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The most interesting part of this to me isn't the titanium or the camera (impressive as it looks), it's the GPU. They made a point of saying that the GPU had b

The most interesting part of this to me isn't the titanium or the camera (impressive as it looks), it's the GPU. They made a point of saying that the GPU had been completely ground-up re-designed, and I assume they're intending to keep scaling that up over the next few iterations. They didn't talk about it for very long, but that the phone is able to convincingly run AAA games, even at playable if not great frame-rates, is really impressive. This puts the iPhone up against devices like the Switch and Steam Deck for a lot of users. Granted, they don't have Nintendo's games, and they don't have Steam's massive back catalogue, but looking forward it does make a dedicated handheld gaming system harder to justify, or at least makes the phone easier to justify if you're not buying both. It also makes me really interested to see where Apple is going with Apple TV and the Mac. With the game porting toolkit already announced (and the results people are already getting just using it directly to run Windows games), it seems like Apple really could eat at least some portion of the gaming market by already having a handheld (phone), console (Apple TV), and gaming PC (Mac) ready to go in the next few years. I'm expecting the new M3 Macs next month to lean really heavily into discussing the GPU advances and (hopefully) announce a lot more support from big studios to bring more games to the Mac.

imbusy111 3y ago
Pointing out the obvious, but the iPhone only has the touch input, and no physical controls, so it's not going to work as a serious gaming device.
- cloin 3y ago
  It does however pair very nicely with popular console controllers
- jonahhorowitz 3y ago
  It works really well with a PS5 controller, and they make controllers that snap on the sides too.
- KoftaBob 3y ago
  Well yeah but that's a trivial problem to solve by just getting a case/attachment with gaming controls on it, like the Razer Kishi.
  - lp0_on_fire 3y ago
    With this announcement it wouldn't surprise me if Apple is already working on a first-party case/attachment specifically for gaming. And it wouldn't be their first attempt at such hardware: https://lowendmac.com/2006/apples-pippin-and-bandais-world-missing-the-market/ https://lowendmac.com/2006/apples-pippin-and-bandais-world-m...
- basisword 3y ago
  This applies to the Switch too. It’s touch screen but has external controls (they detach and you can use the kickstand). iOS supports gaming controllers so you could use it in the same way as the Switch (albeit it doesn’t have a built in kickstand).
  - SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
    But if you're bringing your switch you're not just bringing the screen. If you are bringing your phone somewhere you are bringing just the phone. It's harder to sell and justify.
  - mcphage 3y ago
    > It’s touch screen but has external controls The touch screen is one of the least-used parts of the Switch. Which is a little disappointing, since it was so heavily and well used on the DS/3DS lines. But so many of the ways Nintendo intends you to use the system, the touchscreen isn't accessible. So games aren't built around it in the same way that it was for their previous handhelds.
- sbuk 3y ago
  Didn't an infamous CEO say similar about the 'missing' physical keyboard and not being a good business device?
  - cmelbye 3y ago
    iPhone's keyboard is a joy to use. Virtual joysticks and gyro controls are frustrating and painful.
- ErneX 3y ago
  You can use modern gamepads with it, like the PS5 DualSense.
  - jwells89 3y ago
    Yeah, bluetooth controller of choice and a kickstand case on the biggest iPhone gets you very close to a Switch or Deck conceptually. Once the A17 makes its way to the iPad mini, that'll be even closer.
    - falcolas 3y ago
      If, and only if the developers include controller support. Which they largely don't, even when controllers are supported on every other platform. Two egregious examples: The Final Fantasy Pixel Remastered series, and Monster Hunter Stories. The first has controller support on both the PC and consoles, but not on phones (which came out first). The second launched on a console (the 3DS), and has no controller support on the phone. That caveat alone makes it so frustrating to play games on the phone IME.
      - jwells89 3y ago
        It’s a shame because the UX of controller configuration on iOS/macOS/tvOS is the best I’ve seen outside of consoles. Even Windows, the king of gaming, doesn’t do as well with configuration of Microsoft’s own Xbox controllers (let alone those of competing companies). Instead on Windows Steam is required for any level of sanity with controllers.
      - 0x457 3y ago
        Even if they do include, it's often weird. I wanted to try play genshin with controller - you have to complete certain parts of the game to unlock settings button. Why?
  - dbbk 3y ago
    Then you've gotta figure out how to prop your phone up...
- theshrike79 3y ago
  Serious or not, but for example Diablo Immortal is mobile only and it reportedly brings in $1M _daily_. So some people are seriously playing it with no physical controls. =) For "serious" mobile gamers there are devices like the Razer Kishi: https://www.razer.com/mobile-controllers/razer-kishi-v2 https://www.razer.com/mobile-controllers/razer-kishi-v2 On this site people tend to forget that there actually are people under 30 whose only computing device is a phone. They use it for everything.
_hzw 3y ago
And they will likely have to enable side-loading in the EU next year, which will allow us to play almost all retro games through emulation.
- moritzwarhier 3y ago
  Maybe Apple will embrace this then. Maybe even making deals to compete with emulators + pirated ROMs. Just fantasizing a bit here... thinking of Apple-approved N64, GameCube, GBA, PSP, even PS4 emulators with licensed games for a somewhat medium to high price tag - why not?
  - _hzw 3y ago
    Actually, this is up to Nintendo and Sony, not Apple...
    - moritzwarhier 3y ago
      Sure! As I said I was fantasizing, maybe I should have qualified this a bit more :)
    - duskwuff 3y ago
      And, speaking from experience, Nintendo definitely wouldn't be on board. As far as I'm aware, they have never authorized any kind of third-party emulation of their games; even their first-party emulators like the NES Mini or Virtual Console have always been limited-time offerings with relatively small selections of games.
      - kaba0 3y ago
        Getting the game ROMs is definitely illegal. But they can’t have any say in the actual emulation and emulation software.
        0x457 3y ago
        Good luck having apple to approve a game where to do anything you have to google things, the game cannot tell you how to google and any public popular resources telling how to do it getting struck with DMCA.
summarity 3y ago
To me this is a signal of reusing the GPU innovations that were required for the Vision Pro in currently available products and then finding a martket for it (gaming)
- sroussey 3y ago
  Eh, the GPU changes with ray tracing were supposed to land last year as part of A16 but heat issues required them to pull it. The bright side is that if you are on a yearly release cadence then you don’t let one thing slip the whole SOC (assuming, as Apple does, that you have a risk on and risk off design going simultaneously). Your are right on that the Vision Pro will have a M3 not M2.
  - stirlo 3y ago
    >Your are right on that the Vision Pro will have a M3 not M2. It's been publicly announced as using M2 but I assume they just plan to say "we made it even faster" and launch with M3 then?
    - replygirl 3y ago
      possibly a more affordable standard tier with the m2
  - nebula8804 3y ago
    >Eh, the GPU changes with ray tracing were supposed to land last year as part of A16 but heat issues required them to pull it. Where did you read about this? Is there some publication that publishes insights into things like this?
    - sroussey 3y ago
      https://wccftech.com/a16-bionic-gpu-could-have-had-ray-tracing-support/ https://wccftech.com/a16-bionic-gpu-could-have-had-ray-traci...
- lofaszvanitt 3y ago
paxys 3y ago
