Will the Apple TV Become a Gaming Platform?

An anonymous reader writes "New data strings uncovered in the recently released iOS 4.3 beta 3 suggest that Apple may have grand ambitions for its little hobby known as the Apple TV: the device may soon transform into a gaming platform."

Comments

More walled gardens anyone?

[cbope]

Do we really need yet another Apple-controlled walled garden? Don't we have enough of those already?

Re:More walled gardens anyone?

[Sockatume]

It's more about bringing their existing walled garden to a different space. That's probably how they expect to succeed where so very many others haven't: they can bring along the existing iOS developer support and public awareness from the iPhone and iPad.

(I recall Sega and Pace teaming up for a Dreamcast-based gaming satellite box to play casual games. It unsurprisingly floundered. That said there was a pretty decent lunar lander game on Sky Digital when it first appeared.)

Re:More walled gardens anyone?

[RogueyWon]

Well, on the basis that pretty much any gaming console these days is a walled garden (at best), the answer is a resounding "maybe"?

It wouldn't actually hurt to have another entrant into the games console business (even if this proposal doesn't look too much like a console). Sony and MS's current offerings are actually unbelievably similar - I don't think I've ever known a console generation where there was less to actually separate two competitors. At the same time, Nintendo look increasingly like a successful toy manufacturer, who have feet of clay when it comes to actually making interesting games - and in attracting decent third party developers.

A credible new entrant (sorry, Infinium Labs) could potentially give the industry a shot in the arm. Apple may or may not be the people to do it - there's a hell of a lot I don't like about the company and its principles. However, their recent approach to software pricing indicates that they might at least bring something interesting to the table.

Re:More walled gardens anyone?

[Unxmaal]

Do we really need yet another Apple-controlled walled garden? Don't we have enough of those already?

Yes. No.

Re:More walled gardens anyone?

[drinkypoo]

Sony and MS's current offerings are actually unbelievably similar - I don't think I've ever known a console generation where there was less to actually separate two competitors.

Uh what? They are different in every way it is possible to be different while still offering the same basic features.

• The Xbox 360 is a 3-way SMP system. The PS3 is a CPU/GPU/Coprocessor system.
• The Xbox 360 has added features with each new major update. The PS3 has removed features with each new major update.
• The Xbox 360 has motion-detecting equipment (Kinect) which does not require a controller. Sony has motion-detecting equipment which does.
• Xbox Live costs money, PSN is free.
• The Xbox 360 is the first console that looks decent compared to the competition, mostly because the PS3 looks like a George Foreman grill.
• The PS3 uses Bluetooth for wireless controllers, while the 360 uses a proprietary protocol.

Now, preferring PS3 or Xbox 360 is a matter of personal preference, but it's not because the two platforms are identical.

The problem is that history has shown us that there is room in the market for three players. Further, the Mac is not where the games are. Microsoft entering the market made sense; Xbox is short for DirectX Box. Where are the Mac games? Where are the Mac game developers?

Re:More walled gardens anyone?

[PsychoSid]

http://store.steampowered.com/browse/mac/ Just for starters

Re:More walled gardens anyone?

[sortius_nod]

Actually, Halo was originally supposed to be a Mac RTS. Quick google will serve you well.

Re:More walled gardens anyone?

[anegg]

Do we really need yet another Apple-controlled walled garden? Don't we have enough of those already?

So vote with your wallet. I bought an AppleTV just before Christmas as a "santa gift" for the kids (hey - only $99!). My aim was to introduce Internet-based streaming media as a movie-delivery device in addition to RedBox DVDs (we don't have cable TV), and I was thinking only of NetFlix when I bought it. Before I set it up, I did the research I should have done before I bought it, and saw that although it worked with NetFlix, it didn't work with anything else except for Apple's media store. The day after Christmas, I saw a Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray plus Internet streaming video player for $99 at the Sony store. It did NetFlix, plus some other services (Hulu Plus, Amazon, Crackle). Oh, yeah - it plays Blu-ray discs, too! It didn't play anything from Apple's media store, but that didn't seem such a big loss to me based on the prices I had seen ($1 for a freaking TV show *episode*?). No brainer. Returned the AppleTV, bought the Sony player. I'm happy.

I think that the streaming video market is so very different from the music distribution market that Apple's "walled garden" play will stumble. Here I am, a long-term Macintosh user (Mac Plus, SE30, PowerMac 7200, PowerMac G4 Digital Audio tower, and Intel-based 24" iMac) with a family of iPods (my wife and I have classics, my two kids have Nanos). I'm happy with iTunes and iPods - we still buy CDs which we then load into iTunes for playback on our SliMP3 player in the living room and our iPods everywhere else - but the movie world is a different beast altogether. I'm not going to rip DVDs/Blu-rays into a home library unless the technology gets a lot better (cheaper, faster, less seemingly illicit), so the whole local playback capability of the AppleTV is moot (as is the DLNA-based local playback of the Sony player - at least to me). What matters in both markets is choice, and while I could use iTunes/iPods and still maintain the power of choice (despite the moans some people make, iTunes/iPod users are *not* locked into the Apple media store), the same is not nearly as true with the AppleTV. Sure, I have some choice - I can choose NetFlix and/or Apple's media store. With any one of a host of other media players (Sony is just one of a plethora of choices now) I can't have the Apple media store, but I can have practically every other distribution option available on the Internet.

