Blog debate: is Apple making a game console?

What happens when Apple speculation and video game speculation meet: platform wars of biblical proportions! Under speculation here is whether or not Apple has any interest in reentering the console gaming arena with the expected relaunch of their diminutive Mac mini.

• Apple in the News proposed that a redesigned Mac mini could "advance over the game market, a market that Microsoft is trying so fiercely to conquer. With a new mac mini including a killer graphics board, Apple could relatively easily attract a large number of game producing companies."
• Our blogeagues over at TUAW responded saying, "Apple hasn't been interested in being in the gaming console market for more than a decade" referring to 1995s ill-fated Apple/Bandai game console, the Pippin. "Apple doesn't need to be in the gaming console market to succeed in creating a successful media center product."
• Cathode Tan offered their initial proposal of this very thing from February '05, and a further rebuttal of TUAW's post. They explain: why despite the failure of the Pippin, Apple still has its eyes on the game industry; why ports are necessary for success; and why Apple's attempts need not mirror Microsoft and Sony's war of attrition, but rather Nintendo's struggle for innovation. They also explain why Apple should be considering an entry into the console market: the Xbox can stream video, music, has iPod support, plays games, and is cheaper than a Mac mini; living room boxes should play games; and Apple already appeals to a younger demographic.
  

Until a new Mac mini is announced (next Monday?) this debate will rage on all across the Internets. We're going to stay out of this debate (we have families you know), but I will say one thing... what if Apple has a hand in Nintendo's Revolution (think Microsoft and the Dreamcast)? The system already looks like it was designed by Cupertino... discuss.