OUYA Android Game Console Available In June

An anonymous reader writes "The WSJ reports that OUYA, the $100 Android-based gaming console, will reach retail availability in June. The makers have partnered with Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Target for distributing the devices. The console will come with a controller (which has the traditional thumbsticks, D-pad, buttons, and triggers as well as a built-in touchpad), and additional controllers will be sold for $50. OUYA CEO Julie Uhrman said, 'For the last year or two years all we've been hearing is that the consoles are dead. The reason is there isn't new, innovative intellectual property. It's expensive to develop on it. You're seeing a major shift of games being developed on the television. Our viewpoint has always been that console gaming isn't dead, the way we think about it hasn't changed. We're bringing the best screen and the best device to interact with that by creating a platform that is open.' There was a recent 'Game Jam' to create game prototypes for the console; you can browse the 166 entries."

Comments

Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Seumas]

I withdrew my backing after the first day of hype -- and I'm pretty easy to lure into your Kickstarter (I've backed about 450 of them, so far). I think the only value in this product will, ultimately, be in its conversation value as something sitting on your shelf in fifteen years. With the PS4 and the next Xbox coming out this year as well as the various Steam Boxes and the next round of high end GPUs for PC about to drop, the Ouya's brief appeal seems even less relevant. Most of the excitement at the time had been that it was touching on this mass appeal for *some* sort of new hardware in a world of aging seven-going-on-eight year old consoles this cycle.

Worse, the whole "we will support Ouya" thing became a plague on every single game related kickstarter afterward. And if you didn't say you were going to port your game to Ouya, people would spam your comments non-stop about "hey, you should contact Ouya and consider porting your game to it". Because when you're trying to produce a game on the cheap that is iffy to begin with, the best thing to do is hitch that wagon to an unreleased piece of hardware that will probably have little success and certainly not offer you anything remotely near the existing platforms that you're already developing the application for, like the PC. Blech.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[exomondo]

I reckon a good amount of them will be bought just to be used as a cheap XBMC box.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[ZiakII]

Eh, I backed. I think it will be fun to fool around and program on due to the following: Android SDK, Connectable to my TV, Interface that does not require touch.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[exomondo]

Given a controller and the x86 version of Android couldn't you just play all its games on a PC - or even a phone or tablet which i suppose you could connect to your TV? Is there any proprietary software you know of on it that ties you to an ouya console and controller?

The biggest problem i see with it is that it won't get exclusivity, if you're developing for ouya you might as well develop for Android in general - even if you do need a controller - as your market is then WAY bigger.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[h4rr4r]

Why would you want to do x86?

Anything that uses the NDK is going to be painfully slow when you have to emulate ARM. Most games will use the NDK.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm far from certain that they'll succeed as some sort of bold new flavor of console(as you say, the console incumbents are gearing up for a fresh spin, and PC gaming is pretty cheap, at least for undemanding titles, when you consider that you probably own a PC already); but I'm in for one on the hope that they'll be a version of those little Android 'stick PCs' or "mini PCs' that might actually remain stable long enough to get some firmware that isn't total shit.

I've played around with a few of the ebay special ones(which are cheaper, 50-80 dollars) and they are much more convenient than a PC to have sitting by the TV; but the firmware is pretty dreadful and there is such a mass of cryptically branded models flying around that the Cyanogenmod-and-similar brigade isn't too much help. Paying a little bit more to get a somewhat more powerful, and quite possibly better supported(1st and 3rd party) implementation of the idea is pretty attractive.

I doubt that it'll replace my PC for actual gaming duties; but media frontend and similar duties are handled in a different room entirely, so there is enough space to share.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this different than Android-on-a-stick PC?

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/stick-computers/android-mini-pc-rk3066.aspx , being one such example.. aliexpress has others.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[jdastrup]

I think the idea of "cheap console games", if it exists, will happen with this console. We can get $0-$10 games on our smartphones and tablets, but those are almost always 1-player games on a tiny screen. If this offers a cheap marketplace for console-style games, I think it's great.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[vlm]

Because you can go to androidx86 and flash an old netbook for basically free. My old eee has a VGA output, my tv has a VGA input, etc.
Or any more modern desktop-ish machine with a HDMI output video card, like the one in my mythtv frontend.
I've never connected my androidx86 EEE 1000 netbook to my TV but I could...

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Puzzles]

My Wii is a not as cheap Netflix box. I don't do anything else with the thing.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[realmolo]

But you can already get cheap games on Xbox Live!. Cheap games are a reality NOW. At least, for games that aren't "AAA"-level games. Which are the kind of games the Ouya is going to get.

I think the Ouya is a neat idea, but at $100, it's too expensive for what it is. If they could get it down to $50, that would be something. That's cheap enough that it's an impulse buy. Still, I think it has a good chance of doing pretty well.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[jxander]

While I agree that Ouya probably won't set the gaming world on fire, it does have a few major benefits over the existing consoles : Price and release date

The current generation XBox and PS debuted in the $300 - 600 range. Rumors have the next gen starting around $400. Meanwhile, neither of those two have a set release date. Sony has a press conference in a few weeks, and XBox is said to be targeting a holiday release schedule. Given those two factors, the only real competition for the Ouya is the WiiU. Of the two, Ouya is still cheaper and won't be as gimmicky as Nintendo's consoles.

The only wild card here is the Steambox. But that, too, has no set price or release date... and it'll mostly be banking on people who have Steam libraries already setup, and just want to play in their living room

If nothing else, Ouya will be a nice toy to tinker with... their intent to keep it 100% mod friendly certainly sets it apart from the other players.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[AuMatar]

Just get a Google TV. Its already an Android device.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[jdastrup]

sure, XboxLive, with a $50/year fee.... You can't even watch Netflix on the Xbox with a paid Netflix subscription without XBox Live. As for the cheap/free game selection, I haven't looked in a while, but wasn't very good. I was under the impression that the dev fees for XBox were to high for most of the small game devs.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

I reckon a good amount of them will be bought just to be used as a cheap XBMC box.

And the rest will be bought just to be used as expensive ROM emulator boxes.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[exomondo]

Why would you want to do x86?

Anything that uses the NDK is going to be painfully slow when you have to emulate ARM. Most games will use the NDK.

Because if you have the x86 version of Android you wouldn't be emulating ARM - which is why i suggested that rather than the emulator.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

A Raspberry Pi makes a much cheaper XBMC box.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[timere969]

That is exactly what I'm using it for.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[tepples]

PC gaming is pretty cheap, at least for undemanding titles, when you consider that you probably own a PC already

Consoles have two noticeable advantages over PC gaming. First, using one doesn't interfere with another household member's use of the family PC. Second, console games are more likely to support two to four gamepads because consoles are far more likely to be connected to screens big enough for two to four people to fit around. I don't imagine that many people, other than the comparatively small population of Slashdot, AVS Forum, and other geek hangouts, already own a second PC just for the living room TV.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Kethinov]

With the PS4 and the next Xbox coming out this year as well as the various Steam Boxes and the next round of high end GPUs for PC about to drop, the Ouya's brief appeal seems even less relevant.

Since none of those are open platforms, I think Ouya's appeal will remain quite relevant.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[exomondo]

We can get $0-$10 games on our smartphones and tablets, but those are almost always 1-player games on a tiny screen. If this offers a cheap marketplace for console-style games, I think it's great.

But those games are cheap because the vast majority are just for killing time (like doodle jump or angry birds) - how many of them are the sort of game that you would sit down and actually play, i really can't think of many. Maybe Minecraft and Limbo - but then again they're on PC and xbox anyway.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

sure, XboxLive, with a $50/year fee....

the games are on XBLA, which you don't need XBox Live Gold for. even then fuck it's less than $5 a month.

I was under the impression that the dev fees for XBox were to high for most of the small game devs.

nope. no different to iOS.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Moses48]

I pre-ordered my OUYA. I was torn between an OUYA and Ras-Pi with controller support. I decided to go with the OUYA for something quick and easy to get running, and faster mod time if I want to mod it. I want a system I can play my custom nes/snes/genises/n64 roms. oh, and I watch netflix. I also like creating my own interface for some of my media. So that leaves me with a few options: modded xbox/ps3, htpc, RasPi (modding for controllers), or OUYA. The htpc option is too expensive. The modded-ps3 is pretty good as it doubles up as a blue-ray player, but it's expensive. The modded-xbox is pretty weak (technically), but is x86 which gives me more support for my old pc games and better emulators, but not sure it can handle n64 emulator. The RasPi is fun to tinker with, I would do this if it wasn't on back-order. The OUYA comes good to go and i just have to root it and put my android emulators on it. It supports both xbox and playstation controllers. For me, it makes sense. (Although at $50/controller I would definitely prefer to buy a ps3 dualshock controller, I pre-ordered when the controller was $30)

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[SomePgmr]

I'm using one of the common Android-on-a-stick hdmi dongles, and I've played with others. They're not very good.

The Ouya out-specs most of them, the software ecosystem sounds promising, and the controller that works will be nice. Not all TV's do CEC and the gaming function of the controller is nice.

I really hope these work out to be good devices.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

Every console system made has been reduced to conversation value or less in 15 years. Oh, sure, there's the retro market, but that's miniscule compared to the main market. The next sentence is what people said about the original Wii.

