-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
OUYA - A new $99 console powered by Android [Kickstarter ended, $8.5 million funded]
- Thread starter GK86
- Start date
Dreamwriter
Member
I think that quote contradicts itself. It says that Mojang never stated that it will ever be released in Ouya, and then it goes on to say that Mojang said that Minecraft and other Mojang games will be on it. So it's only false advertising if someone claims that Julie is lying about Mojang's statement, or that Mojang is lying.
Assuming that Ouya will be supported with core titles and stuff beyond games like Angry Birds (because if not, then the whole power discussion is moot), there's always an alternative way to approach the graphics so that they don't look heavily outdated.
It's called stylized graphics and I'd really love to see most Ouya developers embracing this route.
It's called stylized graphics and I'd really love to see most Ouya developers embracing this route.
Canis lupus
Member
I wonder wich games will be playable. Is it like the standard Google Playstore where you get those games?
FiveMinuteHero
Member
I was browsing on www.ouya.tv and saw a pre-order now option, and thought why not? It is out when it is out anyway. But when I clicked to pre-order it forwarded me to Paypal to PAY NOW.
I thought pre-orders don't work like that, but they are supposed to charge you once they are about to ship the product. I doubt such practice is legal, especially in the EU.
Pity. No pre-order then.
I thought pre-orders don't work like that, but they are supposed to charge you once they are about to ship the product. I doubt such practice is legal, especially in the EU.
Pity. No pre-order then.
Bomber Bob
Banned
I may be wrong but this is how paypal works
FiveMinuteHero
Member
Maybe I didnt explain myself well. When I pre-order something form a site (even if they take Paypal), they dont take my money immediately, but just before they are about to ship the product.
Bomber Bob
Banned
ah ok, I was wrong about paypal.
Surface of Me
I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
Anyone know how easy this will be to make games for? I know each one comes with a dev kit, but how user friendly will it be?
It's legal I think, I've seen both cases in Europe. It's retarded to charge directly that's for sure.
Brad Grenz
Member
Imagine if this thing did have Tegra 4
http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/10/3149067/ouya-should-really-launch-with-tegra-4
By the time OUYA comes out, the NVidia Tegra-4 should be out. Already underpowered compared to the XBOX and PS3, will the masses embrace cell phone games? If OUYA is supposed to get 30% profit on each game sold from developers, couldn’t they subsidize better hardware?
People have been saying "wait until you see the NEXT Tegra!" ever since Tegra 1 was released, and every time it has had an underpowered GPU relative to competing solutions.
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
The HTPC is pretty much this devices biggest draw to a lot of people, since consoles refuse to accept all media containers in the perceived war against naughty downloads, stuff like XBMC is real worth.
That it'll have some games on it I guess will just be some added bonus I guess, aiming for Ouya exclusives would be total nonsense on any developers part.
Stephen Colbert
Banned
This is what I emailed the Ouya people.
I ask that others do the same...
Please look into launching with Tegra 4 even of it delays it a bit.
Your device will sell tons more in preorders with the Tegra 4. Even the high end Tegra 3 gpu is very weak even when compared to the iPhone and iPads gpu from last year.
Please refer to this article...
http://theverge.com/2012/7/10/3149067/ouya-should-really-launch-with-tegra-4
"By the time OUYA comes out, the NVidia Tegra-4 should be out. Already underpowered compared to the XBOX and PS3, will the masses embrace cell phone games? If OUYA is supposed to get 30% profit on each game sold from developers, couldnt they subsidize better hardware?"
I ask that others do the same...
Please look into launching with Tegra 4 even of it delays it a bit.
Your device will sell tons more in preorders with the Tegra 4. Even the high end Tegra 3 gpu is very weak even when compared to the iPhone and iPads gpu from last year.
Please refer to this article...
http://theverge.com/2012/7/10/3149067/ouya-should-really-launch-with-tegra-4
"By the time OUYA comes out, the NVidia Tegra-4 should be out. Already underpowered compared to the XBOX and PS3, will the masses embrace cell phone games? If OUYA is supposed to get 30% profit on each game sold from developers, couldnt they subsidize better hardware?"
Stephen Colbert
Banned
Ha, like this thing has any bearing on how an apple console would fare. Very different audiences.
Then itll no longer be $100.
Why bother? They have all your money to buy a Tegra 3 unit.
They can just wait a year and release a Ouya 2 with whatever the new chip is.
Brad Grenz
Member
That's not an article. It's just a forum post. Their whole price model is built around Tegra 3 being a certain price at a certain time. It may seem like they raised a bunch of money, but so much of it is tied up in producing the hardware they've already sold. It's not like other CREATIVE Kickstarters where you end up with all this extra money lying around. The more successful they were, the more hardware they have to build.
Dreamwriter
Member
For development, it should be about the same as any Android device, which isn't hard for an experienced programmer.
