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Apple Recruiting Game Developers?

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Gamespot claims that according to a recruiter they have been in contact with, Apple has been heavily recruiting under the iTunes division for "C/C++ coders with a ‘gaming background.’"

The exact project planned is reportedly "super secret" with no details provided to the engineer.

Apple's hiring manager is reportedly Mike Lampell, a game developer/director who had been laid off from LucasArts in August 2004. Gamespot was unable to verify Lampell's current employment location. Based on these details, Gamespot speculates that Apple may be serious about game research and development.

Apple has previously been known to be recruiting for OpenGL programmers to optimize the Mac OS X's 3d graphics implementation. Meanwhile, other job postings indicated that Apple was recruiting specifically for 2D/3D graphics programmers with ARM7 RISC (iPod) processor experience. This job listing triggered speculation that Apple was working on more iPod-specific games.

 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2006/05/27/apple-recruiting-game-developers/
Abstract

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
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Location Location Location
^^What, like Apples?


Um.......any chance that they hired game developers to improve in an aspect other than gaming, say the general GUI, or maybe even other software that requires a lot of human interaction? I don't see Apple becoming a video game company.
 
i-unit123

i-unit123

macrumors member
May 26, 2006
78
0
gaming on mac osx

I'm new to macrumors, and new to macs in general (just got an intel imac). i know that not many games are out for mac osx, but do you think that this could change? i read that apple was planning an igame, bu i heard a lot of other people say that was a dumb idea. anythoughts about apples future in the gaming industry (if it has one). btw, switching to macs is one of the best things i ever did by far. the imac is awesome!!!
 
thejadedmonkey

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,180
3,328
Pennsylvania
Apple's doing something. My personal favorite idea is an iPod that has a front-row type of interface for the main menu. That's 3D Acceleration on a RISC CPU. iTunes, Game developers, RISC all in one.

Maybe it could even be used as the interface for the iPhone!
 
echeck

echeck

macrumors 68000
Apr 20, 2004
1,831
21
Boise, Idaho
thejadedmonkey said:
My personal favorite idea is an iPod that has a front-row type of interface for the main menu.
Click to expand...
That is now my personal favorite idea too!

That would be very sweet. :D
 
Macnoviz

Macnoviz

macrumors 65816
Jan 10, 2006
1,059
0
Roeselare, Belgium
in any case, it will certainly take a long time, and we will only see what is really going on when Jobs introduces the "new/updated" product (hardware/software)

btw, in that gamespot article, they only mention brick and parachute, what about solitaire and music quiz?:)
 
L

(L)

macrumors 6502
Nov 12, 2005
482
0
No
i-unit123 said:
I'm new to macrumors, and new to macs in general (just got an intel imac). i know that not many games are out for mac osx, but do you think that this could change? i read that apple was planning an igame, bu i heard a lot of other people say that was a dumb idea. anythoughts about apples future in the gaming industry (if it has one). btw, switching to macs is one of the best things i ever did by far. the imac is awesome!!!
Click to expand...


Really though, you can't just hire your way into the industry. Say, Apple makes a touchscreen iPod/PDA sort of thing that can play games. So? I want a touchscreen iPod, not a teenage escapist device. I don't really need to have a PDA either. I just want a damn good audio player, that has a screen to view videos on the side, but at good quality. I don't want to pay 5oo bucks. I don't care if they hire a LucasArts guy or whatever, or even how great the games will be, IF they are to happen anyway. Apple sure as beans isn't going to be the next Nintendo, and by the super secret nature, they're probably finding a way to work in what they can to a device without losing the original vision - in other words, they're serious about gaming as a secondary functionality, but don't expect an XBOX sort of thing.
 
N

NewSc2

macrumors 65816
Jun 4, 2005
1,044
2
New York, NY
Eh, the iPod has a less than stellar button interface for gaming.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out how to put Tetris on the iPod.

And what's with the scroll wheel for Arkanoid? Can't we just push <<- or ->> for left and right?
 
