[Cheebo]

This rumor from Cult of Mac got brought up in the thread about Tim Cook Meeting with Valve but a serious rumor about Apple actually building a full on video game console to enter the market against Sony, MS, & Nintendo is big enough to warrant it's own thread:

http://www.cultofmac.com/160760/why-...lve-exclusive/

Apple and Valve may be partnering with each other on a revolutionary video game console. An unconfirmed report surfaced yesterday saying that Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted at Valve’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Whenever Cook is spotted out and about, people take notice. The CEO of the world’s most valuable company doesn’t personally visit other tech companies to simply have a chat. Many speculated as to why Cook would be visiting Valve, maker of popular game series like Half-Life, Team Fortress and Portal. Valve also boasts an incredibly robust online PC gaming platform called Steam that operates similarly to Apple’s App Store. We’ve gotten word that Cook was indeed at Valve yesterday, and what’s more, Apple is planning a full-on assault to take over the living room. This assault won’t just be limited to the long-rumored Apple HDTV set, but will also include a revolutionary home console as well. According to sources to Cult of Mac, Apple is working on a television set with an iTunes-integrated touch screen remote and Siri-like voice command technology. The TV set will be coming before the end of 2012. Rumors and patents have said as much for the past year, so that’s nothing new. But that’s not all we’ve heard. Our sources also say that Apple’s television set will come with an Apple-branded, Kinect-like video game console. The interface will rely heavily on motion and touch controls. If true, this wouldn’t be Cupertino’s first foray into the console market. Back in 1995, Apple collaborated with Bandai to product a Mac OS running home console called the Bandai Pippin back in 1995. Things were pretty disjointed at Apple back then, and the company was trying to regain its image under the leadership of Michael Spindler. Apple licensed the Pippin platform to Bandai for a console, but the market was already dominated by the PlayStation and Sega. The Pippin was priced too high to compete and Bandai ended up selling less than 50,000 units before shelving the project. Back to Valve. The gaming company makes Steam, a PC game distribution network with 30 million active users on both the PC and Mac. Steam is to gaming as iTunes is to music. Recent rumors have suggested that Valve is working on its own console dubbed the “Steam Box.” Instead of another Xbox or PlayStation, the hardware would serve as more of a standard that Valve would license to partners, much like the way Google handles Android in the smartphone space. Recent Valve job listings also indicate that the company is working on a mysterious hardware project. The Steam Box is rumored to feature biometrics technology in the form of a bracelet or wearable device for recognizing players. Last year Valve CEO Gabe Newell seemed concerned with Apple’s ‘walled garden’ approach and the possibility of its entrance into the TV market. ”On the platform side, it’s sort of ominous that the world seems to be moving away from open platforms,” Newell told The Seattle Times. ”They build a shiny sparkling thing that attracts users and then they control people’s access to those things.” If there’s anyone that’s good at manufacturing and distributing hardware, it’s Apple. We don’t know the exact details of why Tim Cook met with Valve recently, but the two companies are obviously talking to one another. Based on what we’ve heard, it’s possible that Apple could be considering Valve as a partner for its entrance into living room gaming.

[Kayhan]

Lets go

[Dabanton]

oh my

[Gravijah]

not keen on motion, but i love touch.

[Nerfgun]

If Apple actually starts to care about games, I.e. does a dedicated controller or cuts a partnership with Valve for Steam connectivity.... man. it's gonna be a bloodbath.

[Hoo-doo]

Day one.

Edit: Oh wait, motion controls? Day never.

[Ken Masters]

iPad is already out

[Juan29.zapata]

The worst possible manufacturer enters the console business!

I'll be very catious of this one if it's true, maybe Valve can make it work. Maybe.

[Visualante2]

something something doomed, and it only cost me $5

[specialguy]

I dont believe it.

How are they going to do a "kinect like system" when everybody hates it, and MS prolly owns all the patents?

Beyond that, it would be a failure anyway since it sounds like a weak piece of crap.

