Rumorang: The brewing Apple/Nintendo "war"
by Kyle Orland 
{ Aug 13th 2007 at 11:24AM }
If you believe everything you read, then by now Apple should have already merged with Nintendo, released a game console and taken over the portable gaming market with the iGame. The New York Post has mixed up all three of these recurring rumors and comes up with a "juicy" story about an imminent war over portable gaming between Nintendo and Apple.The key to the speculation is the recently unearthed Nintendo patent for a motion-sensitive portable. Since the iPhone already has an accelerometer (albeit not an overly sensitive one), obviously this means that Apple has been "secretly plotting its foray into portable video games for months" and that the announcement by January's MacWorld show will "put the two tech titans in direct competition."
Never mind that Nintendo hasn't announced any products based on this motion-sensing patent (ditto for their iPhone-like cell phone gaming and multi-touch portable patents). Never mind that the games currently available for the iPhone are largely crappy, web-based Javascript clones and that third-party applications currently have to run through the Safari web browser. Never mind that the persistent rumors of Apple getting into gaming have been around for at least two years now with nothing more to show for them then some simple iPod games.
Apple is getting into games! And Nintendo should be worried! This time we're serious! Trust us!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Stevo @ Aug 13th 2007 11:30AM
lolz, don't forget the other tech giant's contribution to handheld gaming: Nokia NGage.
Ignatius @ Aug 13th 2007 1:25PM
Mmmm NGage.
Enter... the Apple Pippin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin
The failure becomes a full circle of console and handheld. Don't try it, Apple, Nintendo owns handheld gaming and will until the end of time.
Crono @ Aug 13th 2007 11:33AM
Oh yeah. The iPhone is going to totally smash the DS is sales. They're totally going after the same (gaming) market with the touch screen and all. Not to mention that they're priced comparably!
(Disclaimer: this post is thick with teh sarcasmz)
samfish @ Aug 13th 2007 11:34AM
Oh, New York Post! You bastion of journalistic integrity, you!
ForceUnleashed @ Aug 13th 2007 11:38AM
Don't hate on The Post.
But I will admit I'm confused. What exactly is Joystiq trying to say?
Is Nintendo merging with Apple? Or is Apple going to compete on its own against Nintendo and sony in the handheld gamnig business?
Jerk Face @ Aug 13th 2007 11:40AM
I hate you. Seriously.
Reading Comprehension FTW.
mr nimblewick @ Aug 13th 2007 11:40AM
Read the article again slowly.
ForceUnleashed @ Aug 13th 2007 11:49AM
Now see Jerk Face if you were God or someone of significance I'd care....but since you're not just go back to the sewers you crawled out from.
The article is poorly written. I shouldn't have to read the article very slowly to get the general gist of it.
Christopher Grant @ Aug 13th 2007 11:53AM
Alright, now you've got my attention. Poorly written? Quantify that accusation. Rereading it myself, I see no egregious lapses in grammar or logic that may result in it being misunderstood. Yes, there is "sarcasm" (on the internets, I know! I'm shocked!) but it seems most folks here detected it fine.
"Apple is getting into games! And Nintendo should be worried! This time we're serious! Trust us!"
Jerk Face @ Aug 13th 2007 11:53AM
I don't believe in fairy tales.
ForceUnleashed @ Aug 13th 2007 11:56AM
Look I'm not trying to insult you Chris or anything but to me it was a lil confusing.
Hell I think most of the articles on this website are pretty good and I did just defend Joystiq over in the Madden 08 thread so cut me some slack.
That being said thanks for the clarification.
Christopher Grant @ Aug 13th 2007 12:05PM
Ok, fair enough. :D
brad77 @ Aug 13th 2007 12:28PM
Chalk it up to the age-old challenge of conveying the subtlety of sarcasm in black in white.
Konny @ Aug 13th 2007 11:38AM
The DS is a purpose built gaming device.. the iPhone is more of a status symbol for Apple Fanboys than anything else.
Also, being completely touch based and lacking the Nintendo franchises, the games on iPhone will be no different than what has already been available on PDAs for years.
samfish @ Aug 13th 2007 11:43AM
Yes, that's exactly what it is. A Status symbol.
The PSP, by the way, is a status symbol for insecure high schoolers.
ill trooper @ Aug 13th 2007 1:37PM
"...the iPhone is more of a status symbol for Apple Fanboys than anything else."
