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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.)"
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.
That's not even to mention that there is a huge disparity in quality between $0.99 games and $60 games.
Don't get me wrong, there are a TON of shit games released for full consoles that aren't worth $6, let alone $60, and there are a ton of excellent games available for android/ios that are easily worth the $1, $2, or even up to $5 price tags that go along with them...
but you aren't going to ever get a Diablo III / Mass effect / Modern Warfare / etc level game on android/ios for $1. ain't happening. sheer logistics of development team size.
and i'm cool with that. there's no need to have only one or the other. we can have both.
Microsoft overtaking Google with Bing? What world do you live in? Instead of googling people in this world, do you Bing them?
It's a foot in the door though. Android (and portable) gaming has no central hub. The first company to create one that supports a controller, a ranking system, and an ecosystem of development will take hold of the space. I'm honestly surprised that Steam hasn't done anything yet in mobile gaming.
If you can create an open box like this with a store and a controller, the TV box becomes secondary to the store and the OS compatability. The store is there to enforce a few rules (supports free gameplay in any form, even if just a demo, no hax, possibly multiplayer, will run on the set top box, etc), then you can use that storefront to refine the purchase of games. For instance, you could show correctly if a game has the information to scale to a TV size screen, or back down to a phone size. You also get a controller with standardized input, which is a huge deal for games. I think that if this is successful, it will be a huge win for indie gaming and gaming advancement in general. It won't kill more powerful consoles, but it is filling a hole in the market.
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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?
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