OUYA: A New Kind of Video Game Console

psugrue

came across this on reddit, kickstarter for a new game console powered by android, seems to be taking off extremely fast

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

ShadowHearth

interesting, but no mentioning of spec etc. it might be just a little box that has as much power as your mobile phone...

so 100 bucks to play angry birds on TV and not on your mobile phone? if i am not mistaken some android tablets and phones can be already connected to TV?

psugrue

ShadowHearth wrote: »

interesting, but no mentioning of spec etc. it might be just a little box that has as much power as your mobile phone...

so 100 bucks to play angry birds on TV and not on your mobile phone? if i am not mistaken some android tablets and phones can be already connected to TV?

specs here for ya,

Specifications:

Tegra3 quad-core processor
1GB RAM
8GB of internal flash storage
HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth LE 4.0
USB 2.0 (one)
Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad
Android 4.0

Corkfeen

The lack of an independent graphics card could pose an issue. But to be expected given the price.

Twilightning

So instead of playing games on a tablet or smartphone, people can pay $150 to play upscaled Android games on a TV with a controller? Amazing! Not.

ShadowHearth

Twilightning wrote: »

So instead of playing games on a tablet or smartphone, people can pay $150 to play upscaled Android games on a TV with a controller? Amazing! Not.

that was my initial thought too.

if it works out in the end of the day, then why not, but iwont be putting my money in to it.

cherryghost

Corkfeen wrote: »

The lack of an independent graphics card could pose an issue. But to be expected given the price.

Tegra 3 has one of the finest android GPUs money can buy

Here's some games running Tegra 3. tbh for the price its fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBl-goBrWno

calex71

My phone does this already, connected to TV with hdmi and wii classic controller connected via blutooth but the price of this set up would be attractive for casual gamers and as a kind of cheap smart tv / media player / internet in one.

psugrue

Twilightning wrote: »

So instead of playing games on a tablet or smartphone, people can pay $150 to play upscaled Android games on a TV with a controller? Amazing! Not.

you're assuming everyone has a tablet/smartphone to play games on tho, myself i do not and the controller aspect of this makes me very interested. in saying that still not willing to back $120 for it but if it does get built i might have to pick it up at retail

psugrue

dam, already passed the $1 million mark in less than a day, hoping they give an update about it soon

Twilightning

Enjoy.

the groutch

spotted this on Kickstarter and not sure what to make of it

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

seems very popular (already funded after 8 hours), but would be interested in what everyone else thinks first

richymcdermott

But will it blend , thats the question ? :pac:

Mr E

OUYA threads merged.

AlmightyCushion

Can they really make it for this price though? The Nexus 7 is the same spec and it's $199 and people reckon Google are selling it at a loss for that. The Ouya doesn't have a screen or a battery and doesn't need to be crammed into such a small casing so that will reduce the cost but still. Either way, I can't see myself buying this.

hooradiation

Twilightning wrote: »

Enjoy.

*snip*

Hmm, well that image does have nothing but wild speculation on it, seems legit.
Y'know, like when there were loads of similar images telling us that Onlive would never work ever.....

Duggy747

Rather than a straight up games console it'll probably find life as a cheap alternative to a HTPC if it doesn't succeed in it's original intentions.

It's focus isn't to play the latest stuff like Crysis but rather the simplicity of having something dedicated like this through the TV. People can do this with their own Android tablets and phones but the hassle of constantly hooking it up would give this an appeal.

But, like any console, it can only be as good as it's software from 3rd party developers.

Mr E

Twilightning wrote: »

Enjoy.

*snip*

I'd say after writing that (spelling and grammar mistakes and all - "architechture", "Your devices already does it"), he went back to teabagging people on COD.

I could pull that critique apart line by line, but I really couldn't be bothered.

johnny_ultimate

I think a console that is purposefully designed for everything but the 'double A' (to borrow a typo from the dodgy rant above) games is a potentially promising and gamechanging concept. Removing the barriers of entry for developers is always a positive thing. Supporting the genuinely inventive and interesting games out there with an easy to use, universally specced device.

As a concept it is sound, but it all depends on whether it actually picks up a significant level of support from developers and gamers.

hypersquirrel

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I think a console that is purposefully designed for everything but the 'double A' (to borrow a typo from the dodgy rant above) games is a potentially promising and gamechanging concept. Removing the barriers of entry for developers is always a positive thing. Supporting the genuinely inventive and interesting games out there with an easy to use, universally specced device.

As a concept it is sound, but it all depends on whether it actually picks up a significant level of support from developers and gamers.

Have to agree with pretty much everything here. I don't think anybody is expecting this to replace the next gen from the heavy hitters but it has the potential to be a great thing in it's own niche.

Anything that allows new developers to put their work out there without having to sell their souls to the big shots is great and at that price it's a fair bit cheaper than any tablet.

Shiminay

It's a completely open device based on what is the most popular mobile platform in the world using the top end of hardware that's currently available to it (Tegra 3 is the best ARM based graphical solution around ATM). It's gonna have all the more popular streaming services supported out of the box and will function as a media player for any content you have at home already. It'll let you play some extremely fun but ultimately not "AAA serious" games on your telly and there's already a huge market-place full of very enjoyable titles. All that and it's only going to be $99 and will include the controller?