There's a lot of people that don't have a lot of money these days, and if they can get games for $10 on one system, but they cost $60 each on the other, that makes a huge difference. Kids might want the PS4, but if all the parent can afford is the OUYA, that's what they'll get. Even if they can afford a PS4, it'll look pretty attractive. If the PS4/XBOX720 comes out at $300 (probably higher), you can either get a console with one controller and one game, or, for about the same price, the OUYA with a two controllers and 21 games. If the kids want another game, it's not something that needs to be budgeted. This is a huge difference.

As for adults, well, 85,000 bought one and it hasn't even been made yet. We'll have to wait until it's actually built before you have any reason to call it a piece of junk that won't sell.

As for comment spam, who cares? It's irrelevant. And also rides on the assumption that this will be both be successful and remain in peoples minds, in which case they should be asking to port games to OUYA, and simultaneously not successful to where this would be annoying, in which case it will be forgotten and the comment apocalypse will be averted.

Kudos to you if you didn't understand the financial aspect, you're doing pretty well for yourself. A lot of us aren't, and yes, $60 needs to be budgeted. Sometimes $10 does.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[cayenne8]

Geez, I was thinking of buying one just to get and keep laying around for when someone comes up with a neat 'hack' for using it for something besides games.

I was thinking of doing that just because it was so cheap...hell, I've had many bar tabs over the years that were more than $99...

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

You see being able to develop and sell without restriction on a massively widespread platform is a big problem?

Exclusivity only helps the console maker, not the game developer (other than the chunk of cash the console maker pays them for it), and certainly not the consumer.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[interkin3tic]

Worse, the whole "we will support Ouya" thing became a plague on every single game related kickstarter afterward.

Not really Ouya's fault, and doesn't really change anything about the finished product though.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[GrBear]

the only real competition for the Ouya is the WiiU

I certainly hope you were being humorous. The Ouya is little more than a toy, if anything it will appear in the checkout lines of Best Buy next to the other electronic 'toys'. Have you even looked at the specs for the Ouya compared to even last generation consoles (xbox, ps2)?

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Rude Turnip]

I was going to get another Roku box for the bedroom. If this can run Netflix and Amazon, I'll put my living room Roku in the bedroom and put a Ouya in the living room for the added benefit of games.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[VGPowerlord]

For your second factor, you are aware that the sales life of a console is supposed to be longer than 6 months?

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[pavon]

The OS won't be emulated, but the vast majority of the games that are written with the NDK won't run on x86 without emulation.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[oGMo]

Even compared to the Wii U, this is still a toy. The hardware is 2+ generations old, and is easily outclassed by current-generation phones and other devices. This already looked pretty iffy when they announced it, and this year it's just bad. You can be pretty sure Nintendo and other developers will be putting out games for the WiiU for at least 3-5 years; where will Ouya be even next year?

Even now, 6+ years after its release, I can pick up amazing new AAA games for the PS3 and 360. I'm in the middle of Ni No Kuni, and hoping to finish that fast enough to keep up with other releases. Halo 4 hit the 360 not that long ago. The consoles may have cost $500+ on release, but over 5-6 years, the libraries are pretty stocked. At $100 a year, that's not terrible, because with the Ouya, you're going to be wanting a new one every year. And the games aren't going to be as good.

All in all, not as great a price as it seems.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[richtopia]

For me it is XBMC in addition to emulators. I want to play Mario Kart on my television again, but my SNES is long gone.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Optic7]

You forgot the main, traditional advantage of consoles over PCs: that they're generally much less of a hassle to configure, use, and maintain.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[exomondo]

yeah i suppose devs are unlikely to want to cross-compile for x86.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[exomondo]

Exclusivity only helps the console maker, not the game developer

Of course, and that's exactly what's needed, otherwise who will buy an Ouya? Why not buy another platform that has all those games and more.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[tepples]

Anonymous Coward wrote:

You see being able to develop and sell without restriction on a massively widespread platform is a big problem?

Other Slashdot users might have you believe that restrictions help prevent another Atari 2600-style crash and leverage division of labor.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[jxander]

But the Ouya isn't trying to compete with PS and XBox. That's the point I'm trying to make. It's priced significantly lower than the *current* price for the nearly-decade-old XBox 360 and PS3.

Seriously... and that's the 4gb model ... half the storage capacity of a Ouya, without the USB Stick expandability. Maybe being in a different market will relegate it to the "checkout line of best buy," but I kinda doubt it.

BTW, I have checked out the specs, and Ouya is roughly on par with the "base" level Wii U, while being 1/3 the price.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[jxander]

Even compared to the Wii U, this is still a toy.

WiiU

CPU : 1.24 GHz Tri-Core IBM PowerPC "Espresso"
GPU : AMD Radeon "Latte" @ 550 MHz.
Storage : 8GB / 32GB (depending on model)
RAM : 2 GB total (4x 512 MB DDR3-1600) 1GB reserved for OS.

Ouya

SoC: Nvidia Tegra 3 (T33)
CPU : 1.7 GHz Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A9
Storage : 8GB
RAM : 1GB

Look roughly in the same ballpark to me. If you want to benchmark the WiiU's tri-core Power processor vs Ouya's quad-core ARM ... or if you have an Ouya, I'd be happy to learn what kind of overhead the OS takes... but to call the Ouya 2+ generations behind is simply incorrect

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

In reference to this: The GPU on the WiiU is 3 generations behind as well. According to wikipedia it's an RV770, which AFAIK was the predecessor to the RV740 (Radeon 4770, the first 45NM GPU produced, 128 bit GDDR5 memory bus as opposed to the RV770's 256 bit bus). Additionally that particular part is so old it only PARTIALLY supports OpenCL 1.0, and had driver support removed by ATI in the Catalyst 12.6/12.8 releases.

IE Nintendo just put out a console based around a graphics chip the manufacturer isn't even officially supporting anymore!

The tegra 3 on the other hand will probably still recieve driver updates for at least another few years (based on Nvidia's track record) and combined with nouveau's work on it will have open source drivers available with the majority of features functional before support ends.

But that just might be my take on it.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[RazorSharp]

The Ouya is little more than a toy

Are you implying that other game consoles are not toys?

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[oGMo]

Err, you're comparing GHz between a SoC ARM and PPC64 with a dedicated GPU? Let's put it this way: the WiiU is compared favorably to the current generation consoles (PS3/360) in terms of performance, edging them out in a number of ways (and given they're half a decade old, we should hope!).

The Tegra3 was used on numerous devices last year. Go find one in the same class, performance-wise, as the PS3 or 360. Or even the PS Vita, which is a few notches below the PS3, with its 2GHz quad-core ARM and its quad-core PowerVR GPU.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[drinkypoo]

If I don't have something better by the time they ship, I certainly will. It's exactly what I've been looking for, assuming it runs Netflix.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[aztracker1]

Don't under-sell this aspect... that's my intent... after fiddling with various HTPC front ends for gaming, I'm hoping to see something refined for use on Ouya.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[arf_barf]

I was just looking for hardware to replace my original xbox and run xbmc on it. OUYA seems better than anything that's available on Amazon or Newegg. The best thing that I found was the "official" hardware for xbmc (XIOS DS), but at $120 it more expensive and doesn't have a game controller.

For me the primary use will be xbmc, everything else is just a bonus....

If they come through and make this thing open to 3rd party development, this thing is going to be a big hit and will be around for quite a while....like my original xbox....

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Namarrgon]

XBMC will actually support the OUYA specifically, including full hardware acceleration. Also, it has an ethernet port, for more reliable video streaming. Oh, and it has better games too.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no software ecosystem, there's Linux/Android on ARM, which you can use on quite an assortment of hardware. There's significantly better ARM hardware out there already, from the Arndale-based boards with the new Mali GPUs absolutely demolishing what the Ouya has to offer to quite a few other things in the pipeline.

I will never understand people who feel that slapping a generic Android distribution on a box and including a controller is somehow going to be a promising position, especially when you're releasing on underpowered and outdated hardware. It really just shows that you're clueless about the state of hardware out there right now and how trivial it's going to be to eat Ouya's lunch on day one. It's like Dell putting a software store on a Windows PC and saying 'use me please!!'.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[bfandreas]

Also I dare you to build a PC for 100 bucks.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[rephlex]

The Ouya will provide a greatly superior XBMC experience I'm sure. XBMC is simply too sluggish to be truly usable on the Pi.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Nyder]

I withdrew my backing after the first day of hype -- and I'm pretty easy to lure into your Kickstarter (I've backed about 450 of them, so far). I think the only value in this product will, ultimately, be in its conversation value as something sitting on your shelf in fifteen years. With the PS4 and the next Xbox coming out this year as well as the various Steam Boxes and the next round of high end GPUs for PC about to drop, the Ouya's brief appeal seems even less relevant. Most of the excitement at the time had been that it was touching on this mass appeal for *some* sort of new hardware in a world of aging seven-going-on-eight year old consoles this cycle.

Worse, the whole "we will support Ouya" thing became a plague on every single game related kickstarter afterward. And if you didn't say you were going to port your game to Ouya, people would spam your comments non-stop about "hey, you should contact Ouya and consider porting your game to it". Because when you're trying to produce a game on the cheap that is iffy to begin with, the best thing to do is hitch that wagon to an unreleased piece of hardware that will probably have little success and certainly not offer you anything remotely near the existing platforms that you're already developing the application for, like the PC. Blech.

