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Apple Games

Can We Trust Apple To Make a Good Games Console? 174

Posted by Soulskill from the answer-while-pretending-not-to-be-cynical dept.
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."
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Can We Trust Apple To Make a Good Games Console? More

Can We Trust Apple To Make a Good Games Console?

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  • As opposed to... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SJ ( 13711 ) on Sunday September 13, 2015 @07:46AM (#50512885)

    Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo?

    There are so many stories about those three stuffing customers around, it's not even worth a citation.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by SJ ( 13711 )

      Because I'm bored...

      Sony
      http://www.techhive.com/articl... [techhive.com]

      Microsoft
      http://www.escapistmagazine.co... [escapistmagazine.com]

      Nintendo
      http://arstechnica.com/tech-po... [arstechnica.com]
      http://toucharcade.com/2014/05... [toucharcade.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lisias ( 447563 )

      And also histories from them holding back.

      World is not perfect, but with competition at least we have a chance.

    • One thing for certain, the price will be higher than everyone else's.

      • One thing for certain, the price will be higher than everyone else's.

        But so will the quality and the App selection.

        Now what?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ngc5194 ( 847747 )
      True enough. However, one thing we can trust them to do is make an expensive games console.

      • True enough. However, one thing we can trust them to do is make an expensive games console.

        ...With more games and other Apps available in the first month after launch than the rest of the consoles and set-top-boxes combined.

        Now what?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by laird ( 2705 )

        I know it's a popular idea that Apple's products are "too expensive" but the numbers are:

        - AppleTV $149
        - Xbox One $349
        - PS4 $399
        - WiiU $299

        So the game console it much cheaper. The games will likely be cheaper, too, given Apple's pricing model (which is much more developer friendly than the disk-based consoles).

    • by neoshroom on Wed May 29, 2013 09:17 AM (#43849329) Attached to: Apple Leaves Journalists Jonesing from: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3795701&cid=43849329 [slashdot.org]

      ...Until they release a TV with a kinect-like interface running iOS. And then Sony's PS4 and the Wii U crashes and burns, (which is sort of already happening...sales on the Wii U are very poor and Sony's electronics wing isn't doing well either), while everyone is playing Angry Birds on their new Apple TV platform and we get umpteen-million

  • Consoles just seem to have become a way for software companies to have even greater control of the customer.

  • Candy Crush on TV (Score:4, Insightful)

    by khchung ( 462899 ) on Sunday September 13, 2015 @07:54AM (#50512907) Journal

    Is iPhone a "good" gaming platform? I doubt anyone would rank it "good" on any objective measure, BUT millions of people play games like Candy Crush on it every day, simply because they have it on them and was bored.

    The Apple TV remote have accelerometer and gyroscope, simple Wii style games is entirely possible. Rotate the remote control sideways and you have a simple controller, touchpad as directional pad and buttons in the middle. More complex games can be handled with Bluetooth keyboard and even a mouse/touchpad.

    Would it be a "good" gaming platform? I doubt it, but I also won't doubt that many people will play games on it simply because it is there. If one can just switch over during the commercials to tend your virtual farm for 30 seconds and flip back, why not?

    • This was pretty much my thought, too. I don't think the Apple TV will be a very good game platform, but I also don't think Apple is particularly trying to make it one. I think it's more like they're trying to make a good set-top box for consuming media. They can sell their own iTunes store content. They can allow HBO and Showtime to sell their content, and take a cut of those sales. By some accounts they're trying to broker a deal where they can provide a subscription service to allow access to live TV

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        But the best way to make money from this platform will be to make it a full iOS platform, including 3rd party apps. That means you'll be putting in enough computing power to run 3D games-- not extremely high-end games, but iOS-like games. Now all you need is a sensible control scheme. So... why not run with it? It won't compete in the Xbox/Playstation market, but you might get some sales of casual games, party games, and maybe some action/adventure games.

        Exactly. The new AppleTV's forte is it'll run apps. S

        • And everyone's saying "micro consoles don't sell well" - well what examples do you have?

          Also the AppleTV has been selling well-- at least well enough that they keep selling it-- for several years now without playing games at all. When it started, it *only* played iTunes content. Now it plays HBO, Showtime, Hulu, Netflix, and an assortment of other content sources (including sports packages). I don't think adding a few games will hurt its sales.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Phones are a popular gaming platform because, as you say, people always have them to hand when they are bored. Because of that they can forgive crappy controls and a tiny screen.

