Alright, I'll be the jerk who says it. I don't want game development to go back to the (1980's) days where two hippies in their garage can make games just as well as a proper studio. It seems like there are a lot of 40-something devs out there that are tired of working for studios, so they're doing everything they can to reshape the industry in such a way that they can be more independent as developers. And they have the mindshare, connections, and clout to pull it off.
Ok...you've had a full career and now you want to do something different. Good for you, don't f**k with my career in the process by subverting every possibility for proper studios to exist. I like making a decent salary and having a 401k retirement plan. If you mess that up for me, I'll cut you.
Seriously, how is this effecting your career at all? Ballooning budgets and blockbuster or bust mentality is why studios are shutting down.
Oxy what are you talking about game devs retire all the time! Games not doing well, your retired! Games coming out soon, your retired!
Dustin, big studios need big sales to stay big and are either owned by a publisher or work for a publisher that expects games to sell more every year no matter what. Its the same as expecting your house's worth to keep going up every year no matter what. You really think that's a healthy market?
I think one thine the OUYA offers over Android phones it that you as a developer can be pretty sure that person who owns a OUYA is a gamer, not just a phone owner who plays games causally when they are bored. That makes a big difference to what kinds of game experiences you will design and what the customers will be willing to pay for those experiences.
Fragmentation is a reality that anyone developing for Android already has to deal with. There are over 1300 different devices already OUYA isn't going to make a difference in that regard.
Depending on how many OUYAs actually get out to the consumer, I'd actually use the OUYA as my main target device with phones/tablets being a secondary target. For the most part no one is making money on Android games atm. anyway. So having an audience of gamers with a specific device spec that you can target (with a controller no less!) is a great thing indeed. Of course that all depends on how large an install base OUYA can build up. Without that it's just a dev toy to play with.
A much healthier games industry would be one were there is no need for publishers where studios can survive off the sales of the games. That's what they are trying to bring about.
Publishers are only needed in the hard copy market.
Any new platform that doesn't require a hard copy is a good thing.
A much healthier games industry would be one were there is no need for publishers where studios can survive off the sales of the games. That's what they are trying to bring about.
Publishers are only needed in the hard copy market.
Any new platform that doesn't require a hard copy is a good thing.
But the consumers don't want that. They still want that box copy. At least console gamers.
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.
I did read the article and the author made a number of poorly thought out arguments, which many commenters tore apart. This console was just announced a few days ago and people have already jumped on the "this is doomed to fail" bandwagon. People said the iPod would fail too.
The core feature of this console is that it provides a device geared specifically for games that doesn't require the developer to jump through the hoops that MS, Sony, and Nintendo put you through. Plus, everything I mentioned before and a controller based on proven designs that includes a touch pad as well.
Being sincere, i think this thing is a pure shit being a hardcore pcgamer. I recentlyt bought 2 GTX 680s and man... i would never pay 100 euros for a videoconsole with poor and ugly android games.
Like too many people, I demand AAA games with better graphics, so, i think this will be a total fiasco. Developers don't live from air, and that word of "free" is very relative.
Would you pay 100 dollars just for playing some free games like angry birds with adds? I have some of them on my Xperia S, and if you pay 100 dollars for it, let me say... you are all crazy. They will be selling a simple and small rock as gold.
the spec and f2p might not so appealing for AAA enthusiast ..,
however open ended console is what some gamer and small game developers want for decades .....
hmmm but .., will it support flash and proper internet browser?
I doubt it will kill AAA game or high-end hardwares , its like saying high-end movie will die because now everyone can afford black magic or cannon 7d.
The moment there is game on any of those that sells mutliple million then we can say people prefer it.
Console only, because the Ouya it's going to compete against that by being hooked up to the same TV as the PS3, 360 and Wii.
So Angry Birds? Sept 2010 marked 7 million sold. Unfortunately most places don't list digital sales numbers, Journey broke PSN sales records but we don't know if that means hundreds of thousands or millions sold.
So Angry Birds? Sept 2010 marked 7 million sold. Unfortunately most places don't list digital sales numbers, Journey broke PSN sales records but we don't know if that means hundreds of thousands or millions sold.
I'm talking about consoles games bought digitally. Of course there are games like Infinity Blade, Angry Birds, etc.
IMO Ouya it's going to have to compete against the console market because they are in the living room.
hmmm but .., will it support flash and proper internet browser?
...
