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Android Games Hardware

Ouya Game Console Retail Launch Delayed Until June 25 121

Posted by timothy from the reset-button dept.
PC Mag is one of several outlets reporting that the Kickstarter-funded Ouya Android game console has been delayed by a few weeks; the new target date for launch is June 25. Says the article "The delay does not affect early backers, who are still on track to receive their devices by month's end. Helping to meet that demand will be $15 million in funding, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers." Also at CNET.
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Ouya Game Console Retail Launch Delayed Until June 25 More

Ouya Game Console Retail Launch Delayed Until June 25

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  • Delayed first (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I would say "First", but my post was delayed by a few weeks

  • I have high hopes for this one. But the more delays, the less confidence I have.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday May 09, 2013 @10:29AM (#43674611)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Controllers are always the hard part. A really good controller is quite hard to come by. They probably would have been better off by not shipping a controller and just telling everyone to go out and buy a XBox360 or DualShock controller. Might have cost a little more in the end for the users, but at least everyone would have a quality controller.

        • And then there would be no default controller for the console and people would have complained about lack of support for their preferred controller.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by iroll ( 717924 )

            I think he meant that they could tell you to buy a 360 controller or they could tell you to buy a dual-shock, thus making one of them the default controller.

            • Exactly. You might have a problem if Microsoft decided to stop selling the XBox controller, but that probably wouldn't happen any time soon. I'm interested in buying one, but I want to wait at least 6 months to find out how the controller holds up to heavy use.

              • You really wouldn't want to specify the Xbox controller, for two big reasons. Reason the first, the official rechargeable battery is shit. Reason the second, it doesn't speak bluetooth. Therefore, you reasonably would have to go with the Sixaxis, because expecting people to buy the PC version of the Xbox controller or a compatible dongle is just getting too far out there, and you're not rationally going to add support for Xbox 360 controllers to your console. But then you're in the position of telling peopl

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by kesuki ( 321456 )

                  am i the only person still using wired controllers? what benefit does adding a battery a radio frequency transceiver do for real end users? besides not having to have break away cords on the original xbox so violent players and people tripping over your cord to get your attention doesn't have? i don't like wireless unless it really is needed. my tablet immediately drops traffic if my desktop wifi is on as it is, and i don't live in a big city. sometimes the laptop wifi interferes with the tablet too, and t

                  • am i the only person still using wired controllers?

                    No.

                    besides not having to have break away cords on the original xbox so violent players and people tripping over your cord to get your attention doesn't have?

                    Besides not tripping over cords, there's also not having to have extension cords.

                    my tablet immediately drops traffic if my desktop wifi is on as it is, and i don't live in a big city.

                    Either your tablet or your desktop wifi card is a piece of shit.

                    if it wasn't rental i would probably drill holes and run wires but that is a real pain but i guess so is the microwave interrupting signal too.

                    Who cares if it's a rental? Spackle ain't expensive.

                    wireless everything is a nightmare in battery cost for no good reason the wires are cheap and recyclable.

                    Wires tend to get their insulation burned off in China when they are "Recycled", releasing dioxin. Ouya's controller runs on 2 AA batteries, and presumably it will run on NiMH batteries which can be recharged 500+ times and are recyclable.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by kesuki ( 321456 )

                      but solid wood floors are kinda hard to drill through
                      it's not a wall issue shoulda specified... oh well also i rent from relatives who told me to just use wifi...

          • That or the standard library would abstract out the difference between the Dual Shock 3 and the Xbox 360 Controller (wired or with PC adapter), and by default, games would support both. Does anyone know whether the Ouya OS supports enough of Bluetooth and USB input to get these controllers working for, say, player 2?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gl4ss ( 559668 )

        well yeah, 9 months isn't too shabby I suppose to buy an existing older generation tech and buy some injection moulded plastics.

        because.. one of the things which makes ouya feel overhyped to the max is that android running tv boxes have been available for ages.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • When I see that it can be modded so I can run an android apk I'll surely buy one.

            To load homemade software, it appears you just have to turn on USB debugging, much like with a tablet or phone. Fire up Eclipse and get going.

            All my Atari 2600, 5200, C64, MAME, SNES, NES, Genesis, N64 and PS1 game roms

            PS1 CDs and PS2 DVDs are relatively easy to dump, at least in my experience using background music extraction software. But how do you plan to connect your 1541 drive to your PC to dump C64 games, dump your arcade PCBs for MAME, or dump your cartridges for the other systems?

