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Startup Aims For $99, Android-Powered TV Game Console
rodrigoandrade writes "Ouya is a new Android-based home console that aims to bring to the living room the $0.99 games business model that has worked so well for Apple. The device 'will allow developers to easily create and sell their games and be fully “hackable” — anyone will be able to pull the machine apart and tinker with it to their heart’s content.' They're planning on shipping by March 2013. Admittedly, it's vaporware so far, but it could turn the industry on its head, effectively putting an end to the things we all hate about modern console gaming ($60 games, DLC, DRM, endless sequels, movie tie-ins, etc.)"
Seriously. And since it's Android powered they don't even have the advantage of recouping costs via games. Ultimate failure. Google sucks.
In France, where almost all domestic broadband is "triple play" (phone, TV and Internet), at least two of the major ISPs offers gaming as part of the functionality of their latest glorified router package. You can't get much easier to install than "It's already there", and the ISPs already have a distribution model that they use to sell view-on-demand video.
Virtually serving coffee
The $.99 business model only works for ios devs because there are millions of devices in the wild. How many do they plan to sell? It's not like standard android apps blow up to the size of tablets or --worse-- tv screens is attracting customers by the millions.
Are the cancer killing video games.
Right next to my $65 tablet, $1000 car, and embedded linux desktop on a flash drive.
At what point does someone stop the self-hate and just pay for good things like an adult?
The $.99 business model only works for ios devs because there are millions of devices in the wild. How many do they plan to sell?
If the product can play Netflix video, they can sell it as a Netflix box that also plays Facebook and video games. Apple TV doesn't have video games unless you count beaming an iPad app, in which case you still need an external Bluetooth gamepad (sold separately) in order to be able to see what you're doing.
Tuesday is no news day!
Is the audience here this lame that such a crap piece aka slashvertizement goes by and it's just another column filler and so it goes?
Why, yes, yes it is.
If it can play everything I want to be able to player I would purchase a device like this. I want playback from DVD and Blueray ISO files plus MKV, AVI,MP4,Mpeg from a network drive with codecs sets as flexible as a windows PC.
Where is the market?
Anyone that has a decent enough TV to want to use it for Android apps is also likely to already have:
- a games console
- a PC/laptop
- a smartphone
$99 price point will never cover any real marketing cost so this is a niche geek product at best
And with the lack of depth of $0.99 games there is not a hope of "turing the industry on its head"
Destined for failure in my books!
This is just Google TV but without the deals to stream from the major streaming sites.
Or, the Phantom 2.0.
Every droid device pretty much has a HDMI port out, so if you have a phone or a tablet you don't need this. I've been playing GTA3 over again on my droid, on the big TV.
It was at $50,000.00 this morning. As of 5 minutes ago, they had $485,000.00. I'm guessing this will be funded in 3... 2.... 1... DING! Funded!
Where's the game controller?
Try reading the Wired article with images turned on. It looks like an Xbox 360 controller with a laptop-style trackpad in the middle.
And since it's Android powered they don't even have the advantage of recouping costs via games.
From the Wired article: "Thirty percent of revenue will go to Ouya, the rest to the developer." This is the same deal as the App Store and Xbox Live Indie Games. However, unlike with iOS and Xbox 360, the article appears to imply that there won't even be a $99 per year hurdle before developers can get their feet wet: "every Ouya box sold includes a software development kit at no extra cost."
someone plz mod the parent up as Funny
I don't get it. What kind of modifications would you want to make to such a device?
It will die on the vine, or be a dismal flop.
Reasons:
Lack of quality game titles.
A quality game requires a higher pricing point. Perhaps not the collusion based MSRP of 60$, but definately more than 99 cents. Further, the openness of the console will permit cheats and hacks, which are known to be deleterious to online game communities.
Underpowered hardware (comparably.)
The console will be more anemic than even the wii is. A Tegra based system is chumpchange compared to what's inside CURRENT gen consoles, let along a next-gen lineup. It will be a real hard sell, and even then will be the generic also-ran offering. A simple software tweak, and those nextgen consoles would be able to more than emulate the proper environment for the android console's titles, and since the android box's specs are to be open, there's shit all that could be done about it.
