Ouya CEO Talks Console's Tough First Year, and Ambitious "Ouya Everywhere" Plan 134
Nerval's Lobster writes "As founder and CEO of the Ouya (pronounced "OOO-yah") game company, Julie Uhrman's mission has been to lure gamers back to their living room televisions. Touch-screen gaming on a smartphone or tablet is nice, she suggests, but a big screen, coupled with the precision of a controller with buttons and analog sticks, offers the best platform for immersive, emotionally engaging experiences. Soon enough, though, you shouldn't need an Ouya console to play Ouya games. Later this week, Uhrman plans to announce 'Ouya Everywhere,' an initiative to bring Ouya games to television sets that aren't connected to Ouya hardware. As a company, Ouya remains vague about just how Ouya Everywhere will work; but in an interview with Slashdot, Uhrman provided a rough idea of what to expect: 'It could be another set-top [box],' she said. 'It could be the TV itself. There's a number of different ways that games can be played on the television, and we're actively exploring all of them.' To be clear, Ouya isn't getting out of the hardware business. The company has promised relatively frequent hardware refreshes, and already upgraded the original Ouya's controller to address early complaints. The next version of the Ouya hardware 'at a minimum will have a higher performing chipset,' she said. 'We have done a lot of work on our controller and we feel like there is even more work to do. Those are the two big things we're focused on.' But while her company builds hardware, Uhrman insists that Ouya is 'really a software company. The largest team inside Ouya is software engineers.' (Ouya has 49 employees, 19 of them engineers.) Ouya arrived with great fanfare in 2012, after a $950,000 Kickstarter campaign met its goal in just eight hours. The fundraiser ended up raising $8.6 million, and Kickstarter backers received their consoles in March 2013."
Ouya just isn't compelling (Score:5, Insightful)
I was an original backer for the Ouya. The interface is a bit awkward, but worse, the software titles just aren't compelling. There doesn't seem to be a great reason to make an exclusive Ouya game, and anything you can find there you can get on your phone or another platform. Playing smartphone games on your TV just doesn't deliver any kind of wow factor. :(
Re: (Score:2)
Never heard of this company before, do they have any games? What makes them different from other big name game companies?
Re:Ouya just isn't compelling (Score:5, Insightful)
The devices run Android, and thus gain from being able to play Android games.
Ouya has its own app store where games that are optimised for the Ouya are sold. By optimised, I mean more than just targeting the hardware, but also how it is used - controller on a TV, rather than touch-screen device.
As you can imagine, this can be quite hit and miss. Additionally, the Ouya hardware fell behind the market fairly quickly because of its use of a Tegra 3 which is actually quite poor in terms of graphical power. A Tegra 4 iteration should do a lot to fix this, although a Tegra K1 would be most optimal.
If Apple cared about this market, they would stick an A7 in the next Apple TV and thrash the Ouya senseless with superior hardware, and their app store and developer mindshare (everyone would optimise their iOS games for the Apple TV fairly rapidly).
Re: (Score:2)
If Apple cared about this market,
And they haven't.
I don't think we'll see apple make a move here any time soon.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, but I really take Apple rumors with a giant grain of salt. How many times have Apple rumors just simply been wrong?
There's a lot of smoke there, to be sure, but to guess what Apple is going to do is a fool's errand.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Like I said. A lot of smoke. Let's see if there's fire.
I think Apple could strike it huge here, since gaming wouldn't be the primary purpose. They can afford to fall a little flat and have it pick up later.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Ouya just isn't compelling (Score:5, Insightful)
Additionally, the Ouya hardware fell behind the market fairly quickly because of its use of a Tegra 3 which is actually quite poor in terms of graphical power. A Tegra 4 iteration should do a lot to fix this, although a Tegra K1 would be most optimal.
I've really never bought this argument. The Ouya hardware compares quite favorably with xbox/ps2 generation of consoles, but there aren't many (if any) Ouya games that come close to the quality of games on those consoles. The problem is a lack of developers targetting Ouya, not a lack of capability of the hardware itself.
I'm very pleased with my Ouya -- it's easily been worth the cost -- but it's definitely got its weak points.
