www.ouya.tv for info. Are you interested in getting one?

As much as I love the idea of an open gaming console built on Android, I don't think this device qualifies as a gaming console. Why would I want a device that can play games designed to run on cell phones? The fact that it's powered by Tegra 3 doesn't seem to give programmers much breathing room.
Anyway, I wish them good luck, maybe we will get some actually competitive open console in the future...

Quote from MadCatX :

Why would I want a device that can play games designed to run on cell phones?

The key word is "can". It is a gaming console that will have the normal library of FPS, RPG, etc, and it has the added benefit of being able to play compatible tablet and phone games (controller support, 1080p output, etc required obviously).

a year down the line the phones itself will be more powerful than this. unless I am missing some alien specs on that site, it is designed to run say TF2 at moderately high setting with DX9 era technology if my guess is correct.

just found some tech demo of the intel core they will be using. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPN3hHI9y-E

I don't think the Tegra 3 is that powerful, compare these two videos - which one looks better?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRcmRNGjU1s

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfNxbbJgSMQ

Tegra 3 on a mobile device is really amazing (love it in my One X) but on a dedicated game console.. no. Sure it'll do basic gaming just fine, but 1080p and 60 FPS is right out of the window if you want something with pretty 3D graphics. 720p is effectively what you're looking at, which is the same as what current consoles offer. And speaking of popular consoles, why spend $100 (+taxes) on something like ouya, when you could buy a second hand 360 or PS3 for that money nowadays? Those have a ton of quality games available right off the bat, everything that ouya promises is still nothing but hot air.

I like the idea of an open game console, but I'm sceptical of the concept as a whole. Good for them if it works out.

Nah I'll rather wait for SteamBox.

There is no synergy for sharing games between this and the (for games quite) horrible touch ui.

I saw this on Kickstarter.


I didnt support it.

Quote from E.Reiljans :

Nah I'll rather wait for SteamBox.

Plus one.

Quote from Matrixi :

Tegra 3 on a mobile device is really amazing (love it in my One X) but on a dedicated game console.. no. Sure it'll do basic gaming just fine, but 1080p and 60 FPS is right out of the window if you want something with pretty 3D graphics. 720p is effectively what you're looking at, which is the same as what current consoles offer. And speaking of popular consoles, why spend $100 (+taxes) on something like ouya, when you could buy a second hand 360 or PS3 for that money nowadays? Those have a ton of quality games available right off the bat, everything that ouya promises is still nothing but hot air.

I like the idea of an open game console, but I'm sceptical of the concept as a whole. Good for them if it works out.

This is not a console for AAA developers. This is a console designed to highlight indie and experimental games, very few of which push the boundaries of graphical technology. You won't have Gears of War or Crysis on this. You will have games like Bastion, SPAZ, etc which are very light on requirements.

As a junior developer myself working on a first game, this consoles excites me greatly and I will probably be applying for a dev kit in the future.

Quote from MadCat360 :

This is not a console for AAA developers. This is a console designed to highlight indie and experimental games, very few of which push the boundaries of graphical technology. You won't have Gears of War or Crysis on this. You will have games like Bastion, SPAZ, etc which are very light on requirements.

I know all that, not sure why you quoted me. I simply stated how the consumer/gamer would be far better off with a mainstream console. Those have lots of indie titles available aswell. The problem with ouya is in the expectations of the people who bought/backed this thing (I'm not one of them) as they are expecting stuff like COD/BF3 to be on it, as the polls show.

If you want to be an indie game developer, what's wrong with PC? It's hauling serious ass lately for indie games.

Quote from Matrixi :

If you want to be an indie game developer, what's wrong with PC? It's hauling serious ass lately for indie games.

Why's it hauling ass? Because there is a trove of awesome, polished, and highly marketed games from well funded, experienced, large indie studios being featured on Steam and charity bundles?

We don't have a team of 20 people like Limbo does, or a team with credentials like Bastion's (MIT COMSCI graduates, EA designers, Activision programmers, etc etc). Those guys are the best of the best of indie devs, you don't do what they did on PC with two dudes who don't even have industry work experience. Phones offer a much more appetizing platform for us.

Quote from Matrixi :

I simply stated how the consumer/gamer would be far better off with a mainstream console.

And every car buyer would be, financially, better off with a used car versus a new one. But bajillions of people still buy new cars. Any time you compare new and used, used wins on paper. That's why I just bought myself a refurbished TV. But that doesn't mean it's a bad market or not worth going into as a product provider.

Quote from MadCat360 :

Why's it hauling ass? Because there is a trove of awesome, polished, and highly marketed games from well funded, experienced, large indie studios being featured on Steam and charity bundles?

We don't have a team of 20 people like Limbo does, or a team with credentials like Bastion's (MIT COMSCI graduates, EA designers, Activision programmers, etc etc). Those guys are the best of the best of indie devs, you don't do what they did on PC with two dudes who don't even have industry work experience. Phones offer a much more appetizing platform for us.




And every car buyer would be, financially, better off with a used car versus a new one. But bajillions of people still buy new cars. Any time you compare new and used, used wins on paper. That's why I just bought myself a refurbished TV. But that doesn't mean it's a bad market or not worth going into as a product provider.

Developing for PC is much much easier than developing for mobile. Mobile requires much more in terms of marketing and getting your game out there. There's also 3 major platforms to develop for. Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. Each android and windows phone has different hardware so you're severely limited on what you can do. At the same time you have to port your game to a different library or use a game engine that works on multiple platforms. Developing for PC requires so many less resources, games spread by word of mouth, websites that you can submit to, you have full control over your content and revenue. You have a wide variety of choices or paths to take with engines, graphics, gameplay, etc. You can't make a text adventure and expect to be played on Mobile. You can however make an Angry Birds and expect it to be played on PC. Your app on mobile gets buried under thousands upon thousands of apps released that day. While on PC you can tell your friends, submit your game to a review site and have people come try it or buy it no matter what. You don't need experience or a large team to develop for PC. Hell most of indie-dev happens on PC.

