I want to believe

Just to reiterate on my yesterday’s post about the Apple TV : Ars Technica is running today an article titled “The rumor that won’t die: Apple’s perpetually pending video game console”. In this piece, the author try to dismiss the possibility of exactly what I was implying : that the silent refresh of the Apple TV may be the harbinger of third parties apps.

One of the argument used I find interesting to refute : basically it goes by saying that third party apps aren’t coming anytime soon because current iOS game apps are not designed to be controled by anything other than touch (obviously a non-starter for a “gaming console”).

But what the autor is missing in my opinion is this:

1. If the Apple TV is to get third party apps, those apps will have to be updated anyway to adapt to the 1080p resolution. Today, only the iPhone 5 has a 16/9 aspect ratio so I don’t think that there’s a simple efficient way to upscale all those iPad titles to native HDTV resolution.
2. While the developers are busy updating their apps’ resolution, why not allow users to make use of a bluetooth controller as permitted by the lastest iOS Apple TV update ? (see for exemple this article)
3. Granted, the only bluetooth hardware currently supported is a keyboard. But is it really far fetched to imagine a bluetooth connection with an iPhone or … gasps … a joypad ?

As usual, time will tell. But I think the days of the gameless Apple TV are numbered. Just ask Nintendo … Nintendo Cuts Outlook After Soft Demand for Wii U