Ouya console review: "Pass on it" • Hacker News Board

Re: Ouya console review: "Pass on it"

#41

Post by flogic » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 1:47 AM UTC

guelo wrote: post #19

zoba wrote: post #11

This review states the Ouya is "hacker friendly" and I think thats far from the truth. It comes with a locked bootloader and, as far as I've been able to research, no one has been able to put any other version of Linux on it. I think piracy concerns ended up causing Ouya to close their system some, making it less hacker friendly.

Does it allow side-loading of unsigned apk's? That wold make it very friendly for some types of hackers.

I believe it does. I vaguely remember seeing something along those lines in the setup screens.

Re: Ouya console review: "Pass on it"

#42

Post by vinkelhake » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 2:32 AM UTC

seivan wrote: post #37

vinkelhake wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That will surely remedy the lack of quality games.

Woaaaah, easy there sarcasmo! That sorta sounds like Sony. Hey lets make our platform an entirely new platform, different from x86 and as hard as possible to get quality game developers. Sounds familiar?

That's quite a stretch. I don't really know what you mean with the Sony comment so I'm going to guess you meant Playstation 3 which was widely considered hard to develop for. When PS3 was released there had been exactly one x86-based mainstream console on the market. Even Microsoft chose to abandon x86 for Xbox 360. PS3 was hard to develop for, but not because it wasn't based on an x86 architecture.

Anyway, to get back on topic: Ouya has a well-know architecture. It has a well-known operating system with good tool support. What sets it apart from an Android tablet is the controller and the fact that you plug it into a TV. When Ouya fails, it's not going to be because it lacked good tools.

Re: Ouya console review: "Pass on it"

#43

Post by bendingoutward » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 5:27 AM UTC

sehugg wrote: post #25

There are two games that we love: Amazing Frog and Bombsquad. The rest don't get played much. Hopefully this situation improves.

A few that I've really enjoyed so far, if you don't mind the suggestions:

* Antichromatic (hit and subsequently blasted out of the sandbox earlier this week, effectively Ikaruga mechanic applied to a platformer)

* Inferno & Ballistic SE (same author, same general gameplay, different world mechanics)

* Saturday Morning RPG

I'd love to see an actual vs fighter, but currently lack the free time to even care about hacking one up :/

Re: Ouya console review: "Pass on it"

#44

Post by LawnGnome » Sat, Jul 20, 2013, 4:29 PM UTC

porsupah wrote: post #31

LawnGnome wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't agree more: mine runs XBMC well and, for me, is worth the $100 just for that. That there are emulators that work well and some fun games are pure bonuses, really. It's something that slots in alongside other consoles rather than replacing or even competing with them.

Is its 1080p performance perfect? It'd be an interesting option here, if so. The Pi isn't up to the job, which seems to leave something of a toss-up between this and an Apple TV, suitably jailbroken for Matroska support.

So far so good — I threw a 1080p file at it last night and it did fine. Admittedly, most of my content is in 720p, because that was about all the Apple TV I used to use could deal with.