Slashdot Mirror
Can We Trust Apple To Make a Good Games Console?
An anonymous reader writes: The Apple TV took center stage at the company's recent press event. It's getting its own operating system, better support for watching movies and listening to music, and full integration with Siri. All to be expected. But Apple is also pushing for the device to become a hub connecting mobile gaming with your TV. This article questions whether Apple has the chops to become a serious contender in living room gaming. Quoting: "[T]he subtext was clear: Apple thinks it can take on Nintendo for third place in the console market. The problem is, even while it's parading game developers on stage, it's still not clear if Apple actually wants to take on the console market. The inconsistency within the company when it comes to games is painful to see, and shows no sign of abating any time soon. ... The iPhone is the largest games store on the planet, and it's managed by a company whose attitude to the medium is 'go write a book.' That hasn't stopped magnificent art being made for Apple's platforms, but it has stopped some, such as Sweatshop HD, which was pulled from the app store in 2013."
Youre joking, but you made an interesting point.
Its all about original content, and Nintendo's got boatloads of it. Mario, Zelda, pokemon, just to name a few. Xbox and PS have some as well, but most most content is shared, so people can afford to get either an Xbox or PS4. But if they like any of Nintendo's brands, they must buy Nintendo because pretty much all of that is exclusive.
Now what will Apple have? Unless they can create original content, they've got nothing. And the games made for iOS don't count, as those would fail on a big screen console. IOS has a big user base, so users will make games for it, sometimes exclusively, sometimes later an android version. But for an apple console? There's really no reason not to make for the Xbox and PS as well. And for family entertainment, Nintendo's still cornered that market as long as kids still like their franchises (and they do).
How is this a console war? This move is so far simply to keep you in their ecosystem. Like every vendor. How about we see what happens instead of launching a pre-judging flame-bait non-article?
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Nobody buys an apple for gaming
There are an order of magnitude more games available for iOS than all gaming consoles ever invented put together. Thing is, the games tend to be a different "sort" of game than your typical console gamer wants. Is that a bad thing? The Wii sold far better than expected due to its "casual" nature, but eventually ran into a problem of underpowered-ness. Now we have a device with the graphical chops, brand recognition, relatively open App Store compared to other consoles, and a huge existing base of code easily ported. I think they have a shot, but don't see it as an either/or thing.
E pluribus unum