No, an open android console would likely sink like a lead brick.
A better solution would be to make rival game marketplaces for existing consoles.
Anyone that has a decent enough TV to want to use it for Android apps is also likely to already have:
- a games console
Unless they want to go beyond the selection of games that the console makers allow to be ported to the consoles.
- a PC/laptop
Say you have friends over, and they didn't all happen to bring gaming laptops and copies of the same game. In this case, games that run on something connected to your TV are a better choice for multiplayer than most PC games because most PC games don't support multiple gamepads. This in turn is because statistically nobody (outside the geek demographic that reads Slashdot) uses a PC with a TV-sized monitor.
- a smartphone
There are several genres of video games that don't work on a smartphone because they really need a gamepad, and something like the iControlPad doesn't come bundled with most smartphones. What sort of control method is workable for a platformer or a fighting game on a smartphone?
Right now take a transformer prime, plug it with a 3 bucks HDMI cable to your TV, and use any xbox 360 controller that would work with a PC (wifi or wired, both will work, but for wifi you need that PC adapter thing), load up Sonic 4, Showgun or whatever and you're there, albeit at a vastly higher price point than even a normal console because, well, its a full feature tablet.
Not surprised someone would cut cost by removing the screen/battery/etc and call it a day.
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/ak802-mini-android-4-0-network-media-player-w-wi-fi-hdmi-tf-usb-black-4gb-1gb-ddr-iii-143431?r=20144190
And yet something already exists, and for cheaper.
... and I could continue with differences in the gpu (nvidia Tegra vs unknown gpu)
These things matter for a videoconsole
A quality game requires a higher pricing point.
I agree, and one possible compromise between 99 cent games and $60 games is to split a game into 45-minute episodes (like a TV series) and sell each for a buck or two (also like a TV series).
The console will be more anemic than even the wii is.
Wii's AMD Hollywood GPU is roughly comparable in fillrate to a Radeon 9000, and the Xenos in the Xbox 360 is like a Radeon X1900. Which GPU on Tom's chart comes closest to the specs of a Tegra 3?
A simple software tweak, and those nextgen consoles would be able to more than emulate the proper environment for the android console's titles
But the console makers probably won't choose to emulate Android because if they did, Android titles would compete with native disc and download titles.
I am pretty excited about this project. Sure, its a niche, and it won't have as much to offer at the start as any established console, but I was having a hard time choosing between getting an android for home brew or an Iphone (Not an apple fan boy, i just have no soul). I can't develop for an iphone because I don't own a macbook, nor do I have any intentions of buying one. This is an affordable alternative, and is much more powerful than an android phone.
Having been through the Phantom, I'll believe it when I see it.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
This underpowered console isn't very attractive to me. It's like buying a DVD player that only plays indie and art house films.
Sometimes I want to get drunk and watch Crank 1/2 dammit!
The device 'will allow developers to easily create and sell their games and be fully ''hackable'' --- anyone will be able to pull the machine apart and tinker with it to their heart's content.'
The gamer simply wants to play games.
The console maker offers a broad range of services and a clearly name-branded console-oriented community of gamers and other users.
The purchase of a Wii comes with a different set of expectations then the PS3 or XBox 360.
But console gaming has always been meat-space, couch-friendly, social. That is not the Android market.
PC and console gaming is cyclical: what is hot today is cold tomorrow.
That is true in both hardware and software.
You can see this in the listings at Gog.com --- an overview of 25 years of PC gaming. In the Humble Bundle. I think I have had my fill of the Indie physics-based platformer.
There is a risk in trying to emulate the success of the last generation entry-level hardware product. There is a risk that "casual gaming" tablet-style will prove just as ephemeral as every other genre and platform. The geek who has been whining about Metro should have been the first to pick up on that.
Haha check out the name, a play on Waggener-Edstrom
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I don't get $60 games. Just wait a while, and the majority of them end up coming down to around $20, new.
While I'll be the first to admit I hate paying $60 for a game (and usually wait for the price to fall), I don't see how you can make quality games for $0.99. Angry Birds is something I play while waiting for my food to arrive. It passes the time. Dead Space is something I play because its damn fun. No way you'll get a Dead Space quality game for that cheap and there are much better uses for a plasma screen than flinging birds at pigs.
