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[Dreamwriter]

Reddit Ouya Q&A

I had started to copy/paste my own transcript of this Q&A here, as some of us don't follow Reddit and of course there were many more Q's than A's to skim through... and then I found this transcript. Lots of good answers here, including some new information.

http://teamouya.com/?p=223

 

[Nohar]

6,3 millions, 48k backers... Impressive.

I guess I'll maybe get one too... Once the system is out, if interesting games (to me) are available, and if this turns out to be as promising and interesting as it sounds. I'm not really convinced.

 

[elektrixx]

I finally caved. I'm getting the limited edition console.

 

[shinobi602]

I can't preorder unless I know what games will be on there. So it's all Android games? I don't really want to play bite sized games on my big screen. I leave my TV for deeper experiences (console games).

Am I missing the big picture?

 

[Stealth20k]

still not backing

nothing has really changed

 

[elektrixx]

Am I missing the big picture?

I'm looking at this thing primarily as a video streaming box. The video games part is gravy.

It's like buying a Boxee that plays games.

 

[RadicalVelocity]

I can't preorder unless I know what games will be on there. So it's all Android games? I don't really want to play bite sized games on my big screen. I leave my TV for deeper experiences (console games).

Am I missing the big picture?

In the same way that xbox 360 games are all windows games, sure. I'm sure there will be quick "ports" like that, and cheap games like that, but you'll certainly see longer games as well. That's actually one of the motivating forces behind this console. Lots of developer talent being pushed towards mobile for many reasons, and Ouya trying to "lure" them back by reducing barriers to entry for both developers (certification, cost of development) and buyers (cost of console...), and being more open (allowing indie developers to create longer, more involved games for people sitting down in front of a TV).

 

[Stealth20k]

In the same way that xbox 360 games are all windows games, sure. I'm sure there will be quick "ports" like that, and cheap games like that, but you'll certainly see longer games as well. That's actually one of the motivating forces behind this console. Lots of developer talent being pushed towards mobile for many reasons, and Ouya trying to "lure" them back by reducing barriers to entry for both developers (certification, cost of development) and buyers (cost of console...), and being more open (allowing indie developers to create longer, more involved games for people sitting down in front of a TV).

the fact that they are marketing this as a hackable system will drive original games away actually I think.............

 

[Pie and Beans]

The very idea of any dev making an Ouya game but not also making it for the millions of other Tegra 3 devices out there and available on Android Store is frankly preposterous. This isn't custom hardware like a 360, PS3, or even Wii. This is tablet/cellphone stuff repurposed.

Clearly Sony and MS should have namedropped their new consoles at E3 at least, because the amount of people throwing money at this just because its a "new thing" is a bit embarassing. Over 6 million dollars?!

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

the fact that they are marketing this as a hackable system will drive original games away actually I think.............

It's a $100 homebrew box, essentially.

If it supports 4 controllers, it's going to make some emulator peeps very happy.

 

[Dreamwriter]

I can't preorder unless I know what games will be on there. So it's all Android games? I don't really want to play bite sized games on my big screen. I leave my TV for deeper experiences (console games).

Am I missing the big picture?

If nothing else it'll have OnLive - through that service you'll have big games like Darksiders II and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Ouya is trying to get the big developers to make games for them, it's unknown how successful they'll be; it seems the system could sell decent numbers considering the large amount of people who are willing to go to the effort to pledge to Kickstarter to get one early, and if it does sell good enough numbers that could get the big developers' attentions. Same if the "experiement" games like the recently announced Final Fantasy III port sell big.

 

[tino]

The very idea of any dev making an Ouya game but not also making it for the millions of other Tegra 3 devices out there and available on Android Store is frankly preposterous. This isn't custom hardware like a 360, PS3, or even Wii. This is tablet/cellphone stuff repurposed.

Clearly Sony and MS should have namedropped their new consoles at E3 at least, because the amount of people throwing money at this just because its a "new thing" is a bit embarassing. Over 6 million dollars?!

Its 100 bux, how much do u think the PS4 will cost?

