Potential First Image of MFi Gaming Controller Surfaces

[Donka]

iPad or iPhone + AV Digital Out & HDMI + Extended Bluetooth game controller = great gaming machine.
Hook up your iPad to the TV and sit back on the couch with the controller and play the likes of real Racing 3 or Fifa without the lag associated with AirPlay. IOS just got that bit better...

 

[blackcrayon]

No, no , no logitec!

It needs to be a FPS style like the WiiU Pro!

You can no longer game with an NES style controller! Two analog sticks under each thumb & the buttons below, done!

There will be controllers with analog sticks. Apple's game controller API and Made for iOS approval program for these things specifically accounts for controllers with or without analog controls.

 

[litmag01]

With Steve Jobs no longer around to tell us these things aren't elegant enough for his device, it appears we'll finally get a proper gamepad for the iOS this year. This will be one of them, made by Logitech.

OK creepy MacBeth like person.

 

[Millah]

Goodbye Nintendo.



Easily... I find that the main appeal of the DS and Vita is the physical controls. The iPhone's screen is wonderful for gameplay, and as you said, the GPU they come with tend to be quite capable. Just look at Infinity Blade II. Nintendo was hemorrhaging money in 2012, so I can't imagine they'll exist for much longer.

Games. Its all about the games. Has nothing to do with "buttons." People buy 3DS because they want to play the great games on it. Especially in Japan. iPhone games are "good enough," but will never approach console level production, until game publishers are willing to invest the same amount of money in iPhone titles as they do in console titles. And more importantly, until users are willing to PAY for it (not .99)

As long as Nintendo continues to have franchises that millions of gamers around the world adore, they will continue to exist. Software sells hardware. The issues of Nintendo "hemorrhaging" money had to do with selling new hardware at a loss, which has since gone away with the 3DS. And the WiiU hasn't HAD software yet, thus no sales. Which will once again change later in the year. Handheld systems will always sell very well in Japan, because of a difference in culture there. Japanese love handhelds, due to a different lifestyle. They also love games like Animal Crossing, which is a Nintendo franchise.

People seem to forget Nintendo made boatloads of money on Wii and DS, because they were smart enough to sell hardware that was PROFITABLE (unlike Sony and MS). Nintendo can make a few mistakes without running through their money.

 

[69650]

Really looking forward to this. I find it hard to comfortably play games on my iPhone but I don't want the added expense of buying a Sony PSP, so this would be ideal, especially with the rumoured larger screen in the iPhone 6 next year.

This would also make an ideal gamepad for playing games on your TV through the AppleTV box either using AirPlay or who knows maybe they'll start selling games directly through the AppleTV in direct competition with the PS4 and XBox One.

 

[APlotdevice]

iPad or iPhone + AV Digital Out & HDMI + Extended Bluetooth game controller = great gaming machine.
Hook up your iPad to the TV and sit back on the couch with the controller and play the likes of real Racing 3 or Fifa without the lag associated with AirPlay. IOS just got that bit better...

Actually you do unfortunately get some lag with the lighting->HDMI adapter. The reason being that Lighting can't handle a raw video signal, so they use the airplay protocol to send a compressed stream to a processor inside the adapter.

 

[petsounds]

you really think people take apple nda seriously ? lol

Some do, many don't. But I'm sure if they had a startup with an NDA, and someone leaked their work, they would be very upset. Most people can't seem to put themselves in the position of others. Oh right, Apple is a huge corporation, so that makes me okay...

 

[baryon]

This sounds cool, I do miss physical buttons for gaming!

 

[donutbagel]

Give me a GameCube controller for iPhone already, and it's game on.

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Games. Its all about the games. Has nothing to do with "buttons." People buy 3DS because they want to play the great games on it.

Mario Kart 7 and New Super Mario Bros 2? That's only 2.

 

[sk24iam]

I'm guessing if Apple makes a TV later this year, a Mfi controller will be the key to playing ios games also.

 

[roadbloc]

Apple should have done this years ago.

 

[Donka]

Actually you do unfortunately get some lag with the lighting->HDMI adapter. The reason being that Lighting can't handle a raw video signal, so they use the airplay protocol to send a compressed stream to a processor inside the adapter.

This I did not know. Will need to explore this a bit more.

 

[MacGuffin]

"With Steve Jobs no longer around to tell us these things aren't elegant enough for his device, it appears we'll finally get a proper gamepad for the iOS this year."

Hmmm.

Steve Jobs alive...

Or proper iOS gamepads at last?

Generation Facebook faces its first moral dilemma! ;-)

 

[ConCat]

Games. Its all about the games. Has nothing to do with "buttons." People buy 3DS because they want to play the great games on it. Especially in Japan. iPhone games are "good enough," but will never approach console level production, until game publishers are willing to invest the same amount of money in iPhone titles as they do in console titles. And more importantly, until users are willing to PAY for it (not .99)

As long as Nintendo continues to have franchises that millions of gamers around the world adore, they will continue to exist. Software sells hardware. The issues of Nintendo "hemorrhaging" money had to do with selling new hardware at a loss, which has since gone away with the 3DS. And the WiiU hasn't HAD software yet, thus no sales. Which will once again change later in the year. Handheld systems will always sell very well in Japan, because of a difference in culture there. Japanese love handhelds, due to a different lifestyle. They also love games like Animal Crossing, which is a Nintendo franchise.

People seem to forget Nintendo made boatloads of money on Wii and DS, because they were smart enough to sell hardware that was PROFITABLE (unlike Sony and MS). Nintendo can make a few mistakes without running through their money.

Fair enough. I myself used to be a hardcore Pokémon fan when I was younger. I probably wouldn't have been so inclined to buy (well, to get my mom to buy...) Nintendo hardware if Pokémon wasn't on it. The issue is that I was never a hardcore gamer, and many people like me will make do with the games on an iPhone, which are getting better and better all the time. There are already a few companies out there putting out full 3D games with all the bells and whistles including multiplayer combat and whatnot. I firmly believe that it's only a matter of time till the hardcore gamers get on board, especially once physical controllers become a reality. Playing a game on the iPhone is always an issue without physical controllers because you have to have your thumbs blocking a rather significant amount of the display. Get a real controller out there and you can make all the on-screen controls disappear to make the gaming experience a whole lot smoother.

 

[Donka]

In addition to what ConCat is saying, the problem for the likes of Sony and Nintendo is that they have set hardware that has to last for a number of years. Apple are upping the performance of the IOS devices each year. I believe that Sony's Vita uses a SGX543MP4 for graphics which is the same gpu as the iPad 3. The iPad 4 is using an improved SGX554MP4 and the next iPad will most likely improve on that again. Yes, the retina iPad has more work to do, just to drive that pixel dense screen but if the iPad and soon the iPhone are not yet as capable as the Vita, they shortly will be and then over take it.

 

[Mike MA]

I have to admit that Steve was right indeed - that thing surely is everything but elegant....