Rumor: Apple TV to get controller support and App Store of its own in March

apple tv

Being an avid gamer, this is one rumor I’ve been waiting for for years now. According to iLongue, a blog with somewhat mixed track record, Apple’s $99 set-top box is about to receive a proper support for wireless Bluetooth game controllers.

There’ll also be an Apple TV App Store of sorts that’ll offer downloadable full HD games.

The best part: these new features are said to arrive via a software update, indicating that existing third-generation Apple TVs might be able to run games and use controllers…

Here’s iLongue:

iLounge has heard from reliable industry sources that Apple TV will soon be getting proper game support in an update, likely to come in March or earlier.

We’ve heard that developers are currently working on Bluetooth controller options, and it’s expected that games could be downloaded directly to the Apple TV rather than relying on another iOS device as an intermediary.

Now, that would be awesome!

I love AirPlay and am using it on an everyday basis.

Too bad Apple’s streaming technology is inadequate for games – especially for fast-paced racing titles, first-person shooters and so forth – due to an annoying lag.

I have a new 802.11ac AirPort base station which offers three times faster Wi-Fi performance and my Apple TV is connected via Ethernet to a speedy Gigabit Ethernet switch, to no avail – there’s just no escaping the woeful lag and it really spoils the fun.

The only way of getting rid of the lag is by connecting an iOS device to a big screen telly using Apple’s pricey $49 Lightning Digital AV Adapter (and I hate unsightly wires).

Support for Bluetooth game controllers plus an Apple TV store for those games would solve my problems in one fell swoop. iLongue even heard from one developer that game support could be backward-compatible with the current-generation boxes.

I suspect that’s not the case – the current Apple TV hardware may not be powerful enough to run full HD games and Apple would most certainly love to upsell users to a new model – but if true that’ll be awesome news for gamers and the Apple ecosystem.

Thoughts?