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OUYA - A new $99 console powered by Android [Kickstarter ended, $8.5 million funded]

Romir

Member
Does anyone have any idea how good these specs are for playing 1080P MKVs?

Here's a Anandtech review of blu-ray playback on a tegra 3 tablet.

Android File Transfer won't push over a file greater than 4GB so the first thing I tried was ripping a portion of A Quantum of Solace (BD) and sending over a 40Mbps High Profile 1080p MKV of it. The resulting 10 minute segment was 2.8GB in size and played beautifully on the Prime. There were no dropped frames and no hiccups, it just worked.

Looks good.
 

M3d10n

Member
There should be a reasonably priced device which sits by a TV, starts up in seconds, has a UI that's smooth and easy to navigate, streams video from devices on the local wifi network (including PCs, NAS, Android and iOS devices), from all the major internet streaming services, and plays OnLive games.

If Ouya can do that stuff I'll probably get one.

There are tons of devices like that, many of them running Android. Some of them are even cheaper than the Ouya.
 

pcostabel

Gold Member
It's actually a good thing that the hardware is underpowered. The whole point of this platform is to give indie developers an opportunity to create games that don't have to compete with AAA budgeted heavyweights. If the Ouya were as powerful as a PS3, it would attract the big guys resulting in a similar situation as the one in the console market, where mid tier games have all but disappeared.

I don't want Ouya developers to waste their time with COD clones, I want new, fresh, quirky games that I can't play on my PS3. Hardware limitations are a springboard for creativity and daring projects. Please Ouya people, keep the hardware specs as they are.
 

disap.ed

Member
I don't get the demand for stretch goals. They also have to pay the parts for the additional backers. Sure they will make more bucks, but I wouldn't hold my breath that they will upgrade the specs.

Also why spend now money on this a 3/4 year before release, if it seems to be also released for 99$? It doesn't make sense IMO now after funding is already succesfull.

Maybe there will be (better) alternatives next year?!
 

Benedict

Member
Wonder how many % these "hardcore" supporters represent of the initial customers when they release and advertise the console?

Could it be 10%, 5% or 1 %?
So 5% of 20.000 is?

Any statistics?
 

CryptiK

Member
Add these and we have a machine I would buy:
Docking mechanism for the Controller to charge( I think every console has needed this)
Ethernet Port
2GB Ram
SD card slot for expandable memory
 

LiK

Member
they're asking backers for any new ideas and games you want on it. probably worth letting them know what you want.
 

Lazy8s

The ghost of Dreamcast past
The 440+ MHz clock rates reached by the 32nm Mali-400 MP4 found in the Exynos 4412 can achieve that kind of performance advantage over a Tegra 3, but the 45nm versions of the GPU typically clocked to 267 MHz and are edged out by Tegra 3 in graphics performance.

Of course, 45nm Mali based devices launched several months ahead of any Tegra 3.

As for Ouya, a highly clocked APE5R should've been used for performance/cost.
 

Gav47

Member
Did the number of $99 rewards left just go up? I could have sworn there was less than 2500 left half an hour ago.
 

Pachimari

Member
Did the number of $99 rewards left just go up? I could have sworn there was less than 2500 left half an hour ago.

It went up from 20.000 devices to 80.000. They'll keep doing this to raise more money and to garner how many are interested in the product.
 
Love this concept but will just wait and see what teh games for it are and it's media playing capabilities on the TV.
Would be a great little streaming box, with the games just being a bonus.

Wish they did go that little bit extra with the controller, just to make even more games possible.

Throw in an accelerometer in there!
 

deleted

Member
Sounds very promising.

I just like to see the whole controller. Is there a digi-pad? Does it have 4 shoulder buttons? Important to me for emulation.

And hopefully there will be a spotify-app for this thing. I'd love to hear Musik without having to hook up a pc to my TV. (Have a work/gaming TV, can't write on the TV, find it cumbersome to change rooms with the tower all the time).
 

Polari

Member
It went up from 20.000 devices to 80.000. They'll keep doing this to raise more money and to garner how many are interested in the product.