Plus, it still has more game than my Vita. I still don't get any legit racer game.

 

[Utako]

The very idea of any dev making an Ouya game but not also making it for the millions of other Tegra 3 devices out there and available on Android Store is frankly preposterous. This isn't custom hardware like a 360, PS3, or even Wii. This is tablet/cellphone stuff repurposed.

Clearly Sony and MS should have namedropped their new consoles at E3 at least, because the amount of people throwing money at this just because its a "new thing" is a bit embarassing. Over 6 million dollars?!

I agree.

As soon as the PS4 and Xbox3 are released, unless they suck, everything else in gaming will be forgotten for a while.

Luckily for OUYA, that won't be for at least a year.

 

[Dreamwriter]

As soon as the PS4 and Xbox3 are released, unless they suck, everything else in gaming will be forgotten for a while.

Yeah, because the most powerful game console always becomes the most popular. Oh wait, it doesn't... This time that's doubly true, because most games for those next-gen consoles won't look much better than current-generation games. We've reached the point where it doesn't matter how powerful a game system is, what matters more is how much money a game developer spends. If a game console is capable of displaying tons of polygons or super crazy lighting, you need large teams of people to make high poly-count artwork and setup all those lights and the artwork to react to those lights. You could have the most powerful game console ever, and it could be capable of rendering a Pixar movie in realtime...but Pixar movies these days cost over $150 million to make, and most of that is creating artwork and animating and lighting it, just look at the credits to one of those movies to see how many people are involved.

Look at it this way, this generation's consoles are capable of incredible looking games like the Uncharted or Gears of War games, but even now years after launch most games for those systems don't look even close to that quality. So any next-generation console that concentrates only on becoming super powerful, well the 3 or 4 AAA games per year that come out might look totally amazing, but in most people's eyes the rest of the games won't look any better than what we got now.

So the race to be the most powerful game console is a losing race, you need another way to attract the masses. Such as Nintendo's touchscreen game controller, or Ouya's low price and potential huge amount of indie games.

 

[Lhexh]

Why do I keep sitting here sounding out Ouya like a woman from wisconsin saying OH YA! Is that how it is pronounced?

 

[Diablohead]

stuff like tablet gaming and the ouya (if it stays true to what we hear about it) will not just go away when the next big consoles come out, many people are realizing that you can get some good gameplay out of a few quid and developers are seeing nice profits from games which cost much much less then a big console title.

Long as you have pad support and touchscreen support your android game will work on an ouya console and multiple devices already out on sale, the cost to get your game out on several devices is a ton cheaper then most other methods out there especially if the code for that game doesn't need a huge rewrite or port effort.

Also us indie developers can make games for the thing and other android devices within a comfortable cost zone, I am still working on an iOS game and have spent over £1000 of my own money on it and progressing well, which pisses me off when some people out there feel like they need to kickstart their year old efforts on a game.

 

[Lothars]

Its 100 bux, how much do u think the PS4 will cost?

Plus, it still has more game than my Vita. I still don't get any legit racer game.

It's words right now until users actually have the Ouya in there hands, I won't believe it actually is what they are selling it as.

 

[Trigger]

Why do I keep sitting here sounding out Ouya like a woman from wisconsin saying OH YA! Is that how it is pronounced?

I pronounce it like "Oi ya".

 

[Boerseun]

Has this been posted yet?

Project Update #9

As many of you know, stream of consciousness refers to a literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur. And what’s occurring to me now is that you might like to hear something game focused too.

To that end, we’ve been overwhelmed by interest from developers eager to bring their titles to OUYA. Not all of them can act quickly enough (ahhh lawyers!) for us to announce their partnerships during our Kickstarter campaign. But that’s not slowing down the folks at U4iA. That’s right, the game industry vets who brought you Guitar Hero and Call of Duty will bring us OUYA’s first confirmed first-person shooter, Offensive Combat.

