AppleInsider, once one of the better Apple news sites, is rumouring that Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted at Valve’s HQ. Considering all the rumours Valve is working on a console (more fuel for the flames), this could potentially be interesting. As much as AppleInsider’s story is being spread across the web – can anybody actually verify AI’s story? It cites no sources, and could, for all we know, be completely made up. Anyone…?
Tim Cook was probably there demanding info on Half Life 3.
Call me crazy, but wasn’t the main crazy guy in Half-Life 2 always wearing a turtle neck?
Tim wants to model for being the evil guy in Half-Life 3! I KNEW IT!
This time it’s personal?
Let’s see: Apple has full app store infrastructure. They have iphone, ipad, apple tv. Why not “upgrade” the apple tv’s hardware a bit, expand the app store and extend iphone/ipad connectivity? Seems like a logical place for apple to move next, *if* they really think game consoles are really an appealing market.
Give that man a cigar!
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They already released a console (back in the late 90s IIRC) which massively flopped. So it wouldn’t be a great leap of faith to say they’d fancy trying their luck again.
It was the Pippin… and it was an Apple/Bandai collaboration that did not carry Apple branding. It ran a slimed down core of System 7.5.2 on a PowerPC 603 platform.
It was late to the party in a sea of consoles and did not have a clear advantage.
I don’t really see how branding matters as it was still an Apple product and it’s not as if Apple haven’t been late to the party with other products that have since become a major success.
I’m just making the point that Apple have ventured into this market before so it wouldn’t be a great leap of faith to think they may again.
They also tried their hand with a handheld computing device “the Newton” & that flopped massively. Fast forward a few decade & the iDevices have really taken off. Perhaps it just wasn’t the right time back then.
Well yeah – that was exactly my point. <_<
Both companies sell and deliver content over the Internet. Both companies have their own minimally-annoying DRM technology. Both companies understand that piracy is in part a response to poor customer experience; make paying for content more enjoyable and more people will pay.
Perhaps they are simply sharing what they’ve learned about the content business. Perhaps they are talking about cross-licensing or sharing DRM technology.
Cook just went to see Gabe to learn how to be cool and more laid back.
And how to make people buy Hats.
Yeah, people aren’t buying enough of them.
90% chance this is complete bullshit. 10% chance it is huge
I don’t see why Valve would need Apple’s help getting into the console market. I also don’t see why Valve would want to make Steambox anything like an Apple product, because Apple products are completely closed and proprietary, where Steam is fairly open.
Maybe it’s the other way around? If Apple wants to launch an upgraded Apple TV with games, they might want Valve’s catalogue on it? Plus, if they wanted it, Apple has more than enough cash to buy Valve.
Since Valve is privately held just having plenty of money doesn’t mean Apple could purchase it.
Other than that, I highly doubt Gabe would want to sell his company to Apple. Valve is as open and consumer-friendly a game company running an online game store can be – the complete antithesis to Apple.
Water and fire, basically.
Genuine question – in what way is Valve ‘open’?
I don’t think apple should release a standalone console. They already have a good gaming platform, the new iPad (and the iPhone to a lesser extent).
I’ve been hooking up an iPad from work to my projector and playing Real Racing on it. iPad games on a 10′ screen. It’s just as good as most console games.
The only big thing missing is the controller because touch screen just doesn’t cut it for most games. All Apple needs to do is release a bluetooth controller and api for games. The good games will support it very quickly, and presto, you have an instant console.
Either play directly on the iPad, or plug it into the bigscreen TV. Or plug your iPhone into the TV. Then take your controller and start playing. How sweet would that be? One more device replaced by the smartphone/tablet.
Simple solutions are rarely sought after in the corporate world because they minimize additions to cash flow.
Apple would much rather have you buy a console, controllers, games, and other accessories than to have you simply buying games and controllers…
They also have the need to ride the tide or else their fall will be extremely ugly. If they can’t keep the momentum up, showing any slacking in sales, their revenue streams could begin to dry up surprisingly quickly. Diversification is the protection against this – and they are certainly aware of that… even if they don’t ultimately embark upon a console, you can bet the idea has been mentioned in the top ranks.
