Ubisoft confident of new Apple gaming platform?

[Aegelward]

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/28/ubisoft-boss-thinks-apple-will-make-new-gaming-hardware/

Well, Well. Of course this might be speculation on his part, but i'm pretty sure that if apple were working on something, he'd know since apple would approach a major developer like ubisoft.

It might not be best to get too excited, personally i'd expect nothing better than souped up appleTV using an Ion chipset (seems to be the natural direction for apple to go with the ATV anyway) and put out something similar to Acer's REVO

OH well, an interesting development to say the least.

 

[ozyr]

Anything is possible, but I don't see it happening. Beside, they have the iPhone, with all the games available for that!

 

[Ov3rlord Falc0r]

I'm actually VERY curious about this whole thing. If Apple entered the video game market it could, potentially, throw everything off-kilter. Apple has the ability to make great hardware, if they put their minds/money to it.

There are two HUGE mountains they would have to climb though. 1) Getting game developers to back their console. 2) Either having to wait 4-5 years to enter the fray when the next set of consoles are released OR enter mid life cycle of the others and hope for the best.

Either way, I'd support Apple and purchase a release console. Mainly because I'd be super curious.

 

[aznguyen316]

I'd only support it if the devs support it. No gaming console is good w/o the games. And exclusive games to boot, and I don't know who would go 2nd party for Apple unless apple bought them out.

 

[Ol3s]

I'm actually VERY curious about this whole thing. If Apple entered the video game market it could, potentially, throw everything off-kilter. Apple has the ability to make great hardware, if they put their minds/money to it.

There are two HUGE mountains they would have to climb though. 1) Getting game developers to back their console. 2) Either having to wait 4-5 years to enter the fray when the next set of consoles are released OR enter mid life cycle of the others and hope for the best.

Either way, I'd support Apple and purchase a release console. Mainly because I'd be super curious.

1) EA, and maybe Ubisoft
2) Make first 8th gen console

 

[0098386]

I'm actually VERY curious about this whole thing. If Apple entered the video game market it could, potentially, throw everything off-kilter. Apple has the ability to make great hardware, if they put their minds/money to it.

There are two HUGE mountains they would have to climb though. 1) Getting game developers to back their console. 2) Either having to wait 4-5 years to enter the fray when the next set of consoles are released OR enter mid life cycle of the others and hope for the best.

Either way, I'd support Apple and purchase a release console. Mainly because I'd be super curious.

Are we talking about the same Apple here?
First off they have no control over the gaming market at all. We have 2 power consoles and we have 1, well there's no other word for it, the Wii. Which looks to be the best selling home console. So no, I don't think Apple could throw it off-kilter. Native Mac ports are few and far between now and the Mac is not a gaming platform at all. Which is my second point - they make high quality products yes, but good hardware? They're frequently generations behind with video cards. The only decent gaming card is the 4870, of which there is a x2 model available for PC's.

And unfortunately for Apple all the best developers are tied to systems already, all the best console games seem to be first or 2nd party titles too (Gears of War, Halo, God of War, Gran Tourismo, Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Smash Bros). Looking over the game library of the iPhone/iPod Touch I'm not seeing anything that has the complexity, depth or quality of the good DS and PSP titles.

Heh, if they ever did release a console I'd imagine it would have the performance of the Wii but cost double anything else out there and run nothing but shoddy EA ports and Popcap games .

 

[jakeguy99]

Are we talking about the same Apple here?
First off they have no control over the gaming market at all. We have 2 power consoles and we have 1, well there's no other word for it, the Wii. Which looks to be the best selling home console. So no, I don't think Apple could throw it off-kilter. Native Mac ports are few and far between now and the Mac is not a gaming platform at all. Which is my second point - they make high quality products yes, but good hardware? They're frequently generations behind with video cards. The only decent gaming card is the 4870, of which there is a x2 model available for PC's.

And unfortunately for Apple all the best developers are tied to systems already, all the best console games seem to be first or 2nd party titles too (Gears of War, Halo, God of War, Gran Tourismo, Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Smash Bros). Looking over the game library of the iPhone/iPod Touch I'm not seeing anything that has the complexity, depth or quality of the good DS and PSP titles.

Heh, if they ever did release a console I'd imagine it would have the performance of the Wii but cost double anything else out there and run nothing but shoddy EA ports and Popcap games .

Think about this. Apple had no influence over the mobile phone market. They make the iPhone, domination. When they first made the music players to compete, they dominated that too. If apple was to make a gaming console, they would have to do it just as they did their other products - an attempt to blow everything else out of the water. If they set the bar higher than it has ever been before, than it can and will work. I dont think apple making a gaming console is out of the question. Just look at their previous accomplishments.

 

[gregorsamsa]

Think about this. Apple had no influence over the mobile phone market. They make the iPhone, domination. When they first made the music players to compete, they dominated that too. If apple was to make a gaming console, they would have to do it just as they did their other products - an attempt to blow everything else out of the water. If they set the bar higher than it has ever been before, than it can and will work. I dont think apple making a gaming console is out of the question. Just look at their previous accomplishments.

