Gabe Newell: Apple will redefine games consoles
Valve founder Gabe Newell reckons Apple will move to redefine the games console market.
'I suspect Apple will launch a living-room product that redefines people's expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear,' said Newell.
However, Newell admitted that he wasn't hiding any insider information and did not know if there really was such a product in Apple's pipeline.
Newell then moved on to discuss the problems of closed platforms and, according to The Seattle Times, said that if Valve were to ever release a a hardware platform itself then it would be designed as open to competing services.
'I'm worried that the things that traditionally have been the source of a lot of innovation are going,' said Newell.
'There's going to be an attempt to close those off so somebody will say, 'I'm tired of competing with Google, I'm tired of competing with Facebook, I'll apply a console model and exclude the competitors I don't like from my world.''
Again though, Newell was only discussing the Valve console hypothetically and was not announcing anything in particular.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyIsn't that called a PC...
I wouldn't class a PC as an open platform because they are all different, more like and xbox for instance without microsfot attached it would a be a platform that anyone can program games for without having to worry about hardware conflicts etc...
+1
Well said!
Sounds like an iPad to me.
And as someone made reference to, the Pippin, was such a HUGE success.....
It damn welll needs someone to do so.
M$ and Sony are quite content to continue perveying 6/7 year old tech for the next 3/4 years. That castrates game developement for the PC. And given just your average rig is already atleast 5 years ahead of consoles in terms of the capabilities of both the cpu and the gpu that is only going to get so much worse.
If it takes the marketeers of the teacher's favourite fruit to do so ...then so be it.
Where the hell is Hl3
but then, who knows, Apple might be looking to make a splash with Apple TV 3.
to those who are putting Apple and Open in one sentence. read the original article more closely.
Because QT/Safari on windows doesn't make Apple any money.
Why is everyone jumping in and saying that post-Jobs apple won't take any risks? Let's be clear on this - Apple have made NO major new announcements since Jobs' death. It's been less than a week since he died. Let's wait and see what Apple actually do before we all shout doom and gloom, eh?
/sarcasm
Agreed. There's a video floating around of a car game being played on iphones and ipads that then displayed onto a tv (I can't link to the video from work). With stuff like that I think they could really hurt Nintendo in the more casual space. It would be some time (I suspect) until they could challenge Microsoft or Sony's consoles for their audience.
If they just released an official controller for the Iphone/pods I think they would seriously hurt 3DS and Vita sales. Although the Icontrolpad is gaining more supports every day so maybe they won't have to.
Android TV has the similar potential but no one markets like Apple... unfortunately.
Looks like they are out of ideas. Strange though, a gaming console is something people genuinely have a need for.
"The new iGame 2, with a shiny new metal button!"
If you still think it is unlikely, think back to how back in 1994 Sony, a company that until then had specialised in TVs, HiFi equipment and personal music devices (Walkman is yesteryear's iPod, it seems), and with no gaming background whatsoever, single-handedly redefined and resurrected the console industry with the PS1. Who says that Apple may not do the same?
it's Real Racing 2. i can't wait to try it out once iOS 5 is released. who needs Wii U. Wii U Nintendo. :p
but the problem with this is that it's the game dev that has to put the time in to develop this, not Apple. but Apple gets the hardware sales. so not a lot of dev does it (in fact, only 1). unless Apple releases some real API to do this, it isn't going to happen on a big enough scale to hurt gaming consoles.
Last time I looked the reports of the console market's death where greatly exaggerated! Isn't the wii trying to reinvent the market anyway. On thing I would welcome is an itunes style download for console games. It would be totally revolutionary and never seen before until apple does it.
In all seriousness itunes would be pretty strong delivery service so many people have it and with all your media already on it, it covers the whole media centre/console that seems the direction of consoles. It does make sense to why Apple have been pushing and standing by Apple TV for so long. Out of interest, why did apple TV fail since it seems fairly strong?
Gabe needs to get back to half life 3 or porting steam to linux and android.
I saw the articles on the Gadget Show where they featured the ipad as a steering wheel thing and I nearly wet myself. Mmm, I'll use my 400 quid tablet as a clumsy controller to play this last-gen racing game - all it needs is another expensive idevice plugged into my telly.... magical! Needless to say the muppet reviewing it thought it was a great idea.
I'm not suggesting that the console market is dying --I was just pointing out how a company with no previous history in the field can shake things up. But you are right on the money with where Apple is going. It has not just been building gadgets, but a media consumption infrastructure.
You are right that this is why Apple keeps plodding away with Apple TV. Many people are already using it as a cheap media networking device. The main reason it is struggling appears to be the lack of content due to licensing issues. Knowing Apple, it will suddenly come back in a few years with a new twist, Obi-Wan-style, stronger than ever before. :p
Yes, that could work, and is certainly novel. I would have serious reservations though - I'm not convinced by the two screens approach: having used the overview/detail approach in SupCom I found that you generally only look at one screen with perhaps the occasional glance at the other, making it a bit pointless. In addition, as I was alluding to above, using a media device as a controller seems like overkill, particularly given how expensive they are. Finally, IMHO, touchscreen control is not well suited to most games compared with something more tactile like a wiimote, mouse or gamepad.
