New console - Ouya - reaches over two million dollars

[Starfighter]

OS: Android
Processor: Tegra 3 quad-core
RAM: 1 GB
Memory: 8 GB flash
Ports: HDMI (up to 1080p) and USB
Built in wifi and bluetooth

They claim anyone will be able to build apps and tweaks and encourage hackers to do what they want with it. In their kickstarter project they reached over two million dollars on just the first 24 hours.

I've heard people complain about the weak specifications ("my phone is stronger!"), that it isn't necessary ("pair your dual shock 3 with your smartphone and you've got the same thing") and so forth. But I really like the part about the console being open to tinkering right out of the box. No major restrictions and a really low price. It could be pretty interesting... What do you think?

More info and video: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

 

[LethalWolfe]

I think it's an interesting concept but I wonder if it will gain traction beyond geeks that like to tinker.

The wording on the Kickstarter page feels forced/disingenuous in parts which is a bit of a turn off to me. Phones and tablets are getting all the hot new games. Really? All games will be free... at least to try. Minecraft will definitely be on it... maybe.

This might sound obvious but I think the biggest hurdle will be with the quality of the games. I think lots of games get a free pass for shortcomings when they are on a phone or tablet but if you have something console-based people will expect an experience comparable to what they get from Sony, MS or Nintendo.

I didn't see any mention of cloud gaming and I feel like that would be an oversight for an upstart console that probably won't be out for 18-24 months. Of course cloud gaming adds another layer of complexity to it unless they partner up with OnLive.

 

[Starfighter]

I didn't see any mention of cloud gaming and I feel like that would be an oversight for an upstart console that probably won't be out for 18-24 months. Of course cloud gaming adds another layer of complexity to it unless they partner up with OnLive.

That is true, I talked about this project with a friend the other day and it's a surprise that they haven't talked with (or maybe they have) OnLive, Steam or other similar services!

The overall quality of games is a legitimate concern - but on the other hand, who knows what will come out of a platform open to virtually all contributors. It's hard to speculate in the outcome, what has been true just a couple years ago doesn't have to be true in a few years ahead.

 

[MRU]

What I don't get is their promise for 'free games'. Why would a developer incur the costs of development to supply them their games for free?

And if it's because they are laden with advertising, like most 'free' stuff on Android... well yuck!

Not sure about it either way.

 

[LethalWolfe]

What I don't get is their promise for 'free games'. Why would a developer incur te costs of development to supply them their games for free?

And if it's because they are laden with advertising, like most 'free' stuff on Android... well yuck!

Not sure about it either way.

By 'free games' they seem to mean that each game requires a free playable element (such as a demo). This is one of the wording instances that rubs me the wrong way. I mean, why say 'free games' as a selling point when you really mean for pay games will have free demos? And is having a free demo really a selling point? It's not like a free demo on PSN or XBL is rare or something.

 

[MRU]

By 'free games' they seem to mean that each game requires a free playable element (such as a demo). This is one of the wording instances that rubs me the wrong way. I mean, why say 'free games' as a selling point when you really mean for pay games will have free demos? And is having a free demo really a selling point? It's not like a free demo on PSN or XBL is rare or something.

Yep it is misleading, I was mislead!!!

 

[Starfighter]

Yep it is misleading, I was mislead!!!

I wouldn't really call it misleading, this information is available on the kickstarter site:

"We're handing the reins over to the developer with only one condition: at least some gameplay has to be free. We borrowed the free-to-play model from games like League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, Triple Town, and many others. Developers can offer a free demo with a full-game upgrade, in-game items or powers, or ask you to subscribe."

While I agree that this is a strange selling point it didn't strike me as misleading.

I think their absolutely biggest selling point is that the games in our phones can be brought to a bigger screen with less cost than many other smartphones or idevices (just guessing now, I'm not familiar with the prices in the states). To let the "smartphonegamers" take a gentle step further, if you know what I mean. It's like they are trying to harness the flood of new gamers that have arised, and the way to do this probably isn't by saying "You like Angry Birds on the bus to work? Try Dark Souls on PS3!" but more along the lines of "Try the games on a bigger screen for a low price!". Just me guessing of course, but if I was to launch a new console, I probably wouldn't target the hardcore fans right away, they're busy as it is getting their behind handed to them by Nintonysoft.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Just me guessing of course, but if I was to launch a new console, I probably wouldn't target the hardcore fans right away, they're busy as it is getting their behind handed to them by Nintonysoft.

To me this is a pretty niche product for hardcore gamers that are also tech tinkerers. How many casual gamers that are going to buy a console from an 'unknown' company that seems to be targeting an audience that wants to tweak the software and mod the hardware?

