Android-based Video Game Console Ouya Reaches Funding On Kickstarter

Written by: Mike Schaffnit (@MikeSchaffnit) | July 11, 2012 12:09 pm

47 Comments

It’s been somewhat of a dark era for console gamers as of late, as we are going on what is almost our 7th year without a new console.

It is becoming natural to see iconic figure heads and creative masterminds in the gaming industry abandon their high profile homes in pursuit of the creative freedom that is offered in mobile game development. But a new Kickstarter project that hit its 1M Dollar mark in less than 8 hours might step in and change all that.

“Be Thou For The People” is something that comes straight out of one of my favorite animes, but is a philosophy that makes the Ouya so outstandingly different that it has the gaming community in an uproar! It’s because of the simple fact that the entire system has been designed to be hacked, and its developers are asking for just that by its users and other developers.

That’s right, cracking this baby open will NOT void your warranty. In fact it’s encouraged. What’s more impressive is that the Ouya will be launched by March 2013! This means that even though we didn’t receive news of the Xbox 720 or the Playstation 4 during E3 this year, we will actually see a new console hit the market before E3 2013.

Specifications:

Tegra3 quad-core processor
1GB RAM
8GB of internal flash storage
HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth LE 4.0
USB 2.0 (one)
Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad
Android 4.0

What do you all think? Is this console something you’re interested in picking up and trying out? And is this just the type of innovation that the console market has needed to give it a boost?

Android-based Video Game Console Ouya Reaches Funding On Kickstarter

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2 comments

Benoit Chalifoux

this game look like dungeon defenders is it or its actually the game lol?
- http://twitter.com/Vazzaroth Josh Hagood
  
  It’s DD. Strange they didn’t mention it in the hit, maybe DD devs said they’d get on it. I know Notch said Minecraft would.
Angel Rivera

why is this hit 30 minutes long jesus.
- http://twitter.com/Vazzaroth Josh Hagood
  
  Because it’s awesome
http://www.facebook.com/michael.fountain.79 Michael Fountain

looks pretty cool
http://twitter.com/ItsatrapLOL Targeter

Just an FYI for those worried about the specs; here are the specs for the 360 and PS3.

http://www.ps3focus.com/archives/40

The Ouya isn’t designed as a ‘next-gen’ console; more of a competing console with the current generation with better hardware.
http://twitter.com/DragonkinSverd Steven Sword

Gonna post some tweets from a successful indie devs position on this thing:

The whole Ouya kickstarter feels like a disaster in the making.
For $99, you get a console + controller. Subtract KS & Amazon fees
& shipping and it feels like they’re going to lose money on each
console.

And why would a developer want to support such a niche console? It’s
hard enough to make money as an indie developer on popular channels.

But seriously, if Ouya is not an outright scam, it’s being run by naive individuals who don’t know what they’re doing.

It’s hard enough to talk devs into supporting the Vita and
that has a million plus install base & Sony’s backing. Ouya? Fat
chance.
Another point against the Ouya – it’s designed to be hackable. Good luck
convincing developers to make games that will just get pirated.
Also their “Free to Play” is a misnomer. They count “Demo + Pay for full version” as free to play.

Number one argument against Ouya – the GP32X.

Anyway, I’m done. I think the Ouya is going to be the first
big kickstarter video game disaster. I’ll leave it at that.

That’s just from one guy(Robert Boyd of Zeboyd games). I haven’t seen much of a positive reaction from most the devs I follow.
http://twitter.com/Zedris Zedris

what a stupid concept they were discussing. if ur gonna make a pc console buy a pc. if ur gonna buy a video game console ps3 xbox for games like assasins creed halo then pay the 60 dollars or wait a month and pay less at game stop for a used one. no developer is gonna make a production like the games disscussed for the amount of money that they get. LoL takes maintenance and kinda of a simple code thats it relatively cheap.
http://profile.yahoo.com/3JO75BNS43WDETCNCO7F7XS6Q4 jo

Bomba
http://twitter.com/GW2Sorel Sorel

Okay, the part where you talked about streaming integration in consoles made me think, Esports is very PC centric, and I think getting it all around even on consoles, making streaming easyer, and watching streams easyer would be a fantastic addition to consoles imho.
Electrum -

Setting up free to play games as an indie developer is hard because of the back end of accepting payments and automatically unlocking content. It’s easy on mobiles because the app store has that system already built for developers to use. Assuming Ouya does the same thing, indie developers could have just as easy of a time running micro transactions as they can on mobile platforms.

