Apple TV 4K (2022) – good gaming console with missed opportunities

Everybody is writing down about the latest Apple TV 4K 2022 model as a perfect premium box for streaming movies. Due to the upgraded main chip and (already) wide support for controllers, everybody is forgetting that this is quite a decent gaming box as well.

I purchased my Apple TV 4K (2021) with the idea, to get back to playing games on a big screen. I don’t have time for investing in game consoles anymore and, for occasional playing, Apple TV as a game console would be a good alternative.

When I get the 2021 model, I choose the 64GB model for this purpose, as knew that games weights a lot and I will need a space, lot of space.

I already have an Xbox One controller that works with my iPhone, so I just connected it to Apple TV and was ready to play games that support controllers.

The 2021 model has been packed with an A12 Bionic chip, which hasn’t been the latest one but shall be enough for my needs. I shortly realised that on some games (Pathless for example) there is a lack of processing power, but on the majority, it’s more than enough.

When Apple released the latest model in 2022 they do a huge jump not only in processor (A15 Bionic), which gives 50% extra performance and 30% greater graphics performance but what they did also is to increase top-tier available storage. From last year’s configuration of 32/64GB, we got an option to 64/128GB.

Of course, I go with 128GB. It’s not only because I need storage (after a few games a box has been already screaming for more), but also because only on this model are you getting an Ethernet port available. The other relays only on WiFi connectivity.

The best in that was the price. A £169 for top tier Apple TV was a very good deal. I know that many of you can claim, that you can get something better for that, but let’s consider the simplicity of the setup. Apple TV 2022 is significantly smaller and lighter than the 2021 model.

This smaller and lighter design comes with a cost. Once playing for a longer time in graphic demanding games like Gear.Club Stradale you may experience an unexpected drop in frame rates for a short period. This is a bit of a surprise, as iPhones are a bit more packed, and my 13 Pro Max, which got the same processor doesn’t act like that.

I care about my iDevices, so when new ones come I can still get a decent return from selling the old ones.

This time was no different. By selling on eBay I managed to recoup 60% of the money that I spent on the new one. This was a decent upgrade considering that everything become more expensive these days.

With more storage, I have been able to download more games to try without the need of removing others.

As a subscriber of Apple One, I got access to Apple Arcades where I can move playing from the screen of my iPhone to a large 4K TV screen and cherish the performance and experience.

When I was writing this text I learned something new about Apple TV which was a screenshot taking. With the use of MacBook Air M1, I have been able to connect to Apple TV through QuickTime Player to do screen recordings and screenshots. This was a really useful feature for adding images to relevant articles about Apple TV.

There is one problem. The whole of 2022 was an Apple and developers year of missed opportunities.

We are still in the period, where car manufacturers are releasing supercars to drive them on ordinary roads. Supercars need to drive on the race track and if you buy them, you know when you going on a Sunday morning.

With Apple and Apple TV (but also Mac computers with Apple chips) the problem is, that they are missing the ability to use this “race track”.

The most popular games are only cross-available between iPhone and iPad. Very rarely there are any available for Apple TV. Without Apple Arcade, the whole gamin ideology with this box would be… poor.

I am disappointed with developers that they did not allow games like Minecraft to be downloadable and playable on Apple TV, the same as on Mac computers with Apple Silicon.

Partially I understand that, as they would benefit more from selling the same games for different platforms – gaming consoles, however, from a user perspective this sucks.

With current horsepower under the hood and not being able to use it in full is not a good marketing point.

Imagine what spike Apple would have in the sale of Apple TV boxes and Mac computers when people will know that they can play Call of Duty on these devices with a controller.

Microsoft and Sony would profit even further by selling controllers that can be used with them.

If I can play games like Rush Rally 3, why cannot play Need For Speed which is available on my other devices?

The games are already ready and working well with controllers, so let’s give them hype on a big screen.

This win-win situation is like a dog on a leash.

We saw this over the last years when a dog (car manufacturers) was held on a leash by petrol empires preventing quicker implementation of electronic cars. A recent year or two put more towards the change than I saw so far in my timeline.

As we reach year-end and new year wishes, I wish Apple and developers to make a change towards improving the availability of the most demanding games on other Apple devices.

Comments
Categories