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iOS 8 turns iPhone into the ultimate game controller for iPad & Mac, Game Center hits 130M monthly active users

Apple took some time to talk gaming during a presentation closed to the public yesterday at WWDC. While noting that gaming is now an area that Apple is “pushing on very strongly”, the company also announced a new feature coming for gamers and developers: Controller Forwarding. 

Controller forwarding is a feature that expands on the Made-For-iPhone/iPad game controllers that Apple introduced alongside iOS 7 last year. The feature will allow MFi controllers that snap onto iPhones (like this one from Logitech that we reviewed) to act as a controller for iPads and Macs. Not only will you be able to use your iPhone with a connected MFi game controller as a controller for games running on an iPad or Mac, developers will be able to take advantage of motion control, the touchscreen on the iPhone, and the physical buttons on the controller itself for input.

This setup could have big advantages of a traditional Bluetooth controller connected to an iPad or Mac, as the iPhone integrated into the controller provides devs with access to the touchscreen and the device’s sensors.

Apple also shared some stats on gaming during its presentation for developers. A year after introducing MFi controllers, the company says it now has “thousands” of games with support and it’s also launched in-store demos with the controllers at Apple retail stores recently as part of its push into gaming.

Another new stat: Game Center reached around 130 million monthly active users last month.

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Comments

  1. Another new stat: Game Center reached around 130 monthly active users last month.

    130? wow, that’s a lot. =)

  2. Abhishek Harge - 10 years ago

    advantages over* a traditional, 130 million* ?

  3. Gordon Drayson - 10 years ago

    Only 130 monthly active users? Doesn’t seem very many.

  4. Pete Mrsich (@petem222) - 10 years ago

    Only 130? Seems low. ;-)

  5. chrisl84 - 10 years ago

    Im expecting big things for the Apple TV this fall….

  6. Jon Hoffman (@J_TheHoff) - 10 years ago

    Million is denoted as MM (M is latin for Mili – thousand MM= 1000×1000), just an FYI

    • Xavier Poirot (@dalaen) - 10 years ago

      Thanks, though that’s latin ^^

    • eduo (@eduo) - 10 years ago

      The romans called and asked you to stop giving your II cents.

      Latin Scholars called to ask you why you’re confusing latin as a language that had arabic numbers for most of its life with roman numerals, used only for a while, proportionately.

      M is short for “M”illion. It’s not supposed to be a Roman Numeral. “K” is used for thousands, for pretty much the same arbitrary reasons.

      • Melvin Frohike - 9 years ago

        “K” isn’t arbitrary at all, nor is it related to Latin. It’s an abbreviation for kilo, and used in most parts of the world as such. “M” is also not arbitrary. It’s the roman abbreviation for mille (1,000). Using M to represent million is a modern bastardized abbreviation formed by a culture that thinks feet and inches make more sense than meters and centimeters. But I digress. What was your point again? Oh, that you had nothing to contribute.

  7. Greg Brown (@gk_brown) - 10 years ago

    Controller forwarding does sound like it might have some cool applications, but I’m just hoping I’ll eventually be able to play games on my Apple TV using a plain old Bluetooth controller.

  8. The point of GameCenter being… to open it long enough to turn off the notification badge?

    • focher - 10 years ago

      What a troll! Everyone knows you disable badges under Settings! Geez!

      Seriously, though, how do I hide the Game Center app?

  9. Is this a different Keynote? Is there one everyday? I’d like to watch too!

  10. For big bosses do not care F2P game or AAA game. The main thing that virtual game brings more profit. The main interest for the big bosses to gamers play 24 hours of his life and in all places where the gamer in this time period. Mobile phones already reach technical capabilities for games AAA.
    For this cloud technology invented. Reduce the production costs of games and combine all platforms PC, PS, iPhone, iPad and all other platforms, in one big multi-platform. Top games F2P and AAA has long been a multi-platform. Gamers will be able, through their cell phone to play on the TV screen in the AAA and F2P games in any accessible location.
    Scenario AAA video game is not linear. There are different missions. There are missions where the control is easy and for a successful game, you can to use a small mobile screen and short periods of time. However, there are missions where the control is difficult and to win you need a long period of time, you need a TV screen and need a convenient controller.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.


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