OUYA- The indie developer's dream

[crab2selout.png]

crab: that article was needlessly skeptical to the point of missing information.

Firstly, it's been merely 10 days since the Ouya has been public, and you're already expecting a full line up of launch titles? The console will already be compatible with a lot of games that already use the Tegra 3 and Julie Uhrman has said to site the Tegra 3 video that has been posted to see what games on the Ouya will be capable of, and titles that will be an easy fit for Ouya.

It wasn't that i was expecting a full line up, just skeptical about them being given access to Google's market. But that's a hard thing to predict as you said below. And that hasn't stopped  developers/publishers to date from submitting to separate. but compatible markets like Amazon or Nook.

While it is not shown in production art currently, the Ouya controller is planned to have a touch screen on it to enable such functions. While it won't be as natural as using an actual mobile touch device, Julie believes that the experience of being immersed into a game via a large television screen, and all the nostalgia that comes from consoles will make up for that bit of unnatural-ness.

My bad, I was looking a little too closely at he controller mockup.

The article then goes to accuse that the kickstarter campaign is most likely just to impress investors, which is simply untrue. Julie has said in her interviews that "friends and family" have already invested money into the project and that was enough for the prototype and to assemble the team. Rightfully she hasn't released every explicit detail about their finances, but she has said that the 950,000 that was the kickstarter goal would be all that is necessary for the console to be a reality.

On the google play point:
Nothing is set in stone on that either way, I would at least wait till the project is funded before dismissing it's possibility.

The idea behind the Ouya is to give a new business model for console gaming. The "$99 console for the 99%" quote I think works well to explain their intentions. Not all casual gamers have the knowledge, or the devices to hook up a $400 dollar ipad or other tablet with a controller ( Ouya is also of course looking to have accessories such as wireless headsets), but every casual gamer does know how hard a $60 game hits their wallet, without them even being able to try it first.

I don't mean to harp on you, but I've seen a lot of undue, and uninformed skepticism about the Ouya ( the linked article being one of them) that as best as I can see, are just some trolls that have nothing better to do with their time than to try and flaunt what little knowledge they have and base the entirety of their points on flagrant assumptions.

No harping felt. I guess it's partly a reaction to other attempts(Phantom) to break into the console market and a sense of the impossibility of it if others have failed before the Ouya. I kind of have a tendency towards negativity, so it figures the skeptical articles would jump out to me at first. It's a bold move to try and throw yourself into the console race, but I think there is a very real danger of irrelevancy should the current players start hyping their next generation hardware.

I would rather listen to someone who is actually part of the project and doing the work than a skeptic that hasn't even gotten the facts straight. Here you can find the interviews that my information above can be found:

Latest & best articles:
Julie Uhrman interview 'console concept to reality'http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/17/interview-ouya-ceo-julie-uhrman/
Yves Beyar interview 'designing the Ouya' http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/16/yves-behar-interview
Julie Uhrman interview 'responds to skeptiscism'http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-16-ouya-responds-to-skepticism
Various indie devs 'thoughts on Ouya' http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/16/influential-indies-on-the-brouhaha-around-ouya/
Keep up on the latest snippets:
-on twitter https://twitter.com/playouya
-on kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/ouya

Thanks for these. The joystiq article was probably the most interesting for me. It hits so many good points, but I think the quote by Brian Provinciano about the low barriers to indie publishing on PS3 is what struck me the most. It's an interesting place for an Indie dev these days

[Ryumaru]

I may be mistaken, but I believe the Ouya will completely remove any licensing fees to be  a developer, which from what I'm reading is not the case with the playstation and other console networks, correct?

While all consoles do have this aspect I think the Ouya has the possibility of shining with it as it is the core of it's games. Redundancy and irrelevancy are already hampering the big 3 consoles, with big name games such as call of duty etc basically releasing new maps and an improved mechanic or two with no real motivation. While I don't think the console is dramatically dying like some may claim, I think any redundancy that the Ouya will face is of a similar kind that all the current consoles share. It is already known that this console will not be about the hardware itself, but the games and openness of it. It may seem trivial, but Just it's newness alone will attract customers, and it's price will be a very positive factor as well I think. There may be other products doing similar things, but not at the level and price that the Ouya would be able to, if it were made.