Is it though? The promise of gaming on iPhone (and mobile gaming in general) has been taken over and destroyed by freemium games whose only goal is to push microtransactions. What is a marginally better GPU going to accomplish? Help games sell me their "bundle of gems" faster? Developers simply do not have the incentive to build any other kinds of games when the current crop of addictive shovelware is so damn profitable. The sad part is that Apple encourages this practice because it is easy money for them (via their 30% cut). The problem needs to be fixed by better quality control and transaction/gambling rules, not a faster processor.
- mcphage 3y ago
  I think there will always be a market for freemium games, because it's nice to try things without having to put money down. But I think the freemium market can co-exist with a premium game market. Like, the premium game market still exists and still is going strong, no reason it couldn't live on mobile devices also.
  - afavour 3y ago
    > But I think the freemium market can co-exist with a premium game market I agree... but there isn't one. And I don't think it's because of an underpowered GPU.
    - mcphage 3y ago
      I agree.
  - paxys 3y ago
    > But I think the freemium market can co-exist with a premium game market Not so when all the big gaming mobile companies are assigning their top talent to building stuff like Clash of Kings. And why wouldn't they, when they can make so much more money doing so than working on a quality prestige game that no one will pay for. > the premium game market still exists and still is going strong, no reason it couldn't live on mobile devices also. It's actually the opposite. Mobile-style microtransactions are slowly taking over the premium PC/console gaming market.
gloryjulio 3y ago
The problem is apple actively working against the game developers, or they just ignore the market completely. See the example of vulkan, and deprecation of 32bit games. It doesn't matter how good the hardware is. If the platform is not supporting the games and all they have are the occasional courting of the some of the games, the games won't come to the apple platform for free. Also they are already making the mobile gaming money which is already lucrative. Are they also committing enough to the 'conventional' gaming?
- thaanpaa 3y ago
  The App Store is the real issue. Apple's antipathy towards developers is perplexing. The number of stories I've heard about companies having problems due to some interpretation of their policies is ridiculous. There are even horror stories about businesses going bankrupt simply because Apple decided they were in violation of something and banned them from the App Store entirely. I mean, no game company wants to spend millions on a game only to have all of their games pulled because one of them was too similar to someone else's game or something (according to some Apple reviewer with way too much power!).
- kaba0 3y ago
  Metal predates vulkan, and the latter is mostly used on Android only. It is not particularly well-liked (too low-level for most things), also.
  - gloryjulio 3y ago
    Apple is justified doing whatever they want. I even agree with apple's stand that traditional gaming market doesn't matter to them. But from the traditional developers' perspective, Apple system is hostile and they have no reason to develop for Apple. Valve go out of their way to develop proton which is based on vulkan. Apple could utilize it if they have supported vulkan. Valve actively expand the linux support for old and current games. Apple has to work for it to court the traditional developers. Superior hardware doesn't mean much when the alternatives are good enough And it's justified, because it's really not that important in money making in grand scheme of things.
danhor 3y ago
AAA-like titles were previously tried at the beginning of the App Store, mostly ports of older titles. Most Indie Games would also run fine on most Smartphones, but never succeeded. Stuff that sold great on the Switch. I think the lack of "official" nice, high-quality, hasslefree Gamepad, continuing cooling-issues and especially the expectation of consumers for low prices on Apps results in the Market for "real" games on Phones remaining very small. Apple tried to counteract it with Apple Arcade, but that hasn't worked out.
- ghaff 3y ago
  >Apple tried to counteract it with Apple Arcade, but that hasn't worked out. I'm not really a gamer but I get Arcade as part of a bundle and it doesn't really wow me. I sometimes look at "Best of..." lists and try a few out on a plane flight and I'm mostly meh.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    I love Apple Arcade because I can trust whatever I get from it for my kids is not a gambling app in disguise.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      There is that--especially for kids. It may not be very good but at least it's not evil.
      - appplication 3y ago
        The bar is far more than high enough for kids. I recall being more than willing to happily spend hours playing that handheld water ring toss game that’s somehow in every dentist office.
- radlad 3y ago
  Just gonna throw this out there... for me, one of the main reasons I don't play games on my phone, is because it will absolutely tank the battery life. A dedicated device has the benefit of having a sole purpose: gaming. If I kill the battery, I just can't play anymore games. I can still take calls, browse the web, and text my partner.
turtlebits 3y ago
People have been saying that Mac gaming is around the corner for years now. GPU upgrades are the least exiting part of new iPhones. I have zero faith that they move the gaming needle, especially on iPhones. The most exciting thing for Mac gaming is probably the Game porting toolkit.
- thaanpaa 3y ago
  I'm not sure they have. When Macs came with Intel processors, everyone who wanted to play games on their Mac just booted into Windows for gaming, so there wasn't much pressure to make them work on the MacOS side. Because Bootcamp no longer works, Apple is under increased pressure to improve game performance.
- dimitrios1 3y ago
  > I have zero faith that they move the gaming needle My faith is placed in the fact that they have been pouring resources that amount close to billions on making gaming a thing on iPhones and Macs. As a long time Mac and iPhone gamer, I have seen slow and steady incremental progress. I'm personally excited for the new GPU. Besides, I think they get the benefit of the doubt at this point. This is Apple, not Google, after all.
ErneX 3y ago
I think the M3 Macs will start to come out in 2024.
aaomidi 3y ago
iPhones are useless for AAA games unless they open the platform up more. One of the reasons stadia failed is that gamers that spend the most do not want to keep rebuying games. Apple seems to expect people to also keep rebuying games. Just. No.
lofaszvanitt 3y ago
Yeah, very good for your eyesight.
- falcolas 3y ago
  I recommend reading glasses, they reduce the eyestrain from using up close devices.
  - lofaszvanitt 3y ago
    Sure, you gonna use glasses for a phone.
    - falcolas 3y ago
      Yes, yes I do. Especially when I'm using my phone for a long period of time.
      - lofaszvanitt 3y ago
        Why not use a bigger screen?!?!
        falcolas 3y ago
        It’s more distance than screen size that causes strain, and I can’t really pull out a laptop where I use my phone. Plus, reading glasses are hardly an inconvenience in everyday life.
stephc_int13 3y ago
Most smartphones are already faster than the Switch. The quality of games on a platform is not directly related to its technical capabilities or SDK, but to the business model and platform incentives. Apple has fueled a race-to-the-bottom followed by an almost forced transition to f2p, and they benefited immensely in the process (30%), but I think that most gamers and indie devs are not satisfied.
- iLoveOncall 3y ago
  > The quality of games on a platform is not directly related to its technical capabilities or SDK, but to the business model and platform incentives. And also (mostly) the ergonomics. Comparing a phone whose main purpose is definitely not gaming (at least the iPhone, I know there are some gaming-first phones) to a handheld console will always make the former look pathetic for this use-case.
  - bobthepanda 3y ago
    Yes. The problem with touchscreen-only is that it doesn’t feel very good, and also any sort of control scheme will mean at least temporarily reducing usable area for UX since you can’t see through your hands.
- The_Colonel 3y ago
