Julie Uhrman, CEO of Ouya, took the Eurogamer stage at 3pm today in the fourth day of the Expo, to talk about how the Ouya console has a future and plans for it going forward. If you’re one of those people who believes the success of a console depends on how well it sells, or how many games it has, then like much of the internet, by now you might be calling the Ouya a colossal failure and wondering how long it will take before it disappears from the market. You’d also be missing the point. Sure, Ouya may not have the same catalogue of games as major consoles like those from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo; nor is it as widespread. But Ouya was never intended to compete with those.

The REAL focus of Ouya, Julie explained, is to open up the television and free up developers to build their indie games on the TV, rather than on devices that don’t have the presence of a traditional games console, in order to bring those games to wider attention. What’s more, Ouya is designed to allow anyone to become a game developer, regardless of the size of their team or whether they’re a big studio or just one person in their bedroom. “Ouya is the only console that’s open to everyone. It’s great that the price point is coming down and the barriers to entry are simplifying; but the important thing is with Ouya, anyone can develop and get involved.”

The future of Ouya truly lies in the 24,000-plus developers developing for the console, all of which are supported through advice and tools by Ouya. With the Free The games campaign, Ouya is taking steps to support these developers even more. Any game project for Ouya that uses Kickstarter to raise funds, can get extra financial support from Ouya if there’s clear support for the game. With a fund of $1 million to give away in a year, Kickstarted Ouya games that raise over $10,000 can apply to have their funds matched by Ouya themselves, thus doubling the cash available for them to take the game further and get it out on the Ouya – with the caveat that there has to be 100 or more backers providing the funds. This caveat is to prevent cheating, which occurred in the early part of the campaign’s life; and because Ouya want to see the community truly get behind the games they care about. What’s more, Ouya have no intention to act as gatekeepers for their own console. “We believe in being open. We don’t want to lock you into developing for just our console … nor do we want to say, ‘only these games are getting on the Ouya’.”

With every Ouya console being its own development kit; and tools being available for free online to further help develop Ouya games, developers can get their games to the public easier and quicker as well. “We want your game live just as soon as you get it live. So we have a fast review process – most games take just 24 to 48 hours to be accepted or rejected.” Julie was joined by a group of developers from Fayju games – one of the Ouya’s “Elite” backers – who themselves added: “Holding your newly-developed game in your hand and realising the means are right there to release it is empowering.”

Fayju also explained how they found the console’s Tegra 3 processor surprisingly powerful; and how the compact size and better cooling of the console – with fans right over the processor – allowed them to utilise more of the processor’s power without worrying about the overheating problems that plague other devices. The company presented two of their own games – “The Awesome Frog?” and “Cascade” – as examples of what they could do with the console, even going as far to add that Ouya was the catalyst that finally allowed Cascade – a game based on the Analogue Cascade Hypothesis and research into Alzheimer’s effects on the brain; and designed to raise awareness of brain diseases – to happen.

Julie also revealed that the Ouya itself will not be standing still. First of all, the console is about to hit new markets, with an expanded distribution network in Europe. As part of this, Ouya consoles will soon be updated “with localisations to support French, Spanish and German languages … and Pound and Euro currencies.” Additionally, next year, new builds of the Ouya console are planned to be developed and sold, with “faster, better, more up-to-date chip sets” for even more powerful gaming.

So what are the final words on Ouya’s future? “For us to be successful, we need you guys. Your time is now.”

“Ouya is still the only fully open console on the market. That’s why we win.”

the hardest murder to solve is your own

When Ronan O’Connor, a detective with a chequered past, gets caught up in a burglary, his life is brought to an untimely end by a brutal and relentless killer.

Shocked to find himself in the afterlife, his only escape from the limbo world of ‘Dusk’ is to uncover the truth behind his killer, track him down and bring him to justice using new-found supernatural abilities.

As Ronan, you have freedom to explore the town of Salem: its wooden houses, narrow streets, gothic churches and mental asylum for clues. Battle demonic spirits to save your soul and uncover the shocking revelations about who is responsible for your death.

During the dev chat, the developer played the first “mission” and commented over the top of the gameplay

The game looks great, and the idea is amazing (I wish I’d had time to check out the booth at the expo)
Basically, you start off having to solve your own murder. Going through the evidence and crime scene as a ghost. Which has upsides and downsides of course. Downsides, you can’t pick up and touch evidence and actually get a sense of it, upside, you can possess people, see through their eyes, hear through their ears and generally get a sense of the world and things around you

The game is set in Salem, Massachusetts, so every building is warded against ghosts (as you do), so outside Ronan can walk through people and objects, however to get into buildings, a door or window needs to be open to allow entry/exit (useful for loading areas huh? very clever)
Being a Ghost, you have a number of talents that will be upgraded as the game progresses…
– You can see flashbacks of scenes that happened, playback the scene to get insight into what happened, these are called memory residue, to aid the investigation “Real World”, like turning on a cooker hob to distract people, this allows for puzzle elements later on in the game
– Possession can also be used as a tactic against the Demons, human spirits that are tormented and think that devouring other human spirits will turn them into regular spirits again so they can lay to rest, like possessing a cop so you can get close without being noticed and jumping into the demon to rip it apart
– Also ghost side quests and investigations will unlock new info and generally make you feel better about yourself, like helping a young lady who was murdered and buried by an old couple in the block

