Comments on: How Apple is fixing what’s wrong with console gaming today

By: Jerry Rodd

Jerry Rodd — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 05:05:00 +0000

So I have been considering a 4k set top. I ran across a Nvidia Shield X1 TV. I don’t pretend to know much about the gaming thing. But after a couple You Tube consults, it looked like they were streaming some sizable console “type” games from their own (Nvidia) servers. It appeared they could play almost instantly.

Then I read they updated their Android TV to Marshmallow. Which, as I perceived it, can up their base 16gb or their 500gb models to store even a couple TB of extra game or content storage.

So if that is correct, it appears the new Apple 2 TV might be in for a generation of back seat pecking order?

By: Jake Mathew

Jake Mathew — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 17:01:00 +0000

Has the author of this article even played a console game in the past 20 years? There are tons of games that don’t follow a “level” format. Last night, I downloaded NBA 2K16 for Xbox One which was several GBs. There are no levels. Just different basketball arenas. There are other games like GTA or Lego Marvel Super Heroes (also several GBs) which don’t have any levels, just one giant map. Those open-world maps are going to be a lot bigger than 200 MBs. So to play a game like that, you would be essentially downloading 200 MBs to get to the title screen and then another several GBs to even play the game. (which isn’t any better than what you have to do with current consoles) Also, I have an IPad Air running the A8 and playing the Lego Marvel Super Heroes iPad game. The graphics and gameplay is no where close to the Xbox One (or any of the previous generation consoles)

By: techtron

techtron — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 18:04:00 +0000

While in theory this strategy sounds good. Theres a few issues right now with internet providers restricting bandwidth by monthly limits. Netflix easily exceeds this with a family of 4. Parents watching their wallets will see this download feature as putting extra charges on their bills unecessarily and possibly inefficiently. Deleting a level only to redownload again for the next player is wateful to bandwidth!

By: Thiago

Thiago — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 13:39:00 +0000

In reply to Zaphoduk. Completly agree!

By: Thiago

Thiago — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 13:37:00 +0000

The most succesfull games now a days are those with free maps! U cannot download levals at a time!
It will be years till the apple TV can replace a game console or a game computer!

By: Zaphoduk

Zaphoduk — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 10:59:00 +0000

This article is complete speculation and also making some huge assumptions. Sony and Microsoft are not behind on this “only download the bare minimum to get the game running and stream the rest”. Both the PS4 and XBox One have this functionality, it’s just the developers of games don’t chose to use it as it changes the way they have to code their games and the way they address level data and art assets.

Additionally, i doubt Sony or Microsoft will feel threatened by a “console” that contains a mere 200MB RAM vs the proper consoles 8GB. Even if you are just loading in a single level of Batman look at all the art assets of the buildings, the enemies, the vehicles etc. Then the level data, which is essentially a 3D CAD map of the whole level. Then factor in the amount of code involved in the AI routines of the enemies, the music, the sound, the speech, the motion capture detail to render the models, the geometry detail of the models themselves, the textures etc. etc. Even with the best optimisation in the world i doubt very much that AAA titles like Batman would be possible.

It will be relegated to niche Indie stuff and nothing more, and as such not a threat to proper consoles, and certainly not as your article title suggests “Apple fixing what’s wrong with console gaming today”

By: Xi Whang

Xi Whang — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 15:16:00 +0000

Apple’s shooting themselves in the foot with this. They basically add 100 dollars to the price and functionality that no one needs if they already have a Mac, a PC, a PS4, etc.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 13:31:00 +0000

Excellent text. Really makes all sense. I just can not understand why Apple excluded the optical audio output.