If you want really easy, I'd suggest looking into Unity, a full visual development environment and engine made for indie developers designed primarily around making 3D games, with an emphasis around first or third person character games (but capable of any type of 3D game). Unity lets you develop on PC or Mac by just dragging items into a scene and then scripts onto those items, and build your game for either those computer platforms or Android or iOS. I'd bet it won't take much effort to use the Ouya SDK with Unity when it comes out. You can use Unity to build for computer platforms for free with some limitations, but to build for Android costs $400.
For $99? No.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
The only thing that'll make it bomb is:
1. OUYA team running away with money;
2. Piracy scaring away the developers.
None of these will or has affected Apple in any way.
P.S. Those asking for Tegra 4, you are forgetting that this is not competing with next-gen (or even current gen) consoles in any way. There is no competition for their target market and they don't want to compete with the future consoles.
Deus Ex Machina
Member
Tegra-4 is said to be price around Tegra-3. So adding significant cost is moot. It seems OUYA team just want to rush it out the door.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
If true then I rather have them wait and get more dev support than rushing it out the door and see incomplete softwares being rushed to be the "first one in OUYA".
Deus Ex Machina
Member
Exactly, this alone will garner more sales.
Stephen Colbert
Banned
Tegra 4 goes into production end of 2012 at same price as Tegra 3. So price is moot.
Nvidia will want to encourage Tegra 4 to take off and be the go to option for smartphones, so they would benefit from having it featured in a popular among techophiles project like the Ouya.
This is the most informative article on the Tegra 4 so far...
http://www.androidauthority.com/nvidia-tegra-4-specs-kepler-architecture-70626/
Its also why I want them to go with Tegra 4
Nvidia will want to encourage Tegra 4 to take off and be the go to option for smartphones, so they would benefit from having it featured in a popular among techophiles project like the Ouya.
This is the most informative article on the Tegra 4 so far...
http://www.androidauthority.com/nvidia-tegra-4-specs-kepler-architecture-70626/
Its also why I want them to go with Tegra 4
Enough exclusive good quality software for at least the first 6 months from launch would provide a lot of positive word of mouth
Stephen Colbert
Banned
Tegra 3s CPU is solid but it's gpu is based on a 7 yr old architecture.
Tegra 4s gpu will be the first time Nvidia brings its modern gpu architecture and unified shaders to the mobile space.
That's why people are excited about it and that's why I encourage people to email/tweet the Ouya devs.
It will also be sold for the same price as the Tegra 3 soc.
Any thing developed for Tegra 3 will run flawlessly on Tegra 4.
In short if Ouya goes this route, they would get a significant boost in sales and stay relevant much longer. Plus the Ouya would launch with a larger more refined library and make an impact as soon as it releases.
They also stand to pull in more money from the 30% cut they get on their store.
Tegra 4s gpu will be the first time Nvidia brings its modern gpu architecture and unified shaders to the mobile space.
That's why people are excited about it and that's why I encourage people to email/tweet the Ouya devs.
It will also be sold for the same price as the Tegra 3 soc.
Any thing developed for Tegra 3 will run flawlessly on Tegra 4.
In short if Ouya goes this route, they would get a significant boost in sales and stay relevant much longer. Plus the Ouya would launch with a larger more refined library and make an impact as soon as it releases.
They also stand to pull in more money from the 30% cut they get on their store.
blazeuk
Member
I'm not sure I can see the HTPC side of things being that much of a draw personally and if it is, then I dont know why people have waited for so long for something like this.
It's been possible to run the likes of XBMC perfectly fine on plenty of devices around this price for a while now, (and other devices are better supported than a new android version). I'd see that part as the added bonus, not the games, but if the biggest draw is the HTPC side of it, then it sounds more like those who are buying it for that reason aren't that interested in owning something like that anyway otherwise they would have picked something else up years ago - I didn't pay much more than what this would cost me for my Acer Revo a couple years ago and it would still be better than this as a HTPC.
Not saying it's not a good draw, but it would somewhat ruin the appeal of it if it was just another boxee for example.
Deus Ex Machina
Member
True enough but nothing that cant be done on any other Tegra 3 device if developers wanted too.
Tegra 4 would set it apart from this.
http://hexus.net/gaming/news/android/43409-gameklip-clips-ps3-controller-android-phone/
Dreamwriter
Member
Except that the introduction of the Tegra 4 will lower the price of the Tegra 3, which Boxer8 most likely figured into their price plans. And while the claim is that Tegra 4 will have the same price as Tegra 3, any new chip costs more when ramping up into production, and for a while there will be issues here and there with it (if the chip will be ready for prototype boards "by the end of 2012", with "wide availablility" not until Q1 2013, I'd guess you won't see any real consumber-based Tegra 4 devices until probably summer 2013 at the earliest). And will Ice Cream Sandwich, the Android OS Ouya is using, support Tegra 4 the same day it's available? Game developers are supposed to start working with this by December, and Boxer8 said they were going to try to get dev kits out to developers even earlier, even if they just sent raw boards to their biggest partners the moment they got them.
And note that Boxer8 is working with nVidia to max out the Tegra 3 - as the Ouya isn't a tiny little cell phone or even tablet running on batteries, they can clock these things as fast as they will safely go.