      At home they are going to want more, especially control wise. Developers have already been taking to Twitter to complain that the Apple TV controller is not up to scratch, and being very different from touchscreens it means games will need to invent yet another control system. The fairly low size limit on games means that only mobil

      • I believe a low end console could work, with two controllers shipped in the box - maximize value for the customer. Two major launch titles (I don't know, something in the Contra, Castlevania series, Street Fighter, whatever?)
        Perhaps an 8cm bluray drive (without licensing/codecs) and physical presence in the stores of games sold in small boxes. Graphics API, use Vulkan.
        I would like to say, fuck networking : the best consoles did not have a network interface (the Dreamcast had a dial-up modem that never got u

    • iOS is a good gaming platform for what it is. When I have 20 twenty minutes of downtime while I ride BART or MUNI, I would't fire up Arkham Knight, even if my iPhone were capable of running it and had an adequate way to use the touchscreen to control it. But I'll toss around some Angry Birds or Tetris blocks and be happy for the distraction.

      Whether or not that translates to the home on the TV, I don't know. I have a PS4 and an iPhone for that to cover both hardcore and casual games. Though it will be i

    • I use things like Kodi and Roku with Netflix etc precisely so I NEVER EVER have to see ads. While I am not an Apple user I would think a lot of the content they consume on the Apple TV is the same way, So with that in mind when are they going to have these so called ad breaks to play games because they are bored? The only time I ever see ads is if I am watching the News.

  • NO. (Score:2)

    by Lisias ( 447563 )

    And I mean NO.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tsa ( 15680 )

      Apple has a history of telling their audience during keynotes that Apple will take gaming seriously, and not acting like it does. So indeed, NO.

    • Sorry, sorry, if you want the more specific version, I'll save you an extra link to click: Here you go [wikipedia.org].

      My sincerest apologies for any inconvenience.

    • See the worst racing game ever [youtube.com] too, examplifying problems with the console. It has horrifying controls/physics and collision detection, so that was a game rushed out or with no attention to quality. That's a tech demo not a game - though there is nifty car painting and so on.
      It's slow. Looking like everything done on CPU and sent to a dumb framebuffer. Feels like a 486 DX/2 66 and a dumb graphics card. The whole competition had custom graphics hardware of course. Maybe with a faster CPU (with on-board L2 ca

  • Latest gen is 2k not 4k while it's clear the competition and the market are releasing 4k units. That it can not store local movies as well is annoying. How many of us have kids who watch the same thing over and over and we watch our caps die a quick death?
    Seems like they feature froze it in 2012.

    • Apple has been Google-esque in their AppleTV beta device they released so many years ago. It's cool, it's slick, and it's useful...but it has been essentially abandoned with no development and no universal content.

      No storage? NBD. Nothing has/needs storage these days except for those with poor internet connections. If you think Apple cares about you, you will be sorely disappointed. Yes, I've been in slow-internet hell and, yes, it sucks. It won't get better. Streaming is where everything is going. And you

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by schnell ( 163007 )

      That it can not store local movies as well is annoying. How many of us have kids who watch the same thing over and over and we watch our caps die a quick death?

      You are familiar with iTunes Home Sharing, right? You download the movie/show/whatever once to a PC that's on the same WiFi network as the Apple TV, start Home Sharing, and away you go - get the content over your WLAN with no need to use up your Internet caps. No storage on the Apple TV itself (other than for buffering) required.

  • Why do we need to trust them to do anything? Let the market decide: if it's an awful experience (see: Ouya), it either won't last or Apple will pour resources into trying to make it suck less -- which based on their track record is pretty much a coin toss.

    Tangentially, why do people get so caught up in issues of "trust" and fanboidom with these things? If something sucks, let it suck. If it's awesome, partake.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by swb ( 14022 )

      Trust was a terrible word choice in the headline -- as if there was some kind of community standard for a good game consoles, and making a bad one was a violation of that standard. Trust is also a two-way street, meaning you have to buy one up front before it's known whether it's good, participating in the trust relationship instead of participating in a fact-based decision.

      I think the reality will be that the Apple TV will mostly be what it is now, a media consumption device. Apple is making some effort

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Punto ( 100573 )

      It's true that consumers don't have to "trust" anyone to make a good console. Even if you go by the reasoning that they'll dump some money on the console with the promise that there'll be good games in the future, you'll still have to pay for those games. Consumer trust on a brand is useless for the consumer, they won't get anything in return, there's no reciprocal relationship, the brands only cares about the consumer's money, and the consumers only get what they pay for.

      Developers however, they have to tr

  • hold yer horses! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Sunday September 13, 2015 @08:39AM (#50513031)

    I'm still waiting for them to make a good phone! *ZING!* :)

  • As long as I can tell Siri to watch my back in the game, I'm OK with it.

    The game might suck, but it will be esthetic.

  • It's a market that already have a lot of competition and a very steep entry bar, that requires a lot of exclusive games to work, and publishers willing to do exclusve games and actually talented studios willing to sell are very, VERY hard to find.

  • Would you trust Apple to date your sister?

