Our TV now has a fourth device attached to it: the PC.
We have a Wii, a Blu-Ray player, an amp and a PC snaking their way into the back (and sides) of the TV with a total of seven input devices to control them: a handful of remotes, a keyboard, mouse and a microphone (let’s not think about the mess of wires). A little bit of convergence would be good thing.
Since the PC has been attached to the TV my wife has played Left 4 Dead 2 every night this week. To put this into perspective, she isn’t a gamer. Her experience of modern gaming is Angry Birds for iPhone. Her playing a modern FPS armed with keyboard and mouse is surprising. I’ve been twiddling my thumbs, watching a non-gamer become interested in games: jerky, exploratory movements, forgetful moments (what do I do again?) and even the beginning of style and skill (she’s frighteningly good at head shots).
However, I can’t see the PC staying attached to the TV. She’ll become bored with L4D2 and won’t know what else to play. Plus, if there any problems with the PC, she’ll just switch it off. Already the wireless keyboard we bought has been randomly disconnecting and BioShock via Steam crashes regularly. Too many technical issues to battle.
So why not buy a console for her? The answer lies in why she games on her iPhone. She doesn’t see gaming on the iPhone as gaming, more like passing the time or having a bit of fun. The iPhone is a multifunction device – a phone, an iPod, a DS – rolled into one. The iPhone snuck into her life and gave her, without the nerdity or hassle, the ability to easily get into a game not as a gamer, but as an everyday person. Consoles, while they try to appeal to a wider market are still primarily for gamers. They don’t cater for the truly casual or those that do more than gaming, like listening to music, browsing the web, watching movies. Granted, these devices can do all that, but in an easy, converged way?
If Apple are intent on taking over our TV’s, what about a clever fusion of a decent media centre and a Wii? This device would slip in under the radar, oust my DVD and Blu-Ray collection, reduce my device clutter, give us Angry Birds in 1080p and let my wife sing along to Katy bloody Perry through iTunes – from one device. Apple already has the mobile gaming market, why not expand it to our TVs? Easy, casual, interesting gaming using their well honed iPhone OS. If rumours are to be believed, Apple will announce some sort of desktop trackpad. Imagine if it has accelerometers and can be attached to a revamped, Apple TV? Wouldn’t that be interesting.