  I remember being completely impressed by my Note 3 (10 years ago almost exactly) playing games like Dead Trigger 2 and NFS: Underground. From then on, GPU performance / graphics on these tiny displays seemed good enough for me with only minor subjective improvements. I'll second another comment, that another big challenge is the simple lack of ergonomics on any phone.
- TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
  It seems so immensely cynical. The latest-and-best Apple Event PR is in a car crash with the reality - from a gaming POV, the iPhone is a platform for user addiction. I've been watching people around me and the amount of time everyone seems to spend tapping away at a phone, head down, is like something out of a dystopian movie. The game addiction market must be worth billions to Apple. For all the environmental and other ad copy, there doesn't seem to be any concern about the mental and psychological effects of creating an ecosystem that knowingly relies on exploitative behaviour modification. I also think the colour scheme is quite cynical. Pastel shades on the base model for the - let's say - less technically-oriented users. Strong blacks, whites, and metallics for the hard-core performance nerds who want that Pro tag. There's something regressive about it all.
bradgessler 3y ago
I question if Apple really cares about or is serious about gaming. My impression is they use it as an excuse to showcase hardware improvements since games are happy to soak up pretty much any hardware that's thrown at it. That seems to be where their concern for gaming stops. There is Apple Arcade, but it feels like the least amount they could do for the size of their company. I do think they care about it over the longer-term, particularly in light Vision Pro and their overall AR strategy.
- philistine 3y ago
  Apple is making 30%, just like all the console makers and Steam, on every single game transaction on iPhone. What you're forgetting, and pushing aside, is that the mobile gaming market is as big as the traditional gaming market. All the phone games make as much money as all the consoles and PC gaming together. Apple, with its command of all the valuable phone customers, is pulling an estimated 14 billion dollars in 2021 in mobile gaming. So Apple is very dumb if they don't care about 14 billion in annual services revenue. What you're thinking is that traditional gaming is big-boy gaming and where the big bucks are. The growth market is mobile gaming, with the other segments being stagnant outside of big hits. The reality is that Apple is a bigger gaming company, by revenue, than Microsoft or Sony, is controlling the growth sector, and is thinking accordingly. They have financed all on their own a new GPU generation for their phone and justified it as a need for gaming and gaming alone. Those other companies need partners, like AMD or Nvidia, to make them GPUs. https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/apple-grows-gaming-market-share-as-app-store-dominates-mobile-space-70922440 https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights...
  - bombcar 3y ago
    But how much of "mobile gaming revenue" is shitty "buy coins to skip this puzzle" in whatever polished shitpuzzle game is the current hotness? You can only pay-to-play Bejeweled so many times, after all.
    - wiseowise 3y ago
salil999 3y ago
I could totally see Apple turning the iPhone into a Nintendo Switch type device. You can connect it to your Apple TV (maybe even wirelessly) and stream games + play with a controller. The HW is definitely impressive.
3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago
It also shows the direction the M series, and I'm frankly happy with what they've shipped this year. Solid strategy, design and engineering.
klausa 3y ago
>I'm expecting the new M3 Macs next month to lean really heavily into discussing the GPU advances and (hopefully) announce a lot more support from big studios to bring more games to the Mac. Assuming the trend of iPhone Ax chips showing up in Macs holds up, this would be late 2024 / early 2025 Macs and M4, not M3. M2 is based based on A15, M3 is expected to be based on A16, M4 would be A17.
- wmf 3y ago
  No, all the rumors say M3 is based on A17.
trumbitta2 3y ago
Serious gaming on iPhone destroys the battery in 1 year, 2 tops, tho.
- theshrike79 3y ago
  How about serious gaming on a Samsung or Google device?
  - trumbitta2 3y ago
    I don't know, OT?
yakz 3y ago
I don't think they care about Switch or other consoles, really. Switch sales are nothing compared to what they already sell for non-gaming systems. You'll be able to play the same AAA games on your desktop Mac, your Macbook, your iPhone, your iPad, and your Apple Vision Pro (on a virtual gigantic screen), locally on the device with no WAN streaming required. That will be a relatively large market of people with money to spend, hard to ignore.
Atotalnoob 3y ago
Apple has been over exaggerating their GPU performance for a few years now. I'll believe their GPU is decent when I see it
firecall 3y ago
I'm with you on the interest in M3 Macs! Be interesting to see how the new iPhone 15 Pro benchmarks on single-core and GPU. That should be a leading indicator on what we can expect from the new M3!
dcow 3y ago
> Granted, they don't have Nintendo's games Didn't Nintendo appear on stage at the 2016 keynote event to announce Nintendo's foray into mobile gaming (on 3rd party hardware, anyway) with Super Mario Run? And didn't Apple add native support for the Switch Pro and Joycon controllers to iOS 16 last year? Nintendo has always hated being in the hardware business...
chemmail 3y ago
Unfortunately, PC games, and most "AAA" titles are so shit lately, i just don't bother anymore. I just play the same game even while beefing up my PC. They even destroy amazing games like the old CoD Warzone. All trash now.
- filoleg 3y ago
  You are saying this as we are having one of the best years in gaming in a long time, and it includes both indies and AAA. Baldur's Gate 3, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, some amazing remakes (Metroid Prime: Remastered, Resident Evil 4, Dead Space), Street Fighter 6 (which was loved by the community upon release unlike SF5, which had to be iterated on for a bit of time before becoming decent), Hi-Fi Rush, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Pikmin 4, Armored Core 6, Blasphemous 2, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. I even ommitted quite a few that are a bit controversial or not "amazing", like Starfield or Hogwarts Legacy. And that's only off the top of my head, with a good chunk of the year left to go with hitters like Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk rework+expansion, Spiderman 2, MGS Collection vol1, and Cities Skylines 2 on the horizon. There is no shame in losing interest in gaming, but claiming that "most AAA titles are so shit lately", all while I don't even remember the last time we had a year so chock full of amazing games, is a bit questionable.
  - ask_b123 3y ago
    Have you played all these games? Which ones would you recommend if I were to only buy 1 or 2?
    - filoleg 3y ago
      > Have you played all these games? Not all, but tried out most of them, beat some of them, others are still in progress, and some were just not my cup of tea (even though it was obvious they were great games). > Which ones would you recommend if I were to only buy 1 or 2? It depends on what type of games you are into, so it is kind of difficult to just give a general rec without knowing what you are into. I will try to explain my points for some of them, hopefully it helps. * Resident Evil 4 Remake[completed], Dead Space Remake[completed] - action-horror games. Great remakes, especially RE4 (modernized the game in all the best ways possible, while still preserving the charm of the original). If you enjoyed the originals or wanted to experience them (but never got to it back when they came out), I heavily recommend. Or if you are into atmospheric third person action games. I am not a fan of horror games at all, but enjoyed those two greatly (given that it was more action that horror). * Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom [played for a while, not completed] - an evolution of and a step up from the previous entry, Breath of the Wild. Very creative and free-form gameplay, open-world, heavily encouraging the player to experiment with building functional contraptions and exploration. Warning: Switch is greatly limiting the experience