Ouya - Android based open gaming console

[Wrath Of Khan]

we still dont know what the p2 is so its hard to put a value on it from the users point of view.Its about the price of an ipad thingy which i dont care for.P2 i have no doubt will be worth it.Bring it on mr rothwell.

 

[Nintendo]

You know, I actually decided to cancel my pledge, the more I read about this the more it starts to sound a little wacky. The guys behind it don't really seem to know exactly what they want out of it, it's more like a big bowl full of cool ideas. I'll watch it and see if anything interesting materialises, but I don't like the way it's going right now.

Wow, if more and more people cancel their pledges then Ouya might be doa.


Also, please don't feel dirty or the snword, because Garrett is clean.

 

[ferrule]

I can't say it often enough, You will loose customers with that high prize. When Pandora was announced for $300 it was, what I was personally able to pay and was ready to pay for it as I liked the idea and everything about it.


With $700 I will never be able to pay that much money for it

Do you think maybe you have said it often enough now?


We cannot make it for a lower price and continue as a viable business.


As usual devs will get units for free, or for a substantially discounted rate.

Id assume the inner circle of known developers would get their p2 early/free.


Developers should be given refunds based on community involvement. pay $600, release something popular. people donate and they'll get money back?


This would hopefully resolve any issues with chumps stealing them. maybe?

Interesting point. I just upgraded to a 1Ghz machine and fully expect to spend a bunch of time porting android and anything else that's interesting to me for it. I don't really want to wave my hands around and say give me a free device because if I hate working on it, or something comes along and eats all my free time I would feel pretty badly about using up those resources. However, a good financial carrot would certainly make me more willing to work on the device.


So what's the best way to deal with that? XDA developers usually just get 'tipped' by their user base or maybe setup a bounty for something bigger. Probably that would be the best way to go.

 

[Mr_Loon]

So what's the best way to deal with that?

Starting a thread in the Android section of the boards, would be my advice.


So they've currently, on day 2 of 30 got 25,100 orders to ship, and $3 million raised (with KS fees taken into account). That means approx $120 per order. Still seems an optimistic figure but a little more believable than $99.

 

[Prometheus]

Its about the price of an ipad thingy which i dont care for.

Except, those are $499 (~£321.85), not $699. The UK price is £399 (~$618), but this of course includes markups and taxes, and I'm unsure if the currently-projected Pandora 2 price also does - I welcome corrections on that!


More on-topic, this is still reminding me way too much of the Infinium Labs Phantom - they also claimed support from lots of big-name developers, and the like, too, after all (how soon people forget...). This said, I'd certainly see a lot more value in it, even if it doesn't take off as intended, if it was using that Ubuntu/Android go-between setup, as that would make it a genuinely useful, low-power computer, to me. Anyone know if they are using it?

 

[vcoleiro1]

$3.5 Million now and still rising.


Well if they can make and deliver a MK802 for $79 and still make a profit, I cant see why these guys cant make a similiar device and make a profit at $99 plus post. A lot of people will be opting for the second controller also, combine that with those who opted for the higher value pledges and the average will probably be more like $140 - $150 per console + post.


It's an interesting concept. time will tell if it takes off. They really need to open up the $699 Developer pledge again though as to me this is stopping developers coming on board - why do that.


I did hear a rumour a little time ago that Apple were contemplating an IOS gaming device. Will see if that eventuates.


By the way you can follow Julie Uhrman the founder of Ouya on twitter here: http://twitter.com/juhrman

 

[GiraffeeDreams]

I thought thats what they were going to do with apple tv, add gaming apps to it, maybe they still will, I am impressed with how theyve done, I see there is a vote on and they games that get the most votes they are going to try and get the license to remake it for their little console (I personally asked for TimeSplitters 2).


I didn't expect it to be so wildly popular

 

[Stephane Hockenhull]

As usual devs will get units for free, or for a substantially discounted rate.

really? as usual?


does this "as usual" includes those devs who paid in full and 3 years later are still left waiting for their pandora ?

 

[Kaniu]

especially with the hardware they are specifying.


google loose money on the nexus 7 at 200$.

Not according to this http://gadgets.ndtv.com/tablets/news/google-nexus-7-costs-160-to-make-isuppli-242506

 

[sebt3]

I can't say it often enough, You will loose customers with that high prize. When Pandora was announced for $300 it was, what I was personally able to pay and was ready to pay for it as I liked the idea and everything about it.


With $700 I will never be able to pay that much money for it

Do you think maybe you have said it often enough now?


We cannot make it for a lower price and continue as a viable business.

You're right, I will shut up now


And start saving...

Are you crazy ?


With 700 bucks you can get a good tablet (300$) and an average laptop. Yes that's it : 2 devices for the price craigx is asking.


I paid the original price and that was my highest barrier.


Geez, I'm making good money here, but 700$ for a gaming device is too expensive for me.


For the next time I'll probably go with tablet + 6 axis and pay my upper limit for a gaming device :350$

 

[craigix]

$3.5 Million now and still rising.


Well if they can make and deliver a MK802 for $79 and still make a profit, I cant see why these guys cant make a similiar device and make a profit at $99 plus post. A lot of people will be opting for the second controller also, combine that with those who opted for the higher value pledges and the average will probably be more like $140 - $150 per console + post.


