Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Businesses Handhelds Apple Hardware Entertainment Games

Apple Snags Former Xbox Exec 190

Posted by kdawson from the recruiting-games dept.
nandemoari sends along word that Apple has picked up Richard Teversham, a senior Executive from Microsoft's European Xbox operations, ending his 15 years of service to Redmond. Some press accounts assume that Teversham's role may lie in beefing up the games scene on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Forbes goes farther, opining that Apple "appears to be preparing an all-out assault on the handheld gaming market." Other reporting associates the hire with Apple's recent buildout of chip-design expertise.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Apple Snags Former Xbox Exec More

Apple Snags Former Xbox Exec

Comments Filter:

  • remember the atari lynx? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ifeelswine ( 1546221 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @08:32PM (#27824473) Journal
    the atari lynx was somewhere between an atari 800xl and an amiga. stereo sound, 4096 colors. you could flip the atari lynx's display around 180 degrees to accommodate lefties. it had networking built in so you could link up with your pals. the downside was that none of your pals HAD an atari lynx. while you were playing chips challenge or california games in full color with great sound they were playing tetris on a monochrome gameboy. was there a company more incompetent than tramiel's atari corporation?

  • Interesting possibilities... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by chris098 ( 536090 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @08:34PM (#27824487) Homepage
    I can see some potential here. The iPhone as a gaming platform has been proven in the market already. There are a number of small developers selling games for the iPhone. Probably not because the iPhone is a great platform, but because people are willing to pay small amounts to amuse themselves while they're on the subway or waiting somewhere, and they happen to have their iPhone on them. It's like a Nintendo DS that's smaller and you always have with you - it's a convenience thing. Game developers realized this, and the apple store made it easy to distribute products. A small bit of attention to make the device more game-friendly could make it even more attractive for developers to target this platform.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Starayo ( 989319 )
      Without a huge upgrade to battery life I don't see it being good for anything but casual games, and while not necessarily a bad thing, when I hear "gaming platform", I don't think of that genre. It just seems wrong to call it a gaming platform to me.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by chris098 ( 536090 )
        Yeah for sure, it's certainly not going to be equivalent to an xbox 360, or even a wii. ...but apple has proven that there's money to be made in very casual games that you may pick up for 20 minutes a day during a subway ride or while waiting at the dentist. People have shown that they're interested in being entertained in that casual sort of way.

        It's definitely not as glamorous as a PS3, but they're a completely different market.

      • Re:Interesting possibilities... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Ihmhi ( 1206036 ) <i_have_mental_health_issues@yahoo.com> on Tuesday May 05, 2009 @12:25AM (#27826425)

        Plus with the DS, PSP, etc. you can have things like spare batteries.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Machtyn ( 759119 )
        I completely agree. I want my phone to be a phone. I don't necessarily need it to be a camera, PIM, game platform, messenger service, etc. It's too small for that and the buttons too tiny.

        Now, I will take a PIM (like a Palm device, with decent handwriting recognition, not the abomination that Grafitti 2 was) that also happens to be a phone, game platform, messenger service, etc... especially if it comes with bluetooth and/or 802.11a/b/g/n.

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by maharb ( 1534501 )

      The iPhone is great for time killing. I use the iPod Touch, but its the same experience. If you have 15 minutes to burn sit down for a couple of rounds of online poker, play an action game or a puzzle game. The device isn't a hardcore gamer device, but then again most of the population are not hardcore gamers so maybe its good to cater to the masses. The Wii worked well and this seems to be going along the same path.

      I really do think the iPhone has potential to kick ass in the games area if they add jus

    • The iPhone's potential for just about everything is pretty well proven at this point. We may have found the form factor + interface device for the 21st century. Now if only the damned thing had a projector in it so geezers like me wouldn't have to squint at our - er - videos... and bluetooth so we could use this neat keyboard [thinkgeek.com], we'd be all set.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by bonch ( 38532 )

      I think the iPhone is great for casual phone games, but the input isn't precise enough to topple a dedicated device like, say, the Nintendo DS and its d-pad and stylus. I think it's more important as a regular application platform.

