The shy and retiring Gabe Newell has been speaking on a game panel at the WTIA TechNW conference and has voiced his concerns about closed platforms, specifically Apple.
“On the platform side, it’s sort of ominous that the world seems to be moving away from open platforms,” he said. “They build a shiny sparkling thing that attracts users and then they control people’s access to those things.”
Newell went to explain that he thinks there are four platforms – Internet, mobile, desktop and living room – and that console gaming falls in the ‘living room’ category.
“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,” he said.
Source: Seattle Times
rht992
good description of apple. i hope they don’t bring out a seperate gaming machine though. I’d be a bit worried if they took over another corner of the market
shields_t
Same, but I can see them trying to tap it. They’re already pretty well established as a game, film and music distributor so it’s certainly a logical step from where they are now.
JustHonour
If they do we will probably be looking at a bazillion shovelware games via an app store. Or perhaps another Pippin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Bandai_Pippin).
Actually… Don’t you think it would be nice for another console? The entire scene could do with some more innovation and even I (a firm Android user and non-apple fan) think they have spades of that – especially when it comes to taking an old idea and making it better.
Crocadillian
I dont think Apple would innovate in the right ways, considering the general iPod/iPad games market. I’d probably even consider it dangerous at this point for it’s integrity, if games are ever going to be considered as a more serious form of media.
rht992
they’ll got great platforms for small indie games but if they tried making block buster titles i doubt they’d make any thing new or outstanding
Amphlett
Check out TC today with all his posts, “He’s on fire!!!”.
Kitch
I heard he had a ring of fire once. Just sayin.
Klart
He couldn’t sit down for months!
Tuffcub
I’m just happy that someone else refers to Apple products as ‘Shiny sparkly things”.
Amphlett
Please don’t get me started…
Gamoc
I used that term last week to describe them. Newell is dead on with his description.
KeRaSh
+1
rht992
he’s a posting machine
3shirts
I worry that Apple will enter the market with the same ethos as they run their current businesses. Still, as long as there is choice there are plenty of people like me that will choose not to buy into it and more competition ultimately benefits the end user.
stonyk
Yes heaven forbid if Apple join the gaming market. They will inevitably produce some beautiful pile of tat that may possibly bring console gaming to the masses, will have a relatively low failure rate and let people have the choice to buy it or not.
Imagine an easy to use console that just works without crashing and allows the choice of 59p games or AAA £40 games. Only down size is it will be a closed system which means I cannot use it as a PC which was why I bought an apple product in the first place….
..Phew, rant over. The more options to me the better. I can always say no.
Forrest_01
“They will inevitably produce some beautiful pile of tat that may possibly bring console gaming to the masses, will have a relatively low failure rate and let people have the choice to buy it or not.”
Sounds just like a Wii to me! :)
stonyk
lol! exactly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple brought out something similar to what the Wii did. It catered for the masses and not the ‘hard core’. It might take something like this to make gaming more acceptable. I still get insulted regularly by my Mrs/Friends for ‘playing Playstation’ but they clock far more hours gaming on their phones than I do on my console.
Tuffcub
If they sold games at 59p no one would buy them at £40. No more Halo, Killzone, Grand Theft Auto, NFS.
bacon_nuts
Did he go on to say when he’s going to finish and release Half Life 3, or did he just comment on other people companies and theorise about other peoples imaginary products? :P
Kennykazey
If Apple decides to enter the console market, I think they would bring out something like the Wii U, and where you could use your iDevice as an optional controller. They would definitely target the casual market, but I have a feeling it would be priced too high to succeed.
Speaking of shiny things; I miss the little tags that said what subject/platform the articles belonged to, any chance of seeing them again?
teflon
Why does Apple need to release a home console when their devices can already beam video outputs to your TV, via an Apple TV, and game developers can come up with things like 4-player split screen?
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Real+Racing+2/news.asp?c=34055
I mean, really, there’s no need for a heavy lifting console device, just a wireless bridge to handle the output, and one of the handheld devices (Lets not forget, those 4 screens still display locally and independently too) to be powerful enough to host the MP game.
So, where does it fit into Apple’s lineup?
Kennykazey
As a streaming media hub and simple way of connecting an iDevice to any TV I guess? Car manufacturers are good at shoehorning in new ranges of cars that nobody knew was needed or even could exist, look at the new Aston Virage or the Nissan Juke for example. And this is happening in the electronic industry aswell. New gadgets are popping up everywhere and people get accustomed and addicted to them. If a developer sees a new market to make money in, even if it has to create it first, chances are it will try to do just that.
teflon
Bit of a misquote in the headline, no? The “sort of ominous” thing is that people are happily accepting the closed markets, and that platform providers’ attitudes seem to have shifted (whether that’s true is rather debatable) from simply providing a platform to controlling it stringently.
Those platforms certainly include PSN, XBLA, Apple’s App Store and to a lesser extent Steam. Lets not forget that all games, including retail releases on PS3, Wii, X360 are all licensed by the platform providers too, and this is simply following the lines set out decades ago.
Remember the 90s? When Nintendo and its SNES was extremely “holier than thou” in its attitude and Mortal Kombat released with no blood effects? This kind of control has been going for decades.
nofi
Apple doesn’t need a console. They’ve already got 2 or 3 machines capable of playing games that – in terms of numbers – do more than enough.
colmshan1990
Many (including me) find Valve’s stranglehold on the downloadable market as ominous…
I don’t think an Apple game console would do better than the Wii, and as others have pointed out, they don’t need one.
Then again, they didn’t need a phone or a tablet either, did they?
Awayze
Apple are on top of the world. They can release a home game system and it will sell real good.