here, as the scale and physics of the game are clearly pushing the console to its max. 30fps and some graphical jankiness, but the art style and direction are great. * Street Fighter 6 [still play online matches on a regular basis]- if you are into fighting games, this is a must-have, nothing more to say. They made this entry extremely approachable to newcomers, with amazing training modes and tutorials, as well as the "modern control scheme" option that makes things a bit easier for totally new people. If you aren't into fighting games as a genre though, I don't recommend. * Hi-Fi Rush [in progress, about 25% way through] - reminds me of jet set radio aesthetically, really fun action-rpg game with a funky soundtrack, universe, and a fun gameplay. Kind of cheesy at times, but that's intentional. * Bomb Rush Cyberfunk [almost finished it, about 85% done] - one of my personal favorite hidden gems this year. A spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio, some of the tracks were composed by the original composer of JSR. Platforming/light action game. I recommend watching a couple of videos and seeing if the vibe appeals to you. I have not played the original Jet Set Radio (but was aware of it), and I loved this game. If you enjoyed JSR in any capacity or if you like the vibe of the game (based on trailers and such), I recommend. Very off-beat and fun. If you want something unlike anything else out there, this is pretty much it. The only game that is even similar to it is the original Jet Set Radio. * Blasphemous 2 [on the last boss at the moment] - indie metroidvania with some great atmosphere and a tight gameplay loop. If you are into 2d metroidvanias at all or liked the first game, this is a no-brainer. It is somewhat difficult and punishing, but not anywhere close to Dark Souls levels, very doable. * Star Wars: Jedi Survivor [about halfway finished] - typical big budget western AAA game in Star Wars universe. Feels like a souls-like lite, making it more accessible. If you like star wars, or enjoyed the first game, or looking for something like Dark Souls but way more approachable, you will like this. * Armored Core 6 [finished the main story, on new game+ right now] - mecha action game, made by Dark Souls devs. Combat is decent, but the star of the show is the garage/assembly mechanic. If you like tinkering with builds and managing all of that, or if you just like giant robots, this one is for you. Builds are easy to swap, no grind mechanics like in tons of RPGs, and the game has so much room to experiment with the builds, it is insane. * Starfield [started, haven't played much], Hogwarts Legacy [90% done with the main story] - generally great games that would appeal to most people. Starfield is a typical massive open-world Bethesda RPG ala Skyrim. Hogwarts Legacy is a blockbuster open-world Harry Potter game. The aesthetics and vibes of Hogwarts Legacy are great, even for someone like me who hasn't finished all the books and isn't super into HP universe. Without knowing someone's general preferences for games, these two are the ones I would recommend to try out for most people (even though they aren't my two personal favorites out of this list). * Baldur's Gate 3 [just started recently] - D&D system RPG game done incredibly well. A bit of a learning curve if you aren't familiar with D&D (I am not), and it might get a bit intense in terms of understanding the mechanics. However, this is a true love letter to D&D, and it is done incredibly well. If you have even some passing interest in D&D, or if you like complex RPG systems, this would be my #1 rec. I am personally a bit overwhelmed by it, but it is still an incredible game. * Pikmin 4, Metroid Prime: Remastered - haven't played. TLDR: General top recs without knowing anything about your preferences - RE4, Dead Space, Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy. For a more comprehensive explanation, see the details above. My personal biased favorites - RE4, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Blasphemous 2, and Street Fighter 6 (I am more of a Tekken player, but SF6 is just so good, it should have no issues sustaining me until Tekken 8 is out early next year).
fsckboy 3y ago
> it's the GPU hmmm... i want an app that uses geolocation to have my iPhone start to mine bitcoin whenever it's plugged in to a charger that's not in a location where I pay for the electricity "mind if I charge my phone?" "you again!? get out!"
simonebrunozzi 3y ago
I also expect Apple to become much more serious about gaming. They might even see gaming as an important item in their balance sheet in a few years time. They have the hardware, and the Vision Pro might need gaming to break even and turn a profit.
bestham 3y ago
The M1 closely mirrored the A14 Bionic from the iPhone 12 (Pro), M2 the A15 Bionic from the iPhone 13 (Pro) and this the M3 “should” mirror the A16 Bionic from the iPhone 14 Pro / iPhone 15. If this continues we won’t have the new ray tracing GPU until M4.
- rjknight 3y ago
  Yes, but the A16 was a stopgap release, which only happened because Apple has to release a new iPhone CPU every year. The M-series does not update as frequently, and so it seems reasonable to imagine that the M3 is of the same "generation" as the A17.
geon 3y ago
If Apple wants the iphone to be a serious alternative for gaming, they need official controller accessories. Something like Nintendo's joycons. Relying on touch controls limits gaming to low pace, imprecise casual/idle games.
quitit 3y ago
Also interesting was the large number of Neutral engine cores. These two together seem to be very much about enhancing AI and Siri to be mostly on-device (something which they already started on). A frequent complaint I read on HN is "why aren't there LLM based assistants as yet from any vendor" - but the answer to this is straightforward, it's not realistic to deploy cloud-based LLM at Siri-size user bases. Most queries also don't need LLM-style responses. (Also the rapid development of the field means that processing requirements are rapidly decreasing.) In a prior keynote Apple noted that Siri was the most used assistant in the world. I don't have 3rd party data to support that, but it's a big enough claim that we could take their word on it just for conjecture purposes about the processing power needed to deploy LLM-based Siri. So if we're going to see LLM-based usability enhancements to Siri, both in the types of data it's allowed to work with and enabling natural, context-driven interactions. That will have to be fully on device, and ultimately that will be a better experience for users as internet connectivity is an unreasonable barrier for such interactions (especially as it can stutter natural-language conversations). --- On the gaming topic: Look at the newly released Hello Kitty Island Adventure on Apple Arcade. It is an exclusive and playable across iPad/iPhone/Mac/AppleTV. The quality of this game is unusual, it delivers an experience that equals/exceeds Nintendo's wildly popular Animal Crossing. This signals that Apple are refocusing on gaming in a new way: bringing popular game paradigms to Arcade in a compelling, exclusive way, and this perhaps forms an extension of Arcade bringing ad-free versions of the App Store's most popular titles. So while I think we're far off Apple's hardware being a destination for gaming enthusiasts, we're now definitely past the point of Apple pushing people with an itch for gaming onto other platforms.
faeriechangling 3y ago
Phone gaming has been the biggest market in gaming for awhile, and Apple has long had some of the highest gaming revenues or any company. Phones are already more powerful than a switch although much less powerful than the steam deck. It is a ceaseless source of bafflement for me how people continually treat Apple as though it’s not already one of the biggest players in the gaming world with an utterly massive library of games you can’t find on any console or on Steam. Apple has recently made some real strides with making it easier to port games recently because of the need to port VR games to the Apple Vision Pro.
nedt 3y ago
They do have Nintendo games. They are just not very popular, because Nintendo chose to simplify them. You can use the Switch controller with your Apple devices, but they apps they made are just for simply touch control. Also AppleTV is not supported by the apps. But I guess that's more a decision from Nintendo, because they want their hardware to be used.