PC is a leading platform ahead of everyone else in terms of tech, visibility, and growth. Expect it to grow larger in the coming years with the advent of things such as Steam, Indie gaming, Humble bundles, and Gaikai. Companies have been opening up their AAA engines to the masses for years now (Source, Unreal, CryEngine, ID Tech 4) anyone with experience in any sort of programming language has the ability to make a game on PC and be successful. You don't even need to know how to program with event driven, drag and drop solutions such as Scirra Construct, GameMaker, Multimedia Fusion.

As an aspiring indie developer OUYA is going no-where but backwards. Don't expect it to work out or be worth your money. Stop investing time in it now, its bad and will not meet up with expectations.

EDIT: Mogey returns to the forums! (Noone knows or cares about me though)

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

Developing for PC is much much easier than developing for mobile.

I had my mobile prototype working within minutes. I programmed it in Javascript which is the easiest language I have worked with. Even my mom knows some Javascript.

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

Mobile requires much more in terms of marketing and getting your game out there.

Impossible to quantify. I like the idea of my game being on a service accessed by hundreds of millions.

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

There's also 3 major platforms to develop for. Windows Phone, iOS, and Android.

Desktops have 3 major platforms to develop for, Linux, Mac and Windows.

We're talking about Windows and Android.

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

Each android and windows phone has different hardware so you're severely limited on what you can do.

The quality of graphics a two man team is able to put together in a reasonable time frame falls well within even the slowest single core phone. Our game is comprised of transforming and scaling sprites, with one particle emitter planned. Embarking on a multi-year in depth 3d world project for both fame and wealth would be suicide. We have portfolios to build and funds to acquire in the short term.

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

At the same time you have to port your game to a different library or use a game engine that works on multiple platforms.

Ours does. It is a matter of clicking one button and disabling some control scripts. 5 minutes tops to port the game to any supported device (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, etc).

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

Developing for PC requires so many less resources, games spread by word of mouth, websites that you can submit to, you have full control over your content and revenue.

The fact that phones top out at significantly less computing power makes them inherently less resource intensive (from a design standpoint) than PCs.

You don't have full control over your revenue, actually publishing to many sites is more restrictive than simple "we take XX%" like Steam. Ad supported flash sites, for example.

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

You have a wide variety of choices or paths to take with engines, graphics, gameplay, etc. You can't make a text adventure and expect to be played on Mobile. You can however make an Angry Birds and expect it to be played on PC.

Where did Angry Birds come from again? Isn't that the point? If we do a 3d world game on PC and it really takes off, we probably wouldn't be able to put it on a phone. But the opposite isn't true. An in-demand phone game can work on PC.

We have a number of 3d world concepts that we feel are rather cool. But it would take months just to properly prototype them, let alone release them. That's for later (like, you will find, most indie devs who are publishing 3d world games on the PC right now that have large team member portfolios of flash, phone, and other games both on Windows and not).

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

Your app on mobile gets buried under thousands upon thousands of apps released that day. While on PC you can tell your friends, submit your game to a review site and have people come try it or buy it no matter what. You don't need experience or a large team to develop for PC. Hell most of indie-dev happens on PC.

That's right, most of it does. What were we saying about being buried again?

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

PC is a leading platform ahead of everyone else in terms of tech, visibility, and growth. Expect it to grow larger in the coming years with the advent of things such as Steam, Indie gaming, Humble bundles, and Gaikai.

Impossible to verify. Quantify the growth.

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

Companies have been opening up their AAA engines to the masses for years now (Source, Unreal, CryEngine, ID Tech 4) anyone with experience in any sort of programming language has the ability to make a game on PC and be successful.

I like Unreal and CryEngine. But if you want you revenue to be safe and in your control, stay away.

Let's do an example. My partner and I do our favorite pet project and we take the expected 4 years to release using Unreal 4. Unreal takes 20% after we make $50,000. Publish to Steam (who takes 30%), and we've lost half our gross. Not too bad if we make $5 million, but not so great if our gross is less than $500k. If we make $500k off it in the first year, which would be great, we'd split the remaining 2-ways if we decide we both contributed equally to the project. $125k each. Of that the State (California) takes 9.3%, and the fed takes 28% - a total of $46,650.

For four years of hard work, we each get $78,375, and one portfolio piece to show potential employers. This being a "good case" scenario.

No thanks. I'd rather build 6 smaller games making 10-20k each (after taxes and fees) over a one-year period and have a lot of portfolio work, than one portfolio work and a little more money. Of course, it is entirely possible that this games beats WoW for popularity and we make 200 bajillion dollars. But we could also win the lottery too.

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

You don't even need to know how to program with event driven, drag and drop solutions such as Scirra Construct, GameMaker, Multimedia Fusion.

State machines are great for prototyping but real programming is still required to make a compelling mechanic. With a FSM you have too much limitation and inability to do complex programming.

it's great if you want a rock to hit a window and make a crash sound, not so good if you want to write AI or build your own class library and functions/methods.

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

As an aspiring indie developer OUYA is going no-where but backwards. Don't expect it to work out or be worth your money. Stop investing time in it now, its bad and will not meet up with expectations.

I'm not investing any time beyond reading about it. I think I'll wait and see how it does before I commit any projects to it or abandon it. But I like what I'm seeing so far.