Flash should be able to target OUYA via Air, just like it can target any other Android or iOS device. No Flash in the browser though, Adobe has pretty much killed that one off.
I would be surprised if OUYA didn't have an Android browser. Hopefully it'll ship with Chrome of course that opens it up to HTML5 games which the OUYA store can't get 30% off of... so...
How much storage does this thing have? Am I reading the specs wrong or does it only have 8GB of flash memory, or is that some kind of cache info? I assume we'll be hooking external HDD's to it?
I'm talking about consoles games bought digitally. Of course there are games like Infinity Blade, Angry Birds, etc.
IMO Ouya it's going to have to compete against the console market because they are in the living room.
I dont see it competing but if they are smart it doesn't have to they just have to foster a hardcore community, kind of like the community that sprung up around the Makerbot.
Alright, I'll be the jerk who says it. I don't want game development to go back to the (1980's) days where two hippies in their garage can make games just as well as a proper studio. It seems like there are a lot of 40-something devs out there that are tired of working for studios, so they're doing everything they can to reshape the industry in such a way that they can be more independent as developers. And they have the mindshare, connections, and clout to pull it off.
Ok...you've had a full career and now you want to do something different. Good for you, don't f**k with my career in the process by subverting every possibility for proper studios to exist. I like making a decent salary and having a 401k retirement plan. If you mess that up for me, I'll cut you.
Where have you been the last 10 years? Most indie-games out there are developed by "2 hippies in a garage", in fact the size of the studio does not decide the ability to make games, in fact they'll often fare better.
40 developers is a massive size compared to that of a small indie-developer.
Being sincere, i think this thing is a pure shit being a hardcore pcgamer. I recentlyt bought 2 GTX 680s and man... i would never pay 100 euros for a videoconsole with poor and ugly android games.
You're an artist, you should know that beauty comes from what you do with the tech you're given, some of the most beautiful games of today came from platforms that are way less powerful than the ouya, shadow of the colossus as an example.
Like too many people, I demand AAA games with better graphics, so, i think this will be a total fiasco. Developers don't live from air, and that word of "free" is very relative.
There's an entire gigantic indie-market out there that is doing very well without the triple-a graphics, and it is completely dominating the handheld market.
Just look at minecraft and tell me it's not doing well.
Hardcore pc gamers play dwarf fortress and thrive in the enormous amount of games that have been released due to the pc platform being completely open, a hardcore pc gamer will start up x-com and enjoy the heck out of it despite of it being almost 20 years old.
Would you pay 100 dollars just for playing some free games like angry birds with adds? I have some of them on my Xperia S, and if you pay 100 dollars for it, let me say... you are all crazy. They will be selling a simple and small rock as gold.
Read closer, you don't have to release your game as free to play, you have to release a portion of your game for free, this includes RELEASING A DEMO
Oh come on! Comparing this to a phone in the same price range and hardware specs? Who fucking cares? I got a iPhone 4S, I got some games that can be mirrored to the TV and played with my phone as a controller. And it sucks! Why, cause it's a big hustle to make it work. Well "big", still I don't want my phone plugged in the TV, I want it in my pocket.
Using this as a media hub is also something that's very interesting, well for me that doesn't have a dedicated one already. I think it's cooler then a dedicated since this would be totally open for anyone!
I think this is a great idea, opening up for indie devs that doesn't like the idea of on-screen controls. I see a lot of competent Steam games that could be ported for this!
I don't know when I will start to have an income, but if I do before the kickstart ends I will definitely buy one.
I think it's a great concept. I'm a gamer and I love all sorts of games; from retro to mobile to indie to social to "AAA", hell, even board games. I think there's a market for this and I would buy it - especially at that price. There are loads of beautiful fun Android games out there and I would love to control them properly and see them on a larger screen. They may not commonly sell millions yet, but things like this could start changing that.
The development prospects are even more exciting. If this kick starts more indies to get creating games for this and the Android platform, that means more fun, creativity and jobs. That means me happy. My PC is still there if I need highend graFFics111!!!
There has been a lot of console attempts throughout the years, but this one is doing a lot of things right:
It's using tried and cheap hardware, it'll be affordable and tiny.
It's using a tried and supported platform, just being able to have tons of tools and knowledge already as well as UNITY support from the getgo is a massive bonus.
It's in the right place at the right time. The kickstarter is perfectly set up with words from big indie developers and the perfect amount of spread to ensure the playerbase is an actual promising one, and it ensures this playerbase will be one that is interested in games, not just in having a phone.
