Ouya: The $99, Android-Powered TV Game Console

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well, they asked for my address
so that's something I guess?

Ben Heck teardown...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hh3Ezg9xf0&feature=youtu.be

er...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hh3Ezg9xf0

did you order one? i did, back in the day. with two controllers. hope it's good!

I didn't order one. Because a) I'm applying my usual 'do I buy this console or not?' rule and waiting to see if it's going to have games I actually want to play (see also WiiU), b) I'm going to let other way more qualified people determine first if it's suitable for Android hacking.

there's a neo geo portable/console hybrid out that is apparently hack-friendly for all you MAME/emulator types.

this?
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?239578-NeoGeoX-Hacking-and-Mods
Games on an SD card, Linux on a micro SD card soldered to the circuit board.

yeah -- the whole thing is just weird. you plug in the portable into a clamshell charger that makes it look like the original console, which you plug in to the TV. very xzibit yo dawg-esque.

It's like the reverse of a SNES Gameboy Player cartridge.

man that thing looks HELLA cheap

Yeah, like it should come with a happy meal.

That frosted clear plastic makes everything look cheap.

Shipping to kickstarters on March 28 (am i the only one?)

full launch/in stores in June.

I'm one of them, I'll be in India then though, grr.

I'm one too.

retail launch: June 4

the reviews haven't been too hot, to say the least

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4180242/ouya-review

This console isn't finished — it's not even close.

That's a criticism that can be levelled at every console at launch, ever.

true. here's the full conclusion, though:

For $99, everyone who backed Ouya's Kickstarter has unwittingly signed up to beta-test a game console. Alpha-test, even: this is a product with some good ideas and a potentially promising future, but it's a million miles away from something worth spending your money on. Even if the concept is right, the Ouya misses the mark. The controller needs work, the interface is a mess, and have I mentioned there's really nothing to do with the thing? I'm not even sure the concept is right, either: there are plenty of fun Android games, but currently few that work well with a controller and even fewer that look good on your television.

Let's say everything goes exactly right for Ouya. Every good game in the Play Store becomes available to Ouya, Netflix and Amazon decide to play nice with the device, and the ROM and hacker community explode and make every app and many more available to the nascent platform. Then and only then, Ouya can be viable — if it can combine a decent set-top box with a decent gaming platform, it may have a case to make for your $99. But those are a lot of cards that have to fall a particular way, and without them the Ouya is a lot more like a Raspberry Pi than an Xbox 360.

To its credit, the company says loudly and often that this is only the beginning of a long road for Ouya — and I'll be watching its progress with interest. But the device is currently being sold as a product, not a prototype, and that's just wrong. Ouya isn't a viable gaming platform, or a good console, or even a nice TV interface. I don't know what it is, but until Ouya figures it out, it's not worth $99.

I don't think anyone's unwittingly signed up to be a beta tester - people who have an Ouya now know what they're getting into. In no way have Ouya mis-sold or mis-represented what this console is or it's immediate future capabilities. The interface problems are likely one of the top priorities and will probably be sorted by June 4. After that, maybe there'd be cause for complaint if the interface isn't any better. But the PS3 had a terrible interface for a long time (and arguably still has a terrible interface).

without them the Ouya is a lot more like a Raspberry Pi than an Xbox 360.

I sort of get what the writer is saying here, but these three platforms are all very unlike each other. The Pi is a hacker box, while the Ouya is only that secondarily. With the 360, it would be fairer to compare the Ouya to XBLA. Or maybe compare it to a supercharged version of one of those no-name HDMI Android dongles, but with way better support and investment.
OTOH I have to agree that the battery compartments in the controller look terrible, and could have been put around the back like on a 360 controller.

haven't read their review yet, but the verge panned it

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4180242/ouya-review

dude, that is what was linked and quoted a few posts above

great link! ;)

Yeah I dunno, my support for this was totally raspberry pi style. I want a low powered TV-connected machine with a game pad which I can hack around with and play emulators on. If I'd bought into it thinking "yes! new console!" then I guess I'd be rightly disappointed but has anyone actually done that? (Mine hasn't actually shipped yet, may change my tune when it arrives).

probably should've actually looked at the thread tbh

I don't think anyone's unwittingly signed up to be a beta tester - people who have an Ouya now know what they're getting into.

