6aming
Android developers who are looking to release their games on the little white cube are now welcomed to submit them, with the opportunity to get some free marketing out of the deal.
Ouya, the platform that arguable kickstarted Kickstarter, is scheduled to be released to its supporters in a few weeks time. But we all know that a console without games is at best a technological paperweight. That’s why the company has officially opened its gates for any aspiring game maker to try their hands at fame and fortune on its open-source system.
In a recent post on the systems official blog, the person behind all of the developer relations for the console, Kellee Santiago indicated that any and all games that are uploaded onto the developer portal will be available on all of the consoles when they are shipped out from March 28th onwards. She went on to say that;
This means the games you have in the store after today will be in gamers’ hands when they receive their Ouya units – starting first with our Kickstarter backers, and continuing on through June when we launch to anyone and everyone who wants to get Ouya
However, just because of the open-source format, doesn’t mean developers will be able to run amok as the co-founder of thatgamecompany continued in her post to clearly state that all submissions would be reviewed for any unsavoury content. This includes hate speech of any kind, real world violence, copyright infringement and malware. Checking all of those potential risks is a time-consuming activity however as the Content and Review Guidelines showed. In the previous week, it took the team three days to give the once over to what they called an “average Game”.
After a game is uploaded, any and all subsequent updates or add-ons will be provided for the developer at no extra charge. However, Ouya specifies that any additional content beyond the first release must be announced and released via the developer’s own servers. It’s not all rules and regulations though, as the people at Ouya want to inspire creativity with its open-sourced catalyst console by offering a promotional incentive.
The top three games, as decided by the total amount of playing time a game has had over a duration of six weeks, will be featured in an official Ouya documentary. These documentaries will not only showcase the hard work, time and dedication that goes into creating a game but will also be used as a part of Ouya’s official marketing campaign when the console goes into a full public launch with the advert promoting both the game and the console in equal measure. A masterful idea to be sure.
Personally, I’m very excited for the release of the Ouya. Despite not having heard of it until after its crazy run on Kickstarter. In my opinion, any console that is open enough to allow the flourishing of new ideas is to be applauded, and can only spark good things in the long run. What are your thoughts? Are you excited about Ouya? Are you a developer with eyes set on the console as a vessel for your content? Or are you less enamoured than everyone else seems to be? Let us know in the comments below.
Wow, this seems like an extremely communist game. I’m sorry, I do not like it when a console company reviews content for “unsavoury content” which btw you spelled wrong. This seems like a game of control in the making as it usurps the very process of the ESRB. Sure I’ll say that they have some balls to make a brand new console in this day and age but they’re already concerned about how to control the developers for the games that are to be played on it. I see this system being thrown in the garbage the second a popular game is disowned. I want the developers back in control of their own games. I play game for their violence and hate because I’m human and that’s fun to me. Would I shoot someone in real life, no, would I shoot the annoying 13 year old that shouldn’t be playing and make him cry like a baby, yes. I want no part of a system that controls it’s own content, that is what the ESRB and parents are for.
Firstly, unsavoury/unsavory has two spellings. One more commonly used by Americans and one more commonly used by the British. I have heritage from both sides so excuse me when my spellings get lost in the mix.
Secondly, Ouya as a system will still have to go through the ESRB, both as a console and for all of the content it distributes due to it still being an entertainment platform. Consider the process similar to that of iTunes. All of its apps have to be processed by the ESRB, or equivalent, before being distributed. However, iTunes also retains its right as the platform to deny distribution to any app. To continue the example, iTunes does not put out any app containing pornographic material. Those apps can still be obtained as long as those distributing the app want it to. You can look towards the thriving market of Cydia for that effect.
If we take this and apply it to the Ouya, it being not only an open-source console for games but also the software itself, it won’t be long before talented people manage to crack the system and provide the games they want to make while working around Ouya’s watershed. Overall, people will get what they want.
I wouldn’t be too concerned with Ouya looking over what games it wants to put about but I can appreciate where the concern comes from. Abuse of this power can lead to suppression of artistic vision which is never a good thing. But, as consumers, we can do a lot to influence the sway of censorship in one direction or the other. Mainly through denial of purchases. If you don’t like how Ouya operates, you are well within your right to not buy anything that they do. If enough people do that so that the company goes bankrupt or at least gets scared enough of bankruptcy, in the future it will not happen. But, food for thought, take note that even distributors or other platforms such as Steam or Sony have a guideline for what content they will or will not allow. That is why you will never see many of the games as mentioned on the Extra Creditz episode “Propaganda Games” (look it up if you’re interested, it’s a good watch) available through a proper distribution service. However, like I said, you can still obtain them independently.
Finally, on a personal note, I’m excited for the potential of this console and I really hope it doesn’t go to scrap. Only time will tell.
Don’t get me wrong the potential for a new console like this is fantastic and I can’t wait to see what it has to offer. But things like Missouri trying to tax M rated games and everything going on with blaming video games on nearly everything. If you’re interested there’s quite a few articles that are horrendous towards the gaming community. A good channel to find out about this particular idiocy is AlphaOmegaSin.
While it is true that the other consoles have guidelines that control what games go on their system, they are rather old in the industry and can take up big hits. This is a new system that’s concerned about not being rejected by the public and therefore are subjected to come out with games according to the mood towards types of games. I think it will be a while before we see anything truly impressive come out on this console solely because of this fact.
And goober lulz.
Lol at sinithwar. What a goober.
I actually think he brings up a few good points. Were Ouya doing this sort of thing, I’m pretty sure everyone would be against it.
It only becomes a problem when censorship of the media has become such a hot topic that we can’t have a discussion about what content should and shouldn’t be readily available without it descending into petty squabbling. Censorship nowadays, especially in video games, has been relegated into a single spectrum of the depiction of violence in the medium. A point that sinithwar makes very well to his credit. The trouble is, when that happens, all other discussions of censorship get painted with that brush. Sensationalist news, whether you agree or disagree with the points they make, has this effect. So now, when people bring up the topic of censorship, everyone gets all “Guh, I can’t believe this is happening again. I’m not really gonna go out and kill someone. This is fantasy. I just want to relieve some stress by blasting a mouthy punk in the face.” To reiterate, I agree with that argument and that point, but it’s not the only point of the spectrum that constitutes censorship. Say that there was a game, similar to the model of Sniper Elite, where you play a white supremacist atop of New York City buildings tasked with executing African-Americans with a sniper rifle. It’d be pretty despicable, right? And you’d expect any company worth it’s salt to deny that game an audience. Well, that happens to be censorship. It won’t stop the game from being released in the long run. But it will make it more obscure and difficult to find, limiting it’s audience and effectively closing whatever branch decided to put it out due to the loss of returns. Now, like I said, this works both ways but it’s up to us as the audience to regulate things really. Depending on what we buy and what we don’t, companies will capitalise on that and look for an overarching factor. Sometimes it happens to be modern war shooters, other times its art platformers, other times its castle crasher type games. Same things applies to the minor details in video games. Think about it, enough people made enough of an uproar to cause the change to an ending of a major game and usher apologies from major companies due to potentially sexist representations in promotional material for both Hitman and Dead Island. Ultimately, we have the majority of the control and vested interest in gaming to sway the overall direction in one way or another and we shouldn’t be too trustworthy of anyone set to put regulations on an art form. Especially if those regulations don’t represent the community as a whole. The trick is to find the perfect balance between a sustainable business structure and creative freedom that benefits the company, the artist and the audience in equal measures. The difference between having a ruler, having a guardian and having nothing. Once we find that balance, I think we’ll progress to Level 2: World Domination.