OUYA

[infiniteneslives]

http://www.ouya.tv/

Thought I'd post this up for anyone who hasn't seen this yet. Having an emu on this thing could present a decent opportunity to release homebrew NES games without (or in addition to) the hassles of cartridge release. Or even a full out console game for those interested in more hardware than the NES has to offer. Pretty cool to see this thing being supported so well.

[Dwedit]

If it runs any Android program, then it runs any Android NES emulator that already exists.

[tepples]

An emulator for packaging NES games for Ouya Store distribution would still need to be customized for this machine to fit its user interface guidelines, to have the controller mapped correctly on first run, and to remove the ROM selection form in favor of running only the included game.

[Nioreh]

I ordered an Ouya like on the first day. It would be cool to release nes games on it bundled with an emulator.

[slobu]

I personally don't understand the awesomeness of an artificially locked down Android machine. Sub $100 Android portable machines with HDMI and joystick support already exist.

[Movax12]

If they are smart, they'll make it 'easy' to mod or jailbreak or allow easy access to homebrew applications such as emulators. It's inevitable anyhow and better for everyone involved ultimately.

[Nioreh]

It's designed with ease of modding ind mind (both hw and sw). It's "locked" because they want to reach a wide audience of less techy users unlike us. That will help in building a large user base of both developers and gamers. A console with specific hardware and controllers that is easy to pick up and plug in and play, and easy to develop for. I think it's a great idea. Of course there are other android based devices, and noone is stopping anyone from developing more.

[tepples]

I personally don't understand the awesomeness of an artificially locked down Android machine.

What you call "lockdown" other people call "focus". Most people just don't want to plug something they think of as a "computer" into a television monitor.

Sub $100 Android portable machines with HDMI and joystick support already exist.

Even if they exist, they're not filling niches that Ouya attempts to fill. Consider these points:

1. Are existing Android-powered gaming tablets like the JXD S5100 given much of a promotion campaign outside Red China? For example, are they promoted to the North American and Western European market? Ouya is.
2. Is this sub-$100 figure the total cost of ownership, or does it assume a subsidy from the sale of an $1800 per two years cellular voice and data plan? Ouya is designed to work with Wi-Fi, which is traditionally associated with plans that charge per household, not per device.
3. You say joystick "support". Google ended up breaking a popular controller driver by changing how Bluetooth works in Android 4.2. I can assume that a device that ships with a controller won't break the controllers that it shipped with.

If they are smart, they'll make it 'easy' to mod

Every Ouya console can be turned into a devkit, by design. The average, non-technical home user doesn't mind the lockdown; otherwise, there wouldn't have been a console market for the past quarter century. There has to be some lockdown in order to reassure professional developers that they'll be able to sell more than one copy of their works, as opposed to selling one copy to a member of the warez scene and having everybody else download infringing copies from a warez site.

[Sik]

What you call "lockdown" other people call "focus". Most people just don't want to plug something they think of as a "computer" into a television monitor.

That has nothing to do with complexity and all to do with business. That just means the platform holder wants to make money out of every piece of software that gets released. You could very well have a non walled garden platform that is easy to just plug and use.

Mind you, not sure if the Ouya allows running games not taken from the store. It may allow sideloading without rooting, after all.

There has to be some lockdown in order to reassure professional developers that they'll be able to sell more than one copy of their works, as opposed to selling one copy to a member of the warez scene and having everybody else download infringing copies from a warez site.

If this was the case computers would have been killed for gaming soon after they started being used for that purpose. How many decades ago was that?

[tepples]

Computers were already killed for same-screen multiplayer gaming by the lack of TV output in EGA and VGA cards, by the rise of the LAN party starting around the time of Doom, and by the rise of Internet play with strangers in QuakeWorld.

[Sik]

...whoever mentioned same-screen multiplayer? We were talking about gaming in general.

[tepples]

Same-screen multiplayer is the big hole in the PC's game lineup. If people were more willing to connect a device that ran PC games (even if not a "PC") to a TV, there'd be a market for indie games that support same-screen multiplayer. But right now, same-screen multiplayer is stuck on consoles and indie gamers who aren't alumni of a mainstream studio are stuck on PCs, which means indie developers are locked out of entire genres. This frustration is why Ouya exists.

[Sik]

I was talking about locking down devices, though. You were talking like if the device isn't a walled garden then it's doomed to failure because developers aren't guaranteed games won't get copied (even though that happens on pretty much every platform, even iOS). Computers are pretty much the prime example of why that is wrong.

And same-screen multiplayer on PCs was killed since pretty much the beginning due to lack of suitable input devices, not due to not being able to use a TV, by the way. Getting two players on the same keyboard gets tedious and key ghosting completely ruins it. Joysticks would have fixed this, but unlike with other home computers they weren't considered the standard device for gaming and most people never had one (that's more of a recent thing and even then it's usually just one).

And Ouya seems to be trying to go for console gamers anyway, not PC gamers - and honestly, even big developers are trying to squish same-screen multiplayer away from consoles (so every player is required to buy a copy of the game along with whatever DLC is required).

[tepples]

I was talking about locking down devices, though.

My complaint is that historically, same-screen multiplayer has been limited to locked-down devices that require developers to be alumni of an established game studio. Ouya changes this.

And same-screen multiplayer on PCs was killed since pretty much the beginning due to lack of suitable input devices

PCs have supported USB gamepads since 1999, and they've supported Xbox 360 controllers since the Xbox 360 came out.

and honestly, even big developers are trying to squish same-screen multiplayer away from consoles

So why doesn't Street Fighter IV for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 require two consoles and two copies of the game? There are some genres where same-screen just makes sense, and those are where the screen isn't split.

[Sik]

My complaint is that historically, same-screen multiplayer has been limited to locked-down devices that require developers to be alumni of an established game studio. Ouya changes this.

Nobody mentioned multiplayer until after my post =P And if I understood the discussion correctly it was about the Ouya trying to be a locked down system because of the store - although I'm not 100% sure about whether it's really locked down or not. Does the Ouya allow running non-store games without rooting it?

PCs have supported USB gamepads since 1999, and they've supported Xbox 360 controllers since the Xbox 360 came out.

And even the original PCs supported two joysticks. The problem wasn't whether there were suitable input devices available, it was whether users had them, and most users didn't bother getting a joystick, honestly (let alone two, but one player on keyboard and another on joystick at least was manageable). Getting controllers for PCs became more commonplace in the last years.

So why doesn't Street Fighter IV for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 require two consoles and two copies of the game? There are some genres where same-screen just makes sense, and those are where the screen isn't split.

I said trying, not that they have completely killed it.