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Ouya Dropping 'Free-to-Play' Requirement
itwbennett writes: "One of the Ouya micro-consoles's selling points has been that you can sample every game for free. That requirement is going away soon. In a recent blog post, Ouya's Bob Mills said, 'In the coming weeks, we're going to let devs choose if they want to charge up front for their games. Now they'll be able to choose between a free-to-try or paid model.' Good news for developers, perhaps not as good for customers. 'Maybe this new policy will attract new developers that can offer something compelling enough to be a system seller,' writes blogger Peter Smith."
They are a barely alive gaming platform and they are starting remove features they were built upon...
Not smart.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
When I was one of the first few hundred to sign up for their kickstarter and then received my unit well after I could have purchased it for the same price at Best Buy, I was done.
Then, when it took them another 3-4 weeks to get me my other controller, I sold it on the Internet like I did the Ouya and first controller.
I've heard nothing but complaints about it, and now they're removing one of the only promises they've actually kept to this point.
What a way to blow through millions of dollars. It'll be dead in a year. And I say good riddance.
It's not free-to-play though it's free-to-try, as in, a demo. Like the shareware of old. They would require each game to have a shareware version, but now they have removed this requirement.
Well, assuming that you have a cell phone that matches the Ouya in power. And that you like having to tether it to your TV every time you want to play a game.
Also, while there's no fundamental reason why developers couldn't release a game that is optimized for controller play on a TV that runs on your standard Android phone, in practice that is not what has happened. They seem to be hoping to change that by allowing Ouya games to run on other Android platforms, but that's still on the horizon.
There were some serious mistakes made in the design and marketing for Ouya, but I like mine and have bought a fair number of games. It's not "redundant."
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Towerfall is probably it's best known game. It made Ars Technica's top 10 of 2013 and has a sequel in the works for OUYA, PS4 and PC. I haven't played it myself though. I use mine almost exclusively for XBMC (and am perfectly happy with it)
I definitely think this is a move in the right direction. I could see the retro-game market really explode on OUYA. I'd spend a few bucks each for some ports of SNES/Genesis era games easily.
The main problem with the OUYA is that it does nothing you can't get from a cell phone plugged into a TV with bluetoothed controllers.
It's cheaper than buying a new unlocked Android phone with HDMI out (which not all of them have) and buying such a Bluetooth controller. Or are you assuming that people already carry an Android phone with HDMI out? Besides, does Google Play Store yet support searching for games that support a Bluetooth controller? Support for the OUYA controller is a given on the OUYA store. Games on Google Play Store are more likely to support the touch screen and leave Bluetooth controllers as an afterthought.
Everyone has a cell phone
I have a cell phone, but it's not one that runs Android. I can't seem to figure out how to get any games for my Audiovox 8610 on Virgin Mobile other than the blackjack game and the Hansel and Gretel-themed Columns clone called Magic Hexa that came with it.