Audio latency and amateur hour (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, I agree -- if I was making the calls for a major game developer, I probably wouldn't devote the resources to Ouya either. I'm just saying that the limitations of the hardware really aren't the primary reason why Ouya doesn't have very many high-quality games -- and I don't think that a hardware refresh with more power is going to substantially change that.
Separate controller and touch games (Score:2)
If you have a game designed for Sony's Xperia Play phone, or if you have a game designed for an external nonalphabetic keyboard like iCade or iControlPad, then yes, an OUYA port is probably very easy. Otherwise, you'll have to either A. radically rethink your touch-based game's control scheme or B. port a controller-based game to Android. I guess a lot of companies develop a separate controller-based game and touch-based game using separate engines. The engine used for the touch-based game supports Android
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Additionally, the Ouya hardware fell behind the market fairly quickly because of its use of a Tegra 3 which is actually quite poor in terms of graphical power. A Tegra 4 iteration should do a lot to fix this, although a Tegra K1 would be most optimal.
By the time a company the size of Ouya designs, prototypes, tests, tweaks, retests, produces, and ships a product, there will be another generation or two beyond that available and they'll be behind again. Mobile CPU/GPU advancements are simply happening too quickly right now for them to be leveraged by anyone except the heaviest of heavy hitters.
Re: (Score:2)
Rumours are circulating to that effect [macrumors.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ouya just isn't compelling (Score:5, Funny)
You have a six digit UID on Slashdot, and you've never heard of Ouya?
Do you at least know what Raspberry Pi or Bitcoins are?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't realise that six digits carried any sort of prestige. I must be getting old.
There will be a four-digit user along any moment to put us in our place.
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't realise that six digits carried any sort of prestige. I must be getting old.
You must be new here.
There will be a four-digit user along any moment to put us in our place.
Yep, telling us about Hot Grits, Natalie Portman and $$$ Profit.
Re: (Score:3)
There will be a four-digit user along any moment to put us in our place.
Yep, telling us about Hot Grits, Natalie Portman and $$$ Profit.
No, you're thinking of the 3-digit UIDs.
Underpromoted to the general public (Score:2)
Also, there are these websites called Google or Ouya you could have gone to, instead of just asking "what is Ouya? I've never heard of it!"
I think the point is that most people who have heard of OUYA are people who hang out on sites like Slashdot. It didn't get nearly enough mainstream TV coverage, for example.
Re: (Score:2)
Holy cow, six-digit IDs are low now? Sweet!
Re: (Score:2)
I know...
Everything is coming up Millhouse!
Re: (Score:1)
So should I tell you both off since I have a 5-digit UID?
Re:Ouya just isn't compelling (Score:4, Funny)
So should I tell you both off since I have a 5-digit UID?
It's not the length that counts, but how you use it...
Re: (Score:1)
Is it against the Slashdot TOS to sell accounts?
Apparently, it's a thing in some states with low-digit car license plates to put them up for auction.
Re: (Score:2)
Wasn't a really low numbered one auctioned off for charity once upon a time?
Re: (Score:2)
Vapourware is a bit harsh. There were delays, and the end result is not the miracle hardware that some people expected for $100, but they did make and ship the hardware, controllers and create an app store that had games in it. They were also up front about the Ouya hardware, and people were free to consider whether or not they thought it was good enough for a cheap small games console.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
They lied to people. Features they promised in the kickstarter were never delivered (ie open and hackable, the OUYA is a locked system), and when questioned on it, the company represenatives became abusive. When called on that, he deleted his posts from multiple forums. To further make things bad, the engineering on the OUYA was really poor. They did not follow standard industry practices, and they ignored the manufactures recommendations on the designs of the wireless subsystems, making them worthless.
Re:Ouya just isn't compelling (Score:4, Interesting)
Your making it sound like a scam. First of all vapourware is something that never ships this did. Second of all they explained the goals and hardware of the device which they have met the hardware goals, though I don't think the software is exactly where it should be. Basically they want to be steambox with android as the OS. It's not a terrible goal but they needed more titles and backing from developers not just people buying it for a set top box that happens to play games. Which is pretty much what people are using it for now it would seem.
Re: (Score:2)
Vaporware? I have an OUYA sitting in my living room you moron. Towerfall & Bombsquad are insanely fun.
