OUYA: "A new kind of video game console"

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So, a console that has less power than my old smartphone, which I still have, can hook up to my bigass TV anyways, and use with a PS3 controller, for free?

I can see this doing well in third world markets, but in the mainstream western and asian markets in will bomb horribly.

"HEY GUYS WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthony...s-up-on-kickstarter-by-saying-hack-me-please/

OUYA $99 Open Source Gaming Console Blows Up on Kickstarter By Saying 'Hack Me, Please!'

OUYA, the low-cost, Android-based and fully hackable gaming console had the biggest launch date in Kickstarter history. Pebble, the previous record holder, went on to raise over $10 million. As with the Pebble, you have to ask, is this just hype, or is something going on here?

The something is, I think, fairly significant and it’s not just about games. I have written a lot recently about Apple TV, about the Google Nexus Q and aboutBrightcove’s platform for producing dual-screen TV apps. The next part of the digital revolution will (finally) be in the living room around the digital hearth of the flat screen TV.

But consumers and developers are not necessarily going to wait around for Apple, Google and Microsoft to figure it out. The OUYA is a clear indication that the users want to take matters into their own hands. And although this is a gaming console, it is also an Android-based controller for a TV. To me, this opens up the ista of what Michael Bayle, senior vice president and general manager of mobile at ESPN, calls, “the game around the game.”

Simply put, people will use the OUYA platform as a way to be independent game developers for sure, but they will also use it to quickly and inexpensively try out a myriad of game-like interactions with existing games and other content that can be manipulated on the big screen. So while the big tech companies will be trying to come up with the best way to monetize these kinds of user experiences, the users will already be experiencing them on their own (thank you very much!)

This scenario also sets the stage for the Firefox Mobile OS and other open-source, HTML5 based phones. Consumer products that are built form the ground up to be hacked by users will create a kind of parallel universe to the big tech companies and spur innovation. Significantly, customizations that may seem like geeky hobbies in the U.S., are absolute necessities in many parts of the world.

Under the heading, “Hackers welcome,” OUYA invites the jailbreakers in, “Have at it: It’s easy to root (and rooting won’t void your warranty). Everything opens with standard screws. Hardware hackers can create their own peripherals, and connect via USB or Bluetooth. You want our hardware design? Let us know. We might just give it to you. Surprise us!” Right up front, they have de-criminalized hardware hacking.

The low price tag is a big part of the OUYA’s viral lift, but its cheapness does not define it as a product. The unit itself is conceived by “award-winning designer, Yves Behar, and his firm fuseproject (designer of the Jambox).” The whole feel of the enterprise is smart and attentive to detail. I would not be surprised to see OUYA raise $20 million on Kickstarter and come out with a more ambitious product than they initially intended. Gamers want it, and our living rooms want it too.

Codextards gonna tard xD

This is great, sure I'm gonna connect my PC to the TV and play console ports (which are 80-90% of the games out on PC nowadays) on it, using a controller if appropriate but "normal" people are too stupid/lazy to do it. Most of them still think you have to have a degree in rocket science and $15000 to even get a PC to properly play games...

Same as with home media, where easier solutions like WDTV Live, Boxee, Xtreamer etc. became a thing instead of a HTPC this could change gaming.
But the most important thing about it is the Open-Sourcy/Hack it/Mod it approach that are gonna give the jews at Microsoft and SONY some problems with cheap and even free games for every tard that can spend $99 instead of buying the "new console".

The "walled garden" approach and general assholiness they take in their handling of both developers and players is the major reason why I'm staying as far away as possible from them nowadays, with the ones having to abide by their every word and rule, from stipulations, certification to all the royalty fees they have to pay for different things, for every Retail/Digital game or even multiple disc usage as well as HAVING to make pay for DLC because else they won't allow release of content since they want a "economy of value" or whatever retarded thing they call ripping off customers nowadays: http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_7760/Valve_Microsoft_Forced_Us_to_Charge_for_Left_4_Dead_DLC including banning any and all modding and the others being ripped off by DLC, minor shit micropayments like their "avatar marketplace", having to pay more for games because the console owner demands it, asking for an "Online Subscription" for Multiplayer games (they tried that shit on PC too but got fucked majorly by Steam and made the online services "free" after that: http://www.1up.com/news/games-windows-live-multiplayer-free ).
Basically, FUCK. THAT. SHIT. I won't pay any money for their megalomaniac control tendencies and money schemes no matter how many companies they buy up to present "Exclusives" for their shit platforms and will stay with my PC, but this is the first "console" I might actually be interested in in a long while because of that reason alone.
Besides, if it's as "open" as they say people can expand on it, build their own UIs and stuff like that and even use it for other stuff like Media Center etc. too.

And if you think that if they reach $10-20 Million with their campaign they won't raise some eyebrows and make some retailers mighty giddy to carry their product, think again...
They are apparently on their best way there and the project to fastest reach the $1 Million barrier in just 8 hours: http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/ouyas-big-day

It worked for all the iShit stuff to get it up on retail shelves, even though apparently Apple wouldn't even pay attention with their arse to some of the projects/people before their KickStarters took off and saw that there's a market and large potential: http://gigaom.com/apple/kickstarter-breathes-fresh-air-into-the-stale-ios-accessory-industry/

Btw. Crowd-Funding in its entirety is said to rise from apparently $1.5 Billion Worldwide in 2011 to $2.8 Billion in 2012: http://www.marketingcharts.com/dire...ms-raised-almost-15b-in-11-up-72-y-o-y-22049/

I can see how developers would be thrilled at the prospect of releasing content for the hackable console rather than the ones that aren't.

