We're not gonna read too much into this just yet, but when everyone's favorite fruit-flavored consumer electronics company files to protect its trademark as it relates to a wide range of gaming devices, well, we feel you'd want to know. The USPTO sleuths over at Trademork just gave us the heads up on this recently-filed application from Cupertino, which requests protection of the word "APPLE" for products that classify as "toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games." And come to think of it, we did see Apple file for a
videogame-related patent not too long ago, so who knows: perhaps the iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV will soon have even more friends among the company's ever-expanding non-PC ecosystem. Then again, we've heard this rumor in one form or another countless times before, and right now pining for a
resurrected Gizmondo is already giving us enough headaches.
[Via
Trademork]
posted Feb 10th 2008 2:45PM
A crippled gaming device tied to iTunes but ultimatly going to sell because it looks pretty?
Bingo was his name-o.
I think Nintendo have got the 'pretty gaming system' market pretty much wrapped up right now. Everything else just looks quite nerdy in comparison.
@Liam
"Pretty"...okay. More like pretty lame though.
I'd love to see the Jobsnote on this:
"with the iPlay, the revolutionary multi-touch interface allows the user to both move and look around at the same time!!"
Apple Pippin II!
Just like Wii games are tied to Nintendo, PS3 games are tied to Sony, and Xbox games are tied to Microsoft?
Zephead, third party and multi platform games exist. Plus, each developer can sell their games where they want, for any price they want.
I'm sick of stupid anti-apple comments like these from ultra-nerds.
Over the years I've owned 2 Treos with PalmOS, A Treo, Moto Q, and HTC Tytn running Windows Mobile, a Blackberry, and a nokia with Symbian. I've owned PCs for 15 years with every version of Windows since 3.11, and once flirted with an Apple G4 for a few weeks. I consider myself pretty well experienced in most hardware without any real bias. I just like what works and works well.
The iPod Touch I have sitting here IS engineered wonderfully and "looks pretty". But it is bar none the most intuitive, responsive and advanced mobile electronics device I have ever owned for $299. I mean jesus, I have a BSD-based ARM computer in my pocket that can SSH or even VNC into my e-comm web servers. The SDK will be out in just a few weeks and if it is not crippled with chains it will cause this platform to explode in popularity. I can only imagine the ingenious apps that developers will create. I really believe mobile OSX will become what we all dreamed of having in an advanced mobile linux phone/pda. After my experience with the Touch, I'm now planning to get a new Mac Pro and finally make the switch. Dual Quad Core Xeon, 4 GB ram, 3 TB, 8800GT, and yes it's "pretty".
Is it just me or is that picture what happens when a Nintendo DS and a Sega Game Gear get it on.
Sam - I hope you're gonna boot camp vista on your fancy Mac Pro gaming rig!
Well, there are currently games for the iPod and the iPhone will undoubtedly get games once Apple allows us to download apps.
I think you have it nailed, good sir.
Apple is just trying to cover its back with regards to the games for the iPod, nothing more.
A, B,C,D,E,F?
E...?
f...?
WTF?
HAHHAAHH! I knew it would be coming!!!!!!!!
Everyone laughed at me when I prediced wrong the "beat goes on" event. BUT I KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN!
noobs.
I want games on my touch. When does the SDK come out?
iPlay?
iLost
=[
iReturn w/ a vengeance
iWin
=]
iPSP or iGame or iPlay or iGaming Machine or iApple Gaming or iPod Game... yeah i like the last one... *sigh*
Way to many buttons for that to be from apple
lol thats good.
"perhaps the iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV will soon have even more friends among the company's ever-expanding non-PC ecosystem."
uh, isn't everything apple makes non-PC?
If I remember right, PC means personal computer. And I'm pretty sure Apple makes some of those.
Yes, "PC" technically means personal computer. Although that term is generally reserved for Windows-based computers, i.e. Windows PC. Whereas you'd most often refer to a computer with Linux as a "Linux Box" and one running Mac OS X as a "Mac". So, there we go.
@ Kyle
The image of me trying to shoot a zombie with my touchwheel had me laughing.
Hey what's that? iDS AIR Lite or Game Joy White?
i am sorry you must be young here. fail.
Coming from someone with the name jeesus and has only been a member a month. cute :)
I think jeesus has become the new Miles
@jeesus
Eat my shorts
@zfurie:
Awesome Comeback!!!
I actually laughed.
Wouldn't it be ironic if they went to IBM for their gaming rig chip?
"Hey uhh... IBM. Sorry about abandoning you and your PowerPC chip and everything. You see, the guys at Intel promised us lots of candy if we switched over to them, and unfortunately we believed them. We've now realized what a huge mistake that was, and the fact that we didn't even get any candy really ticked us off. So, can we be friends again? Please?"
quite iRonic.
but surely Apple would find SOME way to fit an Intel chip in there ;)
@bartoron
Wait... You mean to tell me the CANDY is a lie, too?
I see now that GlaDOS has Intel Inside.
