Crowdfunded Android Console Ouya Will Be Shut Down On June 25th (theverge.com) 77
Razer, the gaming hardware manufacturing company that purchased Ouya's software assets in mid-2015, announced today that the crowdfunded Android console will cease functioning on June 25th. "That date will mark the unremarkable end of what began as a runaway Kickstarter success story: the inexpensive Ouya mini-console was powered by Android and introduced games such as TowerFall," reports The Verge. "But despite being positioned as the indie console, Ouya never quite took off after its $8.5 million crowdfunding campaign. The goal was to move Android's indie gaming scene to TV screens -- with exclusive Ouya-only titles mixed in -- but the execution didn't pan out." From the report: The hardware has been discontinued ever since Razer acquired Ouya's software assets in 2015. So it's somewhat surprising that the platform has continued to plod along for nearly four additional years. But that all ends next month. Accounts will be deactivated on June 25th. After that, Razer says "access to the Discover section will no longer be available. Games downloaded that appear in Play may still function if they do not require a purchase validation upon launch." But by and large, games on the Ouya platform will stop working after the cutoff date.
Razer notes that some developers might choose to help their Ouya customers by activating the same game on some other platform (i.e., Google Play) where available following the shutdown. Razer's own Forge TV device will continue functioning as an Android TV set-top box, but the Forge TV games store is also going offline come the 25th. Part of Razer's thinking behind the Ouya acquisition was to propel its long-term Android TV gaming ambitions. The company has clearly shifted its priorities over the last few years, as indicated by the decision to finally shut down Ouya once and for all.
Razer notes that some developers might choose to help their Ouya customers by activating the same game on some other platform (i.e., Google Play) where available following the shutdown. Razer's own Forge TV device will continue functioning as an Android TV set-top box, but the Forge TV games store is also going offline come the 25th. Part of Razer's thinking behind the Ouya acquisition was to propel its long-term Android TV gaming ambitions. The company has clearly shifted its priorities over the last few years, as indicated by the decision to finally shut down Ouya once and for all.
when the server dies the game dies (Score:1)
too bad there isn't an open server that could be maintained by the community
They need to stop calling it a purchase (Score:5, Insightful)
There needs to be a law to hold all of these companies responsible and make them stop calling it a purchase. This was clearly a rental if it can stop functioning any time at the discretion of the manufacturer. What a shitty thing to do to people. I feel sorry for the people who rented this but were told they were buying it.
Free Software License (Score:4, Insightful)
software licenses such as the GPL aren't EULA, they don't dictate what you're allowed to do with your copy. (most EULAs aren't valid to begin with)
They are copyright licenses, they define under what circumstances you are allowed to make copies (in GPL's case: as long the person you're giving the copy to gets the same rights to tinker that you got), because otherwise copyright laws simply don't allow you to make unlicensed copies.
Free Software Licenses have nothing to do with the ability to remotely kill software.
YOU OWN THE COPY, FFS !!! (Score:2)
TL;DR:
There is a difference in the real world between:
- what companies want you to think (you merely pay for the *privilege* of accessing *their software that they still own* and they can revoke that access when they want)
- what have any legal reality : you bought a product (which just happens to not have a physical form), the product is yours, you might use it in any way you find fit *for your own personal use*, you're merely not allowed to provide to any 3rd party - unless you have copyrig
Difference (Score:2)
Even if you have a Free Software client that streams game data from the server then if they turn the servers off your client stops working, why? Because you don't own the software. Sure you own a copy of it and it might even be Free Software so the license permits you to do many more things with it
If your software is actually Free :
- you'd be able to kill the DRM that prevent the local mode to work when the motherbase server are unplugged.
- you'd be able to eventually run your own server implementation for multiplayer with other people who also own the software, even with no more motherbase servers to coordinate players.
