Tell GR: Ouya? Shield? Piston? Are these really new "consoles"?

The only one that has the slightest chance is the Steam Box.

I'm more intrigued by the Ouya. The Piston is going to be to expensive ($499-$999). At that price, just buy a PC. Nvidia just built something to show off what it's cards can do.

I don't think the Ouya, or Shield work out. I doubt Nvidia can muscle into the portable gaming thing, with Nintendo and Sony.

Steam Box, i really don't know what to think about it.

Both the Ouya and the Shield have the guts of a smartphone, so no they won't be having much of an impact other than Ouya buyers suddenly realizing how stupid Kickstarter really is. I'll reserve judgement on the Piston until we know more about it, but the rumor that it relies on Linux isn't encouraging.

The Nvidia Shield looks so uncomfortable as a portable game device. In every video i have seen the person playing has control issues. I have long said that Android is a bubble getting bigger and bigger. Bubbles burst at its max. Android will collapse taking many developers along with it.

They're consoles in the sense that they are pre-built, plug and play boxes for gaming. So long as there are no driver patches, visual tweaking, or mods I'd say they're different than a PC.

With current consoles though, my PS3 comes to mind, it seems like I'm doing more updates than I do with my PC.

Short answer, yes. Long answer, maybe?

I'm just curious why there are all these new consoles suddenly, and why they're trying to be so... gimmicky. They're attempting to cater to a crowd that isn't that large, and none of them appear to reach toward a sustainable market. It all seems so niche, especially the Ouya. All I can think is, "Why not just get a good tablet, or a good laptop?" There are a lot of Android-powered devices out there, why do we need a console for it? If I recall, the Ouya is also a walled-garden, it's an Open console... but it isn't, as it uses a similar gimmick to the Apple Store. I mean, plenty of developers are already making mad bank by just developing niche titles for the PC and smartphones, or tablets. Mobile gaming is already well taken care of by the 3DS, Vita, smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and laptops. Who would honestly want to play a mobile game on their television?

As far as I'm concerned, the more people trying to make a good gaming system, the more likely one of them will finally do something right.

I think the Ouya (ugh, worse name than "Wii") will have low enough price points that someone might be inclined to get them "in addition to" their chosen gaming console.

The steam box is going to turn some heads though!

As much as I try, I honestly can't see the purpose of the Ouya. I can't even see how it would appeal to other people. If you have something capable of replying to this post, you basically already have an Ouya. We're living in an age where people who don't already have something equal to or better than this excuse for a console aren't going to buy one anyway. It really just seems like another little box to clutter your house with.

I'm excited for the Ouya. I think it'll give young developers a chance to start learning early on, which will be beneficial for the rest of us in the future. As for the other two, Valve has enough name-recognition to steal some gamers from other consoles, and the Shield (if priced properly) could really make a splash as a portable media hub that just happens to play games. It's all a matter of how well they market the finished products.

But more than anything, I think the Ouya will be successful as a learning tool, as it's intended to be. It obviously won't rake in the big bucks, but if the first year or so goes well, I wouldn't be surprised to find it adopted for classroom use at schools that offer game design programs.

Game design isn't any easier on the Ouya than it is on anything else, it's all the same toolsets.

An Ouya costs substantially less than a PC or a console. It also makes the creation process much easier by integrating programming and QA to the same piece of equipment. You can literally create, test, tweak, and upload all from the same little box.

It also encourages self-teaching due to the price-point and accessibility, which is always a plus when you want to try to teach yourself something.

Also, and I'm just throwing this one out there (it applies to me as well), have you designed any games using the Ouya recently? I'm going off of the game designers I work with and what the Ouya promos have shown.

I design games for the PC, which also has all of the features you just listed. Plus, no one is going to be making video games with the Ouya even if it is a feature. Games aren't made with an Xbox or a PS3 because a game that takes advantage of a system generally can't be made using the system itself, there simply isn't enough power available.

What have you made/worked on? I'm a big fan of anyone that steps outside of the consumer role to create something.

How much did your computer cost? Was it more than $99 plus the mid-level PC you already have access to at your school?

I'm working on an RPG that is more based around item usage than character stats. So whenever you leave town you need to have proper vests and packs and whatnot to actually carry all the **** you need and you have to take weight into account.

Also you assume I'm going to school for game design I guess? This is completely independent of my job, it's just something I like to do. And no, my PC was not $99 dollars, nor is the PC of any game developer. Could it run on a $99 PC? Yes, easily.

No, the school part was a hypothetical, as it refers to my original point. Since every school (I'm assuming? I feel bad for any school that has some form of computer engineering program but doesn't have computers...) already has a computer lab, a $99 machine with decent processing power and an open-source sharing network has benefits. Of course, the Ouya could never replace practice with high-end rigs for modeling, coding, etc., but if you can provide an entire classroom with a dev toolkit and 6 Ouyas, the school is going to save a little money.

I see what you're saying, but it's also going to be a terrible school hahaha

I'm going to be an ass clown and say I'm not excited for any of these. This is probably from the fact I'm not a PC gamer, unfortunately. Yeah, give me thumbs down, but how well do you think they would compete with other video game consoles? I think one of many reasons people like PC gaming are hotkeys making it faster to navigate. Why would make controllers and a console for PC gaming? Oh, better visuals maybe?

Oh **** I gave you the opposite of what you wanted. If you ever get cash you should join the PC Aryan race.

Don't worry, I'll down thumb myself.

Valve also reported TF2 runs better on linux then it does on windows. A win for the steam box.

HL3 exclusive to piston /trollface

This trend is exciting, the devices not so much. The point being that it's different hardware that supports the Android OS (SteamBox excluding). This is how development should work, a common software platform that different companies provide different features for. Want a TV box - get an Ouya. Want to play Angry Birds but make phone calls too - smart phone. Just want a game device for your kids - Shield. PlayBox 2013.

Out of all of them I'd say the Piston is most like a console, but then again it seems more like a PC for people who are too lazy to get into PCs (myself included sometimes).
The Ouya is just a box that streams games, so kinda like Gamefly in a physical form? That would be like buying a Netflix box.

OK nevermind, guess I missed the fact that the Piston is not the same thing as the Steam Box

I'm going to go against the grain here and say, who cares!! I can't even keep track of all these damn new consoles. Seems everybody and their mamas are pumping out consoles these days. What happened to the ol' gamers' dream of a unified console, what happened to the cries of a WiiBoxStation that would play our Marios, Gods of War and Halos?
Keep it simple and stop further segmenting the market.

They're not consoles like we're used to. They don't have their own platform that devs need to port a game to. Basically they're new boxes for existing platforms.

When someone makes a new smart phone or a new pc, we don't herald that as a new console.

The Shield is the only one that really interests me, but I don't have a use for it.