I did not, and if they have decent game development on the boil then it'll have a fighting chance. Although $4 million won't fund a single AAA title.
They don't want AAA titles. They're both an indie game developer and an indie console developer. They want to make money from the low-budget games they make.
I mean if they make money from software sales, taking a small cut from every sale, they'll need developers to sell LOTS of software. That requires a large install base, or very high sales per customer. Android can just about manage it because there are so many Android devices out there, that reaching to 0.01% of the amrket is still a sizeable unmber of customers. An install base of 300k-1000k users is going to make funding high quality software difficult.
Why not run a kickstarter for software and a OUYA controller for existing tablets then? It'd be a lot cheaper and serve the same market pretty much. Whatever games they are making for their console they could make for other Tegra devices with an already large install base. Ring up Epic and EA and get them on board - Android already provides an open publishing platform; it jsut needs the software.
Shifty, it's really hard to argue either its concept will work or not if you apparently haven't read/watched what the OUYA really is..
It's a home console, to be connected to a large TV.
It's the first thing they stress, it's that they all grew up playing in home consoles, and now the most simple and innovative games have only been focused on smartphones and tablets. They want to change that.
They want to make indie games for home consoles, but there's no console out there with an admission system adequate for indie developers. So they're creating the console first, and the games later.
I'm very hesitant. It's easy to sing praises. Actually putting in the hours to create titles is something else. I recall many high-profile consoles that talked about 100+ games in their launch window, and yet they only get about a quarter of that. How many indie developers will actually finish their products for this OUYA as opposed to those who are saying their in favour and will start looking but will eventually give up and release something else on something else?
Well, free marketing to games-console owners. Now if OUYA were creating a controller standard that I could use on my ASUS tablet and back it up with relevant software, I may be interested. But buying a new console to play similar games I already have with the highest production values on my PS3, it's not serving a great purpose. The only way that'll change is the library becomes something amazing, with indies creating fabulous titles not hampered by the limits of publishers and restrictive console companies. That'll be proven after time though - I won't be an early adopter, who'd have to be very optimisitic IMO to buy this early on.
Android's game library is already quite decent. Take away a couple of AAA titles, I'd say it's comparable to the 3DS and PS Vita (and look at the games with the best reviews for those consoles, they're not AAA games).
The problem with releasing indie games for the Wii, X360 and PS3 is that the system is built for publishers. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft take a way too big percentage of each game's sales, the admission process is way too long and expensive.
As they said, they were inspired by the Indie Game documentary. It's way too risky for a single person or small team to develop a game for the current consoles, even if they come up with a brilliant idea, because of the large initial investment (without certainty that the game will even be accepted) and time that it takes to get to the virtual distribution channels.
I think it's more like:
The Indie developers will flock to OUYA like bees to honey because the console looks - by far - like their best chance to survive and see their dreams come true.
Can that really be relied on? If they are running Android, sure. But PS3 never had any interest from the open source or homebrew communities despite Sony specifically targeting them. The homebrew bunch seem pretty fickle to me. They'll start a great, new, exciting project, and then drop it when they get bored or some new project comes along.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIK PS3's homebrew died because of Sony's disinterest, not the other way around.
Homebrewerd couldn't even have access to the GPU, and even then there were many interesting things like Folding@Home and media players being developed for it, before Sony axed the whole thing with a software update.
The general quality of the Android apps I've looked at has been poor. I don't see how this box will change that, meaning it won't offer a high-quality experience.
Look at the best-selling games in Android's library. Take away a couple of games from EA and Rockstar and you have many games that are simple yet really fun to play.
Now if they have top-tier, professional developers involved, like Epic, and they can show high-quality, real games, then my opinion will change. Without the software though, up front and ready to go, I doubt it'll survive past launch any more than other startup console homebrew devices.
As I've said above: OUYA isn't looking for that.
It can't anyway, the thing is weaker than a PS Vita.
Kindle Fire offers value in portable functionality. No-one bought it just because it was cheap - it actually does stuff, you know.