The game is shaping up very nicely, it looks great on current gen (it’s due for release early 2014 on PC, PS3 and XBox 360)

Garrett, the Master Thief, steps out of the shadows into the City. In this treacherous place, where the Baron’s Watch spreads a rising tide of fear and oppression, his skills are the only things he can trust. Even the most cautious citizens and their best-guarded possessions are not safe from his reach.
As an uprising emerges, Garrett finds himself entangled in growing layers of conflict. Lead by Orion, the voice of the people, the tyrannized citizens will do everything they can to claim back the City from the Baron’s grasp. The revolution is inevitable. If Garrett doesn’t get involved, the streets will run red with blood and the City will tear itself apart.

This is actually the most interactive of the Eurogamer dev chats so far, not only did we get a full on play through of the game, but the dev on stage actually took the time to speak to people there and asked their names for the Q&A, much respect to him on that one

Ok, onto the actual gameplay. The new Thief game is paying a LOT of homage to the original, while at the same time, making it more “realistic” and more technical, compared to games that have gone before (hopefully no undead this time)

First thing you notice, the game is polished, VERY polished, it looks smooth and beautiful, however it was mentioned the next gen versions will have better textures, quicker loading times, etc, but where the PC version will sit is unknown right now.

In a nutshell though, you play as Garret again, this time as a “silent partner” to Orion in his revolution against the Baron.

During the Demo-

Arrows aren’t just for killing, the examples shown were the water arrow for snuffing out torches and fire to remove light sources to stay in the dark, and obviously the rope/grappler arrow to make escapes
Lock picking and frame checking (running your hands round a painting frame for secret switches) is now a quicktime event, not only using the on screen indicator, but also the controllers rumble function for feedback (love that idea, very clever use of force feedback)
Maps are a clear reference tot eh original aswell and the map usage is smooth and simple UI improvement

It was asked in the Q&A if you could Ghost the game (basically doing as much as possible of the game without doing any kills or enemy takedowns and it was confirmed it is possible. Hopefully that will be a super hard, but worth getting achievement
Gameplay will change depending on how gun ho you play the game, if guards are after you, running into the dark won’t make them lose you, the AI will follow you (although this may also used as a fun trap, drag a guard into the dark for a take down)

Thief is out 25th feb 2014, but its already available to preorder on STEAM

GODUS empowers you in the role of a god, allowing you to sculpt every inch of a beautiful world that you look down upon, on which a population of Followers settle and multiply. As you mould every aspect of your unique utopia, a civilisation will blossom across your land and offer you their belief. The more Followers that believe in you, the more powerful you will become.

Whilst you are free to lose yourself in this tranquil experience, other gods reign outside of the ever-expanding reach of your influence. If you so wish, you may challenge other gods and their civilisations to epic multiplayer battles that involve hundreds of Followers fighting in your name whilst you cast devastating god powers from the skies above. As you conquer more lands, your powers will grow allowing you to nurture the advancement of your own Followers.

Obviously GODUS was the release from Peter Molyneux’s Curiosity experiment earlier this year (a mobile “game”, where you chipped away at a maHOOsive block with other gamers and the final block being removed gave the person that did it some control over GODUS when it releases)

Now GODUS has ALREADY been up on STEAM since the 13th Sept on the Early access system, so this won’t be much of a preview, as its already out, technically, however, Early access games are essentially open beta’s at a cheaper price (sometimes… *cough*Planetary Annihilation*cough*), in this instance, £15. But when you buy the GODUS Beta in Early Access (available 13th September, 2013), you will get any subsequent updates plus the finished game completely free. So yeah, you can play now, bugs and all

Now from the game play they showed on stage, there are a few important things to talk about, firstly the god controls, this is a typical RTS, put a way point for your people and dependant on the place you put it, depends what they will do, build a village, attack enemies, etc etc

The difference here is, as a god, you can actually remould the terrain, meaning you can give your followers an advantage and the enemy obstacles, of course there are also other things, like the meteor shower, that looks fun, but what most people will probably do, is enjoy using the finger of god to swash enemy towns and villagers or even fling them across the map.  Seriously, I just bought the game myself to squish people with my God Finger 😀

One of the other items they showed in the dev chat was how quickly they can change aspects of the game based on player data, it’s all in a basic spreadsheet D:

Also, evolution, when a red head appears, do you let him stay in your village to add red heads to the population, or kill him straight away to keep the population ginger free?    hmm…   decisions, decision…

I’m very interested in this, so I’ll leave it at at and go play it 😀   you should too!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/232810

The AMD GPU14 Tech Day Event, held in Hawaii on the 25th, was all about the new series of graphics processors from the technology company. Unfortunately, this was more of a large announcement instead of a full showcase or release event. In fact, there wasn’t even an exact release date given! Still, the show had some interesting takeaways.

