For the past few weeks, I've been hearing rumors about Apple's increased interest in the games market. Some people reported that the company would debut a new, dedicated gamepad for the Apple TV. Others predicted a partnership with a major player in the industry. Today, at a special event, didn't quite announce either of these things, but instead introduced a few more subtle developments that may still have a real effect on the way people play games. (The majority of today's event was about non-games products, of course, so for for an overview of the whole presentation, check out CNET's live blog of the event.)

The first major development for games on Apple platforms is actually a whole new platform altogether: Apple tvOS, an operating system for the latest version of the company's video streaming box, Apple TV. Competitors like Amazon, Roku, Google, and (most recently) Razer have all begun to explore the viability of playing games on a box built to stream video to a TV, and Apple's addition to the marketplace means that competition for these consumers is only going to get fiercer in the coming years.

The new Apple TV will come with a wireless remote control for navigating the OS, which will serve double duty as a game controller. The controller is a flat rectangle with a touch pad at the top and six buttons, but developer guides reveal that players will only be able to use two of the buttons (the touch pad itself and the Play button) as inputs, with the Menu button working as a pause. It also has motion tracking capability, which was used in a demo of Harmonix's Beat Sports, a rhythm-based mini-game collection which seemed like a more stylish take on some early Wii compilations, like Wii Sports. Beat Sports also featured a big baseball man named "Big Bawse," who I can only imagine is a beautiful and horrifying amalgamation of Rick Ross and Naked Snake.

Given all of the rumors that we'd be seeing a game controller designed in-house by Apple, I have to admit that this is a little disappointing. Though Apple does have a standard set for how developers can implement controller functionality into their games, the vast number of iOS controllers (many of which are of mediocre quality) means that devs can't ever really predict how gamepad controls will feel for their players. Having a single, Apple-branded controller would standardize the user experience for many players, and it would encourage developers to create games that take advantage of the controller integration. This is especially important since Apple has announced that tvOS game developers can require players to have a dedicated gamepad, though it is "highly discouraged."

Along with Beat Sports, Apple name dropped a handful of other games that would come to the device, including Transistor, Guitar Hero Live, and Shadowmatic. They also showed off a new co-op/competitive mode for Crossy Road's upcoming Apple TV release. Players can cut each other off or knock their opponent into traffic, but they can also work cooperatively since a run continues until both players are taken out. It's no competitive Catherine, but it still seemed like a decent time.

Apple also announced that the new iPhone 6s would introduce a new input method called "3D Touch," which uses Apple's "taptic engine" to detect the pressure of a user's press. The feature was demonstrated using the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade, which puts players in control of an Imperial Knight battle mech. Tapping fires the gun, pushing in a little bit will zoom in for precision aiming, and pushing even harder than that will fire secondary weapons like rockets. It's not a game I'm super hyped for, but it clearly illustrated the value of 3D Touch for gaming. Anything that means I'll have to have to drag my finger from one virtual button to another less often is a plus in my book. Also: Tim Cook said "3D Battle Mechs" on stage, so that was pretty fun.

If you were expecting Apple to drop some earth shattering news, then I could see how you might be disappointed. But these developments could wind up being similar to many other Apple innovations, where slow but everyday integration into our lives makes a larger impact than a single big splash ever would.

Update: A couple of tuned-in readers sent word that the Apple TV developer guide also outlines one more hurdle for game makers: The platform has a 200MB app size limit. The guide lays it out pretty clearly:

There is no persistent local storage for apps on Apple TV. This means that every app developed for the new Apple TV must be able to store data in iCloud and retrieve it in a way that provides a great customer experience.

Along with the lack of local storage, the maximum size of an Apple TV app is limited to 200MB. Anything beyond this size needs to be packaged and loaded using on-demand resources. Knowing how and when to load new assets while keeping your users engaged is critical to creating a successful app.

So developers will need to build apps at under 200 MBs, and then pull remaining access from the cloud as needed during play. While I'm sure this is one of those problems that developers are already working out solutions for, it definitely feels like a real challenge.