Re:Ouya just isn't compelling (Score:4, Insightful)
Having very high expectations for a kickstarter project, no matter how well financed, is setting yourself up for disappointment. In spite of all the corporate bullshit that gets rolled into the designs, major consoles have gone through multiple iterations in business practices that help encourage development for their consoles.
Re: (Score:1)
I was an original backer for the Ouya. The interface is a bit awkward, but worse, the software titles just aren't compelling. There doesn't seem to be a great reason to make an exclusive Ouya game, and anything you can find there you can get on your phone or another platform. Playing smartphone games on your TV just doesn't deliver any kind of wow factor. :(
Non-compelling titles and not much reason for developers to target the Ouya platform pretty much sums it up. Also, for all the hype concerning the controller, it's not very well-designed and the buttons stick.
I'm still rooting for them, but the execution was pretty disappointing.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
bunch of idiots.
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody really wanted it to play original games, they just wanted to play pirated games on emulators.
Considering how many times we saw something like the following in the old Ouya stories:
Yeah even if the Ouya store games suck, I'll be able to load up emulators for all my NES/SNES/MAME ROMS
What is shovelware, in the first place? (Score:2)
Kill the emulators
That would mean not allowing games to be written in Java or JavaScript. Technically, Dalvik and V8 are just as much an emulator as, say, EMUya. The only way I can think of to fully kill "emulators", in the sense of anything that allows an infringing copy of a video game for an old platform to run, would be to charge a recurring fee for the ability to test a program that you wrote on hardware that you purchased.
and show no tolerance for shovelware
People are likely to disagree on whether a particular game meets any given definition of shovelwar
Someone made a Dalvik CPU (Score:2)
I think you know what he meant and are just being stupid.
I'm trying to be precise about the scope of the proposed limits, as this scope defines what kind of software can be made to run on such a device. A developer appealing a rejection will engage in exactly the same sort of nitpicking that I display in this comment. If precise is stupid, then I'm at a loss as to why engineers go to college in the first place.
Dalvik and V8 do not emulate an actual existing physical device unlike EMUya.
It'd be helpfu
Difference between iPhone and console lockdown (Score:2)
And what, exactly, do you expect the console maker to do about these people copying data that you don't want them to copy? Lock it down (even more) like the other crappy consoles?
Excuse my happy medium fallacy [wikipedia.org], but perhaps a console maker could just lock it down like Apple iOS. Run only Apple-approved programs out of the box, but let any adult buy into the developer program for $1047 for the first year and $99 for each additional year. (Those who already have a sufficiently recent Mac get a $649 discount.) The key difference between Apple's developer program and those offered by major console makers is that an Apple iOS developer doesn't first need to sell several games on another p
I included the cost of switching to a Mac (Score:2)
$1047 for the first year [but] Those who already have a sufficiently recent Mac get a $649 discount.
the development program only cost me $99 a year, no $1047 for the first year, thats just bullshit.
The $1047 breaks down as $649 for a Mac mini (Xcode is Mac exclusive) + $299 for a device on which to test + $99 for your first year of the developer program. I will concede that I forgot to include sales tax.
Android sideloads, and Eclipse runs on W/M/L (Score:2)
that is under the assumption that developers do not already have access to those
Yes, I was assuming that not all developers already use a Mac as a primary computer, an iPad as a secondary computer, and an iPhone as a primary telephone. Some people have an Android phone or a feature phone, and some people have an Android tablet with Google Play, a Fire OS tablet, or no tablet. Given the discount that I mentioned for already owning a Mac, I don't see how it's so disingenuous.
but how much does it cost to develop for ouya or for android?
Both the OUYA console and Android devices with Google Play support two methods of sideloading: installing APKs on
Re: (Score:2)
the price is $99 per year. if you dont have access to the required tools
A larger fraction of developers already have consistent access to the required tools to get started with Android development (be it Google Play or OUYA) than already have consistent access to the required tools for iOS development. Would you at least agree with this?
the fragmentation of the android platform means you have to have many, many more costly devices to get a decent amount of test coverage due to the variants of chipsets, processors, speeds, ram, screen size, screen resolution
All OUYA consoles have the same screen size. I'll assume for a moment that you're referring to covering all Android 4.x devices with Google Play. In your experience, what problems come in practice when you run an application tested on one Androi
Re: (Score:2)
With my computer, I can just start programming, release my program, and other people can run it as they please.
