Time  yesterday published Matt Peckham’s piece For iOS 7, Apple Needs More Than Game Controllers to Win Gaming. Within, he mentions the third-party controller API alluded to at WWDC 2013, but then makes claims about iOS gaming that don’t sit right with me. He makes all the usual arguments:

• Apple barely cares about gaming and treats games like any other apps that happen to be on the App Store (inferring this is a bad thing);
• iOS has interface issues that stop “major gaming franchises [being] ported over unaltered”;
• Most people “don’t buy iPhones, iPads or the iPod Touch to game foremost”;
• Apple should be more serious about gaming, notably in making it easier to “connect your iOS devices to a larger display”

Not doing these things, he argues, is a missed opportunity, and he reckons iOS games

feel stuck in 2007 with chart leaders like Angry Birds, Temple Run, Plants vs. Zombies, Fruit Ninja, Tetris, Cut the Rope, Doodle Jump and Bejeweled—not exactly arguments for design vibrancy

He concludes:

It’s a shame, in 2013, that a company known for leading in so many other ways seems content to follow here, at best dabbling in the most lucrative segment of the entertainment industry.

Regular readers will know I fundamentally disagree with this view of gaming. To take Peckham’s points in turn:

• Apple barely caring about gaming is one of the main reasons why iOS has flourished as a gaming ecosystem, especially when it comes to indies, which have crafted wildly creative, original fare for the platform;
• Not everyone wants the same titles ported over yet again, and instead hanker for a bit of innovation, even if said innovation sometimes centres around existing IP;
• Most people don’t buy iOS devices to game foremost, but that doesn’t mean iOS isn’t their primary gaming platform;
• Apple enabling you to connect your device to a TV turns it into an entirely different system, one that has a traditional controller/abstraction/screen mechanic rather than one of direct touch manipulation. It turns something intuitive, innovative and new into Yet Another Console.

My latest article for Stuff.tv explores these things. iWin: how Apple became the accidental king of mobile gaming interviews a number of leading developers, from the likes of Ste Pickford through to Sega’s European CTO, to get their take on the current state of the games industry. For the most part, the developers I spoke to also reckon Apple really opened things up, especially for indies, and that the very worst thing for Apple in this space would have been to ape Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft.

That’s not to say Apple has no problems in gaming. There are clear issues with discoverability and developers who fight hard but get nowhere. There’s also an argument Apple should care at least a bit rather than barely a jot, to create a healthier ecosystem for the indies that made it so great in the first place. However, no-one was clamouring for the Apple TV to become some kind of television console, nor for Brown And Grey Army Shooter XIV to come across in identical fashion from another format.

My latest piece for Stuff.tv:

Every detail of the six-year-old OS’ aesthetics and interaction has been overhauled. Initial responses have been mixed and frequently subjective, but people often react poorly to change. So, what’s the truth? Are the major criticisms just knee-jerk noise, or is Apple about to release a mobile dud? Stuff goes in search of expert opinion to find out…

There’s a lot to say about iOS 7 from a design standpoint, but this time I didn’t want to do so myself. The idea with this piece isn’t “yet another op-ed”, but instead talking with interface design experts like Matt Gemmell and Alex Morris, along with pointing at the very best pieces so far written on the web about the subject (including Gemmell’s superb overview).

I hope you enjoy the article.

Good grief. That’s pretty much all I could think while trudging through Jim Lynch’s misogynistic tripe, iOS 7: An Estrogen-Addled Mess Designed for 13 Year Old Girls—no link, due to trollage. To save you the pain of reading (or doing a Google search), here’s the entire piece summed up:

I AM A MAN! A MANLY MAN! GRRRR. Pastels? I SPIT ON PASTELS. Bright colours? BRIGHT COLOURS ARE FOR GIRLS. iOS is therefore for 13-year-old girls. Also: did I mention I AM A MAN? I may mention “cock” and “balls” at this point, just to show how manly I am! Also: women, eh? They’re taking over, just like they’ve taken over iOS 7. Oh, and Tim Cook? MIGHT BE GAY. I know. There’s nowhere for REAL MEN now. REAL MEN LIKE ME. Balls! Cock! GRRRR!