  • They needed someone to make the quality of their rev. A stuff even more memorable...

  • This just in.. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SupremoMan ( 912191 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @08:45PM (#27824609)

    Hurricane Ballmer hits conference room. Scores of chairs injured and missing.

    Maybe Apple will launch an attack on the console market next?! I wouldn't pout it past them, they move so quietly you don't know till it's too late! Imagine a console that is top of the line, but has all the games distributed directly to the console with Apple store, eliminating the retail and the distribution networks.

    • Ok, Its official. The chairs thing is officially in critical condition. If I were to make a comment about how Ballmer has tennis/chair elbow that het got from smacking chair joke with thrown chairs into the hospital, it would officially kill the joke. You're lucky I'm more considerate than that.

      Please, think of the memes and don't over-use them. Look at what you people did to the "But does it run Linux?" joke? Its rocking back and forth in a padded room, chanting "No more me-too's".

      As for the topic at h

      • You mean like the Xbox? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by tepples ( 727027 ) <tepplesNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday May 04, 2009 @09:21PM (#27824969) Homepage Journal

        I think that at this point in time, Apple releasing a gaming console would make as much brand sense as IBM releasing an IBM branded gaming console.

        That's what people said about Microsoft in 2001, and the newcomer's product tied Nintendo GameCube in worldwide hardware sales.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Spit ( 23158 )

          Aside from the fucked quality control, xbox is a pretty good product.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by slyn ( 1111419 )

      Hurricane Ballmer hits conference room. Scores of chairs injured and missing.

      Maybe Apple will launch an attack on the console market next?! I wouldn't pout it past them, they move so quietly you don't know till it's too late! Imagine a console that is top of the line, but has all the games distributed directly to the console with Apple store, eliminating the retail and the distribution networks.

      For a long time Apple was rumored to have a possible foray into the console market, and that they were developing a "next gen gaming system" or something like that.

      They were, just not in the form everyone was thinking. Instead of a console they came out with the iPhone and iTouch.

      Since then they have acquired PAsemi, snatched up graphics people from ATI and IBM, and have otherwise been building up a set of high class graphical engineers. Apple has experience designing an ARM chip (an ARM6 I believe), now th

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by anaesthetica ( 596507 )

      Imagine a console that is top of the line, but has all the games distributed directly to the console with Apple store

      Already exists, more or less. It's called AppleTV. It's a console in somewhat the same way that the XBox is basically a desktop computer. All that's missing is a controller and a software update allowing game downloads from the App Store.

      • While well suited for light media center duties(ie. no encoding/transcoding) the aTV is, in essence, a 1GHz x86 paired with a Geforce Go 7300 and 256 megs of RAM. That is a bit faster than the original XBox; but Apple has, by design, pushed it for HD TVs only. Anything more than seriously retro or seriously casual games at those resolutions, on that hardware, would be a bit of a joke.
        • I agree, it's nowhere close to a current gen console. But it can certainly handle games designed for the iPhone/iPod Touch. All you would need is a Wii-like motion-sensing controller. Or maybe you could just use your iPhone as the controller via Bluetooth.

  • another possibility (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    With Jobs on the sidelines, we're back to the Sculley era at Apple, where senior executives and high-level techies are hired away from competitors to make a splash in the press and foster buzz around the stealth-mode projects. And incidentally rescue some careers that may have been in trouble.

    Too bad that's not what creates great products. Usually what it does is create layers of non-accountability somewhere in the clouds above where the engineers and UI designers work.

    • Re:another possibility (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Renderer of Evil ( 604742 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @09:35PM (#27825109) Homepage

      With Jobs on the sidelines, we're back to the Sculley era at Apple...

      You're talking out of your ass. Jobs is not [macworld.com] on the sidelines. He's too much of a control freak to let Tim Cook or anyone else sabotage the juggernaut he helped to create. If you think Sculley's Apple will make a comeback then you're mistaken and don't know history.

      Apple isn't desperate for low-level buzz dealing with obscure hirings. They can leak a single photo or make a "mistake" on the web store and dominate the news cycle for 2 weeks.

