Clash of the (Gaming) Titans

Will Apple enter the console war?

Having become a household name over the last few years with ground-breaking tech hitting shop shelves world-wide and hordes of loyal followers practically everywhere, how likely is it that Apple will eventually join the console war and add another, considerable feather to their cap? According to company CEO Steve Jobs, the iPod Touch system is already the “most popular gaming handheld” across the globe, and even if you don’t entirely agree with this rather frivolous over-exaggeration, it’s easy to see where he’s coming from considering the multitude of titles currently spanning every Apple system from mobile phone to Mac. With this booming popularity buoying them up and the likes of the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 showing how much money can be had elsewhere in the gaming world, who could blame them for wanting a slice of the home market as well?

Breaking In…

If they want to break into this lucrative, bitter arena then they may have their work cut out for them, however; the current generation consoles are very firmly entrenched after five, popular years in the public domain and show no signs of slowing down, so unless Apple can come up with a system that distinctively stands out from the crowd then they haven’t got a hope of getting anywhere - big-name-brand or not. This is especially true considering the introduction of killer ‘apps’ such as Kinect and Move to the Xbox 360 and the PS3, and it’s fair to say that such devices will come to define the future of gaming before the coming decade is out. As a result, why would anyone want to shell out for a console that does the same as already established, trustworthy companies for the sake of name alone? The Playstation 3’s lacklustre launch is a prime case in point, and served for one particularly dire warning to the industry as a whole on the danger of assumptions.

At this point it would probably be fair to say that Microsoft found itself in a similar position before the release of the original Xbox, but it should also be noted that, while under similar circumstances, they still expected ‘massive losses’ on the console before it became a brand and didn’t have to endure such trying financial times either. During a period of heavy recession and severe uncertainty in the industry, it may not entirely be in Apple’s interest to shoulder such a potentially crippling risk just yet. When the current triad of Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3 are coming to the end of their lives, attention lies solely on future products and the slate is wiped relatively clean then it will be a lot easier to gain a foothold in the market, but for now it would seem like sheer suicide.

…Or Breaking Tradition?

But who’s to say that they would even go down the traditional route anyway? An employee of Epic recently suggested that home consoles could end up becoming highly portable like the iPad, with players potentially being able to ‘set it up in the café and play Dance Central’ with their friends. This is where Apple could truly fill a niche and start a trend - full HD home-console power and capabilities slapped onto an easy-to-transport system that you can use in your living room, on the go or wherever you happen to be? That would simply take the breath away and change how we play forever. And it’s certainly plausible, too; if you want an example of what even the current set of devices can do then you just need to take a look at the Epic Citadel, a phenomenal technical feat which boasts hugely detailed settings, console-esque controls and a whole bucket of potential for portable gaming in general. It’s hard to believe it even works on the system in the first place, being rather comparable to titles such as The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and with the aforementioned success of the iPod this sort of gaming is a concept fast gaining popularity not just among the public but among developers, too - just look at the recent Kingmaker game for the upcoming Fable 3 launch, where players interact not only with each other but with their real
environment.

Kingpin

For now it’s certain that Apple’s portable gaming focus will only continue to improve, but where it goes from there is anyone’s guess; if Epic Citadel is anything to go by, though, the old boys certainly need to be on their toes especially if the ‘i’ range can serve as phone, organiser, camera, video camcorder, web browser and gaming-machine all in one for similar prices to the likes of Nintendo’s strictly gaming handheld. Perhaps the current industry kingpins should sit up and take notice before they are outpaced by an industry that demands - not to mention thrives on - change, ingenuity and adaptation. Hey, it’s happened before; just take a look at the Wii itself.

Regardless of whether we end up with an Apple console by the end of this decade, however, it’s almost certain that the queues on release-day would still be horrendous.