What kind of Core games the ouya need to get mass appeal?

[Ant]

arctic dog hit the nail on the head. perfectly said.

and schitzo, what are you talking about man? people play cod for months if not years (if you consider their investments over multiple sequels) fps gamers are like the opposite of casuals

[Schizophretard]

and schitzo, what are you talking about man? people play cod for months if not years (if you consider their investments over multiple sequels) fps gamers are like the opposite of casuals

I'm talking about how a genre doesn't determine how casually one plays a game. I don't doubt that there are people that play FPS for months or years but the same could be said about any genre. It could also go the other way around and there could be people who play FPS more casually. There could be just as many people or more that play FPS for only a half hour before dinner or something like that as there are people that skip work to play a FPS all day. The same with any genre.

There was a time when FPS didn't even exist. Was everyone casual gamers back then? Of course not. They played other genres. Many OUYA users are playing those genres on emulators right now and just like CoD have been playing them for months if not years and DECADES. Does these genres just magically turn into casual games just because they make their way onto a Nintendo product or mobile device? That would make no sense.

A genre doesn't determine how dedicated the players are to a game. A genre or game doesn't determine it but the individual gamers themselves do. How much into games they are and their preferences determine how much and what they play. To show you what I mean think of genres of other things outside of video gaming. Name me casual music genres, book genres, movie genres, sports genres, etc. You couldn't do it because that would be ridiculous. Imagine if someone claimed that people that listen to Rock are more hardcore than people that listen to Rap and the people that listen to Rap do it more casually. They like Rap but just a little bit and there are no hardcore super Rap fans that can listen to it all day. That would make no sense for music genres or genres for anything else. So, why would video games be the exception?

I don't believe it is an exception. I believe it is a made up myth. If it were true then there would have to be some causal link like people evolving to have a genetic predisposition to be more into one genre more than another like us being the most violent species of the great apes and therefore more drawn to FPS. But then there is violence in other genres. So, maybe it is the competitiveness? Also, in other genres. Maybe it has to do with fantasy, exploration, problem solving, being surprised by the unexpected, humor, adrenaline, etc? Also, things found in other genres. Humans have a genetic predisposition for ALL genres because they all have things that appeal to human minds because they were conceived of from human minds that thought they were fun when they programmed them.

However, I would agree with the idea that most gamers are "casual gamers" but that applies to everything because out of the people that are into anything the people that are really into it are the minority. To bring up music, books, movies, sports, etc again out of all of them the majority are "casual" because most people aren't hardcore super fans of every thing they like. Most people that like music don't have massive music collections and go to concerts every chance they get. Most people that like books don't have libraries in their houses and go to book signings. Most people that like movies don't have a massive movie collection and go to the theater every week. Most people that like sports don't have sports memorabilia all over their houses and have season tickets. It is always the minority that is the most hardcore but that can't be separated into genres. The "hardcore" and "casuals" are within the same genres. For every genre of every thing there are the hardcore super fans and then the majority of everyone else within that genre being more casual about it with no exceptions.

Going back to OUYA. If "hardcore genres" were brought it will bring the hardcore players of them along with the casual players of them who are the majority. If "casual genres" were brought it will bring the casual players of them along with the "hardcore" players who are the minority. So, either way it is approached it will bring the hardcore and casual of each genre. Why? Because there is no such thing as hardcore and casual genres. It is a myth. A person that owns a bunch of Angry Birds merchandise and plays it all day like some Angry Bird junkie is more hardcore than someone who only plays CoD a half hour per day. The same holds true the other way around.

Therefore, the more genres, more games, more variety, etc. that is brought to the OUYA the more mass appeal it will have.

[Paul Laimal-Convoy]

What OUYA needs to do is to contact any 3rd party makers of Vita and 3DS try to get them to make OUYA/Android ports. A majority of them are Japanese developers and since there are few outlets for their games some would be tempted. There is the problem of native/foreign relations, but hopefully the potential for a new customer base would be enough. Also, OUYA can't let the "Big Dogs" of Android keep sitting on the sideline of the OUYA ecosystem. Even if they have to resort to this:


To get Gameloft, Glu, EA, Ubisoft, Bing, Capcom, whoever at this point that is what is needed to help OUYA get traction in year 2.

I doubt Japanese companies would be interested. It was difficult enough getting Japanese companies interested in Steam and XBOX, yet alone a DOA western console. Japanese video game companies have become increasingly inward-looking, with most of their focus on their own hardcore gaming market. That's why you'll find Monster Hunter and Pokémon games frequently in the top seller categories.