      • The way you write betrays you:

        He's too much of a control freak to let Tim Cook or anyone else sabotage the juggernaut he helped to create

        Why would Cook be 'sabotaging'? We're talking incompetence here, not malice.

        If you think Sculley's Apple will make a comeback then you're mistaken and don't know history.

        Sorry - the downfall has already begun. RIM is again the biggest smartphone maker [npd.com].

        Expect things to get worse when this xbox exec 'sexes up' the iPhone. Probably with some lime green styling. And make it bi

        • Why would Cook be 'sabotaging'? We're talking incompetence here, not malice.

          It was implied in the post (which I'm sure was a troll).

          Sorry - the downfall has already begun. RIM is again the biggest smartphone maker.

          Blackberry smartphones are selling more than iPhones because RIM is catering to the enterprise which tends to place orders by thousands. Secondly, Blackberry has more models and is available across different carriers. Third, and most important - iPhone is more than just a smartphone. It's a platfo

          • Blackberry smartphones are selling more than iPhones because *snip* Third, and most important - iPhone is more than just a smartphone. It's a platform with which Apple will try to branch out into different markets

            Blackberry is outselling the iPhone because the iPhone is a platform Apple will use to get to other markets?

            That logic is.... curious.

            • You are quoting the static for one quarter when Apple beat it in other quarters. In order to get the sales record, they had a buy-one-get-one free sale according to NPD. That certainly can't last for every single quarter.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mjwx ( 966435 )

          And the appstore will be renamed to iPhone live - where you can only rent apps.

          But Dr Evil, thats already happened [macworld.com].

      • If you think Sculley's Apple will make a comeback then you're mistaken and don't know history.

        Overstatement alert: not knowing what it's like in the board room of apple does not make you ignorant of history, it makes you ignorant of apple current events. While that isn't as bad as not knowing history, it is still a little bad, because those who don't know the state of leadership at apple computers are doomed to not really give a shit.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        You're talking out of your ass. Jobs is not on the sidelines. He's too much of a control freak to let Tim Cook or anyone else sabotage the juggernaut he helped to create. If you think Sculley's Apple will make a comeback then you're mistaken and don't know history.

        And here in lies the problem, one man has absolute control and therefore no-one else can stop the mistakes they make. Apologies in advance for godwining this but its a good analogy, when Hitler took direct command of Army Group South in the Russ

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Bollocks. You have nothing. Jobs is no more on "on the sidelines" than a starting quarterback is.

  • Soon everyone will have an Apple Sphere 3000, hooked up to their TV! really, i dont think i could think i could aford to upgrade my computer, xbox, playstation and an apple gaming system. P.S. i better be able to play Halo 4 on my zune

    • I would hope they would make their games compatible with Apple PC, or at least easy to port. That way you didn't need both.

  • PLEASE

    They don't make a difference, for every 'HOT' exec there are 10's (100's) of other brilliant people capable of doing the same thing.

    Articles like this confirm the current executive manager payment scheme (overpayment by SHIT loads) that is one of the factors of the economic crisis

  • At the same time... (Score:3, Funny)

    by jdong ( 1378773 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @09:26PM (#27825027)
    A new Apple patent filing reveals plans to put a red/green LED around the Home button on the iPhone for diagnostic purposes.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @09:27PM (#27825035)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Not so simple Richard this time around (Score:4, Informative)

    by EEPROMS ( 889169 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @09:29PM (#27825049)
    All things aside the reality is when Microsoft created the first Xbox they (Microsoft) had already poured hundreds of millions into DirectX thus the Xbox was a no brainer. Apple on the other hand is miles behind when it comes to having a mature multi media/gaming toolset/API so I think he (Richard Taversham) will find things are not as simple over at Apple.

    • They have limited hardware types to consider so it might a smaller job than DirectX.

  • Any chance we could add some more post icons? they look kinda pretty

  • Now that Richard Teversham is cloaked in the RDF he no longer suffers the taint of Microsoft that many Slashdotters would otherwise sniff out.

