OUYA, the low-cost, Android-based and fully hackable gaming console had the biggest launch date in Kickstarter history. Pebble, the previous record holder, went on to raise over $10 million. As with the Pebble, you have to ask, is this just hype, or is something going on here?

The something is, I think, fairly significant and it’s not just about games. I have written a lot recently about Apple TV, about the Google Nexus Q and about Brightcove’s platform for producing dual-screen TV apps. The next part of the digital revolution will (finally) be in the living room around the digital hearth of the flat screen TV.

But consumers and developers are not necessarily going to wait around for Apple, Google and Microsoft to figure it out. The OUYA is a clear indication that the users want to take matters into their own hands. And although this is a gaming console, it is also an Android-based controller for a TV. To me, this opens up the ista of what Michael Bayle, senior vice president and general manager of mobile at ESPN, calls, “the game around the game.”

Simply put, people will use the OUYA platform as a way to be independent game developers for sure, but they will also use it to quickly and inexpensively try out a myriad of game-like interactions with existing games and other content that can be manipulated on the big screen. So while the big tech companies will be trying to come up with the best way to monetize these kinds of user experiences, the users will already be experiencing them on their own (thank you very much!)

This scenario also sets the stage for the Firefox Mobile OS and other open-source, HTML5 based phones. Consumer products that are built form the ground up to be hacked by users will create a kind of parallel universe to the big tech companies and spur innovation. Significantly, customizations that may seem like geeky hobbies in the U.S., are absolute necessities in many parts of the world.

Under the heading, “Hackers welcome,” OUYA invites the jailbreakers in, “Have at it: It’s easy to root (and rooting won’t void your warranty). Everything opens with standard screws. Hardware hackers can create their own peripherals, and connect via USB or Bluetooth. You want our hardware design? Let us know. We might just give it to you. Surprise us!” Right up front, they have de-criminalized hardware hacking.

The low price tag is a big part of the OUYA’s viral lift, but its cheapness does not define it as a product. The unit itself is conceived by “award-winning designer, Yves Behar, and his firm fuseproject (designer of the Jambox).” The whole feel of the enterprise is smart and attentive to detail. I would not be surprised to see OUYA raise $20 million on Kickstarter and come out with a more ambitious product than they initially intended. Gamers want it, and our living rooms want it too.