Apple TV As a Gaming Console?

angry birds on my 42 LED. sounds awesome!

This could be something quite luvly.

Maybe if they found some sort of niche.

But the gaming console is a tough place to break through.

The iPhone when it came out (and still is to a certain extent) was novel for its motion controls and touch sensitivity, and made a great place for portable gaming developers to expand.

Unless they have something wildly different than Wii, Xbox, and Playstation, I think it would be an uphill battle.

Do serious gamers really like to stream their games?

Netflix seems to be broken on apple tv - many times it stutters or stalls. I have PS3 in same physical location and it does fine. I thought I had it working but I was wrong.

Apple needs some OS update to fix this.

As long as there is no monthly service fee like onLive, this could be great.

Shoulda happened years ago but better late than never.

Great..

Great... Now I'm going to have to buy a new touch screen TV to play games
Don't worry.. I'm just kidding

No. Nor general apps either...

Except for certain KINDS of games (non-timed puzzles with 4-way control, quiz/trivia/party games) and certain KINDS of apps (Hulu, video/music streaming, maps). Those would be a nice extra to have.

This could be expanded further with a special controller... but I don’t see one making sense unless it’s an iPod/iPhone you already have. Most AppleTV owners wouldn’t buy a special controller (unless Apple started bundling it) and then there’s little development incentive.

iOS apps on AppleTV iOS 4.3

Using the iPhone as a "Wii" controller with its gyroscope for playing games, displaying applications on your AppleTV, etc. A lot of possibility.

ten-oak-druid said:

Netflix seems to be broken on apple tv - many times it stutters or stalls. I have PS3 in same physical location and it does fine. I thought I had it working but I was wrong.

Apple needs some OS update to fix this.

Click to expand...

I had the same problem I moved and since then ATV has been awesome...But this does not explain why your PS3 works well.

As far as ATV as gaming console I think it could work. What if you had apple tv for gaming console and ipod/phone or Ipad as a controller. Interesting.

bedifferent said:

Using the iPhone as a "Wii" controller with its gyroscope for playing games, displaying applications on your AppleTV, etc. A lot of possibility.

Click to expand...

Wait, so it's $49 plus a 2 year cellular contract just for a game controller?

(okay, you can use an iPod Touch, but still more than a $29 console controller).

MacRumors said:

Engadget speculates that the Apple TV could be used as a streaming gaming platform

Click to expand...

I don't know. You'd need a pretty big datacenter to pull something like that off.

ten-oak-druid said:

Netflix seems to be broken on apple tv - many times it stutters or stalls. I have PS3 in same physical location and it does fine. I thought I had it working but I was wrong.

Apple needs some OS update to fix this.

Click to expand...

No problem here, 7 seconds and my netflix HD starts and never stops.
3 second delay for SD movies.

What I like to see is airplay working without having to have itunes open. Come on apple you can do better.

A lot of this is do to internet stability but I would like to see a bit more customization on apple part for the tv 2, its not a side thing any more apple people are taking it serious now. widgets with information and oh my lord multitasking would be nice.

Touchpad....how original

HP touchpad = the "magically" derivative device!

gkarris said:

Wait, so it's $49 plus a 2 year cellular contract just for a game controller?

(okay, you can use an iPod Touch, but still more than a $29 console controller).

Click to expand...

Think of it more as an Apple TV is a $99 gaming console for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad owners. I think it is a fantastic idea and would probably be the thing to make me finally break down and buy an Apple TV. I'd imagine the face time cameras could be used as well, turn the camera into a Kinect? Augmented Reality games?

gkarris said:

Wait, so it's $49 plus a 2 year cellular contract just for a game controller?

(okay, you can use an iPod Touch, but still more than a $29 console controller).

Click to expand...

You don't have to get an AppleTV2 or an iPod Touch or iPhone, but for those that have them it's a great idea. For those who don't, an iPod touch would suffice. Better than Wii - Netflix, ITMS, WiFi Airplay with any iOS 4.x.x firmware, and now iOS applications and possible "Wii"-esque gaming using your iDevice to control the game through your WiFi and AppleTV 2 connection.

Pretty fun and creative ideas. Heck, Pages, Numbers, Email - could be used wirelessly. Use your iPad to edit/produce wirelessly through your AppleTV on your big screen from your couch/living room. ATV Flash has Couchsurfer for web browsing on your TV, Nito, XMBC - add a bluetooth dongle to the USB on your AppleTV, pair a wireless keyboard or iPad, open an App such as pages, and your TV becomes a full fledged, large screen web browser/Netflix/ITMS/Entertainment/Business system.

So either:
1. Use your iDevice with your AppleTV 2
2. Use ATV Flash and a bluetooth dongle for a keyboard/mouse
3. None of the above as it may not be for everyone

i think using one of the idevices as a controller, possibly even as a second screen for maps/quest logs/as a "memory card", is all theyd need to do. surely that is the most logical direction.

as for netflix- it used to stutter for me all the time too, but it did it on the wii as well... only thing that it worked on was a sony BD player... now it has been working fine on the atv2

i say apple should go for it. they already have the gaming momentum on the handheld ios devices so people are beginning to get brand recognition. if they dethroned the psp and ds why not tackle the wii etc?

Cool news!

Maybe one day ATV will be worth buying...

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

The only way this would ever happen is if they made a controller with physical buttons. If you are going to use an iPod or whatever as a controller, you would have to look at it to play, which kinda defeats the purpose. Sure you could use the sensors in it for games, but other than dancing games and balance games (like super monkey ball), I cannot see anything else worth playing.

Jamo12 said:

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

The only way this would ever happen is if they made a controller with physical buttons. If you are going to use an iPod or whatever as a controller, you would have to look at it to play, which kinda defeats the purpose. Sure you could use the sensors in it for games, but other than dancing games and balance games (like super monkey ball), I cannot see anything else worth playing.

Click to expand...

Exactly - consoles have controllers with real buttons (as well as gaming portables).

The post did mention a possibility of an Apple Gaming Controller - the Pippin had one as well as the Apple II...

Jamo12 said:

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

The only way this would ever happen is if they made a controller with physical buttons. If you are going to use an iPod or whatever as a controller, you would have to look at it to play, which kinda defeats the purpose. Sure you could use the sensors in it for games, but other than dancing games and balance games (like super monkey ball), I cannot see anything else worth playing.

Click to expand...

yesterday, news when out about controller that plugs into the standard iPod Touch/iPhone connector to extend the iPod Touch/iPhone. That seems like the way to go. It believe it was called the "iControlPad".

Apple TG Gamer Edition

Apple TV could certainly be rolled out in an extreme gamer edition AGT!

iPhones being thrown at TVs.

Strap bands attached to cases? Lame.


Everyone but the consumer wins.