What on earth is not to love about this?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

yeah the streaming thing is pretty cool as well be very handy for people without laptops/tablets who can't be bothered bringing their desktop into the big tv to watch something

K.O.Kiki

It has Minecraft.

It will sell.

And I can't wait to see how it develops.

cherryghost

Shiminay wrote: »

It's a completely open device based on what is the most popular mobile platform in the world using the top end of hardware that's currently available to it (Tegra 3 is the best ARM based graphical solution around ATM). It's gonna have all the more popular streaming services supported out of the box and will function as a media player for any content you have at home already. It'll let you play some extremely fun but ultimately not "AAA serious" games on your telly and there's already a huge market-place full of very enjoyable titles. All that and it's only going to be $99 and will include the controller?



What on earth is not to love about this?

I was blabbering on in a post last night but I fell asleep so I didn't post it. Pretty much exactly what Shim said.

You get the added pleasure of using the thing as a media box too, and to top that off Onlive is on Android so you can stream AAA games to the box should you wish anyway, WITH A CONTROLLER!

K.O.Kiki

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Can they really make it for this price though? The Nexus 7 is the same spec and it's $199 and people reckon Google are selling it at a loss for that. The Ouya doesn't have a screen or a battery and doesn't need to be crammed into such a small casing so that will reduce the cost but still. Either way, I can't see myself buying this.

Considering that battery & screen make up at least half the cost of a tablet, and that the Ouya won't have to fit all the parts into a tiny case - yes, I can see them being profitable at that price.

I mean, the Raspberry Pi sells for $25...

TPD

I'm thinking I'll probably put down the money for one. From the looks of it there will be quite a large user base from the get-go, which should encourage indie developers to develop for it.
Many of the best games I've played recently have been independently developed, and resource light compared to the latest games from big studios.

KilOit

I don't like yer one's face so i'm not interested. as a previous poster said, i'd be more interested to see if it will blend, preferable the prototype

Tiddlypeeps

Twilightning wrote: »

Enjoy.
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3607/1341954414198.jpg

Scam? Are you kidding?

This isn't particularly my cup of tea and I'm not particularly excited about it, but I can see there being a market for it.

None of those points hold up, at all.

Android is open source, it can be and is regularly modified for the specific hardware it's to run on. Meaning it will be designed for it's intended use. Power management? I'm sure it comes with a charger, power management isn't really an issue when your sitting in your living room. Not that I foresee it being an issue anyway, a mobile operating system would have been designed with power management in mind because it's an issue for mobile devices, but isn't for consoles that are plugged in all the time.

The Zeebo, even for it's time was way underpowered compared to top end mobiles phones. It was designed to target South America. It was a nightmare to develop for (I have first hand experience with this) and games distribution was at that time controlled by the various mobile venders, so was in no way open. Developers may well decide that this isn't worth developing for, but if you're targeting Android mobile devices already you would be pretty silly to not do the minor amount of work it would take to target it. It may fail anyway, but it is in no way comparable to the Zeebo.

The hardware is pretty decent compared to most mobiles on the market today. Lets face it that's all they are trying to do, bring casual gaming to your tv. If your looking for a replacement for your XBox or your PC then you're looking in the wrong place, that's not it's intended purpose.

The last two points can be covered in one. So what if you can already emulate games on your PC. When I emulate old games I typically hook my laptop up to the tv, this is a pain in the ass. I'm not willing to pay $100 to remove that pain in the ass but if I was interested in any of it's other features then I might, so I can see there being a market for it.


On a separate note this is setting good precedents for future consoles. It might be a long shot but I'm hoping this encourages other people to develop more powerful consoles with an open ethos like Android. I would like to be able to develop for consoles, but convincing XBox, Sony or Nintendo to give you a license when you're a nobody is next to impossible.

It looks like it's gonna be a good product and I hope they succeed.

Chavways

It has Minecraft and Madden. It'll be a huge success.

Zillah

Good God they're past 3.5 million already. They can do whatever they like with that, right? Like, pay themselves massive bonuses? Gotta get me some of this kick-starter scamming going.

witnessmenow

I took a punt on it and donated the $119, I guess i was feeling pretty generous that evening .

My thinking behind donating was

1. Worst comes to worst, It will be a useful low powered media box
2. If GTA3 can run on phones less powerful than this, it has enough power to make most types of games (obviously not to the same level of graphics as the 360/ps3)
3. Power is not everything in terms of popularity, Wii out soled everyone despite being much less powerful
4. People complain there will be no games, there is plenty of games that would work well on this platform that could be ported easily enough. (Super meat boy, Limbo, Altitude etc)
5. This sould have access to all the android video streaming apps (RTE player, sky go etc)
6. On top of streaming games wiht onLive, I think there is room for a local stream application. Yuo could render and run the games on your pc and just use this device as the display and controller input. (I would definitly use this)