OUYA - Cheap, Open-Source Android Game Console

I have a lot of doubt that this product will succeed. Not just because of the many reasons Ben Kuchera thought of, but because things like the Raspberry Pi and the MK802 exist.

Two reasonably successful hacker-oriented boards make you doubt the potential of a more boxed offering aimed at the masses?

Kurrelgyre wrote:

Two reasonably successful hacker-oriented boards make you doubt the potential of a more boxed offering aimed at the masses?

Yeah, because I don't think the masses are what's going to bite on this thing.

Kurrelgyre wrote:

Two reasonably successful hacker-oriented boards make you doubt the potential of a more boxed offering aimed at the masses?

I'm not saying I told you so, but I told you so.
http://www.droidgamers.com/index.php...

1. I don't see how that refutes Kurrelgyre's point in any way.
2. Articles with misspellings in the HEADLINE are not admissible evidence.

Also, "success" is very hard to quantify with regards to the Ouya. I doubt they are expecting to sell 50 million of these things like a mainstream console. Maybe 500,000 would be a success.

Blind_Evil wrote:

1. I don't see how that refutes Kurrelgyre's point in any way.
2. Articles with misspellings in the HEADLINE are not admissible evidence.

Also, "success" is very hard to quantify with regards to the Ouya. I doubt they are expecting to sell 50 million of these things like a mainstream console. Maybe 500,000 would be a success.

Well, I think success is actually pretty easy to define in the case of Ouya. If they create a sustainable business model and generate a non-zero profit on a regular basis, then they are a success. If they go out of business, then they are a failure. The Dreamcast for example, was a failure, despite how awesome it was. The Ouya might be a great piece of hardware, but if it doesn't generate money, then it won't succeed. And that's really the thing I'm questioning.

EDIT: And the link, misspelled or otherwise, shows that the market for tech-crowd oriented gaming gadgets is pretty well served and not difficult to enter.

EDIT2: I hope it was obvious I was making the "told ya so" comment with tongue in cheek. I'm not trying to be a jerk here.

maverickz wrote:

EDIT: And the link, misspelled or otherwise, shows that the market for tech-crowd oriented gaming gadgets is pretty well served and not difficult to enter.

Not sure. In order to really "enter" a market, you don't only need to propose an idea like OUYA and GameStick have. Until there's an actual demand, you haven't entered the market.

I could start selling ball-point pens to write down your highscores, call it a "gaming peripheral" and claim I've entered the market, which I haven't. At all.

Thanks to kickstarter, we're seeing new players, mostly small, some with some industry backing, getting their shot at entering the market, but with current console prices, costs surrounding game title development, I wouldn't say it's easy.

The barrier has been lowered thanks to technological breakthroughs that make hardware cheaper to design (raspberry pi, ouya, etc) and the gaming industry has allowed for indie titles to get a shot a publishing and distribution (Steam's Green Light, Kickstarter, XBLA, among others), but a Proof of Concept, hardware or otherwise, is not really entering the market.

wow, gamestick has already passed half way in the first 2 days. it's going to blow past that 100000 easily. I'm so tempted but iI really don't have $100 to spare right now. maybe later in the month. iI love that pocketable idea.

30 hours for Gamestick to blow past it's goal. I Smell another million dollar funding coming up!
So tempting. Hopefully they'll have the $80 ($100 for canadain) tier still available before it's over.

groan wrote:

30 hours for Gamestick to blow past it's goal. I Smell another million dollar funding coming up!
So tempting. Hopefully they'll have the $80 ($100 for canadain) tier still available before it's over.

I think the Gamestick is a much more practical approach at this sort of console. They are essentially producing some Android controlled hardware that is game oriented. Not an entire new OS and ecosystem that then has to be sold to the mass market. This is a more small scale and better aimed piece of hardware, with smaller ambitious and probably a higher chance of turning a profit.

maverickz wrote:
groan wrote:

30 hours for Gamestick to blow past it's goal. I Smell another million dollar funding coming up!
So tempting. Hopefully they'll have the $80 ($100 for canadain) tier still available before it's over.

I think the Gamestick is a much more practical approach at this sort of console. They are essentially producing some Android controlled hardware that is game oriented. Not an entire new OS and ecosystem that then has to be sold to the mass market. This is a more small scale and better aimed piece of hardware, with smaller ambitious and probably a higher chance of turning a profit.