Imperial Knight Battle Mech

On the one hand Apple is uniquely positioned to make bank off gaming. Most of the young kids nowadays get their first gaming experience playing games on their parent's phones. If they could keep those kids in their ecosystem as they grow up it'd be a significant threat to the established industry.

"So developers will need to build apps at under 200 MBs, and then pull remaining access from my butt as needed during play."

Man I love the Cloud to Butt extension. lmao.

I wonder if Nintendo's mobile games will work on this too or if they'll be stuck on iPad/iPhone for fear of assisting competition.

What I get from this is that they added apps to Apple TV, and made more of the Apple things you already like. The bigger iPad seems like an ok alternative to the bottom rung of the Surface Pro line, if you're into the whole Apple ecosystem but want something to replace a laptop. I am still more interested in Surface, if only because it supports Windows desktop software, so I can play all of the less demanding Steam games on it, even if the microsoft app store is rather sparse.

Not much for games, but that Apple TV price isn't bad. But for many of us with consoles from the last two generations I think it'll mostly be of use as a christmas gift idea for our parents. For a great many people in that target demographic, a remote represents familiar technology, where a dual stick controller is foreign and strange. My Dad couldn't even make the blu-ray player go on my PS3.

The 'pencil' is....strange. Seems like the people who want that sort of thing most are artists, and from the reaction of my more artistic friends, this isn't going to serve those people. There are already cheaper third party phone/tablet styluses available right now, but I guess the big Apple fans will always prefer buying direct from them.

Also massive props to Austin for mentioning the Tau. Because theres never enough mech or 40k love these days. I miss you, Dawn of War. :)

Haha oh god.

As one of those weird people that loved their time with Wii Sports Resort and wishes for the further evolution of motion controls, I'm interested in any cool/weird stuff that will make use of the Apple TV remote controller.

This seems like at least the third time there were big rumors about Apple diving more into the game market, but then it was some tiny kinda step instead. Starting to suspect they are doing that to get more media attention from gaming sites

That Apple TV although "cheap" for Apple is a lot more expensive than its competition, I wonder if anyone who isn't already locked into the ecosystem there even cares.... in fact I kinda wonder that about all the things they announced today.

Man, Warhammer 40k talk reminds me how awesome Dawn of War 2 was. They should make another one of those, but keep it all small scale and tactical.

Apple is pushing the Steelseries Xbox 360 style controller pretty hard and controller support carries through into the OS menus and other apps so I suspect the Xbox 360 control scheme is going to be standard for other controllers, for example they explicitly state the "A" button should be affirmative, the "B" button should be negative and the Menu button opens the menu.

Developers can require a Game Controller to be connected to play an Apple TV game. This is discouraged but you can just display an error message to the user if they try to play with the Remote.

The last game I released was around 80mbs with no additional download. It was a game with 3D graphics, a bunch of music, voice acting, video-based cutscenes, 30 levels, bunch of character gear with unique models and textures. The over-the-air limit for iOS is 100mbs and the App Store adds some additional size to the package when you upload the App so you usually have to stay around 80. Developers have been dealing with this issue for a while. Not being able to store additional resources on the system will be tricky for some games though.

Interesting that they're limiting app size when the device has 32 or 64GB of internal storage depending on SKU

I'm probably more optimistic about this than I should be, but I'm kinda excited at the prospect of weird indie shit making its way onto this thing. Jackbox Party Pack is a perfect fit for this kinda system. I also don't see why Jonathan Sebastian's Joust couldn't work on this system either. I don't know how well a game like Transistor will work with just the remote (or even if its possible to play it with only the remote). But an indie friendly Wii is potentially exciting. Even if it means we're going to see a bunch of Wii Sports knockoffs on this thing.

It is unfortunate that Apple is hamstringing some aspects of this box though (the 200MB limit, no official controller), but because its an Apple product it has the potential to get more developer support than an Ouya would.