The problem here is that a lot of people are "scared of computers" to the point of not feeling the need to buy a second computer to keep hooked up to the TV. So when they have friends over to play a video game, instead of playing the PC game you developed and self-published as you describe, they drag out a console and play a game from a more established developer.
I've written an essay about why I think people continue to buy consoles [pineight.com].
Rename it the "Ouya Nowhere" plan (Score:1)
They need more games... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Can you use the Ouya controller with your Nexus 7? It is a standard Bluetooth controller, yeah?
Re: (Score:2)
I was able to hook mine up to my Windows 7-running desktop, and use it for the Steam Big Picture mode; not everything worked out-of-the-box and I didn't putz with it to get it fully functional; but a little tweaking and it'd probably be perfect. (This was ~Sept 2013 or so)
There is also an Android App "Blue Board" that lets you use your Android phone or tablet as an input device on the Ouya (You install it on both the Ouya and controlling device). Makes keyboard input much easier (if you're using it for we
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Was it intentional?
Google completely revamped Android's Bluetooth support in Android 4.2, causing Wii Remote applications to raise a "No route to host" error.
(How do you know)?
I own a first-generation Nexus 7 tablet. The "Wiimote Controller" app worked under 4.1 but failed after the update.
Have they got the support back in other (think Cyanogen) ROMs?
I doubt it; otherwise it might have been mentioned in the compatibility page for the "Wiimote Controller" app [ccpcreations.com].
Sorry Ouya. (Score:1)
I wanted to like it because of what it supposedly stood for and meant but at the end of the day it was buggy, laggy, and had one of the worst and least responsive controllers I have ever used. Some of the games (top games too) are embarrassingly bad. Luckily I bought mine after KS and could return it, which I did.
Re: (Score:2)
Just don't get it (Score:2)
The only use I could see would be to run emulators and play old Nintendo, Super Nintendo, etc roms on it. Of course you could just spend $20 on a gamekilp [thegameklip.com] to accomplish this. And it's pretty trivial to share yo
Re: (Score:2)
A gameklip gives you portable gaming which OUYA can't offer. A better comparison would be a slimport/mhl adapter to add HDMI out to your phone and the SixAxis app to pair a PS3 controller over bluetooth. If you already have a phone then buying these accessories is cheaper than an OUYA and you get a better controller and a larger selection of games.
And for people whose phone is not smart (Score:2)
If you already have a phone
I already have a phone, but I haven't been able to find a lot of games for an Audiovox 8610, other than the Blackjack game and Columns clone it comes with.
Let me word it less flippantly: Some people don't have a smartphone. They would rather save money by carrying a separate prepaid dumbphone and tablet or a dumbphone and compact laptop than pay $400 a year extra for a cellular data plan. This includes, for example, parents of kids who have a phone just for arranging rides and other urgent purposes.
Re: (Score:2)
These retail for $129. A Wii U is $250, the PS4 retails for $399, and Steam boxes are coming soon. So who would buy one of these?
They retail for $99, and sometimes you've been able to get them on sale for less than that. There's a big difference between $100 and $250 (or $400).
If you're buying a PS4, then you're not the target market here. I don't play enough games to make it worthwhile to buy one of the expensive consoles. The Ouya, on the other hand, is the right price.
Re: (Score:2)
.
I don't play enough games to make it worthwhile to buy one of the expensive consoles.
The "expensive" consoles get you better games.
$199, gets you a PS3, which has:
Access to a HUGE amount of games on PSN including PS3 games, PSN exclusives, PS2 remasters, PSone classics and mini's which are phone/tablet style games.
PS3 games on Disc.
PSone games on disc. Yes, PSone game discs work in ANY PS3, even the ones that can't play PS2 discs.
A 3D capable blu-ray player
An upscaling DVD Player
A CD player and ripper.
Access to video via several services: PSN, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Cinemanow, Netfl
Re: (Score:2)
The "expensive" consoles get you better games.
Which doesn't matter, if playing those games is not worth the extra price to you.