I don't know. I'm thinking it might be nice for emulators. A small $100 device that plays emulators that I can take with me if I have to go visit relatives or else where that I have to stay the night at. My Wii is nice for that currently, but it's a bit bigger and has a dvd drive that can get messed up during transport (moveable parts).

But ya, it's a small fish in a big pond of new consoles that are coming.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Nyder]

My Wii is a not as cheap Netflix box. I don't do anything else with the thing.

the Wii does 720x480 max. Which is cool if you have a SD TV, but if you have entered into the 21st century, you probably have a 1080p (or 720p) TV. Oh, wait, the Wii doesn't support 720p or 1080p? The Ouya does? Nice.

The Wii is great, I got one, i play with it everyday. But it's not HD.

Sure, the Wii looks great on SD, but on HD? You get laughed at.

 

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[0100010001010011]

Yeah, that stupid non-crossplatform language Java. Why would Google ever use that?

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[exomondo]

You realize the NDK is not Java?

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[0100010001010011]

That's even worse for cross platform work.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[kiddygrinder]

consoles generally interfere with someone else's use of the tv though, which is generally more of a big deal in my experience.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[kiddygrinder]

and the good thing about this one is you can still use it as a computer

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Belial6]

The 2600 crashed because everyone was moving to C64s and Apple IIs. The Atari was just way out of it's league. Given the huge amount of crap, and complete lack of lock down on the C64 and Apple II, I cannot believe that it was low quality software that was the Atari's undoing.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Belial6]

Support. If these really are sold by Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Target, then they will be seen as legit by a much wider audience. This can lead to a network effect for games being properly tuned for the system and people buying the system. There is an issue of critical mass. Since it is Android and they have partnered with Amazon, it will likely support the Amazon Android Market. This means, Netflix, Hulu and Crackle will be running on it. That means it starts out day one as a real competitor for Roku and the other streaming boxes. Add in XBMC and it beats the streaming boxes before you even look at the rest of the Android ecosystem.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Seumas]

I want the Ouya to prove all of the doubters wrong and offer something amazing to the world, but I think it ultimately will not have the ecosystem or longevity to make it viable for much of anything.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[mjwx]

First, using one doesn't interfere with another household member's use of the family PC.

When you're all grown up and have you're own job this is not an issue.

Besides, this advantage is easily negated when Male Child wants to play HaloZone and Female Child wants to play Barbie Horse Adventures. This is somewhat of a worse scenario.

I've said it before and upset the fanboys but I'll say it again and upset them again.

Consoles are for casual, PC's are for gaming.

If you buy 2-3 games a month the A$20 I save per game pays for the difference between a gaming box and a console. For that I get better controls and a much larger variety of games (as well as great graphical features like anti-aliasing).

Consoles are for when friends or relatives who want to play games with me. Which is what they're great at, simple, casual fun (sorry fanboys, but the best selling games are casual for a reason). I keep a Wii around simply for this purpose. This is also why Ouya will succeed. It wont do fantastically, but it'll pave the way for the console that does.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Seumas]

That appeal isn't applicable broadly enough to sustain it as a viable product. Developers and geeks like us appreciate the open nature of it and the tinkerability of it but the majority of those who would potentially buy it as a consumer device likely don't care or even know that aspect of the product.

Also, don't get me wrong -- I would absolutely to be proven wrong about this device. This is just my arm-chair analysis, which is divorced entirely from my personal hopes.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Seumas]

Doesn't impact the Ouya as a finished product, but it potentially distracted and cost developers of the hundreds of games on Kickstarter that suddenly felt they had to placate Ouya backers by promising to port to another platform that we knew/know very little about that may never even have enough of an audience to justify it, just because it was a hip thing to tout.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[SomePgmr]

If you know of any competing device that's anything like the Ouya but better spec'd, please do let me know.

I do see some bare boards matching your description at $250 without an enclosure, power, console style UI and curated store, or controller of any sort. I think we can agree that's not even close to what we're talking about, though.

And either way, there's no reason to get angry about it. If there's a compelling alternative I'd like to know about it.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[adolf]

Recently built a PC for free for a buddy. It works well; plays games and everything.

Please send the 100 bucks to the address above via Paypal.

Thanks.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[tepples]

Consoles are for casual

I agree. But until the announcement of Ouya, one pretty much had to do a five-year internship in Austin, Boston, or Seattle in order to gain the required "relevant video game industry experience" to get a game ported and published on a console.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just curious, but why on earth does the WiiU need to reserve 1GB of RAM just for the OS?

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[CronoCloud]

There's this thing called the Wii Shop...it lets you buy versions of Mario Kart or other SNES games that work on your Wii. So there's no excuse to pirate those specific games anymore.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[CronoCloud]

Not everyone, only those who could afford it. You do know that complete C64 setups were pretty expensive by current standards.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[CronoCloud]

In the old days, yes, which is why I always laughed at those old 2600 commercials showing dad and son gathered at the 2600 with mon and sis cheering them (they never showed mom and sis play games). Because at that time, 1 TV household were still common...course a few years later that 2600 was probably connected to some garage sale B/W Tv in the "playroom" or "son's room"

Nowadays mutliple TV households are common.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[CronoCloud]

Australia is not the US, the price differential isn't so great or is nil here. And in my experience, console gamers have larger, in many cases MUCH larger game libraries, while with PC gamers thare are more "single-game gamers" like those who only play WoW or have only been playing Counter-Strike for the past 5 years.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[CronoCloud]

As I've said before, most Android games don't even come close in quality to even PSone or PSP games, let alone Vita or PS3/360.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[interkin3tic]

But again, it sounds like you're putting the blame on the wrong party. That's kickstarter users that were the problem there. Was Ouya starting a campaign to convince everyone on kickstarter to only fund games that would be ouya compatible?

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

WiiU

CPU : 1.24 GHz Tri-Core IBM PowerPC "Espresso"
GPU : AMD Radeon "Latte" @ 550 MHz.
Storage : 8GB / 32GB (depending on model)
RAM : 2 GB total (4x 512 MB DDR3-1600) 1GB reserved for OS.

Why do I suddenly want to go for coffee?

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[halltk1983]

All games are for killing time. They're all for you to pass time in a fashion you find amicable. Same way the games on Ouya will be.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[Anonymous Coward]

No offer of $100 was made. The dare was for you to build a PC for $100 or less. Mission accomplished. If they wanted to pay you to accoplish the feat, there would be no need to double-dog dare you.

Re:Ouya was more relevant, before.

[atamido]

BTW, I have checked out the specs, and Ouya is roughly on par with the "base" level Wii U, while being 1/3 the price.

No. Comparing an ARM SoC to a PowerPC with discrete graphics is just ridiculous.

Console gaming dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

They've been hearing that console gaming is dead? It it backwards day already?

Re:Console gaming dead?

[AwesomeMcgee]

I don't know, if I say Yes, does that mean it is or isn't?

Re:Console gaming dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

i guess maybe because of the rise of mobile gaming? i think there's room for both, though. playing video games in your living room on a big display isn't going away any time soon. perhaps how the content is delivered will change, but not yet, and ouya isn't changing that anyway.

regardless, i'm mildly optimistic about the ouya. if it has even a couple of good games that work well on a console, it's worth the $100 to me.

Re:Console gaming dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

Near the start of the console cycle - PC gaming is dying.
Near the end of console cycle - console gaming is dying.

Re:Console gaming dead?

[Seumas]

I always found that odd in their launch pitch on Kickstarter, too. Nobody has thought console gaming is dead or missed the "true" gaming days of sitting around the television playing games. . . . but I guess that's an invented point they thought might work to appeal to potential backers. And with almost ten million bucks pledged, I guess it didn't hurt. :/

Yes, new innovative intellectual property!

[Dahamma]

I've been waiting for years for someone to release truly innovative titles like "2D Cube Zombie Platformer" and "Bowling Pro"...

Re:Yes, new innovative intellectual property!

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed 2D Cube Zombie Platformer is on the finals of Ouya CREATE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hht-85kZdAY

I don't know...

[Dahamma]

Their console design looks a little retro to me.

http://www.ouya.tv/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/photo-1-e1359051832288.jpg

Re:I don't know...

[Anonymous Coward]

Might be a good strategy. Around here I've noticed the CD shops have expanded to over 50% vinyl.

Re:I don't know...

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

OhYA, vector gaming! Lets game like its 1979!!!

Re:I don't know...

[Dahamma]

I don't know, I have painful memories of playing it in college. If I remember correctly, it was a basic platform side scroller, but it took me forever to acquire the Vertical and Horizontal Positions and get to the Trigger Level.

I give it 3 months

[thetoadwarrior]

Then no one will remember it existed

What's up with the lack of start/select button?

[grumbel]

Does anybody know why they left away the start/select button? Those seems rather fundamental to a whole lot of modern game designs and not having them will probably be a rather big annoyance. Do they have anything planed for the GUI that will address this issue?

Re:What's up with the lack of start/select button?

[tepples]

I'm guessing that games that don't use the trackpad will map the whole trackpad to Start.

Re:What's up with the lack of start/select button?

[ryzvonusef]

I remember reading on the Engadget article on it (posted on slashdot a few days ago) that game designers noted the absence of the button and told OUYA, and they responded with a promise to fix in the release.

no thanks, too little for too much

[frovingslosh]

I know if I saw anything unfavorable about kickstarter I'll get modded down no matter what merit it has, but I sure can't get excited about this. There are extremely hot Android tablets for $200 with their own high resolution screens. Take out the GPS, the NFC, the bluetooth, and other features and you can build a decent tablet for a hundred bucks complete with a screen and HDMI out. Why should I spend that amount for an Android device without a screen that can only be used for a limited subset of games when I should be able to buy a tablet that can do so much more?