Yup. It's $99 - not $599. People know what they're getting, especially people who dropped money into the kickstarter.

I only watched the video review, but complaining it took some effort to get emulators and ROMs to work, but that they were able to, was a weird complaint - did they think you could just press a button and have every old game downloaded and running on the console (or maybe that they would be preloaded)?

that d-pad looks as crappy as the 360 one, can you pair up other controllers with this thing?

I've heard you can, any bluetooth controller (including the ps3 one), or the wired 360 one will work (not the wireless 360 one yet though). The problem is the other controllers don't have the touchpad you need to navigate menus and play some games...

It's Bluetooth so I'm sure someone will hack it. The touchpad might be an issue though. OTOH if someone got a PS4 controller working with this that'd be hilarious.

The PS4 controller is gonna cost at least $60 alone

Yeah I know, but surely someone will hack it to show off their skills. Just because a hack is expensive and has limited value doesn't stop people.

man, if it can run an NES/SNES/Genesis/Turbographix emulator we're all good

i really just want a retro system for roms, the end.

related: http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=528855

plain old hacked wii is pretty good at running the roms...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hKKCoTlDjHo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59CjuKmGwyo

related: http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=528855

― I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker. (forksclovetofu), Friday, 5 April 2013 03:48 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol at people complaining about how nes games look in hd

i know how that sounds, but old systems often look really bad on HDTVs, worse than they did on CRTs

Old CRTs did add a certain fuzziness to the picture which can be hard to separate from the whole aesthetic of retro games. The first time I ran a BBC Micro emulator full screen on a PC with an LCD display, it was a bit of a shock, because everything was so crisp and someone how much blockier that I remembered.

Some LCD TVs (and emulators) try to "solve" the blocky sharpness by curving the lines and it looks even worse.

RE: Ouya tho, give it time. AFAIK there are a few big companies that are planning on supporting the thing.

xp Bear in mind that 8-bit/16-bit era games were designed visually with the limitation/feature of scanlines, so it is jarring when you see pixel perfect emulation. Sometimes it looks crisp and great, but other times it looks very strange. We discussed this a little bit in another thread, that some emulators now are trying to solve this problem with special filters and such, but it's a trickier problem than it sounds. In general, old analog inputs into modern HDTVs generally don't look so good

Most emulators have something like "X frames of motion blur" which doesn't really cut it. Though I'm definitely in the camp that doesn't want CRT-ification filters.

And in general interpolation/upscale filters on LCD TVs are terrible regardless of whether you're looking at a console or a TV programme.

I agree, but only because right now they're all terrible. I think at some point if they can solve the math problem or whatever it is to make it look the way it was originally did, it's an option we should have rather than everything being super-crisp or 4xAA.

that retron controller looks so uncomfortable

guys i know all this about scanlines

the solution is, get a CRT tv, and a NES

if only someone would have warned me that buying an Ouya might be a bad idea

speak for yourself, i bought mine with bitcoin

i was a little shocked at the enthusiasm for ouya given the graveyard of linux-based game systems already out there plus the well-established and polished hacks for existing systems if your main interest was emulation.

maybe ouya was just a way to vote against the big 3? like it's main feature was being a political lever -- in which case I'd say it was a success.

pyrrhic, but yeah

feel like the steambox is gonna be what ends up getting that Fuck Everyone dollar

hahaha

i would get that over this

um
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmqJnR5IUAEC4z7.jpg

lol

http://i.imgur.com/iEPBagF.png

Amico Intellivision - this holiday season's Ouya (if it actually gets released on time).

who's in?!

afaict the guys behind it are all hardcore conservative christian boomers who wanted to make a console for conservative christian parents without all that sex and violence and microtransactions that would fill little johnnies head with sin. no surprise that creepos like Doug TenNapel are working on games for it.