

Ouya's first exclusive game  - alt_
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console/posts/270629

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vibrunazo
I'm not sure I understand the developer incentive for releasing a game
exclusively for the Ouya. As a game developer I'm excited by the Ouya, but
precisely because it's part of the larger Android ecosystem. So I can release
my games for a large screen console on the OUYA store and for millions of
Android mobile devices on the Play Store. With very little engineering effort
between the two (saved you already planed d-pad support in your game).

So why would I publish exclusively only on the Ouya store and not the Play
store? Is there some partnership plan somewhere that I'm missing? Robotoki is
getting a lot of good marketing directly from Ouya. That sounds like an
interesting partnership. But is that scalable for the rest of us?

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charlesju
If you read carefully the developer is releasing a prequel to his real game.
They are trying to leverage Ouya for publicity for when it releases its real
game which will not be under an exclusive deal.

This is similar to movie studios providing say, Hulu or iTunes with exclusive
trailers, and leveraging their platform for advertising.

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jerlam
From the looks of it, there's no meat behind this story other than the
announcement. The developer has nothing more than words and some concept art.
This is a pure marketing ploy for both the Ouya developers and the game
developers - neither have anything invested at the moment, both just drumming
up hype for their unreleased products.

Talk is cheap, as they say.

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smashing
Those words and pictures are now worth $5,213,248 with 20 days to go.

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marcamillion
This is brilliant on many levels. This game, good or not, will make a ton-load
of money - because of the hype/craze around Ouya.

This is Distribution 101. Find a hot platform/wave, and ride it as long as you
can.

This guy is at the top of the wave and will be riding all the way to the steps
of the bank.

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redslazer
They are releasing in 2015. The internet and the sort of hype around a gaming
console is not going to last that long. Remember the internet (as a whole) has
the long term memory of an intelligent goldfish. If they had a game to release
right now, as the OUYA launched then you would be right but in this case it
seems kind of far fetched.

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joshschreuder
If it makes the goal amount (it is currently $4M above it), the money is
charged from people and is then in Robotoki's hands.

Whether those people still care about the game in 2015 is irrelevant - as a
money making venture, it's quite clever (and clearly successful).

EDIT: Never mind - I got confused thinking the game had raised $5M on
Kickstarter, not the Ouya. My bad.

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dekz
Yes I was confused also, it's actually an Update post on Ouya's Kickstarter
project, not a new project for HumanElement.

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defdac
Since Unity3D already can deploy to Androd platforms I would venture to guess
that we will see quite alot of games ready for the launch of Ouya.

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solac3
Ouya's KickStarter feels less like you are "backing it" to make it happen than
it does advertizing to potential investors. The video is what I would call
more than a little vague and uncertain of itself. Are you backing what "could
be" or what WILL be?

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TillE
They've raised $5m and counting. What do they need investors for?

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quaunaut
For possibly ever becoming viable. Look, I'm a fan of indies as much as anyone
else, but mass producing a game console- even one with this cheap of parts- is
just not possible without more money. I'd be sincerely surprised if the money
they've raised so far covered more than just paying the salaries of their
employees and get the basic infrastructure set up.

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nitrogen
Back in 2001 when the original Xbox and PS2 were current-generation consoles,
the Indrema console failed because they couldn't get $10mil in capital. With
more accessible Chinese manufacturing, more accessible venture capital, and a
Kickstarter campaign that's already netted half that amount, I think Ouya
stands a pretty good chance of being profitable.

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eridius
Has Ouya actually gotten any other games promised for their platform yet? I
don't care about exclusivity. I just want to know that there will actually be
stuff to play when it comes out. I pledged originally, but cancelled after Ben
Kuchera's skeptical article. I'd love to be given a reason to reinstate my
pledge.

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alttab
How about the fact that you simply want to see the idea succeed? That was
enough for me. Even if it fails I know I was a part of the community that
tried.

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eridius
They passed their funding goal ages. What's your definition of "succeed"? Me
pledging for a console isn't going to do much to get good games to be promised
for it. I'd love to see it succeed, but it's hard to justify paying $100 for
something that isn't even useful by itself.

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alttab
Because I would love to see a console I could tinker with that is an open
platform, (versus say trying to do XNA development), the $100 is worth feeling
like I'm apart of something bigger than myself.

Sure its a gamble, but I want to see it enough that there is value to me in
simply being involved. Clearly others agree with me. You don't have to feel
the same way, and clearly you don't. No one is asking you to participate -
which is the beauty of the kickstarter format.

At this point I don't see what good anyone is doing criticising it. Either
you're on board.... or just chill out because it doesn't affect you in any
way. That is, unless you work for an existing game studio.

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eridius
Criticizing? I genuinely want it to succeed, but it needs games. A console
without games isn't a console. It seems like getting developers to promise
games at launch (or at least shortly after it) should be one of the top
priorities for the Ouya team right now, but I don't see any evidence of that
happening.

