Apple this week quietly held a gaming-focused media event in New York City. The event is said to have focused on showing off things like Game Mode in iOS 18, the new M4 iPad Pro performance, and more.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple silicon’s arrival on the Mac has led to renewed hope of a robust macOS gaming market emerging. For as loved as Macs may be among the general population of users, when it comes to gaming, PCs and consoles have long proven necessary if you want to play the latest games. Apple’s success with gaming on iOS has not translated to the Mac.
But things have started to shift. Last year Apple debuted a new porting tool that enabled PC games to more easily be brought to macOS, and we’ve started to see more AAA titles come to the Mac as a result. Typically though, those titles have launched only after extended runs on other platforms.
Now, we may have evidence of even more hope for Mac gaming’s future, as one of this fall’s highly anticipated titles, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is coming to the Mac day-and-date with the PC and consoles.
Expand Expanding Close
Capcom has announced that Resident Evil 4, which Apple showcased during the iPhone 15 Pro event in September, is coming to Apple platforms on December 20. This follows the launch of Resident Evil Village on select iPhone and iPad devices last week.
Expand Expanding Close
Ever since I was little and we would fly somewhere or go on road trips for vacation, I have always wanted to be able to bring a portable Playstation or video game console setup with me. It was the dream. Some companies ended up making these briefcase monitor-type accessories, but they were bulky, finicky, and always expensive. But thanks to an update to iPadOS 17, it looks like your iPad can now solve that problem. Here is how to get it done.
Expand Expanding Close
The Gamevice Flex rises above its own gimmicky design to become the must-have controller for mobile and cloud gamers alike.
Expand Expanding Close
As part of the macOS Ventura announcement, Apple has unveiled new updates to gaming. Metal 3 is the latest version of the Metal software that brings new experiences to gamers.
Expand Expanding Close
Video game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) is actively seeking a potential buyer or merger. Apple has reportedly been in talks with the company about buying EA out according to Puck. Disney and Amazon have also been in talks about purchasing the video game company.
Expand Expanding Close
At CES this week, we’ve seen a wide array of unique gadgets, some great electric vehicles and whatever this thing is. Shrinking bezels with more screen are certainly all the rage this year, and 17-inch laptops are back in the limelight.
Apple looks all set to dominate the mobile gaming market as more and more users are picking up their smartphones to play popular titles from developers that previously may have been reserved for consoles. Here’s why iOS has a big advantage over Android when it comes to gaming.
If you’ve been holding out since last November when we first learned that Sony had plans to let gamers play PS4 titles on Mac, your time has finally (almost) arrived. Sony has already tested the 3.50 update with PS4 owners trying the beta although the pre-release version lacked Remote Play for Mac, but tomorrow that feature will be included in the public release for all PlayStation 4 owners.
Shortly after Apple released the fourth-gen Apple TV last year, Disney announced a $100 Disney Infinity 3.0 bundle based on Star Wars that included a controller and a Disney Infinity figurine stand. The package was designed to encourage people to download and play Disney Infinity 3.0 on their Apple TV, but now it looks like the company has no future plans to update the game (via TouchArcade).
It’s 2016, billions of smartphones are in use across the globe, and traditional video game companies are only just coming around to the idea that there’s some money to be made from smartphone gaming. Nintendo only recently launched its first mobile app, and plans to release a more familiar character-based game soon. Sony, likewise is about to make another foray in to the world of smartphone-based gaming with its newly-formed corporation, ForwardWorks.
When Nintendo first announced that it would finally be launching an iPhone game, it’s safe to say, many of we children of the 90’s got a little excited. Sadly, excitement turned to bemusement once the company revealed it would be launching a weird game called Miitomo, which wasn’t exactly a game, but rather a social network.
Following its disappointing Q4 results, Nintendo has confirmed that its second title would include a “very familiar character”, and won’t be another social network attempt. It did, however, stop short of confirming exactly which character we’re going to see.
If you own a PS4 but end up fighting for access to the big TV when other family members want to use it for watching TV shows or movies, Sony is working on an app for that. Sony’s president of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida tweeted that the company is working on an app to stream games to both PCs and Mac.
Some people asked if we plan to provide Remote Play function to PC, and yes, we are indeed working on an official application for PC/Mac. :D
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) November 27, 2015
The games console already has Remote Play functionality built in, but it’s of very limited use as yet …
Expand
Expanding
Close
As was reported earlier today, Nintendo tonight has taken the wraps off of its first mobile game during a press event with investors and the media in Japan. The game, called Miitomo, will be available in March of 2016 and is the first of five games the company plans to release by March of 2017 (via WSJ).
Japanese gaming giant Nintendo is expected to show off its very first mobile games for smartphones tomorrow, The Wall Street Journal reports. The news comes after first announcing plans to bring new games with classic Nintendo characters like Mario to iPhones earlier this year. Nintendo famously resisted making games for mobile platforms like iOS and Android for years, focusing solely on its own Nintendo hardware gaming consoles to push its titles.
Now as Apple is set to make its first serious move into gaming in the living room with the new Apple TV launching Friday, Nintendo appears ready to give fans what they’ve been waiting for.
