Mad Catz’s recently announced Project MOJO Android micro-console (now just “MOJO”) was on-hand at the hardware manufacturer’s open-air booth in the middle of E3′s West Hall. We learned a great deal more about the device’s proprietary publishing ecosystem, or rather its lack of one.
Unlike the Ouya or other Android micro-consoles announced this year, the MOJO runs stock Android and connects to the Google Play store like any smartphone or tablet. This means that, rather than waiting for a game to be ported to the MOJO, it just has be ported to Android in general. It also means that the MOJO is registered to your existing Google Play account as another device, so any games you already own on your smartphone or tablet can be downloaded and played on the MOJO.
“We don’t believe we should be restricting you, we want to be as open as possible,” Mad Catz senior product development manager Richard Neville told us. “We just want to give people the most powerful hardware they can get, and that then becomes the enabler for the user.”
Said hardware, at least on the E3 showfloor, ran on a Tegra 3 processor and featured HDMI output at 1080p, as well as two USB inputs, 16 gigs of on-board storage expandable by mini SD, wireless b/n/g interwebs and both Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Smart. The MOJO’s processor is expected to change before the micro-console launches this winter, however, when the production unit’s specs are finalized around the end of this summer. We were also told that the final version will feature an Ethernet port for hard-wiring into a home network.
No pricing has been announced as of yet, but the console will include a Mad Catz Ctrl-R wireless Bluetooth Classic/Smart controller, which can change between being an Android controller, mouse input or PC gamepad at the flick of a switch.
Mad Catz’s Android console now just ‘MOJO,’ pulls games straight from Google Play originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz is gearing up to enter the microconsole market with the unveiling of “Project MOJO,” an Android-based device to be showcased at E3. …