Re:no thanks, too little for too much

[wonkey_monkey]

Why should I spend that amount for an Android device without a screen that can only be used for a limited subset of games when I should be able to buy a tablet that can do so much more?

Because it costs $100, not $200. Oh, and it has buttons, joysticks, and a touchpad - things you won't find on a tablet.

tegra 4 would have been great

[Anonymous Coward]

Wish they had delayed this by a few months and launched with a tegra 4 chip and increased the price by $10 as i'm sure nvidia would charge more for tegra 4.

Tegra 3 = quad cortex a9 and a poor gpu not supporting modern opengl and opengl es
tegra 4 = quad cortex a15 and a gpu that is 3-6x faster and is supports modern versions of opengl and opengl es.

A tegra 4 box would have been great for a htpc, usb3 and lots of other goodies, shame.

There was rumours of a ouya 2 according to a newspaper, one of those would be nice with tegra 4 or 5.

Can't believe they are charging $50 for a 2nd controller. the xbox 360 controller only costs around $35.

Is it me or....

[Orleron]

do most of those game trailers from TFA look pretty bad?

Re:Is it me or....

[citizenr]

Considering they have to work with Riva TNT2 "performance" they look ok'ish. Think year 1999 Unreal Tournament in 800x600.
Ok for a quick break on a train, useless as an entertainment system in the house.

Re:Is it me or....

[tepples]

Does this video necessarily look like 1999 UT/Q3A?

Re:Is it me or....

[Anonymous Coward]

do most of those game trailers from TFA look pretty bad?

The games were all made in only 10 days...

Re:Is it me or....

[citizenr]

Does this video necessarily look like 1999 UT/Q3A?

Im sorry, but you linked to a commercial. Wake me up when you have a gameplay footage from tegra running at >800x600

Re:Is it me or....

[tepples]

Tegra 3: Shadowgun (violent)
Tegra 3: Dead Trigger (violent)
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any non-violent footage showing off Tegra 3 on short notice.

Re:Is it me or....

[citizenr]

Tegra 3: Shadowgun (violent)

Comparable to Q2 with added shaders, not Q3/UT. Drops below 30fps on tegra3.

Tegra 3: Dead Trigger (violent)

one tunnel, no open spaces, comparable to UT/Q3 when it comes to visuals. Can enable all the "Tegra 3 exclusive" effects on all other GPUs like Mali or Adreno with simple xml file edit.

Input device for Android-on-a-stick?

[tepples]

An Ouya controller includes physical buttons and a trackpad, and games will be designed and balanced around this input device. What input device comes with the RK3066 Android stick? Sure, there's a USB hub, but there's really not much standardization in the button layout of USB game controllers. I'm not fully convinced that all users will have the time to sit through control calibration ("Press up, down, left, right, jump, shoot, in that order") for each new game that they install.

Re:Input device for Android-on-a-stick?

[Anonymous Coward]

That isn't calibration (which hasn't been necessary since the old serial controllers), that is configuration and it's a great thing to have. Most gamers would prefer their own button layout, not the poorly thought out one that comes with the games.

Re:Input device for Android-on-a-stick?

[tepples]

That isn't calibration (which hasn't been necessary since the old serial controllers), that is configuration and it's a great thing to have.

I agree with you that configuration is great to have. But to what extent will gamers be patient enough to sit through it for each game that they download?

Re:Input device for Android-on-a-stick?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think any gamer willing to invest significant amounts of time into a particular game is going to want custom controls. I also think that most gamers already have a specific key or button layout that they use across like genres. Time to customize is going to be a one time thing per game taking a minute or two at most. For example, my preferred layout for FPS games is always:

WASD - movement forward, left, back, right
QE - lean left, right
Shift - walk/run
Mouse 1 - fire/attack
Mouse 2 - alternate fire/attack
Mouse 3 - zoom/scope
Mouse 4 - crouch
Mouse 5 - jump
Mouse wheel - next/previous weapon
Number 1-0 - weapon/item slots
Space bar - use door/object/switch
R - reload
F - light
G - grenade/bomb
Tab - use item
ZXCV - anything additional

Since I have it memorized due to routine use, it takes no time to configure any FPS and I can jump right into the game without having to struggle with memorizing different controls for each one.

Re:Input device for Android-on-a-stick?

[tepples]

I think any gamer willing to invest significant amounts of time into a particular game is going to want custom controls.

True, games SHOULD implement custom controls. (Capital "SHOULD" is to be understood as defined in RFC 2119.) But just having custom controls is no suitable for sane defaults. With the introduction of free-to-play and 99-cent games from app stores, there's less psychological sunk cost in abandoning a particular game. So I'd guess the fraction of gamers "willing to invest significant amounts of time into a particular game" has declined in the "app store" and "Steam flash sale" era. They just want to press the Start button (which the Ouya lacks) and play.

Since I have it memorized due to routine use, it takes no time to configure any FPS

Unless a particular game presents the bindings in a different order. Or have developers of games in each genre standardized on one order to present bindings? And if you're trying five different games in one day, other than as a professional video game journalist, how likely are you to be willing to enter these bindings into each game?

Re:Input device for Android-on-a-stick?

[Anonymous Coward]

True, games SHOULD implement custom controls. (Capital "SHOULD" is to be understood as defined in RFC 2119.) But just having custom controls is no suitable for sane defaults. With the introduction of free-to-play and 99-cent games from app stores, there's less psychological sunk cost in abandoning a particular game. So I'd guess the fraction of gamers "willing to invest significant amounts of time into a particular game" has declined in the "app store" and "Steam flash sale" era. They just want to press the Start button (which the Ouya lacks) and play.

That is my point. I can usually tell within the first five minutes if I want to spend time completing any particular game. If so, I layout the keys so that they are comfortable and natural to me.

Unless a particular game presents the bindings in a different order. Or have developers of games in each genre standardized on one order to present bindings? And if you're trying five different games in one day, other than as a professional video game journalist, how likely are you to be willing to enter these bindings into each game?

I've never had an issue finding the bindings that I want to configure in any game that allows keys to be remapped. The only "sane" key defaults I've seen that have been pretty universal is for WASD movement. Pretty much everything else needs to be reconfigured because every game developer thinks that they know what keymap is best and end up being different from one another. I like consistency across my games and custom controls lets me do that.

Re:Input device for Android-on-a-stick?

[tepples]

I can usually tell within the first five minutes if I want to spend time completing any particular game. If so, I layout the keys so that they are comfortable and natural to me.

So in a universe with all these different button layouts, what sane defaults would get you to the five minute mark?

Re:Input device for Android-on-a-stick?

[Anonymous Coward]

That depends on the kind of game. Obviously a RTS isn't going to have the same key configuration as a FPS. Choose whatever you want as default, but you should never prevent a player from being able to remap anything. None of the gamers I have known have ever complained about being able to remap controls, but plenty have complained about not being able to.

I rarely play games that use a gamepad because keyboard and mouse are so much more accurate and quick. Gamepads are only good for a very limited section of games, namely platformers.

166 entries?

[Kwyj1b0]

From the summary, I thought this device would support android games. If that is the case, why are their only 166 entries? Do Android games need to be ported to make use of the controller?

I also wonder if any big-named titles are coming to it. Without that, I believe this console is dead in the water. Most people who do console gaming want big famous titles (like Halo/Zelda/FIFA/CoD).

Angry birds on a console wouldn't (IMO) do much good. I doubt anyone would play angry birds on a PC/Console. Part of the appeal with games for phones is that the games are quick, easy to play, and relatively straightforward. Some console/PC games transition well to phones (e.g. Team 17's Worms), but I don't think that holds for the majority of games. Most console gamers (whom I know - including me) prefer games with greater complexity in gameplay (even if it is just shooting things).

Re:166 entries?

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

Yes, bingo. Most Android games are designed for touch, without game controller support. So you only get 166 titles that support the OUYA. While the OUYA supports the Android platform, it DOESN'T support the content already out there. That's the scam. This system is at the mercy of people that will bother to support the OUYA, not a system that just magically works with all Android content.

Re:166 entries?

[nightfury]

Angry birds on a console wouldn't (IMO) do much good. I doubt anyone would play angry birds on a PC/Console.

Yep... nobody does that.

Re:166 entries?

[Kwyj1b0]

Angry birds on a console wouldn't (IMO) do much good. I doubt anyone would play angry birds on a PC/Console.

Yep... nobody does that.

While I did say "nobody" in my original post, I didn't mean it literally. For that matter, cut the rope is on the Windows 8 store (and I'm sure it is on other platforms). My second point addressed this issue: I don't think Angry birds for Xbox would make anyone thinking of buying a console choose that platform instead of a PS3. They choose Xbox for Halo. When you want people to buy a console, they look for big-name titles. And Angry birds lacks the complexity that makes game play on a console fun (compare it to GTA or any other major title).

Re:166 entries?

[tepples]

This system is at the mercy of people that will bother to support the OUYA

Which includes anybody who has published an Android game that supports the iControlPad, iCade, Archos GamePad, or Sixaxis Controller, and wants some relatively easy money.

