Was the Ouya a good console with good games?

[thejboy88]

Title says it all. The Ouya, a lesser-known console from our current gaming generation, received a fair deal of attention at it's release as an indie console that could go toe-to-toe with the big three console companies. However, that attention quickly seemed to disappear, and the console doesn't really seem to get talked about all that much.

I never owned one, and as such never played any of the games available for it. So, what I'd like to know is whether or not it was a good console with good games.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Hahahahahaha

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Hahaha

No.

No, the Ouya is not a good console with good games. In fact there are no games that are specifically for the Ouya console. The console runs android and all the games that are available on it are just android games, you know, the ones you play on your phone. Basically all the games that the Ouya has are the mobile crap that you put on your phone so you can play it in 5 minute increments when you're waiting in line for stuff.

The Ouya was never meant to compete with any of the consoles from the last generation. It was meant for...actually I have no idea what it was meant for. I don't think anyone ever really had a plan for it beyond the release, which is why no one actually has one. You're not missing out on anything by not having one. For the price of an Ouya you can get a PS2 or a Gamecube and have a much better gaming experience.

 

[Fappy]

The Ouya is a piece of crap. Most people just use it as a glorified emulation device.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

The Ouya was never meant to compete with any of the consoles from the last generation. It was meant for...actually I have no idea what it was meant for. I don't think anyone ever really had a plan for it beyond the release, which is why no one actually has one. You're not missing out on anything by not having one. For the price of an Ouya you can get a PS2 or a Gamecube and have a much better gaming experience.

Wasn't the Ouya an attempt to create an "indie console" that wouldn't compete with other consoles, but rather attract an entirely different demographic of gamers, gamers that preferred indie games over triple-A titles? The idea was to make a console that didn't require royalty fees to the console makers and which would allow anyone easy access to both develop and play its' games?

I mean, at least that was how I remember the pitches went while it was still being kickstarted and what not. The problem was that it was a budget console that failed to attract any noticeable game makers or leave much of an impression at all. And so it was left to be forgotten by most of history.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

The Ouya was never meant to compete with any of the consoles from the last generation. It was meant for...actually I have no idea what it was meant for. I don't think anyone ever really had a plan for it beyond the release, which is why no one actually has one. You're not missing out on anything by not having one. For the price of an Ouya you can get a PS2 or a Gamecube and have a much better gaming experience.

Wasn't the Ouya an attempt to create an "indie console" that wouldn't compete with other consoles, but rather attract an entirely different demographic of gamers, gamers that preferred indie games over triple-A titles? The idea was to make a console that didn't require royalty fees to the console makers and which would allow anyone easy access to both develop and play its' games?

I mean, at least that was how I remember the pitches went while it was still being kickstarted and what not. The problem was that it was a budget console that failed to attract any noticeable game makers or leave much of an impression at all. And so it was left to be forgotten by most of history.

The problem with that line of thinking is that you don't need a console for indie games because all of them come out on the PC and pretty much any PC will run indie games (and the vast majority of PCs are more powerful than the Ouya was), and EVERYONE has a PC.

 

[Rayce Archer]

The Ouya was an Android console with a prohibitive sales model that ensured only the most shovelware of Android games would be eligible for sale on it. That, combined with modest hardware and weak sales coverage, ensured that serious games never manifested for it. Most people who even knew the Ouya existed already had phones or tablets that could do what it did, in fact there are several android sticks for smart TVs that could do what it did, including gaming capability and bluetooth controller support.

Basically getting an Ouya was paying more to do less, so it tanked. Nothing of value was gained or lost.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

That depends. Is my HTC One a good console with good games? If you answer yes, then you've got the results of the OUYA. It did very little more than my own phone did. It's as useless as every other Android console out there. It didn't help they had to fix some of their controllers after the initial release. A half assed effort with an equally useless "console." In case you can't tell, yes, I don't care for the thing

 

[Lufia Erim]

The Ouya is a piece of crap. Most people just use it as a glorified emulation device.

Wait you can emulate stuff on it? Like nes/snes games? It might be worth it just for that . Assuming that's what it does, i have no clue.

 

[Fappy]

The Ouya is a piece of crap. Most people just use it as a glorified emulation device.

Wait you can emulate stuff on it? Like nes/snes games? It might be worth it just for that . Assuming that's what it does, i have no clue.

Any emulators that are compatible with Android phones are compatible with Ouya, so yes, SNES, NES, etc. emulators work.

EDIT: Keep in mind discussing this kinda stuff is sketchy on this site, so avoid claiming you use emulators, intend to use them or promote their use. Emulators aren't inherently illegal, but the CoC here is a bit vague on the topic so best play it safe.

 

[Rad Party God]

If the controller wasn't a big issue, I'd say that maybe it's worth it for emulation alone, but even that seems pretty useless on the Ouya.