The hardware is open; no matter how their storefront or eventual game sales lives on, you'll still get what is essentially a pc, you can install whatever you want on it until the thing crumbles into dust, this guarantees people a product people can use no matter what happens.
Will be interesting to see how they'll make money in the long run. Other console makers have losses on their hardware sales and make up with subscriptions, dev kit licenses, submission fees, etc. Same for most phones - they're subsidized by carriers. There's only a few okay-ish android phones for cheap right now with 0 strings attached.
Their release cycle is also quite fast. Next March appears very optimistic. Especially since the OLPC was quite late and twice as expensive in the end.
Still, I wish them good luck. Competition is good!
I don't think they're selling this at a loss, if they were the kickstarter would end up on the negative. :P
how should people at kickstarter know? they haven't even begun production. Just because a lot of people believe something won't make it true. That's the whole point behind the Gamasutra article. Sure, this thing is something everyone WANTS, but this doesn't mean its feasible just because they claim so. After all, the last project of Behar, the OLPC was 2 years late and cost $100 more than planned.
Even a dumb xbox controller sells for 40 bucks at amazon. Now that's not the production price, but if they aim to sell it for 100$ to the end consumer then their margin will be pretty slim unless they have some idea for sustained revenue. They will see only part of the $100 to begin with, subtract manufacturing costs, ongoing operation costs and the profit will be slim. They probably need some way to generate additional profit from each hardware sale - be it via a shop, DLC, subscriptions or else.
Not that I'm against this project, but they have lofty ideas and I'm curious how they want to achieve so many of them all at once, where other companies who've been in the business longer failed. But yeah, I'm hard to hype, so maybe that's why I bother with this
how should people at kickstarter know? they haven't even begun production. Just because a lot of people believe something won't make it true. That's the whole point behind the Gamasutra article.
Even a dumb xbox controller sells for 40 bucks at amazon. Now that's not the production price, but if they aim for 100$ their margin will be pretty slim unless they have some idea for sustained revenue.
Not that I'm against this project, but they have lofty ideas and I'm curious how they want to achieve so many of them all at once, where other companies who've been in the business longer failed. But yeah, I'm hard to hype, so maybe that's why I bother with this
They wouldn't be able to fulfill all the orders if it was at a loss which would indeed make this a scam, but that's professional suicide.
So lets just look at the hardware that is required at a bulk price and what it would end up at.
They already have prototype hardware going, so they should be fully aware of a rough range of where the cost will end up being.
Anyway, I'm curious how this will develop. I'm pretty sure they'll release something along the lines, but if it's exactly the price, date (aimed for March '13) and specs..well I'm sceptical about that.
Anyway, I'm curious how this will develop. I'm pretty sure they'll release something along the lines, but if it's exactly the price, date (aimed for March '13) and specs..well I'm sceptical about that.
Date and shelf-price can very well jump around, but the specs will and must remain the same.
Im really excited for this, i think the whole concept is very promising. Sure it has no chance to compete with the other consoles or be attractive to hardcore games. But why does it have to?
It can find its niche between the other consoles, PCs and mobile. All those casual gamers that usually play on mobile or facebook will have a console that is cheap and doesn't get advertised with hardcore games that i imagine most casual gamers turn off. They are not interested in AAA realistic graphics and they don't want to invest a lot of time in a game and usually play for minutes a day and not some hours. Sure they could keep playing on mobile and facebook but playing on console on a big screen with a controller is really something else. When they already play mobile games it will only be a easier step for them to get the console and play the games they already love in their living room.
I think this console can really attract a lot of new gamers that are otherwise overwhelmed by the bloated console OSs and their games that are rarely targeted at casual gamers. It can then be a great starter console for just 99$, if the person gets then more serious in gaming he might buy a Xbox or PS3 and starts playing AAA games!
Of course the console will also be great for all the indie devs that will get their games very easily on a console. Maybe the heads of Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo will then finally consider to make it easier for devs to get their game on those consoles!
I imagine $99 is right around the cost of the console and one controller without any profit. At that point it seems like they're not aiming to cash in on the console but rather the 70/30% revenue split with developers.
OLPC may have failed, but Raspberry Pi seems to be going strong. OUYA might have a chance if they can just get enough of them out to consumers to make it worthwhile for developers. If I was them I'd push for a Christmas release if at all possible, though that seems awfully difficult.
without the doubt, indie games are on arise atm, and alot of AAA games are being criticized.