Hey Austin - the 200 mb thing is only sort of true. You need to look up iOS app thinning. This is what tvOS is doing. Long story short - the initial download size needs to be 200 but this can exclude assets (icons, images textures, etc) which are not needed until the app requests them. Why? Because to have an app contain ALL the assets for all known Apple devices would make the image super large and wasteful. For example - why should my phone have to download assets that will only be used on a giant iPad pro? Answer: it shouldn't. Also, this same technology can be used to only pack in say level 1 of a platformer and hold off on downloading level 2 until you get there. So not just graphical assets. Anyway, look it up. Everyone else, hopefully this helps.

I thought that controller image was fake all day long. Apple has Wii nostalgia..

Not for me. Big Bawse is going in a direction I cannot follow.

But hurrah for mainstream people talking about games.

Really hope we see a Giant Bomb Apple TV app, would surely bring in some more paid subscribers :)

Seems like that 3d touch would be a good way to break your screen eventually. I know the idea is that people won't press so hard as to break it on purpose but I can see accidents happening and wonder what will happen to your device over time from such pressing.... Also this isn't the way I'd want to play a 3d game anyhow.

Correction: Apple also announced that the new iPhone 6s would introduce a new input method called "3D Touch," which uses Apple's "taptic engine" to detect the pressure of a user's press.

The "3D Touch," uses new capacitive panel technology that measures the force on the panel by measuring the distance of the capacitive panel and layer under it. Apple's "taptic engine" is just their name for a linear actuator, which creates vibrations. The "taptic engine" is used to create feedback for the user based on the strength of force of their press.

Source - engineering degree.

Thanks for the write up Austin, and welcome to the team!

Rick Rossrolled

I dunno the controls still sound kind of terrible which is why most phone games that try to be anything too complex end up being woeful.

Also yay phone games on my TV. Did no one learn anything from the Ouya?

I'm sure Relic is working on DoW3, it's been a while since Company of Heroes 2 already.

Oh, and DoW1 already had the Tau as a playable faction.

Mehhh... wake me when Razer puts their OUYA stuff on the Forge.

Best thing ever.

Can't wait for my family to state that Apple makes the best games.

No, mother, Apple makes some good stuff but 90% of the things you talk about is not them.

Anyways, will be interesting to see what this leads to. Hopefully something good.

rip video games

Seems dumb and overpriced. I imagine it will be a massive success.

It's basically Apple TV + Ouya / Vita TV. Obviously anyone intending to primarily game won't buy this instead of a console... hopefully.

I'm a bit disappointed, but it might be a good start for further generations. I hope we will see some good apps and i do not mean games.

For a company that is so into aesthetics, the apple TV looks really dated and like they didn't even try.

It's cheap, that's about it.

With the PS4 having Netflix(etc) and a media player there is zero value to an Apple TV for me. It has always seemed like a very clunky and lackluster product - I bet that the library is stocked with content though.

Woah, Apple updated its website, and they definitely have an actual controller, called the "Nimbus Steelseries Controller:"

Source: http://www.apple.com/tv/games-and-more/

200 MB limit really? Damn that is really low.

@skywarpgold said:

Woah, Apple updated its website, and they definitely have an actual controller, called the "Nimbus Steelseries Controller:"

Source: http://www.apple.com/tv/games-and-more/

That is just a third party bluetooth controller, not an in-house developed "Apple" controller. The article stated a desire for a dedicated, in house developed controller to create a standardized experience and to spur developer integration.

Still cool though...I have one of those MOGA controllers that I use with my android phone and tablet and it's pretty cool.

I also have a Roku with the motion gaming remote and yeah, once in a while I might fire up PacMan CE or something but it's never been any more than a novelty as far as gaming is concerned, mostly due to the fact that most games for it are garbage. If it has a decent library and actually works reliably, who knows, might be another place for developers to sell some games, nothing wrong with that.

After the announcement, I'm not expecting much from it, gaming-wise. Hopefully the added horsepower/storage and the Apple name means it gets more attention from developers than the Fire TV, and sees a handful of decent games for the platform.

Yeah, it would've been nice to have a device that supported iOS apps & games, but, I can see how it'd be hard to get the input right, to control apps originally designed for a full-screen touch interface.

