Ouya : The Android Console
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holy hell! Thanks for the share, Tigerfeet.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/07/ouya/
I would definitely buy this... Most the games I play are portable games, but id rather play them on a tv. But the fact that every game must have a free to play setup, or a trial version. Just goes to show, gaming really is going towards the free to play model.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/07/ouya/
I would definitely buy this... Most the games I play are portable games, but id rather play them on a tv. But the fact that every game must have a free to play setup, or a trial version. Just goes to show, gaming really is going towards the free to play model.
Replies
Or am I missing the point in this. Just give us a steambox already Valve dammit!
EDIT: Never mind, I see the controller has a touch panel. And it seems like the console is for FUTURE releases, not just playing existing titles on a TV. Well. It's interesting I guess, especially for people trying to sell their indie games on as many platforms as possible.
I dunno, I started out on arcades that cost a quarter every time you played and the difficulty curve was designed to suck money out of you. But this is really a topic for another thread.
You still had to initially pay and the games were just platforms or rail shooters.
Not really the same thing at all to what is happening today.
Also, I actually enjoy this console idea. There are a lot of great games on mobile devices, but touch controls F'ing SUCK.....
This.
People would have to make new games specifically for this console (or so I thought)
Edit:
I'm also kinda wondering about how powerful it is. Playing Android games that are made for a phone/tablet on a big 1080p screen doesn't sound like fun. But the specs say it's a Tegra3 quad core with 1gig of RAM, which sounds pretty decent. Doesn't that come out to be roughly 360 power level?
mobile platforms are not easily comparable to consoles, from what I heard, it should be able to emulate sega Saturn and Nintendo DS games, so I'd assume it'd max out around gamecube/wii/xbox/ps2 quality games
Is that what the Ouya will be?
Fidelity isn't everything. Some people (e.g. the mobile crowd) care more about having fun than eye-melting graphic detail.
god forbid people would just be happy about having an sdk they can develop some shit for and have people play it
totally interested in this, but not out of a money-grabbing-gamedeveloper-perspective
they are trying to "stick it to the man" with all this free and hackable shit, and everybody just goes back to thinking about how much you'd earn for selling your crappy games on it.
all my rage
You're thinking of the wrong kind of hacking. You can hack the hardware, it doesn't enable you can hack into other consoles and steal credit cards. Any games involving transactions would likely be authenticated by the server you're connected to. Just think of the console as more like a PC and the software running on that console is like Steam.
If that were true apple, nvidia, and all would not bother pushing the gpu to another level for each release yearly. Not to mention tablets. Are you confusing casual and mobile games being synonymous?
As it is this is going for the tv console crowd.
No more than I'd equate PC and console games. Yes, graphics hardware matters, but not nearly on the level that it does on the 360 or the PS3. The Wii is the most anemic of the consoles, yet it managed to draw a significant crowd through innovative play. Not only that, but how long has it been since the big consoles launched? Six or seven years isn't it? If they can stand pat for this long merely by adding new play models, don't you think the Ouya could handle what the indie developers of mobile and casual games make for it? If the Wii, PS3 Move, and the Kinect has taught us anything, it's that graphics aren't necessarily the driving force behind games as they used to be. What seems to be the biggest mover right now is innovating modes of play. Rhythm, motion, and casual game play are taking a larger role. The Ouya folks seem to recognize that and want to fill that hole between high graphic fidelity and accessibility. The non-core players want something they can easily pick up, have fun, and then put down again without dealing with steep learning curves or hefty hardware costs.
Edit: The target of this console isn't for the current console crowd. It's really for the people that play mobiles games that say they want to play those on their TV.
It means you are free to play the game but you will have to pay if you want to get the best experience out of the game - that is something developers will work hard to make sure is true of thier game.
Overlord, I see your point but putting in a tegra 4 would give it a longer shelf life. It also doesn't have the truly innovate interaction like the wii.
Finally as a developer it would give you more room to play from physics to polyies. Making adoption from platform to platform easier.
Yes, a Tegra 4 would probably be better (newer tech usually tends to be better than the old tech), I just don't think it's as much of a hindrance as you think. The difference could be very little, but I haven't seen the benchmarks and compared. It might be better to get the ball rolling rather than waiting for the perfect conditions. Tech can always be upgraded, but a missed opportunity is gone for good.
It might not have the innovative modes of play, but it does something that the others don't: opens up a console to everyone.
That's at least the problem that I see with it. It's also the problem I had with the Vita, but who knows, I'm probably wrong on that one too
Here's why I think your logic is flawed:
The key feature of the Ouya is that it is a market disruptor. It means that independent developers don't need the big guys to get their games onto consoles. Personally, I think it's a great idea and there should be another console out there that isn't one of the "big three" because they lay a lot of weight on developers about how and what they can do with their games on a console.
If the future performance is really a concern, put the Ouya on an SoC (system on card) and install it into a back plane motherboard so it can be upgraded to a better chipset in the future.
The gaming industry winners have always been underpowered and cheap consoles, like the gameboy or the wii.
One thing to note with this: you're not buying a console in the traditional sense, you're buying and owning the hardware.
Also I'd also be very concerned about putting my credit card details in. I think they should address this concern that some people are having.
Every console sold includes the sdk.
Your everyday pc is way less secure than this, what frightens you the most when inputting card details, that your pc is going to be compromised, or the website/server?
