OUYA

[Yoshi648]

(Huh, how hasn't there been a thread for this made yet?)

There is a system currently in development called the OUYA. This system is designed to be as a fully "open" platform where anyone can design games for it. It's based on the Android platform and has some pretty nice specs such as a Tegra3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of on-board flash memory all in a system that can fit in the palm of your hand with a nicely designed controller for the low price of $99.

This should play out very interesting to greatly widen up the types of games being released, especially by indy developers. Smartphones have a lot of interesting and unique games on them, however they are suck on these small systems since it is harder to get them on the main systems (Wii,360,PS3). In addition, every game is going to be required to have some sort of free-to-play version (like free trial, full game but pay for additional content, etc).

As of the time of this post, there are still 24 hours remaining for the Kickstarter of this system if you would be interested in getting a pre-production model. I have spent the $99 to get one of these and look forward to watching it grow in the future.

[Cat333Pokémon]

Originally Posted by Yoshi648

I have spent the $99 to get one of these and look forward to watching it grow in the future.

Someponies convinced me to do this as well.

[GreenMan]

I like the idea of the projected and this gives me a chance to have backed something I do hope it turns out well. The idea behind it is pretty cool. Thanks to KYA I decided I wanted to back the project too and get one myself. Should be cool.

[Cat333Pokémon]

The project finished with 63,268 backers providing $8,579,995!

[Cat333Pokémon]

Time for a major bump.

They finally started shipping them out over the last couple weeks, so expect more updates on how the system actually goes soon.

[Cat333Pokémon]

My OUYA arrived earlier today!

Here are some first-look photographs:


I'd love to provide more images, but I really can't do much with it at the moment. All my equipment is all over the place due to the move, and the computer with the capture card still needs an OS. I probably won't have a whole lot of time to even mess with the OUYA myself. For now, enjoy those three. I may take some photographs of the TV, if anything.

I'll be uploading an unboxing video and putting that in the thread in a few hours.

[Cat333Pokémon]

Well, time for a review based on the couple hours I spent with it:

Setup
Easy as pie. Give it power, connect the HDMI cable, put batteries in the controller, and start the console. Then follow the basic on-screen instructions, and it's ready to use.


Store
It's definitely lacking in games, but that's to be expected because it's new. It could use a little more organization, though, and the images seem to take a while to load. Downloading is simple and happens in the background.


Controller
Alright, this thing really could have used some more work.

• It is very comfortable to hold in the hands, the analog sticks feel great.
• The mouse touchpad seems decent enough for what it is.
• The bumpers work well.

However:

• The face buttons can sometimes get stuck, and they feel like you have no idea when you have actually pressed the button enough for it to register.
• The triggers feel quite cheap and are slightly unresponsive.
• The controller lacks a pause button. Yes, something that's been trivial since the Atari 5200 is completely missing, and most of the games I tested could not be left to idle without losing progress (constant action, time limits, random events).
• It's extremely laggy and can cause significant delay if used more than a few feet from the console. Commands occasionally drop, which especially causes trouble with the mouse. I'm guessing this is a combination of the Bluetooth (the radios and the software stack) and the processing.

Games
I'm not going to go in details about specific games (as that's on the shoulders of the developers), but I will share some common issues I've noticed:

• Graphics blitting is very choppy, meaning that sprites tend to appear and disappear at odd intervals.
• The controller. See above.
• High quality rendering is very choppy.

Interface
It feels a little too basic, but it gets the job done. No real complaints.


Other notes

• The time zone defaults to GMT, so that may need to be changed for anyone outside of the UK and other countries in that time zone.
• The console info page says I'm running at 1920x1080, but my TV says the signal is 720p60. Downscaling, perhaps?
• Do not put the console into airplane mode (on the advanced settings)! You will need to plug a wired mouse in to fix it.
• Remember, it's still an Android device, so expect it to act like one. Press the power button, and it will put the system in sleep mode and turn off the screen. Press and hold for it to ask to turn off. You may be able to put .apk files on, but I have no idea and don't have the time to test now.

Unboxing video

[Yoshi648]

^Remember the thing was just released, of course there are going to be bugs (you know, like every other system at launch).

I got mine yesterday, but won't be able to mess with it at all until later today (it literally picked the one day I didn't want it to show up).

[Cat333Pokémon]

Originally Posted by Yoshi648

^Remember the thing was just released, of course there are going to be bugs (you know, like every other system at launch).

Oh, I knew it'd be buggy due to how quickly it was pushed out. I'm just hoping for more quality games and software updates.

