4 ms·

>if they wanted enthusiasts they really need to bump up the hardware. It looks like this thing is aimed squarely at indie game developers, and the type of peop

• jiggy2011 14y ago
  It looks like this thing is aimed squarely at indie game developers, and the type of people who play indie pc games. Indie gamers aren't really known for their craving for top of the line graphics. I'm not sure there is much of a demographic of people who are "indie gamers" , most people who play indie games also play AAA games, so a console for Indie games only doesn't seem like it would have a huge target market. Using android saves them a lot of time and putting it on an arm platform allows it to easily run all of the popular android games. Android stuff is mainly Java, so I can't imagine that porting would be that huge a deal especially considering there are also ports of android for x86. You must also keep in mind that most android games are designed around touchscreens, so it's not like they are suddenly going to have a big library of games that are playable with a controller without significant redesign. There isn't a commodity SOC that comes with a desktop class GPU, so I don't see anyway they could realistically do that--it would require a whole lot more than a million bucks to develop it. Couldn't this be mostly done by using a motherboard from a laptop or similar? Since it's a console, space and weight are less of a factor than with a tablet etc. This would a lot of time. Since these games are written for android a port will probably be a complete rewrite (see minecraft for x-box), and take a year at least. This is basically a chicken/egg problem. Indie developers are unlikely to develop around a platform that does not already have significant user base. Most of the popular indie titles, supermeatboy , braid etc were developed around the 360 first because it already had a significant market.
  • jere 14y ago
    >I'm not sure there is much of a demographic of people who are "indie gamers" , most people who play indie games also play AAA games, so a console for Indie games only doesn't seem like it would have a huge target market. I'm not so sure. I feel like one of those people; I really appreciate the indie aesthetic and I respect small teams that are able to make great games. I do play AAA games but only occasionally (buying about 1 per year). The problem though is I already can play plenty of indie games on my xbox 360: Braid, Limbo, Spelunky, Super Meat Boy, to name a few.
    • dkersten 14y ago
      I'm similar - I love indie games and therefore love the humble bundles, for examble. I do play AAA games too, but I'm a PC gamer when it comes to AAA and don't own any consoles at all. I'd happily buy a console for great indie games and then play the rest on my PC (which I have anyway because I use it for plenty of things besides games, some of which are sometimes even intensive enough to require an expensive computer)
  • learc83 14y ago
    >I'm not sure there is much of a demographic of people who are "indie gamers" , most people who play indie games also play AAA games, so a console for Indie games only doesn't seem like it would have a huge target market. It looks like they are trying to take the PC indie game market and bring it to the TV. It doesn't matter if indie gamers also play AAA games, the point is (and what I was replying to) that people who play indie games, of whom there are many, are willing to overlook graphics for gameplay. >that huge a deal especially considering there are also ports of android for x86 Almost anything resource intensive is done with the NDK which is in C/C++, if they used x86 almost no Android games would play out of the box. >Couldn't this be mostly done by using a motherboard from a laptop or similar? It could be done, yes. But at significantly more expense. Think about the price of a mobo, CPU, GPU and RAM. You can get an arm SOC with all the above included for less than $25--that's how they're able to sell these things for $99. >Indie developers are unlikely to develop around a platform that does not already have significant user base. That's why the $99 price tag is such a big deal, hopefully it will help them reach critical mass. Additionally since it runs android, developers can develop for it as well as touchscreen android devices with almost no extra effort (for non touchscreen essential games). >...developed around the 360 first because it already had a significant market. X-box primarily attracted indie developers b/c they made it easier for them than any other console. But the PC has way more indie games than the X-box because it is even easier to develop for and distribute (even though there are way more console gamers than PC gamers).