Apple Has No Plans for Dedicated iOS Gaming Controller

[subsonix]

The only thing they would need to do is to create a game controller API, then others can make compatible controllers and game devs can support it.

 

[prowlmedia]

Besides, they are control freaks anyway, and whatever gaming platform, console, controller, etc, they would introduce would suffer heavily from being locked into the Apple eco system, and god knows whatever else restrictions would be there. Probably the controller would have only one button (providing a second button 2 years later as an incremental update) to not confuse the dumb masses out there. That's what todays corporate world is about anyway, to exploit the dumb masses out there which are always in majority.

Complete Rubbish. Worst comment of the week.

As opposed to Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo?

All of them are utterly locked in - All the disc games have to be Certified. With nintendo it's a proprietary disc that they have to produce!

All the online store are equally locked in with v.expensive certification process.

Even the OUYA android console is locked into their store.

You are basically calling everyone that has ever bought a console since the Atari VCS "Dumb masses"

You go off and make an open source Console and see how far you get. You'll be rife with piracy, will be interesting to see how OUYA copes with Androids massive amounts of illegal software.

A close ecosystem has worked in the games industry for decades and the main reason that titles have some semblance of quality.

 

[AJKing]

Physical controller would be good if they open up Apple TV to developers in my opinion. Encourage PS3/Xbox gamers to try out gaming on Apple TV. As Xbox founder and Valve CEO said, Apple could really take over the console gaming market if they did this. All Apple TV would need is a hardware upgrade to handle more graphic intensive games.

 

[maxosx]

Rumor Translation:

"Apple" we're working our asses off to bring our new controller to market.

"We learned from Steve, deny deny deny, then introduce the product".

 

[szw-mapple fan]

How come Dalrymple knows all these things? He's not confirming/denying rumors anonymously, so why wouldn't his sources at Apple stop giving him information if they know he leaks?

Because Apple wants to appear secretive while at the same time quash rumors to lower people's expectation.

 

[Richdmoore]

I really hope apple just adds support for game controllers in iOS, they don't need to make their own hardware.

Xbox 360 & PS3 game official controllers work well, no need to reinvent the wheel. Simply include native support, and let the app developers choose to use them or not, I bet most games will.

FYI, I prefer the Xbox 360 controller layout to the ps3, but the Xbox 360 controller is not Bluetooth. I am hoping both the ps4 & next gen Xbox controllers will both be Bluetooth.

 

[felt.]

Wii U Pro already works great with iPad, whats the problem.

 

[rwmoore]

Too bad! Would have been a game changer in my opinion. (Pun intended)

 

[kajakfahrer]

No dedicated game controller? REALLY?? - Amazing! Rulez!

 

[Swordylove]

One word: Convergence.



In YOUR opinion. Anyone that loves playing games requiring anything like a digital / analogue D-pad completely disagrees with you.

Of course it's my opinion.

You can't play something like Super Mario Bros on an iPhone and expect precision. Platform jumpers and shooters that aren't that "serious" would work well on an iPad if it were to have a controller. Every good Nintendo portable game uses buttons.

Gaming laptops are ridiculous, especially if they're water-cooled. What, so you can play WoW and CoD at the same time on super high graphics at Starbucks?

You're failing to put yourself in anyone else's shoes. Let's say I want to play a game like Jet Set Radio or Street Fighter, which are available officially in the iOS App Store but not for Mac OS 10; playing them on a touchscreen is nearly impossible but if I could play them on an iPad with a good wireless controller then it would be much more enjoyable. Even if I were to play them on OS 10 through an emulator, they would still require me to buy third-party controller.

There are third-party Bluetooth controllers out there for iOS but no one stands out, many are overpriced, and all of them have issues with support. If anything Apple could sell the best one in their stores and support would skyrocket. It's a lot cheaper to buy a Bluetooth controller then it is to buy a home console system, especially for people who just want to pick up and play a good game for maybe 30 minutes tops.

You can have it both ways... IThingy for casual gaming, xbox os ps for " real" gaming... I can't imagine playing Arkham City on iPad as I wouldn't play Angry Birds on xbox... I think these games are available on both platform, but it isn't the same experience, imho

Things will converge one day, probably sooner rather than later... But for serious gaming, you need hard buttons. No time for checking your fingers while you're busy being Batman!

The point I was trying to make was that the tablet/smartphone games are supposed to be made for and played with touchscreen.

Yea I know whenever you play with the virtual buttons, you wish there were physical buttons that would make the game easier to control. But that should be considered as cheating!

 

[haravikk]

but there are also plenty that don't. FPS/TPS and platformers particularly suffer from the lack of physical controls

I'm not saying there isn't a niche for this kind of thing, but it seems too much of a niche for Apple to really bother with doing themselves; support the creation of devices that can add this, sure, but when it comes to just gaming on the go I think most people prefer to have just the phone/iPod to carry with them. iPhone especially since it is after all meant to still be a phone.

It's a mobile product so while things like keyboards let you use it in a more productive capacity, I get the impression that this is the kind of add-on that Apple just prefers to leave up to others. Not least of all because I personally am dubious about whether Apple's offering would be the best choice anyway; I love the company, I think they're best focusing on the core product and only sticking to the most useful add-ons for promoting it.

The idea of using an iOS device as a game controller for the AppleTV has a major flaw in it: without tactile feedback it's hard to keep your fingers on the proper controls when you're not looking at them.

Apple has been researching tactile feedback systems for touch for some time now, and you can still use sound and visual cues from games for this kind of thing.

