Ouya

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May 9, 2002
37,066
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#1
Anyone seen this thing? Its a Droid-based game console. Engadget just posted about it today and has an interview with the maker. Pretty interesting.

Ouya's Android-based, hackable game console now official: we chat with designer Yves Behar

By Jon Fingas posted Jul 10th 2012 7:38AM

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A handful of details briefly slipped out about the project earlier, but now it's here: the Ouya, an attempt not just to delve into the cutthroat world of TV game consoles but to try and shift the goal posts. At its heart, the design sounds more like a smartphone than a gaming rig with a quad-core Tegra 3 and 8GB of storage running Android 4.0. The upscale, RF wireless gamepad's standout is a built-in trackpad for playing mobile games alongside the familiar sticks and buttons -- clever, though not entirely new. But with completely open hardware and software, an emphasis on free-to-play gaming and an all-important $99 price, the system is a gamble by a handful of game industry luminaries that at least a subset of players are frustrated with the status quo enough to want a real break. Read on for the full details, including a Kickstarter project as well as added details from our chat with Ouya (and Jambox) designer Yves Behar.

The emphasis is on absolute openness, and that starts even with the hardware: a button on the console pops open the top and grants access to the insides. Ordinary screws keep the overall enclosure (and the controller) shut, and there's even documentation for the circuit boards. Ouya also wants the software to be truly open, as it's running Android 4.0 with an unlocked bootloader. Modifying the OS won't even void the warranty; if there's ever a version of CyanogenMod for the Ouya, it won't spoil your chances of getting a replacement unit. While the 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 onboard are primarily for Internet access and peripherals, an SD card slot and a USB 2.0 port are as much there to foster the community's development as to leave room for more storage and future peripherals.

If you're an everyday gamer, the interface will be simple, if somewhat familiar. Think of it as a stripped-down version of the Xbox 360's fall 2011 Dashboard update. That might be a positive for some would-be owners: even as Microsoft's current front-end is seemingly bent on promoting everything but games, the Ouya's creators are shooting for a games-first philosophy. About the only extra so far is built-in Twitch.tv support for streaming tournaments and other game session videos, although the Android nature of the console should allow loading third-party apps downloaded outside of a missing-by-necessity Google Play.


It gets more interesting with development and the game sales model. Every Ouya will come with the development kit and debug console, and the early interface goes so far as to show the number of people making games, not just those playing them. Unlike the stereotypical license-heavy console model, there's no up-front fees. Meanwhile, the company not only isn't requiring a minimum price for Ouya games, it's forbidding them -- every game has to start off with a free download. It's only when a developer introduces a paid strategy (in-app purchases, subscriptions and beyond) that Ouya steps in asking for a 30 percent cut of the proceeds. As core creator and former IGN veteran Julie Uhrman tells Engadget, the sense is that gamers feel "cheated" by $60 games which demand "bigger and bigger budgets" to support; a basic free-to-play requirement lowers the barrier almost completely.

The operation certainly has an optimistic, let-a-thousand-flowers-bloom view of the gaming community, but it's at least going in with some experience under its belt. We've mentioned Yves Behar, whose design chops guide both the hardware and the software, but Ouya is also taking on Xbox co-creator Ed Fries as an advisor. Investors include the founders of Digg (Jay Adelson), Flixster (Joe Greenstein) and Jawbone (Hosain Rahman), while game developers like Minecraft maker Markus "Notch" Persson, former Interplay head (and now inXile founder) Brian Fargo, Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner and a slew of well-known indie mobile game developers have thrown their weight behind the concept.

We had the chance to chat with Behar about the console before the big reveal, and we get the distinct impression that the Ouya is as much a sincere personal focus as an attempt to give that professional polish to what could have been a very frugal box. While he can see some tangential connections to Nintendo's GameCube in aiming for the "playfulness" of a very simple design, the real goal with Ouya is something that's very "openable" and embodies the philosophy towards the OS sitting inside. Behar also admits getting annoyed at the cheap-feeling, overly light gamepads of current consoles -- the Ouya controller is meant to behave "like a high-end knife," he says, with weight and responsiveness.

The software? It's "humble," according to the designer, and lets the games take the center stage. Android doesn't have a great reputation in gaming, but that's not Behar's experience to date. It's "relatively liberating" for him with an open structure that makes it easier to implement top-level decisions regarding the interface. He can't vouch for the games themselves, which aren't in his wheelhouse.

