#console

This past Friday I got the new Apple TV, and the day after the Nimbus controller that wirelessly syncs with it (over Bluetooth). I’m having a blast.

I’ll start by saying that I’m a longtime and very strong user of Apple TV. It’s now turned into a pretty successful product for Apple, but I was an early adopter, and it quickly became indispensable for me. The killer feature for me has always been AirPlay, and on top of streaming lots of video content to it, it’s also been my main “stereo” in my home (first by streaming music from iTunes, then Spotify, and these days Apple Music).

But I’ve always been waiting for the moment when they would finally add a proper App Store to it, so that we’d start getting proper apps that were made for use on a TV screen.

And that of course means, TV games.

The best thing about plugging it in and logging into my accounts (as a citizen of the world, I have Canadian, US, and Japan accounts) was that I already had access to a bunch of games courtesy of the few Universal apps out there that have already jumped on the TV front. Early faves so far include Canabalt,Badland,Edge/Edge Ex,Phoenix HD,Jetpack Joyride, and a game that I’m finally having fun playing for the first time (because I’m playing it with the Nimbus controller), Asphalt 8. 

(And to be fair, even though it’s not a game I particularly like playing, Crossy Road does look great on the big screen.)

The game I’m playing the most though is Rayman Adventures, a free-to-play game that plays exactly like a regular Rayman console game when you’re playing with the Nimbus – it’s not like the (albeit excellent) auto-runners that have already come out on iOS. There’s also another free-to-play game that I’ve been enjoying, a hover ship “runner” called Breakneck, although it was crashing for me consistently when I was reaching a certain level today.

As I mentioned at the top, I quickly bought that Nimbus controller – which is a very solid piece of hardware, by the way – because for most of these games, I wasn’t really enjoying playing them with the Siri Remote. But one very big exception, and the only game I’ve bought so far, is Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising, which was specifically designed to play with the Siri Remote, and in fact does not support play with a controller. I found myself really enjoying playing that game with the remote, and as someone who was not a fan of playing games with the Wiimote (along with the nunchuck controller), I think what makes it better here is that the Siri Remote is so much smaller and lighter, and so it’s not as tiring to be holding it up. Add some gorgeous HD visuals, and you’ve got a legit great space shooter.

The App Store is a bit strange though. Right now you can only find games through a featured page, through a page of things you’ve bought (and so any Universal apps that you’ve previously purchased on other iOS devices show up there), and through a search page. It’s not surprising that there’s no charts yet, since the store just opened, but I would have liked to see some category pages – I have a few friends who I know have created Apple TV versions of their iOS games (Shaun Inman’s The Last Rocket, Eric Koizol’s Rainblocks) that you can only find if you specifically search for them. I also find it strange that you can’t buy Apple TV apps through App Stores on other devices (or on your computer).

So what’s the verdict?

I think it’s pretty clear that I’m already quite excited for this device, in terms of games, and I think this will finally be the micro console that sticks. Just like what happened with the iPhone, tons of people are going to buy Apple TVs to watch video content (which I of course do as well) and as they start discovering the high-quality games you can play there, it’s going to make it that much more attractive for creators to develop Apple TV versions of their iOS games, or even better, games that may be created specifically with the TV in mind. Also, the fact Apple is strongly promoting the sales of controllers like the Nimbus means that I’m sure more and more games that play better with such controllers will be coming out on the device.

To me, this feels like a new console launch, and a good one at that.

Update: I just realized that I forgot to emphasize another thing that is a huge sell for me – although I alluded to it when I mentioned Asphalt 8 – and that’s the ability to finally play games that use virtual controls on iOS devices with a real physical controller. I absolutely hate playing games that way (with virtual on-screen controls), and there are tons of quality games that I’m sure would be a million times better if I could finally play them with a proper controller – a recent example is Downwell, a game I did still enjoy, but that I still found to be a bit awkward because of the controls. Yes, you’ve long been able to use wireless Bluetooth controllers with iOS devices, but that’s not a practical thing to do. There’s nothing more natural though than using one when you’re playing TV games.

thirtytwoelvismovies:

Spent the last couple of hours cleaning a bunch of 2600 cartridges. This is the kind of therapy I don’t even have to submit receipts for.

