Current iPhones can be used as game consoles by hooking them up via usb-c -> hdmi to a TV and pairing a controller. iPad's make great gaming devices due to the larger screens. With a common architecture is easier than ever to just bring the game to all iPhone/iPad/Macs, besides, there are ten times more iPhones out there than there are Nintendo Switches, so if just a tenth of iPhone users game it's still a sizable market to address.
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iOS 18's New Game Mode Makes iPhones Faster and More Responsive
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Current iPhones can be used as game consoles by hooking them up via usb-c -> hdmi to a TV and pairing a controller. iPad's make great gaming devices due to the larger screens. With a common architecture is easier than ever to just bring the game to all iPhone/iPad/Macs, besides, there are ten times more iPhones out there than there are Nintendo Switches, so if just a tenth of iPhone users game it's still a sizable market to address.
If that were the reason, android would be more successful with games..
I think it is mostly because it is just not convenient to play on the Phone.. Maybe if they released official "controller attachments" for the phone or something, it would get more attention.
I'm guessing it's more of a marketing checkbox for them as opposed to a feature that's intended for actual use. In other words it is so they can say "hey look! we support AAA games!" to the shareholders.
Yes and no... the average Android device doesn't have good performance nor does it have anywhere near homogeneous hardware. The iPhone had all the potential. It was "standardized" enough to be a good plattform like a console
All that Apple would have needed to do is increase the app size limit (which I believe is still in place at 4GB) much earlier than they did and provide a good set of input devices as "standard controller", perhaps allow a mouse input. And by that I mean that a developer is allowed to *require* such devices for proper input. Their requirement that a game must be playable on touch screen just sucks for some games and perhaps requires a complete redesign of controls. On smaller devices you loose half the screen with on-screen input (iPhone or even iPad mini) and on bigger devices that are not handheld (iPad Pro) you have a enough space, but you probably don't want to hold the device in your hand for gaming due its size.
The fail in terms of controllers is well documented in this article: https://www.macstories.net/stories/apple-hits-restart-on-game-controller-support/
And it was only this year Apple stepped down and decided to be so generous as to allow game streaming and emulators... https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/05/app-store-guidelines-emulators-music-app-links/
Apple really sabotaged themselves when it came to gaming, leading the gaming sector to ignore the platform. Coming back now will take much much more than "game mode"...
Yep, basically you have ports of years old games that can't be played because of the control scheme or hyper optimized IAP fests. Or maybe ports of years old games that can't be played and are also IAP fests in their mobile version.
It's pretty sad because I remember when the iStuff was new and Apple started gaming on them with stuff like Infinity Blade which was a good looking game for a phone, it was done with the control options of a phone in mind, and was pay once.
This is the absolute number one problem I learned long, long ago and it's never changed. Don’t expect a game to run on anything but the version of iOS it was released on, because it will never get updates. The vast majority of these "AAA" games get one or two updates ever, and are then abandoned.
It's not like a game console where that's it, no matter what software upgrades come to it, it will always run software for that console. Or a PC, where yes older games may not run on newer versions of Windows, but that takes decades and is usually more of an actual hardware issue by then.
As usual, Apple has amazing hardware and is glossing over the software issues.
This could be neat but currently a pain.
Playing Heckfire on my 15PM and it comes on. Since this the background world map does not stay updated and requires a relaunch of the game to force refresh the map. Seems to affect the relaunch from app manager - missing map items.
Wish you could turn this off.
Playing Heckfire on my 15PM and it comes on. Since this the background world map does not stay updated and requires a relaunch of the game to force refresh the map. Seems to affect the relaunch from app manager - missing map items.
Wish you could turn this off.
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This is one of the reasons I gave up on many apps made for iPad and iPhone that are games and productivity. I’d find something great and then it’s support would end, they change to subscription etc
The only productivity apps I use on iOS now are Apple, Microsoft and the other big developers. And haven’t bought a game for iOS in years.
There's all this talk about modern AAA-gaming on the iPhone...
But I thought emulators were the hot new thing to play games from the 80's and 90's...
But I thought emulators were the hot new thing to play games from the 80's and 90's...
Apple and gaming. It’s hopium extract. Like Bluetooth- it’s always gonna be great next year. I’ve watched apple flub gaming for decades and nothing they are currently up to is gonna change the fact that they don’t grok gaming or game companies. As a result of their institutional attitude towards gaming most folks moved on. All their bluster is too little too late at this stage. Steam and gaming PCs/ consoles are unassailable. If they were serious they’d put their money where their mouth is, and no I don’t mean porting toolkits. iOS gaming is even more sad- so many great titles got dropped, like llamasoft’s wacky stuff. In order to change the perception of Apple/Apple platforms and gaming they need to be top of consideration for someone wanting AAA experiences. And there is a lot of connective tissue required for such a tall order. So ultimately no one is buying an iPhone (or a Mac) with the express purpose of gaming. Heck as pointed out here, you can get a PS5 and a game disc and probably play it 15 years from today (at a fraction of the cost of an current iPhone); assuming you took care of the gear. Apple’s relentless march forward means you will have games that you can no longer play because iOS moved on- it’s necessary I get it. But. Emulating classic iOS games just isn’t a thing like with games elsewhere.
Exactly! With my iPhone 13 Pro's bluetooth 5.0, the latency is far better than bluetooth 4.x. However, it's not as good as a hard wire and likely never will be. I would love to squeeze a tad better latency out of my iPhone while using the Deejay app with bluetooth speakers if iOS 18 a)truly improves audio latency, b)improves audio latency for all apps, and c)improves audio latency for all bluetooth connections (not just Airpods as they promote). Currently using Deejay over bluetooth is just a few milliseconds too much for a delay which totally messes up trying to use the app.
I'd love to be able to enable Game Mode or some kind of High Performance Mode for my iPhone and iPad with 1 easy button.
I don't know, I switched from 15 PM to the S24U and one of the reasons was for the extended support for any emulator. Being that said, I downloaded a PS2 emulator and loaded Def Jam Fight for NY, while I found it exciting I quickly became tired of playing on the phone, might play sometimes but just for 15 minutes or less.
I know my use case doesn't mean everyone does the same, but I think gaming phones and accessories remain a niche group at the moment, maybe, that's why Apple doesn't explore other ideas in the gaming field.
I guess a lot of people have an iPhone anyway so it wouldn't be a choice of PS5 or iPhone. I can't imagine many people are trying to play with the onscreen controls are they?! Excellent 8bitdo controllers are available for £30-40 if you can't stretch for a DualSense / XBox controller.
My guess is that there’s the chance of the phone just getting hotter faster and then throttling… and when the phone decides to throttle it can get really bad.
Had an experience not that long ago where just reducing a bit the rendering resolution would keep the game steady at 60fps, else it would be at 60fps then tank to 20fps for a minute or two then go back to 60fps. Rinse and repeat.
M1 iPads do fare a lot better though, I could see a win there.