Why are some people so obsessed with the idea that everyone has to place equal values on things? I don't think you're "wrong" for not wanting an Ouya. And I'm not "wrong" for not wanting a PS3.
Roku (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I said "those games" (referring to the parent poster's statement that the PS3 has "better games") not just games in general. Of course people who buy an Ouya want to play games. But to me, having those PS3 games is not worth the price of admission.
Those who claim that you can get a better gaming experience for "only" double or triple the cost are completely missing the point. For some people, there is zero chance that they will spend the money required for a big-name console. The choice is not between O
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think you're "wrong" for not wanting an Ouya. And I'm not "wrong" for not wanting a PS3.
Let me explain my side of it, hopefully better.
I see those tablet/phone style games as "mostly inferior" to the ones available on the PS3. Even Minecraft PE isn't as good as the PS3 version.
Now if you're on a phone/tablet without your PS3 around, that's a different story, you're stuck with mostly-crappy phone/tablet games...unless you got a DSfoo/PSP/Vita
But the Ouya is intended to sit in the living room next to the TV. And frankly, as a gaming machine, the PS3 is utterly superior to that Ouya. Maybe i
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I see those tablet/phone style games as "mostly inferior" to the ones available on the PS3.
Maybe part of the problem is that many people see the Ouya as being a way to play tablet/phone games on your TV. Although there's a lot of (generally not very well done) ports of phone games -- expected, given that doing so is so easy for the developer -- those really aren't the best games on the Ouya.
And frankly, as a gaming machine, the PS3 is utterly superior to that Ouya.
As a "gaming machine?" Sure. But in terms of a gaming experience? That's a matter of opinion. What matters for a good gaming experience is the enjoyment that the player gets, and I get just as much enjoymen
Re: (Score:1)
What does that even mean?
Re: (Score:1)
"Cheapskate freetards" is a useless phrase. "freetards" alone is a ridiculous term. If you're going to use that kind of "English," then I don't want to speak it.
Re: (Score:1)
Did you post all those nonsensical comments thinking I somehow cared what you thought?
Re: (Score:1)
I just don't understand what kind of market these are going for.
I think the original idea was to market this thing to deadbeat dads. They would stock them in drugstores and Dollar General stores so that loser dads could run in and grab a "game console" for their kid's birthday at the last minute after an all-night bender at the bar--all without having to spend too much of their beer budget. IIRC, "Get your kid a game console, just like their goddamn sober stepdad!" was the original marketing slogan.
Re: (Score:2)
Issues, much?
Product / Brand Names? (Score:3)
As founder and CEO of the Ouya (pronounced "OOO-yah")
Never understand why people start up companies with difficult-to-pronounce names.
Here's a tip: If you have to *tell* people how to pronounce the name of your company / product then you have the wrong name!
Re: (Score:2)
I dunno... Ikea seems to be doing pretty well.
Re: (Score:2)
What's so hard to pronounce with "Ikea"?
Seems pretty straight forward.
"I-Ke-A". More or less.
Re: (Score:2)
The product names, on the other hand...?
Re: (Score:2)
If you're swedish, where they are from, it's perfectly normal names.
Names that aren't taken (Score:2)
Never understand why people start up companies with difficult-to-pronounce names.
Because someone else already registered the easy ones with some trademark office. Besides, it varies by language. A lot of English speakers initially mispronounced "Wii" as "why" instead of the correct "we". (See Luigi's Final Smash [dagobah.net].) And I'm told the "Ekkusu-Bokkusu" from "Maikurosofuto" is a bit of a tongue-twister for a Japanese speaker.
Spoiler Alert! (Score:2)
I know how Ouya is going to do Ouya Everywhere without Ouya equipment. They will broadcast from all cell towers on Channel 3. So just change to Channel 3 and you will get Ouya Everywhere. You call in to an 800# using your touch tone keypad to act as a controller.
It's a good media player (Score:4, Interesting)
I got mine mostly for a xbmc media player and occasional gaming. It took a little while for them to work the kinks out with the xbmc folks, but it's pretty stable now. We play games very rarely.
I think their policy that all games must have a free trial of some kind may be hurting them, and encouraging in-app purchase games, which I can't stand. I think it would be a great market for retro-classics, but I really don't want to think about someone making Pac-Man with a trial version.