What a fucking stupid project. Seriously, I thought Kickstarter hit a low with the 'Your World' MMO, but this thing is actually making millions? What is wrong with people?

If you're intelligent, you buy a PC.

If you're untermensch, you buy a console.

If you don't care about games at all, you buy a smartphone.

Why would anyone buy this? Just because of 1080p PLAY ON A TV LOLOL?

I'm certainly thinking of a rise in adult console titles. Like the avatar press of casual games.

And certainly this might be excellent for party games/co-op action if you don't favor the other consoles for that, which is a bit of a tall order

jesus christ it's 3.2 million now

Everyone who donates to this deserves to have the Infinium Labs logo branded on their forehead.

To make apps on it for all the idiots buying one

I think I'll buy myself one if the SDK is good.

I don't own a TV. It's passé technology.

Yeah, perhaps bad wording. I think they were speaking in terms of creativity on consoles (and they have a point).

And is that surprising? Investors wouldn't want to back this because it's something they can't control. The console's going to be "out there" and anyone is free to hack or develop on it, which means that they can't squeeze money out of people for licensing fees, dev kits, and the like, as well as $60 for every game released on the console (and whatever percentage of that they will get). A lot of (short-sided) businessmen don't like giving up control. So it's no suprise that the developers would need to circumvent those people and go directly to the consumers/developers.

As others have pointed out, it's more convenient and all done for you. In addition it will all be integrated into their menus/OS/whatever. I'm sure they'll have categories and a search system, ratings and all that. End result is fast usability and convenience. And due to the popularity it will have with developers, there will be plenty of games that will only work on the system, or at least will only work well (read: shitty ports on PC of popular console games).

And what are you smoking to call this retarded? So developers will actually have to offer demos of their games now instead of trying to force their consumers to go in blind based only on hype. Do you like the current system we have where you're forced to either pay $60 or rent the game and Microsoft and Sony are trying to prevent that last one too?

As long as there's a way to easily wade through the shit I don't care.

Before my time.

I'm curious as to what kind of console games the wargamer potato likes/would make

Hmm, didn't Valve patent a controller that could also function as a trackpad? In any case, I'm sure you'll be able to connect a mouse and keyboard.

No I know about the Hydra, I'm talking about this

Ah, but what if more fragmentation among consoles weakens consoles but strengthens the PC? The PC is the one true platform that you can always fall back on.

Scrolling shooters.

Don't be silly. Investors aren't looking at this going "OH GOD NO THIS IS OPEN SOURCE". They are looking at this going "Is this worth risking my money over? Will it be profitable? Do I trust this company with no track record to develop a console? Can they actually come out with something that can compete with Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft? IS THIS JUST A SCAM?"

Oh wonderful, you can see the future now, can you? I say it's kinda hard to argue against this imaginary success.

The only reason people buy consoles is to play the games that are exclusive to that system. This thing doesn't have any exclusives, why would I buy it?

"Hey, we made this console"

"Cool, what games does it have?"

"Well, err, some mobile games. And some games you play on your PC. But hey it has an easy menu unlike your pesky smartphone or computer, and you can stream stuff. Plus we have a ratings system, so you can press like on a game if you like it. OH AND THERE WILL DEFINITELY BE FANTASTIC EXCLUSIVE TITLES!... at some point, maybe, i dunno lol."

"Uh-huh."

"Will you buy it?"

"Umm, no."

I hate this free-to-play shit. I know companies aren't looking to make less money, so they've switched to this model to milk people more. I hate the trend and I don't want to be associated with a console that promotes it. It makes the console feel cheap. I really like the old system, where you play a demo, buy the game if you liked the demo, and that's that.

Mine too, I don't actually mean if you have a personal memory of the fact, but if you actually have heard about it and if not maybe google it or something. Basically Atari had no quality control and let shitty games overrun the system which gave it a bad rep so nobody wanted to buy anything.

"Exclusives" are for companies with more money than sense buying off developers turning them into First Party or at least paying them large amounts of money to develop solely/exclusively for them e.g. Microsoft and SONY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment#Software_development_studios
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Studios_(game_studio)#Software_development_studios
There aren't any movies or TV series "exclusive" to a SONY or Samsung TV or files exclusively working with *that* set-top box and luckily there aren't even any games that work *only* on a certain type of hardware despite the PC having a rather large base of manufacturers competing against each other too on the abilities of their hardware, price and other factors (well maybe aside from what Apple is trying to do) but there aren't many people out there going "LULZ, gaem only works on Intel, LOL SHITTY AMD".
If the developers were smart about their business they would want the largest possible user base, which usually means multiplatform and it's usually the reason why there are barely any studios out there which aren't either wholly-owned or paid off royally like EPIC Games doing any "Exclusives" nowadays... as such I'm not too afraid of an "Open Source" console paying off studios for exclusivity and there might be a lot of mobile games making it on the platform or emulators out for PC.

Leave the "LOLZ, NO EXCLUSIVES HAHA KTHX BAI, SHIT CONSOLE LOLZ" to the console fanboys in the following year trying to justify their purchase of a shitty locked down system they have to pay subscription and stupidity taxes to be able to use instead.

...

Funny thing. You guys forget one thing. The Atari crash happened because the shittiness of games was discovered after buying. That's why a free portion of game is mandatory. You can't make utter shit like E.T. and expect it to sell.

Also, the point is to regress technologically to make the console less expensive, game development less expensive and games less expensive. I like that development, especially that I have a 9 years old computer .