Rumorang: Apple's game console

Here we go again, another rumorang. AppleInsider is quoting Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora who thinks it's a "distinct possibility" that Apple is looking to enter the video game market in a more significant way than iPod game downloads. His evidence? Apple has recently "hired game developers at both the software and hardware levels." Well that settles it. Expect the iConsole any day now.

Tortora thinks that Apple will be forced into the highly competitive console market by downloadable TV and movie offerings from the likes of Sony and Microsoft. We don't buy it though ... the Apple iTV seems focused on a distinctly different segment of the market than the high end gaming machines from MS and Sony. Tortora also said that Apple's brand name and design savvy would help any console they released, but Apple's lack of games experience and connections in the games industry would likely hurt them more. After all, the Apple brand and design weren't enough to save the Pippin.

We'd like to buy into the wishful thinking that causes this rumor to popup every few months, but until something more substantial comes down the pike, we've got to call BS.