The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later • Hacker News Board

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#141

Post by Twirrim » Sat, May 17, 2014, 3:26 PM UTC

nightski wrote: post #140

ekianjo wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then install it when you shut the console off. I seriously hate that on my laptop. I want to switch off and be on my way and suddenly Windows tells me it needs to install an update before shutting off. Seriously wtf! This is the kind of things that drives me to Linux, where I know that when I click Shut down, the system will be off in 20 seconds.

Why not just close the lid & put it to sleep? You really shut down every time you move somewhere with your laptop?

That's really bad from a security perspective. It's possible to retrieve all sorts of data from a machine that has been 'slept', especially things like the decryption key for the HDD. Various ports on the outside of the laptop, like USB, have DMA for performance reasons.

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#142

Post by Twirrim » Sat, May 17, 2014, 3:27 PM UTC

rexf wrote: post #64

baby wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a huge problem with new consoles I find. I don't remember having to update my N64 every time I wanted to play it. But my PS3? Every time I want to play I have to spend like 30 minutes in downloading and installing an update. Every single time. I don't play that often but still do play from times to times and I haven't had a clean launch for years.

I have the same problem with my gaming PC. When I boot it up, I have numerous updates for Windows, Steam, games, etc.

Windows updates aren't required before you can start playing a game, which is a huge advantage.

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#143

Post by rapind » Sat, May 17, 2014, 3:57 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #130

georgemcbay wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed completely. I joked that the U in "Wii U" stood for "update" because the amount of forced modal updates required to every part of the system was almost comical when the system was new. I've also got the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 and all are basically the same... if I haven't turned it on in a couple weeks it is nearly guaranteed I'll have to sit through a couple-hundred megabyte update or two (for the OS…

You'd think somebody would learn from Microsoft's long, hard struggle with Windows Update, and make consoles do the same thing Windows now does: download the update in the background at low priority while the console is on , then install it when you shut the console off . (And, for added effect, make the console actually look and sound like it has powered off while the updates are still installing. Windows 8 does thi…

I think OSX has been doing this since Leopard, but instead of forcing the update during shutdown, you can apply it whenever you want (it's already downloaded unless you turned auto updates off). I much prefer this route. Forcing the update on a restart or shutdown ends up being more annoying than you think.

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#144

Post by nightski » Sat, May 17, 2014, 4:09 PM UTC

Twirrim wrote: post #141

nightski wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just close the lid & put it to sleep? You really shut down every time you move somewhere with your laptop?

That's really bad from a security perspective. It's possible to retrieve all sorts of data from a machine that has been 'slept', especially things like the decryption key for the HDD. Various ports on the outside of the laptop, like USB, have DMA for performance reasons.

Wouldn't all these issues be present anyways if the thief simply turned on the machine?

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#145

Post by ijk » Sat, May 17, 2014, 4:15 PM UTC

MichaelGG wrote: post #135

jonny_eh wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OUYA engineer here (not PR). Developers kept telling us that requiring a free component was discouraging them from publishing. Since we changed our stance on that issue we've received a large influx of new and awesome games. So while it might not seem ideal from a gamer's perspective at first, the availability of a lot more games is pretty nice.

What is their rationale? I saw one rant on Reddit where the dev was angry that OUYA forced him to give away his work for free and people would just play a demo then never pay. Are they all like that? As I understood, the technical implementation is fairly straightforward, right?

> As I understood, the technical implementation is fairly straightforward, right?

As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, the technical and design challenges of offering a working subset of a game as a demo can be quite high for a small developer. Even AAA studios can't always justify the cost.

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#146

Post by stinos » Sat, May 17, 2014, 4:17 PM UTC

barbs wrote: post #136

rexf wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same problem with my gaming PC. When I boot it up, I have numerous updates for Windows, Steam, games, etc.

Windows updates are the worst. Once it decided to restart to install updates right in the middle of a dota game. I now run linux mint on my gaming rig, so that's never a problem

another solution (solely to the updating problem) would be to disable automaitc updates, no?

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#147

Post by greggman » Sat, May 17, 2014, 5:05 PM UTC

I guess this is self promotion but it seems relevant.

I probably should have posted this early but I've been working on a library/framework for making party games with lots more than 4 players.

Players use their smartphone as the controller but all look at the same TV to play the games.

I've only had a couple of "larger" sessions so far but have had 17 player space wars and 14 player bomberman like. Going to try for 30 to 40 players in a few days.

http://greggman.github.io/HappyFunTimes/

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#148

Post by sexmonad » Sat, May 17, 2014, 8:02 PM UTC

nightski wrote: post #144

Twirrim wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's really bad from a security perspective. It's possible to retrieve all sorts of data from a machine that has been 'slept', especially things like the decryption key for the HDD. Various ports on the outside of the laptop, like USB, have DMA for performance reasons.

Wouldn't all these issues be present anyways if the thief simply turned on the machine?

No. If I shut down my laptop, my hard drive is encrypted and keys are no longer in RAM (modulo a cold-boot attack, but that is only really useful for <30 minutes after shutdown without preparation).

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#149

Post by sterlingross » Sat, May 17, 2014, 8:04 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #130

georgemcbay wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed completely. I joked that the U in "Wii U" stood for "update" because the amount of forced modal updates required to every part of the system was almost comical when the system was new. I've also got the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 and all are basically the same... if I haven't turned it on in a couple weeks it is nearly guaranteed I'll have to sit through a couple-hundred megabyte update or two (for the OS…

You'd think somebody would learn from Microsoft's long, hard struggle with Windows Update, and make consoles do the same thing Windows now does: download the update in the background at low priority while the console is on , then install it when you shut the console off . (And, for added effect, make the console actually look and sound like it has powered off while the updates are still installing. Windows 8 does thi…

I went over my ISP bandwidth cap twice before I realized OSX was doing this in the background. For people with limited bandwidth allowances, this isn't a good option.

Re: The shock of playing the Ouya, one year later

#150

Post by sexmonad » Sat, May 17, 2014, 8:07 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #118

kevingadd wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The core problem is that it appears player-friendly, but in practice it is not, because it wounds developers. If you're an indie with limited resources, being forced to build a demo means you end up having to ship a bad demo (actually reducing your sales in many cases) or not ship on the platform at all. In an ideal world, 'all games have free trials' is good. The realities of game development mean that even for game…

I'm very reluctant to buy a game if there's no demo, unless it's throwaway-cheap, the reviews and word of mouth are stellar (they're usually not for any but the biggest hits), or the concept immediately clicks for me. It's worth putting a bit of time into making a good demo.

I take this sentiment a bit further - unless it's throwaway-cheap, the reviews and word of mouth are stellar (they're usually not for any but the biggest hits), or the concept immediately clicks for me, I will pirate the game to try it out. If I like the pirated version, I _usually_ purchase the full game (but not always). Not having reasonable demos just increases game piracy.