(For a non-freesoftware example of this, see the 3rd party server enabling players to use PhantasyStar Online for Dreamcast and Gamecube, long after the official serve
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wearing black masks while burning down their colleges, attacking people with mace and clubs, screaming at people in restaurants, or trying to assassinate congressmen at baseball games
The people wearing black masks and causing mayhem are almost always agents provocateurs planted by the opposition. Look up COINTELPRO sometime. As far as the guy who took a potshot at Rep Scalise, he is mentally disturbed. You can't paint all liberals with the same brush. Similarly, not all conservatives are racist, batshit-crazy mouth-breathers.
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There needs to be a law to hold all of these companies responsible and make them stop calling it a purchase. This was clearly a rental if it can stop functioning any time at the discretion of the manufacturer.
If this is the case I should still be getting rental titles on my Betamax machine.. I bought the machine in 1986 after all, Where is my Avengers: End Game in 240i - Where's my Game of Thrones 40 tape box set?
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> If this is the case I should still be getting rental titles on my Betamax machine.. I bought the machine in 1986 after all, Where is my Avengers: End Game in 240i - Where's my Game of Thrones 40 tape box set?
Did someone come and steal all your existing BetaMax tapes and kick you in the groin on a given date? That's the comparison, not an inability to get new content.
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Indied developers should learn (Score:2)
The one reason I did not even consider purchasing this console is that I read that it comes with the exact same restrictions as the big-name consoles.
Why should I pay for an indie game when it comes with strings attached and can be discontinued remotely, outside of my control ?
If I really feel like playing some indie game I look at titles like Block Out 2 or UFO Alien Invasion where the source code is avaialble and there are no strings attached. I can still play the game after the developers have lost int
Reading between the lines (Score:2)
"Games downloaded that appear in Play may still function if they do not require a purchase validation upon launch." But by and large, games on the Ouya platform will stop working after the cutoff date. "
So the vast majority of games on the platform DO need to phone home before allowing you to play. Was EA involved in some advisory capacity?
There can't be that many of these consoles out there... I'd think Razer could accrue a fair amount of good will at little cost by keeping one validation server running so
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It's possible that purchase validation is done by calling home to the publisher (which is why there are some games that don't have it). If so, Razer can't keep the validation going as they aren't the ones doing it to begin with.
The Big Guys Won't Let Any Alt-Console Live (Score:5, Interesting)
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Then find - much to your chagrin - that nobody with a 40+ man development team will make any games for it.
have you ever heard of emulation or porting?
Then find - much to your chagrin - that nobody with a 40+ man development team will license any games for emulation or porting to it.
Re:The Big Guys Won't Let Any Alt-Console Live (Score:5, Insightful)
The whole console market is rigged so that only XBox, PS, Nintendo have a chance. This is not because nobody else can make the hardware - how hard is it in 2019 to stuff a mini-PC into a sexy-looking console casing? It is because NONE of the big game studios will make anything significant game-wise for _any_ alternative game console.
But that's not what this was, this was an "indie" console. The problem with that is indie developers can already target PCs, Android systems, iOS systems, XBox, Playstation, Switch, etc... Indie devs already have plenty of platforms to target so what's the point of another console? Sure if it offers some great, awesome feature that none of the others do then perhaps it might appeal to enough people to make it viable but this was just an Android TV box.
Ouya was relying on the indie community for support, the idea that you don't need big budgets, voice actors, motion capture and fancy graphics to make successful, compelling games and so the community would build the best games and make Ouya a success. Now to a degree that's true, but also why would indie devs restrict themselves to Ouya when they can publish on all the other platforms too? There's no uniqueness to the hardware or software platform and there's no uniqueness to the titles offered on it, I'm not surprised it didn't succeed.
Flaws of Xbox Live Indie Games (Score:2)
Sony had already supported indie games but allowed selfpublishing in early 2013.
Which was after the OUYA crowdfunding campaign. Besides, as of 2019, Sony still requires a corporation or an LLC, not a sole proprietorship.
The Xbox Indie Arcade was existed 4 years before the Ouya kickstarter.
