作者：Dave Tach

如果你想看到电子游戏的发展朝向，即它们将到达那里，将发展成什么样以及在今后几年里你将玩些什么内容，你便需要去研究《迪士尼无限3.0》和《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》在2015年都做了什么。

我知道：你们并不关心这些授权游戏。你认为这是孩子们玩的游戏。它们只是致力于让家长们购买玩具的同时购买电子游戏的市场营销方案。就像特种部队，He-Man和变形金刚那样，但这些人形公仔并不能在你的电视中苏醒过来。好吧，我的意思是说它们虽然能活动，但是你却不能去控制它们。

如果你真正对游戏未来充满好奇，你就应该去关心这两款授权游戏。因为它们比大多数其它游戏都更大胆。

如今，《小龙斯派罗》（该系列游戏创造了“为玩具赋予生命”的市场）和《迪士尼无限》（作为前者成功的竞争者）正引导着我们从主机转向其它我们在几年前还认为很荒谬的游戏设备。当然了，它们也并未改变形式。它们仍然是真实且可靠的完整游戏。

在完整的生态系统中，《迪士尼无限》和《小龙斯派罗》让2015年变得比其它时候更具野心。当我研究并尝试了包括全新苹果TV，iOS，PlayStation 4，Windows PC和Xbox 360等多个平台上的这两款游戏并与它们的创造者交谈之后，我觉得自己必须总结它们的野心对于电子游戏的未来（不管是硬件还是软件）的影响。

我们在全新的苹果TV上按照游戏节奏运行了《迪士尼无限3.0》和《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》。然后我们将这两款游戏与它们在其它系统上的游戏进行了比较。从比较中我们可以看到苹果全新机顶盒的潜力与局限性，并且我们也发现自己并未意识到我们缺少一些更加强大的设备。

同样的游戏不同的平台

在2015年9月初，苹果公布了人们翘首期盼的新设备。

这款全新的苹果TV是他们过去几年里创造的机顶盒的进化，即变得更大且性能更强，并且它也拥有像在iPad，iPhone和Mac的应用商店。就像它的姐妹平台那样，全新的苹果TV也将支持游戏。

这是具有可能性的，因为苹果TV的全新硬件是基于苹果微小但却具有强大功能的微处理器。首次出现在iPhone 6和6 Plus上的A8芯片同样也支持着全新的苹果TV。

在发布会当天，苹果邀请了一些开发者去展示他们的游戏。首先是多人游戏版本的《过马路》，这是对于其智能手机和平板电脑版本的逻辑延伸。然后是面向全新苹果TV所创造的《Beat Sports》，带有行动控制，就像任天堂Wii游戏。

这是一场有趣，且可预见的发布会。游戏成为了全新苹果TV的组成部分，但这也绝非苹果的唯一侧重点。我们在台上看到的游戏虽然都很有趣，但却不具有改革性，它们并不能推动游戏玩法或视觉效果的发展。这是因为和iPhone一样，苹果并非创造了一个电子游戏主机。它们只是创造了一个多功能硬件，并将其与他们的原生态系统结合在一起去成就游戏。如此看来全新苹果TV将成为休闲游戏的基地。

发布会之后事情也变得更加有趣了，即动视和迪士尼分别发布了两份相关的公告：《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》和《迪士尼无限3.0》都将出现在全新苹果TV上。并且他们也表示并不是作为主机游戏版本。他们将面向苹果未发布的硬件而删减一些游戏体验。完整的游戏将以在微软，任天堂和索尼的主机上同样的形式出现在全新苹果TV上。

这两份公告均表示该硬件拥有比苹果所描述的更强大的游戏性能。

苹果在去年10月底发布了全新的苹果TV。与此同时我们也从那些创造并玩游戏的人的角度中观察到一些奇怪的规则。即苹果要求所有苹果TV游戏都必须支持该设备所捆绑的Siri远程控制。虽然第三方控制器也是可行的，但是苹果的指导方针标写的非常清楚。而当《吉他英雄：现场》发行于全新苹果TV上时，我们便知道它们并非一成不变。这款游戏也并未使用Siri远程控制。