Alot of people mentioned you could as well hook up your phone/tablet with a bluetooth controller or connect your pc to your tv. but imho the fact that people are using these workarounds is also a sign that there is a demand for a product like this.
the hardware isn't able to compete with the high end consoles. but they don't have to. it is targeting the low price market. and since you can expect alot less consoles to sell than xbox/360, you are also not going to spend as much money on developing games, aka high end graphics.
I wouldn't say this was in competition with the "big 3" I think most people who buy this will already own one of them... this is more an additional casual gaming console... plus the fact it uses the current android market is just cause it's there... I would have thought that they'll already have a number of big titles due to be released... and I don't mean stuff like COD etc... people who only play AAA will always fork out for the latest console on release date... I actually know someone who just bought a ps3 for mw2 and that's the only game he will ever own on it... i know that's not rushing out and buying the consol on release date... World of Warcraft is not a AAA graphics title and it has an insane amount of users.... just having 1 game like that would guarantee it sucess...
Eld, As an artist, i'm fed up of limits, i want to fly freely with huge wings, and all what i want to make is next next gen stuff rather than art for mobile platforms or with low specs.
All the games from the android market are SHIT imho. I don't expect this to compete against the top 3 videoconsoles. The idea of "free" sounds cool, but for me... it's only air destined to the doom.
I'm fed up of constraints, and i'm behind of the cinema/CGI quality. With the gtx 680 we can do greater things with UE4, Cryengine 3, or the new engine from Square-Enix.
Eld, As an artist, i'm fed up of limits, i want to fly freely with huge wings, and all what i want to make is next next gen stuff rather than art for mobile platforms or with low specs.
All the games from the android market are SHIT imho. I don't expect this to compete against the top 3 videoconsoles. The idea of "free" sounds cool, but for me... it's only air destined to the doom.
I'm fed up of constraints, and i'm behind of the cinema/CGI quality. With the gtx 680 we can do greater things with UE4, Cryengine 3, or the new engine from Square-Enix.
It sounds like you're stuck on graphic fidelity as a measure of a game's quality. That's unfortunate. However, the only constraints are in your mind. There are plenty of games on lower spec platforms that are very artistic and visually appealing. There's more to art in games than subsurface scattering, SSAO, and normal maps. The tools are just that, tools. Don't blame the tools, it's your job to make the most of them. You don't blame the hammer for not being able to rip a board do you?
It sounds like you're stuck on graphic fidelity as a measure of a game's quality. That's unfortunate. However, the only constraints are in your mind. There are plenty of games on lower spec platforms that are very artistic and visually appealing. There's more to art in games than subsurface scattering, SSAO, and normal maps. The tools are just that, tools. Don't blame the tools, it's your job to make the most of them. You don't blame the hammer for not being able to rip a board do you?
You got the wrong idea, and it's very bad for you that you want to be stucked forever. So, what i mean is that i don't want to get stucked in the same kind of graphics forever. I have been working more than 8 years doing low poly models with very low constraints, optimizing a lot, and making the impossible the possible.
Because Tools are tools, i want to use the newer tools instead of the tools from 10 years ago. I hope you understand my point.
A game is not only graphics, but graphics is what sells the most. And as a gamer, what i'd like to see is the fucking jump of generation and not another videoconsole offering less than the actual videoconsoles with its shitty port games on PC.
As i already said, this "new" videoconsole is destined to the doom. It goes against the production methods and i predict we will never see a AAA company working on a game for it.
why does it have to compete with next gen consoles? Michael Bay still makes his big dumb market researched CG-splosion extravaganzas despite the existance of smart, low budget indie movies.
The generation jump is going to result in even more by the numbers, risk averse games because of ballooning budgets - and even more AAA studio closures.
I wouldn't see myself being "stuck", I see it as a different style of art. It's like comparing surrealism to realism painting and saying that surrealism is limited. There's the hyper-realistic, high-fidelity games that the twitch gamers like to play and there's the low-spec, highly aesthetic games that casual gamers prefer. Then there's also everything in between. I think you're putting up artificial barriers that the rest of us just don't see.
You can say it's doomed, but you're just speculating. As anyone in favor of this platform is. It has already generated over $4 million in funding and that's without having anything practical to offer yet. Clearly, people are saying that this is what they want. You don't discount such a huge response like that. I'm seriously looking forward to seeing how this pans out and I hope they can meet the demand the obviously have.