This worries me, as I'm not entirely confident that can build and ship these for $99. I hope they've worked out their costs well. I guess it's good for developer support though and I wouldn't be surprised if they sell out that 80k. Anyone hoping reaching stretch goals is going to result in better specs is in for disappointment. Even with the cost of components coming down by the time they hit production margins are going to be super-thin.
 

Polari

Member
Sounds very promising.

I just like to see the whole controller. Is there a digi-pad? Does it have 4 shoulder buttons? Important to me for emulation.

And hopefully there will be a spotify-app for this thing. I'd love to hear Musik without having to hook up a pc to my TV. (Have a work/gaming TV, can't write on the TV, find it cumbersome to change rooms with the tower all the time).

All the prototypes in the video seem to include a digi-pad. Four shoulder buttons is confirmed. As for Spotify, I guess it's just a matter of convincing Spotify to port their Android app to it, which would be a relatively small amount of work.
 

nomster

Member
This worries me, as I'm not entirely confident that can build and ship these for $99. I hope they've worked out their costs well. I guess it's good for developer support though and I wouldn't be surprised if they sell out that 80k. Anyone hoping reaching stretch goals is going to result in better specs is in for disappointment. Even with the cost of components coming down by the time they hit production margins are going to be super-thin.
They ask you to add 20 for shipping don't they? Or is that just out of the US?
 

Minsc

Gold Member
This worries me, as I'm not entirely confident that can build and ship these for $99. I hope they've worked out their costs well. I guess it's good for developer support though and I wouldn't be surprised if they sell out that 80k. Anyone hoping reaching stretch goals is going to result in better specs is in for disappointment. Even with the cost of components coming down by the time they hit production margins are going to be super-thin.

The more they can sell, the better deal they can get on component pricing. You're allowed to raise the amount of items available in a tier on Kickstarter at any time, a lot of campaigns do it. It's just trickier when you raise a limited edition item, as you're decreasing its worth by making more of them, but even that is done (I think Wasteland 2 did this).

They ask you to add 20 for shipping don't they? Or is that just out of the US?

Outside of the US.
 

Elixist

Member
Ill prob cop this when it comes out, will be fun to dick around with im sure. I'd like to see a small trackball on the controller for mice-esque games, i kno theres touchpad but rts and such best with a mouse.
 
Wow!

Sega should kickstart a new Dreamcast!

I'd be interested in this, but I am concerned they wont supply the required power brick and stuff for the UK?
 

Pachimari

Member
I'm thinking of pulling out of my pledging of $149 for Ouya.

Having slept on it, I probably don't have a NEED for this. I backed it because of the Android games on my HDTV with a dedicated controller to play games like Canabalt, Another World, Broken Sword and all those 2D games as well as card games.

But I won't use it as a media box. I got a Mac Mini, Apple TV, iOS devices and Airplay, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 as well as a stationary Windows PC all hooked up to the TV already.

And I won't play with emulators. I'm only interested in the Mario games, Snatcher and MGS1, which all should be able to run on my mobile iOS and Android devices someday.

If I decide to withdraw, how do I do it before it's too late?

But really, the primary reason if I pull out would be, so that I can spent the money on the rumored iPad Mini.
 

Mithos

Member
I don't know what makes a computer so different, maybe it's all the crap typically sticking out of the back.

It's the lack of pure plug-and-play...
Having to find the correct input-port on the TV that supports/are pre-set for PC-signal, and/or find it in the menu to assigning the port on TV to accept PC-input signal, and THEN maybe even find some setting on the computer to send the signal correct so its not bigger then the TV or smaller, not talking resolution, but getting the images to FILL the entire screen and not being bigger or smaller then FULLSCREEN (1:1 pixelmapping).

And on top of this the way do fix all of this, is different between different brands on TV's AND graphics-cards, aka lack of pure plug-and-play.
 

DagsJT

Member
I'm thinking of pulling out of my pledging of $149 for Ouya.

Having slept on it, I probably don't have a NEED for this. I backed it because of the Android games on my HDTV with a dedicated controller to play games like Canabalt, Another World, Broken Sword and all those 2D games as well as card games.

But I won't use it as a media box. I got a Mac Mini, Apple TV, iOS devices and Airplay, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 as well as a stationary Windows PC all hooked up to the TV already.