I have to leave the question of whether the video game market is more like the music distribution market or the audio/video movie/TV show distribution market up to those of you who play video games... I don't. In fact, it may be yet another paradigm, as my outside-looking-in view of video games is that they are all walled garden's in a way - each company's game console only plays games brought out on that console - yet video game companies often produce multiple versions of each game title, one for each game console - which means there isn't much of a wall. If Apple chooses to play in the games console environment, won't they be essentially like every other games console? A video game company will choose whether or not to port a title to the Apple console, the same way they choose to port to other consoles. At the same time, some number of "Apple-only" games will probably spring up, just as their are titles available on only Sony PlayStation and only Nintendo whatever and only Microsoft XBox.

If the lure of a game that is only available on the AppleTV game console causes you to buy the $99 AppleTV in order to be able to play it, isn't that what a free market economy is all about? Each of us is free to buy or not to buy, no one will force anyone to make that purchase to play that game.

Re:More walled gardens anyone?

[Gilmoure]

I still like Marathon 1 over Halo, despite the game limitations (no 360 view). The atmospherics are great! Is what I'm going to introduce daughter to, for FPS games. Still have my Quadra 650 with Marathon installed.

Didn't we already see this?

[ksd1337]

Apple already tried a gaming platform back in the day. It was called the Pippin.

Is this idea gonna fly?

Re:Didn't we already see this?

[MichaelSmith]

Apple already tried a gaming platform back in the day. It was called the Pippin.

I thought it was called the iPhone.

Re:Didn't we already see this?

[AccUser]

Yes, but given that AppleTV is an iOS device, there are already a plethora of games and lifestyle apps that can probably run today with little or no modification.

Re:Didn't we already see this?

[igreaterthanu]

little or no modification.

Little modification? It has completely different input devices.

Re:Didn't we already see this?

[mjwx]

basicaly another gaming niche that currently belongs to nintendo that apple will tackle and probably be successfull.

Right,

You do know that when facing competition that Apple, historically loses.

The only two companies really making money out of gaming machines at the moment are Nintendo and IBM.

Nintendo have a massive back catalogue of extremely popular games from over 20 years of released consoles and several extremely profitable 1st party IP's (Mario, Zelda). Apple has a bunch of Flash games written by 3rd parties. In this regard, Apple only competes with the Wii virtual console, not with actual Wii or DS games.

IBM, oh yes them. They make the chips for the PS3, Xbox360 and Wii.

Re:Didn't we already see this?

[somersault]

So instead of being a $99 gaming device, it's really only going to be for those who shelled out for an iPhone/iPad, both of which are more expensive than current consoles already? Good luck with that!

Also, don't a lot of iPad games often require you to coordinate your fingers with what's onscreen? You can't do that when you're looking at a TV. Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies will not port over well to a system of the kind you suggest. I think they'd be much better getting a simple control pad so that at least people can play more traditional style games if they're going to go down the console route.

Re:Didn't we already see this?

[intheshelter]

You know, you're right. Apple also had a touchscreen device in the Newton. I guess that means the iPhone iPod touch and iPad won't be popular either. . . . .

Not a gamer company

[sosume]

Apple is not a gamer company. iOS games are only used casually, and Apple hardware scores badly in the cost vs performance tradeoff. Gamers want to be able to tweak their hardware and Apple is not likely to allow this. So for casual games, Apple won't be able to compete with the Wii on the low end, and won't be willing or able to provide high end gaming gear to the hardcore gaming crowd. So this is like Rolls Royce selling bikes - won't work. Combined with the expected resignation of Apple's Glorious Leader Kim Il Steve, this will only improve odds for people going short on Apple.

Re:Not a gamer company

[AccUser]

Apple didn't think games would fly on the iPhone. They were wrong.

They are not a gamer company, but they have built a really solid platform, with very low entry requirements for development. Yes, there is an annual subscription fee for the developer program, and this is a requirement for submitting applications, but this cost is relatively small. Everything else you need is free (not counting 3rd-party toolsets and libraries).

Whilst PC gamers can tweak their hardware, what about PS3 and XBox360 gamers? How much tweaking can they seriously do?

And how many games are available for iOS compared to the Wii? I have and iPad and a Wii. I enjoy both, they are different experiences, but I only have about 20 games for the Wii. I have played many more times this on the iPad.

Re:Not a gamer company

[Amarantine]

Apple is not a gamer company.

Neither was MS, before the first Xbox. Neither was Sony, before the first PlayStation.

Gamers want to be able to tweak their hardware and Apple is not likely to allow this.

Wot, and Nintendo, MS and Sony *do* allow this? Ask geohot about his experiences with that.

Re:At some point, this would make sense

[AccUser]

Have you tried Papa Sangre? This game is best played in a dark room with your eyes closed. Whilst the core of the game is audio only, it does provide visual feedback by way of high-contrast indicators. Even with your eyes closed, you can tell that you have done the right thing.

Anyway, I am not suggesting that this is the way forward, but it is entirely possible. And what if you had a dedicated game controller app installed? This could provide a HUD-like information as well as control, and also provide audio and visual feedback. It makes sense to me...

Retro Apple (Mac) Games for Apple TV

[poena.dare]

Y'know I'd buy one if Apple resurrected some old Mac games:

The Ancient Art of War
Armor Alley
Balance of Power
The Fools Errand
Cap'n Magneto
Continuum
Core War
Dark Castle
Dungeon of Doom
and
Orlando Poon's Toxic Ravine Clean-Up and Rescue Service

Shoot me, I'm old.