[Magmaster12]

Anyone find it weird these guys could have just talked about this in person?

No I'm just kidding, this certainly seems pretty awesome but I wouldn't wouldn't want to dive right into it when I still don't know to much about technology.

[Cat333Pokémon]

This review is practically exactly how I feel about the console:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4180242/ouya-review

[GreenMan]

As to quote Yoshi as I'm sure that Cat hasn't heard it enough over his comment of the OUYA.
Yoshi648* 10:42:23pm stuff
Yoshi648* 10:42:21pm fix
Yoshi648* 10:42:20pm to
Yoshi648* 10:42:19pm time
Yoshi648* 10:42:18pm them
Yoshi648* 10:42:18pm give
Yoshi648* 10:42:17pm development
Yoshi648* 10:42:15pm in
Yoshi648* 10:42:14pm still
Yoshi648* 10:42:13pm It's
Read from bottom to the top.

[Yoshi648]

Alright, now that I finally had some time to mess with this yesterday here are my thoughts:

System
Oh my Arceus, I love how small this is! The system can literally fit inside the palm of your hand. It can easily tuck away in any small crevices of your console setup. It has jacks for power, HDMI, ethernet (does have built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), USB, and micro USB. For those of you like me who like taking stuff apart, it's really easy to do so by just removing the four screws at the top of the system. The entire circuitry is a single layered board with a small heatsink + fan. Since the only ventilation slots are at the bottom of the system. the little cube can get a little warm after extended play, but nothing major.

Controller
The controller is pretty nice. The button configuration is very similar to that of the Xbox, including two analog sticks, a D-Pad, 4 standard buttons, and two sets of shoulder buttons and a home button (press once during a game to bring up pause menu, press twice to return to OUYA menu). In addition, it has a touch pad like the kind found on the back of the PlayStation Vita and will be used on the PlayStation 4 controller. This can be used to bring up a mouse if you'd rather use that in menus and whatnot (or to help get through more confusing games). The analog sticks feel very nice and smooth and the buttons seem pretty nice. However the trigger buttons (bottom set of shoulder buttons) feel a bit clunky and mushy. The side panels of the controller and held on with magnets to allow for easy access to the two AA batteries it uses to operate. Performance-wise, I haven't had any major problems with it, but then again I haven't done any "intense" gaming yet and it's only 3-4 feet away from the system. I have heard some complaints that it can be laggy, but I'm sure it will be more optimized in a future update.

Interface
For those of you who used Xbox or Windows 8, you'll feel right at home. The game shop is very similar to that of Xbox Live Marketplace where you can select categories and it will show the games within. However, the shop interface is slow to control, and takes a few minutes for it to load all the pictures. The options menu is just the standard Android menu that many of you have probably already seen on your tablets and smartphones. One major problem I currently have though, is the picture overscans on my TV so I can't see the edges on menus and games (often blocking HUDs). The overscan option in the menu doesn't seem to do anything. Again, hopefully these will all be fixed in future firmware updates.

The Games (you lost)
The OUYA uses it's own game market instead of Google Play or other existing services for games/apps. This is due to the fact all of those games/apps have been designed for touch-screen use while this is a game system that uses an actual controller. Since the system is still new, there are only about 80 games up and ready to play. All games are free to download and have limited features (so like only the first few levels) and can be upgraded to the full version for a price. Most of the ones I've seen are in the $3-10 range, so in line with what the Android Market offers. The games themselves seem to run pretty smooth.

Final thoughts
As I mentioned a billion times before, all new systems have bugs and problems when first released. Since the system isn't supposed to be out for another month, these are theoretically beta units. A lot of these problems will be fixed in time. That being said though, if everything plays out right this little box can have a lot of potential. It's easy for developers to dive in and create games, and the developers want people to hack away at the system to do wacky stuff. If XBMC or something gets ported on to it, it can be used as a small media center. For those of you who like hacking and messing around with stuff, it's an interesting device to mess with for $99. If you are interested in one and didn't back it during the Kickstarter phase, I'd say hold off for now until most of the bugs are fixed and more developers climb on board.

[Quadcentruo]

Going off the track-records of other consoles, the opening line-up of games for a new console is very important for how well the console itself sells and how willing developers are to release games for said console (remember PS3's opening line-up?)

From the looks of the review from The Verge, the OUYA isn't too friendly for non-hackers or those who aren't very familiar with the Android OS. I understand that the OUYA developers need a bit more time to work out a few flaws, but if they expect to stay successful on the market, they need to hurry up with those flaws, make it a bit more user-friendly, and somehow persuade plenty of game developers to make games for their system.