The rumors are flying this morning that Apple seems to want into the game market. The iGame perhaps?
Well, the rumors have been around for some time but their recent trademark filing (which
Kif points out) has reignited them.
But before the smug Apple fanboys start masturbating over the idea (keep in mind, some of them don't even know what a video game is...) and getting ready to spend a week camped outside Apple stores, I'd like to remind everyone that Apple tried this one before.
Remember, The Pippin:
Released in '95 in Japan and '96 in the United States, the Pippin was a contemporary of the original Sony PlayStation, the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn.
Heavy competition wasn't it's only problem, though. In 1996, it retailed at $599 and um...games...what games?
All I've been able to find out is that Bandai made them, but I can't seem to find a list of titles.
Oh, it ran the old MacOS, since apparently it was supposed to be more a mini-computer, despite looking, walking and quacking with a game console.
Though you could say Apple was an early pioneer in online connected game consoles, since the Pippin had an on-board 14.4k modem. Woah!
Good luck finding one now, only a few thousand were produced before it was discontinued.
Since then it's become somewhat a punchline in the gadget industry, making almost every list of "worst technology" and "biggest flops" since its release.
So...assuming Apple actually IS making a game unit, will they actually get it right this time?
Who cares? It's still going to sell by virtue of having a piece of fruit on it.
Update JamnOnTheOne, along with insulting my ability to properly operate Google in the morning did find a complete list of games for the Pippin. Included are such exciting titles as
Gus Goes to Kooky Carnival,
Mr. Potato Head Saves Veggie Valley and the classic
Power Rangers Zeo v.s. the Machine Empire!
Oh, and apparently Apple released some game called
Web Browser. Sounds boring.
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What a beaut! It looks like a precursor to the Xbox.
less than 10 seconds of googling turned up the complete list of titles released.
http://www.gooddealgames.com/Release_Lists/RL_Pippin.html
Post is fail for lack of google skills
@JamnOnTheOne
You win this one...though, I think I just found it funnier when I found a site that CLAIMED to have the list but when I clicked on the link got "No Titles Found"
-updating this now, though.
Nooo!
I'd like to point out that this was when Apple wasn't being run by Steve Jobs, and therefore was automatically doomed to failure.
The company before Jobs' returned was full of constant failures and probably would've been dead by now if not for Jobs' integrating Apple with NeXT. He rebuilt the OS from the ground up at that point and people began to take it seriously from then on.
I predict they're just looking for ways to integrate more of their itunes store based games into their existing line of products. After all, they already have a dearth of games already for the ipod, putting up patents for games for the itouch and iphone seems like a good idea since so many people are jailbreaking them now for this very reason.
Any iGame etc. trademarks that apple may have are purely preventative. Apple knows better than to get into a loss-leader market with a home console. DVD is probably correct; I'd bet the rumor mill is mistaking the iPhone/iPod touch games that are coming with the SDK to be released later this month (the 26th, I believe) for murmurs of a home console.
It's also not fair to compare Apple post-pre-jobs to apple circa CEO Jobs. (because he was there, then he left, then he came back with the first-gen iMac, and pow, Apple blew up.)
There is no way Apple can jump in there as the 4th console in the battle. Especially this late in the game. There is now way it can enter as a gaming console. There are three consoles, excluding PC. a 4th can't survive.
I <3 Apple. EXTREMELY BAD IDEA. Not Buying!
God, that the thing is fugly.
I'm Xbox and he's a Mac.
I can see the ad's already.
Rumors are probably nothing.
And well Pippin's too old to be relevant to my interests I'm afraid.
If there's ground to the rumors it'd probably be the most expensive choice, I'd be interested just to see what they'd do though.