Apple’s TV Game Console: iPad + iPhone
By Jared Newman | Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Apple may never release a dedicated game console, but for now, an iPhone and iPad can do the same job.
Big Bucket, developer of an 8-bit platformer called The Incident, announced on its blog that the game’s next version will allow for TV playback, using an iPad as the video source and an iPhone or iPod Touch as the controller. When plugged in, the game runs at a widescreen aspect ratio, created specifically for this purpose.
Forgive me if you know about this capability already. Big Bucket isn’t the first iOS game to add TV Out — that distinction, I believe, goes to Majic Jungle, which put Chopper 2 on big screens a couple months ago — but it’s news to me (and to TechCrunch’s MG Siegler, who found the news about The Incident), and I think more people should know about it. If more app developers get on board with TV Out, I might spring for an Apple composite AV cable.
There are, of course, only a subset of iOS games that would make sense on the big screen. Games controlled by tilt, such as Need for Speed and Real Racing, are obvious candidates. Games in which you must touch specific objects on the screen with your fingers, such as Plants vs. Zombies, would be pointless. The real benefit would be for games like Scrabble, which can use the iPhone’s personal screen to conceal information from other players.
Yes, I’m aware that spending $1,000 on a high-tech version of Scrabble is lunacy. The point is that lots of iPad owners also own iPhones, so they already have everything they need to turn their iOS devices into game consoles. Let’s see some app developers run with the idea.
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November 9th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Most expensive controller in the history of ever.
November 9th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Or, if you already own an iPhone for other purposes, the cheapest.
November 9th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
This is so stupid, but i guess the average apple user is stupid mindless iSheep so.. no harmn done.
December 4th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Must be tough being poor and not having spell checker.
November 10th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
How easily people forget the Pippin.
November 11th, 2010 at 6:39 am
Gameprom has offered a Pinball Remote version of the popular Pinball iOS App since around June, 2010. A companion Mac server Applet is a free download. Pinball is a great iOS game. Pinball Remote is terrific using the iPhone as a controller with our 58-inch Panasonic plasma connected to a sound system.
November 11th, 2010 at 6:46 am
…Oh, and Pinball Remote connects via WiFi network connection but you also can set up a computer-to-computer (iPhone-to-Mac) network to minmize lag, which I have occasionally encountered…
November 11th, 2010 at 7:02 am
One more thing…the moment I found Pinball Remote, it struck me as a model for the future of iOS gaming in the den. It seeks like a no-brainer for Apple to add this IOS server capability to the 2010 AppleTV — and in anticipation of this for iOS 4.2 or later — I just purchased one for the den and am setting it up today.
…The question is, will Apple add some sort of Gameserver connectivity framework to Mac OS X to accommodate the server Applet concept. I already have a couple of these constantly running on the Mac mini connected to the plasma (including Pinball Remote, Air Video and EyeTV). It would be great to control the setup and management for all these through one unified Mac OS interface…