That's the usual doomsaying you'll hear about kickstarter projects though.
Things might be delayed, the storefront will not be full-featured at day one, but they'll get it out there in one way or another.
That thing that worries me about that the article mentions is the lack of at least one game, one developer that has officially committed to develop games on it. Every single new console has at least one game or developer and Ouya has none as of this moment.
I buy consoles for the games not for specs or whatever.
You don't get a pc. You get a nvidia/arm based platform. While there are a few Linux arm ports, and Windows 8 RT. You have two obstacles.
1. Flash Space.
2. Incorrectly installing would brick it. There is no real separation from the system basic firmware and the OS. They both live on the flash Rom.
Not to say it won't be done , but it will require more tech headed.
As it is there are already such machines with more powerful arm setups you can get straight from China. The only advantage here is the inclusion of the gamepad.
What? They already said it will have Minecraft. They're currently taking polls for what games they should try to get on the Ouya. Astrogun is going to be developing a game for Ouya. Canabalt will be on it. Shadowgun too. How much more do you want?
What? They already said it will have Minecraft. They're currently taking polls for what games they should try to get on the Ouya. Astrogun is going to be developing a game for Ouya. Canabalt will be on it. Shadowgun too. How much more do you want?
Actually minecraft has not been confirmed. all that's been said is they will if the platform and demand is there.
If OUYA delivers on the promise of being the first true open gaming platform that gives indie developers access to the living room gaming market, yes that is a great idea. We will follow the development of OUYA and see how it resonates with gamers. I could see all current Mojang games go on the platform if there's a demand for it. Mojang (developer of Minecraft)
Nothing stating they are backing the console at all.
it's absolutely true that minecraft was never in any way guaranteed for the platform, the kickstarter success will most likely make it happen though.
Now it is more like this, from notch:
See, the problem with Minecraft for the Ouya is that it's android, and our android version of Minecraft isn't exactly that super great...
...But I think a higher internal focus on that version of the game would be good. I'll talk to the Mojangstas about it to see how they feel.
I agree that there's a hype-machine going though, it's a catch 22, without the hype there will be no games, and with no games there will be no hype for the machine, so they feed it a bit with white lies.
What a week. While continuing to work on making OUYA, and of course now managing our Kickstarter, weve received thousands of excited comments, pointed questions, and lots of encouragement. Thank you to our 35,418 backers. Conversations with you have been greatbringing out the best product we can bring.
A few things to share:
On the product side...
We spent yesterday with nVidia talking about our chips. The team is great and their support has been incredible. Theyre working side by side with us, and theyll help us maximize the performance of the Tegra 3 chipset were using.
Weve been hearing your questions on everything from how youll discover games on OUYA (were focused on both discovery and curation), to whether well have different symbols on the buttons for the color-blind (yes, well need to address that), and whether or not well have an Ethernet port (stay tuned on that), and much more. Feedback on our work in progress is one of the great things about Kickstarter. Keep sending your ideas and voicing your opinionsthey matter to us.
Games! Today Meteor, the maker of Hawken (a great-looking upcoming free-to-play mech game), just pledged that theyre also in on OUYA. Were really honored to have great gamemakers supporting OUYA. Thank you so much to the developers who reached out, were trying our best to be in touch with you -- we know we still owe a lot of you responses.
@markvlong -- #ouya A crowd sourced, open, indie, free to play console?! Count Meteor in!
And you game developers..
We know, we ran out of the developer rewards (it happened faster than expected!). Weve assessed our ability to deliver and have refreshed both tiers of developer awards.
And we had a crazy ideaif folks are interestedwe might consider a reward that would allow devs to start working from the raw circuit board at an even earlier date, allowing them to get a head start on development. And maybe wed add one more level that gives you just the softwareno early console. Tell us what you think
(Obviously, if you have the Android SDK, you know most of what you need to know -- well just need to add in a few elements specific to OUYAthings like assets for promoting on the console and our payments API.)
So, there you have it, an update! Some games jumping on board, the scoop on the progress weve made with the product, and more rewards for developers. This is an early-stage project here, and we know weve got a lot to do. We are so grateful to have your support and we will do everything we can to thrill you with the results.
Replies
Seriously, how is this effecting your career at all? Ballooning budgets and blockbuster or bust mentality is why studios are shutting down.