Apple Board: We're goin' to candy mountain steeeeve
How about allowing your computers to play games first?(without paying stupid prices). And before people started talking about the deal with EA, I mean high res PC games like COD4,Bioshock, Crysis (but then again, virtually no PC can run that properly)
Please Apple? It's the only thing preventing me getting a Mac
Oh, and is the bottom bit of the pic an Apple style reflection or another screen, in the style of another gaming device :p??
LOL at your avatar! Haha Gromit reminds me of my gormless dog!
I knew Apple was going to dominate the gaming industry after 5 minutes of Brick Attack in the Ipod. Also think about how many sweet games you can play on a Mac.
I am just SSOOOO excited about a locked down, restrictive gaming system from Apple.
your comment = xDDDD
*votes up*
Great, an iPippen! That Pippen did so well for Apple last time.
Five-hundred ninty-nine US dollars.
Yeah but you've got to remember that the Pippin was during the time when Jobs was not at Apple - or at least wasn't CEO. Jobs changed a LOT at Apple when he came back because when he left, Apple went down the crapper.
Apple is obviously ashamed of the Pippin - it's not in the Leopard Dictionary Widget's Apple section... but then again, nor is Logic or the iPod Touch and those are current products :P
You are right, Blaktornado, with the commitment Jobs has always shown to gaming as a vital part of his vision of the Apple universe, I am sure he is what will make an Apple gaming device wonderful. Besides, we all know how great Apple is at 3rd-party software support, so that will really put them over the top.
That of course was complete sarcasm, in case you missed it.
L. M. Lloyd, I wasn't implying that Jobs is keen on gaming but that he is going something right for Apple and that with him behind it all, an Apple computer games console in this day in age is more likely to end up better than the Pippin.
Please, do NOT ask if it plays Doom.
...it might, though.
-----------
Seriously, it's about time for Apple to enter the world of gaming....though it's not entirely necessary as the iPhone/ iPod touch hackers are doing a fine job with the emulators.
it happened already, and it was quite lackluster... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin
does it run nanosour? or mdk?
That picture gave me the chills.
AWN FTW!
^_^
Apple have to get serious on the gaming front at some point, really.
This is great! Portable PhotoShop!
I love your avatar!
Thank you, I think it really captures the inner "me".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B-ekl_cEWk
This is exactly what I think of when I hear Apple and Gaming.
Its like honesty and politicians.
A good reasonably priced gaming device would the DS form factor with a widescreen WVGA display.
You can have a third cheaper display on the outside too I suppose if you're playing a team game of some sort where you need to show off what you're doing (assuming the info doesnt want to take up space on other people's display).
Let me sum this up in one word: BOOM!!!!!!
Would it not be difficult to trademark the name Apple for any electronic toys etc., when products like this:-
http://www.amazon.com/VTech-Alphabet-Electronic-Fundamentals-Reading/dp/B00000IRU2/ref=sr_1_60?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1202674497&sr=1-60
already exist?
at least they have EA on their side...
Shouldn't that be a "non-user replaceable battery-powered computer games"?
I do NOT want a click wheel for my dpad. Or a D, E, or F button.
wait, you WANT Gizmondo back?
iPippy is what's it's gonna be called. Apple already made such a device based on the 603e processor. It was called a Pippin and was pretty cool. But, Amiga's CD32 was way better. Pippin bombed along with the Newton.
But Apple will now make iNewt and iPippy. I knew this was coming. Wonder if it will be better than the PSP w/ touch screen, and more ... please.
If anything, they're just covering their asses if they want to put games on an iPhone/iPod Touch etc., because then since they're more multi-function devices than specifically media players or phones, they'll have protection on their device as a gaming device as well.
It would be INCREDIBLY stupid for Apple to enter the portable gaming market with a dedicated device. Besides the fact that the market is saturated right now with 2 such devices, the dedicated unit is a dying breed as people start to carry fewer devices and do the same thing on their cell phones, which barely deserve to be called as such anymore now that they play music, games, let you surf the (baby or otherwise) web, and communicate in ways other than talking (aka texting).
Unless Apple is going to do it better than anyone else... but even there the market really still would belong to Nintendo.
I have been hearing that people are going to stop carrying more than one device any day now for almost a decade! The iPod seems to still be selling reasonably well, and surely you have heard of these DS and PSP things that seem to move a couple units too. What are there, 70 million or so DSs, and 80 million or so GBAs? I'm not saying this is an argument that Apple should get into the portable gaming market, but the whole "people are only going to carry one device" is right up there with "the PC is dead," "all applications will be internet applications," "physical media is dead," and "hydrogen fuel cells will replace gasoline," in the pantheon of predictions that are "in the next 5 years" for several decades.
Comments [100,000]
Oh, I can't wait for the knock-off market to start showing up...I
give it 15 days from today's date and wee will see the first
re-labeled emulator game MP4 PMP. In 45 days another with a reversed apple
logo on it...
This is just going to be Pippin all over again.
