Ouya's New Controversial Ad (graphic)

[Tupin]

Making fun of your audience? Treating yourself like you're the next big thing in gaming when in actuality you're not even a contender? Being obnoxious in advertisements and refusing to own up to it? Sounds like the Ouya is the new Game.com. They claim that this isn't an official ad, but they posted it on their official Youtube before its removal...

Sad, because they actually could carve out a pretty good niche for themselves. They need to stop advertising this thing like it can be anything other than a companion console. I have one and am excited that XMBC is out for it now. But with Tegra 4 coming, I don't know...

[JSoup]

The part that got me was "All free to try."

[The Adventurer]

That almost looks like it was animated by the Superjail guy.

[JakeM]

Good god some people shouldnt be allowed within a mile of a PR firm. Fuck them, I wont buy it, and they dont deserve anyone who plays video games money if they think "that guy" represents video game players. This is the worst video game ad Ive seen. Completely made me forget anything else Id think was bad.

[JSoup]

That almost looks like it was animated by the Superjail guy.

There was a topic about it on the AdultSwim forums the other day, apparently Titmouse Inc. handled the animation direction for this commercial but didn't actually produce or animate it.

[The 1 2 P]

I saw this earlier today and official or not it is absolutely one of the worst video game ads ever. On the one minor plus side, it will actually get people to start talking about Ouya...just not in the way they intended.

[Tanooki]

Kind of sad some people are hating on this so much, taking it personal in some direct or indirect way I guess. Crude and foul sure, but it raises an excellent point I see gamers bitch about plenty. Overpriced short games rehashing the same copy cat shit yearly and fearing to take chances much anymore and the suckers who keep falling for it and buying into it until they realize they've been had. Mocking call of duty on the game box cover made that clear.

[YoshiM]

If we're looking to compare similar advertising campaigns, I would think that the Game Gear commercial portraying Game Boy players as mindless hicks getting excited watching a bug zapper would be considered worse than the Ouya commercial.

[Gameguy]

I wasn't offended by it, it's not great but still decent.

[YoshiM]

I "got" the video. I wasn't offended since it was a caricature of a stereotype that's been played out over the past decade or so. Very reminiscent of Ren & Stimpy (as I can't think of a more modern animation comparison).

Thing is, this commercial doesn't do much to sell the system or games to the audience they are pushing this towards, New consumers need to be SHOWN why they should buy an Ouya.

As for the openness: you can still hack it software and physical wise. They just have their marketplace and why should they be scorned for it? Google is essentially a competitor so why should they let them in on their turf? You can side load apps if you want to. If you want something more open, get a Raspberry Pi or multi-boot a PC with different OS's. Going to the illogical extreme: it'd be like raising a stink that you won't be able to load PSN on your Xbone as the hardware is similar.

Give the cube a year to prove itself before you (generalization-not singling out..[disclaimer]) kick its door down and piss on its corn flakes while squatting over its bagel.

[Bojay1997]

I "got" the video. I wasn't offended since it was a caricature of a stereotype that's been played out over the past decade or so. Very reminiscent of Ren & Stimpy (as I can't think of a more modern animation comparison).

Thing is, this commercial doesn't do much to sell the system or games to the audience they are pushing this towards, New consumers need to be SHOWN why they should buy an Ouya.

As for the openness: you can still hack it software and physical wise. They just have their marketplace and why should they be scorned for it? Google is essentially a competitor so why should they let them in on their turf? You can side load apps if you want to. If you want something more open, get a Raspberry Pi or multi-boot a PC with different OS's. Going to the illogical extreme: it'd be like raising a stink that you won't be able to load PSN on your Xbone as the hardware is similar.

Give the cube a year to prove itself before you (generalization-not singling out..[disclaimer]) kick its door down and piss on its corn flakes while squatting over its bagel.

As someone who backed the Kickstarter, I disagree with you about the openness. Their whole argument about why Ouya was different was based on an open console where developers could release games freely and many games would be free to play. That hasn't been the case at all. Developers still have to release through their store and I believe there is no option for someone to release a game for free through the store. If they're trying to compete with Google or Apple, they are never going to win, especially if the rumors of an Amazon or Google console are accurate. This is simply a product that doesn't have a real target market and while it sounded good in concept to many of us at the Kickstarter stage, in practicality, there are much better solutions to playing indie games on your TV that don't involve using fairly unexceptional hardware and a proprietary store.