Stephen Colbert
Banned
The CPU and clockspeed isn't Tegra's problem. It's 7 yr old gpu architecture that gets less than half the performance of last years iPhone's gpu is.
True but then won't there be any problem with manufacturing costs,production or any agreements they entered into with nvidia?
Dreamwriter
Member
That's BS and AppleSpeak
(note: I develop iOS games, I'm not anti-Apple). At the time of the iPad 2's release, the Tegra 3 devices that were about to ship were slower than the iPad 2 (and later iPhone 4s), sure. But that was at the clock speed of those early Tegra 3 devices, current Tegra 3 devices are clocked faster than back then, in some cases a lot faster. And while iPad 3's GPU is twice the speed of the iPad 2's GPU, it has 4 times the pixels to push, so is actually slower (for apps using the full resolution), and the iPad 3 CPU is exactly the same as the iPad 2 CPU.Stephen Colbert
Banned
The Tegra 4 soc costs $21. Even if the Tegra 3s price drops to half that by the end of the year, I think the Ouya team would be well served in the long term to spend the extra $10 to go with Tegra 4.
They could sell the Ouya for $110 after release, and it would still sell really well.
It would also stay relevant a lot longer and thus have longer legs (continue to sell well into 2014).
With the Tegra 3, the Ouya team faces a real risk of someone releasing a Tegra 4 box mid 2013 and eating away at the Ouyas sales.
Remember, Ouya stands to get a 30% cut on any software sold on the Ouya.
As someone who forked down $130 for a device that's wont be out for another 8 months, I certainly wouldnt mind having to wait an extra two months to get an exponentially better device
Stephen Colbert
Banned
No, it's based on multiple benchmarks performed by anandtech. The iPhone 4s and iPad 2s gpu significantly outperform the Tegra 3 gpu even in brand new Tegra 3 devices like the Nexus. The iPad 3s gpu from six months ago performs an order of magnitude better.
Note, I'm talking about the gpu benchmarks here. The tegra and idevices use the same CPU .
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Which requires devs getting devkits atleast a year before console releases. The team behind OUYA clearly haven't thought of the time it takes for devkits to be delivered and the time it takes to tailor the game around their hardware.
Remember, PS3 had shit loads of delays in not only the console but the games itself. Devs can only do so much to tailor a product around "specs" that when they actually build and run the game on the device itself, it takes tremendous testing and adapting.
Deus Ex Machina
Member
We're not missing the point. This thing needs to have Tegra 4 in it.
Stephen Colbert
Banned
Tobor,
There is a reason why gaming consoles dont come out with an updated model each year. It's a sure fire way to piss off your current customers and scare off potential customers.
Consoles are a luxury item, not an essential device that they carry around with them wherever they go. Most people won't be happy to have to replace them every year.
There is a reason why gaming consoles dont come out with an updated model each year. It's a sure fire way to piss off your current customers and scare off potential customers.
Consoles are a luxury item, not an essential device that they carry around with them wherever they go. Most people won't be happy to have to replace them every year.
Deus Ex Machina
Member
If you can make it for Tegra 3 it will work on Tegra 4.. comparing Tegra 4 to PS3 architecture is insane.
This would be true if the architecture/software/os was proprietary and completely new like the PS3 was back in the day, but the OUYA is desgined from the ground up from a established android operating system with off the shelf parts. I am going to assume the first wave of games will just be a bunch of android ports.
The only worry would be how the game launches with the ouya launcher and how it interacts with the controller.
edit: I dont know why you guys are all hoping on the tegra 4 thing, they need to make sure they can produce the product in a timley and cost effective manner. If they waited for the tegra 4 not only would it increase the cost signifcantly they would have to delay releasing it longer than a few months that people are suggesting.
You think they're going to sit on this tech for 5 years? Assuming they are still in business, they're going to iterate.
This isn't a traditional console, the whole point is to up end the traditional model.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
I agree with the fact that Tegra 3 games can be made for Tegra 4. What I'm stating is that providing/receiving devkits 3 months before OUYA's releases isn't that feasible and that at least 6 months would be more sufficient.
They should provide devs with Tegra 3 devkit and upgrade it for them once Tegra 4 systems are made.
It's a small hiccup but would ensure the system to be future-proof without seeing OUYA 2 or OUYA 3 every other year. This isn't a phone, and you cannot do that in gaming division even if your target audience is different. Why buy OUYA if I don't really need it today and can wait an extra year to get a better hardware? It'll only discourage people as future titles will not be compatible with their system.
Dreamwriter
Member
But, why would you need to replace it next year? If you are saying it's like the rest of the console industry, you have to take the whole thing
XBox 360 was about as powerful as PC's from two years before its release. By two years after its release, PC games were clearly superior to the XBox 360 versions. But the XBox 360 didn't need replacing. This is the exact same situation. There's always going to be better hardware, but you have to release at some time. And it's never really good to go with the untested top of the top of the line.