Microconsole Thread

[ElkinFencer10]

So has anyone jumped on the microconsole bandwagon? I'm not a huge fan of them, but I picked up a Gamestick (since it was $20 new at Gamestop a while back) and an Ouya (signed by Levar Burton via the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter). What are some of y'all's opinions on them? I'm actually digging my Ouya (though I don't use it that often), but the Gamestick is a steaming pile of crap.

[KalessinDB]

My Ouya is great as a dedicated emulator box. Doubt I would use it for anything else though personally

[fastbilly1]

I traded for Spaceboogers Ouya and it is used to do two things:
1. Pre 5th generation emulation.
2. To run SD video clips ad nauseum.

I am planning on getting a windows 10 stick pc or a nuc, as well as a couple CHIP PCs. My issue with the Microconsoles is that they either do not have enough power, or do not have enough backing. So while the Ouya is fine device, its lack of a solid emulation core (despite being android based and having retroarch), makes it lackluster for me. If the Ouya could run in portrait, mine would become a dedicated pinball machine. But no amount of tinkering with it gave me the ability to force portrait.

[ElkinFencer10]

There are some pretty decent indie games on the Ouya, but you definitely have to sift through some rubbish to find them. Speaking of pinball, Pinball Arcade runs pretty well on Ouya. I ended up buying it for PS4 because I always go for physical releases if possible, but I tried the demo on Ouya, and it ran well enough. Not as smoothly as PS4, obviously, but it wasn't bad. The only thing I've found that are truly awful on Ouya are the first person shooters, but that really isn't much of a surprise.

[fastbilly1]

I sideloaded the playstore onto the Ouya and just downloaded my android version. I typically buy tables on the PC, but have grabbed a handful on android so it worked out great for me, until I could not rotate it.

Sadly Zaccaria Pinball would not work. I could get a table to load, but could not use the plunger.

[ElkinFencer10]

Sadly Zaccaria Pinball would not work. I could get a table to load, but could not use the plunger.

I've not played that one. Is it a good pinball sim? How does it stack up against Pinball Arcade?

[fastbilly1]

If you like EM machines, it is awesome. Zaccaria Pinball is the main Italian Pinball manufacturer and released something like 50 pins and 30 arcade games in the 14 years they were active. So if you need a fancy DMD, it is not for you. There most complicated, and most well known table, Time Machine, has a moving pop bumper area and a wizard looking fella in the flipper area:


Best of all, it is a free app for all tables as long as you are online. If you want to play offline its like $30. They also have options for dirtying up the table, changing slope, and a bunch of other little tweaks. Rumor is the team that made the app version is working with Farsight to handle some of the US created EMs while Farsight handles SS and Stern tables. But that rumor has not surfaced again since March of this year, so take it how you will.

[samsonlonghair]

I'm seriously tempted to buy a PlaystationTV. I know they lack Netflix, and that's not the only issue. There's something neat about it to me, plus my girlfriend has Playstation plus subscription with a bunch of games downloaded on her Vita. I'm thinking I could use her games on a PlaystationTV... hopefully.

[ElkinFencer10]

I'm seriously tempted to buy a PlaystationTV. I know they lack Netflix, and that's not the only issue. There's something neat about it to me, plus my girlfriend has Playstation plus subscription with a bunch of games downloaded on her Vita. I'm thinking I could use her games on a PlaystationTV... hopefully.

I've got a Playstation TV, and if you have Playstation Now in addition to Playstation Plus, it's great. I don't, so mine only gets used for the relatively rare Vita game that support Playstation TV, but they're dirt cheap nowadays, so if you've got a little bit of cash to spare and love Playstation, I'd say there are worse ways to spend the money. If nothing else, they're good for playing the Hyperdimension Neptunia remakes (except Re;Birth 1 - that one, for whatever reason, was never made compatible with Playstation TV).