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CultOfMac:Why the new Apple TV will kill your Xbox or Playstation(hint:Motion ctrl)

J

JNT

Member
If the new Apple TV has controller support and runs on iOS then it's going to be a popular gaming machine by virtue of the massive library of games available either at launch or shortly thereafter, especially if Apple should opt to keep the low pricing model.

However, I do wonder if Apple is going for a premium price tag for the machine this time around.
 
N

neogaffer1

Banned
JNT said:
If the new Apple TV has controller support and runs on iOS then it's going to be a popular gaming machine by virtue of the massive library of games available either at launch or shortly thereafter, especially if Apple should opt to keep the low pricing model.

However, I do wonder if Apple is going for a premium price tag for the machine this time around.
Click to expand...


You could say the same for the various Android TV sets, yet none of them caught on.
 
Fredrik

Fredrik

Member
Syriel said:
Pac-Man CE DX is the GOAT.

Don't undersell the Pac.
Click to expand...
Yeah but Pac-Man with motion controls?
I'd love it if Apple entered the stationary gaming scene but they need regular controls and they need to atleast outperform Xbox One to make any type of splash, preferably PS4 too, lastgen consoles are already dead and buried, Nintendo will likely come out with their next console late 2016 or early 2017 so aiming for lastgen consoles at this point is pure stupidity.
 
P

Polip Fawn

Banned
neogaffer1 said:
You could say the same for the various Android TV sets, yet none of them caught on.
Click to expand...

To be fair nobody knows about them and they aren't from a big brand. If HTC, Motorola, or Samsung did it sure. But thinks like the Amazon Fire TV, or ZTE or Craig, orouya don't have any appeal to the masses.
 
Q

Quadraphonic

Member
Roku vs Chromecast are different beasts.

Chromecast relies on phones while Roku is self-contained AND has chromecast ability built-in.

Android TV and Google TV were both abortions. They never had support. Even games that did work on them actually had more lag than playing on the phone.
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
Apple TV 4: Gaming and Siri will be major focuses, expect Bluetooth game controllers + enhanced wireless

But the other will be deep support for gaming, representing Apple’s largest-ever effort to lure players from traditional consoles. In addition to the convenience of downloading games directly from the Apple TV’s built-in App Store, and controlling many of them via a new bundled remote control, Apple will also support more complex, console-style Bluetooth game controllers with the pressure-sensitive buttons and joysticks previously introduced for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches…
Click to expand...

gamers will have the ability to choose between multiple controllers for the Apple TV, including the packed-in remote and third-party Bluetooth gaming controllers.
Click to expand...

http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/31/apple-tv-gaming-siri-bluetooth-remote/
 
McHuj

McHuj

Member
I don't think this will have much impact on the PS4/X1 audience/sales, it could however have some implications for Nintendo if it's true that Nintendo is aiming for a cheaper $199 console that's trying to recapture the casual audience.
 
R

rothbart

Member
McHuj said:
I don't think this will have much impact on the PS4/X1 audience/sales, it could however have some implications for Nintendo if it's true that Nintendo is aiming for a cheaper $199 console that's trying to recapture the casual audience.
Click to expand...

Some people are completely uninterested in buying into the Apple ecosystem... myself included. It would take something PHE-NOMNOMNOM-ENAL to get me to bite. I won't say never, but I can't imagine it ever...
 
S

SwiftDeath

Member
infiniteloop said:
Apple TV 4: Gaming and Siri will be major focuses, expect Bluetooth game controllers + enhanced wireless


http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/31/apple-tv-gaming-siri-bluetooth-remote/
Click to expand...

Eh that still suggests the new Apple TV will be plagued by the problem of being a secondary platform design-wise for iOS games.

Games being released for iOS will first and from the ground up be designed to play as well as possible on touchscreens due to the vast vast majority of their potential customerbase only having touchscreen as their only control interface option.

So yes while some games will certainly have controller support, it will be a feature added near the end as a bonus.

Therefore the control element of the Apple TV seems like it'll add limited benefit over playing on a iPad for instance and the main benefit game-wise is the larger screen.