*scrubs self clean*

Perhaps because I’m not a raving loon, nor a sexist arsehole, I didn’t immediately think “iOS 7 is for girls” on watching the demos at WWDC. I did find some of the design a bit unconsidered (but imagine all we’re really seeing here is an iteration of iOS 7, not the final thing) and some of the colours a bit gaudy. But it seemed fresh, fun, and, crucially, something that might appeal more to more mainstream audience and a younger market.

Note that I’m not saying iOS 7 is for kids. Like I noted previously, I’m not a raving loon. However, on seeing iOS 6 and iOS 7 side by side, one looks kind of dated and techie, and the other looks fresh and young. I imagine there’s perhaps a balance between the two that would appeal more to me personally and also to most of the people currently throwing toys out of prams (aside from Lynch—he’s busy EATING BEER CANS and DOING WEIGHTS AT THE GYM and DRIVING A REALLY BIG CAR), but if iOS 7 ends up appealing to more people—and more younger people—that’s hardly going to be a bad thing.

iOS 7 has a new interface, including new icons. Most make sense, but it’s hard to understand what Game Center’s represents until you know the reasoning behind its design, captured in this EXCLUSIVE transcription of audio taken from a microphone hidden in Jony Ive’s white room of despair.

• Ive: Hey, team. So we’ve got another icon to design, for an app called Game Center.
• Team member A: What’s that?
• Team member B: I’ve never heard of it.
• Ive: Me neither. But I checked Wikipedia and it’s been on iOS for years, and so we have to design something for it.
• Team member C: Um, I’ve a question.
• Ive: Sure—go ahead.
• Team member C: Uh, this might sound silly, but… what’s a game?
• Team member A: That’s a good point. I’ve no idea.
• Ive: We need to research what these ‘game’ things are. I know all about ‘center’, but ‘game’ is new to me. It’s very exciting.
• Team member A: You don’t look excited.
• Ive: I always look like this. You know I only have one expression.
• Team member A: Sorry.
• Ive: That’s OK. *mournfuleyes*
• Team member B: Hey, wait a minute. I remember playing a game with my niece, during my annual hour off from Apple.
• Ive: That’s great—what did you do?
• Team member B: She had this liquid and she used it to blow bubbles. She had lots of fun—almost as much fun as we do when we lovingly paw at an iPhone or iPad.
• Ive: Wow. That does sound like fun. So, games are bubbles. Got it. Get to work, team!

Hi, tech hacks!

I know you probably just sat through the WWDC 2013 keynote crying your eyes out at the lack of a new iPad mini with Retina display or an iPhone 6, despite the fact Apple was never going to announce one today. Because you’re now barely able to see your monitor through the tears, I thought I’d help you out. Feel free to copy and paste the following and delete as applicable:

Tim Cook and his fellow Apple executives today proved once again that Apple is doomed without its enigmatic founder Steve Jobs. Although the company showcased iOS 7 and a new version of OS X, there was a distinct lack of innovation. iOS 7 has ‘new’ features and interface elements that already entirely existed in [Windows Phone/Android/BlackBerry/your deranged mind] and is a huge disappointment. The new OS X, ‘Mavericks’ has nothing on [Windows 8/obscure flavour of Linux/a C64 you found in your attic], and it’s hard to see why it was delayed [arbitrary number pulled out of someone’s arse] months.

In terms of hardware, Apple revealed a new Mac Pro, a new Airport Extreme, and a revamped MacBook Air, but the lack of a new iPhone or iPad reeked of desperation. Additionally, while when Steve Jobs was alive, you could expect to see [1/2/5/3 billion] entirely new pieces of hardware revealed at WWDC, today’s Apple didn’t even preview the [Apple television/iWatch/Apple phablet/cheaper iPhone/some other device Gene Munster made up while drunk in a bar and trying to look big].

It’s time for new leadership at Apple. Tim Cook cannot deliver. [Android/Microsoft/BlackBerry/Amstrad] is winning, and there’s nothing Apple can do about it.