Apple making a games console? Not bloody likely
Apple (the computer one – suppose it needs stating given BBC Chav News’ blanket coverage of Paul McCartney’s divorce) recently varied its trademark to cover:
toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games
The fanboys (and, more depressingly, some proper tech news sites) have made the quite superhuman leap from this to the assumption that Apple is making a games console – ignoring the far more plausible conclusion that Apple has simply amended their trademark to reflect the fact that the iPod now plays games, and prevent anyone from using ‘Apple’ to market any competitor devices.
Aside from the basic principle that the most obvious reason is usually the correct one, there is a very big reason why Apple wouldn’t make a games console: they have no real games experience. When Microsoft decided to make the Xbox in 2000, they already had behind them several years of making the OS of choice for games developers as well as making a great number of computer games themselves. Apple has neither of these. Most of the games on OS X are ported after-the-fact by the likes of Asypr, or run the Windows version in the not-really-brilliant Cider emulation layer (for those who haven’t heard of it, this is little more than a Mac port of the Cedega emulator which does the same job for Linux*.
I fail to see how Apple can jump from this state of affairs to making an honest-to-Jebus games console. Leaving aside the lack of games experience, Microsoft had to sink billions of dollars into the Xbox program to get it off the ground, and Apple would be starting from scratch in the same way – though without the huge cash reserves a behemoth like MS has at its disposal.
*Let’s not get into the whole Wine Is Not an Emulator argument, it’s tiresome and misses the point entirely. The central purpose (certainly of Cedega – there is more of an argument as far as Wine itself is concerned) is to run programs which have been compiled for Windows, on Linux – the job of an emulator – rather than compiling Windows source code in a Linux-compatible fashion.
Heard of the iPhone?
Some people can do thing better than those with money and…..
hi,
you’re right, there’s no sense jumping to conclusions, esp. @ Apple!
but your argumentation is not infallible for these reasons:
1) Apple always astonishes & surprises & whatever they do, they do it better than anyone – the Cube or iBooks were great designs functionally too, but too advanced for society at the time – apple invented the Newton (PDA) too early etc.
2) did Apple not create the iPhone?! well, they had NO experience with cellular technology & even defied all the cell manufacturers + cell service providers – beat them at their own silly game!
3) did Apple not create the iPod?! they had no experience with music players & even changed and/or saved the music industry!
4) Apple might save the movie industry too, not just through AppleTV but iTunes movie rentals etc. what most top analysts miss, is that without apple’s Think Different tank, they’d all suffer from piracy as never before, but who thanks Apple?!
5) did Sony not create the PlayStation? they had no video game experience, came very late in the game, after Atari, Nintendo, Sega…yet beat all of them in terms of # of sales
6) you mention emulation, but Macs handle Windows faster than Windows on Windows PCs as reported by several PC magazines.
7) MS had huge reserves to create the X-Box? well, MS today, has lost 1/2 its fortune, the stock is at $28 (apple’s – after an $70 drop is at $127)!! anyway, Apple has the most Cash Reserve of any tech co. this year! why can they not use funds for such reasons?
9) how can one not see the natural progression, from the hand-held factor of the iPod Touch/iPhone to the Touch-screen U.I.?! it’s natural step to do a game console. plus, who says Apple is doing it alone, not in conjunction with Wii makers etc.? who does not dream to work with Apple Inc?!
