Android TV: Google Getting into the Microconsole Business

So OUYA is dead in the water and MadCatz's thing flopped like we knew it would, but it seems like Google is finally getting on board the Microconsole thing themselves, with the next version of Android providing optimizations to the graphics, and an interface built for TV. They're promising console-quality graphics on Android with currently available hardware. And they might not be lying:



The redone interface looks nice, and works with a controller, remote, or you can use your phone. It seems to be better done than previous efforts, and now that there's official support from Android, we might see apps better optimized for that purpose.



Google hasn't yet announced a flagship device for this, but there's real potential here. They're looking to build it into TVs, as well as sell stand-alone devices. If they can get these into enough homes, we might actually see a market for real games here.

Can they just stop trying to push an Android STB/Console? Ouya flopped, Mojo(I think?) flopped, FireTV didn't set the world on Fire (lolololololololololololio).

That's three strikes, bro.

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Originally Posted by Chux

Can they just stop trying to push an Android STB/Console? Ouya flopped, Mojo(I think?) flopped, FireTV didn't set the world on Fire (lolololololololololololio).

That's three strikes, bro.

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Yeah, but those all deserved to fail, because they were fragmented, shoehorned into an OS with no proper support for the form factor, and they weren't good devices. This push will unify a range of devices that will offer a good Smart TV experience first and foremost, and there is a market there. This thing blows away Roku, and Apple TV and all of those. Gaming is secondary, but it looks like there's the potential to do that very well, too, and if they can get these in enough homes, that could be interesting.

Obviously, there's still plenty of reason to be skeptical, but this is a much better effort than the previous ones, and if we see good devices and good prices it could be a much more compelling product for the Roku crowd that might even cross into a little bit of real gaming.

Google's full keynote is here. Areas of interest include the new graphics optimizations at 1:06, and the new TV stuff at 1:45

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Yeah, but those all deserved to fail, because they were fragmented, shoehorned into an OS with no proper support for the form factor, and they weren't good devices. This push will unify a range of devices that will offer a good Smart TV experience first and foremost, and there is a market there. This thing blows away Roku, and Apple TV and all of those. Gaming is secondary, but it looks like there's the potential to do that very well, too, and if they can get these in enough homes, that could be interesting.

Obviously, there's still plenty of reason to be skeptical, but this is a much better effort than the previous ones, and if we see good devices and good prices it could be a much more compelling product for the Roku crowd that might even cross into a little bit of real gaming.

Google's full keynote is here. Areas of interest include the new graphics optimizations at 1:06, and the new TV stuff at 1:45

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Amazon is a really big company too. How well is the FireTV doing? I just don't think it's the time for it, no matter what company. Apple hasn't jumped in too far either, FWIW.

JoustW getting out of the microconsole business

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Originally Posted by Chux

Amazon is a really big company too. How well is the FireTV doing?

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Amazon is a big company, but the FireTV is only one device, and a flawed one at that. This is going to be built in to all of Sharp and Sony's high end TVs next year, and be available in a wide range of devices, ranging from $50 streaming sticks to $200 gaming-ready consoles, all with a unified user experience that looks better than what's currently available.

I'm not saying I'm running out to get one, my current consoles deal with my media needs pretty well, but I think there's a good chance this is going to end up unifying a lot of the smart tv market in the same way Android did for phones.

I'd love to see it do well, as more competition certainly helps the market. I can just see people who aren't us/GAF/savvy seeing a $200 box that can't even play Mario, only glorified tablet/mobile games and looking the other way.

Frog is only defending this because he is an Android fanboy. Don't believe his lies.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Frog is only defending this because he is an Android fanboy. Don't believe his lies.

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I know this, and it's why I'm trying to keep it civil instead of saying LOL FUCKING ANDROID TRASH, GO FUCK SOME COTC.

It is android trash though, since we're being real
Android for me has only been good for getting late iOS ports on fragmented devices and emulation.

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Originally Posted by Chux

I'd love to see it do well, as more competition certainly helps the market. I can just see people who aren't us/GAF/savvy seeing a $200 box that can't even play Mario, only glorified tablet/mobile games and looking the other way.

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But that's the thing, it doesn't really have to. It's going to come in a wide range of form factors and price points, which gives it a place to grow from. I imagine if it does develop into something with real console games on it, that's going to start as a fairly small subset of people adopting the platform, but its success or failure as a whole isn't going to depend on that, unlike the OUYA.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Frog is only defending this because he is an Android fanboy. Don't believe his lies.