  • Erm (Score:1, Redundant)

    by mr_da3m0n ( 887821 )

    My initial reaction was "Eeeew."

    Then I read it again and went "Oh, Apple Snags Former Xbox Exec."

  • When's the "iPhone3: Buttons" coming out?

  • Maybe he will show them how to design the iPhone such that it overheats and dies.

    Seriously hardware wise the Xbox 360 is pretty unreliable and nothing special. Timing of the release and price was well done but not the hardware.

  • Meh (Score:1, Troll)

    by Anenome ( 1250374 )

    Apple would be dumb to take on Nintendo in the handheld market.

    A. It's been tried.
    Everyone up to and including Sony has tried and failed. No one has ever taken the crown from N in portable gaming. And Sony gave it everything they had.

    B. It's not possible without dedicated hardware.
    So the Iphone can play games. Gee great. It has a nice screen. So did the PSP. But it doesn't have dedicated gaming inputs like the PSP had, and the PSP still failed. I remember people saying the PSP would be the one to finally ta

    • Apparently, you have not kept up with the news. I direct you to the following comparison of the DS and iPhone versions of Assassin's Creed.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPHS8TjQrcc [youtube.com]

      Feel free to search Youtube for other iPhone game reviews.

      • Re:Meh Assassin's Creed on iPhone vs DS version. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anenome ( 1250374 ) on Tuesday May 05, 2009 @03:16AM (#27827501)

        Yes, and the DS version sells for 2-3 times the Iphone version. Ever wonder why? And why the consumer is okay with this?

        The guy in that video you linked says the Iphone version of the game is better because it is graphically superior and cheaper in cost. He clearly know little about the hand-held market and its history. Every competitor who's ever challenged Nintendo's decades long dominance of the hand-held sector has come at them with the same thing 'better looking' (though not always cheaper games, but usually more expensive hardware) and has been devastated. If the Iphone were only a gaming device it would likely suffer the same fate.

        So, you may think $10 for Assassin's Creed on the Iphone is a great deal. Sure. But what if you're the publisher? You might port the game to Iphone after making it for the DS and selling it there for awhile. But what if the DS was gone and Iphone was your primary system, could you afford to sell games at $10 a pop? No. So, publishers are not going to be happy with a $10 price for a game like AC. The only reason the price is so low anyway is because Apple no doubt put pressure on them to lower the price as much as possible, and they did it to test the waters.

        Lastly, the graphics are are only marginally better. The battery life is much worse. The control scheme is much worse (Iphone control scheme even takes up screen real-estate!). The durability of the Iphone is worse (no clamshell). And the cost of the Iphone itself it far, far, far higher. Children are not going to be buying it, nor teens, nor parents for children or teens. It costs more than a PS3!

        I assert again, Apple has no chance of displacing Nintendo in the hand-held market with the Iphone. It will continue to be at best a secondary market, a throw-away market, while the market-share remains with Nintendo.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by 4D6963 ( 933028 )
          It's flawed to point out that the iPhone is very expensive when it's a phone. The iTouch does anything else and is much cheaper, that's a better comparison.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mgblst ( 80109 )

      They are already taking them on, they are already have a mobile platform with games on it. They already have the touch which anyone can by, and doesn't have the recurring costs of the iphone, and is positioned at the ds already.

      What are you afraid that they will do? Lower the price? Put buttons on it (I would be very surprised)?

      And your logic is that other people have tried, therefore nobody will take the crown from Nintendo...do you realize how stupid a statement this is? I am glad there are plenty of peop

      • It's not that 'people have tried and failed therefore no one can', my argument is that it sure as hell won't be the Iphone that does it.

        You say the Iphone is "positioned at the DS already." Like hell it is. The Iphone costs some $500? You could buy three Nintendo DS's for that much money ($169 / per). And for that you get a machine that's actually designed to play games in every way.

        You're right, Apple's never going to put buttons on the Iphone, yet another reason they are unlikley to eclipse the DS. Look a

Slashdot Top Deals

Two can Live as Cheaply as One for Half as Long. -- Howard Kandel

Close