[Warzard]

I doubt Japanese companies would be interested. It was difficult enough getting Japanese companies interested in Steam and XBOX, yet alone a DOA western console. Japanese video game companies have become increasingly inward-looking, with most of their focus on their own hardcore gaming market. That's why you'll find Monster Hunter and Pokémon games frequently in the top seller categories.

They always were inward looking. They look at Japan first and the rest is gravy. That's why even though Metal Gear and Splinter Cell share a number of qualities(most better on Splinter Cell at this point) Kojima still doesn't see them in direct competition. In the 90's, Capcom never thought of MK as comp for Street Fighter, they looked more at SNK's games. SEGA was one of the only companies to look at the west as a major source of revenue, but they gave up when the Dreamcast tanked natively. Japan's indie devs are small in number, but growing and most of their outlets are on Vita and 3DS online stores. Some have made it to Android but more can be done to help. Do I think they will all of a sudden start making a bunch of games on OUYA, no. But if one comes out and make a little ripple in their indie scene, it might coax others into doing the same. At this point can't hurt can it?

P.S. about the OUYA being DOA:

 

[xAD]

I'm talking about how a genre doesn't determine how casually one plays a game...

Excellent post, but what everyone else is referring to is current (since around the end of the fighting game era) gamer jargon, in which "hardcore gamer" means "person who only plays click-on-heads games (aka first person shooters)" and "casual gamer" means "person who plays any other type of video game".
I've always found it moronic - and it only gets worse when people take that mangled meaning of hardcore as a badge of honor and spend their time bragging about how cool they are because they only play click-on-heads games and how stupid people who play in the vast open fields of video entertainment are.

Sports games, oddly, don't fit in either category.

[Jeffry84]

Sports games, oddly, don't fit in either category.

Digressing a little, grab a pack of pop corn and come here to watch some PES vs. FIFA war, and then the PES+FIFA deadly alliance vs. any other sports game , be it realistic (e.g. Top Spin, Madden NFL) or not (e.g. Everybody's & Wii Sports)

[Schizophretard]

Excellent post, but what everyone else is referring to is current (since around the end of the fighting game era) gamer jargon, in which "hardcore gamer" means "person who only plays click-on-heads games (aka first person shooters)" and "casual gamer" means "person who plays any other type of video game".
I've always found it moronic - and it only gets worse when people take that mangled meaning of hardcore as a badge of honor and spend their time bragging about how cool they are because they only play click-on-heads games and how stupid people who play in the vast open fields of video entertainment are.

Sports games, oddly, don't fit in either category.

The definitions of hardcore and casual gamer are so subjective and open to opinion that it is doubtful that they are part of objective reality. At least not part of it in a way that there could be a consensus on who are in each category and observe these categories really existing. Even if the above definition is correct then what about the people who only play FPS but play them casually? If the definition is revised to "Only people who play FPS but not casually" then how much do they have to play them exactly to cross the line from casual to hardcore? Even narrowing it down to only people who play FPS but not casually we still can't organize gamers into these two categories. They don't exist in any meaningful and useful way. I think this guy expresses it well:

[James Andrew Coote]

Yes, we're getting into semantics now, and the terms are starting to break down in their usefulness.

The point is, games targeted at teenage and adult men's violent tendencies are already well served on other platforms. OUYA can't compete on graphics/marketing/existing loyalties, and actually that audience represents a minority of game players anyway.

[elend]

Yes, I understand that there is little to no profit in the Emulator and XBMC crown. Question ist; Does it always have to be like that? Maybe they can monetize it a bit more. Spend more efforts on the emulators themselfs, thus making Ouya at the moment the most interesting Emulation machine (apart from bulky / expensive PCs) and Mediaplayer.

Also, I am wondering, why there are not more ports of already existing and awesome looking Android games from the likes of Gameloft, etc. This could also help sell a tad more Ouyas, since some of these games really look great, have some big names and well yeah...

[Ant]

thats possible but really damn hard. itunes, spotify and other streaming services did prove that people will cut back on piracy if the model of consumption is affordable, well thought out, and offers a good tech, but man, thats hard and would open up a pandoras box as far as copyright law is concerned so id say it doubtful. onllive offers a similar option for new games but its much more complicated legally working out the rights to older games.