It's Friday 30 October 2015 and that means it's Apple TV launch day.
A fairly low key affair, even lower key than Apple Watch, nevertheless, it's an opportunity to poll our Mobile Mavens for a second time about their attitude to Apple's new black box.
We asked:
- Are you buying buy an Apple TV?
- Will it have more of an impact as a gaming device than Apple Watch?
Tony’s career has covered the whole spectrum from AAA console to handheld, mobile and flash titles, working on huge franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and Call of Duty.
In 2015 he founded Ant Workshop to develop his own titles and to offer his experience as a design consultant.
Despite my reservations about exactly how much of an impact it's going to have on gaming (generally I'm very sceptical both as to whether the audience is there for another "casual" big screen experience post-Wii and with the lacklustre showings of microconsoles so far, and also whether Apple's heart is really in pushing the gaming side of the thing), I'm pretty excited about the device as a whole.
And let's face it, if you're developing or have developed a game that'd be relatively straightforward to bring to it, it's another storefront to hit that's not completely drowned in rubbish (yet).
As a consumer I'm not in a hurry to get one, but it's just a matter of time of course (just bought an Xbox One for more TV-gaming so I now have a full set of current-gen consoles).
I do think Apple TV will engage more than Apple Watch in terms of gaming.Patrick Liu
My current AppleTV does what I want, not quite sure what new needs the new one will create for me (I'm sure it will), and not keen to find out just yet...
Another thing I've been thinking about is which storage size people will need considering apps are limited to 200 MB?
I do think it will engage more than Apple Watch in terms of gaming, it's simply has more potential because of the larger screen and ways to play together.
It's probably somewhat easier to figure out ways to make good games as opposed to Apple Watch that's really a new format in comparison.
We already have a development Apple TV (Thanks Apple!).
We are hoping Apple learns from the problems of the Apple Watch Companion App, and don't limit the number of games shown to Apple TV users to just a dozen or so.
The controller is quite good and many casual games should work well on the device.
I believe it will have greater impact than the Apple Watch did on gaming.
[people id="11" name="Brian Baglow"]
The opportunity to ... open gaming up to different input devices could be a real hook.Brian Baglow
The choice of streaming TV boxes is growing and the only differentiators for a lot of people are the interoperability with other devices.
I've not (yet) got an Apple TV, but to me, the opportunity to open up gaming and create more collective/collaborative/competitive experiences across multiple devices, or open gaming up to different input devices could well be a real hook.
Still not bothered getting an Apple Watch yet.
Before you judge me however, I was there, day 1 for my 6S - which is entirely awesome.
Come on Apple, give me a reason to give you more money, you big fruity bastard...
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Confirmed: The App store on the Apple TV is limited to a small set of games, as it was on the Watch Companion App.
Has Apple decided that discovery is broken and therefore has taken the step of only showing a few handpicked apps?
I’ve already purchased a couple for work and home along with a third party game controller that connected easily.
We’ve been working with the Apple TV dev kit for a month and it’s been a pleasure to use. Development for it has been smooth and the app approval process went without a hitch.
We think that the new Apple TV is a great extension of Apple’s ecosystem and allows us to bring our mobile action games to more people.
Local multiplayer, porting to consoles, and game controller support has been some of our most requested features and the new Apple TV allows us a logical path to deliver these features to our hard core fans.
As our players get more competitive via clans and tournaments, we see lots of potential for Apple TV to provide an interactive spectactor experience for our games. So one could actively compete or just sit back and enjoy the matches & commentary, similar to Twitch but tailored for our specific brand.
While the living room is the primary target for the Apple TV, I believe that conference rooms and classrooms are also great places to play games, albeit during parties, lunch breaks and after hours.
Thanks to AirPlay, almost every conference room I’m in has an Apple TV (which will eventually get upgraded to the new Apple TV). In short, the more places people can easily discover, purchase and experience mobile games with their friends & family, the better.