imbusy111 3y ago

Pointing out the obvious, but the iPhone only has the touch input, and no physical controls, so it's not going to work as a serious gaming device.

cloin 3y ago
It does however pair very nicely with popular console controllers
jonahhorowitz 3y ago
It works really well with a PS5 controller, and they make controllers that snap on the sides too.
KoftaBob 3y ago
Well yeah but that's a trivial problem to solve by just getting a case/attachment with gaming controls on it, like the Razer Kishi.
- lp0_on_fire 3y ago
  With this announcement it wouldn't surprise me if Apple is already working on a first-party case/attachment specifically for gaming. And it wouldn't be their first attempt at such hardware: https://lowendmac.com/2006/apples-pippin-and-bandais-world-missing-the-market/ https://lowendmac.com/2006/apples-pippin-and-bandais-world-m...
basisword 3y ago
This applies to the Switch too. It’s touch screen but has external controls (they detach and you can use the kickstand). iOS supports gaming controllers so you could use it in the same way as the Switch (albeit it doesn’t have a built in kickstand).
- SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
  But if you're bringing your switch you're not just bringing the screen. If you are bringing your phone somewhere you are bringing just the phone. It's harder to sell and justify.
- mcphage 3y ago
  > It’s touch screen but has external controls The touch screen is one of the least-used parts of the Switch. Which is a little disappointing, since it was so heavily and well used on the DS/3DS lines. But so many of the ways Nintendo intends you to use the system, the touchscreen isn't accessible. So games aren't built around it in the same way that it was for their previous handhelds.
sbuk 3y ago
Didn't an infamous CEO say similar about the 'missing' physical keyboard and not being a good business device?
- cmelbye 3y ago
  iPhone's keyboard is a joy to use. Virtual joysticks and gyro controls are frustrating and painful.
ErneX 3y ago
You can use modern gamepads with it, like the PS5 DualSense.
- jwells89 3y ago
  Yeah, bluetooth controller of choice and a kickstand case on the biggest iPhone gets you very close to a Switch or Deck conceptually. Once the A17 makes its way to the iPad mini, that'll be even closer.
  - falcolas 3y ago
    If, and only if the developers include controller support. Which they largely don't, even when controllers are supported on every other platform. Two egregious examples: The Final Fantasy Pixel Remastered series, and Monster Hunter Stories. The first has controller support on both the PC and consoles, but not on phones (which came out first). The second launched on a console (the 3DS), and has no controller support on the phone. That caveat alone makes it so frustrating to play games on the phone IME.
    - jwells89 3y ago
      It’s a shame because the UX of controller configuration on iOS/macOS/tvOS is the best I’ve seen outside of consoles. Even Windows, the king of gaming, doesn’t do as well with configuration of Microsoft’s own Xbox controllers (let alone those of competing companies). Instead on Windows Steam is required for any level of sanity with controllers.
    - 0x457 3y ago
      Even if they do include, it's often weird. I wanted to try play genshin with controller - you have to complete certain parts of the game to unlock settings button. Why?
- dbbk 3y ago
  Then you've gotta figure out how to prop your phone up...
theshrike79 3y ago
Serious or not, but for example Diablo Immortal is mobile only and it reportedly brings in $1M _daily_. So some people are seriously playing it with no physical controls. =) For "serious" mobile gamers there are devices like the Razer Kishi: https://www.razer.com/mobile-controllers/razer-kishi-v2 https://www.razer.com/mobile-controllers/razer-kishi-v2 On this site people tend to forget that there actually are people under 30 whose only computing device is a phone. They use it for everything.

_hzw 3y ago

And they will likely have to enable side-loading in the EU next year, which will allow us to play almost all retro games through emulation.

moritzwarhier 3y ago
Maybe Apple will embrace this then. Maybe even making deals to compete with emulators + pirated ROMs. Just fantasizing a bit here... thinking of Apple-approved N64, GameCube, GBA, PSP, even PS4 emulators with licensed games for a somewhat medium to high price tag - why not?
- _hzw 3y ago
  Actually, this is up to Nintendo and Sony, not Apple...
  - moritzwarhier 3y ago
    Sure! As I said I was fantasizing, maybe I should have qualified this a bit more :)
  - duskwuff 3y ago
    And, speaking from experience, Nintendo definitely wouldn't be on board. As far as I'm aware, they have never authorized any kind of third-party emulation of their games; even their first-party emulators like the NES Mini or Virtual Console have always been limited-time offerings with relatively small selections of games.
    - kaba0 3y ago
      Getting the game ROMs is definitely illegal. But they can’t have any say in the actual emulation and emulation software.
      - 0x457 3y ago
        Good luck having apple to approve a game where to do anything you have to google things, the game cannot tell you how to google and any public popular resources telling how to do it getting struck with DMCA.

summarity 3y ago

To me this is a signal of reusing the GPU innovations that were required for the Vision Pro in currently available products and then finding a martket for it (gaming)

sroussey 3y ago
Eh, the GPU changes with ray tracing were supposed to land last year as part of A16 but heat issues required them to pull it. The bright side is that if you are on a yearly release cadence then you don’t let one thing slip the whole SOC (assuming, as Apple does, that you have a risk on and risk off design going simultaneously). Your are right on that the Vision Pro will have a M3 not M2.
- stirlo 3y ago
  >Your are right on that the Vision Pro will have a M3 not M2. It's been publicly announced as using M2 but I assume they just plan to say "we made it even faster" and launch with M3 then?
  - replygirl 3y ago
    possibly a more affordable standard tier with the m2
- nebula8804 3y ago
  >Eh, the GPU changes with ray tracing were supposed to land last year as part of A16 but heat issues required them to pull it. Where did you read about this? Is there some publication that publishes insights into things like this?
  - sroussey 3y ago
    https://wccftech.com/a16-bionic-gpu-could-have-had-ray-tracing-support/ https://wccftech.com/a16-bionic-gpu-could-have-had-ray-traci...
lofaszvanitt 3y ago

paxys 3y ago

Is it though? The promise of gaming on iPhone (and mobile gaming in general) has been taken over and destroyed by freemium games whose only goal is to push microtransactions. What is a marginally better GPU going to accomplish? Help games sell me their "bundle of gems" faster? Developers simply do not have the incentive to build any other kinds of games when the current crop of addictive shovelware is so damn profitable. The sad part is that Apple encourages this practice because it is easy money for them (via their 30% cut). The problem needs to be fixed by better quality control and transaction/gambling rules, not a faster processor.