Re:166 entries?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm more of a CynicalPessimist about the software support. It sounds like most people are excited turning their Ouya into a media box or an old console emulator. (There's also people who are planning to pirate games someone else is supposed to buy.)

My guess is that everyone plays around with theirs for a few weeks and then forgets about it.

Re:166 entries?

[bfandreas]

Oh do come on! It's nice bit of fun!
May I interrupt your little conspiracy theory here and point out that adding controller support to existing games is rather trivial? Also I happen to play a couple of games on my Tegra 3 pad with a stock PS3 sixaxis controller. No rooting, no hassle.
For newish games that are not developed around touch controls(so irritated poultry is excluded) you will find that they very much support controllers. You get the usual crop of arcade racers, twin-stick shooters, supersonic hedgehogs, 3rd person shooters, dungeon defend thingies, pinball, the lot.

The Ouya people have been very clever. They hopped on a bandwagon that was already rolling. nVidia has bribed, begged or threatened a lot of serious mobile developers to optimize for their chipsets. They also pressure for controller support where applicable. The library is there. They only needed to sell it at a second shop. The real question is if they get it in quantity into Tys-R-Us and Wallmart. At that price people will buy it at a whim. I know i will.

This is not the Phantom. 166 titles all of them having a free to play/extensive demo portion to them is nothing to sneer at. For 100 bucks not only do you get some nice kit, you get more games than the XBox could field on release. You also get a fairly open system.
I have yet to read that sideloading will be not possible.
One of these things has been preordered by my company. We might be using it to monitor our network traffic but knowing our admins I have my doubts. I've granted them my approval provided the "demo" it to me regularly. This is a serious bit of kit and needs management oversight.

Re:166 entries?

[bfandreas]

...and given that a lot of these games either have a free demo or are free to play they absolutely follow the Ouya rules.
I wonder how many of these games will support the Tegra 3 nVidia 3d glasses thingie. I'm only aware of Riptide GP and I have to say from time to time I do disconnect my computer monitor from my i7/Geforce 680 rig, plug in my tablet and have a go on that sucker. Also I prefer to buy indie titles for my tablet since I am on the move quite a lot.
Buying Machinarium/Puddle/Osmos... for my PC or my tablet. Gee. That's a no-brainer. I'd also like to see Bastion on that but given the platform I think that's rather unlikely.

Re:166 entries?

[bfandreas]

Not sure about that. I buy a lot of games for my Tegra 3 tablet. Given the choice I prefer to buy it for that instead of my dedicated gaming PC.
Since my tablet also comes with a rather clever keyboard and an extra mouse and sixaxis controller do fit rather nicely into my bag I've already go a mobile gaming platform. Hook up a beamer and that's some nice rig.
Any platform that runs Sonic and Master of Magic with no problems at all gets my vote. And at 100 bucks there is very little risk involved.
Since I already got a very similar platform(at more than seven times the price of the Ouya, mind you) I may have to find other clever uses for it. And I give that thing about a week before somebody gets the Android market place/Google Play to run on it. This thing will be hacked to oblivion and back. And at 100 bucks it still will make a nice and cheapish XBMC box.
There's more putzing around potential in this thing than people give it credit for. I've dabbled with the free nVidia Tegra dev kit(it's Eclipse with a couple of plugins) and getting things done with it is rather easy once you get the hang of it. Given the choice between a Raspberry Pi and this thing I take the Ouya.

Re:166 entries?

[kiddygrinder]

how many games does it need anyway? i only own 10 ps3 games

Re:166 entries?

[CronoCloud]

25, not counting downloadables like Flower, FreeRealms, DCUO, etc etc.

Re:166 entries?

[nightfury]

While you make a valid point, it must be argued that the presence of such things as Angry Birds in combination with a AAA title is what makes something marketable to families. My family has owned a 360 for about a year and a half, and while it was originally purchased for the platformer titles available, as well as the novelty of the Kinect interface, for the last 6 months the only thing it has done is Minecraft under the control of my 8 year old.

The Angry Birds example is one of a value add, whether it is optimized for the interface or not. I don't look for a console because it plays something like that, but if I've not completely decided on something, and those kinds of titles are NOT available, it will definitely push me toward the console that DOES have that option.

Pricing of Android x86 apps; PC-to-TV marketing

[tepples]

Because you can go to androidx86 and flash an old netbook for basically free.

Provided two things happen. First, you have to get an old netbook; they're discontinued now, and supply will dwindle as diehard netbook fans such as myself buy used netbooks to replace netbooks that eventualy bite the dust. Second, the game developer has to recompile the NDK parts of the game for x86, upload it to Google Play Store, and charge a fee competitive with other games on the same store, as opposed to selling a Windows or GNU/Linux version on Steam for what would probably be a higher price. The problem here is that back when Google Play Store was called Android Market, users in a lot of countries were left out of being able to buy paid applications, forcing developers to make their apps ad-supported to gain an audience. This in turn pushed price expectations down even among users in countries with paid apps.

I've never connected my androidx86 EEE 1000 netbook to my TV but I could...

The difference is marketing. Ouya is marketed as a set-top device. To my knowledge, ASUS never marketed the Eee PC netbooks as "Connect to your TV!" despite that most LCD TVs include VGA+audio in that works with a netbook's VGA+audio out.

Re:Pricing of Android x86 apps; PC-to-TV marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

Does your netbook even do 720p?

no fair price for you

[frovingslosh]

When you have a bunch of chumps who financed your company for you, it is easy to get greedy and charge them high prices for the essential extras like the second controller. A decent user friendly design might have offered compatibility with one or even several existing console controllers, but I would not expect anyone who wants to get rich on the contributions of others to do that.

Next year at this time you'll be able to get the controllers cheap from many of the close-out sellers. However you will not want them.

Re:no fair price for you

[suutar]

like the Ouya does! http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/49501/ouya-works-xbox-360-ps3-controllers-wirelessly

Xbox Live Silver vs. Gold; $99/yr XBLIG fee

[tepples]

sure, XboxLive, with a $50/year fee

As I understand it, buying cheap single-player or local-multiplayer games from Arcade or Indie Games requires only Xbox Live Silver, which is available without charge to anybody who hasn't modded his console or cheated in an online game, not Xbox Live Gold, which carries a fee.

I was under the impression that the dev fees for XBox were to high for most of the small game devs.

In the ten countries with Xbox Live Indie Games, the expenses to develop an XNA game are a PC running the console maker's OS, a console, $99 per year, and a 30% cut of revenue. Apple copied that arrangement exactly for the iOS and Mac App Stores. I'm under the impression that a developer who makes it big in Indie Games is likely to have the money to step up to Arcade for its next title.

Stop overrating this please

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

I recently got a Nexus 10 and having spent hours on the Android marketplace looking for some half-decent game that is not Angry Birds, I came up far short. Sure you get something that plugs Android into your TV, then what. Hope the games come while you struggle to play Angry Birds on a platform it was not intended for?

The complete dearth of quality game content kind of suggests that for a good long time OUYA will not be as revolutionary as everyone thinks. Not to mention that what games are there are intended for touch screens, not game controller play. I'd expect a LONG list of content "not supported by your device" coming up on OUYA.

I think Google Play is getting better, but its still a far cry from the robust platform of quality games found on iDevices AND Android games are a far cry from the content you are going to see on the current or next generation of platforms. OUYA might encourage more game development, but again, will it drive up higher amounts of quality titles, I doubt it.

This project was over-hyped from the beginning and I think this is just plain ol' highway robbery for all the KickStarter supporters.

Re:Stop overrating this please

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because you personally can't find something of interest to waste time on, you feel the rest of the world is as bitter as you? This console is to allow a different gaming model of free to play (crap) on the biggest selling OS on the planet. Many people will buy this, it is not intended to compete with real consoles, but it will probably take a large chunk out of their market.

Re:Stop overrating this please

[Anonymous Coward]

Many people will buy this, it is not intended to compete with real consoles, but it will probably take a large chunk out of their market.

Uh, right.

The people willing to blow $400 on an XBox720 and Halo 5 are really going to gasp in awe and instead buy an Ouya.

At a very delusional best, gamers might buy this - if only for the novelty factor - in addition to actual consoles.

Re:Stop overrating this please

[bfandreas]

...then you haven't looked very hard.

The Android market place is notoriously disorganized. You need to look for dedicated Android gaming websites. There are quite a lot.

Just a couple of days ago I read about Max McMann, bought it on a whim, played it and found it was the small hours of the morning. There's also Machinarium for your classic point&click pleasure. Zen Pinball is one of the best pinball games I've played since the Epic ones from the 90ies. Sonic has been superbly ported. There are a couple of nice twin-stick shmups, Ikaruga has been ported(can you believe it?) and if you feel like it you can set up DosBox for GoG classic DOS games and there are is a rather nice Amiga emulator.

Do not go for whatever currently tops the Google Play charts. It's children downloading the usual fart apps and nothing else.

Lately I've played a lot of Max McMann, Riptide GP, Asphalt 7, Sonic, Bard's Tale(a remake, the purchase includes the originals which I haven't yet tried out), Machinarium, Sector Strike(touch controls done correctly), Zen Pinball, Dark Meadow(Unreal 3 engine!!!!), Expendable Reloaded(a Dreamcast port), World of Goo, Osmos and Puddle. Mind you, all of these games have a LOT more to them than the ubiquitious Angry Birds. These are games for real gamers. Not stuff granny would play while on the toilet. I don't like ShadowGun because 3D shooters are obviously stupid.
A couple of them will propably be not be available on non-Tegra devices. nVidia has consulted(bribed) a lot of mobile dev studios how to "optimize" for Tegra 3. They are going guns blazing for the mobile market.
Guess what the Ouya is using?