Dustin, big studios need big sales to stay big and are either owned by a publisher or work for a publisher that expects games to sell more every year no matter what. Its the same as expecting your house's worth to keep going up every year no matter what. You really think that's a healthy market?
Fragmentation is a reality that anyone developing for Android already has to deal with. There are over 1300 different devices already OUYA isn't going to make a difference in that regard.
Depending on how many OUYAs actually get out to the consumer, I'd actually use the OUYA as my main target device with phones/tablets being a secondary target. For the most part no one is making money on Android games atm. anyway. So having an audience of gamers with a specific device spec that you can target (with a controller no less!) is a great thing indeed. Of course that all depends on how large an install base OUYA can build up. Without that it's just a dev toy to play with.
Publishers are only needed in the hard copy market.
Any new platform that doesn't require a hard copy is a good thing.
But the consumers don't want that. They still want that box copy. At least console gamers.
Console only, because the Ouya it's going to compete against that by being hooked up to the same TV as the PS3, 360 and Wii.
I did read the article and the author made a number of poorly thought out arguments, which many commenters tore apart. This console was just announced a few days ago and people have already jumped on the "this is doomed to fail" bandwagon. People said the iPod would fail too.
The core feature of this console is that it provides a device geared specifically for games that doesn't require the developer to jump through the hoops that MS, Sony, and Nintendo put you through. Plus, everything I mentioned before and a controller based on proven designs that includes a touch pad as well.
Like too many people, I demand AAA games with better graphics, so, i think this will be a total fiasco. Developers don't live from air, and that word of "free" is very relative.
Would you pay 100 dollars just for playing some free games like angry birds with adds? I have some of them on my Xperia S, and if you pay 100 dollars for it, let me say... you are all crazy. They will be selling a simple and small rock as gold.
But fuck I own a roku, so as long as it can at least replace that i'm down.
the spec and f2p might not so appealing for AAA enthusiast ..,
however open ended console is what some gamer and small game developers want for decades .....
hmmm but .., will it support flash and proper internet browser?
I doubt it will kill AAA game or high-end hardwares , its like saying high-end movie will die because now everyone can afford black magic or cannon 7d.
So Angry Birds? Sept 2010 marked 7 million sold. Unfortunately most places don't list digital sales numbers, Journey broke PSN sales records but we don't know if that means hundreds of thousands or millions sold.
I'm talking about consoles games bought digitally. Of course there are games like Infinity Blade, Angry Birds, etc.
IMO Ouya it's going to have to compete against the console market because they are in the living room.
Flash should be able to target OUYA via Air, just like it can target any other Android or iOS device. No Flash in the browser though, Adobe has pretty much killed that one off.
I would be surprised if OUYA didn't have an Android browser. Hopefully it'll ship with Chrome of course that opens it up to HTML5 games which the OUYA store can't get 30% off of... so...
I dont see it competing but if they are smart it doesn't have to they just have to foster a hardcore community, kind of like the community that sprung up around the Makerbot.
Here's the actual competition, link
Where have you been the last 10 years? Most indie-games out there are developed by "2 hippies in a garage", in fact the size of the studio does not decide the ability to make games, in fact they'll often fare better.
40 developers is a massive size compared to that of a small indie-developer.
You're an artist, you should know that beauty comes from what you do with the tech you're given, some of the most beautiful games of today came from platforms that are way less powerful than the ouya, shadow of the colossus as an example.
There's an entire gigantic indie-market out there that is doing very well without the triple-a graphics, and it is completely dominating the handheld market.
Just look at minecraft and tell me it's not doing well.
Hardcore pc gamers play dwarf fortress and thrive in the enormous amount of games that have been released due to the pc platform being completely open, a hardcore pc gamer will start up x-com and enjoy the heck out of it despite of it being almost 20 years old.
Read closer, you don't have to release your game as free to play, you have to release a portion of your game for free, this includes RELEASING A DEMO
Using this as a media hub is also something that's very interesting, well for me that doesn't have a dedicated one already. I think it's cooler then a dedicated since this would be totally open for anyone!
I think this is a great idea, opening up for indie devs that doesn't like the idea of on-screen controls. I see a lot of competent Steam games that could be ported for this!
I don't know when I will start to have an income, but if I do before the kickstart ends I will definitely buy one.