mcphage 3y ago
I think there will always be a market for freemium games, because it's nice to try things without having to put money down. But I think the freemium market can co-exist with a premium game market. Like, the premium game market still exists and still is going strong, no reason it couldn't live on mobile devices also.
- afavour 3y ago
  > But I think the freemium market can co-exist with a premium game market I agree... but there isn't one. And I don't think it's because of an underpowered GPU.
  - mcphage 3y ago
    I agree.
- paxys 3y ago
  > But I think the freemium market can co-exist with a premium game market Not so when all the big gaming mobile companies are assigning their top talent to building stuff like Clash of Kings. And why wouldn't they, when they can make so much more money doing so than working on a quality prestige game that no one will pay for. > the premium game market still exists and still is going strong, no reason it couldn't live on mobile devices also. It's actually the opposite. Mobile-style microtransactions are slowly taking over the premium PC/console gaming market.

gloryjulio 3y ago

The problem is apple actively working against the game developers, or they just ignore the market completely. See the example of vulkan, and deprecation of 32bit games. It doesn't matter how good the hardware is. If the platform is not supporting the games and all they have are the occasional courting of the some of the games, the games won't come to the apple platform for free. Also they are already making the mobile gaming money which is already lucrative. Are they also committing enough to the 'conventional' gaming?

thaanpaa 3y ago
The App Store is the real issue. Apple's antipathy towards developers is perplexing. The number of stories I've heard about companies having problems due to some interpretation of their policies is ridiculous. There are even horror stories about businesses going bankrupt simply because Apple decided they were in violation of something and banned them from the App Store entirely. I mean, no game company wants to spend millions on a game only to have all of their games pulled because one of them was too similar to someone else's game or something (according to some Apple reviewer with way too much power!).
kaba0 3y ago
Metal predates vulkan, and the latter is mostly used on Android only. It is not particularly well-liked (too low-level for most things), also.
- gloryjulio 3y ago
  Apple is justified doing whatever they want. I even agree with apple's stand that traditional gaming market doesn't matter to them. But from the traditional developers' perspective, Apple system is hostile and they have no reason to develop for Apple. Valve go out of their way to develop proton which is based on vulkan. Apple could utilize it if they have supported vulkan. Valve actively expand the linux support for old and current games. Apple has to work for it to court the traditional developers. Superior hardware doesn't mean much when the alternatives are good enough And it's justified, because it's really not that important in money making in grand scheme of things.

danhor 3y ago

AAA-like titles were previously tried at the beginning of the App Store, mostly ports of older titles. Most Indie Games would also run fine on most Smartphones, but never succeeded. Stuff that sold great on the Switch. I think the lack of "official" nice, high-quality, hasslefree Gamepad, continuing cooling-issues and especially the expectation of consumers for low prices on Apps results in the Market for "real" games on Phones remaining very small. Apple tried to counteract it with Apple Arcade, but that hasn't worked out.

ghaff 3y ago
>Apple tried to counteract it with Apple Arcade, but that hasn't worked out. I'm not really a gamer but I get Arcade as part of a bundle and it doesn't really wow me. I sometimes look at "Best of..." lists and try a few out on a plane flight and I'm mostly meh.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  I love Apple Arcade because I can trust whatever I get from it for my kids is not a gambling app in disguise.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    There is that--especially for kids. It may not be very good but at least it's not evil.
    - appplication 3y ago
      The bar is far more than high enough for kids. I recall being more than willing to happily spend hours playing that handheld water ring toss game that’s somehow in every dentist office.
radlad 3y ago
Just gonna throw this out there... for me, one of the main reasons I don't play games on my phone, is because it will absolutely tank the battery life. A dedicated device has the benefit of having a sole purpose: gaming. If I kill the battery, I just can't play anymore games. I can still take calls, browse the web, and text my partner.

turtlebits 3y ago

People have been saying that Mac gaming is around the corner for years now. GPU upgrades are the least exiting part of new iPhones. I have zero faith that they move the gaming needle, especially on iPhones. The most exciting thing for Mac gaming is probably the Game porting toolkit.

thaanpaa 3y ago
I'm not sure they have. When Macs came with Intel processors, everyone who wanted to play games on their Mac just booted into Windows for gaming, so there wasn't much pressure to make them work on the MacOS side. Because Bootcamp no longer works, Apple is under increased pressure to improve game performance.
dimitrios1 3y ago
> I have zero faith that they move the gaming needle My faith is placed in the fact that they have been pouring resources that amount close to billions on making gaming a thing on iPhones and Macs. As a long time Mac and iPhone gamer, I have seen slow and steady incremental progress. I'm personally excited for the new GPU. Besides, I think they get the benefit of the doubt at this point. This is Apple, not Google, after all.

ErneX 3y ago

I think the M3 Macs will start to come out in 2024.

aaomidi 3y ago

iPhones are useless for AAA games unless they open the platform up more. One of the reasons stadia failed is that gamers that spend the most do not want to keep rebuying games. Apple seems to expect people to also keep rebuying games. Just. No.

lofaszvanitt 3y ago

Yeah, very good for your eyesight.

falcolas 3y ago
I recommend reading glasses, they reduce the eyestrain from using up close devices.
- lofaszvanitt 3y ago
  Sure, you gonna use glasses for a phone.
  - falcolas 3y ago
    Yes, yes I do. Especially when I'm using my phone for a long period of time.
    - lofaszvanitt 3y ago
      Why not use a bigger screen?!?!
      - falcolas 3y ago
        It’s more distance than screen size that causes strain, and I can’t really pull out a laptop where I use my phone. Plus, reading glasses are hardly an inconvenience in everyday life.

stephc_int13 3y ago

Most smartphones are already faster than the Switch. The quality of games on a platform is not directly related to its technical capabilities or SDK, but to the business model and platform incentives. Apple has fueled a race-to-the-bottom followed by an almost forced transition to f2p, and they benefited immensely in the process (30%), but I think that most gamers and indie devs are not satisfied.

iLoveOncall 3y ago
> The quality of games on a platform is not directly related to its technical capabilities or SDK, but to the business model and platform incentives. And also (mostly) the ergonomics. Comparing a phone whose main purpose is definitely not gaming (at least the iPhone, I know there are some gaming-first phones) to a handheld console will always make the former look pathetic for this use-case.
- bobthepanda 3y ago
  Yes. The problem with touchscreen-only is that it doesn’t feel very good, and also any sort of control scheme will mean at least temporarily reducing usable area for UX since you can’t see through your hands.
The_Colonel 3y ago
I remember being completely impressed by my Note 3 (10 years ago almost exactly) playing games like Dead Trigger 2 and NFS: Underground. From then on, GPU performance / graphics on these tiny displays seemed good enough for me with only minor subjective improvements. I'll second another comment, that another big challenge is the simple lack of ergonomics on any phone.
TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
It seems so immensely cynical. The latest-and-best Apple Event PR is in a car crash with the reality - from a gaming POV, the iPhone is a platform for user addiction. I've been watching people around me and the amount of time everyone seems to spend tapping away at a phone, head down, is like something out of a dystopian movie. The game addiction market must be worth billions to Apple. For all the environmental and other ad copy, there doesn't seem to be any concern about the mental and psychological effects of creating an ecosystem that knowingly relies on exploitative behaviour modification. I also think the colour scheme is quite cynical. Pastel shades on the base model for the - let's say - less technically-oriented users. Strong blacks, whites, and metallics for the hard-core performance nerds who want that Pro tag. There's something regressive about it all.

