Ouya - Android based console

[Bounty Hunter]

I figured this would happen sooner or later, but I didn't imagine it would be this good! it's so open and honest and good!

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/10/ouya-android-based-hackable-game-console/

What a fantastic concept, and it's actually going ahead!

I remember Bell saying there's 5% profit in a console game and that android games were somewhere around 30%, wonder where this will sit? considering the majority of android games are free or cheap already I'd say closer to the 30%.

To be honest I cant see EA getting too involved with something like this, I have only 1 EA game on my tablet and it's tetris and it's pretty terrible.

but my favourites like solitaire, death rally, tank hero, world of goo, fruit ninja and dark meadow (check out the shaders in this game, runs unreal warfare engine) are all free! the rest of the 20 something games on my tablet are either free or cheap.

I'm thinking of getting some more glossy games, most for less than $5, they re made final fantasy III for DS a few years ago and have released it on android for $20 (fucking expensive!)

I wonder if this will be the game changer they're slating it as?

[Xsannz]

does look promising

[Bounty Hunter]

Kickstarter page:

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

[Pyromanik]

That is pretty damn win.

[Growler]

would be great if it goes ahead, but the $100 price tag is going to be a hard target to hit and be profitable.

I saw somewhere, will try and find it again, that breakdown cost of the box was close to $60, without a controller, that's a very low margin without factoring in any licenses etc as well!

[Bell]

I think it could be a sweet niche console for developers to make indy games like minecraft for.
The cost of developing AAA titles is still going to be insane just due to the sheer number of staff required, so I don't see it changing the industry when it comes to big name titles.

[Xsannz]

As an open source platform for media etc it should be kickass

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

I'm not a fan of the idea of Free-to-play games.

Since, to fully enjoy them, you usally have to end up paying money. I'll happy pay up-front if it's a good game.


However hardware wise it looks nice, and the controller is a bonus.

What does it look like on the inside? Can it fit a hard drive? An external one would work well.

[swindle]

Looks fantastic. Ill grab one for sure.

[Xenolightning]

Yeah same here, was thinking about donating to the cause, the $225 option. Get some sweet shit and one of the first on the block.

Decisions, decisions!

[.osiRiS]

I'd be careful that they can actually supply for that price.

[Bounty Hunter]

I'm not a fan of the idea of Free-to-play games.

Since, to fully enjoy them, you usally have to end up paying money. I'll happy pay up-front if it's a good game.


However hardware wise it looks nice, and the controller is a bonus.

What does it look like on the inside? Can it fit a hard drive? An external one would work well.

some of them are a wee bit funny, death rally is really cool, you can play the game like normal and work your way through the upgrades etc, or you can buy the upgrades 1 at a time, which I liken to "cheating" but whatever floats your boat.

conversely I've been playing wind up knight, which was cool, until it popped up and said "if you buy parts 2 and 3 of this game right now we'll give you 33% off!" which wasn't too bad it was the "this is your last chance to buy parts 2 and 3 at 33% off! otherwise you wont be able to ever again! so click now!" - ok fuck off pushy salesman.

other games it's a pay-to-remove advertising which in some cases the advertising goes unnoticed (haha bad advertising I know) but in others it's quite in your face and 99c to make it go away is easy.

I paid $7.50 for a really quality app that stores my settings now rather than forgetting them every time I put the tablet to sleep, easy call, quality app, annoying having to reset things, $7.50 fix.

there's shots of what looks like the mainboard in the kickstarter video, according to the developer you could fit a RAID array if you wanted (only 1 USB port from manufacture though...) but with the open nature of the console I think there'll be large hacking groups opening up all sort of neat features and settings.

my brain is going crazy thinking of the number of cool things it could do!

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

So is this pretty much the same as the Rasberry PI, but comes in it's own box and more RAM (1gb vs 256mb)?

[toofast]

So is this pretty much the same as the Rasberry PI, but comes in it's own box and more RAM (1gb vs 256mb)?

And it has a controller and a ready to run OS with the whole dashboard etc. But outside that, they do seem kinda familiar.

I am in two minds whether to buy this. Seems pretty nice, but i don't know if i will really take advantage of it. That being said, for $119, its hardly a lot of money to put aside for a fairly cool device. Plus its nice to support a good idea (though dunno how much of the $99 price tag is actually going to them, vs cost to build).

[Bounty Hunter]

So is this pretty much the same as the Rasberry PI, but comes in it's own box and more RAM (1gb vs 256mb)?

ummm yeah! sort of, raspberry pi isn't a new idea though.

this has a lot more grunt, is aimed at more gaming and runs android instead of linux, people are tryingish to get android on raspberry pi, but they may not bother now.

[Xsannz]

mmmm tempted to do 225 option...

[Pyromanik]

ummm yeah! sort of, raspberry pi isn't a new idea though.

this has a lot more grunt, is aimed at more gaming and runs android instead of linux, people are tryingish to get android on raspberry pi, but they may not bother now.

Android is linux, although probably more modified than not these days.

I think it could be a sweet niche console for developers to make indy games like minecraft for.
The cost of developing AAA titles is still going to be insane just due to the sheer number of staff required, so I don't see it changing the industry when it comes to big name titles.

I see indy as the future really. Stuff like this is really cool and supportive of it, and AAA titles are usually regurgitated shit these days. Not saying they're not profitable, it just seems to me that the more enjoyable games these days are indy developed.
The less obstacles for innovative folks to bring their ideas to market the better IMO.

[Bounty Hunter]

Android is linux, although probably more modified than not these days.

If it ran on ubuntu or any other linux build I would have made the distinction from debian

besides, saying android is linux is like saying windows 8 is MS-DOS

[Pyromanik]

yeh, sorta.

Ubuntu IS debian. They just run their own repos and rebrand everything up the wazoo.
When it comes down to it, the only real thing separating distros is the package manager and a few configuration ideals. Ubuntu still uses dpkg.

[Bounty Hunter]

I agree, I think we're over analysing this though.

[Xenolightning]

Heh... anal...

[Bell]

I see indy as the future really.

Lets hope so.

[Tiwaking!]

All systems can be used as development kits, allowing any Ouya owner and gamer to also be a developer, without the need for licensing fees. All games will be required to have some kind of free-to-play aspect,[6] whether that be completely free, has a free trial, or has purchasable upgrades, levels, or other in-game items.

I may hate on the XboX and Microsoft pretty hard, but I have to admit that programming for the Xbox is quite a nice experience, except for the bum rape that is the licensing agreements. And the fact it is C#. And Microsoft. And a Console. And Xbox.

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

C# is a beautiful language.

You should agree. Java and C# have influenced each other as they have been developed.

[Xenolightning]

Agree.

There are not a lot of differences between C# and Java. If you can write one, you can write the other. Inheritance is about the only annoying difference I have run into.

There is a reason why Microsoft canned J#, there was no need to continue supporting two branches that were so similar.