[Q] One year later, what are your thoughts on the Ouya?

[eluong]

It's been a little more than 14 months since the Ouya was released last year on June 25th, 2014, which is a decent amount of time to let the device mature.

I bought the device with XBMC in mind, with a chance of a little game development if I ever had the time (I haven't had the time, unfortunately). Today, I still use my Ouya almost daily, but it's almost exclusively for XBMC.

As an XBMC box, I am fairly happy with it, although the streaming and overall UI performance of the overall device could be better. I was into emulation early on when I first bought the Ouya, and it played some retro games sufficiently although it wasn't spectacular with performance and bug issues in the emulators. The controller lag on my Ouya has been unbearable at times, but I had a few controllers replaced by Ouya Inc, which alleviates some of the issues.

As far as installing custom firmware and tweaks, I haven't had too much time to research into an effective combination to improve my experience with the device. In fact, I haven't had a chance to research into the cool things I can do with this little box yet.

All in all, I am fairly happy with my Ouya, and I don't regret the purchase at all, but I am curious what the community thinks of the Ouya after being out in the wild for a year.

Do you still use your Ouya? How so? What apps and programs are you running on it? What games do you play on it? What custom firmware do you run on it?

 

[mcord11758]

For xbmc it is OK, I upgraded to a chromebox for my main unit. Kids like playing with it. Emulators work decent. It is now in my kids playroom and they mainly watch cartoons on it. Some Mario and king of monsters. No custom software. I wouldn't say I regret it but I probably should of read up more before buying

 

[Hadriel18]

nice paperweight

When I first got my ouya I tried some games from the Discover section. They were alright but overall I felt I was just paying too much for android games just because this was boasted as a console. I had hoped for controller support for apps like Minecraft PE or Terraria but neither ever came. It sat in my room for several months as a paperweight and a reminder to not be so quick to back things on Kickstarter. Finally I went to update it and then flash a custom rom onto it and the microusb port was shot. I had to get it replaced so they gave me a refurbished Ouya... not a new one, not even an old one with my KS case back, just a plain case. I updated it and honestly haven't done much with it since. I tried setting it up as a chromecast but it didn't work so it's back to being a paperweight and still works to this day when it comes to keeping me from binge-funding on Kickstarter.

Some games I have enjoyed on it are Amazing Frog, Final Fantasy III (even though it's the same graphics as the Nintendo DS... which I have), and a handful of emulators. I would've bought Towerfall if it wasn't the same price as the PC version. Nothing justifies paying $15 for an android app imo

 

[Alexsandra]

I bought my Ouya a year ago and I never regret it. I use it every day with XBMC. But these days I tried to play some retro games on emulator SFC NES etc. Super Metroid is fun. Honestly,Ouya platform lacks amazing games. Townfall is great but will you pay almost $15 for it? The only app I bought on Ouya is a sleep app that can emulate sounds of sea waves and stream. The steam machine would replace my Ouya in the future. I'd rather pay money for PC games because of the quality and game experience.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

 

[remote44]

It's been a little more than 14 months since the Ouya was released last year on June 25th, 2014, which is a decent amount of time to let the device mature.

I bought the device with XBMC in mind, with a chance of a little game development if I ever had the time (I haven't had the time, unfortunately). Today, I still use my Ouya almost daily, but it's almost exclusively for XBMC.

As an XBMC box, I am fairly happy with it, although the streaming and overall UI performance of the overall device could be better. I was into emulation early on when I first bought the Ouya, and it played some retro games sufficiently although it wasn't spectacular with performance and bug issues in the emulators. The controller lag on my Ouya has been unbearable at times, but I had a few controllers replaced by Ouya Inc, which alleviates some of the issues.

As far as installing custom firmware and tweaks, I haven't had too much time to research into an effective combination to improve my experience with the device. In fact, I haven't had a chance to research into the cool things I can do with this little box yet.

All in all, I am fairly happy with my Ouya, and I don't regret the purchase at all, but I am curious what the community thinks of the Ouya after being out in the wild for a year.

Do you still use your Ouya? How so? What apps and programs are you running on it? What games do you play on it? What custom firmware do you run on it?

I painted mine like rubix cube

So yeah its got XBMC on it ... but i dont know maybe throw KK on it if i can try to use it to play some emulators

 

[Ipse_Tase]

Buh-bye Ouya...got an Amazon FireTV and never looked back. Dammit, I even paid 20$ to get a Noctua silent fan (the original was driving me nuts). Any takers?

 

[Capt.Obvious]

One year later I'm still using my Ouya regularly.

I’ve had my Ouya for over a year and have had a great experience with it. The system was ‘as advertised’ where you get a base system and with research, effort, a “do it yourself attitude”, a little know how, and patience can get something good out of it. It was designed for the casual gamer, designers, and modders. A selective audience, so I wasn’t expecting the instant gratification of a 5 star product with all the bells and whistles or components that weren’t yet released. In the end, the system is as good as YOU make it.

Currently I’m using it as a media center as well as a gaming platform with CM11 being the primary OS with the Ouya Everywhere framework on top (it works!). When I’m not using a hub for keyboard and mouse I keep a micro 64GB Drive for additional storage in the USB port.

Additional Apks for performance and operation tweaking such as Folder Mount, Screen Rotation, RamExpander, Ouya Mod Collection, ES File Explorer, Clean Master, Air Droid, Shutdown Menu 2.1, Tincore Keymapper, and QuickShortcutMaker.

