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History of video games/Platforms/Ouya

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  • The OUYA console and controller.
    The OUYA console and controller.

History

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Development

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The "O" in the name Ouya was chosen to represent the openness of the device.[1]

After asking for $950,000, in the span of about a month 63,000 backers raised 8.5 million dollars on the Ouya Kickstarter, with around 57,000 backers expecting to receive an Ouya console.[1][2] Ouya consoles from the first production run have the names of backers who donated over $10,000 engraved on the side of the console.[3]

Launch

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Ouya color logotype.
"If we don't nail this, nothing else really matters."
—Julie Uhrman, Ouya CEO, 2013 Nvidia GPU Technology Conference session[4]

In December 2012, Ouya developer consoles started to be received by backers.[5] At the time, the Ouya was the face of microconsoles.[6]

The Ouya launch was notably not plagued by shortages.[7] However, the launch was not without controversy. Notably, many backers did not actually receive their units by the time retail units were being shipped to storefronts due to a shipping error, incensing both backers and the company alike.[8] Additionally, around launch there was some concern that the Ouya would be used to pirate games.[9]

E3 2013 Incident

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A notable incident occurred outside of E3 2013, when E3 and Ouya were in dispute over Ouya's booth location across the street from the event.[10][11]

Market Performance

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By July 2013 sales figures for games on Ouya were very poor, with several prominent games earning just a few hundred or thousand dollars.[12]

In 2014 Ouya attempted to pivot to being a software platform.[13]

In February of 2015 Ouya announced a deal with Alibaba to enter the Chinese market.[14]

Legacy

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Razer acquired the Ouya software in 2015 for their Forge TV console.[15] There were some issues brought up by the merger regarding developer pay,[16] though this was resolved within a day.[17]

Online services for the Ouya were shut down on June 25th, 2019.[18][19] Before the shutdown an effort was made by preservationists to conserve as much digital material as possible.[20]

Technology

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The Ouya is powered by a NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad core processor.[21] By the time of launch, in part due to rapid improvements in mobile processors, this had become a component of middling performance.[22]

The Ouya has one gigabyte of RAM and either 8 gigabytes of flash storage in the $99 model, and 16 gigabytes of flash storage in the $129 model.[21][23]

Every Ouya console is also a development kit, and is designed to be easy to open up.[24][2]

Notable games

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Towerfall, among the most successful former Ouya exclusives.
The interest in OUYA has inspired a lot of devs to reach out to us with existing content and new ideas and we are trying to get back to each and every one of them.
—Julie Uhrman, Ouya CEO, 2012 Engadget Interview[25]

Towerfall

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Originally an Ouya exclusive, Towerfall sold 7,000 copies on the Ouya, making it one of the system's most popular games.[26][27]

Read more about TowerFall on Wikipedia.

Amazing Frog?

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Amazing Frog? was a launch game for the Ouya and a former Ouya exclusive that was an early humor oriented physics sandbox game.[28][29]Development of the game for the limited Ouya hardware was a challenge for the developers.[30]

Soul Fjord

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An Ouya exclusive rhythm game.[31]

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Console

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  •  
    The Ouya console itself is small. Here it can be seen next to an Ouya controller.
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    The top of the Ouya contains four hex screws and an indicator LED.[3]
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    The console IO includes one micro-USB port, one full size USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, an ethernet networking port, and a DC power jack.[3]
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    The bottom of the console contains air vents, as well as regulatory and manufacture information.

Controller and Accessories

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  •  
    The Ouya controller. Face buttons "O", "U", "Y", "A" spell the console name.
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    The two tone controller sports dual analog sticks and a direction pad, as well as a home button and touchpad.
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    The controller back has two left bumpers and two right bumpers.
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    Unlike most controllers of this generation, this controller has no rear ports.
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    An Ouya controller with faceplates removed. Straps ease the removal the of AA batteries powering the controller.
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    The Ouya power supply sends 12 volt 1.5 amp DC electricity to the Ouya.

History

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  •  
    Josh Topolsky and Juli Uhrman talk about Ouya at SXSW in 2013.
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    Controller Prototypes in 2013.
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    An Ouya developer console and prototype controller in 2013.
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    An Ouya developer kit in packaging.
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    A kickstarted backer's Ouya as shipped.

Internals

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  •  
    An Ouya console with the top removed. Like many tower PCs the motherboard is mounted vertically, taking advantage of the greater vertical space inside the console.
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    The small Ouya motherboard is a space efficient package, with vertical space being nearly entirely consumed by ports and the heatsink.
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    This side of the board faces up, and contains a button and LED.
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    Power to the small fan is delivered through a simple plug.
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    The AzureWave chip that handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can also be seen.[3]
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    The bottom of the motherboard contains a Kingston flash storage chip.[3]
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    This motherboard is revision 1.01.
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    Most components on the bottom of the board are located near the heatsink.
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    The motherboard PCB was made in China.

