Ouya Console Already Lags Behind Current-Gen Mobiles

[likalaruku]

I don't care about specs or graphics, only whether or not the games are any fun.

 

[Pharsalus]

Yes. Yes it does. The problem is that the Ouya is not, in fact, mobile. Someone who buys a phone or tablet expects to be able to do all kinds of phoney/tablety things with it, so the fact that several months down the line it might not be able to play some of the latest games is not really a deal at all, let alone a big one. Someone who buys a games console, however, probably expects to be able to play games on it. A dedicated gaming machine that can barely even match up to the last generation of phones is unlikely to go down well with people wanting to play the latest games.

That's why I think messaging is so important. This isn't a hardcore gaming console for people who want such things, it's a low-priced box for casual gamers who don't want to sink $300 or $400 into a "real" console. And a big part of the reason you're seeing such negativity as it ramps up to launch is all the early-days speculation about whether it could compete with the 360 and PS3, which set some very unrealistic expectations. That audience isn't going to be drawn to this console.

It faces a huge uphill battle and I'm inclined to agree with your overall expectation that it's going to bomb, not because it's "bad," but simply because I don't think it's going to reach an appropriate audience. And that audience isn't going to care about Futuremark scores - it's going to care about a gaming/Netflix box for 100 bucks.

The Futuremark score won't matter to its target audience, I'll agree to that. The fact that's its not mobile hurts it. The fact that its target audience in the majority of cases has a phone that can do what the Ouya does also hurts it. At this point it costing $100 doesn't matter if it brings absolutely nothing of value to the table compared to other devices that already exist.

The fact that it's not mobile hurts it, not going to reach an appropriate audience? It's a tv console with a proper controller, it's not supposed to be mobile. As someone who has had android phones I found the Ouya concept highly appealing, android has some good games, and an unmatched back catalog through emulation, I could run a ps1 emulator on my galaxy S1, having that capability in a console at $100 is a bargain.

It absolutely brings something to the table that other devices on the market don't bring, just because it's not structured to run overproduced AAA games doesn't mean it's not a great gaming console.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Luckily it won't take much processing power to play 1080p ROMs of SNES games.

 

[Bocaj2000]

snip

OnLive functionality hasn't been confirmed yet, just discussed. If it's actually been confirmed, please provide a link to where it was officially stated this was the case.

As far as hardware? Nope wrong. From the mouth of Julie Uhrman herself "Our hardware is baked, it's complete, it's done," [http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/28/4157602/ouya-feature]. That interview was published on March 28th. And they began shipping backer units as of March 27th, per a Kickstarter update. Edit: There were...no beta consoles shipped. The lag problems people were having with the controller? On backer units that were shipped out that are the "final product" as far as hardware goes. This is a $50 controller and that's unacceptable. That's how much a Dualshock 3 costs.

And mod the shit out of it? In that little box? That will be far more difficult than modding or building any desktop PC, considering what you're given to work with. Also as far as I know it's not consumer moddable. You're stuck with that hardware. And wasn't that one of the big strong points they were trying to sell people on? It's an Android console that has the same specs across the board? Nothing I've read anywhere has said this is moddable hardware-wise. It seems like you pulled that out of your ass.

And sure they could get Borderlands on it if it does get something like OnLive (uncomfirmed) and you have the bandwidth/internet speed to pull that sort of thing off. This is supposed to be the cheap console for people who don't want to pay for one of the Big 3, and if you don't want to do that, odds are you don't have the internet to stream a game to a piece of hardware that can't even dream of running it on the lowest settings.

For how downscaled any game would have to be to run on this thing just look at The Ball.

Teaming up with OnLive is one of the first announcements that OUYA has made:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/27/onlive-available-on-ouya-at-launch

Yes, they are done messing with hardware, but the OUYA is designed to be easily be opened up and tampered with. They even advertise that the console is "hackable".

Most of the reviews seen that have been criticizing the OUYA's functionality are based on the dev kits of the models. These are unofficial beta models in my eyes.

Also, it is marketed to be for indie gamers and developers, not poor people. It may be a cheap alternative as well, but that was not the intention of the creators.

I do admit that you are right about the base model not being as much of a powerhouse as the current generation of consoles without the use of streaming. There's no excuse for that.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

The fact that it's not mobile hurts it, not going to reach an appropriate audience? It's a tv console with a proper controller, it's not supposed to be mobile. As someone who has had android phones I found the Ouya concept highly appealing, android has some good games, and an unmatched back catalog through emulation, I could run a ps1 emulator on my galaxy S1, having that capability in a console at $100 is a bargain.

It absolutely brings something to the table that other devices on the market don't bring, just because it's not structured to run overproduced AAA games doesn't mean it's not a great gaming console.

Here's the thing. The Ouya's bargain price is matched by the Wii Mini in Canada. And you can get used Wii games pretty damn cheap. That being said, to me, it looks a lot less appealing even at $100. I've owned an android phone as well, but to be frank the Andriod OS doesn't offset a few things that make the Ouya reek of mediocrity. When it was review hands on just this month, it was described as feeling very breakable and cheap by The Verge. Engadget describe the controllers to be significantly poor in quality. The buttons stick under the faceplate consistanty, there's lag with the controller to the console, the right analog stick has some trouble as well. The faceplates on the controllers are swappable, but due to the way that they are held to the console (by 6 magnets) they are too easy to remove perhaps. There have been reports of gamers receiving them when the faceplates fallen off, which could present damage issues during shipping.

$50 dollars more will gain you a better overall electronic gaming device in pretty much every direction except Sony products hardcore OR casual. What really hurts the Ouya the most is the lack of a market for it. I've been told a million times "its for people who want a cheap, casual console, and I get that, but the Wii pretty much kicked down the door to everyone's house on that front and now sits at a decent price, along with the Wii Mini in Canada for $100. Cell phones and tablets have taken the market of Android game fans. There's not many people left for the Ouya to attract. That and with the recent failure of A LOT of casual based game developers and the Wii U's sales not being as high as people expected, the casual market has shown itself to not be the best long term consumer.

 

[Something Amyss]

People still play Gameboy games instead of modern day games more than I'd ever imagine, so really, it's just a matter of how popular the system's games are. Right now it's main developer to beat is going to be Madfinger, what with Dead Trigger, Samurai 2, and that TPS who's name I can't remember... Shadowtrigger? Shadowgun! That's the name.

Of course, the reason people still buy Game Boy games is that it was a titan at one point. And nobody's basing a business model off them. The makers of Ouya are already talking annual releases and haven't even made it out of the gate.