onlysublime

people look at the Wii and think it just sold consoles. but that's not correct. if you look at number of units for software titles, the Wii dominated for quite awhile. sure, it was mostly Nintendo stuff (aside from Just Dance and some other series), but the Wii was dominating over the 360 and PS3 in mor than just console sales.

if motion controls aren't for you, they aren't for you. a lot of others do use and enjoy them. it's the reason I got the Wii. it's the reason I got the Kinect. both still in use and both still fun.

so we're clear on terminology... you have the triggers (LT and RT). you have the bumpers (RB and LB). you have the face buttons (A, B, X, Y). you have the analog sticks. and you have the D-pad (directional pad). you have the back and start buttons. and lastly, you have the Xbox Guide button in the middle (the big X). your bumpers should click. I'd say that the controller's worn out if it doesn't click and you have to press hard. you shouldn't have to press hard at all. is this a new controller or a used one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzyd91NFx-Y

it's okay to be argumentative. I expected that out of Gregory DG after his vigorous defense of Star Trek.

that's what I was getting at with calling it Red Octane's Guitar Hero. the truth of the matter was that Red Octane hired Harmonix to write software for their plastic guitars. then they replaced Harmonix with Neversoft. But the guy was arguing that you can't call it Activision's Guitar Hero but that it should be called Red Octane's Guitar Hero. It just goes to show that calling it whatever you want to call it is just an exercise in being pedantic.

From reading that article, it seems like the guy is more in love with the idea of Ouya rather than talking about the actual implementation of it. And I believe the bulk of the article is trying to downplay expectations of Ouya. That we shouldn't think of it as an Android console. That we shouldn't consider it a console at all. That we should consider them like netbooks. Netbooks? He argues that these are meant to be upgraded frequently like how we upgrade phones constantly. Frequent upgrading is fine at some level. But I still expect the product to work at its current level. Not a, "well, we fixed it in the next version!". Paying to be a beta tester sucks. I know. It's been done before but it doesn't feel any better.