Re: (Score:2)
I think their policy that all games must have a free trial of some kind may be hurting them
This is true. Demos don't make sales. It's incredibly hard to make a good demo of a game. You have to simultaneously provide enough content to show off the game while also not giving the player enough game so that they don't feel satisfied with just the demo. Since people try games on impulse, based on curiosity, one could use videos and hype to drive curiosity so they plunk down the money and buy the game to try it out (lather, rinse repeat); This works but Ouya forbids this. Instead out of curiosity
Knee-Deep in the Dead (Score:2)
It's incredibly hard to make a good demo of a game. You have to simultaneously provide enough content to show off the game while also not giving the player enough game so that they don't feel satisfied with just the demo.
Doom by Id Software, a first-person shooter for PC, managed it by ending the free-to-play episode "Knee-Deep in the Dead" on a cliffhanger. After this, the player could pay once to unlock "The Shores of Hell" and "Inferno", and later copies came with a fourth episode "Thy Flesh Consumed".
Demo? Nope, try a friend's copy first
How can someone do that in the Internet era, when one's "friends" likely live hundreds of miles or hundreds of kilometres away? Are you referring to Steam library lending, or do some games let players invite another player
Forced Credit Card Scam (Score:1)
Bought an Ouya and was unable to do anything without entering a credit card number. Seriously you can not even go to the main menu.
Once they have your info purchasing full version games is one button slip away and they ask you to do it with a pop up window while playing.
Returned it same day to target.
Parental control (Score:2)
why it bombed (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Mice are the #1 reason PC gamers are better than console gamers.
SILENCE you Dirty Elitist PC Gamer Bourgeosie!
Before there were gaming PC's in the home, there were consoles. WE are the original superior species, not you dirty overly entitled spoiled trash wasting money on hardware instead of games. And then you do nothing but play a single free game or map over and over again and consider yourselves "athletes" or "playing an e-sport". Dirty Cheap PC Gamer Philistines! Real gamers play multiple games and genres, not just WoW, LOL, Counter-Strike or Team Fortress.
Mice
Re: (Score:2)
FALSE!
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sorry, the Odyssey 1 and the various Pong machines predate the Apple 1, let alone the Microsoft/Intel/PC hegemony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M... [wikipedia.org]
It even predates the MITS Altair so don't go trotting that out.
You also might want to look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H... [wikipedia.org]
For every spoiled suburban brat with affluent parents who had a Trash 80, PET or Apple II, there were 10 people with Atari 2600's.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Also, you can hook a USB controller to a PC.
Also you can hook a USB keyboard and mouse to a console, not counting the non-usb mice and/or keyboards for earlier consoles.
I first hooked up a USB keyboard and mouse to a PS2 in 2002...back when the few Filthy PC Gamer Bourgeoisie who used gamepads were often still using inferior Sidewinders with their PC's instead of superior Dual Shocks.
So WE still win, Filthy PC Gamer! Have fun playing a single map in LoL or CS over and over.
Multiple mice on one PC (Score:2)
Mice are the #1 reason PC gamers are better than console gamers.
When your friends come visit your house/apartment and want to play video games with you on the TV in the living room, how many mice can you plug into one PC and have them work?
I'd rather eat a pineapple blindfolded with my hands tied behind my back than aim a gun with a joystick.
So why was Centipede one of the few arcade shooters to use a mouse-like control instead of a joystick? Not all shooters are first-person.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They bring their laptops.
That has drawbacks: everyone having to drive back home to get the laptops (or, alternatively, having to preplan the LAN party which destroys spontaneity), having to buy multiple copies of a game [cracked.com], and the possibility of not everyone already owning a gaming laptop as opposed to one with a pre-Ivy Bridge Intel CPU used as a secondary Office-and-Facebook computer alongside a desktop PC. I explain further here [pineight.com].
Or I use a cheap wireless HDMI streamer.
How does that work? Can it combine multiple PCs' displays into one stream that gets sent to the televis
I like the Ouya (Score:2)
It is a fun little console. Some of the sames, while simplistic, are quite pretty and are fun (Ballistic is a good example of this).
That said, I realize I am in the tiny minority.