U4iA’s Founder and CEO Dusty Welch sums it up:

"Everyone here at U4iA Games is excited to bring our titles to OUYA! Given that consoles are so expensive and face an uncertain future, OUYA stands out as the perfect example of an affordable home-entertainment platform created specifically for core gamers like us. We've used our profound wisdom to create a cheeky, free-for-all shooting mash-up called Offensive Combat. Moving forward, we can't wait to bring all-new games in the Offensive Combat universe to the OUYA platform."

I don’t know about you but they had me at “cheeky, free-for-all shooting mash-up.”

With that, I’m going to wish you a happy Friday from your OUYA faithful. We’ll be working through this last weekend of our Kickstarter campaign, continuing to focus on bringing you the best gaming experience we can deliver. Some of the things I’ll be doing this weekend: thinking about the dpad design, continuing to respond to developer inquiries and prepping our new website.

And, in the spirit of James Joyce, master of the “stream of consciousness” narrative, I think I might have a Guinness as well.

- Julie

Official Site

 

[parasight]

:lol

"Offensive Combat" is a horribly generic name.

 

[Aku-Audi]

Project Giana (Sisters), a PC/XBLA/PSN platformer, is aiming for OUYA support as well.

We've received a lot of requests about an OUYA port, and we can deliver! If we hit the stretch goal of $300,000, we will provide an OUYA version of Project Giana, to be released in the first half of 2013. More details as soon as we hear back from the OUYA team!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/project-giana/project-giana

 

[TheExodu5]

This seems to be getting good traction and support. I really like the look of the LE console. I'm in.

 

[Boerseun]

The zombie mode from Black Ops is getting its own game on Android.

Google Play

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies Now Available on Android

The Call of Duty: Zombies phenomenon has risen back to life.

Adapted from the best-selling console hit and built specifically for tablets and smartphones, Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies delivers fan-favorite, heart-pounding maps: Kino Der Toten, Ascension, and Call of the Dead: Director’s Cut, as well as “Dead-Ops Arcade,” a 50-level zombie gauntlet that provides the ultimate undead challenge for fans of Call of Duty’s signature zombie warfare.

If it runs on Android, it'll be on OUYA. And playable with an actual controller.

:lol

"Offensive Combat" is a horribly generic name.

The title has a double meaning. Watch the trailer on the official site. You act offensively while playing it. Meaning not only do you attack your opponents but you are also meant to offend by mocking them.

 

[Sora_N]

I didn't know OUYA was so big already, I should have pledged for a unit, too late now.

 

[TheExodu5]

I didn't know OUYA was so big already, I should have pledged for a unit, too late now.

You can still pledge.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

have they mentioned what their international plans are, if any?

Id like to pick one of these up.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Man, I want that great looking LE system, but I'm already pledging $699 for the dev kit version, and don't have an additional $140 left over (especially since the thing is ending the day *before* payday...) I'm gonna want a normal non-rooted system anyways.

 

[Zwei]

I'm getting one for Final Fantasy III

 

[lord]

Is the controller rechargeable?

have they mentioned what their international plans are, if any?

Id like to pick one of these up.

20$ shipping outside the U.S according to the project page.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Kickstarter is up to $6.8 million, and it ends on Thursday! If anyone wants the dark brown LE system, or even just to make sure you get one in the first shipments before Ouya goes on sale, better pledge quickly! Or if you want to develop games for it, there are only 99 normal dev packages left.

Is the controller rechargeable?

They haven't said yet (and while people have asked that in the Kickstarter comments, nobody's asked that during their Q&A's yet)

 

[Boerseun]

I just got an e-mail stating that I've been selected for the Offensive Combat closed beta. I won't have an opportunity to play until probably the weekend, but I'll let you guys know how it is once I do.

 

[Fatal Futanari]

Ugh, I keep going back and forth with this thing

If it wasnt shipping next March, it would be a easier choice.

 

[elektrixx]

Ugh, I keep going back and forth with this thing

If it wasnt shipping next March, it would be a easier choice.

You'll regret it as soon as it's over. Buy in.

