Why I'm coming back to java and sticking with it: Ouya

[RylandAlmanza]

I'm always switching and trying out new languages and platforms. Sometimes, I'll switch the programming language I'm using for a project two times in one week (I don't finish projects very often.) I know the Ouya is kind of old news and that there is already a couple threads about it, but I suddenly got really excited for it. They got me by appealing to the fact that all my best gaming memories were on consoles.

I know there's some things they could of done better, but I'm not excited about it because the technology is amazing or something. I'm excited because it has 45,000 backers, raised 8.5 million dollars, and is selling it at a very low price compared to most consoles. So it actually has a chance at getting big. Maybe not mainstream, but big enough that I'd have a nice audience for any Ouya games I made.

So anyways, I'm going to try to stick with java for the Ouya. Glad to be back!

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

[Braddas]

The Ouya is interesting. Unfortunately it's looking like the early devkits will be $800. I'm assuming once the consumer version is out developers will just be able to buy that, but they're not really encouraging indies to get on board early with that price tag. It could be they're looking to court more 'premium' developers for a stronger launch line up, but I doubt any will bother until the audience is there.

Compare that to the (relatively) cheap Oculus Rift devkit, which was priced knowing full well that indies are the ones will jump in and make great stuff. It just seems like the wrong approach to me.

EDIT: Wow, that all came off really negative! The console is a great idea and I hope it will be a success.

[princec]

Great idea but some pretty strange execution so far. The $800 dev kit is just ... bizarre. It's a total unknown. Even Microsoft give away their dev tools. Come to think of it so do Oracle, Apple, and mostly everyone else except Sony, and the funny thing is, the whole point of Ouya was to ... not be like Sony.

Cas

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

[RylandAlmanza]

That's $800 for an early dev kit (which just means an Ouya and two controllers.) As in, you get an Ouya before it's released. The actual price is $99 dollars, and that's everything you need to play and develop for Ouya!

[RobinB]

The only thing where i can think about is, how are graphics processed?
Now it looks awfully alot like they gonna render evrything on the cpu, maybe good to keep it small, but it will hardly surpass mobile phone gaming.

[princec]

Where did you get that impression from? It's Android, and running on a Tegra3; it's OpenGL ES 2.1 (2.0? I forget)

Cas

[RobinB]

Android is just an os
Im talking about the graphic hardware.
It seems like its integrated, good for low power, not good for hd

[princec]

Er... Tegra3? Pretty decent.

All ARM based stuff is integrated - they don't use discrete hardware. It's actually more efficient for SOCs in general.

Cas

[Joshua Waring]

Might give me something to design for

[RobinB]

I mean, with what console (computing power / graphics) does it compare to?
Im not an expert, but i think it wont compete with the current or the next gen consoles (not including wii).
But the open console concept is awsome nevertheless.
I just wish they added some more power.

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

[princec]

It's not especially powerful, no.

Some interesting reads:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/tech-focus-the-rise-of-tegra-3
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-how-powerful-is-tegra-3

Cas

[Grunnt]

A thing like the Ouya would not compete on having the fanciest graphics, but on offering the most fun. Plenty of processing power there for a lot of fun.

[Joshua Waring]

It's like a more expensive toy like raspberry-pi

[princec]

Aye. The RPi is aimed at geeky nerds though (whether they realise it or not...) and this is a machine for the other 95% of the population.

Cas

[Joshua Waring]

different target, but doesn't mean we can't do the same things.

[princec]

You can't; the Ouya is vastly more powerful than the Pi.

Cas

[badlogicgames]

The whole way the Ouya team behaved so far is very strange. Their entire marketing spin was "indies, indies, indies". However, when indies approach them, all they get is a "ya, we are busy, try again once we released". This not only happend to us libgdx folks, but also to a couple of other friends i have in the "industry" so to speak. Appearently they now have a kind of SDK, but don't give out any information, which is pretty much the oposite of "open" to me.

[Braddas]

I think everyone's clear that the price will be $99 once it's released. But the fact is that until that point, the $800 price for early access essentially blocks your average indie from having anything ready when the Ouya launches. That's a bit silly.