Xbox Live Indie Games had a handful of serious flaws:
- All games had to be in 100% pure C#. The XNA framework blocked standard C and C++ (because P/Invoke was left out), and it blocked IronPython and other DLR languages (because Emit was left out). This made it impractical for a developer to target both Xbox 360 and another platform.
- Games were available in only a hand
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The problem with that is indie developers can already target PCs, Android systems, iOS systems, XBox, Playstation, Switch, etc...
When OUYA was crowdfunded, none of those was a close substitute.
- PCs were still stuck at a computer desk, and people weren't willing to buy a second PC for the living room, carry the PC back and forth, or run cables through the wall to display the PC on the living room TV.
- Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony were still requiring "relevant video game industry experience" and "secure stand-alone office", which a 1- or 2-man team would have trouble satisfying. Only after OUYA was funded did they begin to open up m
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When OUYA was crowdfunded, none of those was a close substitute.
They were a close substitute, they just weren't an exact replacement, as you highlighted even if you didn't want to buy a cheap second-hand low powered PC for the living room and didn't have a laptop but wanted to play in the living room you could always move your PC in there so yes there were certainly very close alternatives. XBox had indie development though it had a few limitations - and even TowerFall, one of the big ticket Ouya games was an XNA platform game so still a close substitute and up til Ouya
No evidence that enough users were willing (Score:2)
as you highlighted even if you didn't want to buy a cheap second-hand low powered PC for the living room and didn't have a laptop but wanted to play in the living room you could always move your PC in there
Slashdot users kept claiming that next to nobody was willing to do so for one game. (Links to typical comments are available on request.) This means developers could not rely on a large body of users willing to move a PC back and forth in order to make sales projections.
XBox had indie development though it had a few limitations
Two of the big ones being unavailability in most countries and impracticality to port existing games to the platform because XNA was C#-only.
controller support in iOS
I don't remember any manufacturer of MFi controllers ever publishing sales figures. This means devel
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Slashdot users kept claiming that next to nobody was willing to do so for one game.
Obviously that depends on whether the game is any good, but more to the point using slashdot users have a pretty horrible track record of knowing anything about the average consumer, from the iPod to the Linux Desktop taking the opinion of slashdot users as a reflection of the average consumer is not a very smart thing to do.
XBox had indie development though it had a few limitations
Two of the big ones being unavailability in most countries and impracticality to port existing games to the platform because XNA was C#-only.
That's not a barrier though, it's an excuse because innovators will simply work around problems like that and again TowerFall was one of Ouya's biggest titles and it was an XNA title, n
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Xbox Live Indie Games
unavailability in most countries
That's not a barrier though, it's an excuse because innovators will simply work around problems like that
How does an innovator work around a service being unavailable to most potential customers?
PUBG was developed as a PC game targeting keyboard and mouse, XBox is limited and doesn't have that input so they adapted, further they adapted when they put out the Android version, innovators adapt.
What steps did this particular innovator take to adapt the control scheme of PUBG to Android?
Most indie developers aren't particularly worried about sales projections
They are if they have to sell preorders in order to build a bank account from which to pay wages. What source or sources of capital do innovators who do not rely on preorders use to pay wages?
They also don't go out and shop around their game concept to determine if enough users would be willing to buy and play it if they developed it.
My experience on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms, both as a backer and as an employee of a project creator, disagrees with y
Ouya tablet class not "console" class. (Score:2)
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Your analogy is flawed. People buy fast-food cause it's easy and cheap. AAA titles are far more expensive than indie titles. And with Steam, indie titles are at least as easy to get.
Re:The Big Guys Won't Let Any Alt-Console Live (Score:5, Informative)
The Ouya failed not because of some conspiracy of Sontendosoft but because it wasn't a very good at being a games console.
