Apparently from what I’ve been reading, this little Android box is now out for reviewers and is about to go to retail. However, comments from various sites suggest that while it has been loved by reviewers, the comments show different opinions.
For example, a lack of substance in the games currently available, screen alignment problems, the Kickstarter backers being left in the air over whether or not they’ll get their consoles ect… All in all suggesting that the release of the first model was rushed and thus thrusting users into more of a beta testing position than actually being able to have fun playing on it.
It looks to me like with things like Kickstarter, you might be fooling yourself if you’re going to take at face value the idea that they will school the big ‘evil’ corporations on quality, customer service, and responding to feedback.
With this in mind, what is your take on this little box and with all we know, is it even worth it anymore for the BGE to have functionality to publish games on it?
I don’t think there’s a final anything yet. All that anything really needs is a community. Young children set expensive toys aside and play with the box. In a time of complex AAA games with next gen graphics Minecraft slapped them all to the mat. What the Ouya has going for it is there’s nothing like it. I don’t think it would be safe to have an expectation. Many of the issues that are being brought up now are not new. These things have been mulled over since the Kickstarter campaign. I don’t think the bulk of the supporters are going to be caught off guard by them. One humble bundle being ported could set it on a path to success. It hasn’t even been released yet.
Whenever there is alot of hype around an indie developed gadget like Ouya, you are going to wind up somewhat disappointed. Unlike the big guns, they cannot spend millions of dollars testing and getting the device right. You only get one “first impression” and it tends to colour any impressions you get from then on in. There is alot that can go wrong with producing a gaming device and much of it is often outside the control of those making it.
I speak from the experience of being a pre-orderer of the OpenPandora device. Lots of hype leading up to it and the device they first released (quite late too, I might add) was flimsy and buggy as hell. It got better but that first impression lasts.
With that said XBox One or, as my son is calling it, “XBox O(w)ne(d)” is setting a low bar. Microsoft might get everything else with it done right… but their Diablo 3 style “server controlled gaming” idea is giving everyone else a free kick (square to their acorns). When Sony presented the PS3 @ E3, they got over a minute worth of sustained applause throughout their bit… simply for doing what they always had done - let the person who possessed the CD/DVD play the game on it.