OUYA's Inevitable Decision & Possible Pathways.

[Nitrogen_Widget]

Yes, but who says that this is necessary? Theoretically they could do just revisions forever, and eventually every part will have been changed. Just because other console makers are doing it the old-fashioned way, it doesn't mean that Ouya has to do it also.

I think also the iPhone is a good example, it's always an iPhone, but it's always "just" a revision basically. Or take Google Nexus 7, there's now a Nexus 7 2013, but it's not a revolutionary new device, it's just the next iteration.

Iphone 1,2,3,4,5?
Each iphone is a totally different beast.
better cpu,screen,camera, ect.

Same with Nexus 7.
The differences between the 2012 & 2013 model are quite apparent if you compare them.
Faster cpu and better screen for sure.

Essentially both those devices suffer from the unnecessary "bigger, faster" crap manufacturers use to justify releasing a new device.

It really comes down to what OUYA wants.
They can keep their T3 if they get some more games brought over.

However, Nvidia has demonstrated a recompiled PS4 game running on a k1 tablet at 720p using the default setting the PS4 uses.
If you want to see big name companies publishing on OUYA/Android a K1 or the announced snapdragon 805 is the way to do it.

but another monkey wrench is if any of the other android gaming devices announced don't turn out to be vaporware & make it to market OUYA will have a very hard time justifying it's "old" hardware to new customers because these new devices will show up with at least a T4 or better hardware.

Edit: rumors are out there Amazon is releasing some android device next month or announcing it. but who knows if that's ture or if it competes with OUYA. However they did purchase Double Helix Games. The makers of Killer Instinct.

[zeha]

Iphone 1,2,3,4,5?
Each iphone is a totally different beast.
better cpu,screen,camera, ect.

Same with Nexus 7.
The differences between the 2012 & 2013 model are quite apparent if you compare them.
Faster cpu and better screen for sure.

I disagree here. They are faster and better, yes, but they can still be considered "revisions" in a way.
Look at a different example: NES, SNES, N64. These are 3 totally different systems, they are not compatible, and they are legitimately being marketed as entirely new/different consoles. Nowadays it's not like this anymore, the basic hardware platform is the same, they "just" improve the speed, storage, screen quality (if present), etc, and yes, they might put a "1, 2, 3, 4" behind it, but it can, in my opinion, still be considered a "revision", and this is the reason why I think Ouya releasing one new console a year is not comparable to let's say Playstation 1, 2, 3, 4 which have 5-7 years between each other and are completely different beasts, as you say.

[Schizophretard]

The external storage thing is going to be extremely difficult, I suspect. Android's default behavior for external app storage is to encrypt everything so that it's locked to the original device. They're going to have to make major changes to Android itself to make that work between devices, and they'll have to figure out a way to do so that doesn't scare away developers.

It would still be much easier than visualizing OUYA still existing five years from now with OUYA owners having multiple OUYA's hooked up just to emulate the results that could be achieved with a PS1 memory card or even just entering a password on an NES game. I don't get how in the 21st century there could be issues with putting a game on a console and then continuing where you left off when I could potentially buy a game off ebay with a manual that has a password written in its notes section and continue where the last owner left off in the game 30 years ago. It is making me wonder if technology is really advancing when problems that were solved in the past are popping up again. Someday someone will probably invent a time machine and then a few generations later they will improve on the idea by making the time machine function the same way as a pocket watch.

[evil nick]

wasnt the ouya originally planned to be an upgradable console in the beginning as well?
How would that work with hardware changes? Would you keep the same controller and case and just swap the internal guts out maybe saving you like 50-60$?

[SwiftIllusion]

Even when planning drunk messages you still manage to write paragraphs a thousand times better
than I ever could, I agree with everything in your original post , great thoughts and reasoning.

I think it would be a good idea for them to plan for a hold off for a Christmas release of a new console
and so they can hopefully get that K1 chip for a good price, which would hopefully allow them to move
away from the go-to 'jab' at the OUYA about it having low end graphics.
Also the K1 chip along with whatever else they are able to improve will hopefully enable them to break
into a more positive press response upon release in a manner where they can express their improvements
from the previous version. As you mentioned if they come out with their yearly planned 'revision/turnover'
not only will they end up fragmenting their consoles they'll lose the opportunity to make a bigger deal
about it and the marketing opportunity that could get them.
With a new mobile being released each year-where the gaming power isn't only focus, the games are
generally developed for previous generations of the phone to still handle them, however there are still
reasons for people to upgrade for that new phone.

In the OUYA's case, it's a gaming console, games are what it is meant for, if you were to just go up to
the K4 at this earlier stage, most developers would still want to keep games compatible for users
with the first OUYA, and there wouldn't be a significant enough difference between the 2 to try and
develop for OUYA 2 which would inevitably have a lower userbase than OUYA 1 because of its early release.
OUYA 2 would end up becoming a pointless purchase and it would destroy the OUYA's reputation completely.

