OUYA Android Game Console Available In June 196
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."
Console gaming dead? (Score:2, Insightful)
They've been hearing that console gaming is dead? It it backwards day already?
Re:Ouya was more relevant, before. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ouya was more relevant, before. (Score:5, Insightful)
I give it 3 months (Score:2, Insightful)
no thanks, too little for too much (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Ouya was more relevant, before. (Score:4, Insightful)
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)
Stop overrating this please (Score:2, Insightful)
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:Ouya was more relevant, before. (Score:2, Insightful)
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. (Score:4, Insightful)
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. (Score:4, Insightful)
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 [amazon.com]... 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.
Lack of vision on the part of detractors so far (Score:4, Insightful)
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:Ouya was more relevant, before. (Score:4, Insightful)
The Ouya is little more than a toy
Are you implying that other game consoles are not toys?