我们同样也发现苹果的技术完全体现在了全新苹果TV上，即致力于解决对于管理储存的需求。全新的苹果TV将为用户解决这样的问题。这是为了方便用户的技术，但同时这也为开发者树立了挑战，他们需要清理系统数据并重新下载资产，同时对于储存的需求也不断波动。苹果的规则同样也限制着任何应用（包括游戏）在主机上能够使用的最大存储空间。对于小型游戏来说这可能并不是什么大问题。但是对于那些需要经历多次安装步骤的大型游戏来说，苹果的最大规格限制便是一个需要解决的工程问题。苹果也预料到这点并创造了技术去促进它。但是还没有方法能够证实这样的技术的可行性或者体验的性能。

在去年12月中旬，《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》和《迪士尼无限3.0》都出现在了苹果TV，就像它们在传统游戏硬件上那样。所以我们看到了承诺变成了现实。

然后问题就变成了：它们是否优秀？毕竟全新的苹果TV重新考量了你与硬件之间的关系。而这种设定是否适合像这样的大型游戏呢？

为了找出答案，我们在全新苹果TV上玩了这两款游戏，并清楚了他们是否适合这款非主机设备。但这时候问题又发生了改变。从图像和性能来看，它们在其它系统上又是如何出现的？

Polygon与《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》的开发商Vicarious Visions的代表以及迪士尼中《迪士尼无限3.0》的负责人进行了交谈。他们都解释了为什么认为将自己的主机游戏带到苹果全新硬件上的重要性。他们讲述了自己有关“为玩具赋予生命”的原理的看法。他们同样也提供了他们的软件和硬件版本让我们进行比较与测试。

《迪士尼无限3.0》

我们观察了《迪士尼无限3.0》的游戏玩法并发现“迪士尼终于放开了其宝贵的角色和故事并希望让玩家去玩这些内容。”我们也认为这些内容带给了我们巨大的乐趣。

我们可以在tvOS App Store中找到《迪士尼无限3.0》，这也是我们在苹果TV上获得该游戏的唯一官方途径。这是一个机智的开始。如果你并未拥有这款游戏，你仍可以去下载它的免费游戏版本，并且还包含了一个基于1977年《星球大战》电影的高潮的关卡。而如果你购买了面向苹果TV的99.95美元的初始包，你便可以获得完整的游戏。

而在其它系统上，《迪士尼无限3.0》的初始包还带有一个基础内容，即Anakin Skywalker和Ahsoka Tano这样的角色，并让玩家能够访问Twilight of the Republic。实际上这便是让玩家在《克隆战争》世界中玩游戏。

游戏在全新苹果TV上的表现如何？这取决于你是如何游戏的。

使用Siri远程控制《迪士尼无限3.0》并不适合。这感觉很奇怪，就像你在使用一个远程控制而不是真正的控制器—-因为你便在这么做。Siri远程具有功能性，但不管是游戏还是Siri远程都不能基于3D世界去移动的角色。如此角色的移动将非常不精确。而之所以这款游戏使用了这样的功能可能是因为苹果的要求。

但这里并不是不存在希望。因为SteelSeries Nimbus，即苹果TV的代表游戏控制器，《迪士尼无限3.0》有效缓解了这一问题。这是一个非常神奇的控制器。当我在不同游戏中使用该控制器时，我对它的印象便越深刻。它并未让我觉得是第三方控制器。它真的非常稳定，甚至让我不断提醒自己并非在使用来自主机制造商的硬件。

合适的控制器能够改变世界。苹果基于蓝牙的配对便让设置变得非常简单。你只需要打开控制器，苹果便会在短短的几秒内发现它。

与其主机版本相比游戏的表现如何？除了一些注意事项外几乎没什么区别。

就像我们之前所讨论到的，运行全新苹果TV的软件tvOS为应用设定了最大文件规格限制。对于像《迪士尼无限3.0》这样较大型的游戏来说，开发者必须将数据转移到系统上并将其移除，还要将关卡加载到不足的内存中。这种问题可能出现在前端，即会阻碍玩家游戏，也有可能出现在后端。后者还好点，前者便涉及理解和复杂性等问题。

当关卡和角色加载到你的系统上，你便很难发现苹果TV上的《迪士尼无限3.0》与在其它平台上有什么区别了，除了在PS4或Windows PC等更强大的系统上的显著视觉效果。