A games console is not about the hardware any more (not for a while now), it is all about the content on it.
Multi-platform titles are needed, but the exclusive content that is beyond most studios to finance are what drive console sales.
(cue Halo, Mario, Uncharted etc etc).
well, that and peer pressure.
The problem with "apple TV and iCrap of their choice" is that it's far more expensive. You need an iPod touch ($200) to run the game, an iControlPad ($62) to control it, and an Apple TV ($100) to display it on the television. Without an iControlPad, you can't feel where your fingers are relative to the buttons. And I'm not even sure iOS supports more than one gamepad for multiplayer.
Not bloody likely! Angry Birds is testament to that.
I prefer to play the $60 games because they offer several hours, weeks, even months of gameplay.
The $0.99 games, I have never bought one in my lifetime. The few I've played (gifts) I've enjoyed for an hour or two, and then been bored. I want more from my games.
I knew you could.
Newly registered account. Nonsense figures given below indicate a huge and logically unjustifiable pro-microsoft stance.
Bing has 40% marketshare in North America - my ass. There should be an option to vote to delete first-time accounts that post nothing but propaganda.
I hate Microsoft less than I used to - but when slime like you comes along to promote your false statistics, I remember again why Microsoft are not good people.
With $0.99 games, there will definitely be DLC. I don't mind $60 games if everything's included and it's a polished high production value game.
I can't wait to play Combat or Air-Sea Battle on this thing.
I hear they are rushing to get Pacman and E.T. out before Christmas 2013, too!
The whole point of the 99 cent apps are something you can grab for the few dead minutes you have - in a lineup, waiting for something, etc, as something to do. A home console - well, players tend to have more time to invest in a game
Free-to-air and basic cable television channels in the United States are full of 3-minute commercial breaks. If one round takes 2 to 3 minutes to play, then someone could switch from TV to the console, play a game, and then switch back to TV.
I thought Android phones that supported Bluetooth supported widely available PS3 and Wii game controllers. I have a brother who uses a Wii Remote with the emulators on his phone.
Simple math tells us that the obvious compromise between a $0.99 game and $60 game is $7.7 game.
Geometric mean. Cute. I was trying to figure out how to deliver a game with $60 production values in a market full of $0.99 games. The episodic model (that is, paying to unlock levels as you beat them) is the only way I can think of to make that work.
Why would you change the format rather than the price?
The format must change in order to attract customers who have become accustomed to the $0.99 price point. There's a big kink in the demand curve at $0.99.
I saw a lot of chinese android powered Wii-like consoles for $99 at CES this year.
most PC games don't support multiple gamepads
I have a device, made by Microsoft no less, that allows me to connect 4 wireless Xbox 360 controllers to my PC.
I too own a USB hub allowing connection of four wired game controllers. It's just that the big-name PC games tend not to support multiple gamepads plugged into such an adapter for $ome rea$on. Quoting David Wong:
Have you any suggestion for good PC games to use with multiple Xbox 360 controllers, apart from those listed here?
It's a PHONE. It's a fucking phone. That's all it is. It's a phone with an HDMI port and a controller. I'm not even a hardware guy and I could design something based around an ARM system-on-a-chip, where's my million dollars? Fuck!
I can already plug my Android phone on the tv via an hdmi cable, what is this supposed to be?
You can't take it apart, but you can hook up your iPhone 4+ or iPad to a projector or TV with Apple's VGA cable (also comes in composite and HDMI). And from a programming perspective, you can address the device's screen and the video output independently. Some games support it and it's pretty cool on the projector! And iPad 2&3 can mirror the built-in display to the video out.
It's funny to me that this video-out feature hasn't been marketed and exploited more. Apple doesn't make it very easy for developers to use it either, as documentation and examples are definitely lacking.
And in order for that to be a draw, the stuff they wouldn't ordinarily get has to be pretty substantial
Lots of PC games have user-created mods through a game-developer-approved mechanism. What console games have such mods? If Half-Life were a console game, would there have been a Counter-Strike? If Warcraft III were a console game, would there have been a DotA?