Personally I see Apple going for something along the lines of adding controller-oriented APIs for apps so that if you load the same game on your iPhone and Apple TV, that the iPhone one can automatically become a controller/supplementary screen. But to get the ball rolling Apple might release a basic apple device remote app for easier management of an Apple TV, or even a Mac. Package it with the right visual cues and sounds and it could launch the idea of using apps as remotes to big screen versions of themselves.

I mean it's part pipe-dream, but it has no hardware costs whatsoever, as it's purely a software venture, and one that could be pretty successful.

 

[iScottn]

You mean like this?

YouTube: video

Nice one!

 

[bdkennedy1]

Now why would Apple go through all the trouble of maintaining secrecy at GDC only to allow Dalrymple to say "yes"?

 

[liavman]

Jim Dalrymple's track record is so good that even if Apple had had plans for such a controller, they have to squash that now! I totally blame Jim for this!!

 

[Menneisyys2]

Apple has been researching tactile feedback systems for touch for some time now, and you can still use sound and visual cues from games for this kind of thing.
...
I mean it's part pipe-dream, but it has no hardware costs whatsoever, as it's purely a software venture, and one that could be pretty successful.

It's the not-near future - if at all. (Let me point out that all tactile feedback technologies so far couldn't provide anything similar to a real keyboard.)

Currently, Apple could just allow for using and, what is more, screen mapping at least the currently available third-party digital controllers to control legacy games. Analogue control / emulation, as is (not very well) done by the latest BluTrol version, would even be better.

 

[Mr. Gates]

I wish they would !

Maybe a flip cover/case that has the controls.

A special category in the App store "Made for controller case"

Come on Apple ! It would sell like hot cakes !

 

[Oui]

I think if they did this it would kinda defeat the whole touch screen craze.

 

[Mr. Gates]

I think if they did this it would kinda defeat the whole touch screen craze.

GOOD !

Touch based games generally SUCK compared to platforms with dedicated buttons.

Not trying to be snarky, that's just a fact and nobody with any sense can deny that.

Giving us the option would be good for Apple

 

[Weegee1]

The official PS3 controller works out of the box wirelessly via Bluetooth. It sends axes and button identifiers the same way every time on every computer. It's as uniform as it gets.

iOS apps don't uniformly support PS3 controllers. In fact, neither do PC games.

 

[Mr. Gates]

iOS apps don't uniformly support PS3 controllers. In fact, neither do PC games.

Why would PC games support PS3 controllers ?

They support X-Box 360 controllers just fine.

As a matter of fact, the whole idea of PlayStation is puzzling. Why not go straight to the source and get the real deal ? X-Box

All of this kind of speculation just proves that Apple could totally benefit from their own controller.

If Apple could just get past the 1 gig limit on Apps (to satisfy Windows iTunes users on FAT32) we might actually start seeing some games at a whole new level.

People on X-Box and PlayStation would NEVER pay $65 - $100 for the kind of rinky dink games you see in the App Store today.

Apple is ignoring the Pro Market in Macs, Software AND Games. Although the games have never been a stellar experience with Mac, they are in a unique position to make this work if they would just stop cruising on the wave of incremental spec bumps from the iOS boom

 

[Weegee1]

Why would PC games support PS3 controllers ?

They support X-Box 360 controllers just fine.

As a matter of fact, the whole idea of PlayStation is puzzling. Why not go straight to the source and get the real deal ? X-Box

The source of what? The reason some might use the PS3 is that the XBOX 360 breaks all the time and has a ridiculous interface and makes you pay for P2P online play. I don't have either, but I'd still choose the 360 if forced to make a choice just for Halo and the better controller.

 

[Mr. Gates]

The source of what?

I would rather have some real milk than that powdered crap

Most Windows/PC games are made for .......Windows.

And the whole Red Ring argument is tired and old. Anyone with an X Box from the last 3 years is not going to have that problem.

As for problems ? The PS Network was Hacked like a billion times in one year

But lets get back on topic. If Apple had their own controllers for iPhone and iPad we could be including THEM in these silly little musings


And that's kinda the point , right ?

 

[Zeov]

The people at Apple make products that they personally would want to use. They're not successful people because they play video games. No way is Apple coming out with a game controller.

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Then get an ION controller, Jeez

which doesn't support any of the games i mentioned.. "Jeez".

- Jeez

ps.


Jeez.

 

[Weegee1]

I would rather have some real milk than that powdered crap

Most Windows/PC games are made for .......Windows.

And the whole Red Ring argument is tired and old. Anyone with an X Box from the last 3 years is not going to have that problem.

As for problems ? The PS Network was Hacked like a billion times in one year

But lets get back on topic. If Apple had their own controllers for iPhone and iPad we could be including THEM in these silly little musings


And that's kinda the point , right ?

Yeah, I think that Apple should make their own controller too.

I still don't understand how XBOX 360 is closer to the source. It's Linux-based, and I'm pretty sure PS3 runs its games the same or better than the 360. Getting hacked is only a problem if you put your credit card in (besides, out of every PS3 player I know, none of them actually got hacked). Again, I don't own or plan to own either console (GameCube, original XBOX, and N64 all the way), but I'm just listing the advantages of the PS3.

 

[Renzatic]

If Apple could just get past the 1 gig limit on Apps (to satisfy Windows iTunes users on FAT32) we might actually start seeing some games at a whole new level.

You're kidding me, right? I think there's 5 people out there still running Windows on FAT32.