Dave Perry: Apple, Not Cloud Gaming Threatens Consoles

[airrazor7]

Yea, more "Apple is the doom that threatens us all" news. So what if they're highly competitive? Can't we all just take step back and enjoy the fact that apple returned from hibernation to be a successful company? I'm not a fan of app-gaming and I don't imagine I'll ever buy an Apple product but if that is they way the market and the industry is going, so be it.

Actually the threat of Apple can be a good thing. It can light a fire under the behinds of companies vested in the handheld market and encourage the healthy kind of competition that is supposed to exist in an industry.

Maybe this will get Sony to stop trying to be a hardware giant and actually focus on features that its consumer base will find fun and convenient. Maybe the competition will get Nintendo to keep up with the times.

 

[nifedj]

I think the success of iOS gaming makes it clear that developers don't have a problem with regular hardware upgrades. When the iPhone 4 came out with the Retina display, lots of developers just updated their apps to support it. The only apps with compatibility issues are the ones which rely on the better cameras of the newer models.

The reason Apple can be a bit greedy with its smartphones and tablets is that if you want an iOS device you have to buy an iPhone/iPad. If iOS was available on third party models there would be competition. The genius of Apple's business plan is that anybody who likes their style of product (in terms of interface) can only get it from them.

 

[Duskflamer]

"I think the concern there is that they're generating hardware so quickly now. If you're creating and shipping new hardware every 12 months, and during that 12 months you're also giving pretty impressive upgrades, the features that people want, and you're giving them those every six months and hardware every 12 months, I think the idea that you would have five to seven years on hardware refreshes is becoming a technical problem."

*Rolls eyes at the fact that this is the main reason I don't have an I-Phone or I-Pad.
I don't want to have to buy a new version of something I already own every year

Then don?t who says you have to buy the newest model every time it?s release?

Developers who want to take advantage of new technology.

Devs fell into that trap in the past when they designed games that only worked on the .1% of computers on the market that had the very latest high-end technology, which is what drove development to consoles in the first place, the fact that you knew what the technology you were working with was, rather than having to assume that your audience has the necessary technology to run your game.

This is why I'm shaking my head at this article, it seems to be saying that gamers will flock away from consoles and onto Apple's devices for the exact same reason they flocked to consoles to begin with.

 

[robert01]

Consoles worst enemies is themselves. Apple releases new products every year that cost insane amounts of money for people to stay updated, but their is a problem. They cannot perform gaming as well as consoles. Sure you get alright 3d graphics and what not on them, but you will never get full blown 1080p running at 60hz on an iPad, at least not yet. The technology that pushes that kind of performance is still 'big and clunky' and non mobile. Who gives a shit if angry birds or whatever the hell is the flavour of the month mobile game is selling like hotcakes, the same people buying these 'apps' are also buying consoles, big screen tvs and surround sound.

 

[ph0b0s123]

And this annual update thing will get less and less as the amount of power increase they can deliver each year plateau's.
.

I don't think so. The difference between each annual model and its predecessor seems very small: a slightly higher camera resolution, slightly better processor, etc.
They can already make a new model every five years but apple wants more money and as frequently as possible and they know that as long as the product has the apple icon, the iCult will buy it.

I completely agree with your comment about iCult buying everything that Apple puts out. The point is as I explained is that Apple only makes up a part of the mobile market and the icult is only a part of Apple buyers. So that means iCult does not necessarily have monopoly on mobile gaming.

Consoles worst enemies is themselves. Apple releases new products every year that cost insane amounts of money for people to stay updated, but their is a problem. They cannot perform gaming as well as consoles. Sure you get alright 3d graphics and what not on them, but you will never get full blown 1080p running at 60hz on an iPad, at least not yet. The technology that pushes that kind of performance is still 'big and clunky' and non mobile. Who gives a shit if angry birds or whatever the hell is the flavour of the month mobile game is selling like hotcakes, the same people buying these 'apps' are also buying consoles, big screen tvs and surround sound.

Love this reasoning of 'our platform is not declining because it is technically superior to the platform people are talking up'. It worked out so well for PC gamers.....

 

[KeyMaster45]

Kids today ... don't want to carry anything that just does one thing. They carry their phone and it does everything. And so if you make single function devices, then you've got a problem. That's my concern for handhelds, is this single function side of it,"

I don't really want my hand-held console to do more than one thing. I bought it to play games, not be a phone and whatever else is decided to get crammed in it. Right now I have my DS and it does for me what the Gameboy has done since my childhood. It works, and it does it's job pretty damn well.(despite Nintendo's best efforts to "improve" it) It's paid for itself a dozen times over, and I fail to see how cramming iPad/iPhone features into the handheld experience would have enhanced that.