Re:Stop overrating this please

[Yosho]

Ikaruga has been ported(can you believe it?)

I couldn't believe it until I looked it up, and I see a lot of reviews saying that it's a shoddy port that doesn't have gamepad support and it crashes on a number of devices, including the Nexus 7. On top of that, the file size is large enough that unless you've got a pretty fast internet connection you may not even be able to download the game before the refund period expires, so you might be stuck spending $9 on something you can't even play. Meh.

Re:OUYA = Oh Ya

[tepples]

How about "Oh Ya, there will be cheap or even free games on this that probably couldn't be made for a Sony or Nintendo console"?

This monkey has only six axis

[tepples]

Can't believe they are charging $50 for a 2nd controller. the xbox 360 controller only costs around $35.

Is that the wired or wireless controller? And is that proprietary RF or standard Bluetooth? The SIXAXIS controller cost $50 new.

Google TV game control

[tepples]

How well do the controls work in Android games for Google TV?

Re:Google TV game control

[bfandreas]

...and how does it compare to a Tegra 3?

A closed platform has its own benefits

[tepples]

A closed platform has its own benefits, as CronoCloud and 140Mandak262Jamuna have pointed out.

If it has NES, SNES, etc emulators, then maybe...

[Anonymous Coward]

If it has a way to play the old NES and SNES roms, it may be kind of fun (but not worth $50 for a second controller). But other than that, I cannot see a great deal of purpose for it.

Micro-studios

[tepples]

playing video games in your living room on a big display isn't going away any time soon. perhaps how the content is delivered will change, but not yet

The push to market Steam boxes for set-top use as opposed to desktop use is likely to help it change.

and ouya isn't changing that anyway

If anything, Ouya will change it in a way beneficial to micro-studios. I imagine that getting games into the Ouya Store will be more like getting games into Google Play Store, or into Xbox Live Indie Games or Apple's App Store at worst, as opposed to the far more involved and far more expensive process of becoming an authorized developer for games for Nintendo consoles.

(Cue the claims that all games from micro-studios are falling block clones or crap reminiscent of the 1983-1984 Atari 2600 crash.)

Re:Micro-studios

[CronoCloud]

(Cue the claims that all games from micro-studios are falling block clones or crap reminiscent of the 1983-1984 Atari 2600 crash.)

I wouldn't say they're equivalent of 2600 games but the vast majority are no match for even PSone titles in gameplay or quality.

And as for falling block clones, put your money where your mouth is. Weren't all of your games clones/knock offs of somebody elses game, "Luminesweeper" and those tetris clones with slightly modded rules that you did? You obviously don't have much imagination as a designer.

Re:Micro-studios

[tepples]

I wouldn't say they're equivalent of 2600 games but the vast majority are no match for even PSone titles in gameplay or quality.

Which is why the price of the vast majority would be no match for PSone titles. It has been demonstrated elsewhere that something with the depth of an NES game can sell online for $5. An open or semi-open platform gives a developer a chance to build a portfolio to put on his resume while he saves up for the multi-year apprenticeship in Austin, Boston, or Seattle.

Weren't all of your games clones/knock offs of somebody elses game, "Luminesweeper" and those tetris clones with slightly modded rules that you did?

I haven't touched a line of code in a falling block game for several years. Just because a single developer who regularly posts to Slashdot used to make falling block clones and has been working at maturing past that point into other genres doesn't mean that all games from micro-studios are falling block clones. Please be careful.

Re:Micro-studios

[CronoCloud]

Which is why the price of the vast majority would be no match for PSone titles. It has been demonstrated elsewhere that something with the depth of an NES game can sell online for $5.

Yes, but why should someone buy some micro-studio game when they can just buy a proven good game with a PSone classic on PSN for 5.99, or a NES or SNES game on the Wii Shop. I have a PSP, it has proper controls and a nice screen and nice sound.

I also never said "all" micro-studio games were falling block clones. I did say that micro-studios did have a tendency to do clones at least at first, and that's not a good thing.

It doesn't bother me too much that microstudios can't make games for the PS3/360 without going through some hoops, I like it that way. There's too many phone ports in the PS3 mini's already. I want some barriers to entry, but joining an existing studio lets you help make games for your desired platforms NOW and you get paid for it.

Archos GamePad

[tepples]

buttons, joysticks, and a touchpad - things you won't find on a tablet.

Then what's the Archos GamePad?

Re:Archos GamePad

[Anonymous Coward]

Then what's the Archos GamePad?

$70 more.

Re:Archos GamePad

[kiddygrinder]

it's 192 dollars and with a dual-core A9 processor at 1.6 GHz, a quad-core MALI 400 GPU and 1 GB of RAM the ouya shits all over it hardware wise, did you think they could add on a screen for free?

Re:Archos GamePad

[tepples]

And the GameCube shat all over the Nintendo DS that came out three years later. It's common for stationary hardware that doesn't have to worry so much about power consumption to shit all over a tablet.

Wow, this thing is really happening!

[Optic7]

Looks like they're snagging some pretty heavyweight retailers. I will probably buy this pretty early on, as I really like the concept, or perhaps even pre-order. I just need to learn some more details about it. Good luck to the platform and to the game developers!

iControlPad games, for one

[tepples]

Not to mention that what games are there are intended for touch screens, not game controller play.

Every game has to support the touch screen, even if only to drop a virtual gamepad onto the screen. But a lot of games already support the iControlPad, iCade, Sixaxis Controller, Xperia Play, or a slide-out physical keyboard, and could be easily ported.

Over-engineered?

[jj00]

I'm excited about it in that I'd like to see a device I can play around with. The entry cost is fairly low. My concern is the amount of effort they seem to be putting into the design, or want you to believe they are putting into the design. Seems like they could have saved a lot of money by squeezing that motherboard into square-ish OEM Roku box and used some standard usb gamepads. I'd also like to see it act just like another other Android device - meaning I could install stuff from the Play store, etc.

new tvs can "run" netflix and amazon

[decora]

its built into th tv

Re:new tvs can "run" netflix and amazon

[Rude Turnip]

Not all televisions have built in apps and I prefer models that don't have them for cost and flexibility. Plus, I've already spent thousands of dollars on screens.

Re:new tvs can "run" netflix and amazon

[Omestes]

Why would you buy a full new TV, when you could buy a $100 box?

Also TV OSs are generally locked down crap.

Other console controller as option or requirement?

[tepples]

A decent user friendly design might have offered compatibility with one or even several existing console controllers, but I would not expect anyone who wants to get rich on the contributions of others to do that.

Did you mean as an option or as a requirement? If as a requirement, that would require each developer to buy an Xbox 360 controller, a Sixaxis controller, and a Wii Remote so that the game can be play-tested and balanced on all three of them, no matter which console a given player already owns. If as an option, what makes you think it'll be impossible for an individual game to support other controllers as an option?

Legality difference between NES and SNES

[tepples]

If it has a way to play the old NES and SNES roms, it may be kind of fun

Every Ouya console can be converted to the devkit. I imagine that one can sideload an Android NES or Super NES emulator. But the reason these emulators probably won't find their way into the Ouya Store is the same reason that Fedora doesn't include emulators: the company doesn't want to incur secondary liability by "inducing" copyright infringement (MGM v. Grokster). One can make probably-noninfringing (under US law, 17 USC 117(a)) copies of a Sega Genesis or Super NES cartridge by buying a Retrode cart reader, and adapters for Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Sega Master System cartridges are coming soon. But how would one do so for NES games? The most widely used NES dumping device, the CopyNES, has to be soldered into an authentic NES console, and I imagine that most users aren't willing to do that.

Re:Legality difference between NES and SNES

[bfandreas]

...and in that vein I will also wanr you not to sideload an Amiga emulator. Even if the one I once watched a friend of a friend of a friend play Gods and Xenon2 and Turrican play on supported a stock PS3 sixaxis controller. I also have heard talk of MAME!
DO NOT BE TEMPTED! You might be jailed for your heineous crime!

But I suppose heading over to GoG, grab a copy of Master of Magic and running that in Dosbox on your tablet might be fine...

This isn't iOS. Android was made for putzing around. Putz around! But I have to warn you, on Tegra3 you may find that Dungeon Keeper 1 is a bit sluggish. Playable, but sluggish. Also I had no problems running Day of the Tentacle. Played it on my old 386, my nokia phone 5 years ago and now on my tablet. If somebody had told me when I bought the CD 20 years ago I would have called him quite mad!

Re:Legality difference between NES and SNES

[krakelohm]

Your first paragraph made my brain hurt.

OUYA: Free To Play PITA.

[VortexCortex]

IMO, everyone misses the biggest deal with the OUYA: Its payment API stinks.

In the OUYA developer API: All programs must be down-loadable for free. There's no option to charge for the game first. There's no option to have a free version and a paid version -- It's got to be an in-app purchase if you want that, it's more complex and harder to get right, esp. from a security standpoint, esp. when trying NOT to annoy your customers. The payment API has re-occurring subscription payments, it has replenish-able items that can be bought multiple times (think Zynga Energy Bars, or game currency), and it has one time purchasable items (like unlockables). This means I just say NO to OUYA.