Maybe Apple will try to drive controller support and good controller control schemes but I kind of doubt it
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
ekim said:
I'm eager to know if it natively supports existing iOS games or if devs have to deploy their apps especially for the Apple TV.
Interesting nonetheless. If they focus on gaming I'm sure they will have surprise exclusive In their sleeves.
Click to expand...

I would think it would be relatively straight forward to take an iOS game that supports MFi controllers and transplant it to the Apple TV.
Hopefully, Apple TV apps will be included in the 'universal' apps, so won't have to re-buy for Apple TV.
 
C

Caronte

Member
StevieP said:
That's exactly the point he was trying to make ;)
Click to expand...

The point he was trying to make is that if you buy any Apple product you must worship the company and the only reason you buy it is because of that. The brand, the logo. Not the product itself.
 
B

badcrumble

Member
I think Apple's going to kill it on the media-box end of things, and that'll get this into a lot of homes, but they'll have trouble going after the dedicated-gaming market because those are specialty devices that have absorbed general-purpose functionality, whereas Apple will be putting out a general-purpose device capable of some amount of gaming.

But more importantly, as much as mobile gaming is taking up a lot of people's time, the App Store really needs a lot of restructuring in order to be fully developer-friendly into the future. Right now it makes zero sense to put out anything genuinely high-end that isn't either free or priced as SaaS - premium software priced as such straight up doesn't go anywhere on the App Store. Things being so heavily chart-driven means developers also end up having to engage in some kind of scammy/dishonest behavior designed primarily around landing high on the charts rather than designing the best possible app.

I'd love to see the AppleTV get them to fix that issue because it's one they badly need to fix on the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store too.
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Just the thought of multiplayer party games on my TV has me hyped! Talk about blazing a trail! Goodbye consoles, too bad you're so stuck in the past.
 
B

badcrumble

Member
I *would* like to see someone - be it Apple, Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft - give us a local multiplayer experience with each player having a private handheld screen of their own. Beyond obvious not-too-exciting stuff like poker, there's a lot that can and should be done with games where some information is shared and some information is private.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
I'm interested in one of these as we're planning on buying a second one anyway as a Netflix/Airplay box - I'd really like to see a solid button-controller focus to get devs to include that (or games built from the ground up for a simple/indie style console) but it seems that probably isn't going to happen. A controller complex enough to control many games I'd want seems counter to Apple's simplified approach. Nice to dream!

Oh, I missed the controller article. :p
 
odhiex

odhiex

Member
The Mobile Gaming trend, as far as I know, is at the eclipse (or slow down a bit). Still big and relevant, but no longer growing massively as 2-3 years ago.

What the next big thing "everyone" is talking about nowadays? The Angry Birds 2?

Enough with this system-killing-system bullshit... are you a market analyst or a gamer?
 
J

Joezie

Member
Appleinsider and CultofMac have been running these "ATV to replace gaming consoles for the masses" clickbait articles for years.

The only thing worse is reading the comment sections of those articles.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Joezie said:
Appleinsider and CultofMac have been running these "ATV to replace gaming consoles for the masses" clickbait articles for years.

The only thing worse is reading the comment sections of those articles.
Click to expand...
Isn't this the first one that supports downloadable apps/controllers, though? Not to say it'll be a success, but at least they have some basis for the article this time.
 
L

lOTl

Banned
The comedy ITT is the hubris of GAF. Your house has been on fire for a while now.
I'm hoping that iTunes can store the game images for (in my case several TBs of) network storage.
 
koji kabuto

koji kabuto

Member
I would like to know who would by this.

If anyone wants to play ps3/360/ why wouldn't they just buy one of them and they are very cheap now.

If apple wants to port IOS games to HD console they will still lose the touchscreen option and having a wii-like control won't be the same.


If this thing is over 299 USD it's going to be a difficult sell.
 
S

SwiftDeath

Member
lOTl said:
The comedy ITT is the hubris of GAF. Your house has been on fire for a while now.
I'm hoping that iTunes can store the game images for (in my case several TBs of) network storage.
Click to expand...

