Update: Open Source Android Console Fully Funded with $1 Million

[Laughing Man]

This isn't really my area, but I'm not sure it'd be that simple. A big part of Ouya's sales pitch is that they aren't going to hit developers with licensing fees or related costs. Also, all games developed for the console will be required to have at least some free bits (which can mean partially free-to-play, microtransactions, and so forth), and I imagine that luring loads of those games to the 360/PS3 would mean radically shaking up some business models.

How so? Ouya isn't going to attract big name developers creating exclusive new IPs just for the console. That is a laughable pipe dream. The main content for this console will come from the Android Market place the place you can access for free and download to ANY Android device. All Sony or MS would have to do is include a software Android emulator, similar to what you can install on your PC and then their is nothing stopping the PS3 or XBox from going to the Android Market and downloading and playing the content that is on there. No license fees or issues and with the added bonus that the content on the site does not FORCE developers to provide free to play content.

The reason why Android market is great for developers is because they can develop a game or bit of code and it will run on millions of Android devices irrespective of who makes the device, no developer who already works with Android is going to jump ship from that market and start developing just for the Ouya, so in essence that means anything that appears on the Ouya is logically going to appear on the Android Market and thus can be played on just about any Android device including a console by a big name rival running an Android emulator.

 

[aattss]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

Nearly 5 million.... WOWA! That's the most funding ever raised.

 

[Zipa]

Awesome this is the kind of thing that gaming needs to shake things up and make Microsoft and Sony shit themselves. Plus its nice to see a company rise up and take initiative in this stagnant period.

 

[legendp]

Wait, they are asking for only 1 mil to develop a console? One with a full controller and touch pad? And which will go for 99$, which is the cost of a 7 year old brick mobile phone? Uhh, yeah, no. This is either a scam, or the thing will be made of paper.

The hardware is already developed and they have a working prototype. The money is for large-scale production, regulatory approval, creating SDKs and so on. The low cost is possible with their hardware, especially because it's an off-the-shelf SoC and the system itself does not have a screen.

I don't think it's a scam, at all. It will not have hardware as powerful as the xbox360 or PS3 (probably better than the Wii though), but it will be able to run a lot of good games.

If what you are saying is true, then this is nothing more than an advertisement, they are using Kickstarter to make headlines. Because if the hardware is already developed and they have a working prototype, it means that they have already spent at LEAST 100 times more money than they are now asking for (and that's a very conservative estimate), so I can't really believe that the whole project is dependent on one more million. I don't mind that, that's fine, it's actually a pretty clever way to advertise, but still the cost of the console seems way too low for it to be any good. Nothing costs 99$. I really can't think of anything. Oh wait, there's the PS2, a 12 year old system that is now on the border of retro-land. That costs 99$. I don't get it.

A 100 times? No, it's not that expensive to design hardware using off-the-shelf components. This is not a console maker that needs to design hardware using custom parts so that it'll be hard to copy, it's a simple design for a circuit board using well-known parts. It does not cost a hundred million dollars. I'm an electronic engineer and even though circuit design is not my area of work or expertise, I'd certainly be willing to design a circuit board with off-the-shelf components if someone wanted to pay me even 10 million dollars for it Easier money I'd ever make.

Regarding the power of the hardware, take a look at the capabilities of the SoC they're using, it's a Tegra3 from nvidia (integrated CPU+GPU), a chip designed for mobile devices:

There are chinese tablet designs using the Tegra3 selling for less than $299, but this includes an expensive touch screen, 3G and other stuff. $99 is believable for a simpler design.

$100 is an alright price, but I would rather it be $200 and be competitive power wise to 360 and stuff, indie games like qube and amnesia probaly need that power, not to mention imagine if it also got aaa developers, it could take off and beat all 3 consoles. it would be nice to play tablet games like shadowgun on a fullscreen (I imagine the limits of te system), but I would rather pay a bit more and get something with even more potential.

a $200 console with more power would give indie developers more freedom (imo)

 

[Atmos Duality]

people love it because in secret, it is a cheap and powerfull pc that comes with a controller instead of a keyboard.

That's the truth of the matter.
Without proprietary control, it's just another computer with a controller.
Nothing innately wrong with that.

 

[Th37thTrump3t]

Uhhh, this is odd too me. Can he really just use the Android operating system like that? Isn't all of this money going to go to Apple? If it doesn't, is he going to get sued before these ever see the light of day? I'm just curious, this doesn't seem like something that.. can happen to me. :\

How would any of this money go to Apple? Android was made by Google and Google made Android open source and free to develop and use for just this sort of thing. The only people getting money off of this are the console devs and game devs should they choose to charge. (I doubt the free games thing will hold up.)

 

[MB202]

This... sounds pretty cool, actually. And the fact that it's kickstarter is such a smashing success shows that people DO want it! This, I feel, is why Kickstarter is so great. But then again, those of you who watch Extra Credits would already know about that.