Media includes: XBMC, Crackle, Viewster, CW, Fox Now, CBS, NBC, History, PBS Kids, Watch Disney, UVideos, WatchESPN, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, FilmOn, Giniko TV, SPB TV, Twitch, AllCast Reciever

Games include (Note: no “tweaking” needed to be done. Just install and enjoy.): SoulCalibur (Android Version), Asphalt 8, Shadowgun, Dead Trigger 2, Dream League Soccer, Skiing Fred, Sonic CD(Amazon), Sonic 4ep I & II, Cordy 2, Tiny Little Racing 2, N.O.V.A.3, EDGE Extended(Amazon), Riptide GP2, ,Zen Pinball, PPSSPP, Neon Shadow(Ouya Store), Tetris Battle Fusion(Ouya Store), Other Emulators(Ouya Store)

Now there were some setbacks where there were some Google/Amazon games that have controller support but I have not yet been able to get to work on Ouya even with CM11. (Respawnables, Shadow Fight 2, Transformers: Age of Extinction, ShadowGun: DeadZone)

Are there better things out there now? Yes. With effort, can this product still be useful for video and gaming? Yes.

 

[dougunder]

Not a gamer, well exceded my expectations for video/server

Very happy with it, played with games a bit but was underwhelmed. To be fair I get bored with current gen consoles too.

I've got CM11 with Kodi (XBMC 14), Netflix, google music, and assorted A/V apps.

Also have sickbeard, nbzget, transmission, and a few other Linux untils installed via optware.

I bought to replace a pogoplug running Arch linux and an older wd frontend device.

Works phenomenally, even plays 10bit mkv without major issue.

To be fair any decent current android stick/STB could likely handle what I need. When bought is was the best performance per dollar.

If buying now I'd get a http://www.solid-run.com/ cubox-1 eSata, 2 usb, gigabit lan.
Probably still run android on the top, linux userland on the bottom.

Controller is hopeless though. Hausbell h7 is good and only $15, just a minor twaek to the .kl file and great
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B9996LA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[dougunder]

How much?

Buh-bye Ouya...got an Amazon FireTV and never looked back. Dammit, I even paid 20$ to get a Noctua silent fan (the original was driving me nuts). Any takers?

Wouldn't mind another ouya for my camp. How much ya want?

 

[Ipse_Tase]

Wouldn't mind another ouya for my camp. How much ya want?

Would be too much trouble to ship to US...I am in Canada.

 

[Cool Games]

New to OUYA and loving it !

Goal:
To have media center and information KIOSK in Smart Electric Vehicle.
The OUYA is 12 volt and I am using Insignia HDTV also 12 volt.

Next step is to check power quality of DC to DC (12v) converter in car.
OUYA rumored to be at risk on noisy power in ICE vehicle.

Samsung Tab 2 on Verizon will be HOT Spot with Beagle Bone Black as Web Server.

Also installed XDA One with limited use due to navigation hassles.

 

[mesquka]

I'm considering buying one soon

 

[9steele9]

Was fun to tinker with, but gets no use now

The ouya was a cool idea that never really paid out. I bought mine last xmas, downloaded xbmc, rooted it and played a few ps1 games on an emulator and never used it again. It never receieved the support it deserved and was forgotten mostly because of that. I still check in on these forums time to time just to check if anyone has completed any useful custom roms, but no luck yet(still waiting on that Android TV port). I have a chromecast, netflix and a macbook so XBMC feels pretty bad to me tbh. Everytime I want to use XBMC it has to update all the addons, then half the time the primewire app doesn't even work, and I'll have to try project free TV(which only works about half the time as well). So netflix or streaming off my macbook via chromecast is almost always the better option. I would like to see some more life in my ouya again, but just about all my other devices function better. An Android gaming system is a very cool concept, it sucks that the execution was so poor/supporting apps are so few.

 

[Exnor]

Disappointed...

The device has potential but or the lack of software or the fact that are cheap Android Sticks out there that can do almost the same makes me feel disappointed...

Have one and i only use it for XBMC/Kodi, but my Raspberry Pi is able to handle that too so...

 

[cmurph00]

Bought it like many others as the best hardware for the price at the time. Primarily for XBMC with the potential for Android Apks to unleash further potential
Probably wish I had gone with Amazon Fire TV in hindsight.
It now sits gathering dust - Chromecast is used for all the kids stuff - cartoons etc

And I have an AMlogic Minix X8H for XBMC/SPMC - which I like and may look to install alternative ROMs etc.

 

[Pkmns]

It's nice. I can't say I love it, but I don't hate it, either. I had some fun with three or four games, and I sometimes emulate something on it. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but I don't regret buying it.

 

[Flexmaen]

The Ouya is a good dust-collector now.

The fan is too loud for using it as TV Multimedia player. The lags are too big for using it as SNES-Emulator. There is still no easy-to-install Linux port, since the community wasn't interested in the Ouya.

So all in all it is a big fail. But the controllers are good, I use them when I emulate SNES in Windows now (where it works fine and without lags).

 

[wastate2014]

It's nice. I can't say I love it, but I don't hate it, either. I had some fun with three or four games, and I sometimes emulate something on it. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but I don't regret buying it.

Nicely said. Never understood why they did not include Netflix, Hulu, Amazon? This made it so I had to shut off my Ouya and use another box for these apps or sideload them (much cleaner on Fire or android tv anyway). The lack of leadership in the public eye has really hurt them?Have heard next to nothing from Julie in a good while? Then there is the outdated chipset to me putting the old model back in stock would not be a good business move for Ouya just my opinion. I have had issues with there forum very poor additude!