It's an interesting concept. time will tell if it takes off. They really need to open up the $699 Developer pledge again though as to me this is stopping developers coming on board - why do that.


I did hear a rumour a little time ago that Apple were contemplating an IOS gaming device. Will see if that eventuates.


By the way you can follow Julie Uhrman the founder of Ouya on twitter here: http://twitter.com/juhrman

The problem for them is the controller could easily cost almost as much as the console to develop.


If I was them I'd have made the controller *the console* and saved major $.

As usual devs will get units for free, or for a substantially discounted rate.

really? as usual?


does this "as usual" includes those devs who paid in full and 3 years later are still left waiting for their pandora ?

None that we know of have contacted us in a polite way. Like a discreet PM.

 

[McLovin]

i agree with craig. they should have focused on a controller and a steam-like gaming platform. Especially the last one would make sense, as it could help enforce a real android gaming standard for external controllers, circumvent the stupid mandatory credit card in google's play store and more. They could have licensed "ready for ouya" labes to hardware vendors and make additional money that way.


In 2 years, there will be mobile phones and especially tablets with dramatically more horse-power then the ouya, bluetooth and hdmi-out. Buying a little cube just to connect it to a tv is stupid. And bad for the environment.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

I keep flitting between wanting to support this and being incredibly wary, evey ounce of my being is telling me that they're going to fold before anything ever hits the shelves, or at best everyone will end up with a rickety console with a 75% failure rate, no software support, and no company to send it back to.

 

[socket]

It seems that many here are simply "hating on" the Ouya... I threw $330USD into the Pandora and waited for ages for it... I am in for $99 on this and if it succeeds, awesome, if not, it's not THAT much money.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

Well the Pandora had working prototypes and numerous videos of its functions before I pre-ordered, it was also completely plausible in terms of costs and software, and everybody knew the guys that were making it, the Ouya on the other hand hasn't shown us anything tangible yet, its price point seems impossibly low vs what you're getting, and nobody has any real idea of how the system's software is going to work. Although the Pandora was a larger investment it still felt safer than this.


Let it be said that I am totally hoping that it doesn't all go wrong because I am very interested in the Ouya, I just need a few more updates before I finally decide I want to be on board.

 

[Exophase]

Except, those are $499 (~£321.85), not $699. The UK price is £399 (~$618), but this of course includes markups and taxes, and I'm unsure if the currently-projected Pandora 2 price also does - I welcome corrections on that!

Yeah, and last year's model (iPad 2) is only $399 and still pretty good as far as tablets go. I expect that as more low cost ($200) tablets join the fray Apple will continue offering somewhat cheaper (although not as cheap) tablets along-side them. This isn't like phones where the contract plans obscure a lot of the upfront unit costs, they have to compete for direct end user sales. And iPad Touch is pretty aggressively priced.


I'd probably be less critical of Pandora 2's $699 price if I knew they were committed to gradually lowering it with time. Maybe this is the long term plan, I don't really know, but I haven't heard anything about it. I'm worried about the precedent the current Pandora is setting (of the price going up a lot after release)

 

[craigix]

I sound like a total bitch, but Pocket Gamer picked up on my concerns: http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Android/Ouya/feature.asp?c=43030

 

[erico]

Great article,


Their price point dosen´t concern me much, they sure have more money behind the curtains and kickstarter is just a pre-sale investment.


People calculating the final price of each of their machines, also have to put in the interest on investing the final kickstart campaing money.


The later could greatly add to its individual cost.


My first problem is that I see nothing new on this hardwarewise.


Second problem is with the use of crowd funding systems when you are already a big company.


It will work, it will be a while before people realize what is behind such.


Back on the article,


you could have sent the picture with the silver pandora! I think it is prettier.

 

[craigix]

I didn't send any pics, they made the article based on my views.


What it says is essentially what I think though.

 

[Prometheus]

It seems that many here are simply "hating on" the Ouya... I threw $330USD into the Pandora and waited for ages for it... I am in for $99 on this and if it succeeds, awesome, if not, it's not THAT much money.

You really read genuine concerns about the fact that the presentation of this device (a glossy video aimed at pushing gamers' buttons, and lots of hype, essentially) resembles investor-scams, such as the Phantom, as "hating"? There isn't one person in here hating on the device - any posts with a negative slant are clearly providing good reasoning for it.


I'm glad that $99 isn't a lot of money to you, I really am, but that doesn't mean that people who've seen this sort of thing* before and are sensibly wary of it are just "hating" on it - that just sounds like an attempt to justify possibly throwing away $99 and getting nothing in return.


*("This sort of thing" being a startup coming out of nowhere with a shiny item accompanied by too-good-to-be-true marketing that just so happens to appeal to some people's sensibilities, who also claims to have the backing of many big-name developers, and getting a lot of credibility from the press, some of whom even state that they really shouldn't be giving such coverage to a no-name startup who has yet to make and sell a product.)

Although the Pandora was a larger investment it still felt safer than this.

Absolutely agreed - it did feel safer than the Ouya.