As a streaming device, I'm sure it will work great. Especially for those who don't have a dedicated streaming box, or have a previous-gen Apple TV that's getting on in years. But I've already got a Fire TV Stick, which I got for $19. And I have Amazon Prime (includes a pretty big library of free tv/movies) and several non-Prime purchases from the Instant Video store. Since I'm not really drawn by the Apple TV's Siri functionality, the remote's Waggle Tech, or any of the announced apps and games, there's not much pushing me to buy into Apple TV just yet. I'm guessing the same is true for most Fire TV, Roku, and Chromecast owners, unless they've built up a library of Apple video purchases they're itching to play in the living room. Or they're unhappy with their current device.

As for using consoles to stream - yes, they can work well for streaming, but there are still advantages to a dedicated streaming device (lower noise, lower power consumption, media remote included with purchase, fewer system updates, etc.).

Well, I like the fact that it probably has decent power for apps and streaming. All boxes and apps I used were pretty laggy so far. Then again I sold my TV. Apple still doesn't care about games. Status quo then.

I have no problem with @austin_walker referencing/linking to a Trilla track as long as he agrees that Teflon Don is clearly Ross' best album.

Also, Apple + gaming = eh. My family has barely used Apple TV so I don't have much interest in a newer one.

Seems promising at least.

Seems like a really awkward place to have your game, but I suppose if the Amazon Fire is any indication there seems to be a belief in a market for these kinds of platforms. Still, I can't imagine this excites people who play mobile games or people who play home console games.

Minor correction: the Taptic Engine only refers to the collection of vibration motors and whatnot that provide haptic feedback as part of 3D Touch. The pressure-sensitive display is not grouped under that term as far as I know.

@austin_walker Just want to say keep up the news posts. I've been craving a site that only gives news updates for big stuff rather than every single little thing that comes up. It'd be super cool if I could rely solely on GB for my gaming news. Keep it up!

Also, your news style is great. Informed, in-depth and in tune.

The haptic feedback system combined with analogue pressure sensitivity is going to be a real game changer, literally. This will allow for control systems that feel far more like actual physical buttons, and degrees of pressure give developers more control options without cluttering the screen with button icons. Definitely the big new thing I think.

Until Apple hires a high level Sr executive position dedicated to gaming, Apple will never 'get' gaming. They need an advocate for gaming that is as powerful and has as much influences as the other executive at the table.

When it comes to everything else people are being distracted about whether the controllers should be "this or that", the real issue is the pitiful 200 MB limit. As a comparison most 3DS games are more than 3x that size, and the most modern largest 3DS games are 8x that size! It hardly matters that the 200MB limit is for the game kernel because the limit merely shows how little care they have for issues of gaming. Its an issue of mindset and intent, they still have no INTENT to making a usable gaming device.

200 MB limit is going to shackle any real gaming development for now. I don't see this as anything other than what you might play Bubble Witch 2 on. I mean, aren't even the Infinity Blade games over a gig in size?

I've heard the opposite, that this sort of low latency digital sketching technology (drawing right on a screen with shading) was previously thousands of dollars more expensive.

The 200MB size limit is like the guidelines on Google's Play Store.

So the app is limited to 200MB, but then it can download and save another 2GB, and then use up to 20GB of cloud storage. So app sizes can be between 200MB and 22.2GB

So now games on Apple TV can't require a third-party controller. They need to work with the included remote. From Ars Technica:

This is a pretty important change from a game design perspective. Previously, developers who wanted to make traditional, console-style games on Apple TV—the kind built for controllers that have buttons, analog sticks, and shoulder triggers—could specifically require the use of an MFi controller, like the ones Apple is actively promoting on its Apple TV website. Now, such games will have to shoehorn in some sort of limited control option that works with the motion-sensitive touchpad remote that's included with the Apple TV, which doesn't even have any buttons that can be used for game controls. Making a game that works equally well in these very different control environments is a heavy lift that will likely lead to some design compromises in more complicated games.