There are scores of vocal folk who tend towards doom-laden predictions. On the flip side, others speak of 'revolution' - of a movement that sweeps the industry and changes both the way people play games, and how they play them.
Right now, it seems as though the former is predominant. Indeed, despite a Kickstarter campaign that generated more than $8.5 million in crowdfunded capital, the Ouya has shipped to some extremely critical reviews.
What's more, recent reports show that the hardware is showing its age before it's even reached store shelves. Benchmarking tools show that the Ouya lags significantly behind recently-released Android devices in terms of raw horsepower.
Ouya
PlayJam's GameStick, meanwhile, accumulated $647,000 on Kickstarter, but the company's latest update to backers explains that the increased production run will result in a delayed release date.
And Green Throttle's Atlas Controller which lets gamers use their existing mobile hardware to play games on their TVs may be available to consumers now, but it's hardly prompted a paradigm shift in gaming.
Hold your horses
But let's not be too hasty.
Surely even the most ardent detractor of this new wave of consoles would concede that certain games including a number of existing mobile titles suit physical controls and a large display better than a small touchscreen.
Personally, I find it hard to imagine someone denying that Dead Trigger or Shadowrun wouldn't be improved by the presence of a controller and a telly, and if the microconsole movement gains traction, we're sure to see more games developed specifically for these platforms.
That's a big 'if', of course, and these consoles face the same chicken and egg problem that every emerging platform faces.
That is to say, they're of limited interest to consumers until there's plenty of games to play, and they're of limited interest of developers until there's plenty of consumers around to sell to.
GameStick
This problem could be alleviated somewhat by the proliferation of cross-platform development tools such as Marmalade and its ilk, but mobile ports will only do so much.
Unconsoles need their own specialised ecosystems in order to create value for consumers.
Mobile, meet PC
The next question, then, is what kind of games will work on unconsoles, and what kind of ecosystem the devices can support.
There's an obvious crossover with mobile gaming, of course.
These units are mostly Android-based, after all, and typically use mobile components. But while the platform may have more in common with mobile, unconsoles still use traditional inputs (controllers) and traditional outputs (TVs).
As such, it seems as though unconsoles could become attractive destinations for PC indies too.
This community has historically been attracted to the open marketplaces of the PC (as opposed to the tightly-restricted world of consoles), while crafting games that are controlled by keyboards, mice and controllers.
The combination of open market and traditional input could see unconsoles serve as a meeting point between mobile talent and the wider independent development community and that's an undoubtedly potent combination.
Imagine a $99 device that plays Angry Birds, Minecraft, Terraria, Super Meat Boy and Temple Run. I imagine that such a device has the potential to do well at retail.
But do we need them?
I've heard it said that unconsoles don't address an existing consumer need, and I don't necessarily disagree.
I do feel that, after seven years of the same hardware, consumers are hungry for new consoles, and even when the PS4 and next Xbox arrive later this year, they're likely to be too expensive for many.
So if it's pitched right, a $99 console could scratch an itch that some gamers might be feeling right now.
Green Throttle
But gut feelings aside, I'm not certain unconsoles do answer any direct need. I'm also not certain this matters.
The iPad, after all, practically invented a whole new class of device that no-one thought we needed. I'd argue that it did this largely by offering a larger canvas than a smartphone and faster resume times than a laptop. Sometimes, simple convenience is king.
And while it may be true that certain Android device owners can replicate the unconsole experience with a micro-HDMI cable, a wired Xbox 360 controller and some know-how, it's no substitute for a dedicated device and a developer community.
So I'm not saying that the GameStick will change the industry or that the Ouya is doomed to wretched failure. What I am saying is that these devices have potential, and their crowdfunding success suggests they might just have tapped into a larger consumer interest.
Whether that potential is realised is another matter, but this promise warrants more consideration than the doom-mongers would have you believe.