No, hater, It's just a good phone with awesome features and usability; if you don't like it, just say that instead. YOU perceive it as a status symbol.
Crono @ Aug 13th 2007 1:51PM
No, it really is just a status symbol. Its a phone with a touch screen, that happens to be apple branded, therefor awesome. It is not worth the 600 dollars they're asking for it, and that makes it a status symbol. Its apple nerd cred. I'd love to own an iPhone, except that the service its locked into sucks, and the pricetag is about 400 dollars higher than the value i'd get out of it.
Its a status symbol.
ill trooper @ Aug 13th 2007 3:35PM
Chrono you've either never used one or you're lying if you really think that's all the iphone is - a 'touch screen on a phone.' Sheesh.
Yeah, it's expensive, I wish it was cheaper, but it's not. The 'worth' of it being at that price is certainly considered 'opinion,' but I've come to the opinon that it's acceptable, the same price I've paid for my other smart phones the last 5 years (Sony Ericsson p800 and SE p910a). Unfortunately that's the price range if you want to use the iPhone, or even the N95 or Treo, both of which are excellent phones (in the same price range, +/- $100).
It's just not for you, it seems. No biggie. But don't lash out and act like I bought it as a 'status symbol' when you clearly don't know what you're talking about. Just because YOU view it as a status symbol doesn't diminish the functionality I (and many others) get out of the iphone.
colin @ Aug 13th 2007 9:38PM
i have always been an apple hater and i thought the iphone was a status symbol until i used one. it has *real* high speed internet that is practical to use. that reason alone makes it worth the money. i wish i could afford one.
that being said, in my opinion, someday soon apple will once again manage to dig itself into an almost inescapable hole, barely managing to stay alive by low-bidding to the american public school system.
James @ Aug 13th 2007 11:58AM
Finally, a bit of competition for Nintendo.
WiNG @ Aug 13th 2007 11:58AM
MAC: Hi, I'm a mac
Wii: And I'm a Wii
MAC: I like to have fun without all the messy interface
Wii: Me, too!
MAC: I hate how microsoft has to trample all over customers
Wii: Holy shit!
MAC: I like to use simple names and stylize things to look purty
Wii: Will you marry me?
MAC: WHITE POWER! WHITE POWER!
Wii: Dude, I'm Japanese
MAC: Oh, um... just ignore that last comment then. Let's go beat up Sony
Wii: ALLLL RIGHTTT!!!
hydralisk456 @ Aug 13th 2007 8:01PM
You sir, win one internets. Back up to the loading dock so we can load it up.
mdxi @ Aug 13th 2007 12:40PM
Apple gaming rumors for "at least two years" indeed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin
Rare Hare @ Aug 13th 2007 1:02PM
mdxi, that's like calling the Xbox a rumor. wtf?
hvnlysoldr @ Aug 13th 2007 12:01PM
They're in completely different markets. Apple is for techies and Nintendo for the kiddies! /jk
Nintendo would sooner buy Apple than the other way around. I don't care if they hold the same strategy of making a profit on hardware and software. Nintendo has actually managed to be a leader in their business.
chenry @ Aug 13th 2007 12:04PM
Doesn't the New York Post run those stories on Bat Boy?
samfish @ Aug 13th 2007 12:11PM
No, but it is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Close enough, though. I can see where the confusion might come in.
mr nimblewick @ Aug 13th 2007 12:29PM
Wasn't it just that they compare liberals to bat boys?
Crono @ Aug 13th 2007 1:54PM
No, moonbats, but you were close.
NintendoFanbot @ Aug 13th 2007 12:11PM
Does Apple has Pokemanz?
warioswoods @ Aug 13th 2007 12:13PM
Apple and Nintendo will always draw odd comparisons due to some general similarity in their approach to design in recent years - however, I did run across one real, yet minuscule intersection between the companies while reading about Firewire recently. The following is for the trivia-lovers: apparently Apple's Michael Teener, who worked with the initial development of Firewire, has stated that the inspiration for the actual physical connection / plug used by Firewire came from none other than the link cable used by Nintendo's Gameboy. According to Wikipedia, Teener found the Gameboy connectors to "have proven reliable, solid, easy to use and immune to assault by small children."