http://www.theverge....242/ouya-review Wow, The Verge is pretty scathing on the Ouya... excerpts: I do care about the controller, though, which is every bit as important to a console as the trackpad is to your laptop, or the steering wheel to your car — whether literally or figuratively, they drive the whole experience. It's also hard to build a good controller, so I'm inclined to give Ouya some credit — the console's Bluetooth controller isn't the best I've used, but it's not the worst either. Visually, it matches the console closely — it's mostly gray, with a black patch running up the middle and around the back. Its layout is only slightly tweaked from, say, an Xbox 360, with two analog sticks in easy reach for both your thumbs along with a d-pad, two bumpers, two triggers, and the diamond of buttons we've seen on every console for a thousand years. There's also a "U" button matching the one on the console, which takes you home when you tap it twice. It has removable panels on either side, which hide the AA battery housing — when you open the box, the right panel is off and the whole thing looks broken, but that's just Ouya subtly letting you see the empty battery slot. (It actually needs two batteries, including one under the other panel — that took me longer to figure out.) The removable panels are a cool touch — maybe you can 3D-print those too — but they're not made very well. The right panel is slightly askew from the controller itself, so the analog stick catches in the lip at the top; it also takes some work to get the magnetic seals properly seated, which you have to do, because otherwise the four buttons get caught underneath. All the pieces don't fit together very tightly, either, which gives the whole controller a cheap, breakable feel. I often had a moment to rue my mistake before anything happened, too, because there's a fair amount of lag between the controller and the console. It wasn't always present, and seemed to have to rhyme or reason to it, but about half the time the game felt perfectly synced and the other half it felt a full beat behind what my thumb was doing. Over the course of my time with the Ouya, I've wondered constantly why the product is launching now. My guess is there's been some heat from backers wondering where their $99 went, but even if that's the case Ouya might want to slow things down a bit. This console isn't finished — it's not even close. The device runs Android 4.1, with a TV-friendly, Ouya skin on top that I quite like. It's orange, gray, and blue, and is typography-based, simple, and vaguely reminiscent of the tiled Metro interface on the Xbox 360. It's also basically just a home screen. Every advanced settings menu is ripped clean from stock Android, and almost every pop-up menu or dialog box is pure Google as well. For one thing, it looks hideous, because, well, stock Android isn't designed to be on a TV. (That's kind of the whole point of Ouya.) It's also just jarring, constantly giving you the idea that you've broken something or gone somewhere you're not allowed. I'm all for the idea of reskinning Android, and I even like the way Ouya's thinking about doing it for your television, but the company really needs to actually finish the job. With Ouya's hacker ethos tends to come a distaste for paying for things, so Ouya has mandated that every game in its store be free to download. That sounds like a great, let's-all-hold-hands way to make gaming great on the platform, but it leads to something far more frustrating. Every game is free to download, but then dumps on your head a load of nags, pop-ups, and pleas for upgrades or in-app purchases — some games are $4.99, some are $15.99, others just constantly implore you to donate $.99 so the developer can have a beer. Worst of all, it makes buying things impossibly easy — you enter a credit card when first setting up your Ouya, and there are often no confirmation boxes or checks against you spending thousands of dollars. Oh, you hit Upgrade because it's right next to Play and the controller's laggy? Perfect. Thanks for your money. Reconfiguring payment systems is one part of what's required for a developer to move their app from Android to Ouya. The other is (hopefully) simpler: apps have to work with the controller. This, as best I can tell, is the one compelling argument for Ouya's not including the Play Store or even the Amazon Appstore on the console — a number of existing games simply won't work with the controller, and even those that do don't work well. Configuring a game for a controller is easy, though, so for Ouya's sake and ours I hope developers put in the time. The Ouya is as hackable as promised. You can open up the console with an Allen wrench and four screws, and no corner of the OS is outside your reach. It's a remarkable developer plaything, a device with lots of potential and few true limitations. But all the things you can do are things no normal user will ever figure out how to do. Here's how I sideloaded apps, a process I only figured out by accident after three days of fruitless Googling and searching through every inch of the Ouya's software: first, download an APK of a file manager. (At this point I've already confused my parents, most of my friends, and frankly myself.) Upload that APK to a website, ideally one with an easy-to-type URL. Go to the Ouya's browser, go to that URL, and download the file. Go back to home, then hit Manage, Advanced Settings, scroll down the Android menu to Storage, then click Downloads, then scroll to the APK you just downloaded. Click on it and install it. Once you have a file manager, it's just a matter of finding APKs for all the apps you want (often illegal, and usually pretty difficult), adding them to a USB stick or hard drive, plugging it into the Ouya, then going to Make, then Software, opening up your file manager of choice, then navigating through a million menus to get to your APKs. Once everything's installed, of course, it also lives in an entirely different place than the games you get straight from Ouya. Oh, and a lot of them don't work at all on the Ouya. Oh, and the ones that do often aren't compatible with controllers, or require a lot of tweaking to work properly. Just because you technically can sideload apps onto the Ouya doesn't mean it's an open platform. The company opened a door, then hid that door on the other side of the world and burned the maps. Particularly enterprising developers may not have a problem with this process, but many of the 60,000 people who already bought an Ouya certainly will. They'll just want to turn it on and play some games. Boy, will they be let down. For $99, everyone who backed Ouya's Kickstarter has unwittingly signed up to beta-test a game console. Alpha-test, even: this is a product with some good ideas and a potentially promising future, but it's a million miles away from something worth spending your money on. Even if the concept is right, the Ouya misses the mark. The controller needs work, the interface is a mess, and have I mentioned there's really nothing to do with the thing? I'm not even sure the concept is right, either: there are plenty of fun Android games, but currently few that work well with a controller and even fewer that look good on your television. To its credit, the company says loudly and often that this is only the beginning of a long road for Ouya — and I'll be watching its progress with interest. But the device is currently being sold as a product, not a prototype, and that's just wrong. Ouya isn't a viable gaming platform, or a good console, or even a nice TV interface. I don't know what it is, but until Ouya figures it out, it's not worth $99. 3.5 out of 10

anybody have a tutorial on how to play that game? I'd be interested. it's as if LucasFilm Games intentionally made that game require an instruction manual after all the piracy with the other titles.

yes, because everyone thinks of Pandemic Studios when they think Star Wars: Battlefront. this is one of those things that is a "we agree to disagree." I'm sure Harmonix is happy that you guys think of Red Octane's Guitar Hero.

