Apple Working on Dedicated iOS Game Controller? [Updated]

[nagromme]

This is why apple is stubborn as an ox. You don't drive a car with a touchscreen steering wheel in real life nor should you in a racing game. Physical controllers should of been implemented since ios 3.0

Apple was extremely wise not to have physical controllers too soon: it would have killed off or greatly set back the new generation of modern touch and tilt games: control methods that are much BETTER than button and mice for many kinds of games. (The reason I game on my iPad and iPhone more than anywhere else--and I'm an avid gamer.) Plus, there would have been fragmentation between those who have the controller and those who don't.

Far fewer developers would have stepped up to the multitouch challenge--and in many cases, excelled--if they didn't have to.

It would have been a problem--for developers, for Apple, and in the end for users who would have missed out on some great touch games! It would have been a short-sighted "bullet-point marketing" move.

It also would have begged comparison with conventional consoles, and that would have been a poor marketing move when iOS was young.

But by waiting for the iOS games market to be as mature as it is, we can now have our cake and eat it too. Both modern touch/tilt games AND classic controller games can thrive. (And even retro/digital controls, thanks to iCade.) So I hope it's true!

 

[dugbug]

Could just be an official joystick API framework

 

[Casiotone]

One thing to remember is that the current Apple TV doesn't have a lot of flash storage (8GB).

 

[wesk702]

It will look nice, and be completely uncomfortable.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Samsung has already officially announced their game controller:

so you can go on whining about Apple once again "copying" Samsung.

Apple rumors are copying Samsung products, or Samsung products are copying Microsoft products?

 

[Tinmania]

Wow. We joke about the apple nuts keeping their head in the sand and not looking outside the ecosystem, but you must really do Timmy proud.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s4-features-official-gaming-controller-6405374

I have to admit that was a spectacular display of not knowing anything about what is going on and yet still blindly parroting the same ol' same ol'.



Michael

 

[firewood]

iPad/iPhone is the game controller Apple TV is the console.

No. It's too mediocre a controller. No tactile feedback. Non-ergo shape with hard uncomfortable edges. Terrible latency (16 milliseconds+ is way too slow for some games).

 

[D.T.]

One thing to remember is that the current Apple TV doesn't have a lot of flash storage (8GB).

That's a good point. If I were Apple I'd put AppleTV apps in the cloud and enable them through Home Sharing. Granted you wouldn't be able to just flip-flop between 2GB games instantly, but you could download your faves, and for adventure type games it's probably going to be your main gaming for an extended period.

Also, a little creative development where the core game engine downloads, and levels/areas/maps download on demand in the background with a little logic based on current game progress (same logic for completed levels would purge them, recovering local storage space).

 

[olowott]

well , its been confirmed a NO.

my phone and ipad are doing great with out a controller

 

[dec.]

Wow... I wonder how long until Microsoft sues Samsung for ripping off the 360 controller.

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What do you expect? It's the result of the technical evolution of gamepads, thats what they look like these days. Any similarities are pure coincidence.

 

[Slim02]

iPhone and iPad would be really sucky game controllers. As you cannot feel the buttons. It works when you actually look at the screen but otherwise it would be really awkard. Think about it.

I guess you never tried it, because I have used my iPhone/iPad as a controller on my 50" Panasonic plasma 3D Smart TV and it work just fine. Using touch controller is like driving a manual (stick).. You know when to shift gears without looking at the dashboard.. touch screen controller is the same way. You know where the on the screen to touch without looking at it..

 

[APlotdevice]

What do you expect? It's the result of the technical evolution of gamepads, thats what they look like these days. Any similarities are pure coincidence.

Bull. It is no coincidence that they are using the same color scheme, right down to the green A button, red B button, yellow Y button, and blue X button. And the shape of that d-pad is also fairly unique to the 360 controller.

 

[Lennholm]

Wow... I wonder how long until Microsoft sues Samsung for ripping off the 360 controller.

Image

Apple rumors are copying Samsung products, or Samsung products are copying Microsoft products?

The Xbox controller is a rip-off of the Dreamcast controller and the SNES controller, they even used the exakt same labels, colors and diamond layout of the face buttons from the SNES controller.

---------

Bull. It is no coincidence that they are using the same color scheme, right down to the green A button, red B button, yellow Y button, and blue X button. And the shape of that d-pad is also fairly unique to the 360 controller.

Like i said, MS stole that color scheme and even the names of the buttons from the SNES controller.

 

[Speedy Gonzalez]

Touch gaming sucks and apple is aware of that...

Solution:Jailbreak, Phonejoy Play + Blutrol http://www.phonejoy.us/

 

[APlotdevice]

The Xbox controller is a rip-off of the Dreamcast controller and the SNES controller, they even used the exakt same labels, colors and diamond layout of the face buttons from the SNES controller.

I have all three controllers in front of me right now. They are certainly quite similar, but not exactly the same. The SNES controller had A on the far right, B on the bottom, X on the top, and Y on the left. Also depending on which region you lived in the buttons were either dark and light purple or red/green/yellow/blue (though not for the same buttons). The Dreamcast controller had the same position of letters and the same four colors, though still not applied to the same buttons. Also these buttons are completely opaque, with the letter marked to the side on the SNES controller and engraved into the Dreamcast controller. Only on the 360 controller do you see the colored translucent buttons with the letter embedded inside. Most crically though both the SNES and Dreamcast controller had a plus shaped D-pad. A shape that most first party controllers continue to use today, except for Microsoft. The d-pad on this Samsung controller is identical to the crappy one found on the 360 controller.

