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Forums - Gaming - It looks like apple is entering the gaming space with apple tv.

Soundwave on 10 September 2015
Michelasso said:
Nuvendil said:

Not necessarily.  It's not like there isn't any overlap here.  The real, serious question is will the people who are on their phones (that they get for little to no money spent in many cases) going to spend a substantial chunk of change to even *buy* this device.  I mean, the whole reason these people ever bought a Wii was because they didn't have the free smartphone option.  Now they do, will they go back to spending that just for an Apple TV?  Especially when this device lacks a Mario or Metroid or Zelda - substantial expereicnes worth spending significant money upfront - associated with it?  Not saying those experiences don't exist, they do.  But those aren't the ones with TV commercials and all that.  Those are your Candy Crush and Clash of Clans.  But either way, I doubt this will represent any threat to the core gaming market as it sits now.  Because the people interested in "B" experiences and F2P/cheap games and nothing else already have that AND those interested in both...are interested in both.  And I highly, highly doubt Apple is interested at all in getting into a war with MS, Sony, and Nintendo as that would require a very high ammount of spending just to get in fighting shape.   Much easier for them to sit back and get what they can for the minimal cost. 


You are forgetting that this device allows to stream content from any iOS device and even iTunes from Mac/PC to the television. It isn't sold as a gaming console, it's a tv set top box which will also happen to play games. Now with the introduction of the App Store AirPlay will be obviously less needed. The Apple TV 4 is a fully fledged iOS device and as such it will have its own space in the living room. It may not sell gazillions (or will it?) but there is a market for it.

What could be scary are the next iterations of the box. It seems to me Apple is using this (and the iPad Pro) as a sneaking in strategy into the console gaming. If it works they will progress further. Otherwise they will adapt the next products to other needs. But more computing power is going to be there no matter what.


Yeah I agree with you. It's not so much what this is now ... it's where it's going. An AppleTV in a year or two with an A9X or A10 processor could be quite a decent little budget gaming rig. 

Apple is also heavily pushing that traditional controller from Steelseries on their AppleTV official page:



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0815user on 10 September 2015
XanderXT said:
0815user said:

good, looks like i'm already set for this type of gaming.  

What is that?

smart view touchpad tv remote contol. comes with (at least in some regions) sonys new line of 4k android tvs. i strongly believe these types of touchpad remote controls are needed to emulate smartphone input on tvs. people seem to have a problem handling too many buttons (classic tv remote contols) theses days so something like this will most likely take over since it's more convenient for them. + it's also better for playing smartphonegames and using apps on your tv. 



Jumpin on 10 September 2015

As people above have already said, this seems like a logical step to incorporate Apple TV into the iOS gaming ecosystem rather than a move towards establishing itself as a competitor in the dying traditional console market.

Really, at this point, it is not worth getting into this market. Expanding iOS gaming applications to the television set and Apple TV is an expansion.



I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.

XanderXT on 10 September 2015
Soundwave said:

There will probably be more controller support for games if Apple TV sells decently (which I think it will). Wouldn't take a whole lot to add physical controls a lot of iOS games.

There's the fact that touch controls and physical controls feel very differently. You can't expect a game meant to be played using a touchscreen to respond as well when it uses controllers.



XanderXT on 10 September 2015
0815user said:
XanderXT said:

What is that?

smart view touchpad tv remote contol. comes with (at least in some regions) sonys new line of 4k android tvs. i strongly believe these types of touchpad remote controls are needed to emulate smartphone input on tvs. people seem to have a problem handling too many buttons (classic tv remote contols) theses days so something like this will most likely take over since it's more convenient for them. + it's also better for playing smartphonegames and using apps on your tv.

I remember using something like that for a Samsung TV.



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Soundwave on 10 September 2015
XanderXT said:
Soundwave said:

There will probably be more controller support for games if Apple TV sells decently (which I think it will). Wouldn't take a whole lot to add physical controls a lot of iOS games.

There's the fact that touch controls and physical controls feel very differently. You can't expect a game meant to be played using a touchscreen to respond as well when it uses controllers.


Seems like that Apple Remote with the touch panel on it does a decent job of allowing touch-only games to be playable on the TV (ie: Crossy Road). 



0815user on 10 September 2015
XanderXT said:
0815user said:
XanderXT said:

What is that?

smart view touchpad tv remote contol. comes with (at least in some regions) sonys new line of 4k android tvs. i strongly believe these types of touchpad remote controls are needed to emulate smartphone input on tvs. people seem to have a problem handling too many buttons (classic tv remote contols) theses days so something like this will most likely take over since it's more convenient for them. + it's also better for playing smartphonegames and using apps on your tv.

I remember using something like that for a Samsung TV.

yep, as i said: i expect something like this to be the standard remote for every new tv in the upcoming years. 



Soundwave on 10 September 2015

In a weird way this AppleTV is more of an evolution of the original Wii with the natural marriage of that idea with casual smartphone/tablet games. Motion controller, tons of casual games, a few deeper types of games beyond that.

Even media consumption was huge on the first Wii at one point it was the no.1 device for Netflix viewing in America before people started to jump ship on the hardware. 

It's kinda like the Wii 2/Wii HD that never was.

 



fleischr on 10 September 2015

The #1 thing that sells Apple products is a seamless, simplified user experience. As a gaming device, Apple TV has a MAJOR chink in it's armor.

Since Apple is still yet relying on 3rd party MFi controllers for 'gaming', the UX for gaming on Apple TV is going to be a mess. Differences in firmware, software, and overall quality of the controllers will cause confusion in the marketplace - especially among casual gamers. Any variance of these things can ruin a gaming experience.

I'm surprised Apple wouldn't try to design and market their own controller. I thought they had world-class industrial designers?



I predict NX launches in 2017 - not 2016

Soundwave on 10 September 2015
fleischr said:
The #1 thing that sells Apple products is a seamless, simplified user experience. As a gaming device, Apple TV has a MAJOR chink in it's armor.

Since Apple is still yet relying on 3rd party MFi controllers for 'gaming', the UX for gaming on Apple TV is going to be a mess. Differences in firmware, software, and overall quality of the controllers will cause confusion in the marketplace - especially among casual gamers. Any variance of these things can ruin a gaming experience.

I'm surprised Apple wouldn't try to design and market their own controller. I thought they had world-class industrial designers?


It does have a controller, the remote. 

The focus will mostly be casual games here obviously, but if/when more and more deeper games come along, that's where the third party pads come in.

Also significant is that third party controller Apple is pushing is actually reasonably priced ($49.99, unlike the ridiculous $100 controllers from other companies).