Even if we ignore the disaster that was Apple's "Pippin", as a Mac fan I'd like Apple to steer well clear of consoles. Googling will confirm that MS lost about $20 billion developing & establishing the Xbox franchise, Sony lost a few billion on PS3. Apple would need to invest billions & are almost bound to fail.

MS at least have a record of working successfully with game developers (more support, development tools, libraries, etc.), whereas Apple are woeful in this dept. Comments from former Mac game-developers confirms this. IMHO, casual gaming for iPhone is about Apple's limit in this particular domain. Want to play games? Buy a PC (which I'll be doing), X360, PS3 or Wii.

 

[trineeti]

You may know about every thing or get every kind of info such like that any sort of error or any complaint.Here you can criticism of game and etc.

 

[Aegelward]

Heh, if they ever did release a console I'd imagine it would have the performance of the Wii but cost double anything else out there and run nothing but shoddy EA ports and Popcap games .

See, i don't think apple are going to ever release a dedicated console, per-say, but i do think they might open up the appleTV to development and upgrade it to an atom 330 & Nvidia Ion.

The Nvidia Ion (link has benchmarks) Seems to have enough muscle for recent FPS titles (in terms of performance it quite possibly bests the wii, possibly comparable with a first generation xbox), not that i'd expect to see anything that strenuous on it. we might see plants vs zombies at best

 

[tackchevy]

Meh

Not saying that it's impossible; in the last 10 years Apple has jammed itself back into the middle of every PC market, dominated the music industry, and is moving in that direction with phones- so gaming would be a logical next step.

If they are going to make a move in the next year, it would probably have to be in an alternative direction. The hardware heavy and "alternative" spaces are pretty jammed up right now, so their best bet would be in digital distribution of casual gaming or indie products. Rather than take on Wii/PS3/360, they're better off challenging PSN/XBLA/(whatever the Wii online service is called)/Steam (kind of). Those systems tend to be overly restrictive and short on great content.

If they want to move into the more traditional space, then they'll need to wait a year or three, and honestly I don't know what it is that they would bring to the table.

 

[0098386]

Think about this. Apple had no influence over the mobile phone market. They make the iPhone, domination. When they first made the music players to compete, they dominated that too. If apple was to make a gaming console, they would have to do it just as they did their other products - an attempt to blow everything else out of the water. If they set the bar higher than it has ever been before, than it can and will work. I dont think apple making a gaming console is out of the question. Just look at their previous accomplishments.

But you see no. They did well with the MP3 player market because there wasn't a compact, large capacity device. There was the Nomad and it was the size of a small Sussex cottage. They did well with the iPhone because it was a natural evolution of their MP3 player line.

As it stands they have no respect in the gaming world, they don't bother with decent video cards in their products and they're built compact so overclocking isn't a viable option. Microsoft jumped into console gaming because they wanted to break into the living room and they a gaming pedigree with Windows and DirectX.

Apple+games, under their current 'regime'; no.

 

[aznguyen316]

But you see no. They did well with the MP3 player market because there wasn't a compact, large capacity device. There was the Nomad and it was the size of a small Sussex cottage. They did well with the iPhone because it was a natural evolution of their MP3 player line.

As it stands they have no respect in the gaming world, they don't bother with decent video cards in their products and they're built compact so overclocking isn't a viable option. Microsoft jumped into console gaming because they wanted to break into the living room and they a gaming pedigree with Windows and DirectX.

Apple+games, under their current 'regime'; no.

Pretty much true.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

But you see no. They did well with the MP3 player market because there wasn't a compact, large capacity device. There was the Nomad and it was the size of a small Sussex cottage. They did well with the iPhone because it was a natural evolution of their MP3 player line.

As it stands they have no respect in the gaming world, they don't bother with decent video cards in their products and they're built compact so overclocking isn't a viable option. Microsoft jumped into console gaming because they wanted to break into the living room and they a gaming pedigree with Windows and DirectX.

Apple+games, under their current 'regime'; no.

Very true. Something I come to release is people say microsoft has no orginal idea but if you look at it Microsoft is currently leading the way of making the PC a media center. Tieing it to the TV and other devices together. Apple current system is far cry and has a long ways to go to catch up. Microsoft saw was the modders where doing to the Xbox and started tieing to that with the 360 with the extender option. You also have Media center editions of windows with are very nice for working with the TV.

360 links in and streams video, and music off of a PC on the network. Also Microsoft had respect in the gaming world before Xbox project even launch and now it it is even farther along.

I would see Apple failing at getting into the counsel market because they would want to much control over the development process for games. They would have to release a lot of that control. Hell if apple wants into it they need to follow Microsoft lead. We know apple wants into the media center idea of the PC but they just lag behind on how to do it.

 

[Ov3rlord Falc0r]

Not saying that it's impossible; in the last 10 years Apple has jammed itself back into the middle of every PC market, dominated the music industry, and is moving in that direction with phones- so gaming would be a logical next step.

