Despite the rough state that Resident Evil 4 Remake appears on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, it’s still a fantastic time. The same feeling applies when I switch to my Mac or iPad to continue my progress. Yet there’s one Apple device that’s starting to stick out like a sore thumb.
Yes, it’s the Apple TV 4K, the company’s set-top box that’s meant to sit aside your television so you can watch the best Apple TV Plus shows, play the best Apple Arcade games, and more. I do exactly this, as well as using the great feature that lets me FaceTime my wife on the TV using my iPhone’s camera when she’s away.
It is a great device, yet the more I play games like Resident Evil and Death Stranding on my iPhone, the more puzzled I become as to why I can’t carry on my progress on my Apple TV. You might think, “Why not just use AirPlay mirroring to send your iPhone or Mac’s display to your Apple TV?” This is something I’ve done, and it doesn’t work well. The Apple TV gets confused with my Mac’s resolution, especially when a game launches and forcibly changes the resolution, making everything dim and pixelated. Essentially, it’s a hassle.
It’s clear to me that it’s high time for Apple to release a new Apple TV that focuses on games being offered by developers like Capcom and Kojima Productions. This way, I can play these AAA games in my living room, just like millions of gamers do with their Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox consoles.
The Ghost of Pippin
If you’ve been an Apple fan in the last few decades, you may remember the company’s efforts in the early 90s when it tried to enter the gaming market with its own console, called the Pippin.
This gaming console looked like the result of a special hug between the Sony PlayStation and SEGA Saturn consoles. A white box with many buttons on the top, its controller was wireless — innovative for its time but was awkward to hold, due to it resembling a boomerang. This design wasn’t too dissimilar from Sony’s prototype controller for its PlayStation 3 console almost ten years later, which was quickly scrapped.
Apple partnered with Bandai, a Japanese toy manufacturer, to help build the console. It was eventually made available in Japan in March 1996, followed by a release in the U.S. market in October 1996, priced at $599.
The games made available for the Pippin were, unremarkable. The library mostly consisted of titles from Bandai that focused more on educational subjects like Math and English. Safe to say, the console failed in 1996.
Why am I mentioning this, you say? Because Apple has never taken games as seriously as it does now. The company’s efforts with Game Porting Kit, which allows developers to easily port games to Apple devices, has opened up how modern games can run on Macs. In addition, features like ray-tracing debuting on the A17 and M4 Apple silicon chips have highlighted Apple’s new commitment to gaming. After so long, the pieces seem to be in place for a new Apple TV to make a huge impact on the company’s gaming efforts.
What can a new Apple TV offer?
The current Apple TV has been out for two years now, which is enough time for an upgrade. Not only could a new model include a powerful M4 chip but also offer exclusive features, to take advantage of the fact that it’s always plugged into a wall socket instead of running on a battery.
This constant power source could allow for an M4 chip with a faster clock speed, without worrying about a battery being drained. Additionally, there’s also the factor of games needing to run at higher resolutions than they do on the best iPhones, iPads, Macs. Most televisions display in a 4K resolution (3840x2160). If we take the display resolution of a MacBook Pro 16-inch at 3456x2234, that’s almost 4K. Yet most games render at a far lower 1920x1080 resolution. Metal, Apple’s gaming framework, upscales and renders the game with MetalFX, resulting in a clearer image on Mac displays.
In order to fully take advantage of 4K televisions, Apple may need to introduce a new version of MetalFX that can upscale games to a 4K resolution. In my opinion, this is crucial, because users could easily switch on their PlayStation 5 console and play Resident Evil 4 at 4K with a 120FPS framerate.
Because of this, Apple must ensure that they’re offering the best gaming experience on a new Apple TV model by rendering games at a native 4K resolution as standard.
Apple TV can right the wrongs of Pippin
When I look at the Apple Siri Remote and what tvOS offers, I’m happy. There are no glaring omissions that need fixing or adding to Apple TV. For me, the next step is games. It’s time for Apple to take gaming seriously, more than it ever has before.
Apple failed with the Pippin in the 90s, but now there’s a great opportunity. The Apple TV can sit beside other gaming consoles in the living room and let you play Death Stranding, and soon, Resident Evil 2 in the best quality. Make it happen Apple.
