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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."
I reckon a good amount of them will be bought just to be used as a cheap XBMC box.
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.
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?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
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)
You forgot the main, traditional advantage of consoles over PCs: that they're generally much less of a hassle to configure, use, and maintain.
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.
This signature is false.
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?
The Ouya is little more than a toy
Are you implying that other game consoles are not toys?
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."