Ouya's New Controversial Ad (graphic)

[Bojay1997]

I agree with that. Sega's disgusting smear and lie campaign advertising against Nintendo back in the earlier 16bit era infuriated me enough I didn't play the thing for years even with it in the house (brother) and only bothered with Sega anything in the late 90s. It wasn't some pro-Nintendo thing though, sure it helped, but I've been that way with anyone who puts out scummy lie ads to slander another company or product to sell their own shit because I just see it as immature lies to cover up the failings of your own inferior garbage by using distraction and misdirection. I've done it with clothes, foods, and so on.


Griking said it well too, put the feelings in check and see what it is -- a stab at the full price rehash-o-rama in gaming we get of re-skinned me-too same garbage shoveled every year and getting tired of it. That's what the ad is even if it is done in a cheeseball crude way. If someone isn't sick of that type of gaming environment of course they'll get even more offended for having their precious Call of Duty/MOH/Halo/(insert rehash FPS) mocked for what it is.

The thing is, the ad is very effective. If it wasn't this topic and others like it elsewhere wouldn't exist either agreeing about it or bitching about it. An ad isn't as much meant to entertain but to cause awareness, and we're aware. Beyond that Ouya like it or hate it is delivering on what they said they would having free demos or outright free games for every title there, plus is also works as a superior form of what Roku and AppleTV currently do delivering all that streaming media format stuff they others do at the same price. But beyond that you get all the gaming goodies and you can since it's fairly open dump your own junk on there and use it as you like so it's not closed off like a big name console system. That's why I think it will last because it gives more choice even if it isn't the beefiest piece of hardware out there. They've taken a stab at the Roku market with this and its wannabes and does it better, so if you're needing a device even for that, this would be the logical choice since they all go for $99 and this does more.

Chromecast is $35, so this is not a logical choice if all you want is a streaming media adapter. While you're right that the gaming forums have been abuzz about this ad, most of the people on those forums are hyper aware of Ouya and every other niche device or console that is released. As such, this isn't a very effective ad, especially if those same people are offended.

Moreover, the message in the ad doesn't even make sense. This isn't some alternative to regular consoles or AAA games, it's a device that is designed to play smartphone and tablet style games on your TV. I doubt that gamers who are bored of the FPS sequels that come out like clockwork have been dreaming of a way to play smartphone and tablet style games on their TV. I suspect many of them, including myself, simply buy niche games on PS3 or Xbox 360 or PC or use XBL Arcade, Steam and PSN to fill the need for more obscure games. As such, I still have no idea who the Ouya is really targeted at as everyone I know who bought one just did it because it was cheap, messed around with it for a few hours and hasn't been back. Heck, Ouya's own data supports this as something like 73% of buyers haven't even purchased a single thing and only 8% of the people who download a free demo of a game end up buying it. That's pretty poor considering how cheap most of the games are to begin with.

[fluid_matrix]

I don't know, using the stream from Chrome feature has worked for just about everything I've wanted to do including regular Hulu, HBO Go and lots of other providers that supposedly aren't supported yet. While Google could start closing those loopholes under pressure from media providers, I'm just as certain that someone will immediately develop a hack to open it back up again.

Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific. I meant stream files that are either located on my pc/laptop or on my phone. You know, media files that I've acquired from "other sources".

[Bojay1997]

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/

[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.

[Niku-Sama]

how the fuck is that supposed to sell consoles?
and is that how a woman tried to get the main gaming demographic to take notice?

fucking stupid, even more reason to not buy it, no more crappy commercials

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

Well, that ad pretty much guaranteed I'll never buy the system.

[goob47]

That looked like a freaking MAD skit.

Who knows, maybe the OUYA will succeed, and the console wars will be back in action?

[M.Buster2184]

Meh. The ad didn't bother me. We regularly hear people complaining about new games they buy/games that come out, plus I like the animation.

[Dr. BaconStein]

Honestly? I would have been fine with it if it wasn't for the excessive vomit and gore. That's a perfect example of how not to market a product.

I think they knew this would go viral, though. Probably "any press is good press" for team Ouya.

[Atarileaf]

Its just really efing stupid to have the guy there alone not wearing pants and his house be a mess. Why would a video game company want to show a video game player looking like that?

I think Kinect could bear that out as viable market research.

[eskobar]

I think the ad is good.

The Ouya creators know they can reach a very small niche market despite their intentions to reach the mass market, so mocking the Call of Duty Gamer stereotype is actually a pretty nice idea, because the target market (that I believe they intend to reach to) for the Ouya already mocks the CoD guys and they think that those consumers "damage the industry" ...

The CoD Gamer is very happy to spend 60 usd every year + xbox live gold only to play this game with his/her friends; they usually pre-order the game and buy the "elite" membership and all the crap that comes out ... so there is no harm in "damaging your audience" with the ad, a CoD Gamer will not find the console interesting.

It was fun ...

[Bojay1997]

I think the ad is good.

The Ouya creators know they can reach a very small niche market despite their intentions to reach the mass market, so mocking the Call of Duty Gamer stereotype is actually a pretty nice idea, because the target market (that I believe they intend to reach to) for the Ouya already mocks the CoD guys and they think that those consumers "damage the industry" ...

The CoD Gamer is very happy to spend 60 usd every year + xbox live gold only to play this game with his/her friends; they usually pre-order the game and buy the "elite" membership and all the crap that comes out ... so there is no harm in "damaging your audience" with the ad, a CoD Gamer will not find the console interesting.

It was fun ...

I think you grossly misunderstand the audience for FPS games. I have plenty of friends who love FPS games and buy every new iteration that comes out, but also love smaller independent games and tablet and smartphone games and all sorts of games including classic games. While there may be some small sliver of the gamers out there that fit this stereotype, I don't really believe that gamers are so uncomplicated for the most part. I think it's very possible for a die hard FPS fan to also enjoy simpler independent games and Ouya is not in any position to only focus on a very specific and possibly non-existent audience given its relatively poor software sales to date.

[bb_hood]

While there may be some small sliver of the gamers out there that fit this stereotype, I don't really believe that gamers are so uncomplicated for the most part.

Well put. It seems like the Ouya ad is implying that people who like and play video games will just eat up anything that is 'video games'. The way they imply that all games are 60$ is stupid, and how people that buy video games all pay 60$ is stupid. This whole 'free to try' deal is nothing new at all, games in the playstation store all have free demos to download. The prices of these ouya games do not seem to be cheaper than downloadable games on other system's online stores. They want to make you think that its a good deal by offering a system with a 99$ price point. You can get a used ps3 or xbox360 off craigslist for about the same price.

[eskobar]

I think you grossly misunderstand the audience for FPS games. I have plenty of friends who love FPS games and buy every new iteration that comes out, but also love smaller independent games and tablet and smartphone games and all sorts of games including classic games. While there may be some small sliver of the gamers out there that fit this stereotype, I don't really believe that gamers are so uncomplicated for the most part. I think it's very possible for a die hard FPS fan to also enjoy simpler independent games and Ouya is not in any position to only focus on a very specific and possibly non-existent audience given its relatively poor software sales to date.

My comment about the Cod Gamer was only about how cool they are with spending $60 bucks and the available membership costs every year with no complaints . Many of those gamers are very social and they obviously enjoy many genres and the variety of games, and they have no problem spending money on indie games and they don't always need to "try" something that catches their attention. (I think) They are not the OUYA audience.