cloudguy

normang said:

Once again the severity of a security issue is overplayed...  To assume that it cannot be resolved in some other way is short sighted..   Also its always assumed that this "researcher" is right, maybe he's wrong....   Plus how many of you are wandering around with a Mac filled with data that if accessed is worth a flip? Without physical access, its useless.

So are you like this with security issues for all products or just those made by Apple?

True, without physical access it is useless but devices do get stolen all the time. If you work in certain professions there are absolutely people that are going to try to steal your device and access it. 

This isn't a "major issue that affects most people" but it isn't "nothing" either. Pardon me for thinking that you would not be nearly so dismissive were this a Windows or Android vulnerability.

Correction. They most certainly can develop both AAA titles and mobile ones. Microsoft has been doing that for awhile. Forza is a great example as it is both a 4K game on XBox and a free to play game on mobile. But they need to talk about how they are going to turn the Apple TV into a (last gen ... it can't compete with PS5 or XBox X) console with a massive infusion of resources and support, not name dropping a title that can run on a cheap 3 year old Android tablet that is coming your way via a $5 a month service.

Point of contrast ... Microsoft spent $7.5 billion for Bethesda just to get more titles for xCloud (for the near term anyway).  By contrast, Lucasfilm (Star Wars!!!) only cost Disney $4 billion, which is also how much Disney paid for Marvel ($4 billion). Gaming is a bigger industry than Hollywood now and was BEFORE covid-19 obliterated the film industry this year (AND caused a gaming boom). 

If Apple is going to make Apple TV - and Apple Silicon generally - a real gaming platform beyond mobile titles that is just a hint of the investment that it would take.

Beats said:

cloudguy said:

Except that "Breath of the Wild" runs on cheap Android tablet hardware. Seriously it has similar internals to the Nvidia Shield line of tablets and set top boxes. Basically the same as Samsung Galaxt Tab A tablets. (The Galaxy Tab S are their more premium tablets that contain the flagship Qualcomm and Exynos SOCs). Also the original version of that game ran on the 720p Wii U.

So I have no idea why that comparison is made. Should have compared it to some of the more graphically demanding PS4 or XBox One or Steam games instead of a title that is anime style 1080p - the least demanding - instead of realistic 4K like The Last of Us 2, The Avengers, Spiderman etc.

Also, whether a truly graphically demanding 4K game can be funded with the Apple Arcade subscription model when such games have bigger budgets and longer development times than blockbuster Hollywood movies - like 5 years and $200 million easy - is very debatable. So I do not know who they are trying to convince - or fool - here but it certainly isn't serious gamers who know about actual AAA video game development lifecycles and the hardware that it requires to play it. To put it another way, the hottest game right now - Genshin Impact - looks absolutely gorgeous and plays just fine on inexpensive Android phones. Doesn't require an A12Z or A14 chip at all or anything close. It runs fine on $200 Android phones that have MediaTek and lower end Qualcomm chips. And yes, Genshin Impact is a BoW clone, to the extent that its creators recently held a press conference to describe the differences between the two games.

Genshin Impact is not "hot". Also funny how people call copycat games "clones" but forgive Android iKnockoffs for being 99% the same. They make Breath of the Wild clones look 99% original. Selective criticism.

Anyways the current Apple TV is already more powerful than the switch. The problem is, Apple tries to support as many platforms as possible so there's a lower support threshold. I believe Apple TV games have to support iPhone 6. If Apple lifted that limit for iPad Pro and Apple TV then we would see some great development on the scale of GTA V.

Android, which was in development since 2004, runs on a custom Linux kernel and uses a customized Java for its application stack, is not an iOS clone in any sense. As for hardware the SOC and instruction set are entirely different. And the OS gets features that it takes years for Apple to adopt - like widgets - and the same with hardware like NFC, OLED, wireless charging, 5G and foldables.
 
If you think that Genshin Impact hasn't been dominating the gaming conversation since prior to its release then you know less about gaming than about mobile tech. And since you stated that you were shocked months ago that Android apps generate tens of billions in revenue each year you clearly know nothing about that.

But my original point was that using a 1080p game that runs on the low end Android tablet hardware that is the Nintendo Switch to hype 4K games coming to Apple Arcade reveals that either Apple has no idea what they are talking about or hope that the intended audience simply doesn't know any better. My guess is the latter. But investigate the development time and budget of an ACTUAL 4K game from an AAA or even leading indie studio.
You will see that Apple can either invest the years and the hundreds of millions that it takes to produce a top 4K title or keep with the Apple Arcade games that can be made quickly and cheaply with existing mobile engines and frameworks but they cannot do both.

GeorgeBMac said:

I would like to get an Apple TV -- if not for myself then for my grandson.

But, there's no way I want to buy one with 4 year old processor.   That just doesn't make sense to me.

Ummm ... you should investigate the hardware that is in a Roku. Feature phone stuff. Similarly the hardware in a Fire TV or Android TV box - which cost as little as $35 or $50 - would barely run a very cheap Android phone. Ditto for smart TVs. Streaming apps don't require much CPU at all. YouTube TV is actually a PWA on some devices and people are none the wiser. There is absolutely nothing that a set top box will do that requires a modern Ax chip. Using a newer chip would just made the device more expensive and use excess power from a CPU that goes 99% unutilized while providing no benefit. Bad engineering and bad product design.

Of course if Apple is actually able to turn Apple TV into a serious gaming device then you are right. But that has to actually happen first.

Except that "Breath of the Wild" runs on cheap Android tablet hardware. Seriously it has similar internals to the Nvidia Shield line of tablets and set top boxes. Basically the same as Samsung Galaxt Tab A tablets. (The Galaxy Tab S are their more premium tablets that contain the flagship Qualcomm and Exynos SOCs). Also the original version of that game ran on the 720p Wii U.

So I have no idea why that comparison is made. Should have compared it to some of the more graphically demanding PS4 or XBox One or Steam games instead of a title that is anime style 1080p - the least demanding - instead of realistic 4K like The Last of Us 2, The Avengers, Spiderman etc.

Also, whether a truly graphically demanding 4K game can be funded with the Apple Arcade subscription model when such games have bigger budgets and longer development times than blockbuster Hollywood movies - like 5 years and $200 million easy - is very debatable. So I do not know who they are trying to convince - or fool - here but it certainly isn't serious gamers who know about actual AAA video game development lifecycles and the hardware that it requires to play it. To put it another way, the hottest game right now - Genshin Impact - looks absolutely gorgeous and plays just fine on inexpensive Android phones. Doesn't require an A12Z or A14 chip at all or anything close. It runs fine on $200 Android phones that have MediaTek and lower end Qualcomm chips. And yes, Genshin Impact is a BoW clone, to the extent that its creators recently held a press conference to describe the differences between the two games.