Apple has never been a fit for the games business: Cornerstones of (core, console) gaming:

Lots of hardware losses, razor/blade model, hot, noisy, powerful hardware. Appealing to the younger male demographic.

Apple hates all of those things. Apple doesn't sell hardware they arent making a huge profit on, which is impossible if you want to play in the traditional console space. They also appeal to women first/

[KaizorPenguin]

if they make a controller as well...everyone else is doomed.

[Comet]

4 console manufacturers? Safe to say good bye Sony?

[watershed]

How much will this box cost?

[Hoo-doo]

I dont believe it. How are they going to do a "kinect like system" when everybody hates it, and MS prolly owns all the patents? Beyond that, it would be a failure anyway since it sounds like a weak piece of crap.

Yeah, everyone knows that the most powerful console always wins.

[Gravijah]

4 console manufacturers? Safe to say good bye Sony?

sega is going to die again

[areal]

I hope it runs Windows.

[StoppedInTracks]

How reliable is cult of mac?

[Dabanton]

I dont believe it. How are they going to do a "kinect like system" when everybody hates it, and MS prolly owns all the patents? Beyond that, it would be a failure anyway since it sounds like a weak piece of crap.

Whose everybody?

Forum dwellers you mean.

[soultron]

Just wake me up if and when when they actually announce it.

[BurntPork]

Is this site even reliable?

[monlo]

Good. More competition, the better.

But honestly, as long as I have my pc, I don't care so much.

[Cheebo]

How reliable is cult of mac?

One of the most trusted Apple sites out there, they have been around forever. Big reason that this rumor is getting a lot of attention.

[Exterminieren]

I dont believe it. How are they going to do a "kinect like system" when everybody hates it, and MS prolly owns all the patents? Beyond that, it would be a failure anyway since it sounds like a weak piece of crap. Apple has never been a fit for the games business: Cornerstones of (core, console) gaming: Lots of hardware losses, razor/blade model, hot, powerful hardware. Appealing to the younger male demographic. Apple hates all of those things. Apple doesn't sell hardware they arent making a huge profit on, which is impossible if you want to play in the traditional console space. They also appeal to women first/

Hey.

Nintendo exists.

[Sojgat]

yay, because I would just love to buy my video games from itunes.

[Derrick01]

I'll repeat what I said in the original thread but if they're going to jump into the console business, one with much different standards than the previously almost non-existent mobile market, with just motion and touch then they're going to get embarrassed. They'll have to sell entirely on brand name alone because they won't be able to play anything that console gamers like to play. This isn't the mobile market where people want to just waste 10 minutes at their job here and there.

Thankfully I have serious doubts that Valve would involve themselves at all unless there was a controller. There were heavy rumors about them working on one to go with their steambox, and they've been developing big picture mode for a while now which was designed to work with a controller. I doubt they scrap all of that to work with Apple.

[thetrin]

Codename: Pippen II.

[alr1ght]

So, a Nintendo and Apple future....


great

[SatelliteOfLove]

This is going to be such a good E3.

[dc89]

How reliable is cult of mac?

Is this site even reliable?

Usually they do opinion pieces, how to's and reviews. They don't usually run rumours so I wouldn't like to say.

[SpinningBirdKick]

Let's hope it pans out better than the Apple Bandai Pippin

[Dabanton]

yay, because I would just love to buy my video games from itunes.

Do you buy games from Steam.GOG etc?

[StoppedInTracks]

How much will this box cost?

Or Nintendo. Imagine all the Apple maniacs coughing up $500 each 18 months to upgrade their iPhones and iPads spending that money on iPlayCubes... Apple could be very well selling 20-30 millions of their new consoleeach year.