I think more people associate Guitar Hero with Activision than Red Octane. You hear Activision's Guitar Hero. You don't hear Red Octane's Guitar Hero. go through Google. Same for Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. do a good search and it's EA's Need for Speed. Not Criterion's Need for Speed. Same for the majority of games out there. You good Uncharted and you see Sony's Uncharted. Not Naugthy Dog's Uncharted. Halo is Microsoft Studios. Not 343 Industries. you're just trying to be pedantic for argument's sake...

boy, that's a good friend...

did you guys see this yet? funny cartoon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=u-Et0PF9XY8

no one ever said it was developed by LucasArts. but it is a LucasArts game. otherwise, you can say this is not an EA game. or not a Microsoft game. Or not any other game.

http://www.lucasarts.com/games/platform.html

Engadget has a new detailed review: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/03/ouya-review-founding-backer-edition/#continued excerpts: On the front face of the console you'll see the word "OUYA" embossed. Rotate this early Kickstarter edition to the left and you'll find a listing of the top 11 backers, with Markus "Notch" Persson of Minecraft fame sitting at the top. Continue another 90 degrees and you'll find the system's inputs and outputs arrayed vertically on the back, matching the orientation of the circuit board within. On top is an input for the AC adapter; below that are micro-USB and Ethernet ports; then on the bottom are full-sized HDMI and USB ports. (Yes, an HDMI cable is included in the box.) Additionally, the console supports Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11b/g/n. Unsurprisingly, this also makes for a very efficient console. While the PS3 took a lot of heat when it launched for sucking down hundreds of watts of power when playing games, we measured the OUYA at just about 4.5 watts of consumption during gameplay, a little less when sitting idle at a menu. When suspended, the console draws about a single watt, which is the price you will have to pay for being able to instantly resume your game right where you left off. Swappable faceplates are an interesting idea, but the execution results in what can only be called a design flaw. Each plate is held on by six magnets, making them perhaps a little too easy to remove. We've seen photos from a number of eager gamers who opened up their OUYA box to find one or both controller faceplates loose in the box, which certainly opens the door to damage during shipment. Another problem is that they don't seem to sit flush. We looked at two OUYA consoles and on one, the left plate would poke out slightly at the top when affixed. On the other, it's the right-most plate that doesn't quite fit. Finally, and most critically, the right plate poses some serious problems to both the right analog stick and the face buttons. When you spin the analog stick around its extent, it catches on the edge of the faceplate. Additionally, we repeatedly had issues with the four face buttons getting stuck beneath the faceplate. It was most commonly the green O button, because that's the one you'll be using most frequently, but all four can and will get stuck. Lag was a bit of a problem with the controller, not enough to be noticeable in casual games but those requiring more precise timing it can be a bit of a problem. We're curious to see whether this comes down to this specific iteration of the controller or whether it's something OUYA owners will simply have to live with. One of our consoles also had a very sticky right analog stick, which, when pushed all the way up, would stay there for a few seconds before popping back to neutral. And, we have to say, we'd have preferred concave surfaces on the top of the analog sticks rather than the convex ones here, but that can be chalked up to personal preference. Overall, the controller is usable, but it's far from great. Sticky buttons and gummy analog sticks are the sorts of things you wouldn't even tolerate on a cheap, third-party controller and so it's disappointing to find them here on the official unit. This, we hope, is one area that is thoroughly revised before the console ships to retail this summer. OUYA indicated 104 games would be available at launch, a number that is quite astonishing when compared to your average big console release. Indeed, there are some very good ones in here, but we must deliver the very important caveat that the vast majority of these titles have already been released elsewhere -- some a very long time ago. If you were looking for original, exclusive, high-quality titles, you won't find many. That said, if you haven't been making much of an investment in the Android gaming scene already, or don't keep up to date on the indie gaming scene on other platforms (XBLA, Steam, etc.), then you're more likely to find the selection here appealing. As mentioned above, pricing is all over the place, but most games can be purchased for less than $5, with Final Fantasy III being the notable exception at $15.99. All games offer some aspect of free playability, whether it's a few free levels to get you hooked or a limited-time demo. Here are a few highlights. The version of OUYA shipping now should be considered a beta release, and anyone hoping for anything more is in for some disappointment. It's simply not ready for retail. The system is rough around the edges in many ways, quite literally when regarding the controller, but the interface and menus also could use work.

I think I was able to figure out Koronis Rift. But The Eidolon... man.

sadly, I didn't buy the early games like Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus... I pirated them. The piraters were great. They sold disks that had multiple games all presented in an easy-to-choose menu. I was just a kid and it was hard enough to get my dad to buy me the 1200XL for how much it cost when we bought it. He'd buy me Disney titles like Walt Disney's Mickey in the Great Outdoors (the game took forever to load; he got the cassette version; it would take 20 minutes to load and often, at the end of 20 minutes, it'd error and I've have to reload it again): still have no idea, to this day, how to play The Eidolon. spent a lot of time trying to figure that one out.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/04/03/disney-closes-game-publisher-lucasarts.aspx

Disney is going the licensing route. in other words, they're going to whore out the Star Wars trademarks and copyrights and milk them for all their worth. the Disney-way... (actually, the Atari way in recent years as well) http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/disney-closes-lucasarts/ "After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games," Disney informed Game Informer in a statement. "As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles."