bradgessler 3y ago

I question if Apple really cares about or is serious about gaming. My impression is they use it as an excuse to showcase hardware improvements since games are happy to soak up pretty much any hardware that's thrown at it. That seems to be where their concern for gaming stops. There is Apple Arcade, but it feels like the least amount they could do for the size of their company. I do think they care about it over the longer-term, particularly in light Vision Pro and their overall AR strategy.

philistine 3y ago
Apple is making 30%, just like all the console makers and Steam, on every single game transaction on iPhone. What you're forgetting, and pushing aside, is that the mobile gaming market is as big as the traditional gaming market. All the phone games make as much money as all the consoles and PC gaming together. Apple, with its command of all the valuable phone customers, is pulling an estimated 14 billion dollars in 2021 in mobile gaming. So Apple is very dumb if they don't care about 14 billion in annual services revenue. What you're thinking is that traditional gaming is big-boy gaming and where the big bucks are. The growth market is mobile gaming, with the other segments being stagnant outside of big hits. The reality is that Apple is a bigger gaming company, by revenue, than Microsoft or Sony, is controlling the growth sector, and is thinking accordingly. They have financed all on their own a new GPU generation for their phone and justified it as a need for gaming and gaming alone. Those other companies need partners, like AMD or Nvidia, to make them GPUs. https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/apple-grows-gaming-market-share-as-app-store-dominates-mobile-space-70922440 https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights...
- bombcar 3y ago
  But how much of "mobile gaming revenue" is shitty "buy coins to skip this puzzle" in whatever polished shitpuzzle game is the current hotness? You can only pay-to-play Bejeweled so many times, after all.
  - wiseowise 3y ago

salil999 3y ago

I could totally see Apple turning the iPhone into a Nintendo Switch type device. You can connect it to your Apple TV (maybe even wirelessly) and stream games + play with a controller. The HW is definitely impressive.

3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago

It also shows the direction the M series, and I'm frankly happy with what they've shipped this year. Solid strategy, design and engineering.

klausa 3y ago

>I'm expecting the new M3 Macs next month to lean really heavily into discussing the GPU advances and (hopefully) announce a lot more support from big studios to bring more games to the Mac. Assuming the trend of iPhone Ax chips showing up in Macs holds up, this would be late 2024 / early 2025 Macs and M4, not M3. M2 is based based on A15, M3 is expected to be based on A16, M4 would be A17.

wmf 3y ago
No, all the rumors say M3 is based on A17.

trumbitta2 3y ago

Serious gaming on iPhone destroys the battery in 1 year, 2 tops, tho.

theshrike79 3y ago
How about serious gaming on a Samsung or Google device?
- trumbitta2 3y ago
  I don't know, OT?

yakz 3y ago

I don't think they care about Switch or other consoles, really. Switch sales are nothing compared to what they already sell for non-gaming systems. You'll be able to play the same AAA games on your desktop Mac, your Macbook, your iPhone, your iPad, and your Apple Vision Pro (on a virtual gigantic screen), locally on the device with no WAN streaming required. That will be a relatively large market of people with money to spend, hard to ignore.

Atotalnoob 3y ago

Apple has been over exaggerating their GPU performance for a few years now. I'll believe their GPU is decent when I see it

firecall 3y ago

I'm with you on the interest in M3 Macs! Be interesting to see how the new iPhone 15 Pro benchmarks on single-core and GPU. That should be a leading indicator on what we can expect from the new M3!

dcow 3y ago

> Granted, they don't have Nintendo's games Didn't Nintendo appear on stage at the 2016 keynote event to announce Nintendo's foray into mobile gaming (on 3rd party hardware, anyway) with Super Mario Run? And didn't Apple add native support for the Switch Pro and Joycon controllers to iOS 16 last year? Nintendo has always hated being in the hardware business...

chemmail 3y ago

Unfortunately, PC games, and most "AAA" titles are so shit lately, i just don't bother anymore. I just play the same game even while beefing up my PC. They even destroy amazing games like the old CoD Warzone. All trash now.

