Apple's Impact On The Gaming Industry

Editorial by Andrew on  Mar 06, 2011

This is an editorial that explains exactly what Apple has done to contibute and transform the gaming industry to the way it is today. Although some parts of this editorial may sound like I'm giving Apple too much credit or even trying to sell the devices, that is not the case at all. Despite what Apple's competition looks like right now, my objective by writing this article is to show you readers what Apple alone has done in the gaming world. Thank you.

 

 

Today is March 5, 2011. If you are reading this in the past, I am sorry to say that Apple hasn't released their own dedicated gaming console yet. But what Apple HAS released are two device lines that have impacted the gaming industry so much that it's hard to ignore. Of course, these devices that I speak of are the Apple iPod Touch and the Apple iPad. Today I'm going to delve into the Applesphere and show you what Apple has done to contribute to gaming today.

 

To date, Apple Inc. has sold roughly 60 million units of iPod Touches and iPads combined. (45 million iPod Touches as of September 2009, and just under 15 million iPads during the device's first nine months on market, respectively). That's enough to give every person living in Australia a device, two times over. That's pretty impressive. But the reason for Apple's success is the fact that the iPod Touches and iPads aren't just music devices like they were ten years ago in 2001 when the first iPod launched. Now they not only play music, but watch TV shows, movies, browse the internet, look at AND take photos, and last but not least, play games. The games. This is where it gets good, folks.

 

Being 15 years old, I go to high school just like every other kid my age. Most of my class is definitely not tech savvy. But something that I always see them carrying around, whether it be in their jacket, sweatshirt, backpack, purse, etc. is their iPod. Everywhere you go, you can't help but see those iconic white headphones. This is not unusual however, and my school is just like many others out there.

 

One thing I see most of my friends using their iPods and iPads for are games. Shooters, card games, music games. They're all there on Apple's gigantic App Store (with over 350,000 apps). Many people are turning to the iPod Touch and iPad as portable gaming alternatives to the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS because they do MUCH more than the PSP/DS while still maintaing a plethora of quality games and solid battery life. Because of all this, some companies have actually started sub-studios to develop games exclusively for the iDevices. (Gameloft is a good example, if I do remember correctly).

 

If you're wondering where I'm going with all of this, well here's my point: This has all led up to Apple packing a new graphics chip in their newly announced iPad 2 that performs up to 9x faster than the previous generation iPad. (Not to mention it being dual core as well.) The newer 4th generation iPod Touches maintain this momemntum as well, albeit without the dual core processor, with it's retina display and dedicated game center. It is clear that Apple has realized what it's got here and is doing everything they can to continue it.

 

 

^Above: Look at this header from the iPod Touch site on Apple.com and tell me that Apple isn't pushing games.


 

I wouldn't be surprised if the semi-recent rumors about Apple including apps and games on their next iteration of their AppleTV box were true. It's one of the last Apple products running some form of iOS that hasn't gotten the game treatment yet, and Apple would be stupid to not make that move.

 

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So, to review:

- Although Apple themselves do not have their own gaming console, they have made gamers out of a lot of iPod Touch and iPad owners.

- In the September 2010 refresh of the iPod Touch and March 2011 refresh of the iPad lines Apple has shown that they are commited to gaming and have boasted gaming performance 9x faster on the iPad 2, as well as putting better processors and displays on both devices.

- Companies are starting sub-studios like Gameloft to develop games just for iOS, which shows that Apple has developer support for games.

The future is bright for gaming on Apple devices, and while it isn't perfect in some spots, it's definitely getting better and is something that all of you should check out if you haven't aleady.

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Additional information provided by Wikipedia, Google, and Apple. Sources below in order of usage in the article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipod

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=sp_pop_totl&idim=country:AUS&dl=en&hl=en&q=australia+population

http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/games-and-apps/

Andrew Kalies

Subscriber, NoobFeed

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