I was blown away this morning at the notion that The Verge went through all the hassle of creating a video review for the Ouya, that Android-powered console we’ve been talking about, then gave it a mind-blowingly low 3.5, perhaps the lowest score I’ve ever seen them give a product. So why are tech sites like The Verge treating this obviously pre-release hardware and software as final product and rating it for potential customers?

I understand the journalistic thirst to get to the finish line first, but the starter pistol hasn’t even been fired. Ouya is shipping hardware to Kickstarter backers in hopes to get constructive feedback ahead of the console’s retail launch a full two months away. Is it fair to say that the controller (and perhaps the console itself) feels cheap? Is it odd that the console ships with the controller’s right face panel displaced to reveal where the batteries go, despite looking like the controller fell apart in shipping? Yeah, absolutely, but to render a final verdict on the console’s mod-ability, game selection, and interface when it’s not at a 1.0 state yet seems incredibly harsh.

We expect our console soon, so you’ll hear impressions, just don’t expect a score until it’s ready.