OUYA - The console for $99 that supports Android

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Read this today:
http://www.sophiehoulden.com/rose-and-t ... r-on-ouya/
I didn't follow much all the buzz (too busy doing other stuff) but if what the blog says is true...

That's kind of the impression I've gotten of the Ouya team. I mean, have any of them done any marketing since the 1990s? I half expect to see them introducing a skate boarding animal mascot any moment now. Forgive me if I'm not entirely comfortable supporting something that projects an "Extreme Awesomeness, dude brah!" persona with the marketing. Are they really trying to market this thing to teenagers? If so, the marketing screams "Old person trying to seem cool" by doing stuff that was cool when they were teens. Is it marketed to people like me who WERE teens in the 90s? If so, are you suggesting I've not changed or matured?

And Sophie is right - their response to every problem or PR gaff is basically a "Dude, you just don't get us. We're disappointed with you." Their free game fund hasn't sponsored any game so far except for one that is so shady it could grow mushrooms, yet they don't mention the controversy specifically at all, even though it has been covered on every major gaming website. Again, they just say they can't believe the public doesn't understand the spirit of the free game fund - they're doing it for us. "Yeah, they say we're naive and idealistic. And we are guys. Join us over here in hippy land. Ignore all this bad stuff happening. We are."

And then there is stuff like this:

Many of the complaints online surround the quality of the hardware however you have to remember the price point for the OUYA, Power Adapter, HDMI Cable and Controller is $99! Think about what you get for $99.

"They say our console is poor quality, but 'Come on, guys!' you get what you pay for."

And speaking of that - yeah, the Ouya is cheap. Only $100! Not like those other $300-400 consoles! Except they plan on introducing a new Ouya every year. Well. That's going to add up quickly. Anyone that has had a smartphone knows that new games released will quickly start needing the latest model. And lots of Android tablets are ALREADY out-pacing the Ouya in performance. The Ouya is basically an Android phone that doesn't make calls and isn't mobile.

Most of the early advertising for the Ouya also seemed to have a "wink, wink" play pirated rom games vibe as well, and they've said they aren't going to filter for quality. I can think of several consoles killed by a glut of poor quality games making it impossible to find good games or to be certain of the quality of what you're buying. Smartphones survive with having a glut of awful games to wade through because they have other primary purposes beyond playing games. Ouya doesn't.

I'm still not sure what the point of the Ouya even is. I can play roms and tons of indie games on my PC, and even stream it to my TV if I'd like. I can even plug a $40 Xbox controller directly into my PC and play with native controller support if I want. Any marketplace advantage for an indie is going to be destroyed by the unrestricted flow of games onto the Ouya. You want SOME standards and selectiveness to the club you're joining, or you may as well be setting up in a parking lot.

[jack_norton]

Yes after all I've read, I'm not really much interested in having my games on Ouya anymore. Better support Android tablets/phones at this point. Both Google and Amazon so far are very good (they allow much more freedom than Apple, even if of course you can't publish hentai games there ).

[Obscura]

Both Google and Amazon so far are very good (they allow much more freedom than Apple, even if of course you can't publish hentai games there ).

That's odd. I've seen a bunch of hentai and erotic games being sold on Amazon (or at least Amazon US.)

[Tempus]

I've been following the Ouya from the sidelines and agree with LWR. Especially with they way they've handled their promotion. What was that thing a while back where there was an amount of money involved and it was $13.37? Their marketing kind of made me embarrassed... What they really need is to run ideas by someone who won't bullshit them before they unleash said ideas on the public. But with all the microconsoles (Mojo, GameStick, SHEILD, etc. [and now TV Vita]), tablets, phones, etc. out there both presently and upcoming, I think Ouya has really squandered any head start it had and been a case study of what NOT to do for its competitors.

[jack_norton]

Yes maybe Amazon allows it, was talking about Google (they recently updated their TOS to forbid pornographic content).
I am pretty sure though they meant for real photos, I think you could get away with an hentai game on Google too (but I'm not going to risk it personally).

[AxemRed]

Yes maybe Amazon allows it, was talking about Google (they recently updated their TOS to forbid pornographic content).

Porn has never been allowed on the Android market.

[jack_norton]

Of course I post so quick that I don't write the exact terms:

Sexually Explicit Material: We don't allow content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material.

NUDITY - so quite different from pornographic. I'm pretty sure I saw some apps with nudity on Android market before. Now it violates their TOS. I wasn't able to find anything on the Amazon store instead, so maybe they allow more freedom?

[AxemRed]

AFAIK nudity & sexually explicit material was always banned and nothing has changed.

[PyTom]

I think it may be that they're now going to actively start enforcing that rule.

I also think it's a bad rule - why should there be something banned in an app that would be allowed in the book store?

[jack_norton]

Well so far they don't seem to be enforcing it much:
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=porn&c=apps
(those might just be scam apps though)
anyways sorry for the OT, this thread was about OUYA, not porn apps on Android!

[Tempus]

Seems they've made a step in the right direction recently, even if it was correcting previous missteps. They've made changes to their controversial Free the Games fund.

These are the changes:

• The $50,000 funding minimum on successful campaigns has been reduced to $10,000. "We know first-hand, that great games can be made for $20k or sometimes less," Uhrman writes.
• While the company will still match 100 percent of funding up to a limit of $250,000, it matches based on the project's goal, not the total of the funds received by its Kickstarter campaign -- "Meaning we match what you need," Uhrman writes.
• For every $10,000 raised on Kickstarter, a campaign must have 100 backers. This is designed to nip investors putting in large contributions in hopes of turning a profit backing projects in concert with their developers. This is something that Gridiron Thunder, the only successful game in the program so far, has been accused of.
• For every $10,000 Ouya gives a developer, it demands one month of console exclusivity -- for up to six months at maximum. The company originally demanded six months of exclusivity period, and later six months of console exclusivity if receiving any funding at all.
• Ouya has killed the $100,000 bonus it originally promised to pay to the highest-funded project. "Again, you suggested this, and we agree it just didn’t feel right... We're going to use this money to fund games the old fashioned way -- working with you one-on-one," Uhrman writes.
• The fund originally promised to pay out when the game launched on the Ouya platform. Now, Ouya will pay 50 percent of funding at beta, 25 percent at launch, and 25 percent at the end of the game's exclusivity period.