This means developers who just want to sell you the whole game once and you have it and that's it, really only have one option: Game Demo -> Try Out -> Purchase Rest of Game -> Wait for it to download the rest of the game. Otherwise, OUYA games really will be the most hackable: Download full game -> It's got locked features -> Run the keygen / crack. -> You've got the full game -- I wonder what the Venn diagram looks like for people to which a $100 console price point is compelling vs people who've ever ran a game keygen / crack... I bet it it looks pretty much like a single circle.

I've done research on the try-before-you buy "game demo" method in my own apps. What happens is that players impulsively download the games. Some forget about them, then delete them without ever playing the games. Most play the game first, feel their curiosity is mostly satisfied, then they forget about it and delete it later. A rare few will download the game, play the demo, then after that impulse has passed, return to the game and buy the "next episode" or "full game".

So folks like me who actually love making and playing games, and have no interest in being nickel and dimed to death or doing so to our customers see the OUYA as a non-starter. Less Choice Is Bad. OUYA gives devs LESS CHOICE about how to sell their game, they're betting big on the Free to Play (read: Pay to Win) model that I will never buy into. There's some controversy over whether or not game demos actually hurt sales, so IMO it's foolish to leave no option other than to have game demos, or free to play. Additionally, I've done all the research I need. I've seen our sales numbers much lower for apps released with trials vs those without trials. A better method is to not do trials and simply reduce price slowly until you discover the impulse buy amount.

The OUYA dev platform didn't have all the payment and registration services even working to test games against when I checked a couple of weeks ago. As a developer: Screw OUYA. I'll release some of my 100% free games there if I remember. This console has "cheap" selling point that targets people opposite to the ones that will actually buy the games. The folks that have disposable income are the ones who unlock the full game after playing the demo. They're the ones that spend $60 on "energy" to get some in-game artificial delay, rather than the poorer sap who'll grind away tons of time to achieve the same. Protip: these non-in-game purchasing grinders are the bigger fans; The grinders will buy the next game, or nearly anything new you ever make -- esp. if it's not free-to play.

I'm not seeing WHY people will buy the OUYA (other than all the damn hype). Having a portable game system (smartphone / tablet) that can optionally hook up to the TV and use wireless gamepads, or having a portable game system / tablet and also spending an additional $100 non portable OUYA that you must hook up to your TV, uses a gamepad, and doesn't run all the games your smartphone / tablet will. Folks are not going to say: OUYA! Great! Now I don't need a SmartPhone! No, they'll buy those, and then see the OUYA and think either: "I've got disposable income, so I'

Re:OUYA: Free To Play PITA.

[musikit]

totally agree. as a user i dont download apps anymore that have IAP. i can't tell or dont want to tell the difference between full game unlock and nickel and diming me to death. so i check IAP is there... no buy. i don't care if i dont need to use it to beat the game. its there i dont download i dont buy.

as a developer who uses unity, there API sucks ass. i need to do 10 or more C#->Java "native" calls in order to get the entire joypad information. umm switching languages is like slow dude. no thanks.

i wish them all the success. but it does seem that this is an alpha product.

Re:OUYA: Free To Play PITA.

[Anonymous Coward]

To me what you have described is simply the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace, which as a customer I found amazing. Being able to try games has created both sales that wouldn't have been created otherwise and lost sales as the demo showed me that the game wasn't really for me. But it has eliminated buyers remorse almost completely. Hiding information from buyers (no demo) may produce more sales so I can understand why you'd support that method, but I think it could be argued that that simply adds inefficiencies to the marketplace as it is whenever buyers lack information. You may get less money out of it, but the market as a whole perhaps does better because people buy the games that they know they will want?

But now I'm rambling. I suppose my main point is the comparisons to Live, and to a lesser extent PSN, and in what way, if any, the OUYA is doing anything particularly differently than other consoles of this generation.

Re:OUYA: Free To Play PITA.

[Optic7]

The way I read their FAQ is that you must have SOME free element to the game that the buyer can try first, not that you have to provide the whole game that can then be unlocked after purchase. But I will defer to you since you seem to have read the actual developer docs.

Anyway, as a consumer I love the fact that I will be able to try any of the games before I buy one. I understand that that hasn't worked well for you in the past, but what if the fact that everyone is required to do the same actually ends up counteracting the kinds losses that you've experienced providing demos? If everyone has to put their cards on the table, it could actually even things out, as opposed to an environment where only some developers make demos available while others don't.

Re:OUYA: Free To Play PITA.

[jgtg32a]

But PS3/360 are locked down and the OUYA is open.

Re:OUYA: Free To Play PITA.

[J-1000]

I've done research on the try-before-you buy "game demo" method in my own apps. What happens is that players impulsively download the games. Some forget about them, then delete them without ever playing the games. Most play the game first, feel their curiosity is mostly satisfied, then they forget about it and delete it later. A rare few will download the game, play the demo, then after that impulse has passed, return to the game and buy the "next episode" or "full game".

Two things:

1) It's perfectly valid for someone to try your game, decide it's not for them, then delete the demo. That's one more person that would never have considered your game otherwise. You had a chance at landing a sale that you otherwise would not have had. Probably.

2) It could be the quality of your demos. Did you allow them ample time to become absorbed into the game? Did you provide real goals within the demo? Too many developers are afraid of making their demos too good, fearing that it will somehow be too satisfying. The success of sequels is strong evidence that this is wrong thinking. Make sure you have a demo worth playing. Make sure they want more.

" will reach retail availability in June"

[Anonymous Coward]

What's that in English?

Nothing "reaches availability", this is just another example of a cretin who can't think of the correct English, making up bullshit as they go along.

Backed down from initial vision

[Anonymous Coward]

I watched the kickstarter video and they promised that all games would be "free-to-play". That'd be great for children and poor students who have plenty of time to grind but no money to purchase. I see that they pulled back that promise and turned it into "free-to-try", meaning that every game should have a crippled demo you can try before you buy. Just like all the other consoles. So much for revolutions. I guess getting $7M from the kickstarter made them forget revolutions and to look forward for the next opportunity to squeeze money..

Other than that, yet-another android platform. There's a remote possibility that nvidia could produce working complete-linux drivers, so ouya could be used for general purpose stuff. For a demo of this, refer to Ubuntu on Nexus 7.

Re:Backed down from initial vision

[Anonymous Coward]

...meaning that every game should have a crippled demo you can try before you buy. Just like all the other consoles.

What do you mean? Only a handful of Wii games actually have demos available.

Sold

[Mike Frett]

I didn't do the Kickstarter deal, I was reluctant but it's OK. Me and my brother will be buying one, I don't know why he is buying one but I am buying one specifically as a kick-to-the-face to Sony and Microsoft. I don't support their 'I'm a DRM'ed PC pretending to be a Console' Ideas. I've said this twice before, but my brother owns a soon to be outdated 360 whom is tired of the "Nickel and Dime me to death" game that Microsoft plays.

Sounds about right

[Sycraft-fu]

I can't see how this is supposed to be useful. I guess if you really want to play smartphone-type games on your TV this is a way to go since it is much easier to hook up to a TV and controllers than most smartphones. However I can't see why else you'd want it. I already have an Android phone, why do I want an android console that is by all accounts less powerful than my phone?

Geeks love the concept because it is "cheap and open" but that really isn't going to do much in the long run. I think the appeal will wear off, and people will set aside for their existing game consoles and phones.

Re:Sounds about right

[Omestes]

I think the appeal will wear off, and people will set aside for their existing game consoles and phones.

I hate gaming on my phone. I do, but only games that are very quick and casual, and only when I'm someplace without anything else to keep me amused. My 10" tablet is a bit better, but still not as useful as a PC or console, touch controls suck for 90% of games. I generally use my phone of tablet for games, not because they are good, but because they are there.

Having a good, big, screen and a proper input method is what is attractive.

You can get that with a console, but I'm probably not going to spend $400-500 for the next generation, hell I can't even justify spending $200-300 for the current 10 year old hardware (why bother, I have a good PC already).

I'm getting one so I can emulate old games, on my actual TV, with a real input method. Also for streaming via Plex and Netflix.

Re:Sounds about right

[CronoCloud]

. I generally use my phone of tablet for games, not because they are good, but because they are there.

Having a good, big, screen and a proper input method is what is attractive.

Seems like you'd be the perfect market for a DS/3DS or PSP/Vita? Do you have one?

Re:Sounds about right

[Omestes]

Seems like you'd be the perfect market for a DS/3DS or PSP/Vita? Do you have one?

I have an original DS (for backward comparability with GBA games), but I almost never use it either. For some reason it feels bad to use it at home, and on the go my phone is more convenient than dragging another gadget with me. It does sit on a shelf mocking me though, since I spend a good amount of time and money getting every Final Fantasy and Zelda game for it, and never really use it.

Re:Sounds about right

[thetoadwarrior]

I think if you're really into something cheap and hackable for a game system then why not go all the way and get a community together to do something for a raspberry pi or something similar? But to compete with the likes of Sony, MS or Nintendo and get AAA games, it's just not going to happen on Ouya. Which is fine if people accept it's just a hobbyist item.

I think tech sites just talk it up because there's not that much to actually talk about on a day-to-day basis but this kind of thing has been tried again and again and it never goes anywhere. Most people want some easy to use that has the major titles on it.