A developer can make a game for the OUYA and then produce a touchscreen input version of the game for the tablets listed above
How would that work for something like a platformer or a fighting game without an expensive external Bluetooth gamepad? A touch screen displaying a virtual gamepad is completely flat, and the player's thumbs can't find the on-screen buttons by feel.
Half the time my search results end up having little to do with the words I used. Putting quotes around the words fixes that problem but come on google. Once I searched for "arduino pelco" and google decided pelco was similar to lcd and changed it for me. Great job,
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Not only do I think the idea is a winner from a financial point of view, but also bringing social gaming (ie. multiple people in the same room) to Linux is a very good thing, too.
expandfairuse.org
OK, let's assume I want to work for the establishment should the Ouya console not pan out. I want to make a good first impression, not an egregiously poor one that would get me on an industry blacklist. Google video game programmer portfolio led me to "How to Make a Game Programming Demo Portfolio" by Lee Winder, which recommends complete games in both 2D and 3D, even if not lengthy, with the expected menus, installers for all dependencies, source code, screenshots, videos, and full credits for any collaborative effort. The next page gives tips on how to build a CD or web site. But I seem to remember that before, you told me that some kinds of games could reflect negatively on my skill, and I wonder what else to watch out for. Where would you recommend asking next? I guess I could ask game companies' HR departments what they want to see in a junior programmer's portfolio.
The latest Roku 2 XS streamers are preloaded with Angry Birds, while games like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are available for purchase. It uses a bluetooth motion controller like the Wii for playing, and costs $100. It looks exactly like the casual TV gaming market niche that Ouya is targeting, so I wonder if they really have a chance competing with such an established player.
Why the hell would I want to produce software for a piece of hardware that can be hacked? I have to provide exceptions for device abilities that make my debugging and after market support balloon, costing me money. How, then, could I afford to sell form $0.99/copy?
I don't check or post on Slashdot nearly as often as I used to, and the comments on this article illustrate why.
I mean, look at this. You've got a small team of people who are designing a product that is explicitly intended to be open and hackable. It's cheap, it's stylish, it runs Linux, and they're reaching out to the indie gaming community for support. They've more than doubled their initial goal in under 24 hours and are probably still reeling at the concept of what just happened. The news is sweeping across gaming sites and people are excited to see what's going to happen next.
And the comments on this Slashdot article are overwhelmingly negative. You've got people saying that nobody will want to develop software for a hackable device (like Android or Windows), there's no market for it (the $2M worth of investments so far seem to disagree), you can get cheap Chinese knockoff Android devices cheaper (LOL, just LOL), and some people are even saying it's vaporware like the Phantom. Seriously, the Phantom? That project was started by a guy who had a history of running investment scams. The people who are behind the Ouya are recognized names in the gaming industry and have the support of a lot of indie developers. There's no guarantee that this will end up being a big commercial success, of course, but you clearly haven't even taken a look at it if you think this is a second Phantom.
Slashdot, what happened to you?
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
http://i.imgur.com/75MEN.jpg
...it's just a breath away from being a viable desktop Linux option.
There are 2 groups of people you can make fun of on the Internet without fear of attack. The illiterate, and the Amish.
I actually know some weird folks that still use their old Xbox machines for XBMC. So even if the Ouya fails, it'll still live on for years if it only gets XBMC ported to it.
These guys are heroes and obviously hit a nerve - they are at 2.95 MILLION DOLLARS with 28 DAYS TO GO!!!
This is great, because it sounds like they really want to listen to developers and build a hot community.
The controller sounds neat.
I'd like to see more RAM first. More CPU would also be nice. But on the other hand they've decided this is the sweet spot to make it possible and it sounds like they are right.
If they would make an even bigger commitment to being open, and put some money into even hiring experts to make libraries and improved development kits that would make it easier for indies to make higher quality titles easily that would be interesting. I'd like to see a media browser that handles local and networked storage too. And is there a microphone?
The sky seems to be the limit.
But then you get into negative transfer. If one game uses thumb gestures for a particular action, and another game for the same platform uses accelerometer gestures, negative transfer will make it difficult to play one game after having played another. It's like how jump was always on the A button in the NES era; in those few cases where A was something else, jump was on B. That's why I want to know if developers have reached a consensus on specific gestures for common actions.