 

[Starfighter]

To me this is a pretty niche product for hardcore gamers that are also tech tinkerers. How many casual gamers that are going to buy a console from an 'unknown' company that seems to be targeting an audience that wants to tweak the software and mod the hardware?

I don't think the majority of buyers will mod it anyway. I know I won't, unless someone with tech skills comes up with something awesome that I can manage to copy.

 

[Taustin Powers]

Seems like an interesting toy, but probably not for me.

As far as pricing goes: Even if the games are not free, if they follow the current mobile app store pricing structure (1-2 bucks for a game, maybe 8 bucks for bigger games), that is still a huge difference to what you pay for retail games on the big consoles these days.

My biggest concern would be the quality of the games offered. You simply cannot develop a monster like Uncharted or Mass Effect and charge $5 for it. So I expect the games to be the same casual and knock-off dribble you find in the mobile app stores today.

 

[MRU]

Seems like an interesting toy, but probably not for me.

As far as pricing goes: Even if the games are not free, if they follow the current mobile app store pricing structure (1-2 bucks for a game, maybe 8 bucks for bigger games), that is still a huge difference to what you pay for retail games on the big consoles these days.

My biggest concern would be the quality of the games offered. You simply cannot develop a monster like Uncharted or Mass Effect and charge $5 for it. So I expect the games to be the same casual and knock-off dribble you find in the mobile app stores today.

That's it and that is the main problem with this concept.

We accept mobile gaming is fast, short, cheap and expendable.

When you take the same mobile game and say, ok now play it with a controller for 10 hours the limitations that are excusable of a mobile game become less excusable when the type of usage changes.

And so they deliver us 'near console level' as this OUYA is a tegra3, which by the time it's released in March 2013 will be out of date by Android hardware standards, and Tegra 3 is already beaten in benchmarks by the iPad, were not really going to be seeing 'console level gaming' and likewise any developer willing to spend $1-20 Million developing a AAA title that can compete with real console gaming is not going to be giving it away for $5 or free.....

It's a nice concept. It's a device where superficially it all sounds great, but realistically and in practice I imagine it will fail big time....

 

[Starfighter]

It's a nice concept. It's a device where superficially it all sounds great, but realistically and in practice I imagine it will fail big time....

I agree! It certainly is risky and the odds are against it. But it's interesting none the less, I have actually backed it up just because I want to see what it's like. (I probably would have bought OnLive as well if it just could get a release over here. )

 

[MRU]

I agree! It certainly is risky and the odds are against it. But it's interesting none the less, I have actually backed it up just because I want to see what it's like. (I probably would have bought OnLive as well if it just could get a release over here. )

See were all obsessive gamers / techies here that aren't the normal audience for console gaming. We have much more inquisitive notion of new consoles and technology and will likely give it a try, but the mainstream that's just too much work.

i'll prob pick one up just for the crack, or at least some form of android tv dongle as there are many kickstarter projects promising ICS dongles and wireless controllers for TV's.

 

[LethalWolfe]

My biggest concern would be the quality of the games offered. You simply cannot develop a monster like Uncharted or Mass Effect and charge $5 for it. So I expect the games to be the same casual and knock-off dribble you find in the mobile app stores today.

If this thing sees the light of day I think a few impressive, labor-of-love games will be made for it and then those devs will get picked up by game studios or publishers with deep pockets and move onto making games for other, more profitable systems.

I thought about backing it but I'm worried it's going to die on the vine. For example, one backer mentioned that the sheer number of 'free' consoles that are going to backers (currently about 28,000) is going to eat up the majority of the funds they have raised. Getting killed by your own rewards seems to be a common problem.

 

[Rychy]

While it's nice to see someone else trying to make a gaming console, I'm not interested in this myself. I just don't really see many of what I'll call "console caliber" games coming out for it.

I've already gotten over this cheap disposable mobile games mess ... I just don't care or like them, and playing them on a big screen certainly isn't going to make it any better ( even with a controller ).

 

[sikkinixx]

Should be funny when no one makes any games for it.

Cool idea, can't help but feel like with the pace mobile space is at, the specs will be outdated very quickly. How many people will want to buy a new OuYa a year down the line?

 

[Taustin Powers]

Interesting article:

http://penny-arcade.com/report/edit...e-doesnt-match-the-hype-why-you-should-be-ske

 

[Starfighter]

That was a interesting article indeed. Plus, as it turnes out, they actually have developers and companies behind them - helping them financially. There's rumors going around that the whole kickstarter-project was just a PR-trick and that money wasn't really needed. But they are closing in on being one of the most successful kickstarter-project ever which makes me even more confused. Is this fishy? Will it be a boring failure or go out with a bang? Will it be "pretty good"? At this point, I'm just excited to be part of it to see how the story unfolds.

