As far as the modern day gaming industry is concerned, it's safe to say that the competition is basically a two-horse race to the top. Apart from the age-old PC gaming, there are the likes of Xbox One and PS4, in terms of next-gen consoles that are now the biggest players in the market.
However, that hasn't deterred Apple from trying out its luck in the industry, and with that in mind, the company has now successfully shown off its new Apple TV for 2015 that will come with gaming capabilities. It isn't like Apple hasn't tried out its luck in that sector in the past, but the new edition of the Apple TV holds a lot of promise.
So if you already own the old edition of the Apple TV but are looking to invest in the newer one as well, do you think it would be worth the upgrade? Let's take a closer look.
New Apple TV (2015) Vs Old Apple TV (2012) – What's New?
Networking Capabilities
Apple, not long ago, hit a potential jackpot with AirPlay. For that matter, both the new and old Apple TVs support AirPlay. Apart from AirPlay, there's also support for Home Share and a number of other ways to stream media via iOS and OS X. For the new Apple TV, it will come with the same screen-mirror feature, aside from music-sharing capabilities and video-sharing like the old one.
Viewing Options (Shows, Movies, etc.)
If you think that getting a new Apple TV will get you added, never-before-seen stuff on your TV, you may be mistaken. The old Apple TV, in its defense, still offers a favourable media selection. There's the iTunes video and music support and can access services such as Hulu, YouTube, Netflix and more. However, new-age media streamers, at least most of them, are mostly app-driven and the old Apple TV might not have much to offer in that regard.
However, the new Apple TV will come with support for all the services that were found in the old Apple TV, aside the option of additional apps via the iOS-based platform for TV – although we are still awaiting a full list of software for the new Apple TV. Not every app will work, but the ones that will work will have to be ported for the TV OS.
Gaming Capabilities
This is probably the biggest reason why most users will want to upgrade to the new Apple TV from the old. For the new Apple TV, the company has assembled a dedicated platform to play games. In fact, the new Apple TV is even set to get exclusive multiplayer version of the popular Crossy Road, aside the Apple TV exclusive Beat Sports from Harmonix, Disney Infinity 3.0, and even a version of Guitar Hero Live. There are no set controllers like most consoles for Apple TV, and the games have to be played via the remote.
Voice and Siri Capabilities
For the new Apple TV, the company has added Siri to the owner's HDTV, and this will now support voice commands via a microphone that's fitted into the remote. Via the voice support, owners will now be able to look for shows, movies, sporting events, control music and media playback and access almost any information. This is something the old Apple TV isn't capable of, although a lot depends on how the service will work out for owners on release.
Pricing
While the old Apple TV is currently available for a mere $64, the new Apple TV starts at $149 for the 32GB model, and $199 for the 64GB model.
Should You Upgrade?
To be honest, in order to check out the gaming capabilities of Apple, users will indeed need to invest on the 2015 version. But aside gaming, there are other features as well that the old Apple TV won't offer. It's better if you wait until the end of the year to find out how the new Apple TV actually works in real life, while the device itself comes late October. As of now, as far as media streamers are concerned, you could check out the likes of Amazon Fire TV just for $99.
Stay tuned for more updates.
[Source: PC Mag]