I'm confused. OUYA isn't building a new OS. It's using Android. GameStick and OUYA both sell cheap hardware, and will have their own stores where you buy things. The difference is that the GameStick is thumbstick-sized, less powerful, and has an uncomfortable looking controller, and OUYA looks like a tiny game console.

I'm also not seeing the gamestick as an OUYA killer. If anything it's crowding the same niche, but the OUYA seems to have a significant headstart. I know that OUYA has been reported to be working well with libdgx, and has a huge head-start. I think if OUYA or GameStick can get on the shelves at national retailers either could be a game-changer. I still need to see a killer app before I buy one though.

Personally though, I don't see the appeal of carrying around a controller and bumming off of someone's TV.

StaggerLee wrote:
maverickz wrote:
groan wrote:

30 hours for Gamestick to blow past it's goal. I Smell another million dollar funding coming up!
So tempting. Hopefully they'll have the $80 ($100 for canadain) tier still available before it's over.

I think the Gamestick is a much more practical approach at this sort of console. They are essentially producing some Android controlled hardware that is game oriented. Not an entire new OS and ecosystem that then has to be sold to the mass market. This is a more small scale and better aimed piece of hardware, with smaller ambitious and probably a higher chance of turning a profit.

I'm confused. OUYA isn't building a new OS. It's using Android. GameStick and OUYA both sell cheap hardware, and will have their own stores where you buy things. The difference is that the GameStick is thumbstick-sized, less powerful, and has an uncomfortable looking controller, and OUYA looks like a tiny game console.

I didn't mean the Ouya would be creating an entire new OS from scratch but rather making their own Android flavor with their own store.
And looks like I was a bit confused on how the Gamestick works. I thought it would use the already existing Google Market store and essentially be a gaming version of Android. But looks like not.

You're right, they both have to develop their own store. Which is not a small undertaking.

Thing about Ouya - it's supposed to be an "open" platform. And if that's true, you can just slap in the Amazon app store (or even the Play Store, though that's technically a license violation) to completely end run around their marketplace - and their revenue stream.

Open source and open platform are not the same thing. Is OUYA actually supposed to be fully open like that?

SixteenBlue wrote:

Open source and open platform are not the same thing. Is OUYA actually supposed to be fully open like that?

Well, so it runs on Android. And is supposed to be pretty easily hackable. Assuming one can find a google play .apk file, which isn't that hard. You could do it.

gore wrote:

Thing about Ouya - it's supposed to be an "open" platform. And if that's true, you can just slap in the Amazon app store (or even the Play Store, though that's technically a license violation) to completely end run around their marketplace - and their revenue stream.

On day one, you will be able to get Angry Birds from the PlayStore, Amazon's Appstore or OUYA's store just as easily with no added value.

Think of it as pirating; there's nothing any company can do to guarantee 0% piracy; you do your best efforts (commercial, social networking, customer service, platform performance, etc) and hope for the best. Or you can get DRM on your content, annoy the living crap of your user base and still get pirated. Don't want to derail topic, so I'll leave DRM alone.

If the OUYA delivery platform is convenient enough, get a couple of exclusive titles, or even sign deals with studios to have titles developed with the console's specs in mind, then they have a shot at carving out a niche for themselves.

I plan on getting an OUYA once it becomes commercially available. I forsee 90% use as a setupbox and 10% for actual gaming. If a title is available on both the OUYA store or Google's Play; I will probably try to help out OUYA.

But like on any of my other Android devices, if the offer from Amazon is better (free app of the day, etc); then that's where I will get my content.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

[I plan on getting an OUYA once it becomes commercially available. I forsee 90% use as a setupbox and 10% for actual gaming. If a title is available on both the OUYA store or Google's Play; I will probably try to help out OUYA.

But like on any of my other Android devices, if the offer from Amazon is better (free app of the day, etc); then that's where I will get my content.

Have you considered a Google Nexus Q?

maverickz wrote:
Hobbes2099 wrote:

[I plan on getting an OUYA once it becomes commercially available. I forsee 90% use as a setupbox and 10% for actual gaming. If a title is available on both the OUYA store or Google's Play; I will probably try to help out OUYA.

But like on any of my other Android devices, if the offer from Amazon is better (free app of the day, etc); then that's where I will get my content.

Have you considered a Google Nexus Q?

Didn't Google cancel the Nexus Q before it went on sale?

Could games co-exist on both hardware systems?

demonbox wrote:

Could games co-exist on both hardware systems?

Depends on the capabilities of each device. I am betting the Ouya will be the more powerful of the two so things developed for the Gamestick will probably run fine on Ouya but the opposite probably won't be true. I am not sure either is worth worrying about at this point.

maverickz wrote:

Have you considered a Google Nexus Q?

