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Congrats to everyone on the team for shipping this. You guys are missing the point with the content argument. Developing for consoles has generally been a ridi

by jtchang 14y ago

Congrats to everyone on the team for shipping this. You guys are missing the point with the content argument. Developing for consoles has generally been a ridiculously expensive endeavor. This breaks that mold. Also what makes you think that someone won't buy a console just to play one (really good) game?

eropple 14y ago
Developing for consoles has generally been a ridiculously expensive endeavor. This breaks that mold. No, it doesn't. This shows that you can do some consumer facing and software development around an outdated commodity platform and release it. That is nontrivial and the Ouya team certainly deserves credit for it, but it is not on the same level as what Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo do to produce their consoles. And it shows in the final product. Also what makes you think that someone won't buy a console just to play one (really good) game? I feel like you're wishcasting, which seems to be commonplace in Ouya discussions. What "really good" game is going to be a killer app for Ouya? The platform has very small reach and I can't see anyone with a truly promising title making it an Ouya exclusive.
- sp332 14y ago
  It doesn't have to be exclusive, since this console is cheaper than others. If you want a tiny, stylish, $100 SNES emulator, this could be it.
  - eropple 14y ago
    That's a good point, but if that's the way their product ends up being used, the company is looking at a rough road. Obviously I have no privileged information on their operations, but the BOM for their console is not leaving much in the way of a profit margin on hardware. So I have to think they're banking on people buying games and making their bones off of that. If people use the machines just as emulator boxes, I would bet that the Ouya folks have cause for alarm. They're giving away the razor here, and their blades aren't better than anyone else's.
    - sp332 14y ago
      Well N64 and SNES emulators have already been announced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ouya_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ouya_software
      - eropple 14y ago
        That's great, but emulators don't pay the bills. (Which, to be honest, I'm glad for; making their bones off pirating other people's work would be pretty gross.)
        sp332 14y ago
        "Pirating" SNES games? Where can you legitimately buy a SNES game that would give money to the creator?
        wmf 14y ago
        Wii Virtual Console.
        deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
        eropple 14y ago
        XBox Live Arcade. Nintendo's Virtual Console service. Re-releases on the GBA/DS/3DS. Not all games can be purchased this way and there is certainly a moral argument towards emulation to playing games that don't have such re-releases or were never released in an accessible market at all, but it is an observation that the ones people want to play can generally be acquired in this manner--your Chrono Triggers, your Final Fantasies, your Marios. There's little defense for emulating the majority of games people actually emulate older consoles to play, aside from "I want it for free and no one will stop me."
        ashray 14y ago
        People actually emulate a ton of games not available on virtual console. In fact, emulation is a pretty popular way for people to play fan translations of games that were never released in english (tales of phantasia, radical dreamers, etc.). It's true that there are plenty of folks who pirate chrono trigger via emulation but there are also plenty who want to play the more obscure titles out there.
- frendiversity 14y ago
  Nintendo has always released low end commodity hardware.
  - eropple 14y ago
    Not in the sense that I mean, sorry. The Ouya is barely more than a Tegra 3 reference board with some furniture around it. The internals of the Wii are custom to the Wii, and that's orders of magnitude more daunting of a project. Which does not mean that the Ouya cannot be good. (Basic microeconomics has a lot more to say on that topic.) But breathless cheering about this project "shattering the mold" doesn't really reflect reality.
    - frendiversity 14y ago
      That's true, yeah, but comparisonwise power doesnt mean much. Get one quirky multiplayer 'angry birds' hit and this thing will smoke ps4 in sales.
      - eropple 14y ago
        I find that extremely unlikely, because the Ouya is a parasite platform--it exists to suck up ports from other platforms (chiefly Android phones and tablets). This makes it very easy to port away from as well, and I find it much more likely that any game with significant potential is ported away from Ouya as soon as possible to reach a platform with more extant users--removing the drive to purchase an Ouya at all. It is a problematic situation for Ouya, because they have no compelling reason to stay on the platform once you sniff the slightest success.
        jiggy2011 14y ago
        I agree, at best for game devs the Ouya will be a test market for games before they are ported to other consoles. The only place it might have an advantage will be for games that allow third party modding. Games with a side market for community DLC could be an interesting idea.
meh01 14y ago
This thing is DOA.