So to make a long pointless rant short, Sega and Microsoft at least tried to differentiate their layout and color schemes a little bit. In contrast Samsung made no effort at all.

 

[fertilized-egg]

The Xbox controller is a rip-off of the Dreamcast controller and the SNES controller, they even used the exakt same labels, colors and diamond layout of the face buttons from the SNES controller.

Like i said, MS stole that color scheme and even the names of the buttons from the SNES controller.

Dreamcast

Xbox & SNES

Samsung's

I mean Microsoft hodge-podge'd various ideas but Samsung's "referencing", as usual, goes a bit beyond that. I almost want to praise them for being so stubborn about c...I mean "referencing" others' even after all the ridicule and even legal troubles. It takes a really determined mind to keep doing it to that extent when you're one of biggest and most successful companies on the planet.

 

[macrumors12345]

Come on guys...

April 1 is still 3 days off.

 

[Lennholm]

I have all three controllers in front of me right now. They are certainly quite similar, but not exactly the same. The SNES controller had A on the far right, B on the bottom, X on the top, and Y on the left. Also depending on which region you lived in the buttons were either dark and light purple or red/green/yellow/blue (though not for the same buttons). The Dreamcast controller had the same position of letters and the same four colors, though still not applied to the same buttons. Also these buttons are completely opaque, with the letter marked to the side on the SNES controller and engraved into the Dreamcast controller. Only on the 360 controller do you see the colored translucent buttons with the letter embedded inside. Most crically though both the SNES and Dreamcast controller had a plus shaped D-pad. A shape that most first party controllers continue to use today, except for Microsoft. The d-pad on this Samsung controller is identical to the crappy one found on the 360 controller.

So to make a long pointless rant short, Sega and Microsoft at least tried to differentiate their layout and color schemes a little bit. In contrast Samsung made no effort at all.

Dreamcast

Xbox & SNES

Samsung's

I mean Microsoft hodge-podge'd various ideas but Samsung's "referencing", as usual, goes a bit beyond that. I almost want to praise them for being so stubborn about c...I mean "referencing" others' even after all the ridicule and even legal troubles. It takes a really determined mind to keep doing it to that extent when you're one of biggest and most successful companies on the planet.

The diamond layout, the buttons being A, B, X and Y as opposed to, say, A, B, C and D and the colors red, green yellow and blue, the shoulder buttons and even the D-pad itself (wether it's cross-shaped or round (functionally the same)) instead of stick was all introduced by Nintendo (they also re-introduced the analog stick).
If Sega and MS could copy Nintendo, why can't Samsung copy the copy (or actually, copy the copy of the copy)? Merely shuffling the colors and labels around a bit doesn't mean MS wasn't copying and the difference between this half-assed effort by MS and the no effort of Samsung is negligible.

 

[Skika]

I guess you never tried it, because I have used my iPhone/iPad as a controller on my 50" Panasonic plasma 3D Smart TV and it work just fine. Using touch controller is like driving a manual (stick).. You know when to shift gears without looking at the dashboard.. touch screen controller is the same way. You know where the on the screen to touch without looking at it..

Maybe for some of the most basic things, but as soon as you add more then 2 buttons its over.

 

[ijohn.8.80]

Crazy good. Some game just need a controller.

Dragon's Lair is one such game that needs a controller to work properly, the current version blows.

 

[Xenu007]

How about a game controller for Macs?

I've got all these games on my iMac from the App Store, and Apple doesn't sell a single game controller for them! Suggestions?

 

[ijohn.8.80]

I've got all these games on my iMac from the App Store, and Apple doesn't sell a single game controller for them! Suggestions?

What? Do you want something like this?

Macally iShock II USB Controller

I use the iShock X pictured below and it works perfectly with all my Lego games.

 

[Xenu007]

What? Do you want something like this?

Image
Macally iShock II USB Controller

I use the iShock X pictured below and it works perfectly with all my Lego games.

Image

Thank you!

 

[Menneisyys2]

I'd love emulators for non-jailbroken devices as well, but I won't get my hope up on that one.

Won't happen, "thanks" to Apple's stubbornness. The last emulator (Baby names) was removed about an hour(!) later it turned out to be a disguised emulator.

 

[JGowan]

This is why apple is stubborn as an ox. ...

...They are not out of the party yet but they are definitely late. No gamer is going to take apple seriously if there is no real gaming controls.

It can appear so (ox) but you're right, they are not out yet. And considering that they host the party, I don't know if they could ever be out.

I know that when Steve Jobs said he had "finally cracked" the home tv, he was talking about programming, but I also believe he was speaking about controllers that you slip your iPhones & iPods into for home gaming. I believe this will get introduced all at once. When Apple is ready with the whole deal, it will hit like a blitzkrieg and on that day, Nintendo will be very sad

No matter who makes what slip-on cover, they might sell hundreds or even thousands, but it will take Apple's version with their marketing might and muscle to sell them by the millions. I think we are on the verge and I think Nintendo would do well to be thinking of ways to get an invitation to the party you so fondly speak of!