With $8.6M In Kickstarter Funds, Ouya Opens Console Pre-Orders [Slashdot]

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Chameleon Man writes with an excerpt from PC Mag: "Early this morning, the Android-based Ouya console ended its run on Kickstarter with nearly $8.6 million in user donations. In recent weeks, the company has secured a number of content partners for the device, but now it's time to see if Ouya can really deliver. Interested buyers can now pre-order an Ouya on the company's website. In the U.S., one console and one controller will cost $109, one console plus two controllers will be $139, and one console and four controllers will be $199. All orders include a $10 shipping charge." Adds Chameleon Man: "Here's to hoping that an open-source console can gain a foothold in an already competitive market." http://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=With+%248.6M+In+Kickstarter+Funds%2C+O uya+Opens+Console+Pre-Orders+%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FRDPN9X) http://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fsto ry%2F12%2F08%2F09%2F201205%2Fwith-86m-in-kickstarter-funds-ouya-opens-console-pre-orders%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dface book) http://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/gplus-16.png (http://plus.google.com/share?url=http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/08/09/201205/with-86m-in-kickstarter-funds-ouya-opens-console-pre-orders?utm_source=slashdot&utm_medium=googleplus)

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[JSoup]

It's great and all that they got the money needed and then some....but am I the only one who thinks it's not really gonna pan out in the end?

[Tupin]

It's great and all that they got the money needed and then some....but am I the only one who thinks it's not really gonna pan out in the end?
If you mean that every major company will regret partnering with them because the first thing people will do is figure out how to get games for free, then yes, it won't pan out. At least for developers.

[Bojay1997]

If you mean that every major company will regret partnering with them because the first thing people will do is figure out how to get games for free, then yes, it won't pan out. At least for developers.

Well, in all honesty, the major companies partnering with them have nothing to lose. It's just another Android device that will require some minimal adjustment to existing games to accomodate the controller and display for TV. I doubt you are going to see anyone make a major investment in doing games exclusively for Ouya, unless by some miracle they take that 60K in pre-orders and turn it into a few million by launch.

[Jorpho]

If they're taking preorders, does that mean they've decided what hardware is going inside it now?
will require some minimal adjustment to existing games to accomodate the controller and display for TV.That's not exactly minimal.

[Bojay1997]

If they're taking preorders, does that mean they've decided what hardware is going inside it now?That's not exactly minimal.

Sure it is. All they are doing is remapping the existing controls to a controller which has a touch pad built in and chances are the dev kit will include a lot of optimized routines for both the controller mapping and automatically adjusting the display settings. That's a few hours of experienced Android programmer time tops. You're kidding yourself if you think any of these developers are going to re-do the graphics and any other game features to take advantage of a larger display.

[kupomogli]

Probably should have backed the kickstarter. If I get it, I'll be paying more regardless with the shipping costs and the extra cost. I'm not going to preorder though and I'll wait and see if there's anything I want on it before I end up getting it. Hopefully the price doesn't increase after preorders.

[Jorpho]

Sure it is. All they are doing is remapping the existing controls to a controller which has a touch pad built in and chances are the dev kit will include a lot of optimized routines for both the controller mapping and automatically adjusting the display settings.They've barely been able to sort out the hardware so far, and you're expecting that they'll have a convenient, bug-free, easy-to-use, optimized dev kit with such enormous flexibility? Not to mention poking at a screen directly and poking at a touchpad beneath a screen are rather different operations in themselves.

[Bojay1997]

They've barely been able to sort out the hardware so far, and you're expecting that they'll have a convenient, bug-free, easy-to-use, optimized dev kit with such enormous flexibility? Not to mention poking at a screen directly and poking at a touchpad beneath a screen are rather different operations in themselves.

Well, they have almost 8 million dollars after Kickstarter fees (well maybe less after taxes) and a team of people that have worked in some very technical positions at some of the biggest tech and gaming companies in the world. So yes, I expect they will figure it out in the next eight months. Also, are you familiar with those joystick devices they sell for the iPad? Lots of games have been quickly patched to work with those, so it's not hard. I will agree with you that the architecture is not quite as firm as it should be given the current timetable, but it's also not like they are starting from scratch given how many similar Android devices there are out there including some that already connect to the TV for video streaming and downloads.

[Dr. BaconStein]

I've been seeing a lot of OUYA hate lately, but I fail to see how this is a scam. They never said it would be on the same level as PS3 or 360 and basically outright advertized it as a customizable set top box. For $99 with Tegra 3 and a controller, it sounds like a good deal to me. I've been phasing out of home consoles lately, though. I would've much preferred OUYA as a handheld along the lines of a more powerful JXD or Yinlips device, which I already have.