Molyneux - "Apple needs to get behind games"

Since when Apple gave games industry such attention anyway.

Has Apple already missed the boat with the whole entertainment convergence thing. I was expecting to buy an Apple "media center" to run all my movies & music and quietly hoping for games too. But all they have is iPod.

The idea put forward by "The Jeremy" sounds good. Atari is willing I'm sure and whilst Nintendo is probably not interested in being purchased nor could Apple afford them anyway - what about licensing Wii to be used in the Apple magic box?

I think Nintendo and Apple would be a much better pairing than Atari and Apple, plus doesn't MS already a own (or at least have rights to a big chuck of Atari's library) as they are offering a free classic game every week for the XBOX 360?

The last time Apple had a killer game made for them (read: Halo) the company was bought up by MS who ported it to their up-and-coming XBOX console.

Perhaps after Apple drives Creative into bankruptcy over the patent lawsuits, Apple can pick up both the EAX and A3D APIs and integrate the best features of each into OS X.

If OpenGL is not their forte, perhaps they could negotiate to pick up Nvidia's discarded graphics API that 3dfx worked on to replace GLide with prior to their acquisition.

I still would like to see Apple buy up Atari, Inc. from Infogrames and not only run it as a publisher, but use Atari's brand to launch a gamer-friendly line of OS X machines to take on the likes of Alienware and FalconNorthwest and establish OS X as a great gaming platform.

GmanMac makes a great point. The gaming industry itself is in such flux - there are no sure bets at the moment. Sony may not be on top of the next-generation console market this time around - and who'd have expected Nintendo to come out with such a great strategy (gaming for the rest of us - sound familiar?)

That said, the visibility of a wide selection of really good games is important for the perception of a platform as mainstream, particularly at retail. Ever try to find Mac games at Best Buy? If you're lucky, you can find some old Myst or Warcraft bundle that has a hybrid Win/Mac CD -- in the Windows section, naturally.

Unfortunately, this is a catch-22, where in order to "buy" shelf space or endcaps at retail you have to already have money, which implies you already have sales, but if you can't afford to buy your way into the big chains (with co-op marketing dollars, etc.) then how do you get the visibility to sell in the first place? Are the stores even going to have Macs running hot game demos in kiosk mode? Not likely either.

Apple must, long-term, make gaming - or at least the visibility of games - a priority item if the platform is to gain acceptance. I'd love to see a Mac Arcade in every larger Apple store (black lights and hits-of-1978 soundtrack optional). They can certainly get some co-op marketing dollars together with game publishers - and Mac game publishers in general can pool their dollars and buy their way into Best Buy en masse, rahter than try to do so independently.

From the development point of view, what Apple's strategy would be - following past successes - is to buy in the required technology and talent. Some have mooted Nintendo as a possible takeover target -- I would actually think Sega might be a better fit, as they've moved to producing software for multiple platforms.

Another interesting tactic might be to adopt the open-source arcade emulator, MacMAME, and devote a team to turning it into a first-class Mac app - striking deals with original arcade publishers to bundle licensed ROMfiles, accelerate the development of emulation modules for different arcade hardware, optimizing drivers for Mac-specific GPUs and sound hardware, etc. Maybe even bundle console emulation into it as well, within the hardware limits (everything up to, say, PS1 and Dreamcast?)

This could tie into an online purchase or subscription-rental store (iGames Store), much as exists on the Windows platform - the Sympatico internet service in Canada offers this under the GamesMania and Kidsmania brands, for instance - imaging managing all your games through an iTunes-like interface with standardized artwork, arcade cabinet 'skins,' etc. And eventually, games for the iPod as well - it could be a revenue stream like games for mobile phones are today.

Apple's already shown its strength in negotiating with content owners, I can't see any objection on their part to getting money for their old titles, especially considering widespread ROM piracy and the bad quality / availability of downloads - it's exactly where MP3s were before the iTunes music store arrived.

5. I agree with you .
a $300.00 XBox, PlayStation or Nintendo System is far better dedicated gaming machine than any computer out there ever will be.

Why devote precious resources to trying to become a player in a lock up but dead end market?

Further to my comments, it looks like Apple does have some API's floating around for Game development, as seen here: http://developer.apple.com/referencelibrary/Games/index.html

I think it might be a good idea for them to unify them under a name geared towards Game development. Who in the PC world has not heard of 'Direct X'. If Apple promoted 'Sprockets' as part of the OS like they do OpenGL, Bonjour, Aqua, Cocoa, etc. people who are interested in that type of thing would recognise that Apple have embraced Game development through the branding of the API's and gamers could expect 'Sprocket Powered' games to work on virtually any version of the OS that was supported. Upgrades for Sprocket API's could be downloaded separately to the entire OS whenever required to keep compatibility for games across different versions of the OS whenever possible (nothing worse than a game breaking when you've spent over £100 on a new version of the OS).

I'm not saying that they need to use the name Sprocket(s) but hopefully you get the idea.

sorry, I meant "sprockets" not "spockets"

doh

I remember years ago Apple spent a considerable amount of time on Game Spockets which was they're equivalent to DirectX, before DirectX existed (I think it was still WinG back then). This was around the time that the PowerPC first took off and the Pippin was due to come out.

I would love for Apple to do two things. Firstly, update the abomination of an OpenGL implementation they have and even add extras for feature parity with DirectX 9 or X. Secondly, come up with a new Spockets 2.0 (or something) for OS X with simplified interfaces for performing common game related stuff, such as a joystick/gamepad API, etc. that will work with Java, ObjC/Cocoa, C and C++.

Regarding the "iTunes Game Store" - check out Aspyr's Gamerhood, coming this fall...
http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=13711