Slashdot Mirror
Apple Finally Getting Its Game On?
Gamespot reports on the possibility that, in some way, Apple is making moves to develop games. From the article: "This week, GameSpot learned that there may be more to the Apple-game rumors than mere Mac-mad daydreams. A tech-sector recruiter contacted the GS NewsDesk with an interesting story of a prospective hire that got away. Recently, when said recruiter made an offer to a software engineer, the engineer turned the offer down--saying he was being 'heavily recruited by Apple.' According to the engineer, an Apple hiring manager named Mike Lampell is heading up a group inside Apple's storied iTunes division. The group is specifically hiring for 'C/C++ coders with a gaming background.'"
"The engineer says the project in question was described to him as "super secret," and Apple would not even tell him the exact nature of it until he had been hired and signed a non-disclosure agreement."
Anybody want to place bets on his chances of being hired now?
Easy here: apple develops a bunch of simple, casual games that run on ipod/with interface, and sells them for a couple bucks a pop at ITMS. Nothing fancy, and nothing that taxes resources (as so many phone games do).
With the money to be made, the market share to be exploited, and the minimal investment required, I'm surprised they haven't already done this.
What if they just want some 3D visualisations for iTunes? Something that requires experience with character animation, skinned models or complex shaders?
I've been called by an Apple recruiter as well, maybe 6 - 8 months ago. The person I spoke to said that they were looking for people with my skills. I've been in the games industry since I was 18, I've shipped around 3 dozen titles for consoles and handhelds, so my resume basically shows that I'm perfect for one thing: getting games out the door. For personal reasons I wasn't even slightly interested in the job, but the call itself was vastly intruiguing. I've been waiting eagerly ever since to hear what the heck Apple is up to.
No doubt Apple is tired of seeing Microsoft dominate the games market. Look out for the all-new iPippin. With an Intel chip inside, it's twice as fast as the PowerPC-based XBox 360!*
* May not actually be twice as fast outside the Reality Distortion Field. But who cares? You know you'll buy it anyway.
I'd actually argue that Mac's are ideal gaming platforms. There's only so many different configurations available, so it's more or less like programming for a game console (you know what you're programming for and optimise it for a specific hardware set), except everything is in x86 on a Linux platform. So really, no new hardware and api's need to be learned...it's pretty much all pre-existing. And with the number of game engines readily available, I bet Windows gamers would be pretty impressed with what you could do on a Core Duo Mac.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Has anyone thought that this may be more an in-house tie-in with Disney/Pixar? It would be quite the coup for them to have control of the kids-game market : If your kid wants to play the next Ice Age game, why not buy the system from that nice company who made their iPod?
Ballmer will be hurling an entire conference room of chairs off the roof when Apple can claim:
One billion games downloaded!
Try Firefox with NoScript. It makes surfing the web a clean, relatively ad-free experience, and minty fresh too.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Yes, the PS3 blows the mini out of the water in performance, but if the Wii takes off, then Apple might want a piece of the action. Plus, it has all the home media hub functions already, and a distribution network for music and video.
The return of the Apple Pippen? Ars technica had a journal article from 2005 about Apple and Sony integrating the iTMS with the PS3, could Apple just be deciding to do it themselves after they saw the price of the PS3? Remember the sales pitches of the 80's for the Commodores and Ataris? "It not only plays great games, but it is also a full blown computer!"
What, me worry?
Suited Guy (PC): "Woah... out of the way... bang, gotcha! Hahah! Oh no. Oh no! Dudududududu! Ha! Who's your paternal-figure? Hey? Hey? Who's your paternal figure?"
Hip Young Guy (Mac): "Hey dude, whatcha doing?"
PC: "I'm playing a really awesome game. You play a secret agent, and you have to shoot the henchmen, and... hold on... woah! Ok, you want a turn?"
Mac: "Oh, come on! Surely you could be doing something productive, like, erm, burning DVDs? I can burn DVDs. Yeah! Make your own movies, it's cool"
PC: "Yeah, I did that once. Hold on... woah! Gotcha! Haha! Gotcha, what's behind the wall? Oh... hey, it's multiplayer if you want to join in."
Mac: "Oh, games. Aren't those what games consoles are for?"
PC: "Depends on the game. This is an mod someone did for Doom 5, so you'd never see it on a console. You just don't get that kind of innovation on closed platforms like consoles. Hold on, I got it! I got the papers! Now, how do I get out? Er..."
Mac: "You know, you ought to be sorting through the pictures on your digital camera which I can do really easily with iPh..."
PC: "Yeah, that'd be a real fun time. Real. Fun. Time. Yeah. Sure you don't want a game? Hold on... blam! Gotcha! Where the hell did he come from anyway? Ok, through this wall..."
Mac: "Oh no, games are such a waste of time. I'd rather do something productive like, erm, manage my iTunes collection. That's something I'm good at..."
PC: "Me too, you do know I run iTunes right? Aw come on, let your hair down a little. I thought I was supposed to be the stiff."
