Apple TV 2 ? Apples Games Console ?

At present, I’m awaiting delivery of my Apple TV (ETA Monday 4th October 2010).

I was thinking last night of the future of the Apple TV, and how this is could be a lot more than a TV, and might be Apples version of a Games Console.

Why you may ask ?

• Ok, I’ve read on multiple blogs, that the device runs on a version of iOS 4.1, there should be no reason why games designed for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad shouldn’t be able to run on it.
• Introduction of the Game Center, which is a cross device “Social Gaming platform”. Currently this only works on the iPod Touch and iPhone, but see no reason that this can’t also work on the Apple TV.
• Rumours of a Apple TV App store, this would make it possible to download and buy your favorite games you have on your current devices, and play them on the big screen
• The Apple TV has an internal 8Gb memory, don’t you think this is a little large just to host the Apple TV Front Row software. With the new Apple TV, all the media content is streaming only ?
• The Apple TV has the A4 chip, and 256Mb of Ram, making it the same spec as the iPad
• Epic Citedel. This demo looked amazing, it’s being pitched a online multiplayer experience, Could this be a launch title when the Game Center is switched on ?
• iOS 4.2 was announced last month, this would finally bring multitasking to the iPad, over the air printing etc, I do wonder though, could these features also be coming to the Apple TV ?. I did also note, that during the keynotes on the 1st September 2010. The Apple TV was mentioned, but the only focus was on the size and price of the device, the software wasn’t touched on at all ?
• I would assume that the controller for the Apple TV, would be any iThingy device, eg iPod Touch,  iPhone or iPad, and possibly work together like Nintendo attempted with the DS and Wii. If so, the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4G would make an awesome motion controller with the gyroscope

Anyway, these are all purely speculations, however there’s a lot of power in that little device, and it would be a shame if Apple didn’t do more with it that “just stream media”. If I’m right, I expect another Apple press conference some time before the launch of iOS4.2 in November

Tags: 1st september, Apple, apple tv, Center, demo, Download, favorite games, focus, front row software, future, game center, gaming platform, gyroscope, ios, ipad, iphone, iphone 4, ipod, ipod touch, keynotes, launch, media content, Monday, motion, motion controller, multiplayer experience, October, platform, power, reason, screen, social gaming, software, store, touch, tv rumours, wii

Playstation Move Controller – First Impressions

Wow ! What a busy, and expensive week, only 2 days ago the Halo Reach XBOX 360S turned up (and I’m blogging instead of completing that fantastic game).

So what do I think of the Playstation Move, will it replace my Wii ? Well let me tell you.

First of all, the controller feels pretty solid. I’ve always found the Wii controller and Nunchuk to feel like toys in my hands instead of controllers. Now don’t get me wrong, I still use the Wii , probably a lot to do with the face that it runs a lot of the games from the external hard drive (You can find that post here)

The buttons on the Playstation Move Controller seem to be well placed, on the main controller you have all the 4 usual buttons, a select and start, a playstation button and a trigger on the back. There is also a “move” button in the middle, this seems to get used as the “Select” button

The Navigation Controller is simplified, and reminds me a lot of the Nunchuk. It has a D-Pad, Anagolue stick, the X and O buttons and the playstation button. There are 2 trigger buttons on the rear, very similar to the Nunchuk. Both devices feel solid in the hand, and benefit from the curved shape (instead of the squared off WiiMote).

I did notice one slight annoyance, there were no USB cables in either of the boxes, it’s a good job I bought the charger, otherwise I’d have been unplugged other USB devices to charge these.

So how do they work ?….Well, very well to be honest, the tracking is spot on ! I realised today, that the Playstation Move didn’t come with any demo games, so had to buy something on next day delivery just to try it out. I then decided to check out Playstation Store, only to find there’s a handful of demos on there.

So far I’ve only played the demo of Sports Champions, and it’s really good. it works very much like the Wii with the motion plus attached, however a lot better graphics. It did however want me to calibrate the controller every time I started a new game, however this could just be because it’s a demo. I played table tennis, and Frisbee, both of which were ultra realistic, (each of my frisbee’s would end up in the trees )

You can also control the XMB with the Playstation Move, simply hold down the trigger on the back, and move up, down, left and right.

All in all, a good purchase, and look forward to more games to come out, and think that this could be the end of my Wii usage.

As always, unboxing photos below.

Tags: 360s, Anagolue, annoyance, benefit, better graphics, boxes, button, calibrate, Champions, charger, curved shape, D-Pad, demo, demo games, drive, external hard drive, first impressions, good job, halo, handful, job, middle, motion, move, move button, new game, Nunchuk, Playstation, shape, something, sports, spot, tennis, time, usb cables, usb devices, wii, wii controller, xbox

Apple Airport Express

Like most people, I have multiple devices that require internet access, however I hate having to run cables.

My main problem has always been the upstairs, downstairs divide. Not wanting to run a cable through the floorboards, I’ve tried multiple solutions from wireless access points, to the Powerline adapters . Now don’t get me wrong, the Powerline mains adapter does work ok, and it’s only very occasionally I get buffering, however I thought I’d give the Airport Express a try.

I have multiple devices which use wireless n, and to be honest wasn’t really that impressed at the speed difference over wireless g, that was until I got the Time Capsule. The Wireless n technology used by Apple is pretty amazing, I went from an average transfer of 4Mb/sec to around 20Mb/sec.

Currently I have my downstairs Xbox360, PS3, and Wii connected to a Netgear DGN2000, which forwards all traffic to my Sky Router via the Powerline Adapters. Realistically I could have bought the Airport Extreme and just used this to bridge the networks, however I like the idea of the AirTunes.

What the hell is AirTunes you may ask, well let me tell you. The Airport Express comes with a 3.5mm jack plug, which you can connect either a pair of powered speakers, or connect to an amp. iTunes then recognises this as another set of speakers, and you can stream music to this output. With it being quite warm outside, I thought it would be a good idea to have some outdoor speakers connected to this, which can be controlled from my iPhone using the Remote app.

As with any Apple product, you just plug it in, and it works ! My MacBook popped up with the Airport utility, allowed me to bridge the network between this and the Time Capsule, and that was it, jobs done !

I gave it a quick test, and I got on average 25Mb/sec transfer speed, which is twice the speed of Powerline Adapters. I plugged in some powered PC speakers, fired up the remote software, and sure enough I heard my music through them ! Perfect !

The only thing is now, I want more of these, the ability to output the same music in potentially every room in the house, controlled by my iPhone sounds an awesome idea, however it may get a little pricy.

Unboxing photos below.

Tags: AirTunes, apple airport express, apple product, DGN, difference, Express, floorboards, house, iphone, macbook, multiple solutions, n technology, Netgear, outdoor speakers, output, pc speakers, Perfect, plug, powered speakers, Powerline, powerline adapters, pricy, quick test, Remote, remote software, software, speed difference, technology, test, time capsule, traffic, transfer, transfer speed, upstairs downstairs, wii, wireless access points, work