Ouya: a $99 Android game console

[princec]

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Biggest_game_system_launches

A friend of mine just tweeted that URL and suggests if they get over 100k units pledged then it's actually going to be quite a major player.

Cas

[Cero]

The sub-$100 price could perhaps drive Microsoft and Sony to drop prices on their systems, says Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. "Ouya could hit a sweet spot with gamers."

Well he knows the industry.
However I still have my doubt how it will sustain itself without exclusive first party content.

[gimbal]

The sub-$100 price could perhaps drive Microsoft and Sony to drop prices on their systems, says Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. "Ouya could hit a sweet spot with gamers."

Well he knows the industry.
However I still have my doubt how it will sustain itself without exclusive first party content.

Perhaps it will be the console platform that can sustain the needs of indie developers and gamers that like indie games (like me). Bring titles such as Fez, Braid, Trine and Amnesia to the thing and I'm already hooked.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[princec]

It doesn't have to be massive to be successful; but it does really need some bespoke games from launch.

Cas

[ra4king]

It will have Minecraft. 'Nuf said.

[matheus23]

It doesn't have to be massive to be successful; but it does really need some bespoke games from launch.

Cas

They already got 4 mio. $ in 3 days... That is cracy...
The biggest problem I'm thinking about right now, is the hardware. That thing didn't look like a super-hardware-thing. And it only costs 99$. I know that PS3 and XBox 360 aren't pretty good either. But I think they are better, aren't they?

[sproingie]

I think the hardware specs look just fine, Tegra 3 is a powerful chip.  I'm skeptical about them delivering enough units to even break even on that $99 price point though.  If it ever does launch, my guess is it'd be more like $199 at the cheapest.

If I were to sink any real capital into this project, I'd be asking them questions unrelated to the technology, like how they plan to keep costs down for distribution and shipping, marketing plans, developer relations, and so on.  What's great for them about Kickstarter is that it distributes the funding so broadly that hardly anyone feels entitled to have these questions answered.

[matheus23]

I think the hardware specs look just fine, Tegra 3 is a powerful chip.

Oh heck... just googled the specs. Updating the topic for that one

EDIT:
LOL... epic fail for me here.
1. I'm in the wrong thread
2. someone already posted the specs in the other thread, and I haven't seen them ..

[Cero]

well tbh
the thing I hate most about android and stuff is, that you just have one button
on screen pads are garbage

so this has a controller, and a big screen when its connected to a pc
so thats a major difference from usual android devices

[ra4king]

	Xbox 360	PS3	Ouya
CPU	3.2GHz tri-core PowerPC Xenon	One 3.2GHz PowerPC-based PPE + 6 SPE's	1.6GHz quad-core ARM Tegra3
GPU	2x500MHz ATI Xenos	550MHz GPU based on Nvidia G70	520MHz GeForce GPU built into Tegra3
RAM	512MB 700MHz	256MB	1GB

on screen pads are garbage

Speak for yourself

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Cero]

on screen pads are garbage

Speak for yourself

No one can really enjoy Super Metroid with onscreen pad. You slip of the virtual pad and dont notice and shit.

[ags1]

	Xbox 360	PS3	Ouya
CPU	3.2GHz tri-core PowerPC Xenon	One 3.2GHz PowerPC-based PPE + 6 SPE's	1.6GHz quad-core ARM Tegra3
GPU	2x500MHz ATI Xenos	550MHz GPU based on Nvidia G70	520MHz GeForce GPU built into Tegra3
RAM	512MB 700MHz	256MB	1GB

on screen pads are garbage

Speak for yourself

But you can't compare a 1.6GHz quad core RISC processor to even a 3.2GHz dual core x86. The x86 does a lot more work per cycle.

[matheus23]

	Xbox 360	PS3	Ouya
CPU	3.2GHz tri-core PowerPC Xenon	One 3.2GHz PowerPC-based PPE + 6 SPE's	1.6GHz quad-core ARM Tegra3
GPU	2x500MHz ATI Xenos	550MHz GPU based on Nvidia G70	520MHz GeForce GPU built into Tegra3
RAM	512MB 700MHz	256MB	1GB

on screen pads are garbage

Speak for yourself

But you can't compare a 1.6GHz quad core RISC processor to even a 3.2GHz dual core x86. The x86 does a lot more work per cycle.

So the x86 one is even better?

[ags1]

Way better, I believe....

[matheus23]

Way better, I believe....

So this is the thing we all should be afraid of... :/

[sproingie]

A 3.2GHz x86 would be doing a lot of work, yes.  You might notice the PowerPC Xenon isn't such a chip.  Xenon doesn't even do out-of-order execution.

As for the Cell, no one can really say what its true capabilities are, but it does seem to be a square peg in a world of round holes, with its stream processing capabilities made increasingly irrelevant by GPU computing.

This is definitely a nice CPU to have in a console, but if all you have are ports of phone games, that's not going to move units.

