Pete Davison: I'll happily admit it: I'm a fan of Apple products. Ever since I got my hands on the original iPhone, I've never strayed outside of the Apple zone for my smartphone needs. Previously, I was a Nokia man -- I even owned an N-Gage for a while, more fool me -- but Apple's tech blew everything away, even limited as it was in the very beginning.
Retro gaming console emulator apps are now welcome on the Apple App Store and can even offer downloadable games.
From systems that could keep your beer cool, to oddities trying to get in on the popularity of VHS and laserdisc, you’ve got some very, very weird video game consoles out there.
I had the LaserActive... it was a nice collectors piece but not very practical. Especially when it came to needing recapping. I think i paid all of about $50 for the floor model from an incredible Universe back in the day. I ended up selling it many years later for $300 at the time due to it needing a new laser and the aforementioned recapping.
An honorable mention not on the list would be the VM Labs Nuon. It basically looked like any regular DVD player but it had ports on it for controllers to play specific games. one of which is still exclusive to it with Tempest 3000. It also offered nuon enhanced DVD movies with extra content not accessible by regular players.
Epic Games winning its cases against both Apple and Google is shaping the way forward for the future of mobile gaming.
I feel alot of mobile gamers are kids which will at some point probably turn to console or pc. Mobile gaming just doesn't cut it for me.
The ability to stream wirelessly from an iPhone or iPad is awesome, but do I really want another device under my TV? I have so many things connected already that do similar things.
Additionally, my Toshiba Thrive Tablet has an HDMI out and hooks easily and directly to my big screen. No extra $99 for the Apple TV needed and it has access to countless movie services.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to Apple and the idea is good. It's just not as revolutionary as it may at first seem. It will impact gaming, but Angry Birds at 42 inches is not suddenly as cool as Skyrim @ 42 inches. It's fun, but deeper experiences will still command my living room.