Forgotten Honor

Posts: 820 Location: England Medals: None

OUYA - A New Kind of Console?

OUYA (Pronounced Ohhh - Yah) was announced today via kickstarter and it has recieved staggering support so far with the entire amount of required funding recieved already! OUYA is a completely new way of looking at console gaming and is built around the free to play model for the gaming business. Every game on OUYA will be free to play, at least in part and the software and hardware will be completely open source.

The free to play model for games has boomed recently with games such as League of Legends and Team Fortress 2. These types of games are attractive to gamers mostly because they're FREE but also because if the developers want to make money then they MUST keep the game up to date and keep new content flowing. That's how they make their money, they get you into it with the free part and then because the game is good you want more. This is good for the gamers as well because it allows you to control how much you want to invest in the game after finding out what it's like and whether you enjoy it or not. The fact that these games are free and available to download also makes the publication cost significantly smaller which makes it a lot easier for indie developers to get into the market.

Currently the only place where the free to play model really works is on the PC and it has so far remained elusive to console players. Not everyone can afford to get a decent gaming PC as they're pretty expensive so OUYA steps in and provides a console option with access to hopefully an extensive library of Free to Play games for just $99 (80 Euros or £64). Mojang, developers of minecraft, have already pledged that all of their games will be available on the console and it's still early days so I can see many more developers getting in on the action.

OUYA will run on the android system, and will be powered by the new nvidia Tegera 3 processor, (Click Here to see what it's capable of). It's capable of some pretty decent games by the looks of it and I'm sure more developers focused on it with the release of OUYA will only see it improving. As well as OUYA specific games the console will be able to run any apps made for the android system and all on a TV size screen. The controller will be set out like a standard controller but it will also feature a touchpad, between 3.5 and 4 inches in diameter to make porting some android games a lot easier. The console will be hackable, so for those of you who like getting inside stuff and seeing how it works then it's simple. They're even encouraging developers to create their own hardware for their games. Detailed Specs:

Tegra3 quad-core processor
1GB RAM
8GB of internal flash storage
HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth LE 4.0
USB 2.0 (one)
Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad
Android 4.0

If you want to read more about or support the OUYA project then head over to their KICKSTARTER page and check out what they're up to. Release is scheduled for next March and with the prototype already up and running I can see this being a very interesting developement in the world of gaming.

Sources:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/07/10/the-ouya-a-99-open-hackable-console

This looks cool, but the only market I see it entering would be that of casual gamers (as in Angry Birds).

Their kickstarter just hit 2 million dollars. They might just be onto something here. Hopefully this will work out, it's interesting to see since this is the first time someone tries (at least on this scale) to change the status quo in the video game console market

I actually dont see this working.... but i have been surprised before with new gadgets.

I am interested in this for one reason. That is that it will upset the console market. This system will never replace anything, nor will it be as popular. But what it will do i think is draw enough of a base, to ruffle the feathers of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, and force them to rethink how they do things.

So something very positive for all may come from this, even if you do not want this system.

I am just amazed at the money they have raised in just a little more then a day.

It would never be a challenger to the Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360, just like the Wii nearly took off but never managed to get in terms of controlling the market, but they did good though. This console might follow the pattern.

Posts: 820 Location: England Medals: None

Presonally I think it will all come down to which game developers decide to back it and put their games on it. IF some of the big ones do it then i think it may become worth it and could be challenger in the casual/social gamer market especially as the ps4/xbox...whatever will be hideously expensive when they are released and people who only play occasionaly may be put off by the huge prices and see this as an alternative option at least until the cost of the next gen consoles has droppped to a more reasonable level

Posts: 6041 Location: Finland Medals: 37 Gaming Profile

Sorta also if you know something new is coming then you'd rather wait that than go for something old. Also if you sell ALOT in the beginning no wonder if you might sell less later on, most people already have it.

Would be interesting to see how the figures were before any actual news of the new console.

This oujaah platform sounds interesting and won't need huge amounts of money at any point because the device is so powerless as complex graphics and such are not possible. Just wondering if people want to go for an another android device if they've already got a tablet what can run simple games as can this one...

Posts: 2 Medals: 1 Gaming Profile

if i recall correctly the wii was on top for pretty much a good chunk of this generation... but i think if anyone got anything out of it, it's that motion controls suck. even the wiiu has a more controller centric design, the pro pad is really the wiiu controller without a screen. if nintendo's getting off the bandwagon, you know you should too. the xbox 8 isn't really about gaming as it is entertainment. that and microsoft is evil.

edit:

waiting for valve box. open hardware > open software. valve would crush these guys.

that's the best design mockup they could come up with? ... do they not play games?

why even bother playing 'indie' games on another device when i do mostly that on my computer anyways? being open software it doesn't have what makes some consoles so sweet... exclusives! at least in the conventional sense.

Posts: 820 Location: England Medals: None

It's not marketed at PC players, it's marketed at console players who cant afford a PC. :>

It will all depend on the price.

If its below 100€ it might have success, more then that i doubt it will have big sales....

Its going to be cheap, easily mod-able, and easy for developers to get into. At the end of the day it is aimed at the casual gamer whether adult or child that want to play a simple game on a big screen rather than their phone or tablet.

Its not going to completely remove any of the major makers. it will just add an aspect to it that the major ones will have to take notice of somehow.

It will not sell millions of models, but it will sell, and people will buy it out of curiosity due to its cheap price compared to the 500-600-700 dollar Xbox 720/PS4 ect..

Right now as I post it has 4 million dollars pledged and close to 54 000 units already sold in just 2 days. so there is some interest in it. Lets see what it looks like in 28 days.

Forgotten Honor

About us

More

Site

Social