[Orangy Tang]

	Xbox 360	PS3	Ouya
CPU	3.2GHz tri-core PowerPC Xenon	One 3.2GHz PowerPC-based PPE + 6 SPE's	1.6GHz quad-core ARM Tegra3
GPU	2x500MHz ATI Xenos	550MHz GPU based on Nvidia G70	520MHz GeForce GPU built into Tegra3
RAM	512MB 700MHz	256MB	1GB

Slight correction - the PS3 has 256Mb main ram and 256Mb graphics ram, whereas the 360 has 512Mb of unified (ie. main + graphics) ram. Given that the Tegra is a SoC, I'm guessing that it's 1Gb unified?

[Cero]

As for the Cell, no one can really say what its true capabilities are, but it does seem to be a square peg in a world of round holes, with its stream processing capabilities made increasingly irrelevant by GPU computing.
This is definitely a nice CPU to have in a console, but if all you have are ports of phone games, that's not going to move units.

Aside from power, one strategy was apparently to have such a unique structure, that porting a ps3 game would be really hard. They wanted to increase exclusives.

[ags1]

PowerPC??? No I didn't notice that... So we are comparing risc with risc, in which case I agree the Ouya hardware looks pretty good.

I'll make a Missile Command for it - happy days on the atari in front of the telly...

[Cero]

I'll make a Missile Command for it - happy days on the atari in front of the telly...

Nothing like global nuclear warfare what with a bunch of aliased lines and circles =D
I love it too. But you kinda need a trackball controller...

[Mads]

I expect a flood-fill of bad Snake clones on the Ouya marketplace.
90% of them written by ra4king.
The rest are Doodle Jump clones written by the same person.

 

Hahahahahahahahahaha........

Don't frown. I loved the jumpy faces.

Minecraft is going to be on there - that is one very good selling point. I doubt everything will be free - indies would want to make money somehow.
EDIT: I stand corrected! Everything is free! Woohohohue. I wonder how indies benefit from this then.
Even if they only took a small percentage (5), that still adds up if this console gets going.

Let's hope, not hype.

[princec]

	Xbox 360	PS3	Ouya
CPU	3.2GHz tri-core PowerPC Xenon	One 3.2GHz PowerPC-based PPE + 6 SPE's	1.6GHz quad-core ARM Tegra3
GPU	2x500MHz ATI Xenos	550MHz GPU based on Nvidia G70	520MHz GeForce GPU built into Tegra3
RAM	512MB 700MHz	256MB	1GB

Slight correction - the PS3 has 256Mb main ram and 256Mb graphics ram, whereas the 360 has 512Mb of unified (ie. main + graphics) ram. Given that the Tegra is a SoC, I'm guessing that it's 1Gb unified?

In these SoCs it's generally the case that you specify somewhere at boot time how the RAM is to be dedicated.

Cas

[ra4king]

Minecraft is going to be on there - that is one very good selling point. I doubt everything will be free - indies would want to make money somehow.
EDIT: I stand corrected! Everything is free! Woohohohue. I wonder how indies benefit from this then.
Even if they only took a small percentage (5), that still adds up if this console gets going.

Let's hope, not hype.

Let me cross-post from the other Ouya thread on this forum:

Guys I just read the FAQ, the whole "Free to play" thing is bit of a misnomer. They mean that every game will be either free or have a free demo. No game is paid only, this way you can try before you buy. Of course there will be support for paid games AND paid in-game items so relax.

From the FAQ:
- Business model is same as everything, you get 70%, they get 30%. This looks like Google Play will not be on it, but some sort of Ouya-only marketplace.
- This thing isn't just games, it can also have apps.
- If you are a dev and want to be featured early, contact them at devs@ouya.tv

With the Kickstarter well above $4 million on the second day, this thing has a HUGE potential.

[Cero]

They mean that every game will be either free or have a free demo.

Yeah I got that... However Xbox Live and PSN have a demo for every game aswell, at least every AAA title. So not sure how thats special.

As a consumer, in a console and mobile device saturated market, why would I buy this device when I already have a console ?

[Orangy Tang]

They mean that every game will be either free or have a free demo.

Yeah I got that... However Xbox Live and PSN have a demo for every game aswell, at least every AAA title. So not sure how thats special.

That's not the case at all - some games get demos, often after actual release, but many, many games do not, and it's not required too. XBLA is interesting in that it's a publishing *requirement* to have a demo available at the same time as launch, which IMHO is still the only service to actually require this.

So following the XBLA example is still noteworthy (and a good move I think).

[Cero]

On a related note Final Fantasy 3 for Android just came out. All 3d and remade and stuff. would like to play that with a gamepad =o

[Mads]

On a related note Final Fantasy 3 for Android just came out. All 3d and remade and stuff. would like to play that with a gamepad =o

20 :O I'd like to, but I dont have those money for an android game.

[Cero]

On a related note Final Fantasy 3 for Android just came out. All 3d and remade and stuff. would like to play that with a gamepad =o

20 :O I'd like to, but I dont have those money for an android game.

Well I dont have a phone that can handle 3D games... =D

[gouessej]

Does someone know how its store will work? I know nothing about the validation process.

[ra4king]

No news of the Ouya store yet. I'm on the lookout because I'm very interested too. However, since it's very open to indie's and has a straightforward 70-30 revenue model, it should be very easy.

Kickstarter is up at $4.5million now by the way