OUYA 900% funded

[Bells]

$8,596,475 of $950,000 goal !

63,416 People putted their money into this, and now we have a brand new console on the market.

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
ETHERNET! (Announced by Muffi 7/18)

And By the way, you can pre-order the console righ now for USD $110 on their website.

http://www.ouya.tv/buyouya/

And here is a thing i thought was interesting

When you say OUYA is “open,” what does that mean exactly? Can I do anything I want with it?
When we say, “open” we mean it. We’ve made many decisions based on this philosophy:

Launching on Kickstarter – this isn't just a way to raise funds. It's our way of involving supporters from the get go. We want your feedback as well as your support.

For gamers, we believe that OUYA will be more open than any platform on the market to a broad range of content that is really new and interesting, from the best known names in games to exciting indies that you may be getting to know for the first time.

For developers, open means that any developer can publish a game – if you've got a game, you can put it on OUYA. You can price your game however you like – it's your game! We just want to help you bring it to life on the TV. Just make some part of the experience free to the OUYAs. We use open-source software and standard chipsets – we're on Android because developers are speaking the language. Our chipsets aren't proprietary or secretive – open OUYA up and have a look! We’ll even publish the hardware design if people want it.

For hackers: root it. Go ahead. Your warranty is safe. Even the hardware is hackable. Want to get inside? You’ll need a standard screwdriver and nothing more. Go to town. We have standard USB ports and Bluetooth, so you’ll even be able to create your own peripherals.

As with every platform, though, we have to balance openness with a quality user experience. So we'll have a standard user interface. We'll curate your games in our storefront so they're easy for everyone to get to. And we’ll require that all games we put in our store include a free experience. If you don’t like our choices, root the device and make it your own.

The full openness of a Modifiable console (in and Out) is something very intriguing that can be it's best strength and also it's major weakness ... if Hacking becomes rampant, developers may shy away from the platform, on the other hand the Hacking community doesn't really rallies too much around something with no challenge to it (as in, a completely open platform from the start).

The specs are also pretty good, the actually rival in some aspects the PS Vita! Which is actually quite nice for a open android platform turned console...

At first i don't expect much aside from this being a "Gaming Intensive Home Tablet" experience... but this could actually grow up to be pretty big and interesting to watch. Specially as more Android apps become available for it!

So, anybody here jumped on the OUYA train yet?

[Aerozord]

my main concern is market saturation. With no barrier to entry there will be alot of people releasing absolute garbage that will bury the actual gems.

[Bells]

Their main barrier for that, it seems, is to have all games have a free to play option as mandatory, which is pretty cool... but then again, the avalanche of bad games is likely to cloud the good gems...

So, i hope they really have a good Storefront!

[Flarecobra]

Reminds me of the early game development process.

[Ryong]

I'm expecting this to flop, hard.

Those specs aren't that good - the Vita doesn't involve playing a game in a gigantic HD screen, this does - and I just see any gaming over the internet on this being pants-on retarded. This will be people stealing code left and right and claiming games as their own and editing shit.

What I really expect is a bunch of cellphone-quality games.

[Bells]

i dunno man... that Tegra 3 Chip can pull off some really interesting stuff

lBl-goBrWno

[Arcanum]

See, when they say "every game must have a some content that's free to play" I just think "demo" and look at the PSN Store and XBLM and all the demos they have. The only difference is that every game will have a demo, and there will also happen to be free games.

But then I look at those specs, and the whole droid software thing and I think about XBL Arcade games and how they are required to have a demo. So basically nothing new, and the whole Ouya thing has failed to impress me in any way.

[Ryong]

I'm seeing a bunch of at best PS2 graphics there, Bells.

Imagine how bad these will look in a HD TV.

This is a console being advertised as, among many things, being able to run Crysis 1 at maximum settings.

They're going on about how it's so fucking incredible that it'll have OnLive, internet radio, twitch.tv and a fucking media player.

You're going to have what's essentially a cellphone hooked up to your TV for you to play cellphone games with a gamepad. Think about it.

[Ramary]

The problem is that the concept of this is a bit flawed by design. A lot of games on this thing will be ported from phones or have a "phone game design" mentality to them ie relatively simple games that you are able to play for short bursts at any time.

Games to play on the toilet basically, as many people put it. Not every game follows that rule but the more successful ones do.

Playing a game on a console or PC means you are setting time aside solely to play a game, and you want something with meat and substance to it. It does not mean you still might not want to play the short burst games, you just won't be playing much of them. Because of this I do not see this thing being a big hit.

I mean seriously, there are people expecting to play bloody Skyrim on this thing, this is not gonna end too well. Unless it gets an amazingly awesome exclusive killer app or big name support. (which won't happen considering the whole open source thing screams piracy.)