如果关卡和角色并未出现在你的苹果TV上，那么将会出现多种不同的结果。苹果TV版本的加载与PS4和Xbox 360等系统具有明显的区别。苹果TV并没有可放磁盘的地方。这里只有网络和网络存储以及云端，而游戏也是从这里加载关卡。

说实话，我在4个硬件上的《迪士尼无限3.0》中花费了许多时间。而加载屏幕则在我的意料之中，它们之所以出现在全新苹果TV上应该就是因为tvOS的应用限制。

但再一次地，当你进入一款游戏中，你便真的进入了一款游戏。就像在《迪士尼无限3.0》中，你能看到包含对话，配音，游戏玩法等所有你在其它地方玩这款游戏所看到的内容。

《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》

该系列游戏中创造了“为玩具赋予生命”类型的最新条目便是“基于汽车主题的续集，改变了你所玩的主要游戏内容，而一些额外的添加内容也将进一步延伸游戏。”

作为一半卡丁赛车游戏以及一半的平台游戏，《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》在来到苹果TV前便已经广受欢迎了。并且其苹果TV版本也与其它平台版本保持一样。

但是就像《迪士尼无限3.0》那样，仔细观察的话你也可以在这款游戏中看到“接缝处”。而就像《迪士尼无限3.0》那样，当我在玩游戏时我很难注意到其中的区别。这两款游戏在全新苹果TV上都拥有较低的帧率，但却不是糟糕的帧率。尽管我并未做计算，但这有点像你连续玩一款30帧/秒的游戏与一款60帧/秒的游戏。

在这里，关卡前也存在一些初始加载内容。即在连接全新苹果TV的传送门上添加一个全新的Skylander或汽车，并且比起你在主机上看到的，在这里你要想将它们加载到游戏中需要面临更长的延迟时间。但这些都不是什么大问题。游戏内部内容都是按照往常一样运行。

《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》也通过配备了蓝牙的传送门将自己突显于苹果TV中，即消除了用户需要在房间里连接USB的麻烦。并且这样的设置也非常简单。

这款游戏同样也包含一个适合其传送门的小型控制器。虽然它看起来可能很糟糕，但其实有种掩耳盗铃之感。我甚至惊讶地发现它的使用非常简单。表面的按键非常齐全，也一点都不模糊，侧面的四个按键还能触发一个让人满足的点击。从抽象意义来看，如果我有选择权的话这不会成为我的选择，因为它的设计远小于我的手。也就是说我并未想到当我握着它的时候它会有那么小。但不管怎样，比起PlayStation 4，Xbox 360和Xbox One的控制器，该控制器能够帮助我更好地驾驶汽车。

《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》同样也支持Siri远程作为一个替代控制器，并且该控制器也有不错的表现。虽然手握模拟遥感还是会比较精确，但是Vicarious Visions选择将远程控制添加到游戏中去作为一种可替代的控制方法。从某种程度上来看这是因为《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》总是让玩家在一个相对狭小的空间里移动，这里并不需要过于紧张的操纵性。这点与《迪士尼无限3.0》形成了鲜明的对比，即在《迪士尼无限3.0》中，游戏世界和沙盒较为开阔。

游戏开发者也解释了他们为何认为Siri远程的有效性。他们想象这是你将交给小孩子的控制器，而这些小孩子往往都不像充满技能的玩家那样灵巧。所以所有的内容都将得到简化并确保不同年龄的玩家都能一起游戏。

也许《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》在苹果设备上的最广阔的体验便在于它所处的平台。也就是说这一体验无处不在。你可以在你的苹果TV上玩完整的游戏，也可以在你的iPad和iPhone上玩游戏。因为它们是建立在由Vicarious Visions的技术和苹果的iCloud技术同时支持的后端控制器上。

尽管主机制造商提供了一些方法让我们能够在某种情况下将主机屏幕带到手持设备上，智能手机应用也允许我们在一些当代的硬件上进行互动，但《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》可以以主机不允许的方式在苹果设备的生态系统中进行完整的交替。

让我们举个例子来说吧，就像有3个玩家加入一场特设的在线多人赛车比赛，1个玩家使用苹果TV，1个玩家使用iPhone，还有1个玩家使用iPad。这是一种深度的互联性，这也是苹果的生态系统和Vicarious Visions的独创性所创造的结果。我们可以从这种互联性中看到未来的发展。