 

[DaxStrife]

I'll agree with him on Apple's technology trends/habits; releasing new tech every year at increasing prices is really hard to keep up with. I'd prefer if they just slowed down and released new stuff every two years: make the product, spend a year improving it, then spend a year improving that and sell the final product. The rate at which we're going through iPods, Smart Phones, iPads and tablets is getting a bit worrying.

 

[Cryo84R]

Yea, more "Apple is the doom that threatens us all" news. So what if they're highly competitive? Can't we all just take step back and enjoy the fact that apple returned from hibernation to be a successful company? I'm not a fan of app-gaming and I don't imagine I'll ever buy an Apple product but if that is they way the market and the industry is going, so be it.

Actually the threat of Apple can be a good thing. It can light a fire under the behinds of companies vested in the handheld market and encourage the healthy kind of competition that is supposed to exist in an industry.

Maybe this will get Sony to stop trying to be a hardware giant and actually focus on features that its consumer base will find fun and convenient. Maybe the competition will get Nintendo to keep up with the times.

More posts like this, please.

Also, any time anyone says IPhone or I-Phone instead of iPhone, it's a sure sign they don't pay much attention to the industry. It's a proper noun, so fail X 2 I guess. Those among us who insist on throwing out old tropes about cults and such have really missed the boat and should really check the news every once in a while. Apple is set to become the most valuable company on the planet days from now (if that).

Perspective from the 1990s is great when it comes to music, but on tech, it's best to get with the times.

 

[Lady Larunai]

If Apple had a console, no one would be able to compete with their design or manufacturing ethos, and consumers would buy the thing en masse purely based on technofetishism or social cache.

Does anyone remember the Pippin? I seem to remember it bombed harder than....sorry I had to avoid a really tasteless joke.

I remember it, and it was a massive failure at the time.. Most Iphone owners Ive met keep boasting if apple made a console it would take over the world in a year, yet none of them know the pippin existed

 

[koroem]

You mean to say 8-12 year life spans for consoles is a bad idea because it stalls innovation and allows other platforms to take over due to their advanced technology? Who the hell would have thought that. Oh wait, every PC gamer who has been saying this shit for years. This isn't news, but it is nice to see not everyone out there is a clown. Losing the console and even PC gaming to Apple would be bad for everyone....

 

[Saelune]

Phone gaming will only hurt gaming handhelds, if those that make handhelds dont consider the big picture...or consider the big picture to mean money. Portable gaming was not something everyone did anyways. So if those same people not playing gameboy play iPhone games...who cares? If the people who actually do play portable gaming seriously switch to iPhones solely, then there is an issue.

 

[robandall]

Dave Perry: Apple, Not Cloud Gaming Threatens Consoles


"I think the concern there is that they're generating hardware so quickly now. If you're creating and shipping new hardware every 12 months, and during that 12 months you're also giving pretty impressive upgrades, the features that people want, and you're giving them those every six months and hardware every 12 months, I think the idea that you would have five to seven years on hardware refreshes is becoming a technical problem."

Apple aficionados are the only tools (an implement to be used) who would buy an different iteration of the same product, at full price, every 12 months. While XBOX and PS have their rabid fanboys it's normally the *lack* of disposable income that creates them - otherwise they'd have more than one console and wouldn't seek so desperately to justify their purchase. This may be a bit of a reach but I'd imagine that a lack of disposable income doesn't lend itself to annual tech purchases.

Outside of that I couldn't see Apple venturing into the gaming industry as their consumer base doesn't fit the bill. Apple doesn't just sell products, it sells a lifestyle, a way of operating. From what I can tell the public and the media's perception of gamers don't seem to fit with their vision. It's not outside of the realms of possibility that Apple would consider core gamers "off-brand". Combine that with Apple, most likely, refusing to publish violent or controversial games and suddenly you've got a gaming device who's target demographic is the casual gaming segment and they've already got a number of devices that cater for that.

Those among us who insist on throwing out old tropes about cults and such have really missed the boat and should really check the news every once in a while. Apple is set to become the most valuable company on the planet days from now (if that).

