Introducing the OUYA
by ted2112 HSM team writer
Last summer when I first heard about these people trying to raise money on Kickstarter for a new console project, I didn’t think it would work. Boy was I wrong.
Not only did they raise their several hundred thousand dollar goal, they raised it in eight hours, This new console on the block not only broke every previous fundraising records, that number kept growing to a staggering 8.5 million dollars. Every penny was privately raised from everyday people like you and me. For all the naysayers who desperately want to pronounce consoles dead, I feel these numbers speak for themselves.
They way it worked was simple. Ouya asked for ninety-nine dollars via kickstarter, and in return you got a promised a console, if and when they ever went to production. But, perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. You might be asking just that just what this Ouya thing is.
Ouya, pronounced like: (ooh-ya.) is a small, totally downloadable gaming system that runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The concept is a completely open platform that comes with a developer kit installed. In fact anyone, including yourself, can make games for it. Every game that runs on Ouya will have a free demo, it’s got a quad 1.7 GHz core, it’s totally wireless and promises to be a low cost alternative for gaming on your television.
This past April, Ouya delivered on their promise, and those who originally put up the ninety-nine dollars got their consoles, and now the finished concept is just starting to moved on to the public. You can order an Ouya on Amazon right now, and eventually they will be sold at retailers everywhere.
The console comes with a wireless controller and over one-hundred games and apps ready to go. The unit can also be used to stream pictures and video to your television via an Android compatible device. It’s a versatile little box designed to be open enough to grow for the future.
As cool as this box is however, it simply can not compete with the current generation of consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. The Ouya doesn’t have the magic under the hood needed to drive good graphics or complex games. In fact, the original reviews have been fairly negative, but I really feel the Ouya is not something that should be competing with the big consoles, instead its competition is with the handhelds and smartphones. No serious gamer is going to choose the Ouya over a PlayStation or XBox, but the casual gamer just might.
The Ouya unfortunately has to grow up in the spotlight and any growing pains have to be the subject of public scrutiny. I feel Ouya folks didn’t do themselves any favors keeping the price at ninety-nine dollars as most of the complaints are about the cheap assembly and materials used in the manufacturing process. Early reports are saying the buttons on the controller break or get stuck and the cost of replacing a controller is literally half the cost of the console itself. Also, the operating system is very similar to a smartphone and prone to freezing and re-boots. I’m sure the Ouya will grow and get better with time, but right now being so unique it can only be compared to a PlayStation or a Xbox, and in that comparison the Ouya falls, very, very short.
The good news for Ouya is it’s a great idea. Most games will only cost about a buck and even if the hardware is a bit on the cheap side and the software is a bit finicky, the idea of a cheap and open gaming console is something that I am sure will sell very well, and the more people look at it as its own thing and not a triple-A console like the PlayStation, the Ouya just might come into its own.
- $99 price tag
- $1 games
- streaming tool to your TV
- ability to make your own games
- great potential
- cheap manufacturing
- mediocre graphics
- slow and sometimes laggy
- can't compete with triple-A consoles
July 3rd, 2013 by ted2112 | 4 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
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Only prob I have with OUYA and other android gaming consoles is that they don’t do anything that other Android devices already do. Phones, tablets, smart TVs, Google TV service, etc.. can all play these games cause its on the android OS. Plus most of these android devices can be hooked up to a TV as it is like smart phones and tablets use micro HDMI, google TV is meant to make any TV a smart TV, and well Smart TV is just google TV built in. There’s also an Apple TV that does same thing.
It is an oddity, I’ll say that with optimism though because this is the first time a machine has been built with the Freemium model at its core. Personally, for me, therein lays the problem; micro transactions can get scarily expensive if you dont keep an eye on them. As I’m sure I don’t have to explain that to any Home user reading this.
Ive been hearing other problems with this set up too, like the fact it runs Android games but isnt connected to the same stores these games come from. So, if you’re an Angry Birds expert dont think you can just port your game over from your App Store and keep all those hard-earned high scores, you’ll have to buy the game twice AND start again. Might not seem a massive problem now but, any game you might discover on your phone or tablet will have to be purchased twice -- and every other upgrade or extra you buy too.
However, never underestimate the power of home-brewed games! There’s no telling what might come to this system because ANYONE can make a game for it. That (may not sound like it but) is a huge turning of the tables.
This will be interesting to watch…
Consoles usually are state of the art for the time they are released. This is not true for the OUYA. It is about 3 year old phone technology. This platform is going to get old very fast. At most I predict 3 more years and it may be gone in a year. If it were a handheld, it could last longer.
We have a couple. We will use it to test on, but not much else.
never heard of the OUYA. it sounds really cool and fun to use. i would love to hear more about it and what people think when it comes out.