[T2KFreeker]

I believe there is no option for someone to release a game for free through the store.

You are wrong because there are several free games that have been released through the store. Not free to try, but free to own, so yes, there must be an option to release games for free through the store. Furthermore, as an "Original Kickstarter Backer", I would think that you already know this. The list below are all the games that are free to own, no payment of any kind for them at all. No Paywalls and no DLC charges either, completely free and NONE of them are emulators, which most of those are free too. So quit spreading untruthful crap dude and get over it. Ouya may not be your cup of tea and all, but plenty of indie developers have released completely free games through the Ouya store, and the proof is right in front of your face. Go rant about something else man because what you just said got blown back in your face. It's like watching one of those annoying Youtbe videos where the person just blows smo0ke because he doesn't know what he's talking about. That's exactly what you are doing. You like Google and Amazon, cool, good for you, I'm happy for you and hope that you have fun with it, but yeah Ouya does have a way to present free games to the community through the store, and a kickstarter backer would know this.

Free Games On Ouya, not including the emulators:
4th and Goal Football
Abbigale and the Monster
A Bit of a Fist of Awesome
Acid Trip
Air Pressure
Amazing Frog
American Dream
AmpGear
Antichromatic
Astronaut Rescue
Autopilot
Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronnt uonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk (Yes, that's the title)
Badass VS Hipster
Barley Break
Bastinnade
Bionauts Online
Blue Board
BoomBoom
Bridge
Bubblr - Dummy in Trouble
Bullet Time
Bullfist
Chomper Deluxe
ChronoBlade Demo
Climbing Chaos
Clock
Counter Action
Critter Rollers
Curves
Dark Space Rings
Deadly Dungeons
Diversion
Don't Look Back
Dungeon Bandits
Enyo
Flipriders
Forsaken Planet
Fourkaraoke For Ouya
Game Catcher
Garnatron
Gauroden
Gem Crazy
Gun's N' Glory WW2
Helicopter-Escape the Cave
Hero's Adventure
Highway Rally
Just Rain
King of Booze
Memrrtiks, Saushem
Monocle man
No Brakes Valet
N.O.T.T.U.B.
Oiche Mhaith
One Tap Hero
Peaces in KaIsland
PiX Bros.
PiX Frogger
PiX Pang
Questria: Rise of the Robot Skull Faces
Ripolles Nightmare
Sci-Fighters
Sky Arena
Spaceroads
Spanish Gold
Stupid Zombies 2
Super Crate Box
Super Robot Space Fight!
Survival
SVEN
Vector
Vector 360 Breakout
Wilsons Adventure

[Bojay1997]

You are wrong because there are several free games that have been released through the store. Not free to try, but free to own, so yes, there must be an option to release games for free through the store. Furthermore, as an "Original Kickstarter Backer", I would think that you already know this. The list below are all the games that are free to own, no payment of any kind for them at all. No Paywalls and no DLC charges either, completely free and NONE of them are emulators, which most of those are free too. So quit spreading untruthful crap dude and get over it. Ouya may not be your cup of tea and all, but plenty of indie developers have released completely free games through the Ouya store, and the proof is right in front of your face. Go rant about something else man because what you just said got blown back in your face. It's like watching one of those annoying Youtbe videos where the person just blows smo0ke because he doesn't know what he's talking about. That's exactly what you are doing. You like Google and Amazon, cool, good for you, I'm happy for you and hope that you have fun with it, but yeah Ouya does have a way to present free games to the community through the store, and a kickstarter backer would know this.