If they are going to make a move in the next year, it would probably have to be in an alternative direction. The hardware heavy and "alternative" spaces are pretty jammed up right now, so their best bet would be in digital distribution of casual gaming or indie products. Rather than take on Wii/PS3/360, they're better off challenging PSN/XBLA/(whatever the Wii online service is called)/Steam (kind of). Those systems tend to be overly restrictive and short on great content.

If they want to move into the more traditional space, then they'll need to wait a year or three, and honestly I don't know what it is that they would bring to the table.

This is what I was thinking of when I read the thread header. They wouldn't build a power console like 360/PS3. They would build something inbetween the Wii and 360/PS3, and have it focus on downloadable games/apps/music/movies/anything really. It would be like AppleTV on steroids.

I think IF Apple wanted to do this, they totally could find a niche and slide itself right in there. Look at the Wii for petes sake. Its not a console for "gamers" but it has something for everybody. AppleTV 2.0 could take this a step further and offer "better" gaming along with movies (via netflix or similar medium), music (already have iTunes, no brainer), apps (have the apps store already).

 

[thejadedmonkey]

If Apple were to release a gaming platform, they'd have to upgrade OS X first. Why? Follow my logic...

Apple would run their game machine using a variation of OS X

OS X currently has horrid game performance. OS X gives me about 1/2 the frame rate at about 3 times the heat as Windows does on my MBP. Apple seriously needs to beef up OS X's 3d performance.

Apple doesn't care about it. Since OS X came out, Apple hasn't really worked on the 3d performance with it. Actually, Apple has shown again and again that they don't care about the game market.

If Apple doesn't fix the OS, it'll be too hot and you'll end up with the Apple RRoD.

Apple will need a culture change to enter the market - I don't see it.

 

[Aegelward]

I think people are setting their expectations a little high

Apple might look into gaming a bit more seriously now they realize what a huge market it is, maybe the sheer amount of games being released for the iphone/touch platform was a bit of a wake up call for them.

Certain elements of apple do seem somewhat anti-gaming though, i suppose they see it as a juvenile activity while they wish to cultivate a very serious and professional following & platform.

But everybody has to have fun.... even mac users

 

[0098386]

But everybody has to have fun.... even mac users

Exactly, which is why I have a Wii, 360, PSP, DS and Bootcamp

I think IF Apple wanted to do this, they totally could find a niche and slide itself right in there. Look at the Wii for petes sake. Its not a console for "gamers" but it has something for everybody. AppleTV 2.0 could take this a step further and offer "better" gaming along with movies (via netflix or similar medium), music (already have iTunes, no brainer), apps (have the apps store already).

Right, using the Wii as an argument for Apple making a console is pretty silly. Nintendo are a gaming pedigree that has been manufacturing consoles and developing games since the mid 80's, they're the 8th largest software company in the world and (IIRC) one of its shareholders is either the first or second richest person in Japan. I'm sure you'll see some monumental sales figures for their consoles and software combined.

Apple, as an unfamiliar face in gaming with no serious video game developers signed exclusively to them means they wouldn't have a cat in hells chance going against the Wii. Even Microsoft have tried going after them with little success (NXE, surge in family orientated marketing and games).

 

[Ol3s]

Right, using the Wii as an argument for Apple making a console is pretty silly. Nintendo are a gaming pedigree that has been manufacturing consoles and developing games since the mid 80's, they're the 8th largest software company in the world and (IIRC) one of its shareholders is either the first or second richest person in Japan. I'm sure you'll see some monumental sales figures for their consoles and software combined.

Well actually think about it, nintendo with it nintendo 64 and gamecube was always last in the market until they released the wii

 

[0098386]

Well actually think about it, nintendo with it nintendo 64 and gamecube was always last in the market until they released the wii

Yes but each of the systems they sold made a profit. Nintendo has always made a profit, Sony and Microsoft had to charge much less for their products and take a loss. Beside the Xbox and GC sales were very close (quite remarkable when you consider Nintendo had no online play, lost quite a few exclusivity contracts and had little to no advertising at all). But does Nintendo releasing them 2 prove that Apple could be releasing their own console?

 

[arcadeforest]

Reading this thread makes me misty eyed for Apple's glory days of computer gaming on the Apple II+ and IIe. Man those were the days, Apple dominated the computer gaming market in the early 80's. I still regularly fire up my Apple II emulator to play a few rounds of crisis mountain and lode runner.

 

[txa1265]

Reading this thread makes me misty eyed for Apple's glory days of computer gaming on the Apple II+ and IIe. Man those were the days, Apple dominated the computer gaming market in the early 80's. I still regularly fire up my Apple II emulator to play a few rounds of crisis mountain and lode runner.

... and Castle Wolfenstein!

 

[arcadeforest]

... and Castle Wolfenstein!

No doubt, that SS soldier used to scare the c*** out of me when he poped on the screen.