OUYA to Refresh Hardware Every Year

[p1ngpong]

Personally I don't see what the big deal is about this, in fact it kind of makes sense when you think about it. The ouya is not a traditional console that would be expected to have a five plus year lifespan and its price reflects that fact.
It isn't a $400+ console and seeing as it is android its hardware evolves at a very fast pace and would become antiquated equally quickly. A two year old ouya would show its age much more than a two year old console because of the speed in which that type of hardware develops, and let's face it a few years down the line who would want an android device with three or four year old hardware? It would be completely redundant and the compatibility for new apps would be extremely low. Anyway just like you don't have to upgrade your phone yearly nobody would force you to upgrade the ouya yearly and once a new model comes out it doesn't mean the old one has immediately become useless. And even if you did upgrade every year the cost is negligible, $100, the price of two console games, it would be well within even modest means to keep up with the pace if you really wanted to.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Sheesh. The Ouya has gone from "mildly interesting, maybe I'll buy it if I ever have a spare $100, just out of curiosity," to "If ANYTHING, I'll buy an old model used for $40, when it comes to it," for me

 

[Foxi4]

Personally I don't see what the big deal is about this, in fact it kind of makes sense when you think about it. The ouya is not a traditional console that would be expected to have a five plus year lifespan and its price reflects that fact.
It isn't a $400+ console and seeing as it is android its hardware evolves at a very fast pace and would become antiquated equally quickly. A two year old ouya would show its age much more than a two year old console because of the speed in which that type of hardware develops, and let's face it a few years down the line who would want an android device with three or four year old hardware? It would be completely redundant and the compatibility for new apps would be extremely low. Anyway just like you don't have to upgrade your phone yearly nobody would force you to upgrade the ouya yearly and once a new model comes out it doesn't mean the old one has immediately become useless. And even if you did upgrade every year the cost is negligible, $100, the price of two console games, it would be well within even modest means to keep up with the pace if you really wanted to.

The problem here is that in six, seven years time you will still be playing your current generation Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo console which you bought for $350-$450 on launch day and you'd have spent $500 just on OUYA upgrades. If it takes yearly updates to stay competitive on the market, I, the consumer, might as well buy a PC and upgrade that when necessary, alternatively dish out for one of the big boy consoles instead. Sure, you're paying $100 at first, but are you really saving any money here? That's debatable.

The OUYA's main selling point is supposed to be its "Indie" nature, but with yearly $100 dollar updates I get the feeling that it's merely pseudo-Indie.

That said, to stay afloat on the Android market these days, you do need those updates, yes.

 

[IBNobody]

I didn't notice that part before.

Let me take a deep breath before I start laughing. About 5 minutes should be fine.

You can laugh, but Moore's law wins out.

Microsoft and Sony have committed to their chips already, and once the systems release, they'll be locked in an architecture for the next 6-7 years. You don't think that the mobile SoC's are going to catch up to them in that time frame?

 

[Foxi4]

You can laugh, but Moore's law wins out.

Not when comparing mobile to non-mobile chipsets, no. The OUYA will never match the processing power of the NextBox, the PS4 or the WiiU simply because those three machines are made with the intention of being competitive for up to 10 years - the OUYA will merely get small yearly upgrades to match the current Android handsets in processing power.

 

[narutofan777]

wait i don't get it..


but i guess I would feel sad for anyone who buys ouya. you know that feeling when u buy a nintendo ds or new console and news of the next slim/new version comes out or there's a sale a week later?

i hate that #%$#$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[KingVamp]

Sheesh. The Ouya has gone from "mildly interesting, maybe I'll buy it if I ever have a spare $100, just out of curiosity," to "If ANYTHING, I'll buy an old model used for $40, when it comes to it," for me

Yeah, just pick it up from Gamestop.

 

[Foxi4]

I guess I would feel sad for anyone who buys ouya. you know that feeling when u buy a nintendo ds or new console and news of the next slim/new version comes out or there's a sale a week later?

i hate that!

To be fair, Nintendo did f*ck all with the DSi's enhanced capabilities and it was hardly a good purchase for DS Lite/DS Classic owners.

 

[IBNobody]

Not when comparing mobile to non-mobile chipsets, no. The OUYA will never match the processing power of the NextBox or the PS4 simply because those two machines are made with the intention of being competitive for up to 10 years - the OUYA will merely get small yearly upgrades to match the current Android handsets in processing power.

What's your definition of "being competitive"? Who are they competing with, other than themselves?

There is more competition in the mobile SoC business than in the console business, and there's a hell of a lot more growth in mobile business, too.

EDIT: More competition and more growth mean a greater push on R&D to develop new technologies. Look at the mobile roadmaps.

 

[Foxi4]

What's your definition of "being competitive"? Who are they competing with, other than themselves?

There is more competition in the mobile SoC business than in the console business, and there's a hell of a lot more growth in mobile business, too.

From what you wrote I gathered that you meant the OUYA will reach comparable specs to the three competing home consoles, which it will assuredly not do within its lifespan.

Mobile CPU's and GPU's are less power-monging than their full-scale cusins, but at a cost - they're also less powerful. The mobile CPU's/GPU's we're seeing today still haven't matched the processing power of full-scale CPU's/GPU's from 10 years back, I don't see why it would change this time around.

 

[IBNobody]

From what you wrote I gathered that you meant the OUYA will reach comparable specs to the three competing home consoles, which it will assuredly not do within its lifespan.