Last I heard, Q was going for $299 vs the $99 OUYA is promised to ship for.
I haven't followed closely on Q, so I might do some research before fully trying to answer this question.

Having said that; from what I've gathered; OUYA seems to have better specs; so anything Q should be able to do, OUYA should match if not surpass completely.

Probably worth stating this now, so I don't mislead: I got hired by OUYA 4 weeks ago, so you can consider me somewhat biased. That being said, feel free to call me on any BS.

Rykin wrote:
demonbox wrote:

Could games co-exist on both hardware systems?

Depends on the capabilities of each device. I am betting the Ouya will be the more powerful of the two so things developed for the Gamestick will probably run fine on Ouya but the opposite probably won't be true. I am not sure either is worth worrying about at this point.

Yes, the OUYA has better specs. We're running a more powerful, quad-core chip, they're running a much less powerful (I believe) dual-core chip.

Hobbes2099 wrote:
maverickz wrote:

Have you considered a Google Nexus Q?

Last I heard, Q was going for $299 vs the $99 OUYA is promised to ship for.
I haven't followed closely on Q, so I might do some research before fully trying to answer this question.

Having said that; from what I've gathered; OUYA seems to have better specs; so anything Q should be able to do, OUYA should match if not surpass completely.

Not sure how the Nexus Q processor compares to OUYA's, honestly, but I'd agree with your assumption.

demonbox wrote:

Could games co-exist on both hardware systems?

Yup.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

I plan on getting an OUYA once it becomes commercially available. I forsee 90% use as a setupbox and 10% for actual gaming. If a title is available on both the OUYA store or Google's Play; I will probably try to help out OUYA.

You can preorder one at ouya.tv - http://www.ouya.tv/buyouya/

StaggerLee wrote:

Probably worth stating this now, so I don't mislead: I got hired by OUYA 4 weeks ago, so you can consider me somewhat biased. That being said, feel free to call me on any BS.

What you say in response to questions should be, clearly, taken with a grain of salt. At this point I think it's pretty great, and could add to the conversation, to have someone who is working with the hardware- so I see it as a benefit. Also, I'm neutral on the impact of the system though curious to see how it all plays out. The degree to which people want to call it vaporware (including Cory on one of the recent episodes) is annoying. There's no reason to proclaim it will set the world of fire- but no reason to proclaim it will never ship.

Nvidia announced their "Project Shield" today, PC streaming, TV connectivity, but also android gaming when standalone. Can this co-exist with Ouya? It seems like the sort of thing where both products could help each other out.

StaggerLee wrote:

Probably worth stating this now, so I don't mislead: I got hired by OUYA 4 weeks ago, so you can consider me somewhat biased. That being said, feel free to call me on any BS.

Congrats man, that's pretty cool!
I have it Kickstarted with 4 controllers.

Scratched wrote:

Nvidia announced their "Project Shield" today, PC streaming, TV connectivity, but also android gaming when standalone. Can this co-exist with Ouya? It seems like the sort of thing where both products could help each other out.

I saw that. They are pretty lofty promises it makes but given that NVIDIA engineers all the hardware powering it, I imagine it's doable. I'd be very curious to see if OUYA or GameStick are able to add the streaming capability, especially OUYA since it runs a similar CPU. I also agree that anyone calling OUYA or anything else vaporware before it's announced ship date has even passed is just trolling.

Has me wondering how vibrant the 'android intensive 3D games' section of the market will become, and on what timescale it will happen. The cool thing is that it's not just dedicated gaming devices that such games will be made for, but the wider range of android devices too. Hopefully they sort out alternate control schemes and some vague standard too.

Scratched wrote:

Has me wondering how vibrant the 'android intensive 3D games' section of the market will become, and on what timescale it will happen. The cool thing is that it's not just dedicated gaming devices that such games will be made for, but the wider range of android devices too. Hopefully they sort out alternate control schemes and some vague standard too.

Yeah, that part of the Android ecosystem's potential really excites me and is something that I think they have a real leg up on the other mobile platforms with. They're got to be careful not to screw it up before it has its chance to shine but if it's handled correctly, it could be something very interesting.

Here's a question that StaggerLee could probably answer definitively: Since the OUYA is supposed to be open and hackable, will other app stores run on it out of the box or just OUYA's store? If existing Android folks could grab their existing apps on the system and use its controller with ones that have controller support, that could be pretty neat.