That insignificant intersection is most likely the only one we'll ever see, whether or not the rumors continue.
hvnlysoldr @ Aug 13th 2007 12:17PM
I did see the resemblance and now I know why.
JoseMiguel @ Aug 13th 2007 12:16PM
Mocking the idea of apple trying to get into video games is just stupid.
Just because they had tried and failed before doesn't mean they aren't going to try again. What they will do of course is study the course of action this time, but rest assured, apple is going to take a crack at it in the next 15 years. If not sooner.
hvnlysoldr @ Aug 13th 2007 12:21PM
Quaker Oats failed at making games so what's your point? Until they actually show they can make games with first party developers we won't truly respect them as a game company at all. Microsoft was ridiculed until first party Halo came along. Sony hit it with exclusive FFVII. Until Apple can develop games exclusive for their system they don't have a chance at anything better than Pippin.
Rare Hare @ Aug 13th 2007 12:55PM
"apple is going to take a crack at it in the next 15 years. If not sooner."
I'm starting college this fall. So what you're saying is that by the time I'm 33, graduated, well into my dead end career, struggling to make ends meet, and contemplating suicide on a daily basis, at least I'll have Apple video games to look forward to at the end of my crappy day?
Well shit, I'm officially excited.
a.j. @ Aug 13th 2007 12:29PM
@ Konny "the iPhone is more of a status symbol for Apple Fanboys than anything else." f_ck off dude, i have an iphone because it's a useful phone for me on the run. don't generalize people because they own something you don't.
mr nimblewick @ Aug 13th 2007 12:31PM
I think it's not gonna happen in any official way.
Apple has a hard time getting developers to make games for their computers...
CanadianZero @ Aug 13th 2007 12:58PM
two words:
Apple Pippin
WiNG @ Aug 13th 2007 1:06PM
I can see it now:
the Apple iPwn
(hint: vote +)
point09micron @ Aug 13th 2007 1:12PM
Oh snap Apple is getting into portable gaming. If their track record is any indication, I might be able to play Quake II on my iPhone within the next 4 years!
ill trooper @ Aug 13th 2007 1:50PM
Oh, is it time to drag out the old Pippin links again?
Well, get involved!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_boy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSX_%28DVR%29
...and of course the Zune right now is not really the model of success yet.
See, everyone has their little zingers... Sometimes companies get back on the horse and succeed in other efforts.
I wouldn't expect Apple to get into gaming, it's not really their marketspace, but as they added quick/casual games to the iPod, they likely want to bolster the iPod's software with some sort of entertainment beyond the iPod/internet features...
Crono @ Aug 13th 2007 1:53PM
No, Moonbats, but your were close.
deaftly @ Aug 13th 2007 2:01PM
if apple came out with a game console it would probably be more expensive then the ps3 and break down more then the 360
Jon @ Aug 13th 2007 2:17PM
This is a silly argument. The Iphone isn't the first phone to have motion sensor. Even some laptops has them (e.g. ThinkPads).
If Apple merge with Nintendo, you can bet the next DS will have non removable battery and an expensive price to boot.
Mabui @ Aug 13th 2007 4:26PM
iDS .. or something.. least it might come with a metal case and still be insanely popular.. just this time, for less of a good reason!
Benjamin Heckendorn @ Aug 13th 2007 5:22PM
Don't worry, the "iGame" will cost double what a PSP does (with half the tech but a touch screen) and not threaten Nintendo. But of course nobody will seem to care, since a cell phone that costs as much as a PS3 seems to be "OK".
phhowell @ Aug 13th 2007 5:31PM
iTunes could be Apple's trojan horse for game delivery... Think about it, quite an installed base right there.
TWiNKiE @ Aug 13th 2007 6:05PM
For me, Apple and their "It Just Works" marketing can suck it. I've given too many offers for too many failures.
Thierry @ Aug 13th 2007 7:14PM
I don't think it's a good move for Apple to get into the gaming industry, look how much money an outsider like Microsoft is pouring into their gaming division and still no sign of a profitable quarter yet.
If Apple gets in there, their stocks might take a hit as well as their profits.
Mr Khan @ Aug 13th 2007 8:17PM
Just because Guatemala and Honduras are a lot alike doesn't mean that they intend to annihilate each other, or that one intends to conquer the other
A casual observation turned into a casualty of journalism, i would have to say