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Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

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391–400 of 512 posts

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#391
post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish micro transactions were made illegal in applications on the app stores…and video games in general. It encourages additive behaviour and lowers the quality of games as the purpose becomes to make the additive micro transaction aspect as addictive as possible. If some new policy changed this, I think we’d see a whole new wave of higher quality games

How would you define a micro-transaction? Maybe we need a pornography-like definition ("I know it when I see it") but I think there is certainly a continuum from high-quality DLC / expansions to existing games (which can be basically a new game) down to crystals which allow you to instantly buy something which you'd have got anyway if you had waited. So, consider a basic, Mario-kart like racing game - which of these…

All of them are micro-transactions.

Some micro transactions are tolerable, some of the time, but every single one of these commercializes the product. IMO if they exist, the game should be free-to-play. Where I really get annoyed are games like Lego2K (racing game) where you pay $60 to play, and then it's also full of microtransactions (for cars, courses, cosmetics, you name it).

I think it's a different matter when it's a content-filled DLC add-on to the game. Yes, the line for that is a bit arbitrary, but the classic example would be Starcraft: Brood War (well, technically that was an expansion pack, but same idea). Adding a single additional course to a racing game blurs the line, I generally think content should be bundled so the gamer isn't constantly making financial decisions while playing.

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#392
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it though? The promise of gaming on iPhone (and mobile gaming in general) has been taken over and destroyed by freemium games whose only goal is to push microtransactions. What is a marginally better GPU going to accomplish? Help games sell me their "bundle of gems" faster? Developers simply do not have the incentive to build any other kinds of games when the current crop of addictive shovelware is so damn profita…

Early mobile games were such a delight. I have fond memories of Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, Cut the Rope, Flight Control, Threes, Monument Valley, Bad Piggies... But then predatory freemium games like Clash of Clans and newer replacements for Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies burned me out. They eliminated any desire I had to invest time or money or attention into mobile games. Popular freemium games in the App S…

Tiny Wings and Alto's Adventure were standouts for me. Also Device 6 gave me some hope that puzzle games could be special on mobile. But that dream never materialized unfortunately.

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#393
post #250

A consumer stereo camera in a significant portion of the populations pocket is a big deal imo. Going to make the volume of VR content much higher.

From what I gather the distance between the left and right lens will be less than an inch. Technically it’s still stereo, but don’t get your hopes high.

It’s more about the difference in magnitude of the lenses. This also gives you depth information when combined.

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#394

The most interesting part of this to me isn't the titanium or the camera (impressive as it looks), it's the GPU. They made a point of saying that the GPU had been completely ground-up re-designed, and I assume they're intending to keep scaling that up over the next few iterations. They didn't talk about it for very long, but that the phone is able to convincingly run AAA games, even at playable if not great frame-rat…

> Granted, they don't have Nintendo's games

Didn't Nintendo appear on stage at the 2016 keynote event to announce Nintendo's foray into mobile gaming (on 3rd party hardware, anyway) with Super Mario Run? And didn't Apple add native support for the Switch Pro and Joycon controllers to iOS 16 last year? Nintendo has always hated being in the hardware business...

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#395
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They indicated in the pitch for the Pro that they added logic to the new CPU to drive USB 3 at 10gbps. The non-Pro is using last year's CPU, so while yes I guess that means they did "cheap out", I imagine the cost to include 3.0 on the non-Pro is pretty high and most people don't care.

Except iPads using older SoCs handle faster USB C speeds just fine.

Which ones?

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#396
post #290

The most interesting thing to me is that switching to a new SOC process node gives you the option of bumping up performance or reducing power draw, and it sounds like Apple has once again chosen to reduce power draw. It seems like other vendors have been going the "push performance no matter what it does to power draw and heat" route for a long time now.

On the CPU game, apple is so far ahead that it might not even make sense to talk about other vendors. Apple could deliberately downclock their CPUs and still beat the shit out of any flagship android. Hell, their 3 years old lineup actually beats the current year’s top.

It mostly comes down to manufacturing processes. When you compare 5nm Apple hardware to 5nm hardware from other competitors, the power/performance disparity closes significantly. Since Apple is the biggest though, they can out-spend anyone else who tries to buy out the latest node right now. This has been the case since 2020, and seems to still hold true.

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#397

Apple's continued focus on gaming image quality is weird (ray tracing?), since despite Apple Arcade the mobile market still is still dominated by freemium games with simple graphics / lower graphical requirements. There are precisely two freemium games that take advantage of the power of the Apple Silicon chips: Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, which were coincidently the two released games highlighted. (it may…

The second you can have competing app stores I see Steam opening shop and mobile gaming blowing up.

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#398
post #41

Assassin's Creed Mirage launching on iOS shows that Apple is taking gaming seriously. A large part of the presentation was talking about the new GPU and the newly developed shader architecture. It will be interesting to compare the numbers once the devices are available.

It'll be interesting sure, but porting struggles have never really been about the numbers. Porting to iPhone takes time because the API is starkly different from consoles or Linux/Windows systems. Apple won't publish your game unless it's using Metal, there's no way around it. Games like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil have been touted for the same purposes in the past, but they never signaled any major internal shifts.

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#399
post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the CPU game, apple is so far ahead that it might not even make sense to talk about other vendors. Apple could deliberately downclock their CPUs and still beat the shit out of any flagship android. Hell, their 3 years old lineup actually beats the current year’s top.

It mostly comes down to manufacturing processes. When you compare 5nm Apple hardware to 5nm hardware from other competitors, the power/performance disparity closes significantly. Since Apple is the biggest though, they can out-spend anyone else who tries to buy out the latest node right now. This has been the case since 2020, and seems to still hold true.

Just plain not true. Process is relevant but is not the biggest factor. Design is.

Re: Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

#400

> The Pro lineup is built to last, combining the strength of titanium with the toughest back glass in a smartphone and the industry-leading Ceramic Shield on the front. The back panel is made of glass. This is a user-hostile design choice. Apple tries to gas-light us, claiming that it's a "Durable Design". This is deception. I hope FTC sues them for false advertising. A real durable design would have a durable back (…

Given companies are allowed to advertise waterproof-ness and wholesale deny warranty claims when any water indicators inside the phone are triggered, I don’t think the FTC is going to do much
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