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Like I said, I'm not running out to get it, and I was never on board with the earlier Android consoles either, but I do think this is going to do a lot better than those as a whole (it almost has to).

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

But that's the thing, it doesn't really have to. It's going to come in a wide range of form factors and price points, which gives it a place to grow from.

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This makes it worse than the OUYA though, because it's fragmenting the market AGAIN. I swear google is all about that shit.

As a dev, why would I cater to the more expensive console when I can get potentially more sales from people who bought the cheapest point of entry?

Why will it do better? Maybe nobody actually wants a microconsole. Maybe people play phone games because they are, in fact, on the phone, good for spending a few minutes here and there, not hogging the living room tv.

Of course if you want to play living room TV games, there are way better options than cell phone trash.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Why will it do better? Maybe nobody actually wants a microconsole.

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But they do want Smart TVs, streaming devices, etc, and this unifies all of those in a logical way, and does it better than anyone has done it before.

This is certainly NOT going to be the best way to play games in your living room, but it's going to be in living rooms anyway, and it seems like some of the devices may actually be capable of console-quality graphics, as well as controller support, so that's just going to come as a logical extension.

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Originally Posted by Chux

This makes it worse than the OUYA though, because it's fragmenting the market AGAIN. I swear google is all about that shit.

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It's the opposite of fragmenting. It's bringing all those devices together with a single compatibility standard, market, and user experience.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

But they do want Smart TVs, streaming devices, etc, and this unifies all of those in a logical way, and does it better than anyone has done it before.

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Do they want smart TVs or do they just buy the TVs and they already include them? I have two TVs with smart features and use Netflix on one of those TVs every once in a while.

Streaming devices are not terribly popular. Even if they get more popular, who cares. They are all the same at this point. I don't see the superiority here over Roku or AppleTV, unless you are completely all-in on Android already.

[quote=Frogacuda;1064918056This is certainly NOT going to be the best way to play games in your living room, but it's going to be in living rooms anyway, and it seems like some of the devices may actually be capable of console-quality graphics, as well as controller support, so that's just going to come as a logical extension.
[/QUOTE]

Cell phone hardware has grown by leaps and bounds and the games are still crap. The hardware isn't the problem. It's the fact that the average selling price of a game is less than a dollar. They could put a Titan in the next iPhone, you won't get high end PC games hitting the App Store.

Look at it this way: Most people don't buy their phones for games, and gaming performance isn't a huge concern for most people that buy phones. But the vast majority of people with phones play games at least occasionally, and it adds up to a pretty huge gaming market. It's going to be like that.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Streaming devices are not terribly popular. Even if they get more popular, who cares. They are all the same at this point. I don't see the superiority here over Roku or AppleTV, unless you are completely all-in on Android already.

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I'm assuming you didn't watch the video? It's just a much slicker experience, with a smart, voice-based interface that integrates all your apps together along with all of Google's predictive stuff. It looks miles better than either of those.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Look at it this way: Most people don't buy their phones for games, and gaming performance isn't a huge concern for most people that buy phones. But the vast majority of people with phones play games at least occasionally, and it adds up to a pretty huge gaming market. It's going to be like that.

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No it won't, because the experience of playing a phone game is not the same as the experience of playing a living room game. People like phone games because they are on the phone and do not hog the living room tv.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

I'm assuming you didn't watch the video? It's just a much slicker experience, with a smart, voice-based interface that integrates all your apps together along with all of Google's predictive stuff. It looks miles better than either of those.

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Fanboy alert

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Cell phone hardware has grown by leaps and bounds and the games are still crap. The hardware isn't the problem. It's the fact that the average selling price of a game is less than a dollar. They could put a Titan in the next iPhone, you won't get high end PC games hitting the App Store.

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No one is saying you're going to be playing Uncharted on this. You're going to get sub-$20 games, and a lot of quick and casual experiences, same as cell phones. No disagreement there.

I think kids and parents are going to be a big market. It makes sense for a lot of the displaced Wii crowd, because it's cheap, quick, accessible, and already integrated into the TV experience. It's going to make a lot more sense to scroll down and download Timmy something to play than to go to the store and buy a $200 console and a $50 game on a disc.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Of course if you want to play living room TV games, there are way better options than cell phone trash.

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Welcome to the glorious Console Master Race.

why is firetv flawed? I know a bunch of people chomping at the bit to get one so they can xbmc mod it (apparently the price : hardware ratio is insane on it)

e: also rip ouya 2012-2014

I would call Ouya a complete success (from a personal, not business perspective) if VLC didn't require that stupid pain-in-the-ass touchpad to use. Apparently it's some kind of limitation of the Android version that they can't just use buttons? I don't really know for sure, but it's annoyingly close to being just what I wanted it for.

