Let’s be honest – mobile gaming is here to stay. Platforms like iOS and Android have expanded gaming into new territories because there are a lot of people who can’t seem to wrap their head around a controller. The natural movements of their fingers are much easier to grasp and therefore more fun. Of course, that simplifies iOS games to the point where core gamers lose interest within minutes. Apple’s new patent may help remedy that.
Discovered by Game Revolution, a patent was recently granted to Apple that covers a game controller. The controller, as you can see above, is pretty much ripped straight from Sony’s DualShock design for the PSone through the PS3.
What’s interesting is that the controller would connect to iOS devices via NFC. The new iPhone that’s supposedly launching in September will be the first iPhone to feature the communication frequency. That would be a perfect time for Apple to launch the controller to bring core gamers into the iOS flock. It might work too.
Of course, playing a game on a phone with a controller that’s bigger than it makes little sense. That’s why the patent mentions that the controller will be used in conjunction with an iPhone/iPad and the Apple TV. With AirPlay, games can be streamed onto a TV via the iPhone. With a controller, Apple will have themselves a game console that could potentially shake up the market just like the Ouya promises to do.
There’s no doubt that Apple wants to become a major player in gaming. There’s too much money in it for them not to be interested. The only problem is that this controller is not built for the legion of Apple gamers who are only interested in simple, quick mini-games like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. This controller has to get core gamers to switch to something’s technologically inferior to the consoles and PCs of today.
Such a challenge hasn’t phased the Android counterpart – Ouya – at all and it obviously won’t phase Apple. We’ll have to see how gamers react to such a move if, and when, such a controller is launched. Gaming is in a transitionary stage at the moment and anybody with a bold enough idea has a chance to change the industry. Will Apple bring a revolution? Probably not, but it’s still a step in the right direction.
