The key he is missing is Android. The huge big advantage of the OUYA is that it leverages the Android ecosystem. As a game developer myself, we were already developing OUYA ready games before the OUYA existed. Many (most?) games in the Play Store right now are already ready for the OUYA (gamepad support, freemium, 10 feet experience) or close to it. Which are a great good practice for developers to be following on Android anyway. And now the OUYA is an additional encouragement.

I agree with the author that the OUYA is not the future of gaming. Android is the future of gaming, the OUYA is just a tiny piece of the whole puzzle. There will be plenty of competition in the Android gaming-focused set top box in the next few years. The OUYA is just the first one. Maybe the OUYA itself will fail and lose ground to the competition. I don't know, nor do I care. It doesn't matter. What matters is that in the end of today it will have helped drive the Android ecosystem forward. The OUYA sends a clear message to the incumbent. Even if the OUYA dies because it couldn't outsell the new sony/samsung/whatever Android gaming boxes. It still succeeded on a game developer's point of view. Because the OUYA ever existed. More developers will be making their games compatible with consoles. More OEMs will be building Android gaming devices of different formats. Both game developers and gamers win.

He's right, the OUYA is just a so-so box without much special by itself. But it doesn't make sense to look to the OUYA by itself. Almost no one would've backed the OUYA if it was just a new platform never seen before. But it's not. The OUYA is just a detail that shows a clear trend that was not as obvious before (though many of us were saying this for years). Which is that Android is the gaming platform of the future.