James

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

It's the opposite of fragmenting. It's bringing all those devices together with a single compatibility standard, market, and user experience.

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So the $50 GoogleTV Jam is going to play a game as graphically intensive as the $200 G+ Deluxe?

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

No one is saying you're going to be playing Uncharted on this. You're going to get sub-$20 games, and a lot of quick and casual experiences, same as cell phones. No disagreement there.

I think kids and parents are going to be a big market. It makes sense for a lot of the displaced Wii crowd, because it's cheap, quick, accessible, and already integrated into the TV experience. It's going to make a lot more sense to scroll down and download Timmy something to play than to go to the store and buy a $200 console and a $50 game on a disc.

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You say this like the displaced Wii crowd is wandering aimlessly. They're not. Timmy has a cell phone and plays games on it. He plays them on the school bus, in the cafeteria, on the couch while his parents watch tv.

He doesn't need to play the same games on the living room tv.

You could say the same about tablets and phones, but you'd be wrong. This will probably be good for multiplayer games and that sort of thing which don't work well on the phone.

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Originally Posted by Error

Welcome to the glorious Console Master Race.

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They need to organize a pride parade in preparation for their marginalization.

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Originally Posted by James

I would call Ouya a complete success (from a personal, not business perspective) if VLC didn't require that stupid pain-in-the-ass touchpad to use. Apparently it's some kind of limitation of the Android version that they can't just use buttons? I don't really know for sure, but it's annoyingly close to being just what I wanted it for.

James

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The OUYA has exceeded my expectations as far as how many fun and fairly good games have come out for it. Of the pre-Fire TV Android consoles, it's got the best overall offerings since the MOJO has so many issues just getting shit to run, while the GameStick has fuck-all on it. Being able to sideload stuff greatly adds to the library of stuff too even if there are far too many games that are just trash - like Man Boobs Are Candy Corn HD, which has turned into a running joke on the HG podcast.

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Originally Posted by Engadget

The company behind crazy devices like the Razer Edge and Project Christine is getting into game console creation as well. Razer's employing Google's Android TV initiative to create a game-focused "micro-console" and it's arriving this fall. So, what does it do? Razer's only offering a teensy bit of details, but what we know thus far sounds impressive. The micro-console can "stream movies, music and other apps for large-screen entertainment," says Razer, "with an emphasis on gaming." Sounds a lot like Amazon's Fire TV, no? The difference here is that Razer's also promising "hardcore" gaming, though we're not hearing exactly how it will pull that off just yet (we asked!).

The same goes for what's inside the Razer micro-console in terms of horsepower and connectivity -- we've got no idea just yet. Internal storage? No idea. Price? Same situation. Actually, what Razer's saying is, "In keeping with the spirit of Google I/O, we will not be discussing specific product details at this time." Pretty funny you guys!

Anyway, in terms of gaming-specific applications, we also don't know how you'll control games on the device. Bluetooth game controllers? A custom controller? While we expect it'll support Bluetooth, Razer's not saying just yet. As for interface navigation, that'll be handled by the Android TV app you heard about earlier today. There's also some form of voice control, which we expect depends on your phone's mic (though it's always possible one's built into a custom gamepad -- we've got a lot of questions!).

Razer's not offering hands-on opps today, and the image you see above is actually a render. As a result, it'll be a few before we can offer more details on Razer's first console experiment. For now... well, it sounds neat, right? Razer makes nice hardware and knows how to cater to gamers.

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Link

This seems like a fair bet to be the flagship gaming device for this platform.

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Originally Posted by Engadget

The micro-console can "stream movies, music and other apps for large-screen entertainment," says Razer, "with an emphasis on gaming."

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That should definitely help it distinguish itself from other gaming devices.

Breaking news: We've found a way to do nothing new. Further updates as progress warrants.

Razer is the company the charges triple what their shit should actually sell for, I don't really have much hope for their microconsole.

Razer's QC is utter shit. I like their designs, their lineup, etc., but stuff that expensive should not be that flimsy.

I doubt Razer's thing is going to be the flagship.

Razer is also the same company that had to beta test a fucking arcade stick for over a year before releasing it. It's a plastic shell filled with off the shelf parts.
This is going to be a plastic box with an off the shelf SoC and software developed entirely by another company.