I’m guilty of impulse buying. I’m even guilty of impulse Kickstarter backing. But I can’t find a reason to back this Ouya thing.
Sure, the industry isn’t exactly all behind it, it seems dead in the water and it’ll have virtually no solid distribution model, or any big developer support, but at least it’ll have an install base right away: the Ouya hit $4 million in backing in a matter of days. Analysts look at it like a sad, wet dog, yet some critics think it’s going to be a revolution. And that is what Ouya is aiming for.
Seriously, what would we really get out of this box?
I want a reason to want this new toy everyone is excited about. But what the hell am I, as a guy on his couch, going to do with this thing?
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The only thing that immediately comes to mind is “Hey, $100 bucks is a pretty good price.” That’s exciting — I like shiny new toys. But what will I do with it? It looks like I can play Shadowgun (the iOS and Android Gears of War knockoff), but I already beat it on my mobile device months ago. Maybe I’ll be able to play Angry Birds on it? But that’s available on everything under the sun now- Kindle Fire, iPhone, Android, Xbox Live- and I’m honestly sick of those games, and I especially don’t want to play them on my television.
You might be saying to yourself “but it’s not JUST Android games, it’s just based on the Android SDK.” Great. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to get anything more than just that. What’s the incentive? What’s going to make a developer jump aboard the Ouya train, especially when it’s so much easier and profitable to develop on iOS and Android? Just who is going to give me cool games? Who’s going to make the killer app for the Ouya? Will there even be one?
The makers of Ouya want to usher in a revolution, but I regret to inform them: there’s already one happening. Could this device be a haven for indie devs, as it seems to set out to be? Indie devs already have plenty of havens. The fact that an indie market exists kind of negates one of Ouya’s missions. The Ouya intends to be the easy way for any developer to get games out there. But it’s long been proven that anyone can and has gotten their games out into the wild. And if it sucks, it goes nowhere. Like the 4 million crappy games you have to dig through on the AppStore to find a solid gold title, the Ouya could be filled with that and worse, like what didn’t make it on iOS, Xbox indies, PC distribution, or hell, even a flash game site.
I’ve read that “the next Braid or Super Meat Boy could happen here.” Really? That just doesn’t feel right. Anyone intending to make something incredible isn’t going to shoot for the Ouya, and even if some prodigy did make the next Minecraft in his basement for Ouya, it could drown in a sea of crapware thanks to the open, forced free-to-play market it’d be dumped into. I hate digging through junk and freebie games on my PC and mobile device, and I’m certainly not looking to deal with that on my television.
Imagine Ouya giving birth to something of Braid’s caliber? I can’t.
Most importantly, many (if not most) gamers who’ve jumped on the Ouya bandwagon already have at least one solid alternative to this. Be it an Xbox, a mobile device, a simple PC–anything. Most gamers for Ouya are already getting more than their daily dose of gaming in a variety of ways. What will they benefit from this device? As of now, it looks like nothing. And that’s not even getting into hardware capabilities of this thing.
With specs comparable to that of an iPad 3, the Ouya isn’t bad by any means, but it’s not exactly aiming for anything next-gen. Will anything it’s capable of be worth looking at on a television when most households have an Xbox 360? Is this thing just designed for HD Temple Run? “But it’s a cheaper alternative.” Yes, but cheaper alternatives are embraced by mainstream audiences. Will the Ouya go mainstream? Will I be able to buy this at Toys R’ Us?
Do I want to see the Ouya succeed? If you couldn’t already tell, not really. But I want a reason for its existence, because I just don’t get it. Will I give it a shot? Of course. But I feel like all the mumbo-jumbo in the Ouya Kickstarter description just doesn’t make sense: it doesn’t give any new reason for a schmuck on his couch, whether casual or hardcore, to check this thing out. There’s certainly no “revolution” apparent. Does this lay foundation for something bigger? Personally, I don’t think so — pipes have already been laid in various ways, and by the time this thing comes out the already rapidly changing market will have long gotten over the Ouya hype.
The landscape is in fact changing: gamers want something different. But through various ways we’ve already found outlets to scratch that itch. The Ouya is aiming to take advantage of that, but I see it remaining a hobbyist device, of hobbyists I will proceed to make fun of.
On the precipice of the next generation, the Ouya isn’t exactly reaching for the stars, let alone the damned ceiling.
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