着眼未来

苹果并未将苹果TV作为一台主机并不意味着游戏制作者便必须认为这并不是一台主机。

如今，在苹果TV发布几周后，我们可以看到它是如何与主机进行较量的。从整体看来它的表现非常好。

比起在主机上，跨平台游戏在全新苹果TV上的表现如何？这是取决于不同游戏，即关于游戏的各种细节。

当我们提到《吉他英雄：现场》时我们便回答了这一问题。是的，这款游戏在苹果TV和在PS4上并无区别。但是虽然《吉他英雄：现场》非常让人印象深刻，但是全动态视频和滚动公路并不是什么突出的视觉效果。

《迪士尼无限3.0》和《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》提供给我们去比较那些真诚的主机游戏（游戏邦注：丰富且完整的3D游戏，即那些你希望在任天堂，微软和索尼设备上看到的游戏）的机会。

它们是否看起来与上一代的主机游戏一样？并非如此。它们比上一代主机游戏小多了。这点似乎没什么好惊讶的，因为硬件发生了变化。当仔细着眼于游戏关卡时我们可以注意到，在苹果TV上图像的距离以及粒子效果不像在Xbox 360上那般完美。

再一次地，因为苹果的游戏竞争者非常强大，所以这也不是什么让人吃惊的结果。毕竟这两款游戏是最早在苹果TV上获得巨大关注的大型主机游戏。任何在PS4或Xbox One发布时便购买了它们的用户都清楚，一旦游戏制作者熟悉了该硬件，他们所创造的游戏便会变得更出色。

自从苹果TV于去年10月末问世以来，它便一直以自己的节奏发展着。但是全新苹果TV仍然不是一台电子游戏主机。但我也可以毫不犹豫地说，全新苹果TV绝对是主机的最佳替代选择，至少它们之间具有可比性，不过并不是现在。在这里《迪士尼无限3.0》和《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》是特别的。如果你想要一个众多开发者愿意将自己最新最棒的游戏推向那里的设备，如今的苹果TV便不是最佳选择。也许终有一天它会变成那样的设备，但是在2015年末时机还未到。

简而言之，尽管全新苹果TV并不等同于主机，但不管是从外观还是功能上看，它也足以强大能够运行现代游戏并且不会让它们变得奇怪或模糊，这就像是Wii与PlayStation 3和Xbox 360的比较一样。全新苹果TV上的主机游戏控制就像主机游戏。它们看起来也像主机游戏。哦不，它们就是主机游戏。只是它们恰好运行于不完全是主机的设备上而已。

更有趣的是，它们是运行于一个需要150美元的平台上，并且拥有来自苹果生态系统的支持。这对于成人以及硬核玩家来说可能不大有说服力。但是再一次地，苹果并未创造一个电子游戏主机，它也并不是为大众定制全新苹果TV。相反地，全新苹果TV可能成为许多不想花费比苹果设备多出两倍的价钱去购买最新且最优秀电子游戏主机的家庭的选择。

基于我们与《迪士尼无限3.0》和《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》的创造者的讨论，我们发现这两家公司都对这样的尝试充满信心。他们并不是盲目做出这样的决定。他们都表示这些授权游戏已经在手机平台上拥有很好的表现。而全新苹果TV其实也就是苹果极其成功的手机平台的TV扩展。

这便是未来的发展方向。

对于包括我在内的资深游戏玩家，我们总是理所当然地将主机，掌上设备和PC作为游戏的目标平台。而手机设备的出现纠正了我们的看法，并且造就了那些休闲游戏玩家。

我们很容易认为这便是事情始终的发展趋向。

但对于新一代的游戏玩家来说，《迪士尼无限3.0》和《小龙斯派罗：超级充能者》似乎都代表着游戏的未来。随着像这样低功率高性能的内容在全新苹果TV上继续发展，我们知道致力于面向电子游戏的硬件和平台会变得越来越不重要。而像主机一般可靠的游戏将变得越来越像手机游戏。对于尚未到来的那一代玩家来说，具有完整功能且像主机游戏一般的游戏将不再是他们必须使用电视或计算机才能获得的内容。他们将拥有更多不同的选择。

也许专注于游戏的硬件市场还有很长的路要走，它们也将支持最新硬件并去渲染那些最华丽的图像。但如果全新苹果TV是这一趋势（游戏邦注：在不到10年内并伴随着手机和平板电脑的改革而开始）的起点，那么主机有可能逐渐变成一种立基产品。