Consoles aren’t terribly profitable for most companies – but Apple would likely expect themselves able to pull a premium.
–The loon
I don’t agree at all. Apple is about fewer numbers of products and concentrating on quality rather than products for everything.
They also have the big advantage of a predictable and stable platform that game developers can write to and optimize for, similar to consoles right now.
Having their iPads do double duty as consoles makes them even more attractive and one more reason for people to buy one instead of an Android/Windows tablet.
A standalone Apple console is orders of magnitude more risky, because they’re going right up against the XBox and PS. I don’t see how they could win that since they have no experience in console gaming. An iPad console doesn’t have to be quite as good as an XBox, it just has to be good enough, and people will overlook the deficiencies because they get a nice tablet at the same time.
Exactly, one more reason why they’re certainly not releasing a standalone console. Apple has no interest in getting into cutthroat hardware business.
>Apple is about fewer numbers of products and concentrating on quality rather than products for everything.
I upvotes a couple of people in this thread so I hate to reply and undo it but this isn’t true.
Apple makes 2 operating systems, OSX and iOS. They make their own laptops, desktop computers, phones, tablets, MP3/music players, monitors, wireless routers, media center computer, and some of the chips in them. They also run a store that sells other people’s music, software, and movies.
Even for OSX they make a lot of their own utilities like automator and software like iLife (photo, movie, garage band etc.), iWork (office suite), Final Cut, Xcode, Server etc.
They do everything from A to Z with gaming being one of the few notable exceptions. Gaming has been a successful market on the iPhone and iPad so it makes sense to allow casual cames to be played on the Apple TV as well.
If I can get passable game graphics on a 2 year old tablet that runs off a battery I am sure some future Apple TV version could do the same. Apple has made a fortune in the music industry but if somene wants to buy a movie online they do it on a PS3 or Xbox mostly and I am sure it something they want to change.
It may not be that they want to be in gaming as much as it is that the gaming companies are perfectly positioned to make a killing on movie sales now so it is a move that makes a lot of sense.
Maybe he wants to undermine the Google/Valve connection?
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/14/that-was-easy-valves-har…
3DO concept was ahead of its time, unfortunately. $599 US$? Check
Digital optical media capable of playing modern content? check.
It was essentially the PS3 of it’s day. They even had plans to add tv tuner capability. The biggest problem was the 3DO had very few good games (mainly EAs) it was too expensive (VCDs noone would justify but they could justify Blurays on PS3).
I think an “open” gaming platform will eventually happen. The arms race for the living room is already a self defeating race. No one is supporting what the pirates want, and that’s why it fails to take off. Make a device, (or better a TV) that does MKVs, h.264 in all forms/resolutions, DTS/AC3/mp3/ogg audio formats, divx/mpeg/subtitles etc and you’ll win the market for the living room. Instead we have this crappy war between Xbox 360 which streams well but has no Bluray support. PS3 which has Bluray, but sucks at streaming, and Apple TV which locks you to Apple’s crap video store. Apple TV cannot win in this space, unlike iPod which plays the most pirated music around (mp3) in addition to the Apple store format. The Apple TV cannot play most of the pirate videos around (too many formats/codecs used)
I find Samsung the most interesting one. I think they are missing a huge opportunity to sweep the market from under Apple/Sony etc, by just implementing all the formats correctly into their ARM based TVs. The media streaming built into your TV is a real game changer. Bypass all your crap set top devices and run your digital collection directly to your TV. Then just keep a Bluray player/game console around for optical media.
Edited 2012-04-15 00:08 UTC
This would be the only way another console is going to enter the market. You know valve wants to bring their market to a console setting. Yet they don’t have the reason. Anything they would realize would be a glorified pc that just plays games. However if they partnered up with apple, who is great at making hardware, they would have a good shot. The apple tv is that one product that hasn’t done well, yet they haven’t killed it yet. As microsoft deems consoles as the heart of the living room. Apple tv covers everything but gaming. I can imagine an api, that allows developers to create ios games that can pull in real time data from the actual games.