Free Games On Ouya, not including the emulators:
4th and Goal Football
Abbigale and the Monster
A Bit of a Fist of Awesome
Acid Trip
Air Pressure
Amazing Frog
American Dream
AmpGear
Antichromatic
Astronaut Rescue
Autopilot
Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronnt uonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk (Yes, that's the title)
Badass VS Hipster
Barley Break
Bastinnade
Bionauts Online
Blue Board
BoomBoom
Bridge
Bubblr - Dummy in Trouble
Bullet Time
Bullfist
Chomper Deluxe
ChronoBlade Demo
Climbing Chaos
Clock
Counter Action
Critter Rollers
Curves
Dark Space Rings
Deadly Dungeons
Diversion
Don't Look Back
Dungeon Bandits
Enyo
Flipriders
Forsaken Planet
Fourkaraoke For Ouya
Game Catcher
Garnatron
Gauroden
Gem Crazy
Gun's N' Glory WW2
Helicopter-Escape the Cave
Hero's Adventure
Highway Rally
Just Rain
King of Booze
Memrrtiks, Saushem
Monocle man
No Brakes Valet
N.O.T.T.U.B.
Oiche Mhaith
One Tap Hero
Peaces in KaIsland
PiX Bros.
PiX Frogger
PiX Pang
Questria: Rise of the Robot Skull Faces
Ripolles Nightmare
Sci-Fighters
Sky Arena
Spaceroads
Spanish Gold
Stupid Zombies 2
Super Crate Box
Super Robot Space Fight!
Survival
SVEN
Vector
Vector 360 Breakout
Wilsons Adventure

You've got me there. I was not aware of the fact that apparently developers can now release games completely free through the Ouya store. According to the FAQ and an e-mail in response to an inquiry I sent to Ouya before launch, the only two options were to charge for the game or release it free and charge for in-app purchases. I suppose it's my fault for not being more aware of the changes in Ouya over time. So, I stand corrected.

Having said that, there is no way to even access the Ouya store without either entering a credit card number or buying an Ouya card from a retailer. Not exactly an open platform IMHO.

[fluid_matrix]

If they're trying to compete with Google or Apple, they are never going to win, especially if the rumors of an Amazon or Google console are accurate.

I've said this before in another thread... Just because Google might come out with a competing product of their own doesn't mean it will flourish. Google has many product failures under their belt. Google +, Google Video, & the Nexus Q are just to name a few.

[Bojay1997]

I've said this before in another thread... Just because Google might come out with a competing product of their own doesn't mean it will flourish. Google has many product failures under their belt. Google +, Google Video, & the Nexus Q are just to name a few.

Of course not, but it also doesn't mean that a flawed product like the Ouya will either and well-funded competition certainly won't help things for them. Google definitely doesn't have a flawless record, but if the Chromecast is any indication, I think they finally are starting to really understand consumer products on a whole new level.

[fluid_matrix]

Of course not, but it also doesn't mean that a flawed product like the Ouya will either and well-funded competition certainly won't help things for them. Google definitely doesn't have a flawless record, but if the Chromecast is any indication, I think they finally are starting to really understand consumer products on a whole new level.

That may be true, which is why I completely avoided even mentioning the Ouya in my comment. However, keep in mind, Ouya is an extremely young company and is bound to make mistakes here and there.

BTW, I'm still not sold on the Chromecast. Until I can stream all media formats, without limitations, it's worthless to me. My Tivo already does youtube and Netflix, but I still need something that will stream the other various formats. I know you can get around it with various apps, but I don't want to take the chance of Google blocking them then have a $35 paper weight.

[YoshiM]

Interesting thread on NeoGaf about some shadiness in the whole Free the Games funding drive sponsored by Ouya.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...=662865&page=2

Looks like Joystiq has picked up on it also.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/08/27/fi...funding-goals/

It looks like the two developers are the ones that make things look a bit "shady" to take advantage of the promotion. I can't see anything that points to the Ouya group as being the ne'er do wells. And if that's true, that's pretty sad.

Bojay: I gotta ask-are you on some sort of crusade against the Ouya or what? It seems like you (amongst others) are out to just take this system across the coals like its some false prophet spreading console heresy.

You asked who this is targeted at and the obvious answer is "any gamer who wants to play something different on their TVs and don't want to drop a ton of coin on the softs". The biggest banner of hate I see the most is "it plays stuff you get on your phone". So what? Many of the titles I've seen or played that are smartphone games I didn't know their origins. Why? Because I don't play games on my phone. What few I tried were either conducive to a touch screen (ala Angry Birds) or a quick try to see if the action was comfortably controllable on a touchscreen (like Wolfenstein 3D). I don't really do handheld but I like the concept of playing those games on a larger screen without having to pay a couple or more Benjamin's for a quality tablet that can connect to my TV and allow me to use controllers I may or may not have to go out and buy. $99 and games for free to try or play-sounds good to me. True I have a PC where I can do the same things and have the power to play modern AAA titles but I use that machine for work-type stuff. It's also upstairs in an office setting that I'm usually in 8-9 hours every week day-I'd rather sit on my couch.