Mac: "No."
PC: "Wait... I think there's a hidden passage here... read it in a forum somewhere... oh yeah, next to the pot plant, got it, extra health, excellent. Anyway, why not? Why don't you want a go?"
Mac: "I don't want to talk about it."
PC: "What?"
Mac: "I said I just don't want to talk about it, ok? Ok?"
PC puts the joystick down for a moment: "You can't play games. That's what it is, right?"
Mac: "Right. Ok. So I can't play games. What's the big deal? Nobody plays games anyway."
PC: "Sure. Nobody does. Right. Yeah, just me. Just boring, suited, me. Not like I play more games than all the games consoles put together. Right."
PC falls on floor, rolling with laughter.
Mac: "Ok. OKAY! Now let me turn this photo slideshow and jingle I put together in Garageband into a DVD. Not a waste of time like playing games is."
Mac walks off in huff. PC picks up joystick and continues playing.
Fade to black:
"Apple Macintosh"
"The Computer That Can't Play Games"
"But That's Ok Because Nobody Plays Games Anyway"
I don't get it why people are complaining about ads so much. These web sites cost money to run, you know? These people do this for a living. I find Internet ads to be a lot less intrusive than a couple of years ago. Ok so sometimes you get those crappy flash ads with sound or some that gets bigger when you roll over, but those are the minority, not the norm. I think that websites like IGN and Gamespot or some "real world" news site to actually have a pretty good way of displaying ads. Once in a while you click on a link and there's a full page ad which you can simply skip by pressing a text link over of the ad. And it's like this on most websites I visit. I took an extra click and an extra second to get there. It's like people who strip ads from thei messaging client. Just don't look at them. Anyway, MSN is minimized 99% of the time, so I couldn't care less about the ad that is there 1% of the time.
The only places where you can find ads to be real annoying is on torrent sites and such. Considering people go there to mostly download stuff they don't already own, I have little pity for those who complain. Why should I care that someone is bugging you with those ads? You are already in the process of ripping someone else off. And the saddest part is that those website owners make money off the stuff from other people.
There is a precedent for what Apple may be doing here. Anyone remember the Atari 800? I bought one just so I could play Star Raiders. I bought it at a store outside Boston (IIRC at a Bit Bucket in Newton, MA) which had this set up on a 5-foot projection TV for video and a 100 Watt stereo driving the audio. The salesperson told me: THAT ONE GAME was responsible for something like half of their sales of the Atari 800. At the time (1980 or so), the Atari 800 cost me about $800... and I happily paid it so that I could play a ~$50 game. AND, once I got the computer, I bought many more applications and peripherals. Star Raiders was the "killer app" of its day.
Apple might be looking to do the same. Sell some subsidized games on iTunes for little money so as to encourage additional iPod sales. Once he consumer has the iPod, and has overcome paying its (non-negotiable) price, the barrier to buying more things for it is overcome. Increased iTunes sales. Even MORE profit for Apple. A larger market. Synergistic growth.
Someone else here mentioned about Disney. Kid sees friend playing Disney game on iPod. Kid Wants Game. Kid pesters parents incessantly. Parents buy an iPod for junior to play these nice kid-friendly Disney games. Kids become experienced users of an increasingly dominant platform. [Apocryphally, IBM gave (?) Selectric typewriters to schools to use in Touch Typing Classes. Said students go off into the business world and are faced with klunky manual typewriters. Secretaries all-so-often are the ones who Get. Things. Done. Not too hard to start persuading the PHBs to buy a Selectric typewriter. Lather, rinse, repeat.] Apple has done similarly with schools by offering a significant educational discount for their computers. Microsoft has a student discount for their Office suite. Hook 'em while they're young.
Here, Apple could hook 'em before they even GET to school! Like I said, Brilliant. Absolutely Brilliant!
If it's an intentional leak, it is to spread confusion. This rumor won't increase any sales.
Think of it this way: It's impossible to keep rumors of new and important products from happening. Too many people are involved. But if you can drench out the true rumors with tons of false ones, it's gonna be very hard for the public to sort out which ones to believe in. And your product announcements will still be newsworthy and surprising.
Somtimes I think 90% of the crackpot "Art Bell" theories slushing around on the net and other places are planted by the US government in order to cover up the 10% that are actually true.
When I first read the headline, I didn't realize that it was referring to games. Rather, I thought it meant that Apple was getting ready to gear up for hitting the personal computer market. As time passes, they move themselves further and further in that direction; the popularity of the iPod/iTunes, the cheap Mac mini, moving to a different architecture, development and release of OS X. Never has Apple been more attractive to the consumer than they are today.
And what do consumers love? Games. If Apple can roll out some high quality hits, people will love the game first, then notice the publisher. They'll learn to associate Apple with good things, and next thing you know, they'll be buying one.
Sure, this is looking at it optimistically; whatever games they are going to produce are really going to have to take off in a big way for this to have more than a marginal impact, but to me it seems like a small step in the right direction.