Mobile CPU's and GPU's are less power-monging than their full-scale cusins, but at a cost - they're also less powerful. The mobile CPU's/GPU's we're seeing today still haven't matched the processing power of full-scale CPU's/GPU's from 10 years back, I don't see why it would change this time around.

They have some catch-up to do. But mobile SoC's were pretty dull before the iPhone came along. Look how far they've come so far. With NVIDIA being one of the driving forces, and AMD trying to break into the market, you're going to see those companies try to push the envelope of what is possible graphically. Those companies are also competing against Apple, who strategically bought a few GPU companies and is sitting pretty on tech.

NVIDIA is hurting particularly bad, because they got shut out of all 3 consoles this next generation. That's why they are doing things like project Shield and helping with the OUYA.

 

[Foxi4]

They have some catch-up to do. But mobile SoC's were pretty dull before the iPhone came along. Look how far they've come so far.

I disagree. Mobile CPU's evolved rapidly even before the iPhone rolled in and the Intel XScale (Now Marvell) is a pretty good example of that. Heck, later Dell Axim's (Powered by Windows Mobile) even played Quake III at a reasonable framerate years, years back. The progress has increased in pace, yes, but not as significantly as you might think - the mobile CPU industry has been around for a long time, just for the more "prestigious" customers - such handsets were mostly offered to businessmen.

With NVIDIA being one of the driving forces, and AMD trying to break into the market, you're going to see those companies try to push the envelope of what is possible graphically. Those companies are also competing against Apple, who strategically bought a few GPU companies and is sitting pretty on tech.

NVIDIA is hurting particularly bad, because they got shut out of all 3 consoles this next generation. That's why they are doing things like project Shield and helping with the OUYA.

Pretty sure they're not "helping" the OUYA, they're just selling their chip to them.

Also, NVidia's relatively fine with or without consoles - they're focused primarily on PC and Smartphones these days, petty OUYA sales would be very little help.

 

[IBNobody]

I disagree. Mobile CPU's evolved rapidly even before the iPhone rolled in, and the Intel XScale (Now Marvell) is a pretty good example of that. Heck, later Dell Axim's (Powered by Windows Mobile) even played Quake III at a reasonable framerate years, years back. The progress has increased in pace, yes, but not as significantly as you might think - the mobile CPU industry has been around for a long time, just for the more "prestigious" customers - such handsets were mostly offered to businessmen.

In the past 2 years, though, the industry has gone from single cores to dual-cores to quad-cores. Last month, Samsung announced its 8 core Exynos. That's pretty darn fast.

Pretty sure they're not "helping" the OUYA, they're just selling their chip to them.

Also, NVidia's relatively fine with or without consoles - they're focused primarily on PC and Smartphones these days.

Here's another quote from the article in my OP...

Uhrman pointed out that, because of OUYA's home console form factor (which plugs into a wall, rather than relying on a tiny battery), the console will be, "the best Tegra 3 device on the market." It also doesn't hurt that OUYA's working directly with the Tegra 3's manufacturer, NVIDIA. She said that NVIDIA has a group of folks dedicated solely to getting the chip driving the OUYA to run at its highest capacity ever.

Application support is more than just sales.

 

[Foxi4]

Application support is more than just sales.

I must've missed that part. Well, that's great - in a lot of ways it's an advert for NVidia and the gaming capabilities of their chips.

As for multicore architectures popping up, it's infinitely easier to add more cores to a CPU than it is to refine a core - once CPU designers ironed out the "how-to" on PC architectures it comes to them naturally, I think. The only boundry here is the power intake of the chips as well as their efficient cooling, but hey! As long as you get more processing power, it's all good. The more "Oomph!" the better, I have faith in the mobile CPU/GPU industry, just not enough faith to risk saying that they'll match their bigger brothers performance-wise, even with a 10-year deadline.

 

[Jax]

When Apple releases a $500 phone every year it's ok, but when it's a $99 Android console, all hell breaks loose!

 

[Foxi4]

When Apple releases a $500 phone every year it's ok, but when it's a $99 Android console, all hell breaks loose!

It's not okay and people constantly bi*ch and complain about it, not because of the release schedule but because of the scarce improvements introduced in each version (with the honourable exception of the 4S which was entirely acceptable for Smartphone standards).

 

[Wombo Combo]

I think they regret not waiting for tegra 4.

 

[lovewiibrew]

I can't understand all the hate on Ouya. For $100 I have a device that will run xbmc, emulators, games, and android apps on my TV. I guess I could use a raspberry pi for xbmc but I don't really know, nor care, to use linux. I can't wait to receive my Ouya.

 

[TripleSMoon]

I can't understand all the hate on Ouya. For $100 I have a device that will run xbmc, emulators, games, and android apps on my TV. I guess I could use a raspberry pi for xbmc but I don't really know, nor care, to use linux. I can't wait to receive my Ouya.

I can do the exact same thing with my Asus Transformer Pad. All I needed was a Micro USB to HDMI cable (a few dollars), and a handheld bluetooth keyboard/touchpad for the convenience of not having to physically hold the tablet while setting things up (about $20).

That said, I suppose it is nice to have a version of Android that's more console-dedicated, in a way.

 

[LightyKD]

AWW FUQ NAW!!!!! What the hell???!!! I don't want these guys to start acting like smart device manufacturers. The fact that they are advertising this device as a console gave me hope that the damn thing would not be refreshed every five seconds. It's my issue with smart devices now. Why cant these manufacturers at least wait two damn years before shitting out another phone?!?! Ugh!!!!! I'm REALLY starting to hate gaming!!!!