 

[chickenwingfly]

Sorry to bump this kinda old topic now, but the more I think about it the less I understand.

What is this?

It's a Tegra-3 based Android device (that in two years will be quite old in tech terms and since it's not based on a specialized OS for "gaming" then...), so what makes it different to ANY of the other android devices out there? (Like the high end smartphones or tablets)? People can already use USB controllers on Android (and probably bluetooth as well but I don't know/ don't remember). So what's the deal with this?

"Games for free"? This is ANDROID-based, so basically any game, aka APK they release for the "Ouya" can be played on any other Android devices. Am I wrong or what?

I don't know, I think this is the stupidest idea ever, but I might be misunderstanding something quite a lot because given all the hype and support it's gotten so far...

Now, this device for $99 bucks would make a great hobbyist platform with its nice specs and tiny size (think, raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, so on), but that's it.

Seriously, I think I must be missing something up to oblivion.

 

[Starfighter]

They just made it official that OnLive is onboard!

 

[MRU]

They just made it official that OnLive is onboard!

Doesn't really make sense. Onlive console/controller is priced cheaper than Ouya anyway, and you will still need a subscription to onlive so it just doesn't seem to make much sense if that is to be considered a selling point....

 

[Starfighter]

Doesn't really make sense. Onlive console/controller is priced cheaper than Ouya anyway, and you will still need a subscription to onlive so it just doesn't seem to make much sense if that is to be considered a selling point....

I don't know why they decided to partner up with OnLive, but as I've heard the feature was asked for by the backers.Personally I don't think adding a game streaming service would hurt... But again: I'm not here to sell the console, I have no answers.

 

[chickenwingfly]

I don't know why they decided to partner up with OnLive, but as I've heard the feature was asked for by the backers.Personally I don't think adding a game streaming service would hurt... But again: I'm not here to sell the console, I have no answers.

But then I ask again since I seem to be the only one lost in this topic.

Ouya is based on Android.
Onlive has an Android app (on iOS it just streams other players games because they never cared to bring the promised app and removing the purchase system in exchange to IAP or nothing, per AppStore policies), that can be used to log in to your OnLive account and play on your Galaxy Tab and whatever.

Hence, Ouya by default has support for Onlive (it's just an Android app).

So how is the announcement that Ouya will support OnLive news????

What am I missing??? Arrrghh I'm going nuts.

 

[Starfighter]

So how is the announcement that Ouya will support OnLive news????

I don't know if the plan was to bring all of Android market to Ouya. If that's the case then I stand as confused as you.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

It's a Tegra-3 based Android device (that in two years will be quite old in tech terms and since it's not based on a specialized OS for "gaming" then...

What on earth is a "gaming specialized OS"? As long as you have proper A/V API's, then you have a "gaming specialized OS". And I think you can bet that the OS will be upgradeable anyway, like with all other modern consoles. And Android for that matter.

so what makes it different to ANY of the other android devices out there? (Like the high end smartphones or tablets)? People can already use USB controllers on Android (and probably bluetooth as well but I don't know/ don't remember). So what's the deal with this?

Its a console, so people buy it to play games. Developers that develop games for phones have no real idea about the number of sales they'll make.

"Games for free"? This is ANDROID-based, so basically any game, aka APK they release for the "Ouya" can be played on any other Android devices. Am I wrong or what?

Yes. They would still have to support different hardware, OS versions and hardware limitations, in order to play on all Android devices.

I don't know, I think this is the stupidest idea ever, but I might be misunderstanding something quite a lot because given all the hype and support it's gotten so far...

That's why they are earning the money, and not you.

Now, this device for $99 bucks would make a great hobbyist platform with its nice specs and tiny size (think, raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, so on), but that's it.

That should also be enough, but in this case that's just a secondary neat feature, which again opens up yet another market for it.

Doesn't really make sense. Onlive console/controller is priced cheaper than Ouya anyway, and you will still need a subscription to onlive so it just doesn't seem to make much sense if that is to be considered a selling point....

It makes a lot of sense. It instantly provides the OUYA with a big library of games, which is a must to cater to the public. Also, many of those games are from AAA publishers, which makes sure the console won't drown in small casual games only, and won't die a horrible uninteresting death like the Nintendo Wii.

At the same time, each time OnLive gets a new game, the OUYA gets it. Instant bonus.