10) it doesn’t matter what anyone, expert or big talker, or negative naysayer or doubter says about Apple, live & let live! is it not ironic that we, the people, have always been abused by firms, from the Telcoms, to PC makers, who not only made us pay high prices, but give us b.s. for it?! why is it that only now, that Apple gave us the iPhone, that manufacturers & service providers suddenly wake up & finally treat the client right?! Apple is a game changer. period. Apple got rid of the Diskette drive when the world couldn’t understand it, but it worked. the MacBook Air did away with the DVD drive & AppleTV might rid the big debate of BluRay & HD DVD, by circumventing its need etc. Apple redefines our world, simplifies it for the good of all mankind, instead of keeping us in the middle ages a la Bladerunner. then, whenever Microsoft, Samsung, Dell, Oracle, HP, Adobe, Corel etc. produce shit that could be much better, no one complains. but when Apple makes more remarkable projects than anyone else, when perfection doesn’t exist anyway, we people have to bitch. humans are fickle idiots. it’s never enough. just as the stupidity & panic of investors plummeted Apple’s shares without hindsight or foresight or through ignorance. in the end, Apple will survive & win, just because they try harder than anyone & bec. they listen to us, & think, not caring of opinions, just doing the Right Thing. in this messy, cruel, unfair world, sensibility shall prevail, sustain us.
11) so what if Apple does iGames or not. Apple & Steve Jobs are not magicians for having survived the longest streak in human quarterly profits (from 2001 to 2007!), aren’t as successful by mere coincidence, but accomplished due to street smarts, practicality, natural insight, care, attention to detail, positive attitude (that we interpret as defiant thanks to fear) & fearless talent (that we fear is arrogance)…Apple & Steve seems tyrannical but it’s because we are too weak to even understand ourselves at those moments when they reveal the Next Big Thing, we fear for the unknown, our jobs & certainly the IT people on whom the entire Tech industry rested so far, will lie to save their jobs, since Apple products don’t require their support! journalists lie for same reason, as without problems, there’s nothing much to write about. the point is, does anyone else do it better than Apple? no! so let’s all shut the hell up until that day. meanwhile, do we not enjoy a better world thanks to Apple or Steve’s visions? if some of us are annoyed at the quantity of iPods out there, why not have bitched about Sony’s Walkman? it’s not Apple’s fault either if some kids have grown deaf as some silly parents assume it’s Apple iBuds, as much as it’s not a Microwave’s mfr’s fault that some dry their dogs in it! don’t like iPod or Macs? don’t use it, but shut up & stop spreading false rumours about the product. people believe anything. why do humans beat up small firms that innovate & wish to return to the Dark Ages that the Microsoftianism left us with?! it’s flabbergasting how stupid humans can be – it’s depressing. we’re creatures of habits, no matter how useless, & we certainly love blood, aggression, vs. cherishing progress. how are we to evolve?!
live & let live. don’t preach. accept progress. can we not think for ourselves, why define ourselves by media, status quo? patriotism is stupid. humanity is it. let’s defend human creativity, not backwardness. we’re all brethren after all, all with 1 heart, 2 balls & tits, we’re no different no matter what colour. iGames or not, let’s stop playing games.
odd how no one sees.
Rolf, in point 6 you seem to confuse running games within OS X with installing Windows using Boot Camp and playing games that way – I’m talking about installing games actually within OS X, as an example of Apple’s limited experience of making an operating system with game companies in mind. Obviously Windows on a Mac will run the same games (hardware permitting) as an equivalent spec Dell or HP commodity PC.
Sony created the Playstation largely because they collaborated with Nintendo on it – until they fell out over whether to use a CD drive (made by Sony) or a cartridge (made by Nintendo). They went their separate ways and Nintendo began work on what would later become the N64 – so Sony didn’t build the Playstation independently from scratch, it was initially a joint project.
Your point about Microsoft’s losses with the Xbox is exactly the one I was trying to make – Microsoft, who essentially just had to give Windows a console GUI and then pick some hardware, lost billions on the Xbox and only made an annual profit last year (largely due to Halo 3). Apple doesn’t have the same sort of PC gaming experience Microsoft does, so it would probably cost Apple more to start a games console business.
I agree with you on not automatically hating anything that’s made by Apple – I recently gave in and bought an iPod. I love it. Nor do I hate the idea of an Apple games console – I just think it’s pretty unlikely because Apple doesn’t have existing expertise in the area of games in the way that Microsoft did.