O

odedia

macrumors 65816
Nov 24, 2005
1,044
149
Well, i'd really love it if Apple released a gaming console to compete with the PS3, Nintendo and Xbox360. There no reason why that shouldn't work out. They have the technology, they have the programming tools. They just need developers.
 
D

dashiel

macrumors 6502a
Nov 12, 2003
876
0
(L) said:
Apple sure as beans isn't going to be the next Nintendo
Click to expand...

that's what everyone said about sony when they released the PS1. i don't think apple will enter the video game market, but i've seen way too many "it'll never happen", happen in the computer/ce industry to believe anything with any certainty.

just remember 18 months ago the very thought of all but two of apple's product lineup running on intel chips was ludicrous too.
 
mozmac

mozmac

macrumors 6502
Apr 28, 2005
332
15
Austin, TX
I've been thinking this for a while. Why doesn't Apple develop some sweet, yet simple, games for the iPod and sell them through iTunes? People already pay $3-$5 to put a game on their cell phone, they'd definitely pay that much, or more, to have a game on their favorite little companion.
 
Bonte

Bonte

macrumors 65816
Jul 1, 2002
1,163
505
Bruges, Belgium
Maybe the new 'real' video iPod is also a gaming device. Selling a Video iPod for a higher price than the PSP isn't going to be easy.
 
Chaszmyr

Chaszmyr

macrumors 601
Aug 9, 2002
4,267
86
Bonte said:
Maybe the new 'real' video iPod is also a gaming device. Selling a Video iPod for a higher price than the PSP isn't going to be easy.
Click to expand...

I hadn't thought of that, but it's quite possible. Games could be sold over iTMS and downloaded to the iPod. Not a bad idea..
 
wedge antilies

wedge antilies

macrumors member
Dec 14, 2004
65
0
Adelaide, Australia, MAAAATE!
Welcome

i-unit123 said:
I'm new to macrumors, and new to macs in general (just got an intel imac)....btw, switching to macs is one of the best things i ever did by far. the imac is awesome!!!
Click to expand...

Dear Friend, Let me be the first to say WELCOME.

WELCOME to MacRumors and more importantly WELCOME to the world of Apple.:)

Back on topic: I think we are looking at games for the iPod and iPhone(?) here. I think games on the iPod video could be a killer.
Remember the simplicity of Tetris was the killer app for Gameboy. Snake for the Nokia 5110, and now Brainage for the DS.
A few more simple addictive games could really push the Video iPod further, and downloading games from iTMS ids perfect.

-Red 2.
 
Seasought

Seasought

macrumors 65816
Nov 3, 2005
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0
I don't know what to think about this one.

My only thought would be that this is related to iPhone rumors. Perhaps this is part of a slow transition from iPods to iPhones (which is an iPod, a phone, pda, and games combined).

Unless Apple is going to start targeting the PC gaming market by forming their own development team releasing innovative games on OS X first, then porting to Windows. :D

This is interesting to say the least.
 
S

Sijmen

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2005
709
1
Games for iPod.. hmm. No.

I hope they are doing something with Mac gaming. I think that might be the #1 reason many people aren't switching. Ask any of my friends and they'll probably confirm it.
 
C

chrismcdowell25

macrumors member
Dec 22, 2004
57
1
Maybe

Maybe Apple is looking at making a development environment instead of actually making games. Apple is big on providing tools to developers or optomizing their system to allow developers to take better advantage of they system. Maybe they just want to optomize OSX for gaming type environments and want the experience of game developers who have programed in that area. Maybe also something with iPods like marketplace on the Xbox live.
 
G.Kirby

G.Kirby

macrumors regular
Feb 15, 2005
185
0
Swansea, South Wales
Personally, I would only class this as news if Apple were looking to make it easier to port big name games to the Mac by trying to adapt/convert the big game engines to run natively in OS10. But a don’t think this will happen. :(
 
K

kumbaya

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2005
118
0
I speculate Apple wants to ensure that games run optimally in the virtualised windows environment coming with Leopard.

I can see it now: dual screen - on my left Mac OS X for my life, on my right XP running whatever game I want uber-fast!

mmmmmmmm....;)

Tech question: what do C/C++ programming skills open up?
 
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