Expand
Expanding
Close
For the moment, the new Apple TV’s accessory compatibility can fairly be described as “confusing.” It’s confirmed that Bluetooth speakers and headphones — previously unsupported by older Apple TVs — work with the new model. On the other hand, Bluetooth keyboards, which previously worked with Apple TVs, do not. And Bluetooth game controllers… well, if they were Made For iPhone (or iPad), they work with the new Apple TV. But contrary to some erroneous early reports, if they were made for other devices (say, the PlayStation 4), they don’t.
So even though SteelSeries’ Nimbus ($50) has been pitched as the first “gamepad controller for Apple TV,” it’s kinda not. The company’s earlier Stratus (now only $40 refurbished) works with the Apple TV, as do Mad Catz’ nicer C.T.R.L.i and Micro C.T.R.L.i controllers. However, Nimbus is launching with newer technology at a not-insane price point. It has a Lightning connector built in for recharging an integrated 40-hour battery, a Bluetooth 4.1 wireless chip, and a design that was apparently — despite obvious similarities to many other controllers — co-developed by Apple itself. It also is the first accessory to ship with Apple’s new “Made for Apple TV” logo on the box. Here are some early thoughts on the Nimbus based on my hands-on experiences…
Valve has announced in an email to customers that its new hardware accessories, the Steam Controller and the Steam Link are not yet fully compatible with OS X. The hardware, which was marketed as cross-platform ready, started arriving in customers’ hands this week.
The company says software issues are at the heart of the delay, and it will be pushing out firmware updates to enable support very soon. In the case of the Steam Controller, users can already start using the gamepad on their Macs by switching to the beta version of the Steam client in the app’s preferences.
In order to make up for this problem, Valve has gifted every single affected pre-order customer with the Valve Complete Pack, which includes every game the company has ever made, or will make in the future. Buyers who still want to get a refund on their hardware are able to do so.
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5toys/status/651729413374087168 align=’center’]
USB Power Deals: KMASHI 15,000mAh USB $14 (Reg. $20), Aukey 2A Wall Charger $8 (Reg. $16), more[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5toys/status/651126504156368896 align=’center’]
With the launch of YouTube Gaming earlier this year, Google’s Twitch competitor that lets users live stream and watch gameplay videos on YouTube, users can now live stream and browse gameplay videos on YouTube from dedicated apps. Google first enabled live streaming the desktop, and today announced plans for Android, but an update to the popular AirServer app is taking advantage of the lack of iOS streaming support by enabling users to live stream directly to YouTube from their iOS devices.
Google does have a YouTube Gaming app or iOS, but it currently only acts as a community-style app for letting users access live streams and recorded gameplay videos from their iPhone or iPad. AirServer, however, tells us it collaborated with YouTube to enable streaming from iOS apps using its mirroring technology:
Expand
Expanding
Close
The fourth-generation Apple TV, set to be unveiled at an event on September 9th and released in October, will feature a mix of new and familiar hardware, according to reliable sources. While the new device will sport a much faster processor than the current Apple TV, a color-matched remote control, and a somewhat larger body, it will lack support for 4K video streaming and have the same basic ports as the third-generation model…
New Apple TV will look similar, but thicker (image via Michael Steeber)
Although iOS devices and the App Store have transformed the handheld gaming market, the first three Apple TV generations did not attempt to challenge Microsoft’s Xbox, Nintendo’s Wii, or Sony’s PlayStation game consoles for complete control of living room TVs. According to sources with knowledge of the product, the fourth-generation Apple TV will actively compete for TV gamers with updated hardware, software, and peripherals that will debut at Apple’s September 9 event in San Francisco.
One of the next Apple TV’s tentpole features will be near-universal Siri control, a feature hinted at in Apple’s invitation to the event. But the other will be deep support for gaming, representing Apple’s largest-ever effort to lure players from traditional consoles. In addition to the convenience of downloading games directly from the Apple TV’s built-in App Store, and controlling many of them via a new bundled remote control, Apple will also support more complex, console-style Bluetooth game controllers with the pressure-sensitive buttons and joysticks previously introduced for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches…
Apple plans to hold one of its annual fall media events on Wednesday, September 9th to introduce the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus with Force Touch, and after many fits and starts, it appears that the long-awaited next-generation Apple TV will also be unveiled. We’ve been reporting on this upcoming model since 2014, as Apple has been planning to update its set-top-box with support for an App Store for quite some time.
Earlier this year, Apple had locked in a June WWDC debut for both the new Apple TV hardware and software upgrades, but the company ultimately decided to delay the introduction until the fall. While some had speculated that the announcement was pushed back due to a lack of content deals, we are told that the delay was internally attributed to a concern over compromising iOS 9 engineering resources, as the latest OS release is focused at least as much on polish as on new features.
Why would the new Apple TV potentially take away resources from iOS 9? According to sources, this new Apple TV model, codenamed J34, will be the first model to run a full-blown iOS core. Specifically, the new Apple TV operating system will be a TV-optimized version of iOS 9. In addition to the new hardware inside, running iOS 9 will give the new Apple TV a series of benefits over the current model. Below, we explore what users can expect from Apple’s next-generation living room product.
Autodesk, the company behind a variety of popular design tools, today has announced a new game engine that it says makes the process of building games considerably more seamless. The program, called Stingray, is based on the Bitsquid engine that it acquired last year, but is entirely revamped with a new, more intuitive interface.
