What's the purpose of the OUYA?

[Sluup]

The Ouya is suppose to give indie devs a place to start, giving them a chance to bring/make their games on to the big screen instead of heandhelds. They also made it easier for devs to get their games on the Ouya as well as giving them more of the money in each sale.

Some games on Google Play have controller support but it's up to the devs to add that feature in, games like Angry Birds or Plants vs. Zombies will require you to use the touchpad on the controller or use a mouse.

In general it can emulate every console from the year 2000 and down assuming that they have those emulators, except for DreamCast and Gamecube. (I think they're made after but, meh) It can also emulate GBA, NDS, and PSP too, but N64 and PSP are the toughest ones to emulate. PSP being not able to run most 3D games with playable framerates, and N64 just being annoying with having to switch the plugina back and forward between games just so the game works properly.

[Xipooo]

Big 3 = Great Brittain circa 1776
OUYA = American Rebels

In much the same way that the American Rebels didn't really know HOW they were going to fight the war, they just knew they had a cause that bound them all together. FREEDOM. It was enough of a reason for them to ultimately prevail.

There was a sense of injustice that laws were being dictated to the American colonists without proper representation. Much in the same way Developers must cow-tow to the when, how, and what of the Big 3 console manufacturers. The rules are written by people who do not desire freedom of the masses. They want strict control over the goods, and how those goods are disseminated.

OUYA offers up freedom to developers. A much more capitalistic sense of development. As an OUYA developer you can put anything you want in your game (except for illegal or sexual content) as long as you think it will make your game better. If it doesn't, then you find out quickly from your customer base and you can adjust accordingly. However with the Big 3, they are the ultimate overlord that must approve of every addition or change to your game.

There are trade-offs for the freedom, just as in real life. A developer can make a mistake that ultimately kills their game. When you develop under one of the big 3, this is still possible but because you are following practices which have proven successful the chance is somewhat less significant.

You also end up with variety. This is both good and bad. Ideally the bad games get weeded out because they do not have enough popularity to sustain the company who made the game. People vote with their money and don't buy the product, leading to only the best games left alive. However with that variety you get more misses than hits. Everyone has their own idea of how something should work, and most of those ideas are crap. If they were all good ideas, we would have far more billionaires in the world.

Ultimately, the OUYA is the first GIANT step towards creating an open marketplace for consoles. Hopefully it continues to adapt to what the people want and eventually becomes the best console available. But if we look towards history, not all stories of freedom end positively. Despite being open and free, Linux distributions do not come anywhere close to Microsoft and Apple for the PC market, even while offering the same capabilities. Lebanon was once the jewel of the Middle East, with many freedoms. Now it is dominated by radicalism.

Hopefully OUYA can continue to grow and become that one console everyone must have. But for now, it's just the opening salvo for freedom in the console war.

[Matt Schindler]

Thanks for the responses guys. Like I said, I'm definitely looking forward to my Ouya showing up. The sheer size of it and the controller layout have me excited on a physical level. As far as software goes, I guess there really isn't anything "Special" about it in terms of capabilities versus something like a smart phone app, but the controller-based gameplay should seemingly allow for a much more solid control scheme than touch screen gameplay.

I did have a couple more questions if anybody knows the answer.

1. I kind of mentioned this before, but how does touchscreen content translate onto the OUYA? Since sideloading Google Play List onto the device is possible and everything on there is built with touch-screen gameplay in mind, how do they simulate that. I was just curious about being able to download something like, for example, Grand Theft Auto 3 onto the Ouya since it's already actively included in the Google Market.

2. I suspect the answer to this is a resounding no, but just to be sure, is there any way to run older PC games on this. If I wanted to go back and download an old classic like Road Rage or SimAnt, is there any kind of emulator or anything that would allow something like this?

[Carrie Brown]

-It's open

Devs can self-publish their games and apps without jumping through hoops or buying expensive dev kits.
This also allows for a great amount of customization and for apps that wouldn't be allowed or unlikely on other consoles--XMBC, emulators, apps that stream PC games, etc
It's got the openness of a PC platform but the convenience of a TV console.

So far, Ouya has come much further than other open consoles such as the linux based handhelds Pandora and GP2X.

-It's in step with market trends.

Don't know why people think that Ouya has no appeal or is still trying to find it's market. All you have to do is look at the other competitors that have announced their own microconsoles.

Apps aren't just for phones and tablets anymore. Enter Smart TVs. Some apps are games. So why not games, too? Some set top boxes already have games preinstalled on them. My boyfriend's mother was playing Angry Birds on her TV before the Ouya existed. Ouya is just a gaming focused version of this.


-Price point
Tegra 3 can't support super realistic looking games, sure. But it can support some really nice looking HD games...and for $99 for a console and about $5 for a game...that's called VALUE!

[masvil]

Frankly the Madcatz MOJO should be releasing before Christmas and will be packing Tegra 4 and full Play Store/Amazon support, but lacking a dedicated "console games" storefront outside of maybe Nvidia Tegrazone, which is where OUYA could shine.

Frankly do you think all of Play Store/Amazon games/app will suddenly be compatible with Madcatz MOJO controller? Don't you think that's a fake prospect for marketing purpose?

[MABManZ]

Frankly do you think all of Play Store/Amazon games/app will suddenly be compatible with Madcatz MOJO controller? Don't you think that's a fake prospect for marketing purpose?

Tegra Zone has a section on their storefront with games that all support gamepads (same store Shield uses). The MOJO controller is HID compatible so any game w/ gamepad support is compatible, also it has a mouse mode to play touch-based games...

[rushmore]

The Shield and Mojo are supposed to work fine with generic game pad settings. There are far more apps that work with controllers in Play market than Ouya and always will be. Catch is those devices IMO are to some degree cost prohibitive. Especially the $250 Mojo. They should call it Mofo, since that will be most customers reaction to the price.

[masvil]

The Shield and Mojo are supposed to work fine with generic game pad settings. There are far more apps that work with controllers in Play market than Ouya and always will be.

OK, but there's a workaround! Anyway let's hope OUYA project will open to that HID standard (can it be done via software update?).

Catch is those devices IMO are to some degree cost prohibitive. Especially the $250 Mojo. They should call it Mofo, since that will be most customers reaction to the price.

Really agree, I think OUYA stock concept ("essential" hardware, no more) is the real winner in this 1st stage of "Android consoles".

[alabtrosMyster]

When I have young kids over I plug them on Amazing Frog, they are amazed by it and that way they do not ask for my more serious (expensive) toys... :-D

Otherwise, with XBMC 12.3.2 installed it's a pretty good media center client, gives you access to all sort of content (movies, music, pictures...) either on a USB drive or on the network like me... it uses a lot less power than a full blown PC or a traditional console (and it's almost impossible to ear it, so it's less distracting).

The other strong point are the emulators, if you are into that sort of things...

The free trials on all the games is great too and you will see experimental games you would never see anywhere else, often for good reason, however I like to know they have a chance to try it out, you never know what shape the next big thing will take after all...

However, I would strongly advise against buying any content on it as long as there is no offline mode, if their servers are offline (or you do not have access to internet) anything you purchased will be disabled, IMMEDIATELY... pretty frustrating... so I would stick with the free stuff out of principle... (unfortunately I bought a few items before I discovered this "feature").