The pandora handheld actually looks pretty sweet and would be fun to play around with but in the past two years it's sold less than 5,000 units. Even with geeks it's not that big of a thing even though it's a nice bit of hardware even if used just as portable computer.

Re:Sounds about right

[thetoadwarrior]

Same here. I do have some games like Max Payne and GTA but purely because they were cheap. I've played all the GTA games and Max payne a total of like 15 minutes on my phone. World of Goo and Scribblenauts are ok on the phone but only just. You still have the issue of your finger getting in the way in some instances.

I prefer my 3DS. It has a fairly decent eshop and online play is like you would expect unlike that friend's code rubbish with the DS and I can play my DS games though the 3DS ones are much better. I think it's obtained the right level of graphic quality for a portable. For my work commute it's perfect and phone games are for when I'm basically stuck waiting somewhere with nothing to do to and there's nothing worth looking at on the web or no connection.

If they can get Netflix, Hulu, XBMC and etc...

[future assassin]

on and its not a slug fest like my WD Tv Live's they could potentially corner the media player market also. I just spend $1000 on building two HTPC's and one requirement was to play video games. If this can do it at $150 I and everyone I know will have 5 of them in their house.

Lack of vision on the part of detractors so far

[Optic7]

I have to say that I'm kind of amazed by the lack of vision on the part of so many posters here so far. Most of the complaints that I've read so far are either petty or short-sighted. I think this thing will take off pretty well.

What is there not to like about it?

Price: one third the price of other consoles. About the price of a top Roku model or Apple TV. If this thing takes off I can actually see it eclipsing Google TV in the media apps arena too. If the games are in the $1-$10 like some people predict, that will also be a bonus.

Openness: more open than any other consoles.

Ease of developing and releasing for it: great - Android, no expensive licenses or development platforms, etc.

Ease of use and buying games: great - looks like it will be well-designed. All games have some free element to them so you can try them first. All games are downloaded. Not having to go to a store or wait for shipping, combined with the anticipated price of the games should make for lots of game sales.

Power: fine. It will do 1080p. Sure, you won't be playing the latest Crysis or whatever on it, but look at where the money is going in gaming nowadays - casual games and mobile games. Imagine some of the better casual and mobile games running in 1080p and this thing will kill, especially if the price of the games is in the $1-$10 range.

Internet buzz: pretty strong. I keep reading about this thing constantly. If you're into games, you've heard about this.

The only ways I can think of this thing failing is if there's some major flaw with the hardware or software, or if patent trolls gang up on it and kill it, or if the game prices get inflated to significantly over $20.

Really, I have not yet read one single legitimate concern out of the other (early) posts so far. Sure, you can complain about the low hardware power, but for the price and the category of games they're going for, that shouldn't be an issue. It would only be an issue if they tried to run AAA FPS games, etc.

Ouya so far seems to be doing fairly well with the opportunity to coalesce the whole indie, casual, and mobile gaming markets on to one affordable device, and could build a significant library of games pretty quickly.

So again, what is there not to like about it?

Re:Lack of vision on the part of detractors so far

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's what you're missing:

- The developer APIs are a joke, they do not in any real meaningful way add anything in the way a real console's SDK would have offered you.

- It's standing on the shoulders of Android on the same cheap generic hardware Android runs on.

It's a cheap Android box. Prepare for fifty of them a week coming out of Asia if there's a market demand. So now in this sea of android boxes, what good is Ouya specifically? None. If you had any actual vision yourself, you'd understand this.

Re:Lack of vision on the part of detractors so far

[Waccoon]

So again, what is there not to like about it?

No console ever gets big without 1st party IP. I hear tons of talk about tech specs and the price (the usual fanboy banter about "specs"), but I haven't heard about any games being endorsed by or coming directly from the OUYA holding company.

I hate the fact that Nintendo basically didn't bother trying with the hardware of the Wii, but I do agree with their marketing stance that it's less about specs, and all about fun games.

Verdict: less chance of success than a 20-In-One retro hand-held system.

Re:Lack of vision on the part of detractors so far

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not all atwitter about Ouya because I've seen projects like this come and go for the past fifteen years, and the only ripple they've managed to truly make within the gaming community is their standing as a running joke.

3DO? Phantom? Pandora? Hell, the only one that actually managed to hit the ground running was OnLive, and that wasn't anywhere near the gaming revolution its proponents tried to made it out to be.

Smart money says the Ouya ends up as another Pandora. It'll find its second life with a circle of die-hard hobbyists, but will quickly forgotten elsewhere. It's not about where or not there's anything to like about the Ouya, it's about how much it brings to the table. Compared to cheap, ubiquitous tablets and smartphones, not a whole lot.

Cheap file server

[rsilvergun]

since it has ethernet. I've never heard anyone say what I should use for a file server that's a)under $200 bucks, b) works and c) it's an old PC drawing 45 watts non stop.

Re:Cheap file server

[exomondo]

maybe, but in most cases you're better off with a NAS, especially since this thing would need external storage plugged in anyway.

Worth dissing

[Anonymous Coward]

Well if random people are so keen to say how bad it will be, it's a sure sign that they're defending their own choices from a feared competitors.

It does sound good, and so many people who can't possibly have expert knowledge on this unreleased product, say its bad, so it sounds even better.

Worth dissing, if it wasn't special, then why do they take so much effort to tell us why its terrible?

$99 MAME BOX?

[los furtive]

I'll be happy if it works as a good $99 mame box.

Re:$99 MAME BOX?

[Nyder]

I'll be happy if it works as a good $99 mame box.

Depending on how modern of video games you want to emulate, I see this being a great HD Mame Box.

One of the reasons I'm considering buying one when it ships.

Re:OUYA = Oh Ya

[Seumas]

No, it's pronounced Ooh-Yuh.

They offered the device's startup stinger that you can play somewhere. It's pretty underwhelming (just sounds like some tribal guys saying OOH YUH!).

Why the C64 died

[tepples]

The 2600 crashed because everyone was moving to C64s and Apple IIs.

And once the NES came out, the C64 crashed because of the 1541's excessive loading times, the limited capacity of a 1541 disk, the widespread copyright infringement of games that shipped on 1541 disks, and the fact that computers cost so much more than consoles. CronoCloud explained why the C64 died.

Given the huge amount of crap, and complete lack of lock down on the C64 and Apple II, I cannot believe that it was low quality software that was the Atari's undoing.

Even if you interpret 1984 as not a crash as much as a temporary migration to computers, please explain the mass migration to NES that followed it.

Re:Why the C64 died

[Belial6]

Cost and Super Mario Brothers. Besides, one product supplanting another doesn't make a market segment crash. The 2600 being supplanted by teh C64 does not make a video game industry crash, and the C64 being supplanted by the Nes does not make a video game industry crash.

Re:Other console controller as option or requireme

[CronoCloud]

a Sixaxis controller

Where have you been the past 4 years? Nobody calls it "Sixaxis", they call it the DualShock 3, or simply DualShock. The DS3 version has been the standard PS3 controller since April of 2008, the CECHE MGS01 models being the first to bundle it.

Re:Other console controller as option or requireme

[tepples]

Where have you been the past 4 years? Nobody calls it "Sixaxis"

Oops, my bad. I was referring to it by the name of the Android app that connects to it.

To fund one's relocation

[tepples]

why should someone buy some micro-studio game when they can just buy a proven good game with a PSone classic on PSN for 5.99, or a NES or SNES game on the Wii Shop

I guess it comes down to the definition of "proven good game". As I wrote earlier, it's ultimately a search issue. Like some PSN games, Ouya games have demos distributed without charge.

I have a PSP, it has proper controls

Ultimately, "proper controls" are currently the biggest technical advantage of closed systems, something that the Archos GamePad and Ouya are explicitly designed to rectify.

joining an existing studio lets you help make games for your desired platforms NOW and you get paid for it

But it takes money to make money. I see selling a homemade game as a way to demonstrate skills to prospective employers, even if those skills don't necessarily include designing something so original that it opens up a new genre, and a way to raise money to fund one's relocation. What should one do instead to accomplish those goals?

Low attach rate

[tepples]

And in my experience, console gamers have larger, in many cases MUCH larger game libraries, while with PC gamers thare are more "single-game gamers" like those who only play WoW or have only been playing Counter-Strike for the past 5 years.

Or in industry terms, the "attach rate" or "tie ratio" is lower for this class of PC gamer. But I've read that low attach rate affects Wii as well: people would buy the console just for Wii Sports and possibly Wii Fit. And during part of the PS3's lifetime, it wasn't more expensive than other companies' Blu-ray Disc players.

Locked out startups and subject matter

[tepples]

the C64 being supplanted by the Nes does not make a video game industry crash.

The fact that an open platform was supplanted by a closed one did lock startups and certain subject matter out of the market. Color Dreams had a subsidiary called Wisdom Tree that developed games that took place in the universe of the Christian scriptures. Because Nintendo would never have allowed such "religious material" in a licensed game, Color Dreams had to reverse the polarity with a charge pump to freeze the Checking Integrated Circuit in the NES.

Re:Locked out startups and subject matter

[Belial6]

But, in the end, the "Quality Assurance" did not prevent complete crap from being officially licensed and sold on the NES.

Yeah!

[bolanskidrow]

I'm so excited about that! I'm waiting for a long time.