            • Comment removed based on user account deletion

            • But how do you plan to connect your 1541 drive to your PC to dump C64 games

              http://www.root.org/~nate/c64/x1541.html

              dump your arcade PCBs for MAME

              I have a nice PROM burner. Hopefully the ROMs are socketed, I hate desoldering. I need a heated pump. (Insert jokes here.)

              or dump your cartridges for the other systems?

              More and more USB cart dumpers are coming around. And frankly I'm willing to risk a download of a cart I actually own.

        • one of the things which makes ouya feel overhyped to the max is that android running tv boxes have been available for ages

          Have these Android-running TV boxes had a standard button layout for the user controls? In my research [pineight.com], just about no two brands of USB game controllers had the buttons in the same order. In one of my games, I've decided to store recommended configurations for all controllers that I happen to own, including Xbox and Logitech controllers, and default to whatever matches the connected controller's make and model.

          And has one been able to try or buy them in brick-and-mortar stores? I imagine that a lot of pa

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday May 09, 2013 @10:09AM (#43674397)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • They gave it a 9 out of 10 for how it is built. Big deal, that doesn't make it fun to play unless you wanted to spend $99 on something to take the screws out of it.

  • My Local Target has this for per-order. I was kind of shocked to see it. This may be a lot bigger deal than I had originally imagined. $99 really brings it down into a reasonable birthday/Christmas present for the kids.

    • Do your kids have credit cards? It requires CC info and an online update before they can even use it. Afterwards they can charge up in-game-transactions at the press of a button. Just FYI, the system might not be what you expect.

      • Or he could just use a prepaid card.

      • Do your kids have credit cards? It requires CC info and an online update before they can even use it. Afterwards they can charge up in-game-transactions at the press of a button. Just FYI, the system might not be what you expect.

        So? Register with a $25 Visa or Mastercard gift card: self limiting, and who cares if the black hats scrape the number? When that runs out, update with a new card, if they got one for their birthday or whatever...

        I look at this as a good way to teach them to be cautious and discriminating shoppers. They have a fixed amount: if they want to spend it all on Minecraft bling or the equivalent, that's fine, but when it runs out it's gone until their next birthday or Christmas or they spend their own money on

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      My Local Target has this for per-order. I was kind of shocked to see it. This may be a lot bigger deal than I had originally imagined. $99 really brings it down into a reasonable birthday/Christmas present for the kids.

      Yep, and if the Ouya people are smart they'll have a gift card to load up the kid's account with, instead of a credit card only system.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Picass0 ( 147474 )

        ^^^^^ This.

        I gave both of my kids iTouch devices a few years ago. They still love them and game on them, but it pisses me off how every f'ing game has popups to download and install a new level, unlock, or companion game from the istore (for additional money). I have an android phone an see it slightly less often on my games.

        If I could load up a kids store account with tokens or credits like on the Wii store that would be perfect.

        • iTunes gift cards are available everywhere.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Picass0 ( 147474 )

            True, but those work better for teens and above. My kids are younger (10) and this is a game console. The store should work for younger gamers within reason. The Wii store is simple and the points concept works well. Whatevergame costs 800 points and you have 1000 points.

        • ^^^^^ This.

          I gave both of my kids iTouch devices a few years ago. They still love them and game on them, but it pisses me off how every f'ing game has popups to download and install a new level, unlock, or companion game from the istore (for additional money). I have an android phone an see it slightly less often on my games.

          If I could load up a kids store account with tokens or credits like on the Wii store that would be perfect.

          Here you go [mastercard.us].

          See my post just above. No need to give them incidental access to a typical, no holds barred credit card: there are self-limiting options out there. They may have to track their own expenditures in order to know how much is left on the card, but hey, excellent learning opportunity! Balancing books is something most adults can't manage...

        • >This. Go back to 4chan, kid.

        • With the android OS and the play store, you can require a password to purchase anything. I've set it up on my wifes tablet after my 5yr old bought $10 worth of slingshots in angrybirds by mistake. It should be on by default, but it's easy enough to setup that I'm not going to bitch too much.

  • This is pushing the definition of "console" and not in a good way.

    It has a nVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU in it. (I guess AMD gets all the real consoles...)
    Which is slightly better than a smartphone that's processor was released in 2010 (Galaxy S3, Snapdragon S3).

    So the think is going to be powered by cellphone technology that is 3 years old on launch.
    Even the price point isn't that great. At launch the S4 will be available, how much do you think a no contract S3 will be then? 100$? and it will have more features.
    About

    • Samsung S4 is already out, the S3 unlocked sells for a little over $400. Even the S2 sell for over $300, so no of course the S3 won't sell for $100 in a couple of months.

      Additionally, an S3 would need a controller and HDMI connection to use it as a console.