I'm interested to see where Ouya goes and I remain realistically optimistic. I'm not drinking the Kool-Aide nor am I digging in the mud ready to sling. If the cheers and jeers were even it wouldn't be a big deal but there is so much negativity from those who never tried it (but that IS the law of teh Intarwebs these days) that it could kill a project before it really takes off and all that's left would be disappointed customers who got shafted by the damage of the digital hate tsunami and those loud protesters doing fist bumps as they get to say "I told you so".

[Bojay1997]

It looks like the two developers are the ones that make things look a bit "shady" to take advantage of the promotion. I can't see anything that points to the Ouya group as being the ne'er do wells. And if that's true, that's pretty sad.

Bojay: I gotta ask-are you on some sort of crusade against the Ouya or what? It seems like you (amongst others) are out to just take this system across the coals like its some false prophet spreading console heresy.

You asked who this is targeted at and the obvious answer is "any gamer who wants to play something different on their TVs and don't want to drop a ton of coin on the softs". The biggest banner of hate I see the most is "it plays stuff you get on your phone". So what? Many of the titles I've seen or played that are smartphone games I didn't know their origins. Why? Because I don't play games on my phone. What few I tried were either conducive to a touch screen (ala Angry Birds) or a quick try to see if the action was comfortably controllable on a touchscreen (like Wolfenstein 3D). I don't really do handheld but I like the concept of playing those games on a larger screen without having to pay a couple or more Benjamin's for a quality tablet that can connect to my TV and allow me to use controllers I may or may not have to go out and buy. $99 and games for free to try or play-sounds good to me. True I have a PC where I can do the same things and have the power to play modern AAA titles but I use that machine for work-type stuff. It's also upstairs in an office setting that I'm usually in 8-9 hours every week day-I'd rather sit on my couch.

I'm interested to see where Ouya goes and I remain realistically optimistic. I'm not drinking the Kool-Aide nor am I digging in the mud ready to sling. If the cheers and jeers were even it wouldn't be a big deal but there is so much negativity from those who never tried it (but that IS the law of teh Intarwebs these days) that it could kill a project before it really takes off and all that's left would be disappointed customers who got shafted by the damage of the digital hate tsunami and those loud protesters doing fist bumps as they get to say "I told you so".

I'm not on a crusade by any means. In fact, I backed the Kickstarter only a couple of days into it and received my unit pretty promptly after launch. Having said that, I don't think Ouya or any other product should get some kind of pass simply because the team behind it uses all the right buzz words.

I do own one and I have tried it. Lots of the people who aren't overly impressed have tried it. There are 50+ Ouya units for sale on Ebay and almost all of them have been used. There are many more available for sale on various forums and websites. That has been the case since shortly after launch. I'm sure there are some who haven't used it who are posting negative things just like there are probably some defending it who don't own one and never will.

My criticism of Ouya stems primarily from the fact that there is no substantive difference between Ouya's business model and every other company they are comparing themselves to. It just reminds me of the kid at school who goes around claiming to be cooler and edgier than everyone else but turns out to be just as dorky and insecure as the rest of us. They are essentially selling an inexpensive piece of hardware and hoping to make their money on a cut of software sales. They also plan to sell you a new device on a fairly regular basis. That's the Apple and Google and Sony and Microsoft model and there is nothing open and independent about that.

I understand that the Ouya fills a need you have. I just don't think that many gamers have that same need. There is just so much great independent and creative content on even the largest consoles like the PS3, Xbox 360 and WiiU, that I just can't see many gamers wanting to play essentially smartphone and tablet games on their TV when there are so many other richer and more satisfying choices on the other platforms.

At the end of the day, I would rather that people have an open and honest dialogue about products like Ouya instead of constantly being timid and worrying that others will think they are somehow anti-independent gaming if they point out the fact that the Ouya falls well short of being some new and open business model.