Ouya: A kickstarter console

[Open Blue]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...o-game-console

So with almost $6mil behind this project, the Ouya looks set to be a contender in the console market, an "indy" (I wonder if that word can be used with the amount of money backing it) console built on an android os which promises to make it easier for developers to get their games on console.

I'm personally on the fence, while I recognise this is a good step in a decent direction for the market-place as a whole, I'm not much of a console gamer and this certainly won't be enticing me back to the couch.

What do you think? I feel pushing the boundaries in a stagnant and draconic corner of the industry, whatever the outcome, is ultimately good for the industry as a whole.

[Starblade]

It's going to crash and burn spectacularly like all the other "indie" (Phantom, nD) consoles or it'll ship and fade out once everyone gets over the fact that you can play emultaed games on yet another console or play Angry Birds and Final Fantasy 3 (the only big name game actually confirmed to be on OnLive. Final Fantasy 3 was supposedly shit) even though you can already do that with a few HDMI cables and some products that already exist to hook the phone up to the TV. Six million is not going to cut it, especially since they'll be paying extra due to the limited quantities of hardware they're making, the poor controller (why is the touchpad circular), lack of content anyone cares about that isn't an emulator, and they have some real shitty PR ("We have Minecraft! (Notch said maybe if it doesn't totally fail)"). The biggest thing they've got going for them is that OnLive is porting their android port to the console. At sub 100,000 levels of hardware, few big (or moderate sized) developers will bother porting or making games for it; the player base is barely there. They'd have to either sell the game at an increased price or half-ass the project to get it out cheaper. Ultimately though because of what it is and what it offers, it will never stack up to the other consoles. At its very best, it will carve out a niche among hobbyists before fading back to obscurity.

Either way though, I've gotten plenty of entertainment out of following it.

So with almost $6mil behind this project, the Ouya looks set to be a contender in the console market, an "indy" (I wonder if that word can be used with the amount of money backing it) console built on an android os which promises to make it easier for developers to get their games on console.

A better question would be if you can use it at all. It hasn't ever referred to hardware before, and the company is just manufacturing the product.

[Open Blue]

A better question would be if you can use it at all. It hasn't ever referred to hardware before.

This is my major concern too, how does it shape up to it's competitors? They say they have a prototype, which is all well and good, but they never brag about the hardware behind the thing. I'm also wondering what they'll do with all that extra money.

[Akranadas]

It's basically a mobile phone with a control that hooks up to your TV. That is all it is.

It's not going to threaten any of the major consoles because it only have the power to run mobile phone games. So in reality, you are paying a minimum of $99 USD to have the opportunity to play angry birds on your TV.

[Starblade]

I'm also wondering what they'll do with all that extra money.

It's not extra money, and realistically it's not even a lot of extra money for what they're doing. They'll be using it to offset their manufacturing costs. They'll almost certainly be selling this system at a loss due to price of components, design and manufacturing contracts (the amount of consoles they are making are pitifully low; they will not be getting bulk discounts when those are often in the hundreds of thousands to millions) and making bank with contracts with developers.

I'm not even sure they have a working prototype, actually. The most we've seen is a main menu, but the video I saw had the actions on screen not line up with the buttons pressed on the controller. Even the Phantom had a prototype to show the world. The OUYA (this is a dumb name too while I'm shitting on them) has shown a video, a rendering of the controller which has its own issues, but that's irrelevant at the moment, and a video of the main menu.

[LoneWolf666]

Never understood the hype about it, or how on Earth have they gathered so much money. People are really so interested in a weak (but admittedly cheap) console for Android games, of all things?

But whatever, it's not my money, and maybe cool things will come of it - interesting Android games, or maybe encouraging bolder initiatives in the future.