 

[Dreamwriter]

They just posted new news and new renders. First, XBMC is working on an Ouya version:

Maybe it was inevitable. Maybe it was because of the hundreds, if not thousands, of demands on Twitter, in blogs, on Facebook, in Reddit, and in Kickstarter comments. Maybe it's because many of Team OUYA support XBMC, and nearly a third of Team XBMC members are OUYA backers.

Regardless, we are delighted to announce that XBMC will be working with OUYA to ensure that XBMC works well on the OUYA platform. OUYA's Android underpinnings and XBMC's work on Android (soon to be merged into master, pending final sign-offs!) will dramatically speed up that effort, as will early XBMC dev access to OUYA prototypes.

The conversation between our two teams is young, but talk is ongoing and positive. We look forward to providing more exciting news on this front as it develops.

- Nathan Betzen, XBMC Community Manager

And of course, new renders, this time showing scale:

 

[Shion]

The controller doesn't look bad at all.
Do we know what's in the back of this thing? Does it have 2 shoulders + 2 analog triggers?

 

[Dreamwriter]

The controller doesn't look bad at all.
Do we know what's in the back of this thing? Does it have 2 shoulders + 2 analog triggers?

The first render looks like there are a couple shoulder buttons peeking over the edge, but they haven't talked about it yet

 

[Jasoneyu]

They just posted new news and new renders. First, XBMC is working on an Ouya version:



And of course, new renders, this time showing scale:

awww they took down the renders with the scale, did anyone save and can rehost?

edit:
nm they reuploaded the renders:

 

[onQ123]

Ouya Partners With XBMC Media Player As Kickstarter Reaches Final Countdown

As we fast aproach the last day of the Ouya Android console Kickstarter campaign, the dev team has announced a partnership with XBMC. The award-winning open source media player and entertainment hub will be available on the platform at launch.


"Maybe it was inevitable," begins the latest Backer update from XBMC's Nathan Betzen. "Maybe it was because of the hundreds, if not thousands, of demands on Twitter, in blogs, on Facebook, in Reddit, and in Kickstarter comments. Maybe it's because many of Team OUYA support XBMC, and nearly a third of Team XBMC members are OUYA backers."

"Regardless, we are delighted to announce that XBMC will be working with OUYA to ensure that XBMC works well on the OUYA platform. OUYA's Android underpinnings and XBMC's work on Android (soon to be merged into master, pending final sign-offs!) will dramatically speed up that effort, as will early XBMC dev access to OUYA prototypes.

"The conversation between our two teams is young, but talk is ongoing and positive. We look forward to providing more exciting news on this front as it develops."

As well as XBMC, the Ouya will also support TuneIn online radio.

 

[GoofsterStud]

I know I'm late to the party but XMBC and TuneIn coming to Ouya makes me happy.

Roku replacement confirmed. ;-)

 

[gcubed]

last few days, i've been holding out but its been getting more and more support. I think i'll take the plunge. XBMC put me over the edge

 

[plasticpassion]

I just noticed this. Hm, this could be interesting.

 

[The Real Napsta]

1gb of RAM, lol.

What is so funny about that?! That's more RAM than PS3 and 360 combined.

360 is almost 7 years old.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

1gb of RAM, lol.

What is so funny about that?! That's more RAM than PS3 and 360 combined.

 

[Einbroch]

That controller looks tiny. Maybe it isn't, but it sure looks like it.

 

[GoofsterStud]

What is so funny about that?! That's more RAM than PS3 and 360 combined.

He takes the Wii-U CPU very seriously. <3

 

[Salacious Crumb]

XBMC at Launch? Backed

 

[thomasmahler]

That controller looks tiny. Maybe it isn't, but it sure looks like it.

I think these hands are just really big!

 

[VanWinkle]

1gb of RAM, lol.



360 is almost 7 years old.

So? It was never intended to compete against the power of next generation of consoles. It's $100. Get ahold of yourself.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

XBMC at Launch? Backed

Pretty much. I just rebacked it...

 

[Cloudy]

I think I'm gonna get in on this today. I like the silver better so I'll just go $99