by jtchang 14y ago

eropple 14y ago

Developing for consoles has generally been a ridiculously expensive endeavor. This breaks that mold. No, it doesn't. This shows that you can do some consumer facing and software development around an outdated commodity platform and release it. That is nontrivial and the Ouya team certainly deserves credit for it, but it is not on the same level as what Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo do to produce their consoles. And it shows in the final product. Also what makes you think that someone won't buy a console just to play one (really good) game? I feel like you're wishcasting, which seems to be commonplace in Ouya discussions. What "really good" game is going to be a killer app for Ouya? The platform has very small reach and I can't see anyone with a truly promising title making it an Ouya exclusive.

sp332 14y ago
It doesn't have to be exclusive, since this console is cheaper than others. If you want a tiny, stylish, $100 SNES emulator, this could be it.
- eropple 14y ago
  That's a good point, but if that's the way their product ends up being used, the company is looking at a rough road. Obviously I have no privileged information on their operations, but the BOM for their console is not leaving much in the way of a profit margin on hardware. So I have to think they're banking on people buying games and making their bones off of that. If people use the machines just as emulator boxes, I would bet that the Ouya folks have cause for alarm. They're giving away the razor here, and their blades aren't better than anyone else's.
  - sp332 14y ago
    Well N64 and SNES emulators have already been announced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ouya_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ouya_software
    - eropple 14y ago
      That's great, but emulators don't pay the bills. (Which, to be honest, I'm glad for; making their bones off pirating other people's work would be pretty gross.)
      - sp332 14y ago
        "Pirating" SNES games? Where can you legitimately buy a SNES game that would give money to the creator?
        wmf 14y ago
        Wii Virtual Console.
        deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
        eropple 14y ago
        XBox Live Arcade. Nintendo's Virtual Console service. Re-releases on the GBA/DS/3DS. Not all games can be purchased this way and there is certainly a moral argument towards emulation to playing games that don't have such re-releases or were never released in an accessible market at all, but it is an observation that the ones people want to play can generally be acquired in this manner--your Chrono Triggers, your Final Fantasies, your Marios. There's little defense for emulating the majority of games people actually emulate older consoles to play, aside from "I want it for free and no one will stop me."
        ashray 14y ago
        People actually emulate a ton of games not available on virtual console. In fact, emulation is a pretty popular way for people to play fan translations of games that were never released in english (tales of phantasia, radical dreamers, etc.). It's true that there are plenty of folks who pirate chrono trigger via emulation but there are also plenty who want to play the more obscure titles out there.
frendiversity 14y ago
Nintendo has always released low end commodity hardware.
- eropple 14y ago
  Not in the sense that I mean, sorry. The Ouya is barely more than a Tegra 3 reference board with some furniture around it. The internals of the Wii are custom to the Wii, and that's orders of magnitude more daunting of a project. Which does not mean that the Ouya cannot be good. (Basic microeconomics has a lot more to say on that topic.) But breathless cheering about this project "shattering the mold" doesn't really reflect reality.
  - frendiversity 14y ago
    That's true, yeah, but comparisonwise power doesnt mean much. Get one quirky multiplayer 'angry birds' hit and this thing will smoke ps4 in sales.
    - eropple 14y ago
      I find that extremely unlikely, because the Ouya is a parasite platform--it exists to suck up ports from other platforms (chiefly Android phones and tablets). This makes it very easy to port away from as well, and I find it much more likely that any game with significant potential is ported away from Ouya as soon as possible to reach a platform with more extant users--removing the drive to purchase an Ouya at all. It is a problematic situation for Ouya, because they have no compelling reason to stay on the platform once you sniff the slightest success.
      - jiggy2011 14y ago
        I agree, at best for game devs the Ouya will be a test market for games before they are ported to other consoles. The only place it might have an advantage will be for games that allow third party modding. Games with a side market for community DLC could be an interesting idea.

meh01 14y ago

This thing is DOA.