[Quak0r]

Specifications:

-Tegra3 quad-core processor (1.4 GHz from nvidia site)
-1GB RAM
-8GB of internal flash storage
-HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD
-WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
-Bluetooth LE 4.0
-USB 2.0 (one)
-Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad
-Android 4.0
-ETHERNET! (Announced by Muffi 7/18)

This seems more powerful then all the current gen stuff by several degrees. On the other hand i'm silly and it isn't

[Akranadas]

I think you're misunderstand what better means. The Xbox and PS3 are all designed to run games, their architecture is all customer designed in a way to maximize the components within the machine. That's why they can do what the can do; sure on paper it looks like the Ouya has more powerful components but it has no software to take advantage of that, Android 4.0 is a mobile based OS; it's the same thing powering the Galaxy S3. Speaking of the S3:

OS Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Chipset Exynos 4412 Quad
CPU Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9
GPU Mali-400MP
Card slot microSD, up to 64 GB
Internal 16/32/64 GB storage, 1 GB RAM

The Ouya is effectively a mobile phone, stripped out of its phone casing and placed within this shinny box that has a HDMI output and a wireless controller. You will never see things like Skyrim or Call of Duty running on the Ouya.

[Quak0r]

Well, people got some pretty impressive shit (unreal engine 3) running on iOS so I wouldn't discount Android on the fact that it's a mobile OS. I'm in no way speaking from experience, but I was under the impression that Android is modular enough to tailor it to a dedicated gaming box.

[Starblade]

This seems more powerful then all the current gen stuff by several degrees. On the other hand i'm silly and it isn't

Tegra3 is questionable, RAM is on par or less, storage space is lesser. If Android can be modified enough to be put on a "dedicated gaming box", this system isn't it.

Well, people got some pretty impressive shit (unreal engine 3) running on iOS so I wouldn't discount Android on the fact that it's a mobile OS.

Skyrim takes up 8868 MB (8.6 GB) on Steam. It literally cannot be put on the OUYA without installing an external drive or buying a large USB stick, increasing the cost of the machine (assuming it could allow for this and not use the USB space for controllers only); it does not have the space requirements (remember the OS and pre-installed apps will cut into that 8 gigabytes as well). Also since I'm willing to bet the circuitry and processor and everything else about it and its board haven't been optimized to hell and back, the 1GB RAM would make it hell to play even if you did get it on.

e: This is leaving aside the fact there are no good reason to port games like Skyrim over because of the cost of the port, testing, stripping things away so it would fit, and making it playable would not be worth a potential maximum of 80,000 customers (they won't all buy it, either), especially when piracy will actually probably matter because of the explicit openness of the system (the devs were bragging about using it as a emulator, even).

[Quak0r]

@Starblade, I agree about Tegra3 being questionable, as i haven't looked up the other two big system's specs before posting. I have to wonder about your statement about RAM though. I was under the impression that 1024 MB RAM ( OUYA ) is more then 512 MB RAM ( Xbox360 ) and 256 MB RAM + 256 MB RAM ( PS3 ). Also yes the 8Gig limit is a problem.

[Iamme]

There is talk of OnLive support at launch. In which case, it only needs enough hardware to stream effectively. It may be enough to make the Ouya successful.

[Starblade]

I was under the impression that 1024 MB RAM ( OUYA ) is more then 512 MB RAM ( Xbox360 ) and 256 MB RAM + 256 MB RAM ( PS3 ). Also yes the 8Gig limit is a problem.

The 360 and PS3, which is more powerful than the 360, while having low RAM, make up for it in other ways. The 360's graphics card has 512 mb RAM which is often taken advantage of, for example, along with the circuitry and design being perfectly optimized for playing games.The RAM really isn't the problem, though. OUYA doesn't come close, but I admit I didn't think the PS3 had that little RAM.

It may be enough to make the Ouya successful.

No, probably not. Financially OnLive has been floundering (remember they have their own console, even), all the launch issues are still there (OnLive still isn't that great at playing anything beyond a demo well) and they already have an Android port of the application. They can just move it to the OUYA for a quick buck, though, OnLive itself isn't that great at what it does. Somehow, that makes it perfect for OUYA to me.

[scoiatollo]

Ouya is most likely going to fail, Broussard made quite a good tweet regarding it basically being a scam and honestly I think so too. Having said that Android (games) is designed for touchscreens and not for controller this is never going to work...

[Quak0r]

Also regarding the OnLive thingie. Onlive already have a dedicated OnLive box for 100 bucks that most definitively is optimized as fuck for streaming. So IMO it would be silly to assume that OnLive will be a huge selling point for OUYA

[Akranadas]

That an the rumors surrounding OnLive attempting to get their hardware/software placed inside certain TVs in the future.