未来我们将看到一个拥有强大设备的世界，玩家将能在任何地方游戏并且不再需要思考该从哪里开始游戏。他们需要做的只是找到让自己可以玩像父母在电视或在PC上玩的同样游戏的最方便的设备。对于这一代的玩家来说，他们将可以在任何自己所希望的平台玩游戏。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

DON’T LET THE GAME FOOL YOU

By Dave Tach

If you want to see where video games are headed — where they’ll be, what they’ll look like and what you’ll be playing them on in the next few years — you need to study what Disney Infinity 3.0 and Skylanders SuperChargers did this year.

I know, I know: You don’t care about those franchises. They’re for kids. They’re just marketing schemes designed to make parents buy toys and video games at the same time. Well, so were G.I. Joe and He-Man and Transformers, but those action figures didn’t come to life on your TV. Well, OK, they sort of did, but you couldn’t control them.

Even if that that were true, though, it’s not the point or what’s significant. If you’re curious about the future of gaming, you should care about both franchises. They’re being bold in a way that most others aren’t.

Today, Skylanders — the series that created the toys-to-life market — and Disney Infinity — its successful competitor — are leading a migration from consoles to devices that, just a few years ago, would have seemed absurd to think of as gaming machines. They didn’t arrive in denatured form, either. They are the real and credible full games.

In an ecosystem full of sequels, Disney Infinity and Skylanders spent 2015 being more more ambitious than most. And I kid you not, after studying and playing these games across several platforms, including the new Apple TV, iOS, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox 360, and talking to their creators, it’s difficult not to conclude that in their ambition lies some part of video gaming’s future, both hardware and software.

We ran Disney Infinity 3.0 and Skylanders SuperChargers through their paces on the new Apple TV, the not-quite-a console released just a few months ago. Then we compared those games to their twins on other systems. Both show the potential — and limitations — of Apple’s new set top box and the surprising amount of things we didn’t realize we were missing from more powerful machines.

SAME GAME, DIFFERENT PLATFORMS

In early September 2015, Apple revealed a device that many who watch the Cupertino, California-based company had long predicted.

The new Apple TV is an evolution of the set-top boxes it has been producing for the last several years. Bigger and more powerful, its new heft brought an app store like its iPad, iPhone and Mac counterparts. And just like its sister platforms, the new Apple TV would support gaming.

This was possible, in part, because its refreshed hardware is based on Apple’s line of tiny, power efficient microprocessors. A8 chip that debuted in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also powers the new Apple TV.

Onstage on the day of the unveiling, Apple invited a couple developers up to show off a couple of games. The first, a multiplayer version of Crossy Road, was a logical extension of a popular game on its smartphones and tablets. The second, Beat Sports, was a game created specifically for the new Apple TV, with motion controls reminiscent of Nintendo Wii games.

It was an interesting, if somewhat predictable showcase. Gaming was certainly part of the new Apple TV, but it certainly wasn’t Apple’s focus. The games we saw onstage looked intriguing, but they weren’t revolutionary, and they didn’t exactly seem to push the gameplay or graphical envelope. That’s because, just like it does with the iPhone, Apple didn’t build a video game console. It built multipurpose hardware, tied to its own ecosystem, both of which make playing games possible. Based on that alone, it seemed like the new Apple TV would be a bastion of casual games.

Things got much more interesting later that day, when Activision and Disney made two separate but related announcements: Skylanders SuperChargers and Disney Infinity 3.0 were both headed to the new Apple TV. Not versions of the console games, they said. Not separate, pared down experiences created for Apple’s unreleased hardware, either. The full games would appear on the new Apple TV in the same form they took on Microsoft’s, Nintendo’s and Sony’s consoles.

Those two announcements implied more about the hardware’s gaming capabilities than Apple cared to on stage.

Apple released the new Apple TV at the end of October. In the interim, we learned about a few odd rules, from the perspective of those who make and play games. Apple’s rules require all Apple TV games to support the device’s bundled Siri remote. Third-party controllers are available, too, but Apple’s guidelines are clear. When Guitar Hero Live launched for the new Apple TV, we learned they weren’t set in stone. That game doesn’t use the Siri remote at all.