[Ryong]

The problem is that the concept of this is a bit flawed by design. A lot of games on this thing will be ported from phones or have a "phone game design" mentality to them ie relatively simple games that you are able to play for short bursts at any time.

That reminds me, Square apparently said they were releasing FF3 for the Ouya. But FF3DS has a port to android already and it's getting a slighty enhanced port to the PSP.

For some reason, wherever I saw anyone talking about the Ouya version, it was always getting called "Final Fantasy 3 HD".

[Ramary]

It will be a bad HD port I am betting, you know the ones that make the game look worst? Think Silent Hill.

I am sure Square is just putting something they already ported to everything ever on it to test the waters.

[Bells]

For 100 dollars i wasn't really expecting anything beyond a PS2/Vita really...

It is pretty much a Gaming Tablet made to play at home, point being that it's the cheapest one around...

I mean, i have a Xoom 2, and i'm playing The Sims on it. It's a Midway point between the Facebook The Sims and the Ps2 The Sims... a 1.3gb game really, fully 3D and that runs smooth, i have 55 Free games on my tablet, including a couple of MMORPG's (2 being Fully 3D) and some other stuff... and a couple of Emulator (Gameboy Advanced, SNES and MaMe) ............and 4 versions of Angry Birds.

aside from some beefed up Flash Tower Defense games, some of the stuff is actually pretty fun... but mostly is just that, a super-powered flash game that is slowly crawling up to the 3D scene. It's an oddity, a fun one to watch... so i'm not really expecting a major revolution here.

As for the whole "Android port" it's pretty much the same thing as it is now with "Tablet Optmized Games". Some games (and apps) are made just for phones, others are made with Tablets in mind. And that affects the game development... there are just a handful of trully "for tablets" games out there now, so i expect the same phenomena to happen to the Ouya early on.

[Aldurin]

This will definitely be a late buy if I get it at all.

[Bells]

If you guys wanna see it here is FF3 on Android

1t2KLzCugiI

Just mute the audio...

And FF Tactics, the PSP remake War of the Lions is going for the IPad later this month, so i don't doubt we will see it on the OUYA (if it succeeds) and the Android (i would buy the shit out of that...)

[Kyanbu The Legend]

You know what, it will be very interesting to see how the Ouya plays out.

[EVILNess]

I'm expecting this to flop, hard.


Can it really be said to be a flop, even if it doesn't sell that well? I mean, they have already made 7.5 million dollars off of the promise of this device alone and it isn't even on the market.

That is literally the equivalent of selling more than 60,000 units and they haven't shipped a single unit.

[Aerozord]

Can it really be said to be a flop, even if it doesn't sell that well? I mean, they have already made 7.5 million dollars off of the promise of this device alone and it isn't even on the market.

That is literally the equivalent of selling more than 60,000 units and they haven't shipped a single unit.

well if someone gives y0u 6 million to make something, but you only spend 1 million and just pocket the rest. The resulting product then fails horribly. Product itself is still a flop, just the venture that succeeded. Might be a win/win for the developers but to the people that gave up their money to create it would probably call it a loss

[Kyanbu The Legend]

well if someone gives y0u 6 million to make something, but you only spend 1 million and just pocket the rest. The resulting product then fails horribly. Product itself is still a flop, just the venture that succeeded. Might be a win/win for the developers but to the people that gave up their money to create it would probably call it a loss

They have to release it, as not doing so will result in lawsuits.

[Aerozord]

They have to release it, as not doing so will result in lawsuits.

yes they need to release it but nothing says they have to spend all that money on the product. If there is (personally I'm hoping there is) than it turns back into, if it doesn't sell well its a bust. My point being is those that invested did so because they want it to succeed. Regardless of how the creators fair if it flops than it was a failure.

Not only that but the model of an open system will take a hit as it makes others both hesitant to create another but also to release for it

[A Zarkin' Frood]

I expect it to do better than the Phantom at least, if anyone even still remembers that thing. If you do you know it you also know that this doesn't really mean much. I like the concept, but since people in general are idiots I don't see it becoming a success. It will probably have a majority of shit games on a Newgrounds games level with very very few gems. Most of them probably being ports of popular indie games. Honestly, it being indie in its philosophy is the only selling point for me, but being able to play some games I already have on PC or I can get on PC as well will not really do it for me. Why pay an extra 100 bucks just to play a game on my TV? Let's not forget that I can just connect my TV to my computer if I want. Speaking of TVs, I'll also have to get one of those.

I hope it succeeds, I really do. But right now I'm still very skeptical.