One of the cooler points was the progress AMD has made over the years with their GPUs, specifically with regards to the teraflop barriers they have broken:

– In 2008, AMD was the first to cross the 1 TFLOP barrier with the Radeon 4000 series.

– In 2009, AMD was the first to cross the 2 TFLOP barrier with the AMD Radeon 5000 series.

– In 2011, AMD was the first to cross the 3 TFLOP barrier with the Radeon 7000 series.

– In 2012, AMD was the first to cross the 4 TFLOP barrier with the Radeon 7970 Ghz Edition

What are they bringing to the table in 2013? A GPU that will cross the 5 TFLOP barrier!

AMD Radeon R7 and R9 Series

AMD announced a set of five GPUs to appeal to PC gamers with various preferences and wallet sizes. The R7 series includes GPUs for those who don’t wish to spend too much on PC hardware, and the R9 series includes GPUs for big-budget hardcore gamers. The information for each GPU only highlighted the amount of memory it had, the price point, and the score it received in 3DMark Firestrike. For reference, Nvidia’s Geforce GTX Titan and GTX 780 sport scores between 5,000 and 15,000 (The Record).

AMD Radeon R7 250

– VRAM: 1GB GDDR
– Price: <$89
– 3DMark Firestrike: >2000

AMD Radeon R7 260X

– VRAM: 2GB GDDR
– Price: $139
– 3DMark Firestrike: >3700

AMD Radeon R9 270X

– VRAM: 2GB GDDR
– Price: $199
– 3DMark Firestrike: >5500

AMD Radeon R9 280X

– VRAM: 3GB GDDR
– Price: $299
– 3DMark Firestrike: >6800

AMD Radeon R9 290X

– VRAM: 4 GB GDDR
– Price: TBD
– 3DMark Firestrike: See below

As you can see, full specs were not available for the R9 290X, AMD’s next top-of-the-line GPU. According to the chart they were showing off, it should have a score above 8000 on 3DMark Firestrike. There are also a number of rumors going around that it will cost $599, have a 512-bit memory bus, and possibly beat Nvidia’s GTX Titan in performance.

As far as prospective release dates, many believe these GPUs will be available sooner rather than later. A special pre-order bundle will be available starting on October 3rd for the AMD Radeon R9 290X. This special Battlefield 4 Edition will include the game at no extra charge, and seeing as the game is currently slated to release on October 29th, it should be safe to assume the 290X will release sometime before then.

The event went into further detail on AMD’s ace-in-the-hole. Here’s the rest of what they had to say:

– The R9 290X will use the GCN (Graphics Core Next) Architecture

– It’s enhanced to support DirectX 11.2
– It has more than 6 Billion Transistors
– It has over 300 GB/sec Memory Bandwidth
– It can compute over 5 TFLOPS
– It can render more than 4 Billion Triangles/sec

This new GPU will also support Ultra HD 4K Monitors and multi-monitor displays. Most of the time, setting up your GPU on high resolution monitors must be done manually. However, AMD’s Catalyst Drivers will perform automatic configuration on select popular displays. The Panasonic Viera will be one brand to support this standard out-of-the-box.

AMD TrueAudio Technology

The GPU14 Tech Day Event didn’t focus solely on graphics. AMD has been working hard on a new tech called “AMD TrueAudio.” This is a fully programmable audio engine for developers to play with, similar to programmable shaders in graphics. It will allow players to hear more real time voices and channels in-game. It’s designed to work great with both 7.1 channel surround sound systems and 2.0 audio channels for those with headphones or simple stereo speakers. AMD TrueAudio Technology will be available on the R7 260X, R9 290, and the R9 290X.

Mantle

Another technology that was showcased was something called Mantle. Mantle is a new low level application programming interface for PCs. It serves two main purposes:

1. Optimizing games to run on AMD Hardware. This is a bit of a simplified explanation. It will allow games to have better access to the hardware (CPUs and GPUs) to run better and faster.

2. Assisting game developers when porting games to other platforms (PC, Xbox One, PS4)

AMD Gaming Evolved App

The final tidbit was the new AMD Gaming Evolved App powered by Raptr. It can be downloaded right now at Raptr.com/AMD, and has three basic functions:

1. The app supports 28 select games for auto-optimization based on your current PC rig, with more games coming soon.

2. You will be rewarded just for playing games with this app, just like when using Raptr to play console games.

3. You can broadcast live video via Twitch, watch streams, take screenshots, and share them on Raptr, Facebook, and Twitter without ever leaving your game.

Several games built on AMD technology were also played throughout the show, including Battlefield 4, Thief, Lichdom, and Star Citizen. If you haven’t heard of any of them, I suggest checking them out today!