Will Apple TV's entry into the TV gaming field change the future of living room entertainment?

As an important development direction in the field of smart TVs at this stage, game content has always been the main focus of large-screen TVs. With the rapid replacement of hardware, many heavy games have also landed on large-screen TVs. However, due to the emergence of adaptation and other problems, players have been unable to get a good experience.

Now, with the App Store, a powerful game resource library, Apple TV has also begun to enter the field of large-screen games. Can Apple TV change the current situation in the TV game field that has long been occupied by Android?

The game is rich but still can't escape the control problem

After opening the App Store, I was greeted by a series of English displays, which was obviously very disappointing. Although it supports simplified Chinese, it does not seem to have reached the rhythm of full Chinese localization.

Most of the games in the library are similar to domestic Android TV games, focusing on leisure and entertainment, but there are also some medium and heavy games for players to switch to play, such as "Wild Racing" and "Modern Warfare". However, for Apple, which has been deeply involved in the mobile field, are these games just transplanted mobile games like domestic TV games?

In this regard, tests were conducted on Rayman and NBA 2K16.

Ubisoft's "Rayman" series of games can be said to have already laid the foundation in the gaming industry. Whether it is the parkour theme on the mobile terminal or the horizontal adventure on the console terminal, the "Rayman" game has its own unique culture.

To ordinary people, 150M of content may not seem large, but for smart TVs, it is already a game that is enough to test the performance of the machine. Take "Rayman" for example. After jailbreaking, a game of this size is also a test of the network speed. Before playing, you also need to consider whether this is the same as the parkour game that can be easily completed on the mobile phone by just touching the screen. After all, the only operating device now is the remote control.

Of course, this game did not disappoint us. Like "Rayman Legends" on the console, it is a horizontal scrolling game with combat elements during parkour. Although it is only controlled by a remote control, it makes full use of the touch properties and button effects of the Touch surface. It is basically the same as the console in content and gameplay, and the difficulty is also at the same level. Of course, the whole game also maintains a high level of fluency.

Remote control operators can undoubtedly play side-scrolling games like "Rayman" smoothly, but it is indeed a big challenge for the "NBA 2K" series, which has complex operations on the console. This not only reminds people of the simple and crude game mode of "NBA 2K15" on the mobile terminal with direction keys + confirm, which has no sense of operation, but also makes people worry about Apple TV.

After entering the game, we can find that Apple's technicians obviously believe that such games must be operated with a handle, and have modified the remote control into a handle-like one. But for a handle with so many buttons, can one remote control handle it?

With this question in mind, I entered the game. The overall style of the game is simpler than that on the console. Even the character modeling and face pinching are relatively easy. Of course, I still need to enter the game to explore it.

Of course, the teams and characters in the game are still relatively complete, but the character modeling and realism are just like the original mobile design, and are not as detailed as the console version.

I have to say that after experiencing the game, it is indeed disappointing. The overall feeling is that of a port of the original mobile game version. Not to mention whether the method of turning the remote control sideways to reach the handle is reliable, the stop-and-go movement of touch will obviously drive many players crazy. At the same time, like the mobile game, you can only shoot by pressing buttons, and most of the fancy actions are abandoned. Some of them seem too simple. Except for adding a button to switch teammates, it seems that after adaptation, it is not much better than the original mobile game.

This kind of operation method seems to be difficult to impress players. Even if the game porting and adaptation are done perfectly, poor operation can wipe out everything. This has to remind Apple that your box urgently needs a handle as an accessory. Of course, there are certainly many games that are difficult to satisfy with the remote control. For Apple, it must be a problem of modification.

The future of TV is apps? But Apple TV isn't pretty

As Apple's pioneer in the field of TV games, Apple TV has always been highly anticipated by Cook. Long before the release of Apple TV, Apple registered a gaming account named @AppStoreGames on Twitter, which was also the main source of rumors that Apple would expand its gaming business.

Of course, at the press conference, the gaming part of Apple TV was emphasized, and it was positioned as a "micro-console" that can challenge traditional consoles. At the same time, the touch operation, which is different from the traditional remote control, also gave Apple the hope of changing TV games.

Overall, Apple TV is indeed extremely rich in content. With the support of the large resource library of Apple Store and the addition of Touch surface control, combined with Apple's own system, it can indeed give people a very novel experience, but this is only limited to the scope of TV boxes.

First of all, in the eyes of many people, Apple TV has no USB external socket, which has caused a lot of criticism. Like iPhone, the way to import external resources into Apple TV is indeed much more complicated than ordinary Android TV boxes. At the same time, in terms of video content, although there are many content resources that cannot be introduced in China at the first time, the price of $19.99 for movies such as "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is indeed a bit unacceptable. Even if this is very common abroad, for domestic users, the free resources provided by most video websites are more attractive.

Secondly, in terms of games, even with a huge game resource library, Apple TV still has not gotten rid of the traditional routine of mobile game porting, and leisure and entertainment still occupy a major position. Cook's expectation of competing with traditional consoles seems a bit too slim. After all, games that can be played on iOS can also be downloaded on other mobile platforms. Apple TV, which lacks exclusive game resources, does not have the strength to compete. In terms of gaming experience, it seems to be inferior to the domestic Android TV boxes that cost two or three hundred yuan.

Finally, the localization is poor. Although the language and region are set as Simplified Chinese and China, there are still a lot of English words in the App Store interface, and the Chinese localization is not done well. At the same time, unlike the domestic iPhone, Apple TV has not yet entered the country and needs to be jailbroken before it can be used normally. The complicated steps are not suitable for ordinary families. The high price is also one of the reasons why it is not preferred.

Foreign TV games have long been dominated by traditional consoles. Even the emergence of Nvidia Shield TV has not shaken its position in the living room field, which is a huge obstacle for Apple TV to enter the living room game industry. For China, if it can't even enter, how can it break the existing domestic pattern?

If we say that the emergence of the iPhone changed people's perception of mobile phones and was an event worthy of being recorded in history, then it will not be easy for Apple TV, which has now entered the living room, to continue its legend. Although it gives people a sense of amazement, its ordinary interior cannot cause much waves.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.