How and more importantly why would Apple do this? Presumably for disc-based games [so mostly console games] because you mention images as in isos? If I'm not misinterpreting what you're asking for, you want Apple to allow you to upload copies of your games either to Apple servers or to a server/nas that itunes recognizes as game images presumably to use an emulator to play them on Apple devices? How does any of that sound like a legal challenge that Apple wants to get into especially when they don't get a cut of any of those game sales?
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
Should be starting at $149:

We are told that Apple has considered two pricing strategies: the simultaneous release of a $149 base model with 8GB of storage alongside a $199 16GB model, or the release of the 16GB Apple TV alone at $149. In either case, Apple will offer a $149 Apple TV.
Click to expand...

Additionally, the new Apple TV runs an iOS 9 core, and iOS 9 includes several new features for reducing the file size of App Store apps, including the ability to load games in level-sized chunks and stream rather than store videos within app binaries.
Click to expand...

http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/02/apple-tv-4-2015-specs/
 
R

rezuth

Member
Quadraphonic said:
They want it about gaming but would sell an 8GB model?
That'll hold 3 big games.

My old 8GB iPhone barely has any room on it.
Click to expand...

iOS 9 includes several new features for reducing the file size of App Store apps, including the ability to load games in level-sized chunks and stream rather than store videos within app binaries.
 
J

jax

Banned
What if they partner with large game developers to port tons of retro classics over? I could see Sega getting behind this, I'd pay $200 for a Apple TV with the full Sega catalog.
 
O

Overside

Banned
Wow, the systems A8 arm cpu makes with the graphics of xbox360 and the ps3?

Must be because its fully optiminimized!!!
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
jaxapollo said:
What if they partner with large game developers to port tons of retro classics over? I could see Sega getting behind this, I'd pay $200 for a Apple TV with the full Sega catalog.
Click to expand...

at least get those Christian Whitehead iOS ports over near day 1, would like to play those again.
 
J

jax

Banned
infiniteloop said:
at least get those Christian Whitehead iOS ports over near day 1, would like to play those again.
Click to expand...
All day. He did such a great job it's a shame we only have touchscreen buttons to play them with. Also, get him on Golden Axe stat!

ShinUltramanJ said:
I don't believe it. The remote alone might be $149, but no way is an Apple branded box going to be priced that low.
Click to expand...
The existing Apple TV is like $50, so I guess the Apple branded box is going to be "that low"
 
M

mattmanp

Member
Few things that may be of interest from a developers perspective:

- MetalKit, Apple's OpenGL alternative is a beast. The Apple TV won't compete with the power of PS4 and XB1 but it will perform better on these specs than some anticipate.

- Already established market for 3rd party controllers and games that support them. Will masses be willing to make that investment though?

- by far not just a gaming console. Also supports most TV streaming services and Apple Music. Add 3rd party apps (Spotify!), Apple TV as Homekit hub (rumored), and an Apple TV service (rumored) then there are lots of reasons for people to find it appealing.

Apple won't steal away any hardcore gamers, at least not this round, but an established game market on iOS with customers firmly in their ecosystem already, it will make an impact of some kind. Definitely it could expand size of people who are gamers by getting casuals back to their TVs.

Not all apps are freemium crap. There are lots of serious iPad games at $15-20 range. It's got a big strategy game market for instance. But you can get Transistor, Broken Age, Hearthstone, Telltale's games, Disney Infinity, Skylanders, XCOM, GTA: San Andreas, Batman Arkham Origins, Final Fantasies, Lego games, etc.. It has games. If universal apps, could even effect PS4 and XB1 indie market. Why pay more when Transistor for iOS is $5?

Ultimately though, if anyone should worry, it should be Amazon and Nintendo. Nintendo had sales drops regularly for handhelds after iOS games started catching traction. I could see consoles for casual games seeing similar fate.
 
G

GeordieMark

Member
ekim said:
apple-tv-pacman1-780x443.png
Click to expand...

Motion-controlled Pacman. The future is now ladies and gentlemen.

Sony, Microsoft. Pack it up. Its all over.
 
V

visiblemode

Member
Is this new radical design now featuring an IR sensor that actually registers the remote when it's more than 3 feet away? That would be a totally rad innovation. :/
 
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