It's the iPwn !!!
besides having a ton of critically acclaimed games, the PSP has web, rss, video, radio, locationfree, flash, music, skype, photos, etcetera
I would go for an apple gaming device if it was portable like a ds. When I travel for work, I bring my ipod, cell phone, and DS to keep me entertained. Sometimes the laptop comes with too if i have a dvd i want to watch that i do not have on my ipod. I prefer to keep my cell seperate from my other devices, so the iphone does not really appeal to me, but this may if it comes around. I have often wished my DS would sync to itunes.
As much as people like to argue, there is no denying that apple does a lot of things right. I think if apple were to release a portable gaming device, it would be very well recieved by the masses (not engadget readers, necessarily) and be successful.
And for the record, the only apple product i own is an 80g ipod classic. I went with apple because of its strong aftermarket following, and the ease of online information regarding conversion processes and such. And, for my use, the itunes software works great.
Yes, we all want a perfect handheld that does not have a user-replaceable battery. Heck, you don't need to replace the battery when you could just buy a whole new one for more.
Iplay everything
Hey guys before macworld i told you apple is doing a handheld game but no one believed me. Now you can start believing me lol
Steve Jobs in his keynote speech:
our new iWii will let you play the coolest games. Here's minesweeper. BOOM! Damn it.
I'm sorry but I don't associate the words "videogaming" and "apple", together. Not to say that people don't play WOW on their Macbook Pro's but I doubt Apple would go into the whole gaming route. The only reason for this trademark protection is so that they can come up with any ideas that they want, i.e. the crazy patents that we saw filed under Apple during the summer.
What if they are going to anounce a portable game system sometime this month with the iPhone SDK
of course, when job's announces this thing. he'll proudly proclaim that HE invented handheld gaming.
Well...you all can talk this down....but the sad thing is it will probably sell....after all it is an Apple product. Apple has the Steve Jobs Distortion Field.
As for me.....I LOVE the NDSLite. It, hands down, is the best portable gaming system on the market. The PSP can't even hold a candle to it.
That is why it actually is the #1 selling gaming platform on the Earth.....it has sold more units then the PS1. That is an amazing feat.
Yeah, like the AppleTV. Those are just flying off the shelves. Of course maybe they will do as well as their computers do, and they will get 5% or 6% of the gaming market, or they will do as well as the iPhone, and not quite get 1% of the market in their first year.
You know, not every, or for that matter any, other product Apple makes does as well as the iPod.
hehe just think the next DS update engadget posts will probably be labeled something like "nintendo's apple igame ripoff" considering engadgets love/lust for the company
"everyone's favorite fruit-flavored consumer electronics company"
Speak for yourself dude, I don't like that fruit-flavored consumer electronics company.....
Yeah I prefer Tomato personally. Even if they love to KIRF.
I wonder if Apple has the strength to be a force in the videogame industry. One weak area of Macs have always been the lack of games compared to PC games. While this has improved in recent years, it is interesting if Apple could create a platform that somehow ties to the Mac OS and create some interesting interoperability based on that.
the sad thing is that these pattents probably will never be used for a product, it cuts off the idea from being developed by other people and keeps some good ideas from ever being used... such ashame, all these cases on pattent infringement you see these days, they are all just people who wanna get rich like the core 2 Duo or the dualshock controller... if these companys ever decided to cancel development based on an existing pattents then these products would likely never exist because people who owned the pattent would rather wait for them to step their turf and sue em then try to get it developed, and that's mostly because they are lazy. A-HOLES!
I mean seriously, if you patten it then develop it!
It will look sexy
---
It will be over-priced
---
People will wait in line weeks before it even comes out
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What's this thing supposed to do?
I forgot, Peris Hilton is just a dumb b*tch
Their biggest launch title?
Marathon IV.
Actually, that could be cool if they did it right, and if they can get Bungie back from Microsoft. Which I highly doubt.
What name will Apple choose; i-game? i-box, i-failure or i-sucks. My money is on i-sucks. Just like every pathetic sub-culture piece of "I" technology sh!t they put out.
It'll have the exact same slot the DS has, but it won't play DS games. It'll have inferior battery life, audio quality, and video quality. It will initially cost $400, but will drop to $300 in 6 months so that the new one that fixes all the problems of the first one can be brought out at $450.
And Engadget will have 7 articles about it on its release day, with 6 leading up to it.
apple isn't exactly notorious for putting an unnecessary amount of power into their handhelds so i'll keep my pants on for now.
I've been dying for a gaming device with horrid ergonomics and a no-repacing-without-serious-surgery internal battery.
At last!
LOL!!
Yea because mac gaming has always been amazing LOL LOL LOL
Screw you, Stubbs was awesome.
Is Halo coming to this system?
I wonder if they will reprise the Newton name? Anybody remember the Newton? Yeah I didn't think so.
God... ANOTHER one?? I've already got myself a PSP and that's already too many portable game systems. Sure, add the sexy, but game systems have to play well if they're gonna survive. I dunno where that pic came from, but if the real thing ever uses a touch-based "d-pad" instead of a real, moving, tactile d-pad, I'm 100% uninterested.
ZOMG I WANT ONE!!