The controllers were awful and had a lot of connectivity issues, like they would not connect to the console or remain connected if it went to sleep. It then only had a single USB 2.0 port so you could plug in a wired controller but then not have a flash drive with extra storage. Ouya games tended to also perform worse than their tablet or phone equivalents (running similar hardware). The main UI was also a complete pain in the ass in addition to being sluggish and confusingly arranged.
I backed it on Kickstarter and ended up using it not for games but for emulators and XBMC. Unfortunately it sucked at those tasks thanks to the single USB port you could either have storage connected or a controller that wouldn't randomly lose its connection to the console. I had no luck with a USB hub so it eventually went in a drawer and I replaced it with a Raspberry Pi.
On paper the Ouya was a workable idea but in practice it just did not deliver. All of its issues existed on day 1 and were never meaningfully addressed. The Ouya was billed as an indie console for indie developers but it sucked and I doubt it ended up being worth any indie developer's time. Early on Ouya advertised Unity as being a partner but I never saw much come from that other than Unity had an Ouya plug-in to target the console.
The Ouya was a crappy game console that didn't work well, didn't have many games, and didn't have a lot of head room for improvements. It didn't take a game console conspiracy to ruin it.
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The Ouya was billed as an indie console for indie developers but it sucked and I doubt it ended up being worth any indie developer's time.
I'm an amateur gamedev in that while I've made games for C64s, gameboys, SNES, PC and other limited things, I've never actually released anything. Largely because it's not the games themselves that interest me (okay, fine, gross incompetence), but rather hacking on the hardware itself. If the hardware is cool, I'll enjoy myself. But android is my worst nightmare. Java-based managed language that plots an uneasy course between procedural, event driven and functional, with a GUI framework that tries really ha
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Its entrepreneurial vision, not the funding method (Score:2)
I know Kickstarter claims around 9% fail which doesn't sound bad. But I also know that their have been several mobile startups that have failed. Ubuntu, Firefox, and a few Android knockoffs. I think if they were introduced into the right market they would do better.
Its got little to do with kickstarter, crowdfunding, etc. The same thing happens in corporate and government funded projects. Its really about entrepreneurial vision. About sticking to that vision, often developed in isolation, and doing little to no customers discovery research to validate entrepreneurial vision with the market. In other words get out of your office, lab, garage, whatever and go talk to hundreds of potential customers. Don't tell them your ideas, don't lead them, just ask them about their
OUYA Sucked (Score:4, Informative)
Honestly, I was in the very beginning of the kickstarter. I've had the console a very long time. Several things about the system just sucked, which is why it failed.
1) controller buttons would get stuck. this was extremely annoying to play anything, really.
2) controller wasn't bluetooth until later releases, so any of us that got the early release got screwed out of a possibly neat feature.
3) UI/UX was absolutely terrible. the dashboard felt extremely sloppy, rushed, thrown together. i forgave them at first since it was "new", but over time, it was never resolved. simply USING the damn thing felt painful. I eventually swapped it out for a 3rd party OS entirely, just to have a semi-functional device.
Seriously, if the dashboard wasn't a shit disaster, the thing would have been AMAZING, even with the controller issues. But when it becomes a serious chore just to LAUNCH a game, I aint gonna use it anymore when I have competing alternatives that do a better job!
Luckily since then, a strong community has formed around the Raspberry Pi, so we have an alternative small computer with HDMI for playing low-end-hardware based games.
Any cool repurposing? (Score:2)
I've got an ouya at home. I probably won't play it. But do any know good repurposing of the ouya? One can probably install a stock android or linux on it. But I was wondering what other usage there are?
Great example how DRM screws customers (Score:1)
Will the customers be refunded the purchase price of those online-DRM games? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I can't wait until the Fortnite tykes scream and cry like little Japanese school girls when the servers for that get pulled. A chorus of cry babies eminating from a neighborhood near you.
Atari VCS next (Score:2)
and we'll see another failure in a few years with the new Atari VCS (also crowdfunded) console that is in the works.
as much as i would love to see it succeed, i highly doubt it will.