Perspective from the 1990s is great when it comes to music, but on tech, it's best to get with the times

Ironically the idea that Apple makes the best tech is, IMO, an antiquated notion from the 90s. Back then Apple were making awesome tech almost exclusively for creative professionals, today they make innovative products with high usability and a wonderful design aesthetic for the mass market. They offer you technology that is often not top of the range at a price point that is head and shoulders above the competition (once it surfaces). The usability is great for the average consumer but even remotely technologically competent people will most likely find Apple's UIs draconian and restrictive hence the proliferation of jailbreaking (where users effectively reject Apple's own prescribed user experience). In the end the only real explanation for the expenditure is innovation (for early adopters only), the design quality and aesthetic - which is fine as long as a person is fully aware of why they're purchasing the product.

Apple may well become the most valuable company on the planet within days but it won't be because they make the best hardware. I'd go as far as to say that it's because of almost epidemic levels of affectation mixed with the rampant consumerism of today's society.

 

[ImprovizoR]

Yeah, we know. Apple is an evil company. But cloud gaming is no better. It's just another step forward into forcing players to buy games they won't own in any way at all.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Yea, more "Apple is the doom that threatens us all" news. So what if they're highly competitive? Can't we all just take step back and enjoy the fact that apple returned from hibernation to be a successful company? I'm not a fan of app-gaming and I don't imagine I'll ever buy an Apple product but if that is they way the market and the industry is going, so be it.

Actually the threat of Apple can be a good thing. It can light a fire under the behinds of companies vested in the handheld market and encourage the healthy kind of competition that is supposed to exist in an industry.

Maybe this will get Sony to stop trying to be a hardware giant and actually focus on features that its consumer base will find fun and convenient. Maybe the competition will get Nintendo to keep up with the times.

In light of Apple's recent trend of suing any competitor who might make a better product than them(and might have a smaller legal team), I find this post to be Grade-A lol-fuel.

 

[Griffolion]

As long as people want a full fledged experience with a big TV and proper controls, consoles will never be threatened. However, I would say consoles have two generations left in them before the "power" goes over to the cloud. As in, after two more generations, everything will be Onlive/Gaikai etc.

 

[MajorDolphin]

Cloud gaming isn't a threat to consoles anyway. It may serve for the small percentage of people who want to play story modes or campaigns exclusively but there is no way multiplayer can be handled lag free through their service without faking most of it. Cloud gaming equals massive fail.

As for:

"If Apple had a console, no one would be able to compete with their design or manufacturing ethos, and consumers would buy the thing en masse purely based on technofetishism or social cache."

The mass movements from one Iphone to the next is about flashing it in front of co-workers and classmates for most people. A console at home plugged into a TV that you don't carry around with you 24/7 will not have the same impact. Anyone would be able to claim their social status symbol without having to prove it. People wouldn't be able to whip it out while in line at McDonalds to inflate their egos. An Apple console will not have the same impact.

As with any company, the console is only as good as its games and I doubt Sony or Microsoft would allow another heavy hitter to go after their market. I'd expect an Apple console to go the way of the Atari Jaguar.

 

[airrazor7]

-snip-

Huh. Now that is interesting and I wasn't aware of that. Very interesting. It seems like Apple picked up a few bad habits from its first competitor.

Did you know when Apple was just starting to return, Microsoft approached them and basically told them to submit and threatened to bleed them dry in court if they didn't. If I can find the article in which I read that info again, I'll edit this post and place a link.

There must not be a good side to doing business anymore. I once thought about getting into business via a bachelor degree but no thank you to that. I'd rather not lose my soul.

 

[Continuity]

Apple have no need to enter the console market, not would it make sense for them to do so. There is already gaming on macbooks, which could admittedly be supported more. And then there is the iphone and ipod touch sitting in the handheld sector....


Apple is already in the gaming market... they're just not leveraging their position yet.

OT: as for cloud gaming, yes, this is the future of gaming, like it or not. But that's just it, its the future and most definitely not the present.

 

[veloper]

good controls
big screen

Two things only a console or a PC can give you.

Apple may pull casual gamers away from Nintendo's handhelds, but that's it. Apple can try putting faster chips and higher res screens in their phones and tablets, but the screen remains small and the interface is still unsuitable for most games.

Cloud gaming still has two problems to overcome: mass produced consumer hardware is too cheap to compete against with centralized custom-built hardware and latency problems over the internet won't significantly improve in the forseable future.