Mobile platforms have been so successful because developers are actively encouraged to develop for the platform and given the tools to do so. That isn’t the case for consoles.
http://twitter.com/mescyn Mescyn

It seems like it’ll be decent competition for xblig (xbox live indie games) or even xbla, but I don’t think the AAA developers are likely to come. Unlike microsoft and sony, they probably won’t need to sell them at a loss, and make it up on license revenue.
http://twitter.com/mescyn Mescyn

Comparing console sales is probably not ideal. Compare the practical xblig market to the practical ouya market. I suspect people from the xblig universe will mostly adopt the same sort of model, where you get a demo with an in-game purchase for the full product for 2,3, 5$ or whatever.
http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

Too bad, you can’t have the tech built into the TV.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan
  
  That could be one of the partners they are talking to. or is my sarcasm detector broken again?
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    No being real. If you can have Facebook, Youtube, Netfix and others built into a TV, just create a small chip set and sell it to a television manufacture. I keep hearing Apple planning on doing this with AppleTV, an Apple branded TV. Keeping all your iOS, movies, music and files in the Cloud and you can play them on your TV.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan
      
      That would make it a GoogleTV with a controller.
mad.martha

Hmmm , dunno about the “forward looking” speculation here in the vid BUT if they can easily make this unit play *existing* android games then they could be onto something.

Sure, there’s nothing “cool” about people playing Angry Birds on their TV – but there could be a whole lot of money to be made from it.

If you had shown gamers the initial release of Wii games before the console came they would have laughed at them.

…didn’t stop them selling in their millions though did it ?

[MM]

P.S. The one thing I’d like to see upgraded on the spec is the internal flash storage – even phones with 8GB are getting filled up pretty quick nowadays – with a multi purpose console that would run out even faster… 16GB minimum , 32GB reccommended.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Steven-Walters/745740897 Steven Walters

I’m in for one. It can go in the closet with my OnLive micro console. Hope it’s wildly successful!
http://twitter.com/Vazzaroth Josh Hagood

I’m kind of with Mike B in being confused/not seeing the point. I see what they’re trying to do (Make iPhone/Android games for the TV), but I just don’t really understand why, or why people are jumping on this.

I’ve played PSN Minis on my PS3 and they look… like crap. And play like crap. If it’s literally a mobile game on this system, it will most likely look unoptimized for large screens, or have touchscreen controls which don’t translate well. Plus the power on the system isn’t great to support the console-players’ standard graphics.

I think this is getting money because people see “Open source console” and think they’re getting a hundred dollar PS3/Xbox that anyone can develop for, but they’re really getting a stationary, large iPad that runs Android…

I just watched Indie Game the Movie and I guess It would be awesome to see more Super Meat Boys or the games MikeB plays on Indie for Breakfast, but I’m just cynical that this will actually happen. Especially with the weird free promises.

PS: MORE 30 MIN DISCUSSIONS!
http://twitter.com/Artamos_ Miguel Devora

this console needs to add one thing to topple the Big 3 in gaming…..and that is bacon
http://www.facebook.com/jeanpierre.naranjo.52 JeanPierre Naranjo

If I could turn this into the ultimate EMU machine it would be totally worth it. NES, SNES, SEGA, Neo Geo, TurboGrafx 16 on my big screen.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan
  
  A Raspberry Pi would be cheaper for that. Although that would probably be more of a DIY version.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=514699736 Jeremy Cargill