External Resources

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Wikipedia has related information at Ouya  and List of Ouya software

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ouya

References

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  1. ↑ a b "When A Kickstarter Campaign Fails, Does Anyone Get The Money Back?" (in en). NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2012/09/03/160505449/when-a-kickstarter-campaign-fails-does-anyone-get-their-money-back. 
  2. ↑ a b "History Lesson: The consoles that 'failed'". VGC. 28 December 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c d e "Ouya Teardown". iFixit. 7 May 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  4. ↑ Cunningham, Andrew (20 March 2013). "Ouya's founder: “If we don't nail this, nothing else really matters”" (in en-us). Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/ouyas-founder-if-we-dont-nail-this-nothing-else-really-matters/. 
  5. ↑ "OUYA Android-Based Game Console Starts Shipping - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  6. ↑ "Gamasutra - The Android Microconsole Reference Guide for Game Developers". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  7. ↑ "OUYA supplies steady as eBay price-gouge undermined". SlashGear. 26 June 2013. https://www.slashgear.com/ouya-supplies-steady-as-ebay-price-gouge-undermined-26287998/. 
  8. ↑ Robertson, Adi (25 June 2013). "Ouya console launches at Amazon and Best Buy, but early backers are still waiting" (in en). The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2013/6/25/4463192/ouya-console-launches-retail-but-early-backers-still-waiting. 
  9. ↑ "Ouya Tries To Dispel Fears That The Console's Nintendo Emulators Will Promote Piracy" (in en-us). Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/ouya-tries-to-dispel-fears-that-the-consoles-nintendo-458745016. 
  10. ↑ Sliva, Marty (1 November 2021). "E3 2013: Cops Called to Shut Down Ouya" (in en). IGN. https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/12/e3-2013-cops-called-to-shut-down-ouya. 
  11. ↑ "Ouya Crashes E3, Organizers Call Cops" (in en). PCMAG. https://www.pcmag.com/news/ouya-crashes-e3-organizers-call-cops. 
  12. ↑ "Ouya game sales figures released: It doesn't look good for Android console gaming - ExtremeTech". www.extremetech.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  13. ↑ "The Brief, Sad Life of An Alternative Video Game Console". www.vice.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "OUYA confirms further moves into China with Alibaba deal". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2015-02-03-ouya-alibaba-china.html. 
  15. ↑ "Razer Confirms Acquiring OUYA Software - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  16. ↑ "Indie Developers: Ouya Owes Us Thousands of Dollars". www.vice.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  17. ↑ "Razer Will Pay Ouya's Debts to Developers". www.vice.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  18. ↑ "Seven years later, the OUYA is dead for real". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  19. ↑ Welch, Chris (22 May 2019). "Ouya will be shut down for good on June 25th". The Verge. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  20. ↑ "Preservationists Are Racing to Save Ouya's Games Before They Disappear". www.vice.com. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  21. ↑ a b "The Failed OUYA Game Console Seeing Work For Mainline Linux Kernel Support - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  22. ↑ Parrish, Kevin (April 17, 2013). "Futuremark Publishes OUYA Console Dev Kit Benchmark" (in en). Tom's Hardware. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/OUYA-Futuremark-3DMark-Dev-Kit-Tegra-3,22058.html. 
  23. ↑ "Ouya Updates Hardware With $129 16GB Console, 8GB Edition Remains At $99". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  24. ↑ "Hack This $99 Android Game Console". www.vice.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  25. ↑ "The Engadget Interview: OUYA CEO Julie Uhrman on taking console concept to reality" (in en). Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2012-07-17-interview-ouya-ceo-julie-uhrman.html. 
  26. ↑ "'Towerfall,' OUYA's most popular game, only sold 7,000 copies". Engadget. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  27. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (31 July 2013). "Beloved Ouya-exclusive competitive brawler TowerFall coming to PC". Eurogamer. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  28. ↑ "Amazing Frog coming to Linux, Mac and Windows PC from Ouya". Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  29. ↑ McCoy, Brian (18 December 2013). "Amazing Frog? Ouya Review". iGame Responsibly. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  30. ↑ "OUYA Why Amazing Frog? is on Steam Early Access". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  31. ↑ "Kim Swift's Soul Fjord out this month, still Ouya only" (in english). Destructoid. https://www.destructoid.com/stories/kim-swift-s-soul-fjord-out-this-month-still-ouya-only-268963.phtml. 


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