      • Why would it need HDMI connection? I can already wirelessly stream video to my TV. In addition, you can likely plug it into a usb port as well.

        But yes you would need a controller for the "console" feel. Not sure how that would work.

        S4 *just* came out. In a couple of months in the summer they will do the price drops prior to Apple doing anything in the fall. However yes it would still be more than 100$. However it does a lot more, and that 100$ is a product that isn't even available, and we will see how clos

        • Why would it need HDMI connection? I can already wirelessly stream video to my TV.

          Were you were referring to DLNA? As I understand it, that's more designed for noninteractive video [steamcommunity.com], which doesn't value low latency nearly as much as gaming does. Something with latency on the order of a single 16 ms frame would need a specialized protocol, which probably means a new box to receives the wireless stream and forward it to the TV.

    • While it is a phone chip, the T33 Tegra 3 is the fastest in the line (only appearing in the HTC One X and an Asus Tablet), I believe it will get better performance than a mobile device because you can shut off all the power saving modes. But then again, aren't all consoles obsoleted a bit by the time they hit market?
      • They tend to be... very few consoles are ground breaking hardware compared to desktop pc tech when they are released.. I think an OC'd tegra 3 should be sufficient. My biggest hope was that this would offer a fairly common platform for emulators to target, I have plenty of roms for older games, and older game consoles, but I don't like switching around hardware, and analog connections are a pain... I just wanted an interface at least as easy as netflix for switching games... the memory is pretty limited,

        • Emulators targeting NEON won't have to do anything. Emulators targeting Tegra 2 will probably have little to do. Everyone else is using software rendering and will have nothing to do... so pretty much all the emulators ought to run on it

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Anyway all this is a older cellphone gaming on your TV with a controller. I am not sure I would qualify this as a console.

      Well, I'm sure a very popular thing to do would be to put whatever MAME is best on Android on it, plug in a USB hard drive and play your emulators on the big screen that way. For $99 and a hard drive, you really cannot beat it as a retrogaming console. Of course, those who staked their lives on selling apps are screwed, but no biggie.

      • I like this idea better.

        However the one problem with playing retro games on a big HD wide screen TV is they look extra terrible.

        The one problem I have with the Android Market place is that it is very difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff if you will. There are literally tens of thousands of games when I go to look for anything (apps too), and everything seemingly has a 4-4.5 stars. Overload.

        • However the one problem with playing retro games on a big HD wide screen TV is they look extra terrible.

          Then the emulator needs to simulate the electron beam spread of an SDTV, on which bright scanlines spread more than dark scanlines. I'm pretty sure that that's doable in a pixel shader. Or the emulator needs to use Scale2x or hq3x or something to smooth borders of things, which ends up making 8-bit game graphics look like cartoony Flash vector graphics. Scale2x has also been implemented in a pixel shader [openpandora.org].

          The one problem I have with the Android Market place is that it is very difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff if you will.

          And Nintendo Power used to say good things about every licensed NES game. Aren't there other sources of

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Jiro ( 131519 )

        If you want to play emulators on your TV, get a Wii and jailbreak it. Given the current speed of android emulators, I really doubt the Ouya is going to give any better performance than that.

    • Re:Console? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by flimflammer ( 956759 ) on Thursday May 09, 2013 @01:09PM (#43676649)

      That's like saying the Wii doesn't meet the definition of a console.

    • So the think is going to be powered by cellphone technology that is 3 years old on launch.

      Flimflammer mentioned the Wii, a 2006 die-shrink of the 2001 GameCube with about twice the RAM and a Bluetooth air mouse. It sold 100 million consoles.

      About the only thing it does have is a controller.

      That's the entire point. Seventh-generation consoles' download stores are tightly curated like Netflix. There's still a space for something less curated like YouTube.

  • Sigh! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lord_mike ( 567148 ) on Thursday May 09, 2013 @12:03PM (#43675747)

    Well, I guess I'll be crossing another item off my fathers day gift list! Bummer! :-( I hope this thing works out. I'm looking forward to buying one. I think that this will be a big deal. The hardcore gamers pooh pooh it, but the device isn't meant for you. There is a market for a device like this that is incredibly flexible and versatile. It goes beyond gaming. It can run all sorts of software, such as media software and emulators, and allow you to really take control of your TV experience and do whatever you want with it. That is what I think the Ouya's core appeal is--it's creative potential for users. It's fun, inexpensive, and full of potential. What's not to like?

  • And I haven't received mine yet. :(

    I'm betting part of the delay is to ensure that all early backers get theirs BEFORE it hits retail. That was promised from very early on.

  • I'd delay it too and take in more VC money while I can and before it's exposed that consumers think it's cheap junk.
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