  • They're letting you play iOS games on your TV. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jpellino ( 202698 ) on Sunday September 13, 2015 @09:49AM (#50513227)
    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?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • you mean those android rumors, nintendo explicitely denied? why would they make an android console when this would make porting their greatest aser, their back catalogue, more difficult. besides, they are allready going another route to mobile-gaming on android AND iOS

  • They're not competing with consoles (Score:4, Insightful)

    by macaddict ( 91085 ) on Sunday September 13, 2015 @10:29AM (#50513339)

    I watched the announcement and I don't remember any mention of other consoles, why you should buy an AppleTV over other consoles, or how games are better on an AppleTV versus other consoles. It was more 'You can already play cool games on your iPad and now you can play them on your TV! With friends! And motion control!"

    At most, Apple may be going after the audience who bought a Wii as their first console because of the casual party and sports games. It's not competing with the PS4 or Xbox, instead it's picking up the casual gamers left behind when the Wii fizzled. Those people won't buy a PS4, but they'd get a cheap set-top box that displays their movies and photos and now also let's them play motion-controlled bowling with friends. Yes, they're also offering combat games like Warhammer, but it's still aimed at people who are happy playing combat games on iPads, not Xboxes.

    I just don't see the AppleTV being marketed as a gaming platform, it's an entertainment center that has games as one of its features. If you're more than a casual gamer, you'll play most games on your desktop or have a PS4/Xbox on the shelf next to it.

  • When Apple comes out with their console it will be "revolutionary" with features "never seen before". You may not believe it now but just wait and see what they tell us when they release it. ;-)

    • It will feature Three Dimensional Graphics, never seen before anywhere.

      The Third Dimension... another Apple Innovation!

    • well, they won't. by the time, apple would be ready to come out with a console, game streaming on nearly every tv/set-top box/console will be available, you'll just buy a new controller for the apple-tv. but look out for their occulus/project morpheus competitor, if/when VR ever becomes successfull.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • But I do know that it will be shiny and have only one button!

  • And so was:
    • Sony PSX
    • Nintendo Virtual Boy and 64DD
    • According to Slashdot Microsoft Kinect [slashdot.org]

  • It's up to companies making controllers and games.

    But Apple hasn't made what they consider to be a games console - it's a home App Box. What you do with such a thing is up to you... It's actually got pretty exciting hacking potential since anyone will be able to develop apps for their own home for free now that there's not a $99 requirement for local device testing.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Interesting, when looking through tvOS docs initially I missed the smaller size limits. But as you say you can load a lot of resources after launch, so it doesn't preclude some fairly graphically intense games... still not as many as "real" consoles would have.

    • It's up to companies making controllers and games.

      But Apple hasn't made what they consider to be a games console - it's a home App Box. What you do with such a thing is up to you... It's actually got pretty exciting hacking potential since anyone will be able to develop apps for their own home for free now that there's not a $99 requirement for local device testing.

      If people wanted hacking potential on a set top box they've had it for ages. The difference in this product (compared to other apple products, that is) is that it's relatively open...ish. I'm interested in seeing how lower walls in the garden works out for them.

  • Because it's not a game console first. It's a media streaming device that happens to have gaming capabilities.

  • If someone could be trusted to take an existing class of device and turn it into a product that's everyone wants and that sets the design rules that everyone will copy for the next 10 years, it would be Apple.Usually they do things right that are so obvious that the existing designers didn't event know that they were doing something wrong as they simply took the current ways for granted.

    I'm not the usual Apple fanboi. I well know that "Apple" or Jobs never invented jack. But I give them credit for being the

    • If someone could be trusted to take an existing class of device and turn it into a product that's everyone wants and that sets the design rules that everyone will copy for the next 10 years, it would be Apple.

      The problem is that nobody wants a more locked-down game console. What we want is a more open one. Give it a games mode where it refuses to multitask or whatever, that's cool and seems obvious. But I don't want to be forced to acquire my games through an Apple store...

  • Geeks through the ages have always predicted failure after failure of products because the products were not "good" enough, or as good as something the geeks wanted. For years computers sold almost exclusively on spec's. But the best personally computers early on were Atari and Amiga and commodore, yet, none of them are still around to any significant degree.

    TVs sell on specs, game consoles sell on spec's, gaming PCs sell on specs. Everyone loves to brag about the "best". But, look at all the AAA games and

    • People set themselves up for disappointment when they compare Apple products to the competition based solely on the performance metrics, and expect Apple's effort to be utterly destroyed. There's room for plenty of players in the console space.

      We can say games on the Apple TV will "suck," the Android offerings may be "better," that the Apple TV won't hit some FPS or polygon/shader benchmark, but these considerations are minuscule in light of the basic market realities:

      1. The game-and-app enabled AppleTV is ~$
  • Seriously who actually gives a fuck. Can we trust? Really? Thats a fucking story on slashdot now? Who picks these stories? They need to visit actual human society more if they are injecting anthropomorphic trust in design of a game console and a multinational corporation.

  • Wasn't "Sweatshop HD" pulled in 2013... because the developer of it, "Littlecloud", went under in 2013?

    In other words, this had more to do with no place to send the checks, than it had to do with Apple being "mean"?

  • And I am typing this on a Macbook Pro.

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