Obviously, Sony and Microsoft's next-gen consoles were the talk of the town at this year's E3 but there was one booth that had many industry professionals talking and it wasn't even in the building.
Across the street from Los Angeles' convention center (corner of Figueroa and Pico) in Icon Nightclub's parking lot was Ouya's in all its indie glory. Ouya's E3 presence was subversively powerful considering the up-start's scuffle with the ESA.
Founder of Ouya Julie Uhrman informed IGN that ESA officials called the Los Angeles Police Department among other things in attempting to shut the home Android console.
The ordeal began Tuesday morning when ESA decided block people from even seeing Ouya by parking a rented semi-truck in front of the company's tent. Ouya would then humorously respond by renting a space right in front of ESA's with a truck donned in promotional material.
Police would later be called by the ESA in hopes that permit issues would shut then down for good but it didn't work because Ouya was lawfully allowed to set up.
While many of the industry heavyweights catered to investors and numerous media outlets during E3, Ouya's catered to the people who are the backbone of the industry - the gamers.
Alongside games from a few key publishers, many of the games playable were created from indie developers and they were actually fun most importantly. There was even a simple game created by an eight year old kid that had more originality and excitement than most of the upcoming next-gen launch titles demoed on the showroom floor.
For quite some time, I had been spreading my gospel of how Ouya and those other Android home consoles would eventually make the industry implode on itself if left unchecked.
After visiting Ouya's booth, it hit me. While the Ouya may never hold a candle to current and next-gen consoles, it's not about that. It's about creating a platform that's extremely easy and inexpensive to develop for. Couple that Ouya with Unity making it's engine available to indie developers for free last month, the possibilities are completely endless. I foresee a time where in ten or twenty years from now a developer working for a huge publisher will say that their first program experience was on the Ouya.
Besides the ability to use Android apps like Netflix and Tunein, Ouya makes a better purchase than the similarly priced Ruko or other media players. On the gaming end, those who don't want to spend enormous amounts of money on a console to only buy two or three titles and watch it collect dust will find a lot to like about Ouya.
So what Ouya decided to play by against the rules of playing along with the ESA; the nature of the console allows them to do that. No need for investors or retail buyers because outside of selling the product themselves, Amazon and Best Buy will be carrying it anyway. Publishers may scuff at creating titles exclusively to the console but because of the Android usage, mobile and tablet games using the operating system should be easily portable. Hell, Ouya is launching with Sqaure Enix's remake of Final Fantasy III.
Ouya not only successfully made it's case at E3 to its importance but, inadvertently made a fool of the ESA in the process.
In an age where consumer rights of ownership are becoming a hot button issue thanks to Microsoft, Ouya does come off as the cool anti-establishment movement that could potentially level the playing field within the industry.
Forgetting everything that was just said. The best thing about Ouya's tent during those three days of E3 was simply the fact that free beer was served between 4pm and 7pm.
