First just rumored, it's since been confirmed that of the many games offered up by the latest console, the Ouya, are none other than the programs that live in the wonderful, legally gray area of the internet, emulators. Specifically, ones for Nintendo's old school systems.
The ones in question are EMUya, Mupen64Plus, and SuperGNES, which play ROMs for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64, and Super Nintendo, respectively.
Given their inclusion with the console, Ouya developers seems more than happy with the idea of offering up the programs. When asked about them, a spokesperson for Ouya gave Game Informer the following statement:
"OUYA will accept emulators as long as they adhere to our content guidelines and are not submitted with any games."
As far as content guidelines go, they're not exactly stringent. As GI describes, "under the entry for 'Illegal Activity,' the guide simply states 'Use good judgment and do not break the law.'"
Out of curiosity, I reached out to Nintendo to see if they were as carefree, and to date, they seem to be. Three separate times I've asked the company about the issue, once when emulators were just a rumor for the console, again days before the console was mailed to backers, and third time's the charm, after the backers began receiving their Ouyas, and all three times, I was told the company "didn't have a statement at this time."
Obviously I wasn't expecting a tome of a response, but it's noteworthy that the company chooses not to involve themselves when a new, cheap console that set a Kickstarter campaign record comes pre-loaded with programs allowing free access to the majority of their Virtual Console library, and then some.
But to be fair, they have bigger things to worry about.