I think it's a great concept. I'm a gamer and I love all sorts of games; from retro to mobile to indie to social to "AAA", hell, even board games. I think there's a market for this and I would buy it - especially at that price. There are loads of beautiful fun Android games out there and I would love to control them properly and see them on a larger screen. They may not commonly sell millions yet, but things like this could start changing that.
The development prospects are even more exciting. If this kick starts more indies to get creating games for this and the Android platform, that means more fun, creativity and jobs. That means me happy. My PC is still there if I need highend graFFics111!!!
It's using tried and cheap hardware, it'll be affordable and tiny.
It's using a tried and supported platform, just being able to have tons of tools and knowledge already as well as UNITY support from the getgo is a massive bonus.
It's in the right place at the right time. The kickstarter is perfectly set up with words from big indie developers and the perfect amount of spread to ensure the playerbase is an actual promising one, and it ensures this playerbase will be one that is interested in games, not just in having a phone.
The hardware is open; no matter how their storefront or eventual game sales lives on, you'll still get what is essentially a pc, you can install whatever you want on it until the thing crumbles into dust, this guarantees people a product people can use no matter what happens.
Their release cycle is also quite fast. Next March appears very optimistic. Especially since the OLPC was quite late and twice as expensive in the end.
Still, I wish them good luck. Competition is good!
Actual phones have more hardware involved such as the screen, phone-part and battery which brings up the price.
how should people at kickstarter know? they haven't even begun production. Just because a lot of people believe something won't make it true. That's the whole point behind the Gamasutra article. Sure, this thing is something everyone WANTS, but this doesn't mean its feasible just because they claim so. After all, the last project of Behar, the OLPC was 2 years late and cost $100 more than planned.
Even a dumb xbox controller sells for 40 bucks at amazon. Now that's not the production price, but if they aim to sell it for 100$ to the end consumer then their margin will be pretty slim unless they have some idea for sustained revenue. They will see only part of the $100 to begin with, subtract manufacturing costs, ongoing operation costs and the profit will be slim. They probably need some way to generate additional profit from each hardware sale - be it via a shop, DLC, subscriptions or else.
Not that I'm against this project, but they have lofty ideas and I'm curious how they want to achieve so many of them all at once, where other companies who've been in the business longer failed. But yeah, I'm hard to hype, so maybe that's why I bother with this
They wouldn't be able to fulfill all the orders if it was at a loss which would indeed make this a scam, but that's professional suicide.
So lets just look at the hardware that is required at a bulk price and what it would end up at.
They already have prototype hardware going, so they should be fully aware of a rough range of where the cost will end up being.
Anyway, I'm curious how this will develop. I'm pretty sure they'll release something along the lines, but if it's exactly the price, date (aimed for March '13) and specs..well I'm sceptical about that.
Date and shelf-price can very well jump around, but the specs will and must remain the same.
It can find its niche between the other consoles, PCs and mobile. All those casual gamers that usually play on mobile or facebook will have a console that is cheap and doesn't get advertised with hardcore games that i imagine most casual gamers turn off. They are not interested in AAA realistic graphics and they don't want to invest a lot of time in a game and usually play for minutes a day and not some hours. Sure they could keep playing on mobile and facebook but playing on console on a big screen with a controller is really something else. When they already play mobile games it will only be a easier step for them to get the console and play the games they already love in their living room.
I think this console can really attract a lot of new gamers that are otherwise overwhelmed by the bloated console OSs and their games that are rarely targeted at casual gamers. It can then be a great starter console for just 99$, if the person gets then more serious in gaming he might buy a Xbox or PS3 and starts playing AAA games!
Of course the console will also be great for all the indie devs that will get their games very easily on a console. Maybe the heads of Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo will then finally consider to make it easier for devs to get their game on those consoles!
I imagine $99 is right around the cost of the console and one controller without any profit. At that point it seems like they're not aiming to cash in on the console but rather the 70/30% revenue split with developers.
OLPC may have failed, but Raspberry Pi seems to be going strong. OUYA might have a chance if they can just get enough of them out to consumers to make it worthwhile for developers. If I was them I'd push for a Christmas release if at all possible, though that seems awfully difficult.
Alot of people mentioned you could as well hook up your phone/tablet with a bluetooth controller or connect your pc to your tv. but imho the fact that people are using these workarounds is also a sign that there is a demand for a product like this.
the hardware isn't able to compete with the high end consoles. but they don't have to. it is targeting the low price market. and since you can expect alot less consoles to sell than xbox/360, you are also not going to spend as much money on developing games, aka high end graphics.