We also learned about Apple technology that’s in full force on the new Apple TV, designed to eliminate the need to manage storage. Instead, the new Apple TV will do that for users. It’s a technology designed to make things simpler for users, but it also poses challenges for developers, as the system purges and re-downloads assets on demand, as its storage needs fluctuate. Apple’s rules also limited the maximum storage space that any app — including games — could use on the console. For small games, that didn’t seem like it would be much of a problem. For bigger games whose installation footprint could be multiple times the size of Apple’s maximum allowance, that seemed like a genuine engineering problem to solve. Apple anticipated this, and it built technology to make it possible. But there was no way to know if it would work or how the experience would be.

Here in mid-December, Skylanders SuperChargers and Disney Infinity 3.0 are both available for the Apple TV, just like they are on traditional gaming hardware. What was once a promise became a reality.

The question, then, became: Are they any good? After all, the new Apple TV has includes a radical rethinking of the relationship you have with your hardware. Is that acceptable for large games like these?

To find out, we played both games on the new Apple TV, and that gave us answers about whether or not they were any good on this not-console. But that’s when the question morphed. How did they hold up, in terms of graphics and performance, to their doppelgangers on other systems?

Polygon spoke with representatives for Skylanders
SuperChargers developer Vicarious Visions as well as those at Disney about Disney Infinity 3.0. Both explained why they felt it was important to bring their consoles games to Apple’s new hardware. They told us about their philosophy about toys to life products generally. They also provided us with versions of their software and hardware to test and compare everywhere we could.

DISNEY INFINITY 3.0

We covered Disney Infinity 3.0’s gameplay in our review, saying that “Disney has finally thrown open its vault of treasured characters and stories and wants you to play.” We also said it made us laugh so hard that we nearly puked.

But would it make us throw up on the new Apple TV? And if so, who’d clean it up?

Disney Infinity 3.0 is available through the tvOS App Store, the only official way to get apps on the device. And that’s where the cleverness begins. If you don’t own the game, you can still download a version of it that’s free-to-play and includes a level based on the climax of the original 1977 Star Wars movie, A New Hope. If you buy the $99.95 starter pack for Apple TV, that download transforms into the full game.

As on other systems, the Disney Infinity 3.0 starter pack comes with a base, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano figures, and access to the Twilight of the Republic playset. In effect, that lets you play within the world of The Clone Wars animated series.

How does it play on the new Apple TV? That depends on how you play it.

Controlling Disney Infinity 3.0 with the Siri remote isn’t great. It feels odd, as if you’re using a remote control instead of a controller — because that’s exactly what you’re doing. The Siri remote is functional, but neither the game nor the Siri remote were built with moving characters through 3D worlds, and it shows. Characters bumble around with extreme imprecisions, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re up for a goof. It’s in there, perhaps, because Apple says it has to be in there. It can’t be in there because anyone thinks it’s particularly good.

But hope is not lost. Disney Infinity 3.0 mitigates that problem because the SteelSeries Nimbus, the poster child for Apple TV game controllers, ships with the starter pack. It’s in the box, and it is a fantastic controller. I mean that, too. The more I use it in various games, the more impressed I am with the Nimbus. It doesn’t feel like my memories of third-party controllers. It’s sturdy and reliable to the point that I have to remind myself that I’m not using hardware from a console manufacturer, long the gold standard for controllers.

The right controller makes all the difference in the world. Apple’s Bluetooth-based pairing makes setup drop dead simple. All you need to do is switch the controller on, and the Apple TV detects it within seconds, in our out of a game.

How’s the game perform relative to its console counterparts? Almost exactly the same, with a few caveats.

As we discussed above, the software that runs the new Apple TV, tvOS, places restrictions on the maxim file size of an app. For something so potentially big as Disney Infinity 3.0, developers have to shuffle data onto and off of the system, loading levels into an out of memory. That can happen in the foreground, preventing your from playing, or in the background, transparently. The latter is preferable. The former can range from understandable to perplexing.

When levels and characters get loaded on your system, you’d be hard pressed to find a difference between Disney Infinity 3.0 on Apple TV and Disney Infinity 3.0 on any other platform, aside from the obvious benefit of graphical fidelity on more powerful systems like the PS4 or a Windows PC. It took me staring at video side by side to tell any substantial differences.

