6 ms·

Can you elaborate about Apple becoming one of the big players in the portable console market? I don't really follow Apple so maybe you're referring to their ot

Can you elaborate about Apple becoming one of the big players in the portable console market? I don't really follow Apple so maybe you're referring to their other offerings and some sort of integration but Apple has never seemed to understand "gaming."

jkrems 12y ago
iOS becomes a pretty big gaming platform currently. This years Apple Design Award winners have a pretty decent game percentage: https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/ https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/
wtallis 12y ago
What isn't Apple understanding? Do they need to make a dedicated gaming device for them to be considered to "understand" the gaming market? The iPod Touch outsells the PSP/PSVita, which is the second-place of the dedicated portable gaming consoles. Add in the iPhones, and you're looking at an install base as big as Nintendo's DS/3DS family.
potatolicious 12y ago
It's quite simple really, Apple kind of accidentally became one of the biggest players in gaming. Not everyone has a DS, not everyone has a Vita, but nearly everyone has a smartphone. Smartphones are the one device you always have on you, and it is by far the mobile device that consumes the most of your time. This makes Android and iOS huge mobile gaming players, even if they didn't set out to do so. Gaming on smartphones and tablets has become a much larger thing than what Apple and Google ever suspected. How many hours do you figure people game on their Androids and iPhones every day, vs. "real" mobile gaming devices like the DS or the PS Vita? Easy low-level OpenGL access paved the way, somewhat accidentally, and Apple has been shrewd in keeping middleware developers well-supported, and now they're working on a bunch of first-party libraries that lower the barrier to entry for game devs. And now, they're working on their own low-level hardware access.
- Pxtl 12y ago
  Relatedly, I've been incredibly disappointed in how Google is failing to show much leadership in the gaming and set-top sides of Android.
  - pjmlp 12y ago
    They just want to sell their web services and collect data. Android still lacks the comfort of iOS and WP 8.x for game development on the official SDK and the NDK is treated as a undesirable cousin that appeared unannounced.

jkrems 12y ago

iOS becomes a pretty big gaming platform currently. This years Apple Design Award winners have a pretty decent game percentage: https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/ https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/

wtallis 12y ago

What isn't Apple understanding? Do they need to make a dedicated gaming device for them to be considered to "understand" the gaming market? The iPod Touch outsells the PSP/PSVita, which is the second-place of the dedicated portable gaming consoles. Add in the iPhones, and you're looking at an install base as big as Nintendo's DS/3DS family.

potatolicious 12y ago

It's quite simple really, Apple kind of accidentally became one of the biggest players in gaming. Not everyone has a DS, not everyone has a Vita, but nearly everyone has a smartphone. Smartphones are the one device you always have on you, and it is by far the mobile device that consumes the most of your time. This makes Android and iOS huge mobile gaming players, even if they didn't set out to do so. Gaming on smartphones and tablets has become a much larger thing than what Apple and Google ever suspected. How many hours do you figure people game on their Androids and iPhones every day, vs. "real" mobile gaming devices like the DS or the PS Vita? Easy low-level OpenGL access paved the way, somewhat accidentally, and Apple has been shrewd in keeping middleware developers well-supported, and now they're working on a bunch of first-party libraries that lower the barrier to entry for game devs. And now, they're working on their own low-level hardware access.

Pxtl 12y ago
Relatedly, I've been incredibly disappointed in how Google is failing to show much leadership in the gaming and set-top sides of Android.
- pjmlp 12y ago
  They just want to sell their web services and collect data. Android still lacks the comfort of iOS and WP 8.x for game development on the official SDK and the NDK is treated as a undesirable cousin that appeared unannounced.