Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Recruiting Game Developers?

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster


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/
^^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.
 
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!!!
 
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!
 
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. 😀
 
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?🙂
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
(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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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..
 
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.
 
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. 😀

This is interesting to say the least.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. 🙁
 
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?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back