eh... gaming is gaming. whether it's on a tablet or smart phone or console or PC or traditional handheld. you can try to "save" the industry, one person at a time. good luck with that.

http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-468473749 Disney has laid off the staff of LucasArts and cancelled all current projects. Staff were informed of the shutdown this morning, according to a reliable Kotaku source. Some 150 people were laid off, and both of the studio's current projects--Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313--were cancelled. This comes after weeks and months of rumors involving the studio, which was acquired by Disney last fall. In September, LucasArts put a freeze on all hiring and product announcements, which many staff saw as the beginning of the end. Today, it's official: the longrunning studio is no more. in loving memory:

you guys don't hate those binders? my friends and I always talk about how they scratch up the discs if you take them in and out of them a lot. if you're the pack rat that just puts them in and forget about them, it's not a problem. but if you actually use the disc a lot, it's a problem.

the latest previews are not looking good. i thought they'd be better than the recent previews which showed a lot of rough spots. here's Polygon's: http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/28/4157602/ouya-feature excerpts: Like most software platforms we use today, from phones to game consoles, the Ouya is designed to be updated. The hardware, however, is finished. "Our hardware is baked, it's complete, it's done," she said. "But the software will continue to evolve. It'll get better every single day, week, month and year. We'll get more games every single day." Uhrman calls the controller a "love letter to gamers" and says the team wanted to create "the most precise, accurate, responsive controller out there." Unfortunately, what we played failed to live up to those goals. While the shape of the controller feels good in the hand, the wireless Bluetooth gamepad — extras sell separately for a not insignificant $49.99 — has a few design decisions that could be improved upon. The Ouya controller's shoulder buttons, for example, are constructed of a glossy black plastic that matches its top panel, but doesn't feel great to rest fingers upon. The controller's analog sticks have a good feel in their movement, with the right amount of tension — they're neither too loose nor too tight. The d-pad and face buttons, on the other hand, feel mushy, giving the sensation that they require too much force to move. The most worrisome aspect of the Ouya controller, however, is the current state of its input lag. Playing a game of Canabalt or Stalagflight, arcade-style games that demand split-second accuracy, the controller's delayed response does a disservice to the experience. It's less noticeable in games like Wizorb or Save the Puppies, and could be addressed in future software updates, but stood out as a glaring problem during our hands-on time with the device. Ouya's controller, at this stage, feels less refined than a gamepad commanding its price point really should. It's not yet at the level of similar controllers from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo — who have obviously had more time to iterate on their offerings — but hopefully its creators can work out some of these kinks in software. As for the hardware issues? "There are always opportunities to improve it and roll it into production," Uhrman said. "But for right now it is baked. It's done." Being a self-described "open" platform based on Android, it should come as little surprise that users will be able to sideload apps and games onto the Ouya, bypassing the store entirely. Many of those apps probably aren't optimized for controller input, not to mention a 16:9 high definition television display. The team at Ouya is focused on native ports, and not on creating layers like button-mapping software to help facilitate the use of un-optimized apps. "The games that are great are the ones that are optimized for Ouya," Uhrman said. "Most of the games that are on Ouya today are either TV exclusives or Ouya exclusives; people are really optimizing for Ouya." From a basic usability standpoint, there are some serious performance issues at a fundamental level while using the system less than three months before it’s set to ship to retailers. There’s severe slowdown navigating menus. Moving from tile to tile is sluggish, and moving to the next page of tiles in any particular part of the menu is also choppy and slow. This is without an internet connection, which I expect will make things worse. The Ouya’s controller also demonstrated a significant amount of input latency, which translates to a noticeable delay between controller input and results on the television. This was most apparent in the Ouya port of Canabalt. On iOS, Canabalt is a game of twitch reflexes. On the Ouya, I needed to react much earlier, knowing it would take an inordinate amount of time for me to get off the ground. This same delay applied to every game I tried, though its overall impact varied from title to title. Several other titles demonstrated performance problems — the Ouya port of the iOS port of the 3DS port of Final Fantasy 3 comes to mind. Some of these issues may be resolved in part or in full by the Ouya’s launch, assuming they’re only software problems. But if they’re hardware-related, the Ouya may be in a tough spot, given CEO Julie Uhrman’s repeated assertions that the system itself is "fully baked" and final. - Arthur Gies, Polygon Reviews Editor

it's not based on any movie. in fact, it was supposed to have been released already. but they held it back to release it near the new movie in order to get that free marketing.