Source: Bloober Team / The Medium / Apple
Apple dominates or has a strong presence in every other field it touches, except the gaming space, but that could all be changing.
Last week Hip-Hop Wired’s Bernard ‘Beanz” Smalls was invited to a very intimate Apple press event where the company Steve Jobs built showed its advancement in the gaming space.
If you don’t know, Apple is now pushing its Apple silicon in its devices, boasting its new chipset is more powerful, moving away from the Intel chips the tech giant used to put inside its devices.
Pair that with Metal 3, Apple’s low over-head graphics and compute API (Application Programming Interface), and the company is pushing to make its devices powerful hubs for gaming at home and mobile.
At the gaming at Apple dev showcase, developers from Bloober Team, Activision, HoYoVerse, Gameloft, and Talofa Games, a studio from the Apple Entrepreneur Camp.
Press and influencers were invited to Apple’s dedicated location to get hands-on with games like The Medium, Resident Evil Village, LEGO Star Wars Castaways, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, Honkai Star Rail, and an exercised-based mobile game Run Legends.
We were skeptical mainly because Apple’s devices like the MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and even the iPhone are not generally the preferred choice for gamers’ needs.
We left the event very impressed with Apple’s ability to turn its devices into gaming powerhouses when it was all said and done.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to stop at every station at the event, but that does not mean we did not get the full gist of Apple’s advancements in the world of gaming.
Run Legends Is A New, Fun Way To Work Up A Sweat
We played Talofa Games’ Run Legends at the first station we visited. Talofa Games CEO Jenny Xu is a long-distance runner, programmer, gamer, farmer, and Forbes 30 Under 30: Games recipient, put us through the wringer before we got into the demo.
Run Legends is described as a fitness battle game where how much you move dictates your gameplay. The game mixes running and walking, translating into either an attack on foes or turning you into the team’s healer.
According to a press release, Run Legends is the first-ever fitness game that will allow playing synchronously with friends no matter where you are in the world.
We saw all of that in action during our quick game demo. When we ran, we attacked our opponent, lowering their health. We slowly walk when our health gets low, which begins a healing process to restore our team’s health.
Pop in a pair of AirPods and use the spatial audio that adds an immersive gameplay experience.
Run Legends will make that morning jog, sprints around the track, or hour of cardio on the treadmill a fun experience.
The New MacBook Pro & Mac Mini M2 Handle Games Flawlessly
We also played Resident Evil Village on a new MacBook Pro paired with a PS5 DualSense controller, and it felt like we were playing it on a next-gen console or a gaming PC with the highest specs.
The graphics were stunning. There were no noticeable framerate drops or controller lag. The game, which is very demanding thanks to its powerful RE Engine, ran surprisingly smoothly on the new MacBook Pro.
Right across was a representative from Bloober Team showing off the third-person psychological horror game The Medium running on Mac Mini M2.
It was pretty impressive seeing the Mac Mini M2 handle the game that features a character who can roam the real world and spirit world at the same time to solve puzzles.
The game looked beautiful, and like our experience with Resident Evil Village on the MacBook Pro, there were no hiccups or graphical issues.
The iPhone 14 Ran Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile Surprisingly Well
We closed out our experience playing Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile with Chris Plummer, Activision’s Senior Vice President and Co-head of Mobile.
During our battle royale matches, which we won, we did notice the iPhone 14 device we were using did get hot during our session, but Plummer did make sure to point out we were playing a pre-build of the game.
The onscreen controls were intuitive, with a quick response time, making the experience with the game seamless. The graphics were amazing and almost as good as the console and PC versions of the free-to-play game.
Plummer also noted that the mobile game would feature cross-progression, so everything you earn will transfer as you switch from mobile to either console or PC.
If you want to get into PC gaming but refuse to ditch your Apple device, this is excellent news to see how far Apple has come in this department.
Apple computers and iPhones stepping up their gaming capabilities only give gamers more options, which we always love to see.
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Photo: Bloober Team / The Medium