Let’s go back in time just over ten years ago when the console war between big names like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, raged in a great offensive to contrast the dominant PC base back then. A bit of history here trying to refresh the memories of gamers and non-gamers. Until the first half of 2000s PC titles were displaying the top shelves at your local Gamestop with their thick boxes as the DVD format became a standard pushing for bigger titles. At the same time console were still expanding and learning the consumer behavior of the players, but games had still little to no cross-platform so they were created for dedicated hardware.

Fast-forward today and everything is gone: video game stores have been closing with the advent of online platform like Steam and other outlets. But this is just the beginning of a new story that takes place online, where the face of gaming has been changing drastically so far. Gamers are now experiencing a whole new and different scenario of title quality and gameplay.

In the second decade of the 21st century a new different method of gaming has spawned and has been successful. Players have been shifting from purchasing a fully finished game inside a box to a platform of entertainment made of unfinished programming. Triple A titles have taken the habit of being release with the intent purpose of achieving their entirety through continuous purchases from the players. You are now getting sold video games that are meant to be consumed above their original price tag.

A funny yet realistic accountability of the gaming situation…

The rise of partially executed software for PC and eventually consoles has become (unfortunately) a common practice to yield more profit for the developers and the publishers. You are now getting the original title at a 80% out of its 100% so the remaining can be delivered to you in the following:

• deluxe game edition
  

• expansion
  

• retailer exclusive
  

But this is not the end. This is the norm now, the rest has become a much deeper problem in the last years that is costing gamers more than they originally paid for the game they wanted. Today micro-transactions of all kinds are the standard meal for the top gaming tears, which includes EA, Valve, Blizzard,  Activision, Ubisoft, and neighbors.

Off course, nobody is pushing players to open their wallets to include more digital content; however, the situation shifted from adding something extra to adding something that should have been there since the beginning, to adding something needed. The easiest analogy that comes to mind is when someone purchasing a car at the dealership is paying more for features that aren’t includeden the standard package; fair enough and everybody agrees with it. But now it has come to having to pay more to have the air conditioning and the windshield: you can still use your car but it’ll be very uncomfortable without those two necessary items.

The apex of this phenomena translated after the release of Counter Strike: Global OffensivewhenValve included its reward system of loot in the shape of a crate, which needs a key to be opened and that key costs real money. Players have to add funds from their credit card to their virtual wallet in order to be able to open such crates, which contain for the majority items of very low value that are resold for pennies. On the other hand there’s the very low chance that a rare and high valued item might spawn, it can be sold on a virtual market on Steam for hundred of dollars making some people very happy and generating a system based on chances of getting what you wish for. At worst this is gambling, at best it’s dishonesty.

In 2016Washington State Gambling CommissiongaveValve until October of the same year to end their game skin gambling. This issue came with no surprise to me since I’ve been playing Counter StrikeandTeam Fortress 2 from their releases. It was clear that something was wrong if a gaming commission knocks at your door with official papers. Despite the court battle we cannot ignore the fact that millions of players around the world have poured millions of dollars in digital and extra content outside any original gaming release price.

What does all this mean?- It means that there’s a problem in the gaming community because there’s a behavior at play which entangles the user in sliding into a practice which has become far too common: paying to win. This translates into having a large chunk of players willing to use their credit cars to achieve a status which is not granted by simply purchasing the game, but rather adding real money in order to access the full intended game.

The latest scandal of uncomfortable micro-transactions and game addiction came in the form of uproar from the player base.EA pulls out their e-commerce of digital goods in the wake of online protest from Star Wars Battlefront 2. Winning upon paying? Sounds like that recently and for some times. Forms of favorable upgrades in gaming experiences are around to push the user into spending more to enhance the game quality. But the worst part if how casual EA executed the whole thing from the beginning by allowing this pay-to-win system to be released: purchase this item to easily win against other players and not by skill.

It’s worrisome that we have reached the slot machine level that Las Vegas does to enjoy what was just recently a standard gaming experience. Gambling forms of video games platform shouldn’t be there for players to go through, because this entertainment square is widely open to kids who are minors and don’t understand the concept of what gambling is and how does it work, especially when you allow it inside their favorite games. The line between fun and sorrow easily blurs and disappears. 

Gaming addiction can only become worse when the legitimization of real money in video game gambling becomes the norm, which in part has been happening in the realm of digital products .I can only hope that game developers along publishers understand the basic relationship of digital entertainment: a virtual game for a virtual fun. That’s all.