening semi-secretly behind the “Great Firewall of China” has a chance to broaden its horizons and possibly migrate West. It means that the Chinese people have a new cultural experience that could, again, potentially undermine the iron-fisted oppression of their rulers. And, of course, it means cheap Chinese knockoffs!

Spotted by the folks over at Kotaku, this Chinese-crowdfunded console has the body of a PS4, a controller from the Xbox One, and all the integrity of a snake-oil and used car salesman. Called the OUYE, it costs about $100 USD and plays Android games…

…wait a minute here…

So it’s not just ripping off the Xbox One and the PS4, but it’s ALSO ripping off the Ouya of all things? Geez, that’s taking the whole copyright thing pretty seriously. Of course, China has a long history of copyright infringement and rip-offs, with things like an unofficial World of Warcraft theme park and… well, this. The thing is, it’s very easy for the Chinese to break copyright law, because their rules are a little more archaic than ours, and trying to take any infringers to court is an exorbitantly expensive process… usually more trouble than it's worth.

Which is why something like this is easy to get away with, even now that consoles are ‘legal’ in China.

I’m not going to say if this idea will actually do anything or make any waves in China, but if it’s just an Ouya with an Xbox One controller… well honestly that might be pretty nice.