Why the rumor of Apple working on a controller for the iPad is interesting

Fansite shares the rumor that Apple is working on a controller for the iPad. Now why is this interesting to gamers?

While every company involved with computers prioritized the Internet, Nintendo prioritized 3d technology. While Miyamoto thought it was important to force 3d Mario down everyone’s throats, other companies rode the Internet wave to massive success. One of these companies was a third party company during the 16-bit Era called Silicon and Synapse, better known today as Blizzard.

It is not that Nintendo is behind on Internet investment so much as that Nintendo believed 3d was more important than the Internet. This has placed Nintendo way, way behind than where they should be right now.

One of my biggest complaints against Nintendo is, “How many times must I buy Super Mario Brothers?” I bought it in 1986, bought it again in 1994 for All-Stars, bought portable versions of it, and bought the Virtual Console version of it. This is beyond ridiculous. It is insulting that I am expected to buy the game again and again for each new Nintendo system.

The idea of Apple iPad having a controller is very intriguing because gamers are at ease with how purchases work in the Apple universe. They know that if they buy a game they can keep playing it on future versions. They know if they bought music, that music still runs on the new hardware. They don’t have to buy the software all over again. Gamers feel like they can invest in software on the Apple shop.

If there is anything that guides a gamer’s consumer habits, it is the security of being able to invest in the platform. This is why gamers are obsessed over which is the ‘winning console’ because no one wants to invest in a losing one. Most gamers are collectors of games.

Online distribution is quite imperfect. Many gamers, such as myself, will refuse to invest in anything Nintendo does online because Nintendo ties all the software to the hardware (if my Wii dies, my software dies with it. And I can’t bring that software to future consoles. So why invest in this library that self-destructs?). Sony and Microsoft are too fishy and aren’t exactly trusted. But Apple is trusted across the board. I’ve never heard gamers, not even our friends the hardcore, complain that i-Tunes is ‘stealing their money’.

An iPad with a controller would basically put it in competition with the PlayStation or Xbox definition of a console: a dumbed down PC. Nintendo, however, can only compete against it in the same way Nintendo could only compete against the Xbox and PlayStation, by embracing the arcade-like heritage of gaming and moving AWAY from the dumb-down PC model.

Nintendo won’t do this, of course. That would move Nintendo into a direction of more 2d Mario (which Miyamoto abhors), arcade-combat Zelda (which Aonuma abhors), and arcade-like Metroid (which Sakamoto abhors). The definition of an integrated hardware and software product is an arcade. The definition of an unintegrated software and hardware product is a PC game.

Nintendo has been abusing the integrated hardware and software definition to put out products from a Shop of Horrors, from Frankenstien’s laboratory with the ‘game gods’ presiding as mad scientists. The objective is no longer creating fun gaming experiences for the players but creating fun development experiences for the developers. The greatest thing about the DS and Wii is that they were not integrated hardware/software experiences. Many games didn’t use motion controls at all. Many games didn’t use the touch pad. But now every game is going to have to use that damn Wii U screen. Maybe I only wish to look at one screen when I play video games at home, Nintendo. Ever thought of that?

The iPad plus controller is interesting also because it allows a sanctuary for gamers to flee the Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony triumvirate for small simple gaming. I don’t want to deal with Cell chips, Blu-ray players, Xbox Live, integrated hardware and software, and all that crap. I just want to play video games in the simplest way. If the software design from the NES era still works (as evident by the success of games like Super Mario Brothers 5), surely the hardware design from the NES era still works. What is this hardware design? Just a controller with a couple of buttons.

Nintendo developers: “But we can’t have that! We need screens on the controllers. We need the controllers to do backflips with motion sensing technology. You can’t remove features. This is madness!”

This is disruption.