filoleg 3y ago
You are saying this as we are having one of the best years in gaming in a long time, and it includes both indies and AAA. Baldur's Gate 3, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, some amazing remakes (Metroid Prime: Remastered, Resident Evil 4, Dead Space), Street Fighter 6 (which was loved by the community upon release unlike SF5, which had to be iterated on for a bit of time before becoming decent), Hi-Fi Rush, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Pikmin 4, Armored Core 6, Blasphemous 2, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. I even ommitted quite a few that are a bit controversial or not "amazing", like Starfield or Hogwarts Legacy. And that's only off the top of my head, with a good chunk of the year left to go with hitters like Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk rework+expansion, Spiderman 2, MGS Collection vol1, and Cities Skylines 2 on the horizon. There is no shame in losing interest in gaming, but claiming that "most AAA titles are so shit lately", all while I don't even remember the last time we had a year so chock full of amazing games, is a bit questionable.
- ask_b123 3y ago
  Have you played all these games? Which ones would you recommend if I were to only buy 1 or 2?
  - filoleg 3y ago
    > Have you played all these games? Not all, but tried out most of them, beat some of them, others are still in progress, and some were just not my cup of tea (even though it was obvious they were great games). > Which ones would you recommend if I were to only buy 1 or 2? It depends on what type of games you are into, so it is kind of difficult to just give a general rec without knowing what you are into. I will try to explain my points for some of them, hopefully it helps. * Resident Evil 4 Remake[completed], Dead Space Remake[completed] - action-horror games. Great remakes, especially RE4 (modernized the game in all the best ways possible, while still preserving the charm of the original). If you enjoyed the originals or wanted to experience them (but never got to it back when they came out), I heavily recommend. Or if you are into atmospheric third person action games. I am not a fan of horror games at all, but enjoyed those two greatly (given that it was more action that horror). * Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom [played for a while, not completed] - an evolution of and a step up from the previous entry, Breath of the Wild. Very creative and free-form gameplay, open-world, heavily encouraging the player to experiment with building functional contraptions and exploration. Warning: Switch is greatly limiting the experience here, as the scale and physics of the game are clearly pushing the console to its max. 30fps and some graphical jankiness, but the art style and direction are great. * Street Fighter 6 [still play online matches on a regular basis]- if you are into fighting games, this is a must-have, nothing more to say. They made this entry extremely approachable to newcomers, with amazing training modes and tutorials, as well as the "modern control scheme" option that makes things a bit easier for totally new people. If you aren't into fighting games as a genre though, I don't recommend. * Hi-Fi Rush [in progress, about 25% way through] - reminds me of jet set radio aesthetically, really fun action-rpg game with a funky soundtrack, universe, and a fun gameplay. Kind of cheesy at times, but that's intentional. * Bomb Rush Cyberfunk [almost finished it, about 85% done] - one of my personal favorite hidden gems this year. A spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio, some of the tracks were composed by the original composer of JSR. Platforming/light action game. I recommend watching a couple of videos and seeing if the vibe appeals to you. I have not played the original Jet Set Radio (but was aware of it), and I loved this game. If you enjoyed JSR in any capacity or if you like the vibe of the game (based on trailers and such), I recommend. Very off-beat and fun. If you want something unlike anything else out there, this is pretty much it. The only game that is even similar to it is the original Jet Set Radio. * Blasphemous 2 [on the last boss at the moment] - indie metroidvania with some great atmosphere and a tight gameplay loop. If you are into 2d metroidvanias at all or liked the first game, this is a no-brainer. It is somewhat difficult and punishing, but not anywhere close to Dark Souls levels, very doable. * Star Wars: Jedi Survivor [about halfway finished] - typical big budget western AAA game in Star Wars universe. Feels like a souls-like lite, making it more accessible. If you like star wars, or enjoyed the first game, or looking for something like Dark Souls but way more approachable, you will like this. * Armored Core 6 [finished the main story, on new game+ right now] - mecha action game, made by Dark Souls devs. Combat is decent, but the star of the show is the garage/assembly mechanic. If you like tinkering with builds and managing all of that, or if you just like giant robots, this one is for you. Builds are easy to swap, no grind mechanics like in tons of RPGs, and the game has so much room to experiment with the builds, it is insane. * Starfield [started, haven't played much], Hogwarts Legacy [90% done with the main story] - generally great games that would appeal to most people. Starfield is a typical massive open-world Bethesda RPG ala Skyrim. Hogwarts Legacy is a blockbuster open-world Harry Potter game. The aesthetics and vibes of Hogwarts Legacy are great, even for someone like me who hasn't finished all the books and isn't super into HP universe. Without knowing someone's general preferences for games, these two are the ones I would recommend to try out for most people (even though they aren't my two personal favorites out of this list). * Baldur's Gate 3 [just started recently] - D&D system RPG game done incredibly well. A bit of a learning curve if you aren't familiar with D&D (I am not), and it might get a bit intense in terms of understanding the mechanics. However, this is a true love letter to D&D, and it is done incredibly well. If you have even some passing interest in D&D, or if you like complex RPG systems, this would be my #1 rec. I am personally a bit overwhelmed by it, but it is still an incredible game. * Pikmin 4, Metroid Prime: Remastered - haven't played. TLDR: General top recs without knowing anything about your preferences - RE4, Dead Space, Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy. For a more comprehensive explanation, see the details above. My personal biased favorites - RE4, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Blasphemous 2, and Street Fighter 6 (I am more of a Tekken player, but SF6 is just so good, it should have no issues sustaining me until Tekken 8 is out early next year).

fsckboy 3y ago

> it's the GPU hmmm... i want an app that uses geolocation to have my iPhone start to mine bitcoin whenever it's plugged in to a charger that's not in a location where I pay for the electricity "mind if I charge my phone?" "you again!? get out!"

simonebrunozzi 3y ago

I also expect Apple to become much more serious about gaming. They might even see gaming as an important item in their balance sheet in a few years time. They have the hardware, and the Vision Pro might need gaming to break even and turn a profit.

bestham 3y ago

The M1 closely mirrored the A14 Bionic from the iPhone 12 (Pro), M2 the A15 Bionic from the iPhone 13 (Pro) and this the M3 “should” mirror the A16 Bionic from the iPhone 14 Pro / iPhone 15. If this continues we won’t have the new ray tracing GPU until M4.

rjknight 3y ago
Yes, but the A16 was a stopgap release, which only happened because Apple has to release a new iPhone CPU every year. The M-series does not update as frequently, and so it seems reasonable to imagine that the M3 is of the same "generation" as the A17.

geon 3y ago

If Apple wants the iphone to be a serious alternative for gaming, they need official controller accessories. Something like Nintendo's joycons. Relying on touch controls limits gaming to low pace, imprecise casual/idle games.

quitit 3y ago

Also interesting was the large number of Neutral engine cores. These two together seem to be very much about enhancing AI and Siri to be mostly on-device (something which they already started on). A frequent complaint I read on HN is "why aren't there LLM based assistants as yet from any vendor" - but the answer to this is straightforward, it's not realistic to deploy cloud-based LLM at Siri-size user bases. Most queries also don't need LLM-style responses. (Also the rapid development of the field means that processing requirements are rapidly decreasing.) In a prior keynote Apple noted that Siri was the most used assistant in the world. I don't have 3rd party data to support that, but it's a big enough claim that we could take their word on it just for conjecture purposes about the processing power needed to deploy LLM-based Siri. So if we're going to see LLM-based usability enhancements to Siri, both in the types of data it's allowed to work with and enabling natural, context-driven interactions. That will have to be fully on device, and ultimately that will be a better experience for users as internet connectivity is an unreasonable barrier for such interactions (especially as it can stutter natural-language conversations). --- On the gaming topic: Look at the newly released Hello Kitty Island Adventure on Apple Arcade. It is an exclusive and playable across iPad/iPhone/Mac/AppleTV. The quality of this game is unusual, it delivers an experience that equals/exceeds Nintendo's wildly popular Animal Crossing. This signals that Apple are refocusing on gaming in a new way: bringing popular game paradigms to Arcade in a compelling, exclusive way, and this perhaps forms an extension of Arcade bringing ad-free versions of the App Store's most popular titles. So while I think we're far off Apple's hardware being a destination for gaming enthusiasts, we're now definitely past the point of Apple pushing people with an itch for gaming onto other platforms.

faeriechangling 3y ago

Phone gaming has been the biggest market in gaming for awhile, and Apple has long had some of the highest gaming revenues or any company. Phones are already more powerful than a switch although much less powerful than the steam deck. It is a ceaseless source of bafflement for me how people continually treat Apple as though it’s not already one of the biggest players in the gaming world with an utterly massive library of games you can’t find on any console or on Steam. Apple has recently made some real strides with making it easier to port games recently because of the need to port VR games to the Apple Vision Pro.

nedt 3y ago

They do have Nintendo games. They are just not very popular, because Nintendo chose to simplify them. You can use the Switch controller with your Apple devices, but they apps they made are just for simply touch control. Also AppleTV is not supported by the apps. But I guess that's more a decision from Nintendo, because they want their hardware to be used.