 

[StreamerDarkly]

The Ouya was a joke of a console hyped by only the most ignorant of video game players. It came around at a time when Kickstarter hype was at its peak, and this also happened to coincide with a swell of anti-AAA sentiment in the games industry. It was a perfect storm of feel-good marketing drivel and delusions about how indie developers had been held down by the mainstream console makers.

Those skeptical of Ouya's performance specifications and what niche it would serve were derided as establishment shills seeking to hold gaming back from its true potential. Although its proponents never answered the question of why we should want to play console games on tablet-grade hardware, to this day many of them still blame big bad AAA and the complacent masses for its lack of success.

 

[Smooth Operator]

It is a decent Android machine at $100. And then everyone flips out their $1000 phones/tablets and boasts how much better they are... yes you are paying 10x more, that should be clear.

So the parts that are good:
- console + controller sets you back less then a new game these days
- supports all widely used controllers, being Android you can add support for more
- all Android software within the same OS will work on it
- this includes all emulators so you can play all sorts of retro stuff
- all games sold in their shop have mandatory demos

Bad stuff:
- they were told time and again the controllers are shoddy before release, still released shoddy controllers
- they never allowed the console to sell without the controller for some crazy reason, that would take the price down to $50
- interface was far too sluggish for what little there was, also very much like consoles you couldn't customize shit so any software you added went into a giant pile of slow loading/moving lists
- unless you put in credit card information they didn't allow you to browse their games at all, not even free ones
- and this coming from a mobile market 98% of their games are hustlers heaven, with plenty of ambush purchase buttons that will have your money on accident and no confirmation sequence to let you know what is going on
- this "open" console comes with a locked HDMI output... which is beyond insane
- and the games actually made for the console were about 10, everything else was just awkwardly adopted from touch input shit. But you can't really blame them for that when it's all third party dependent, and no they obviously haven't got the money of global conglomerate Microsoft to buy all their exclusives.

So in summary, their idea was good, execution was poor and market interest was almost none, which leave them... fucked. If it all worked out they would be a good Wii replacement(cheap and simple), but it didn't.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

It is a decent Android machine at $100. And then everyone flips out their $1000 phones/tablets and boasts how much better they are... yes you are paying 10x more, that should be clear.

I disagree with this statement.

I have one of the most powerful smartphones on the market right now, it's the Motorola Droid Turbo, and it has 3 gigs of ram and a 2.7 ghz quadcore processor.

I got this phone practically for free. Well that's not entirely true, I got the phone for $200 with an instant in-store $100 rebate and then a second $100 rebate from Motorola, which brought the price done to the $50 I had to pay for sales tax and activation.

This phone is SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful and a Ouya and cost me half as much. Even without the rebates the phone would only cost double what the Ouya does, and it's significantly more powerful and is also a phone (and lets face it, you need a phone anyway).

So...yeah, the Ouya is pretty crap for $100 considering what else you can buy for the price.

 

[Xerosch]

As a console it fails pretty much. You can get everything that's good like Final Fantasy 3 or Broken Age for other platforms as well.

But if you're into classic games for the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis or GameBoy Advance, this thing is almost unbeatable. The face that you can play those games full screen with a PS4 controller and save/load at any point makes these versions far surperior to other platforms.

 

[Fasckira]

No idea how it failed with such a brilliant advert:

 

[T_ConX]

I remember looking at the software list for Ouya and thinking to myself 'Wow... All of these are already on PC'. My scepticism probably began when I was watching a trailer for it and saw an icon for Canabalt in the launch menu.

Don't get me wrong. Canabalt is a good, fun little game... But it's a free flash game that I can only play in 5 min bursts. It's not something I want a fully fledged console for.

And that's all I ever saw on Ouya, a bunch of up-ported flash games and cell phone games. Some quality games were announced for it, like The Walking Dead, Shadowrun, Fez, and The Banner Saga; but none of those actually came out...

 

[Adam Locking]

Hahahahahaha

In fact there are no games that are specifically for the Ouya console.

I'm not sure where you're getting that information from. They weren't many, but there were a few; Soul Fjord, to name one.

 

[Smooth Operator]

It is a decent Android machine at $100. And then everyone flips out their $1000 phones/tablets and boasts how much better they are... yes you are paying 10x more, that should be clear.

I disagree with this statement.

I have one of the most powerful smartphones on the market right now, it's the Motorola Droid Turbo, and it has 3 gigs of ram and a 2.7 ghz quadcore processor.

I got this phone practically for free. Well that's not entirely true, I got the phone for $200 with an instant in-store $100 rebate and then a second $100 rebate from Motorola, which brought the price done to the $50 I had to pay for sales tax and activation.

Heard that one a million times before, but no one actually adds up the sub fees that are paying for the phones.