When levels and characters aren’t on your Apple TV, the results can vary dramatically. The Apple TV version’s loading is significantly pronounced compared to systems like the PS4 and Xbox 360. There’s no disc in a tray to stream levels from. There’s only the internet and internal storage that Apple TV manages and the internet’s nebulous cloud, from which the game loads levels.

To be fair, though, I’ve spent a lot of time with Disney Infinity 3.0 on four pieces of hardware during the last few weeks. Loading screens are par for the course — though, again, they’re pronounced on the new Apple TV, almost certainly because of tvOS’ app restrictions.

But, again, once you’re in the game, you’re really in the game. As in the real Disney Infinity 3.0, full of dialogue, voice acting, gameplay — all of the things that you’d expect if you were playing it elsewhere.

SKYLANDERS SUPERCHARGERS

The latest entry in the series that created the toys-to-live genre is, as we said in our review, a “vehicle-themed sequel that brings with it a seismic shift in the way you play the game’s main campaign and a host of additions meant to extend the life of the title well past completion.”

Part kart racer, part platformer, Skylanders SuperChargers was already an impressive game before it arrived on the Apple TV. And on the Apple TV, it is … just about the same as it is anywhere else you play it.

Like Disney Infinity 3.0, you can see the seams, if you look closely. But just like the former, I was hard pressed to tell the difference while I was playing. Both games have noticeably lower framerates on the new Apple TV, but not bad frame rates. Though I didn’t do any counting, it seemed about the same as what you’d notice playing a 30 fps and a 60 fps game back-to-back.

There’s some initial loading before levels, too. Place a new Skylander or vehicle on the portal connected to the new Apple TV, and there’s more of delay before it loads them into the game than you’d see on a console. But those are relatively minor quibbles. Inside the game, it’s business as usual.

Skylanders SuperChargers also sets itself apart on the Apple TV with a Bluetooth-equipped portal, which eliminates the need for a USB cord strung across your room. Setting it up is a easy as launching the game and pressing a single button.

It also ships with a miniaturized controller that fits on the underside of the portal. It looks like it might be terrible, but its looks are deceiving. I was genuinely surprised to find how well built and easy to use it is. The face buttons are sturdy, not squishy, and its four shoulder buttons are tiered and trigger with a satisfying click. In the abstract, it wouldn’t be my controller of choice if I had a choice, because it’s built for hands smaller than mine. That said, I never once thought about how small it was when it was in my hands. And, for whatever it’s worth, I drove my vehicle better with this controller than I did with PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers.

Skylanders SuperChargers also supports the Siri remote as an alternate controller, and it works surprisingly well. It’s still better and more accurate to have analog sticks in your hands, but Vicarious Visions pulled of a perfectly credible alternate way to control the game with a remote shoehorned into gaming. That is, in part, because Skylanders SuperChargers keeps players moving in relatively tight quarters, where there’s less call for twitchy maneuverability. It stands in contrast to Disney Infinity 3.0, whose world and sandbox seems generally more open.

Its developers’ explanation for how they thought about the Siri remote makes sense, too. They imagine that it’s the controller you hand to the little kid, the one who’s not going to be quite as dexterous as the more skilled gamer. Everything’s simplified, and that lets people play together.

Perhaps the wildest part of the Skylanders SuperChargers experience on Apple devices, though, is where it exists. In short, it’s everywhere. You can play the full game on your Apple TV, your iPad and your iPhone. Not only that, but because they’re built on a backend controlled partially by Vicarious Visions technology and partly by Apple’s iCloud technology, they interact with each other in real time.

While console manufacturers offer ways to cast a console’s screen to handheld devices under some circumstances, and smartphone apps allow interconnectivity on some current-generation hardware, Skylanders SuperChargers is fully interchangeable across Apple’s device ecosystem in a way that simply isn’t available on consoles.

To pick just one example, three players could join an ad hoc online multiplayer kart race, even if one has an Apple TV, one’s on an iPhone and the other’s using an iPad. It is deeply impressive interconnectivity, and a clear win for Apple’s ecosystem and Vicarious Visions’ ingenuity. And when you see it in action, it’s hard not to see the future there.

SEEING THE FUTURE

Just because Apple doesn’t think of the Apple TV as a console doesn’t mean that that game makers have to agree isn’t one — or that it isn’t one.