[Grunnt]

I think everyone's clear that the price will be $99 once it's released. But the fact is that until that point, the $800 price for early access essentially blocks your average indie from having anything ready when the Ouya launches. That's a bit silly.

On the other hand, releasing a console before its released for the same price as it would be once it's released is a bit silly too, don't you think? At least, I suddenly see a LOT of "indie developers" wanting early access..

[Cero]

I'm quite sure Ouya is dead. It will fail on so many levels commercially (unfortunately).

Another thing to consider is... the market is quite saturated... you dont need another console in your living room which isn powerful and offers nothing special... the market will simply reject it.

[Braddas]

...releasing a console before its released for the same price as it would be once it's released is a bit silly too, don't you think?

Unless for some reason the SDK consoles are a lot more expensive to manufacture (which is entirely possible at this stage) I'm not sure there's any real reason to hike the price up that much. It could be to prevent consumers buying it, but I don't really see why that's a problem as long as those people understand what they're getting.

It will fail on so many levels commercially

That's entirely possible. The thing is, this console could target both casual and core gamers (I think the Wii is the only other console that has done that). I think its success may well depend on a strong launch lineup though, and I think they're hurting their chances by making the SDK less accessible before launch.

I could be wrong, they may be able to just put it out there and build their library and their audience over time.

[Pickleninja]

I'm quite sure Ouya is dead. It will fail on so many levels commercially (unfortunately).

Another thing to consider is... the market is quite saturated... you dont need another console in your living room which isn powerful and offers nothing special... the market will simply reject it.

It all depends on the quality of the games developed for the system... I think there's a valid point in this statement though as most people will opt for games available on PS3 / Wii / Xbox...

If I see it appear on a store shelf, I'll probably pick it up though just to test it out.



-Pickle

[RylandAlmanza]

I'm quite sure Ouya is dead. It will fail on so many levels commercially (unfortunately).

Another thing to consider is... the market is quite saturated... you dont need another console in your living room which isn powerful and offers nothing special... the market will simply reject it.

Yes, it isn't as powerful as the others, but they're pushing the whole indie thing. I think people will buy it simply because of that (even though you can make games for Xbox already.) And the market put in 8.5 million for this project before it was even released. It's hard for me to believe that they'll completely reject it after that.

[deathpat]

I will buy it just because it will make a very nice and cheap XBMC box
If I can play with it, it will be a bonus ... if I can make a game for it, it will be another bonus

[Cero]

I would love the Ouya to become successful, programming for a console.
The fact alone that knowing players will have a gamepad is elementary more awesome than touch or keyboard mouse controls. Let alone Libgdx would work so its just a simple port.

But I'll only invest anything if it gets popular.

[namrog84]

one of my main motivators for it would probably be an easy to use snes emulator and such.  cause 360/ps3 don't have that support, the wii support is subpar. Among some other 'mobile' games that might just work plain better with a controller.

[Agro]

Yeah, ouya is pretty awesome. Its like the first open source video game console thats completely modifiable by the user and the devkit is basically open too. I like it

[princec]

I'd love it to succeed but there still seems something kinda shady about it all which I can't put my finger on.

Also... Dalvik. Arse. Again, with the slow VM and need to resort to C code for trivial performance reasons.

Cas

[alexis.pautrot]

Hi
We should not forget what their ultimate goal is, and it is to make money. Ouya is calling for indies to do the buzz. But it's basically just another platform that aim to put taxes on games sells, just like steam, xblive, facebook, etc.

And it seems obvious to me the reason why they don't want everybody/anybody to have their game ready for the launch. I would do the same to avoid having a game culture medium like the android market swamp.

Reminds me this : http://www.lostgarden.com/2011/03/gdc-2011-game-of-platform-power.html

[erikd]

I've put some money into Ouya and I'm waiting for mine to arrive.
There's no $800 devkit, that was just a pledge to get one first. My understanding is that the SDK is free.

As it seems, this will probably become a niche product, but a pretty cool one.
It doesn't really have anything that will convince the average consumer to consider this over an XBox or PS3 except price maybe, but it's actually very compelling for small games developers (especially Android developers) to have an open and easy to code for platform that includes a decent controller. As such it has the potential to still attract a healthy community.