With a few changes, could be great! (Score:4, Insightful)
I was an original Kickstarter backer of the Ouya. I have my "chocolate metallic" version sitting right next to my bedroom TV at the moment. Overall, I've been happy with the little box. For $99, it is probably the best "network media player" out there, with XBMC for Android installed. The fact that it plays games is simply a plus. The hardware was sufficiently powerful and of good quality at the time it launched (aside from the snafu with the first controllers). However, there are only a handful of things that keep it from being the magic device everyone spoke of, and most of them are only semi-technical decisions that could easily be reversed.
First of all, one of the biggest failings in my mind is that while it is very close to an Android device, it isn't exactly compatible with every Android app. Now most of them can be sideloaded by a technically proficient user, but I think they'd do much better of instead of having an Ouya OS that is essentially designed to disguise the "androidness" of the whole thing, it should highlight it. Offer a core AOSP experience, frequently updated (last I checked the OuyaOS is based on Android 4.1), and offer a custom, FOSS UI that is made to be navigated with the controller instead. Make it easy for people to update and use Android apps! Put installers for other app stores in the Ouya marketplace when possible, even! Let people load up Netflix for Android etc... They are paying the price in terms of content and developers coming to the platform because it is seen as an additional platform, not simply as hardware that can be tapped by those already developing on Android! They had a great idea with it being an "open" console, but it would be even more 'open' if it was completely Android compliant!
Next, they should have provided users a better installed experience from the very start. While I've gotten tons of use out of my Ouya with XBMC, I had to find the correct Android alpha build that had all the proper flags and sideload it, then launch it from the "Make" entry on the Ouya menu (because all sideloaded stuff basically requires developer-are access - not hard to acquire of course, but it does present a barrier. They could have made a separate menu for sideloaded content that was more accessible). Why wasn't it installed by default, and automatically updated? Way back in the beginning, the company stated they were working with XBMC for compatibility etc.. why wasn't it installed on every Ouya? Or at least, available in the Ouya Store to be installed with a few button presses? This was a simple change that really could have made it a much better out of the box experience for a ton of people. An Ouya with XMBC alone is a better media streamer that is more powerful and flexible than competing "WDTV" style boxes, for the same or a much lower price!
Ouya should take a page from Valve! They seems to be doing the right thing with regards to SteamOS / Steam Machines, by basing it on a fully open and compliant Linux distro, thereby making it easy for anyone who wanted to add any other repo or download any other Linux program. Ouya should react the same with with regards to Android. Make a great experience for their game/app repository, but bring in the entire Android community through compatibility. The current and future Ouya hardware could come to be known as the premiere device in its price range, in a sea of Android gumsticks and other devices, but only if they fully embrace the inclusiveness of the Android community, give users options, as well as a fantastic out of the box experience.
One issue (Score:2)
"Hacking was encouraged—users and developers were told they could root the console without voiding its warranty."
Problem was that it came out early that this wasn't a particularly "hackable" console due to some design flaws.
1) If you're doing platform-level hacking, Tegra3 is not a pleasant chipset to work with
2) It had some issues as I understand it with fastboot mode (I don't recall the exact details, but it either was extremely difficult to enter or simply didn't exist) - as a result it was very
I don't get it, Tom (Score:1)
It's named after a kind of bird that lays square eggs.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, Commodore's entry into "multimedia" and the "superconsole" race, respectively. Famously just worse and more expensive versions of the A500 and A1200, two machines which could already plug into a TV and work perfectly well as a games console. (And which were cheap new or second hand already.) At least the Ouya doesn't have that to compete with: it's cheap, and current tablets don't quite-as-conveniently connect to the television.
When you turn one on (Score:2)
But are they sold in a store near me? (Score:2)
OR, simply pick up a gaming tablet with inbuilt joypad and connect to the monitor.
The problem is that Android tablets with built-in discrete buttons weren't sold in stores when OUYA got funded. The closest thing was an Xperia Play, but that was priced for subsidy with a voice and data plan. Since then, plenty of gaming tablets have arrived, such as the Archos GamePad, NV's Shield, and various JXD models. But few have made it into U.S. brick-and-mortar video game stores or electronics stores or been promoted on television.