A Super Special Unboxing

We're back, with a new toy.

Console Analysis: Ouya (Impressions)

Warning: This is not a review of the device in question, but rather an establishment of first impressions and concerns of a potential consumer (who you probably care nothing about). Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your opinions of the console in the comments section below!

Now, it may be true that we hold a slight bias towards this indie-driven console specifically and quite simply because it is in fact "indie-driven", however, I'm not entirely certain that we can immediately port Android-ready apps and games over to the console's market without making some adaptations. While this is probably stands for the greatest good, I'm using any potential work we may face as an excuse to establish potential criticisms (I honestly know little about this thing concerning structure and style). Hopefully the way in which multi-player and streaming (for fancy YouTube-hobbyists like ourselves]) will be implemented will be fairly impressive and satisfactory way. Given that this is the first one of these "impression/ review" articles that I've drafted (that any of us have drafted, actually), I'm totally going to improvise the way I structure it. Well, better get started.

Positive Impressions/ Hopes:

-Personally, I'm fairly indifferent towards device sizes when it comes to home consoles and technology that is not necessarily supposed to be constantly portable; that being stated, I find the smaller size of this particular console to be fairly appealing, as it will allow for easy storage and transportation; these qualities will be particularly attractive when concerning app development, as they will likely be just as readily accessible as most mobile devices.
-Cross-platform Multi-player: If this thing is really as open as it is advertised to be, I hope to see developers take major advantage of new opportunities and produce content that is innovative and impress to such a degree that major companies will take note, and apply similar concepts to their future consoles (or maybe their current consoles, all depending on how things play out);  imagine how awesome it would be if indie developers started publishing multiplayer games of equivalent quality to games of professional developers, and made these games cross compatible with the Ouya, Mobile Devices, PC's and Mac's and possibly even the Piston (or whatever that console is going to be named). If this particular quality is attended to, the Ouya will hold a major quality above and against almost every other console of this coming (and in some cases, present) generation.
- Innovation and Freedom:
I don't know how successful this "easily modifiable" system will ultimately be, but a few things are guaranteed: the horrifying policies Microsoft almost successfully imposed (maybe they still will, eventually), and the high cost of hardware presented by most of the consoles of the current/ coming generation (PlayStation Eye and all that stuff I most likely won't purchase if I do end up purchasing these consoles) will be completely obsolete in the world of the Ouya
- Retro Games:
Hopefully, in light of any success this console may experience, developers of older games (Resident Evil, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and older still) will allow the use of their games on emulators; obviously they would be taking a major loss if they accepted the system as it currently stands (for the most part), but if they developed their own files to be used with emulators which required purchase before use, playing older games would be extremely convenient, safe, and enjoyable; I know that this occurrence is unlikely for the most part, but it would certainly be innovative, exciting and extremely satisfactory to say the least if such a system could be created that would allow for fun while successfully preventing piracy

Negative Impressions/ Concerns:
- I've yet to explore the required procedures and requirements for app development, but, as I understand it without having confirmed whether or not my concerns are necessary, all games developed for the console must undergo specific modifications as to cooperate with the specification of the device (this probably means proper functionality with the controller, the app store system and various concepts of that nature)
- I am uncertain as to whether or not The Game Creator's App Game Kit Tier 1 engine will immediately be supported by the Ouya console; if it is not, this will impede our development progress a bit in respect to games we are currently developing with that engine; however, most issues of a similar nature to this I will likely disregard once I develop a more vivid understanding of the console's game development/ publishing process
- Loss of quality: Although the Android store hosts a number of highly enjoyable and popular (always note that these two concepts are immensely different) video games and applications (for example, refer to Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter), often times, the quality of the games is slightly impeded by fact that they are often intended for mobile devices that may not be powerful enough to handle games with higher visual quality and more advanced functioning (a downside to many Android Game stores). I would hate to see games suffer major decreases in quality simply because they were intended to be compatible with mobile devices. - -Garbage Games and Apps: While the loss of quality would be a bit disheartening and disappointed, nothing is quite as detestable in respect to Android App markets than the vast array of absolute manure that can be discovered if one is not careful and observant in respect to the games they download. I can't count the number of instances where I downloaded a game that advertised as something extremely interesting and exciting only to find that it was nothing like its given description and name. I have a slight fear that, given the quite enjoyable freedom of the device's founding principles, some pillocks will take advantage of the lack of restrictions and publish vast libraries of useless, unenjoyable or in anyway misleading applications simply because they have the power to do so; to summarize, I hope to find games rich in quantity and quality, that I can tell developers put time and effort into with a vision of something that would be enjoyable for the consumer

Overall, based on the fairly uninformed opinions and impressions I've established, it's almost a guarantee that, for the low price and promising features, we'll be purchasing one of these before the arrival of the next generation of gaming consoles. Once again, thanks for reading, and please do respond in the comments section with any relevant opinions or reflections. Thank you!

Console War 2011-13: Anglerte's Impressions

Given that no one here at Gamed2Death has purchased or in any way obtained any of the next generation (pretty much the current generation, actually), I decided it would be appropriate, in light of E3 and all the other announcements pertaining to gaming that have been made in the past few years, to develop a list of my opinions regarding very specific aspects of each individual console of the coming generation. As I just stated above, none of us own any of these consoles for ourselves, and we've had very little interaction with any of them (personally, I've held a Nintendo 3ds once, and played Eljoeyo's Wii U a couple times, but that's pretty much it), so keep that detail in mind as I list out what will be almost entirely speculations and moderately developed impressions. Before I embark upon this useless journey in which I will share information that is not necessarily factual and which few people are bound to appreciate to any degree, I will have it be made clear that I am not biased towards any particular brand or company in any way shape or form whatsoever, so foolishness relevant to that factor in particular will not be present. However, I feel obliged to note that I hate almost everything Apple has ever done, and I think Microsoft made some pathetic decisions. Also, the Ouya will be strongly supportive of our positions as mediocre indie video game developers, and will likely serve as a major catalyst for any success we may have in that particular industry (along with The Game Creator's generous products); additionally the developers of the Ouya have firmly established that most malicious restrictions. such as those imposed by many of Apple's policies (and with the recent announcement of the Xbox One, Microsoft's policies as well), will be made completely obsolete on their console, and in fact, will be counteracted with the establishment of liberties revolutionary and innovative to the world of console gaming and game development. So yeah. Do remember that this is all entirely paraphrased in correlation with my interpretation of everything I've observed pertaining to the overarching subject as described above. Well, with all that garbage established, on with the lists! Which I'll start tomorrow! Maybe...

The candidates shall be:

Nintendo Wii U

Playstation 4

Xbox One 

(The new One, not the first One. So the Second One. But its the Third Xbox. The Third Xbox is the Second One)

Nintendo 3Ds

Ouya

Steam Console (Piston?)

(pending)