All of that said, I'm sure apple could make this work as part of their ecosystem - there's already a strong tendency for apple fans to accumulate idevices and this delivers a benefit to the ipod/apple TV combo. It would also help them sell more TV boxes - one area where they've not done too well to date.
Food for thought - if Windows 8 is a success and we see a proliferation of W8 tablets etc. could MS make this a feature of the next Xbox?
I'm also not so keen on the idea of a new console every year, offering small improvements over the previous model.... and needing the latest model for the years latest game.
Apples business approach is the opposite of the way the console market has ended up- you buy any game for a console at any point in the consoles lifetime and you KNOW it will work. You also know you can wait a year for prices to drop and there will still be plenty of life left in the purchase
Some people might think Apples approach will be good for development and game quality.... but it would come at a high price.
Apple getting involved in the game console industry I think will be a bad move and could cause problem's for developers.
This makes me cry since the thought of an ipad controller takes the whole "overpriced cashing the golden cow that are peripherals" to another level. I wonder who owns the patents for that idea anyway........Nintendo vs Apple anyone?
@Nexxo can apple really shake it up tho? Nintendo have already churned up that ground although Apple will undoubtly do it better. Also if Apple forced a move towards digital downloads again I'd be happy.
In response to a side note on bit-tech's podcast about origin vs steam, what they failed to address is pricing and trust. Its been said before Valve are a company that have buckets of room to screw up and not have *any* backlash. Look at steams pricing, now look at origin. EA's pricing takes the piss especially in the day of 69p apps. No one trusts EA since they're in it for themselves. Valve have at least played, we're in it for the consumer hand (they needed to to succeed) hence why I think no one like origin vs steam. Other companies deliver but a Company like EA in total control of its content......well. Where does this apply, well Same for Apple, People trust them now. It has the influence to move the mainstream console market to digital download and tbh I feel its needed.
interesting, from what I gather netflix is suffering this as well. Yes they want rid of the dvd side of their business but contracts are a huge problem. Greedy companies demanding more money for latest titles or want to hold off to see how many bluray/dvd sales they can eek out. Ironically I believe this ultimately hurts the consumer since prices go up, people drop subscription and pirate instead or even out of spite. Yes its good for companies to make money but Im happy to pay and see that reinvested but not if the price is stupid. Take Tesco, yearly increase in profit, sales down and why? Its the consumer that is paying more in food prices and for no reason IMO except to keep investors happy. Im at the point I don't care if the local tesco gets robbed or vandalised. Same with the movie industry. Lovefilm charges £2 on top of the package for each title streamed........needless to say I'll happily torrent films and shows in response or exploit grey areas in the law.
Like I say with onlive, its out of apples hands. They could design a console that rivals PC in terms of visuals, and costs as much as appleTV, but the games companies, and ISP's will dictate their success. Apple could do an Onlive style gaming where, the game is played at home and sent to a tablet but again ISP's will dictate that. TBH even if apple did build a console where would it fit? i can't seem them targeting hardcore gamers or even casual gamers ie. students unless they somehow get set of exclusives that way they can control and dominate. They might directly take a leaf out of nintendo's book and challenge them but apples price point is too high for that market.
And when I read the article myself, that is the feeling I get from Gabe's remarks, not that:
Kind of like how you run into people who describe themselves as "gamers" when their games consist of angry birds and farmville. Years ago, if you would have asked the average person if they considered playing web-games to be enough to title themselves a gamer, they probably would have said no. These days that is no longer the case, I frequently run into self titled "gamers" who only play web games.
The point I am getting at is: The game industry as we know it hasn't dramatically changed, just the public's perception of what gaming is; and that is what I think Gabe is trying to say. Not that Apple will redefine consoles, rather they will dumb down the public's opinion to such an extent that dedicated consoles will be irrelevant to the public at large. Much like how smartphones are increasingly gaining ground while dedicated systems such as the PSP and 3DS are loosing ground.
To what extent this paradigm shift affects the game industry will only be seen with time.
I'd like to hear some discussion on that...
That would be great, it would enable programers to get close to the metal.
In my view this is the direction that pc gaming has to go so we can get the full benefit from our powerful hardware, a specifically designed gaming platform and os that is both open and upgradable perhaps with standardized yearly or two yearly graphic/cpu upgrades.
For the uninformed....Its called a PC lol. If that's true I hope it uses linux to avoid MS tax. Only problem is you miss DX11
Not quite...the benefit being it consists of standardized hardware which would never be the case with a true pc. That would allow for a custom OS less API layers and perhaps some realistic performance gain from better hardware...you know like not having a 10X more powerful pc and only 4X the performance......I'd like to see this happen.
Price: 9999999999
And no, it cannot run Crisis