Firefox Being Tested On Ouya

 

  • Custom TV UI version of Android Jelly Bean
  • Comes with a much-needed-for-mobile gamepad
  • Packs a Tegra 3 system-on-a-chip

Open source browser Firefox is being tested on open source game console Ouya, according to software developer Mozilla.

 

  • Custom TV UI version of Android Jelly Bean
  • Comes with a much-needed-for-mobile gamepad
  • Packs a Tegra 3 system-on-a-chip

Open source browser Firefox is being tested on open source game console Ouya, according to software developer Mozilla.

"We're investigating what we need to do to make Firefox usable on Ouya," confirmed Mozilla mobile platform engineer Chris Lord to OuyaForum.com administrator Ed Krassenstein. "It already works and we have some preliminary patches for gamepad support, but there's still quite a bit of work to be done to make it really usable.”

Lord also said that this includes making sure WebGL and Canvas support performs well enough on Ouya, and that relevant APIs like Gamepad API are also supported.

However, there is no certainty that Mozilla is guaranteed to bring the Firefox browser to this $99 Android-based game console. A company representative told TechRadar that "Mozilla is an open source organization and all projects and experiments at Mozilla are developed in the open to gather ideas and feedback."

"Firefox was ported to Ouya by one of our developers as an experimental project. We'll keep you posted on any news or developments related to Firefox on Ouya."

Lord also said on Twitter, "#Firefox on #Ouya – kinda unusable atm," along with a photo of the console sitting in front of a screen projecting the Firefox browser.

The Kickstarter-backed Ouya release date for retail stores is currently pegged for April, with the official website still accepting Ouya pre-orders. Ouya raised more than AUD$8.045 million from Kickstarter, the second-highest crowd-funded project on the site, soo there are a lot of people betting big on this tiny console.

The latest Ouya tech specs confirm that it will run a custom TV UI version of Android Jelly Bean, come with a much-needed-for-mobile gamepad and pack a Tegra 3 system-on-a-chip. With a 1.7 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of onboard flash memory, Ouya will have enough power to support Android games, all of which are free-to-play in some capacity.