Also, to anyone fearing that the console will be full of free to play titles:
Nothing says games have to be free to play, just that they have to provide a part of the game for free, which can be just a demo.
And this is just on their distribution platform, if you wanted to you could bypass that and install whatever you wanted on your console.
Did you just compare a PC to a phone?
You're being ridiculous. This is an Android device. At roughly the same price as a phone with that same OS, running pretty much the same apps.
Aren't equalent tegra3 devices roughly four times the price?
It's fully valid to compare a pc to a phone, it's the same technology driving both.
This device is at the price range of a phone, has the same operating system, and targets the same audience. Sometimes quite literally, since many games should be ports. I don't see how any of this compares to a PC.
At any case, the point isn't about when it comes out, it's about a little further down the road. When you could get tegra4 phones at roughly the same price with a contract. Then you have people walking around with those phones wondering why they would want to spend money on an already obsolete console.
The other question is if it could handle the same stuff. Remember, the phone version runs at a much lower resolution. This thing would run on a 1080p TV. I guess you could just stretch things out, but that's obviously less than ideal.
I'm just saying it sounds a bit difficult to develop for. And I'm not sure if there's a decent target audience for this. Considering you can get a 360 for like $20 more.
I'm just not sure I understand the niche this is trying to fill.
So why is everyone with a i7 mac & pc walking around with a much inferior mobile device, and why are they also buying consoles?
And where is my default by design controller for my android device, shouldn't one of those be shipped with every android?
Defaults are the key here: This is a console device that is open much like a pc, that has smaller entry barriers than consoles, that has the DEFAULT HARDWARE of a console, such as a game-pad being default for every console.
Android phones do not have these things, there isn't a default android device.
The Ouya is however, not a phone, it will never be, it's a small stationary console with a set design and targeted to people who want games.
The Nexus 7 is $200. And other than no hdmi port can do most of the same thinks if not more.
Pc and Phones do not use the same principle of tech. Phones are for low power on the go system on a chip. Pc are for sitting down for more complicated tasks with customizable hardware by the end user.
The Nexus 7 seems to be sold at a loss, and it has no controller included, it never will have.
Same tech, the chips built by nvidia and the likes derive from the same technology, but the goal as you've said, for mobile devices have always been lower power usage.
Take an ultrabook with low-power chips and you'll still be using a pc.
The difference has always merely been a DESIGN difference, the same way a tv and monitor are seen as different but use the same technology.
I'm not being ridiculous at all. The issue you raised isn't about price, it's about the hardware. The truth is, platforms built on the same type of hardware and software will always surpass consoles because whether it's a phone, a tablet, or a PC, the technology keeps moving on while the consoles continue to stay where they are. It's inevitable that other devices will surpass consoles because they remain static; it's easier to hit a static target rather than aiming for a constantly moving target like smart phones and PC's. I think they're doing the right thing by building it on the technology that is available to them right now, because someone else might beat them to it if they wait. You want to hold out for newer technology? Where will it stop? Should they wait for the Tegra 5 because that might be out a year after the Tegra 4? At some point you have to lock down the design or you're going to be held back by feature creep.
Just a side note, smart phones that have the level of hardware as the Ouya are in the $300-$600 range, not $99. It's contracts that subsidize the price of the phones and you can't use your phone as an SDK like the Ouya allows you.
Edit:
I just re-read your posts and I realize that there might be some confusion. I think your logic is flawed because saying that phones make the Ouya pointless is like saying that PC's make the 360, PS3, and Wii pointless. We can see that isn't the case with the big three. As eld said, it's about the games, not the hardware. If the games are there, and I think they will be, this will take off.
Not in possession of an android phone, and I'm not looking to profit on this, I merely enjoy the idea of ouya and want to support it the way I can.
We could just as well say "Why not pc?"
Why not make a custom Linux kernel with some of androids binaries for some easier conversion/compatibility? So they really are offering their own thing.
Otherwise I can't see why one would wait to develop on this platform alone when Google offers sdks already for your desktop. It would also mean theywould be offering something different as being mentioned here.
Whether they recognize it or not they are competing in the android market. Especially since box tops are being released. So as such I again point out that then limiting the hardware to last gen when the new gen with physics integration (look at what Wayne/4 offers) Will be out. While test samples would have been given out by end 2012 allowing for released hardware at launch.
Lets see I can get a nexus 7 with the same hardware most likely by that time for at most 190. Buy a Bluetooth gamepad. So other than playing a game on the big screen, being stuck on the couch. While the nexus 7 user can go and play where they want and when. And because it runs vanilla Android, can run newer versions easily.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/IanFisch/20120711/173901/OUYA_the_Android_console_Scam_or_just_naivette.php
1. Unity already can build games for Android and they are partnering with Ouya.
2. Android is open and accessible.
3. Standardized control scheme.
4. The Ouya isn't a phone, so it can do other things like be an XBMC.
5. You can modifiy your console to suit your needs (i.e. they won't sue you for modding).
6. Provides a console platform to learn how to develop games.
That Bloggers has exactly the right idea. Its almost scary that he raised the same points.
Dustin, if you want to retire eventually your in the wrong field. You know what most people do after the first 2 years of retirement? Nothing. Also, just wait to the next walk street fiasco for your 401 to go capute!
XBMC afaik doesn't have a version for android yet beyond the remote client.
As for the rest, see the link to the gamasutra blog.
You have a much more powerful development console right in front of you.