I realize it's early days, but would like to know that, if I pull the trigger now, there are some great titles that work well and demonstrate the Apple TV's viability as a living room gaming machine. Sounds like that's definitely the case. That's good to hear. I do have an Xbox One upstairs for hardcore gaming, and I know the Apple TV id a much more casual experience. That's fine with me. I want something downstairs that the whole family can enjoy.
How does multiplayer gaming work? Do you have to buy another Siri remote or use the one remote in combo with a third party controller or a phone? Does it work well?
You can only have one Siri remote paired with the Apple TV (the ones they sell are just for replacement purposes.) So you'll have to buy a gamepad (or two, you can have the Siri remote and up to two additional controllers connected.) Some games do allow the use of an iPhone or iPod touch as a controller, but this is by no means a guaranteed feature, it's at the discretion of the developer.
There are a limited number of games at the moment, but more will come (mine will be out in time for Christmas
, ahem, anyway) there are good, ok, iffy and cr@p just as with any game system. Lots are free or available as a a universal purchase, so if you already own them you get an instant game collection to start you off.
Games like Manticore Rising and Rayman Adventures show that there's plenty of scope for good, (last gen) console quality games. It's really down to the developers and their budgets, but this is Apple, look at the AppStore on iOS, there will be plenty of support for the Apple TV, porting games to it from iOS is such a trivial process it's crazy not to.
I never wanted one with the intention of using it primarily as a gaming machine but it's going to sit nicely alongside my consoles and I'll definitely be investing in games for it.