If they wait for the K1 for an end of year release it would give a larger incentive to upgrade with a
significantly larger amount that could be accomplished with the upgraded hardware, which couldn't be
achieved on the current version. It would also give them a marketing angle of being able to say that
their power is now for more than mobiles games and hopefully break that view from stubborn people.
And I think they should announce it 3 months early (without giving an exact date) to give developers
a heads up if they aren't sure what performance they should be aiming for with their game, etc.
Also they really need to change their marketing angle a lot as many have mentioned.
This is a unique opportunity for developers to be able to create indie console experiences similar to how
steam greenlight opened up a larger market for PC indie experiences. The 'AAA' consoles are far to
expensive to bring experiences from new developers to. Their 'attempts' to favor Indie development
are just examples of how poorly the people behind them really understand Indie games,
OUYA has the opportunity to get it right.


Either way the manner in which they bring the next OUYA out will make or break it,
I really hope they manage to use this opportunity to make it a bigger deal and get people to take another
look at it so it can at least get up to the conversational value of the Wii/WiiU.

[Nitrogen_Widget]

A revision doesnt change the very capabilities of the device to the point where software created for the new revision wont run on the past revision. You can create apps for iphone 5 that wont run on the 4. Therefore it is in fact a new device. Ouya has not created 2 seperate devices with the 16mb version because they havnt changed the important specs. That being soc and ram.are there any games made in the last yr that wont run on all revisions of xbox 360 or ps4?i dont believe so because the important specs of those devices stayed the same.

I disagree here. They are faster and better, yes, but they can still be considered "revisions" in a way.
Look at a different example: NES, SNES, N64. These are 3 totally different systems, they are not compatible, and they are legitimately being marketed as entirely new/different consoles. Nowadays it's not like this anymore, the basic hardware platform is the same, they "just" improve the speed, storage, screen quality (if present), etc, and yes, they might put a "1, 2, 3, 4" behind it, but it can, in my opinion, still be considered a "revision", and this is the reason why I think Ouya releasing one new console a year is not comparable to let's say Playstation 1, 2, 3, 4 which have 5-7 years between each other and are completely different beasts, as you say.

[Jon_TWR]

I like the idea of annual revisions. Ouya isn't the only microconsole on the market anymore, and more will continue to be released. I hope they stick to their guns and release new SoC hardware every year or close to every year. I wouldn't mind if the first refresh cycle is 15 months, but definitely want to see Ouya continuing to update their hardware and keep up with the competition. I'd also like to see a way to backup and restore my Ouya, particularly one that will let me migrate my saves and data between Ouyas. That's a critical feature they need to have worked out before they launch an Ouya with a new SoC.

For those of you who want a 2 year plus cycle...just buy every other release. Boom! Problem solved, and you don,t have to worry about Ouya Inc being made obselete by failing to compete with the rest of the emerging microconsole market.

[Killswitch]

I like the idea of annual revisions. Ouya isn't the only microconsole on the market anymore, and more will continue to be released. I hope they stick to their guns and release new SoC hardware every year or close to every year. I wouldn't mind if the first refresh cycle is 15 months, but definitely want to see Ouya continuing to update their hardware and keep up with the competition. I'd also like to see a way to backup and restore my Ouya, particularly one that will let me migrate my saves and data between Ouyas. That's a critical feature they need to have worked out before they launch an Ouya with a new SoC.

For those of you who want a 2 year plus cycle...just buy every other release. Boom! Problem solved, and you don,t have to worry about Ouya Inc being made obselete by failing to compete with the rest of the emerging microconsole market.

Who are we considering other microconsoles? The rest are Google boxes and rumors so far. Tron may or may not be China only but it LOOKS like China only for now.

[zeha]

@ Nitrogen_Widget

Yes but at least they're backwards compatible. Either way you look at it, at least I think we could agree that typical hardware updates in the mobile world (iPhone, Nexus, etc) are something in between; they are NOT completely new devices (like NES, SNES, N64) but also NOT just minor update like more storage etc.: They are an incremental update with more speed, more storage, etc, but they are still mostly compatible with the previous generation and thus not a totally new system.

[Warzard]

You can only justify hardware updates when the hardware too overworked by developers. Can anyone really say that any of the games out on OUYA right now have been doing this? Sideloaded games work fine, most only need to be tweaked a little for OUYA to run even better than on a phone that has to do a bunch of things in addition to run a game. If OUYA went to K1 in October, who is the dev that is going to use all that extra power? IMO, jumping to K1 is not idea unless OUYA is going to make 1st party or pay for 2nd party games. Until we get some of the bigger android devs to make optimized version of games that could only run on OUYA(like a 60fps Modern Combat 4 or N.O.V.A. 3)they should stick to a slower upgrade policy.

I could see OUYA go to a KFC style of up grading, original recipe, extra crispy, and extra crispy spicy: 8gb with tegra 3, 16gb with tegra 3, 16gb with tegra 4. RAM would of course be in the equation too. Or if they go to tegra 4, have 16, 32, or 64gb hd and 1, 2,or 4gb of RAM. If they want to use K1 IMO dump android and try to become a Steam machine(if that is even possible).