That's why I like Ouya, it focuses on another market, a market where consoles generally have done really great, arcade style games. Also, with the possibility to use it as a media center is a killer feature for many people.
It's seems like there are very two distinct paths that gamers come from: 1) arcade/old-school consoles and 2) computer FPS, RTS, MMOs.
Coming from #1 myself, I find it interesting that the majority of people from #2 really only consider their path to be "true gaming". They're the ones who are always demanding more CPU power, more memory, etc, and basically seem to ignore that there are games that are not FPS, RTS or MMOs.
Coming from #1, I don't have any complaints about underpowered consoles, and I play plenty of games running off 3D engines like Street Fighter IV, Tekken, Burnout, etc. I don't even touch FPS, RTS or MMOs. While I'm sure #1's are in the minority these days, there are still large numbers of us who buy consoles to play games that aren't best played with PCs, keyboards and mice.
If you really want to be at the very bleeding edge of what's possible in gaming, the PC market is alive and well. The console market is more affordable and consequently more inclusive.
> "This kind of money is clearly a message the world needs a product like this."
I doubt this. There's a [very small] market for a product like this. The power of the internet is that this [very small] demographic can come together, pool their resources, and create something they all want. This does not mean that there's a mass-market or mainstream product waiting to jump out.
Sure, it might be able to run 1080p games faster with a few more effects.
A TV console, however, doesn't need to incrementally improve as fast as a gaming computer, because the TV gamers aren't constantly upgrading to higher resolution monitors.