Here, just several weeks after its release, how does the Apple TV stack up against consoles? In short, rather well.

How do multiplatform games look on the new Apple TV compared to their console counterparts? It depends on the game — and how good you are at noticing details.

We already answered that question when we looked at Guitar Hero Live. Side by side, it’s effectively identical on Apple tv and PS4. But, of course, impressive as Guitar Hero Live may be, full motion video and a scrolling note highway aren’t graphical powerhouses.

Disney Infinity 3.0 Skylanders SuperChargers offered an opportunity to compare bona fide console games — rich, fully 3D games, of the kind you’d expect to see on on a Nintendo, Microsoft or Sony device.

Do the look the same as the latest generation of consoles? No. They look somewhat diminished. But that’s not surprising, given the hardware. And it’s not always apparent, as you’re playing the game. I had to look at levels side by side to realize that draw distances aren’t and particle effects weren’t as jazzy on the Apple TV as they were eve on the Xbox 360.

Again, that’s not surprising, given the relative power of the Apple TV’s gaming competitors. But it seems reasonable to mark this for follow up later. These are the first, big console games to hit the Apple TV. Anyone who’s had a PS4 or Xbox One since launch will know how much better games started looking after game makers became adept with the hardware.

Since its debut in late October, we’ve been putting the new Apple TV through its paces, with games big and small, mobile and console. No, the new Apple TV still isn’t a video game console, But yes, I can say without hesitation that the new Apple TV is a credible alternative to consoles, at least where it’s comparable. And at this point, it isn’t generally comparable. Disney Infinity 3.0 and Skylanders SuperChargers are outliers. If you want a device onto which many developers will put their latest and greatest games, Apple TV isn’t for you right now. It may be one day, but it isn’t in late 2015.

In short, while the new Apple TV isn’t identical to consoles, either in terms of looks or function, it is powerful enough to handle modern games without making them look, well, weak and blurry, like the Wii tended to look compared to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Console games on the new Apple TV control like consoles games. They look like console games. They are console games. They just happen to be running on a not-quite-a-console.

More interestingly, they’re console games on a platform with a $150 buy in, backed by Apple’s ecosystem. That’s unlikely to be be persuasive for the adult, hardcore gamer. Then again, Apple didn’t make a video game console, and it didn’t tailor the new Apple TV to that crowd. Instead, the new Apple TV could be a powerful argument for households that don’t want to spend twice as much as Apple’s device to get the latest, greatest video game console.

And based on our discussions with the creators of Disney Infinity 3.0 and Skylanders SuperChargers — two legitimate console games that perform admirably on Apple’s new hardware — those companies are betting on on some of those kinds of purchases. They aren’t doing it blindly, either. Both said that these franchises have performed very well on mobile platforms. And the new Apple TV is nothing if not a TV-bound extension of Apple’s wildly successful mobile platform.

And that’s where the future comes in.

For a certain kind of longtime gamer, myself included, it’s easy and obvious to think of consoles and handhelds and PCs as the place where most gaming happens — even “real” gaming, if you want to draw a bold line between casual and hardcore. Mobile devices are where denuded gaming happens, casual gaming happens, gaming for people who maybe aren’t exactly hardcore happens the argument goes.

It’s easy to think this was because that’s how it’s always been.

But to new generations of gamers, Disney Infinity 3.0 and Skylanders SuperChargers seem positioned as harbingers of gaming’s future. As low power, high performance chips like that in the new Apple TV continue to evolve, it becomes easier to imagine a scenario where dedicated hardware and platforms designed primarily to play video games become less important. Credible, console-like gaming is becoming increasingly mobile. For generations yet to come, full-featured, console-like gaming will not be something they need to associate with a TV or a computer. Those will be but two of many more options.

There may long be a market for gaming-focused hardware plugged into a wall to suck the juice it needs to support the latest hardware and render the most beautiful graphics. But if the new Apple TV is the beginning of a trend that started less than a decade ago with the mobile and tablet revolutions, then it seems likely that consoles could become increasingly niche products.

Generations born to a world of powerful devices that let them game everywhere won’t even need to think about where to go to start gaming. All they’ll need to do is find the most convenient device that lets them play the very same games their parents did on the TV or in front of the PC. Only for that generation, they’ll be able to get their game on wherever they want.(source:polygon)