Compared to the Jambox, the Ouya hasn't necessarily been any harder to develop, Behar argues. Even though he obviously didn't have to design an on-screen interface for Jawbone's Bluetooth speaker, the industry veteran sees certain "unique constraints" that were in the Jambox that aren't in the Ouya console, and vice versa. Imagine the finnicky design issues that inherently define a speaker like the Jambox, such as getting a chassis that carries the sound properly, where the Ouya is almost literally hands-off outside of the controller. Behar would "for sure" tackle the Ouya, or something like it, again. Game consoles are part of a space that "hasn't been disrupted in a long time," he informs us.

The company's main challenge, apart from convincing gamers to drop (or more likely complement) their Playstations, Wiis and Xboxes, will be getting the console to the finish line. Uhrman and crew have skipped venture capital so far and are relying on private investments as well as a $950,000 Kickstarter project to get Ouya funded. Meeting that Kickstarter goal is vital to completing the system: if they don't reach the former, they quite possibly won't achieve the latter. But if Ouya gets the all-clear from early adopters and investors, there's a chance that the TV video game industry might see its first viable fourth platform in years, at an impulse-purchase $99 price and without the usual red tape that keeps indie game developers from finding their audience. That combination may well amount to an idea worth exploring.



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Props: fillyacup

mrtonguetwista

$$ Deep Pockets $$
Feb 6, 2003
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#4
We’d like to introduce you to Robert Bowling, president of the game developer Robotoki, and an early backer of our Kickstarter. You might recognize Robert from his work with the Call of Duty franchise.

Earlier today, from his Twitter account (@fourzerotwo), Robert hinted that he had some news.

Well here it is: OUYA gamers will get FIRST access to the ravaged world of his post-zombie-apocalyptic game, Human Element.

Robotoki is the first studio to commit to building a game exclusively for OUYA: an episodic prequel that will set the stage for his eventual release of Human Element in 2015.

Welcome to OUYA, Robert!

Julie
 

mrtonguetwista

$$ Deep Pockets $$
Feb 6, 2003
23,473
7,035
0
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#6
The Entertainment Software Association, the company which owns and operates the E3 Expo, called the Los Angeles Police Department today in an attempt to shut down Ouya’s public presence at E3 2013.

Julie Uhrman, founder of the Ouya console, informed IGN that the police visit was just another event in an ongoing conflict with the ESA. Ouya had their console on display in a lot across the street from the Los Angeles Convention Center, which is the home of E3. But at 9am this morning, the ESA rented out the spaces in front of Ouya’s display and parked semi-trucks in them in what Uhrman felt was an attempt to block people from noticing Ouya’s presence.

In response, the Ouya team rented the spots in front of the ESA’s trucks and used the spaces to display various Ouya banners. After this action, Uhrman claims that the ESA called the police. Soon after, the LAPD showed up at the lot and asked to see the company’s permits. After determining that everything was in order, the cops ultimately left without taking any further action.

Urhman feels that Ouya is being unfairly targeted due to its decision to go around the ESA and attend E3 on its own terms. Uhrman and the rest of the Ouya team intend to tackle the second day of E3 2013 by increasing their street team presence. She also reached out to the ESA in an attempt to resolve the dispute, but has yet to hear back. When asked how she’ll react if the ESA continues putting pressure on Ouya, Uhrman responded, “If ten more trucks show up, we’ll come up with another idea. I have a few up my sleeve.”

We reached out to the ESA for comment and are waiting to hear back.
 
Sep 25, 2005
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#9
Damn thats shady shit! What about that new controller/gamepad console selling for $79 right now - that's android based as well isn't it?

But

63,416
Backers
$8,596,474
pledged of $950,000 goal
0
seconds to go

Funding period
Jul 10, 2012 - Aug 9, 2012

That's some good figures for Kickstarter..


Edit: found it. It's called Gamestick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStick also a kickstarter project slated for july release.
 
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Props: fillyacup
Jun 8, 2011
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#13
Anybody know if there will be a Black Friday deal on this or a cyber Monday deal? I was thinking I could get my nieces this to just have at home. It's simple games and not much to it. So I'm thinking maybe a Christmas present for them. They're 4yo