[Gravijah]

I'll repeat what I said in the original thread but if they're going to jump into the console business, one with much different standards than the previously almost non-existent mobile market, with just motion and touch then they're going to get embarrassed. They'll have to sell entirely on brand name alone because they won't be able to play anything that console gamers like to play. This isn't the mobile market where people want to just waste 10 minutes at their job here and there. Thankfully I have serious doubts that Valve would involve themselves at all unless there was a controller. There were heavy rumors about them working on one to go with their steambox, and they've been developing big picture mode for a while now which was designed to work with a controller. I doubt they scrap all of that to work with Apple.

if anyone could enter the console gaming market on name alone, it's apple.

[alr1ght]

Do you buy games from Steam.GOG etc?

itunes is a horrible mess of a client compared to the other two.

[Chittagong]

Bad news for Apple fans if true. The reason why their products have been so superior has been their intensely focused product and OS lineup. When they really focus their products will be amazing - like iPad. But when they spread thin their products are mediocre - like Apple TV and Mountain Lion. Spreading into TVs and consoles means less focus for iOS portables and even less to OSX.

I can see them being really succesful though and changing the games industry, their ecosystem is way superior to Sony and Nintendo. It'll be between them and Microsoft to battle it out in the living room.

[Cheebo]

Usually they do opinion pieces, how to's and reviews. They don't usually run rumours so I wouldn't like to say.

They are a long standing Apple site that doesn't tend to post endless rumors. The mere fact this one is big enough to warrant them to stake their claim on it is pretty big. If a nobody apple site posted it no one would care, but CultofMac is part of the big leagues when it comes to Apple sites.

[Derrick01]

if anyone could enter the console gaming market on name alone, it's apple.

I know and that's what scares me. Especially if they refuse to take gaming seriously by putting out a motion and touch only machine. Gaming would suffer from that since everyone will flock to Apple like they did with the phones and tablets.

[Cygnus X-1]

Shit. Let's hope this is not true.

[Hydrogen Bluebird]

[Chuck Norris]

FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE US DOLLARS

[Always-honest]

Hope it's true in some way or another. Just scrap the whole kinect nonsense. Cause it sucks.

[Meisadragon]

Sounds possible. Apple had patented a Kinect like device last year.

To be effective, it is also important that such devices be capable, when desired or necessary, of economically but effectively and precisely providing feedback to the user. Thus, such devices should incorporate audio and/or visual mechanisms for reporting to the user the effects and results of the 3D input.

http://gizmodo.com/5839850/did-apple...nt-xbox-kinect

[Zaki2407]

With all the money they got, why not?

[Lonely1]

Wait, but does this means that home consoles are un-doomed. Also, Apple wouldn't go to the E3.

[ElTopo]

I know and that's what scares me. Especially if they refuse to take gaming seriously by putting out a motion and touch only machine. Gaming would suffer from that since everyone will flock to Apple like they did with the phones and tablets.

Even if they put out a console with a controller I'd be wary.

[dc89]

They are a long standing Apple site that doesn't tend to post endless rumors. The mere fact this one is big enough to warrant them to stake their claim on it is pretty big. If a nobody apple site posted it no one would care, but CultofMac is part of the big leagues when it comes to Apple sites.

Yeah I'm a big reader of it! It's a very good site indeed. I know they don't post many rumours but to be fair to me I've never really read any of their rumours before!

What was the last big rumour they ran which turned to be true?

[Cheesecakebobby]

How much is this gonna cost then? Considering the mark up on Apple products is something even Nintendo must be mighty jealous of.

[watershed]

A new challenger has arrived! It'd be interesting to see this happen for real. As long as it comes with physical controls like buttons then its fine with me. I wonder though how apple would manage it. I'm imagining an all digital distribution model.

[Cygnus X-1]

Sure this is maybe the best moment. Sony's brand is at the weakest and Microsoft's X360 is slowly declining. Nintendo also is pretty weakened in the west and thus.....yeah, it would be the right moment, provided they enter the market during this ox max. next year.

[Hunter-Zero]

If this has a regular controller too (analog sticks, buttons, etc)... yeah, bring it on.

Motion/touch only? they can keep it, i don´t want that.