All the games from the android market are SHIT imho. I don't expect this to compete against the top 3 videoconsoles. The idea of "free" sounds cool, but for me... it's only air destined to the doom.
I'm fed up of constraints, and i'm behind of the cinema/CGI quality. With the gtx 680 we can do greater things with UE4, Cryengine 3, or the new engine from Square-Enix.
It sounds like you're stuck on graphic fidelity as a measure of a game's quality. That's unfortunate. However, the only constraints are in your mind. There are plenty of games on lower spec platforms that are very artistic and visually appealing. There's more to art in games than subsurface scattering, SSAO, and normal maps. The tools are just that, tools. Don't blame the tools, it's your job to make the most of them. You don't blame the hammer for not being able to rip a board do you?
I recommend you watch this: Graphics VS Aesthetics
I have serious doubts, but I hope I'm proven wrong.
You got the wrong idea, and it's very bad for you that you want to be stucked forever. So, what i mean is that i don't want to get stucked in the same kind of graphics forever. I have been working more than 8 years doing low poly models with very low constraints, optimizing a lot, and making the impossible the possible.
Because Tools are tools, i want to use the newer tools instead of the tools from 10 years ago. I hope you understand my point.
A game is not only graphics, but graphics is what sells the most. And as a gamer, what i'd like to see is the fucking jump of generation and not another videoconsole offering less than the actual videoconsoles with its shitty port games on PC.
As i already said, this "new" videoconsole is destined to the doom. It goes against the production methods and i predict we will never see a AAA company working on a game for it.
The generation jump is going to result in even more by the numbers, risk averse games because of ballooning budgets - and even more AAA studio closures.
I wouldn't see myself being "stuck", I see it as a different style of art. It's like comparing surrealism to realism painting and saying that surrealism is limited. There's the hyper-realistic, high-fidelity games that the twitch gamers like to play and there's the low-spec, highly aesthetic games that casual gamers prefer. Then there's also everything in between. I think you're putting up artificial barriers that the rest of us just don't see.
You can say it's doomed, but you're just speculating. As anyone in favor of this platform is. It has already generated over $4 million in funding and that's without having anything practical to offer yet. Clearly, people are saying that this is what they want. You don't discount such a huge response like that. I'm seriously looking forward to seeing how this pans out and I hope they can meet the demand the obviously have.
Watch the video, you might change your mind.
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-reality-of-the-ouya-console-doesnt-match-the-hype-why-you-should-be-ske
That's the usual doomsaying you'll hear about kickstarter projects though.
Things might be delayed, the storefront will not be full-featured at day one, but they'll get it out there in one way or another.
That thing that worries me about that the article mentions is the lack of at least one game, one developer that has officially committed to develop games on it. Every single new console has at least one game or developer and Ouya has none as of this moment.
I buy consoles for the games not for specs or whatever.
1. Flash Space.
2. Incorrectly installing would brick it. There is no real separation from the system basic firmware and the OS. They both live on the flash Rom.
Not to say it won't be done , but it will require more tech headed.
As it is there are already such machines with more powerful arm setups you can get straight from China. The only advantage here is the inclusion of the gamepad.
@David-J
What? They already said it will have Minecraft. They're currently taking polls for what games they should try to get on the Ouya. Astrogun is going to be developing a game for Ouya. Canabalt will be on it. Shadowgun too. How much more do you want?
True, and I was wrong about it being more powerful. But its 3d engine is as powerful.
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/581994032/hot_sale_mini_HD_1080P_android.html
1. An SD slot or two. I think expandable storage will be important for this console.
2. USB 3.0 ports (at least 2 plus another 2.0 port) would be good.
3. An analog port for video and audio would be good for people without an HDMI TV.
4. How about an HTML5 based interface? Easy to customize with CSS3 and images. Unlimited and open theme options.
5. A factory reset image that boots from a USB drive for when you mess up your install.
6. And for the controller, no analog on the D-Pad. That's the one thing I detest about the 360 controller.
Actually minecraft has not been confirmed. all that's been said is they will if the platform and demand is there.
Nothing stating they are backing the console at all.
Now it is more like this, from notch:
I agree that there's a hype-machine going though, it's a catch 22, without the hype there will be no games, and with no games there will be no hype for the machine, so they feed it a bit with white lies.
[ame="
I suppose we'll see how this thing turns out.