[Amake]

Considering the Phantom was only ever nominally in development until investor money stopped coming, it might be impossible for a console which exists as a physical entity to perform worse. Let's hope that's what this is. . .

[akaSM]

My phone does all of that already, it's not as powerful but, it does everything that thing can do, minus the 1080p.

I still want one ::V:

[Magus]

I think it's main opposition to the Vita is it actually seems mildly compelling whereas the Vita seems to actively discourage my buying it.

[rpgdemon]

Is this a portable console/tablet? I'm confused.

In any case, it doesn't seem too viable, cool as it may be. I think the android platform will be a hinderence to their vision, but time will tell.

[rpgdemon]

Like, this is going to sound really stupid, considering Android's roots, but they should have "just" modified the linux kernel, so that developers could use all of the stuff native to Linux on the machine.

[Bells]

you can actually run Linux on Android... and a really slow, choppy Windows XP. But it requires a Rooted phone/tablet

So, the Ouya is quite likely to be running Linux in the first few weeks when it's out...

what actually bugged me was the "only 1" usb port. It doesn't sound like it would be that much more expensive to add in 2-4 usb ports...

[rpgdemon]

Android and Linux are both operating systems, you don't really run one on the other, unless there's ssome emulation going on, so the choppiness just comes from the hardware. But my point is, they should have used Linux as their supported OS, if they wanted to make an impact on the open source gaming scene, because it would encourage developers supporting Linux, and it would be much better to develop for. Developing on Linux is awesome, developing on Android is not as nice. Plus, all the libraries you want are already a thing on Linux, while some don't even exist for Android.

[Aerozord]

I'm more worried about 8gb of memory if you are expecting heavy amounts of digital distribution.

Know what would be cool though. If these guys really are big on open source and they make a 3D printer or something that just makes these things. Would atleast have the distinction of being the first post-scarcity console

[Ryong]

Is this a portable console/tablet? I'm confused.

In any case, it doesn't seem too viable, cool as it may be. I think the android platform will be a hinderence to their vision, but time will tell.

This is a tiny console you need a TV to use, that will have graphics marginally better than a cellphone being screwed up as fuck on a huge TV.

Know what would be cool though. If these guys really are big on open source and they make a 3D printer or something that just makes these things. Would atleast have the distinction of being the first post-scarcity console

It'll be a while until we can have 3D printers that make the electronics which are the priciest part of these things anyway.

[Lost in Time]

At worst, this is a $100 set top box that will replace my Logitech Revue. That thing had crap ram and storage space that the Ouya will blow out of the water, plus the modificability of it makes it worth the price tag alone.

I already supported the kickstarter for one.

[Niveras]

Now, how about if the OUYA could play everything in the PS3's library?

http://androidandme.com/2012/08/games/gaikai-could-bring-sonys-entire-ps3-library-to-android-devices/

[Ryong]

Wait so, they have a server that can run games for thousands of people faster than if those people were playing their games at home?

Either the graph is full of shit or there is no longer a reason for any gamer whatsoever to have anything other than a tablet and the necessary peripherals - such as a controller, keyboard or mouse - subscription fee be damned. I mean, look at that, it's FASTER to send your input data and receive video than it is to just play normally!

Or

it's full of shit y'know.

[Niveras]

What, it is completely implausible for new technology to outstrip old standards? "The reports of these horseless carriages are clearly fabricated, how could a box on wheels outpace a thoroughbred?!"

I'm sure some of those results are cherry picked (network lag especially would vary significantly based on one's own connection, for example), but who even cares about that. The point was that the OUYA, being an android device, could immediately have the entire PS3 library available to it upon its release. And perhaps any future Playstation games to boot, depending on whether Gaikai itself survives.

Of course, Sony may decide to block that, but with OUYA being open-source, you may be able to spoof the "approved" Sony devices that are allowed to use the Gaikai service. You'd still have to pay for the subscription, of course.

Whatever, it is just a possibility that the OUYA won't be given death by million micro-games.

[Ryong]

I'm saying that it's the same shit as the Ouya as the system works great if you're 1)very close to a server and 2)there are very few players. This system has terrible scalability. I can't even begin to argue how bad it is.

[Aerozord]

do you really think Sony would stand-by and let a competing platform play their entire library? Also I am admittedly ignorant of the PS3 specs, but would it even have the raw power to play the games? Especially if they were running atop an emulator

[Ryong]

do you really think Sony would stand-by and let a competing platform play their entire library? Also I am admittedly ignorant of the PS3 specs, but would it even have the raw power to play the games? Especially if they were running atop an emulator

No no, read that again. The only work the actual console would do is sending input data to a server and then receiving a video, decoding it and displaying it onscreen. Everything else is done by the server who is doing it to everyone running the service.