I spotted him at McDonalds once.. Work that one in to your rumours
iFries, the trillion dollar idea coming to a HN front page next week.
Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
31–40 of 68 posts
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#32So is a gaming platform the big Apple announcement Phillipe Starck hinted at for the fall?
Presumably their new smart TV would do to consoles the same thing phones and touches have done to mobile gaming.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#33Hang on, what if Apple wants in on the console action (on top of TV) and wants to partner with Valve's Steam platform and bring Steam to consoles?
And instead of just a 'video game console', it becomes the ultimate entertainment unit with all the other good stuff.
Bam!
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#34My prediction is that Apple has been biding their time and preparing to dominate the console gaming market. Think about it- the iPod touch and iPhone are becoming more and more robust in terms of hardware, I don't know the benchmarks but I'd wager they're close to consoles in terms of actual power. Apple has enabled "AirPlay" through AppleTV, which allows the iPhone/iPod to stream directly to the TV.
So what you have is a gaming platform that's already ubiquitous, can act as it's own controller (gyro, accelerometer, speaker, mic, vibrate, touchscreen, buttons are all built-in), and is able to stream wirelessly to any AppleTV. These devices already have a fantastic network in terms of downloading and paying for content. At this point all you need is some games to take advantage of it and you're set.
OR they could just be trying to integrate Steam into their upcoming tv. My hope is for the former though.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#35Seems like Steam/Valve games would be an awesome addition to an Apple-branded television.
I was thinking the same thing. The real interesting part is that the AppleTV would surely be an ARM platform and Valve are exclusively an Intel platform. Given the price point it could easily be both. I agree that being compatible with whatever hardware Valve is making would be pretty awesome.
"AppleTV would surely be an ARM platform"
Battery life isn't an issue in the home and ARM can't really do full fledged ports of the most demanding and popular AAA console titles. So I'd expect an Intel chip. It could possibly have an ARM chip too but I'd guess emulation is good enough and higher profit. Alternatively they could put in a bunch of ARM chips but iOS just makes a lot more sense on paper. With an Intel chip you gain the whole iOS library and the whole OS X library. At that point the library and capabilities may be good enough to forego other console purchases for many consumers.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#36I'll tell you why I think he was there: Apple wants a 30% cut of all sales on the Steam platform. Steam purchases will soon be required to go through Apple's in-app purchase system.
I'd be surprised that Valve would even go for that, Apple hasn't been their market anyway.
Key word: "hasn't" as in past tense.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#37My prediction is that Apple has been biding their time and preparing to dominate the console gaming market. Think about it- the iPod touch and iPhone are becoming more and more robust in terms of hardware, I don't know the benchmarks but I'd wager they're close to consoles in terms of actual power. Apple has enabled "AirPlay" through AppleTV, which allows the iPhone/iPod to stream directly to the TV. So what you have…
I think Apple has a chance of doing well and perhaps dominating the console game industry but I don't think it'll be through iPhones and iPads via AirPlay — the Apple TV already has an A5 in it with—I assume—a comparable GPU to that which drives the iPhone and iPad. Why require the battery consumption and latency of processing on a handheld? The Apple TV's only $99 and has been for many months. And iPhones and iPads don't make good controllers for lots of games, anyway.
So I'd sooner bet on an updated Apple TV (or even perhaps a software update to the existing one) and a range of purchasable, button-having controllers.
And it's possible that some games could be optionally- or even only-playable with iOS devices as controllers — an iPad coupled with an Apple TV seems able to do much of what a Wii U will be able to do.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#38My prediction is that Apple has been biding their time and preparing to dominate the console gaming market. Think about it- the iPod touch and iPhone are becoming more and more robust in terms of hardware, I don't know the benchmarks but I'd wager they're close to consoles in terms of actual power. Apple has enabled "AirPlay" through AppleTV, which allows the iPhone/iPod to stream directly to the TV. So what you have…
I've been waiting and suggesting Google to turn Google TV/Android into a "console platform" and try to take over the console market the same way they did it with phones - by getting all companies to make mini-Android consoles with high-end ARM chips that have "good enough" graphics. They could've started doing this from day one of Google TV.
Instead they still keep focusing only on the "TV" part. I think they will miss a huge opportunity here, and like you said Apple will probably turn it into another blockbuster success a year from now, and Google will only then scramble to catch-up and do the same.
It baffles me how Google can't even get these pretty obvious "visions" sometimes. Even tablets should've been a pretty predictable market coming as a sort of upgrade from smartphones, and not how Microsoft tried to do it before with a full PC OS.
I'm sure Apple had the idea for years before the iPad launch, but the first "public" suggestion for such a thing I think was Mike Arrington's idea with the Crunchpad. I think it was 2008 when he started talking about it and getting people involved. Since then I myself started thinking that I would want a "tablet" rather than a mini-laptop/netbook in many situations (couch, bed, travelling, etc). But the iPad also seems to have caught Google completely off-guard back in 2010, as it took them a full year to even release a half-baked Honeycomb OS version.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#39My prediction is that Apple has been biding their time and preparing to dominate the console gaming market. Think about it- the iPod touch and iPhone are becoming more and more robust in terms of hardware, I don't know the benchmarks but I'd wager they're close to consoles in terms of actual power. Apple has enabled "AirPlay" through AppleTV, which allows the iPhone/iPod to stream directly to the TV. So what you have…
I've been waiting and suggesting Google to turn Google TV/Android into a "console platform" and try to take over the console market the same way they did it with phones - by getting all companies to make mini-Android consoles with high-end ARM chips that have "good enough" graphics. They could've started doing this from day one of Google TV. Instead they still keep focusing only on the "TV" part. I think they will mi…
It should be interesting to see what happens when Sergey and Larry gain complete control over the company after the stock split. "Tech Dictatorship" seemed to work well under Jobs, maybe these guys will make some riskier decisions in the name of progress.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook Spotted at video game designer Valve headquarters
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was thinking the same thing. The real interesting part is that the AppleTV would surely be an ARM platform and Valve are exclusively an Intel platform. Given the price point it could easily be both. I agree that being compatible with whatever hardware Valve is making would be pretty awesome.
"AppleTV would surely be an ARM platform" Battery life isn't an issue in the home and ARM can't really do full fledged ports of the most demanding and popular AAA console titles. So I'd expect an Intel chip. It could possibly have an ARM chip too but I'd guess emulation is good enough and higher profit. Alternatively they could put in a bunch of ARM chips but iOS just makes a lot more sense on paper. With an Intel ch…
Noise is a problem. I'm not sure whether Apple wants to compromise on that.