And I won't play with emulators. I'm only interested in the Mario games, Snatcher and MGS1, which all should be able to run on my mobile iOS and Android devices someday.

Actually considering the same myself. Just bought a WDTV Live Streaming player last night, waiting for a Nexus 7 to arrive and got a pretty good PC for gaming so all of my bases are covered really.

That said, I'm still curious what can be done with this box. 28 days left to decide though.
 

Randdalf

Member
I'm thinking of pulling out of my pledging of $149 for Ouya.

Having slept on it, I probably don't have a NEED for this. I backed it because of the Android games on my HDTV with a dedicated controller to play games like Canabalt, Another World, Broken Sword and all those 2D games as well as card games.

But I won't use it as a media box. I got a Mac Mini, Apple TV, iOS devices and Airplay, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 as well as a stationary Windows PC all hooked up to the TV already.

And I won't play with emulators. I'm only interested in the Mario games, Snatcher and MGS1, which all should be able to run on my mobile iOS and Android devices someday.

If I decide to withdraw, how do I do it before it's too late?

But really, the primary reason if I pull out would be, so that I can spent the money on the rumored iPad Mini.

Ehh? You're never going to get to play those on those platforms without emulators.
 
This worries me, as I'm not entirely confident that can build and ship these for $99. I hope they've worked out their costs well. I guess it's good for developer support though and I wouldn't be surprised if they sell out that 80k. Anyone hoping reaching stretch goals is going to result in better specs is in for disappointment. Even with the cost of components coming down by the time they hit production margins are going to be super-thin.

The people working on this have worked on similar projects before. I'm sure they know their costs.

But I agree, margins will be very thin. Specs are very unlikely to change for that price.

I wonder how this will pan out in the long run. In a way their embracing of hacking makes me think they're going to have a lot of trouble selling software. If I bought one my main use would be as an emulator box. I'm assuming Sega Naomi ports wouldn't be possible on this hardware?
 

Alucrid

Banned
It's actually a good thing that the hardware is underpowered. The whole point of this platform is to give indie developers an opportunity to create games that don't have to compete with AAA budgeted heavyweights. If the Ouya were as powerful as a PS3, it would attract the big guys resulting in a similar situation as the one in the console market, where mid tier games have all but disappeared.

I don't want Ouya developers to waste their time with COD clones, I want new, fresh, quirky games that I can't play on my PS3. Hardware limitations are a springboard for creativity and daring projects. Please Ouya people, keep the hardware specs as they are.

Isn't it more of a lack of barriers to entry that promotes indie games than outdated hardware which forces indie games to be designed?
 
I might get one to emulate my SNES games on it. Pretty neat machine for this kind of experiments even though i could easily do that on my PC. I just guess this will be way less power consuming and subtile.
 

Polari

Member
If I bought one my main use would be as an emulator box. I'm assuming Sega Naomi ports wouldn't be possible on this hardware?

I doubt it. There was a vapourware Dreamcast emulator for Android a while ago, but I can't imagine you'd be able to emulate that class of hardware at full-speed.
 

alphaNoid

Banned
Any word on if the KS price is reduced compared to when it will go retail? Besides supporting them now, what are the benefits to paying now instead of later at retail? (I see the badge by the nametag thing) but in regards to price, would I save more now up front?
 
This worries me, as I'm not entirely confident that can build and ship these for $99. I hope they've worked out their costs well. I guess it's good for developer support though and I wouldn't be surprised if they sell out that 80k. Anyone hoping reaching stretch goals is going to result in better specs is in for disappointment. Even with the cost of components coming down by the time they hit production margins are going to be super-thin.


I'm just worried about how quickly they'll be able to get them out. I doubt they can get 80k made and shipped as quickly as they can get 20k out. But yeah, anyone thinking they are going to add more ram or something now that they have more money are very wrong. I would have liked another gig of ram and SD card slot though.

EDIT: Holy shit at how much it's raised so far. Thinking we'll easily get to 3.5 million today.
 

chiablo

Member
I think it's funny that Cannabalt is their baseline for games... Sure, it's fun to play for 5 minutes on the toilet, but I can't see myself playing it on an HDTV for long periods of time.
 
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