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With $8.6M In Kickstarter Funds, Ouya Opens Console Pre-Orders
Chameleon Man writes with an excerpt from PC Mag: "Early this morning, the Android-based Ouya console ended its run on Kickstarter with nearly $8.6 million in user donations. In recent weeks, the company has secured a number of content partners for the device, but now it's time to see if Ouya can really deliver. Interested buyers can now pre-order an Ouya on the company's website. In the U.S., one console and one controller will cost $109, one console plus two controllers will be $139, and one console and four controllers will be $199. All orders include a $10 shipping charge."
Adds Chameleon Man: "Here's to hoping that an open-source console can gain a foothold in an already competitive market."
I'm hoping its something that can beat the Wii at its own low-end game. A cheap console with cheapish games without Nanny Nintendo watching all of the games that get released on it to make sure they're fit for our eyes would be fantastic.
But the Wii has the fun movement controller.
seems to be on time,
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console?ref=live#AndHowFarAlonAreYouInBuilOuya
I asked developers whether Ouya will run games sold outside the official store (without having to root the device, like with to Android's "unknown sources"), but they never replied. Until they do, I don't consider this a particularly open console.
Have we reached an era when even those who advertise openness won't release commercial platforms that aren't like walled gardens?
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
Me too. Thank god someone is finally making a piracy-friendly console platform.
I suspect that you saw the potential BECAUSE you're not a gamer. All I hear from gamers is how underpowered the Ouya is and how no one's going to want it because the games will suck (not unlike the Wii arguments, before everyone's grandma went out and bought one). To me, that lack of power is a VERY good thing because it means the developers will be forced to make their games fun rather than pretty.
Also, XBMC is great, and a ~$100 media center? Sign me up!
Unless they are going to pop out of thin air, no.
Show me a physical prototype, running actual software, connected to an actual TV (in HD), and then we'll talk.
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
To me, that lack of power is a VERY good thing because it means the developers will be forced to make their games fun rather than pretty.
Or just like with most third party Wii titles, they'll be both ugly and unfun.
I have to admit, I'm probably going to get one of these eventually, if everything goes right.
But that's the key - it has to work. It has to have at least two games I want to play that I can't play elsewhere, it has to function as a half-decent media player, it has to, you know, actually exist as a physical thing.
Right now, there's just too much a chance of this never even being released for me to pre-order. And even if it does come out, there's a large chance that it won't have any good, interesting games come out.
Now, if it does come out and live up to its promises, I'll buy one. No problem there. But I'm just still too apprehensive about it to commit to it until it's solid.
Only reason I buy a console is so I can play games like Final Fantasy and RPGs in general.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/31/final-fantasy-iii-launching-on-ouya
Any other reasons?
The Wii actually has a pretty weak processor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(microprocessor)
To me, that lack of power is a VERY good thing because it means the developers will be forced to make their games fun rather than pretty.
I -know- there are some people on here who remember that there were games before ansiotropic filtered bump mapped motion blured LOD textured polygons.
I even seem to remember enjoying a few of them. Super metroid anyone? Final Fantasy II and III (4j and 6j)? mario kart, ice hockey, bubble bobble, zelda(s), sonic(s), punch out, tecmo bowl, come on how long do I have to go?
there are a ton of good 2d sprite games on the android market. 2d doesn't -need- to be dead.
Not to mention that "underpowered" is relative. This thing is roughly as powerful, give or take, as the original xbox or ps2, and I'm pretty sure there were some good enjoyable 3D games for them as well.
At first I misread, didn't notice the second C, and I was all over that idea. Then I realized it said clicking, and that just seems unrealistic.
Anyone else notice the odd markup on the extra controllers? It's $20 per controller when you go from one to two controllers, but $30 per controller when going from one to four. Are they going to sell controllers separately or if you buy the 1 or 2 controller box, that's it, no adding on?
Don't just game, Dungeoneer
So you don't understand what kickstarter is? Or are you having difficulty wrapping your brain around the idea of a pre-order?
It's fine if you don't want to be an early adopter. But acting like you have the superior position seems ludicrous.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Only if they can put out the same quality First Party development that Nintendo does. Which is no. They lack the quantity and quality of tallent to pull that off. They might be able to squeeze out of it just enough to justify a second run. Otherwise they'll just be like the Sega Master System or Turbo Graphics 16.
If you examine the datastream from a wiimote, it is actually pretty well pre-crunched by the controller.
There are a few pairing-related oddities(bluetooth can be a bit eccentric on its good days, and Nintendo didn't excatly feel a strong pressure to be helpful to random 3rd party bluetooth devices); but you get all the accelerometer data, and the IR dot following, handled for you in hardware and sent, along with button states, as relatively trivial output data. There are a few other oddities with the onboard speaker and similar bits; but it isn't a computationally expensive peripheral to deal with.
From the link:
"Uhrman explained, "OUYA will be just as secure as any other Android-powered device. In fact, because all the paid content will require authentication with OUYA's servers, we have an added layer of security. Hacking and openness are about getting what you want to do with the hardware. Rooting the device won't give you any more access to the software.""
Ok, so then they are saying it will only run games that communicate back to Ouya servers? As in, no current Android games...
I am also really dubious that a simple server check cannot be got around by the same people that pirate, but I reserve judgment until we know how the authentication works.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Make an Ouya game that links up over ad-hoc Wi-Fi with a client on a Nexus 7 tablet. Instant Ouya U.