I think Mike B is focusing on one tiny aspect of the word FREE. What Ouya is saying is that each game will have a FREE component. Most developers probably will not use In-App purchases. My guess is that most developers will do what almost every developer does already on iOS and Android… offer a demo of the game. We are not talking about Free to Play MMO’s here… we are talking about Angry Birds, Minecraft, Canabalt, Plants Vs. Zombies as well as games like Infinity Blade or Rage on your TV in HD. Some of the best innovation in the video game marketplace has happened by Indie developers in their home offices. However the movement by even the big players to the mobile market begs the question… Why the Hell Not? They make the same 30% they do on the marketplace and the iPad already has a higher resolution than an HDTV so it makes sense. Many of us don’t have time or patience to play a 40 hour game and 99 cents for a couple of hours can be perfect. I love the concept and the idea, I do worry about it being a pipe dream when it comes to manufacturing and distribution… but I guess we shall see.
- http://twitter.com/house_rug Rug
  
  Yeah, it’s strange. Mike seems almost angrily focused on looking at the free part in the wrong way. I think Ouya is just pushing even a free to play time limited demo, etc. It’s not all micro transaction based.
  - http://www.facebook.com/simppi90 Simon Sunabacka
    
    or theyre just doin the good cop/bad cop and mike is the bad cop ;P
http://twitter.com/Peter_aka_Tab23 Peter

Smite on Quya. Make it happen Blizzard xD
- http://www.facebook.com/michael.donthnier Michael Donthnier
  
  High-Rez* not Blizzard… lolz
  - jayremy
    
    The ignorance of people, right? lol
    - Jeremy Whallon
      
      fa·ce·tious
      - adjective- not meant to be taken seriously or literally: a facetious remark
itsJUSTINduh

I want it for the emulators.
http://www.facebook.com/michael.donthnier Michael Donthnier

Even if this console is a flop, I think it will still shake up the market enough to make some positive changes for consumers and developers alike.
- http://twitter.com/mescyn Mescyn
  
  If the only thing it does is makes microsoft care about xblig developers then it’s a success in my book.
Krzysztof Kotarba

1 GB ram… is this a joke? Tegra 3… this is huge BS… “Open” consone is good idea but put some hi-end hardwere into it… It should be next gen but it looks like it will be like nintendo wii… Waste of time, money and potential.
- http://twitter.com/Rurik1547 John
  
  They aren’t a big company which is why they are on kickstarter. They can’t afford to put high end hardware into the machine right now if they plan on making money off of this. If they get more funding they may just be able to do that though…
- http://twitter.com/ItsatrapLOL itsatrapLOL
  
  Current systems only have 512MB RAM.
- http://www.facebook.com/simppi90 Simon Sunabacka
  
  in case u didnt notice, this is meant for indie games, not bf3
http://twitter.com/Nathiest Nathiest

Take your Xbox 360 and air brush paint an Android logo onto the side and front of it. Do the same with your controller. Then the millionth time you play CoD think to yourself “Wow I’m playing CoD on my new Android Console”. And there you have it.
- http://twitter.com/Rurik1547 John
  
  You’d think people would actually do a little research on what they are talking about…instead of just spurting out something that just makes them sound ignorant
- Joseph Gabrielli
  
  Their is a larger difference between consoles than the publisher and the logo. Just because you will probably get the same feeling playing CoD on an Ouya that you would on an xbox or a PS3 doesn’t make it the same thing. Please do some research on this other than looking at the pictures and make a less uneducated assumption on the product.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Bowden/1032878942 Bill Bowden

I just pledged $130. As a game developer in training myself I would find this something to have fun with.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Bowden/1032878942 Bill Bowden
  
  All I know is I’ve spent over $100 on diablo 3 CE and I believe that would be a bigger let down than possibly this.
  - http://twitter.com/MikeSchaffnit Mike Schaffnit
    
    That’s definitely an interesting philosophy to take with this console. An old roommate of my was a game designer and he is excited by this for the very same reason.
http://www.facebook.com/oneniisama Bear Powell

Odd how some people are viewing this as the Amiga for a newer generation.
http://www.facebook.com/ChrisGB89 Chris Bush

This is going to change the way we play games forever. Nintendo is going to go under so bad!
http://profiles.google.com/jeddowes John Eddowes

Looks like something of a game-changer for the console market, which has for far too long been stifled by the lack of competition between the “big three”. (R.I.P Sega)

Bring it on.
Razor4884

I may be missing something, but I’d imagine no one would want to play multi-player on this console, due to the hack fest that would be going on.

Android-based Video Game Console Ouya Reaches Funding On Kickstarter

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