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Apple Arcade's future: 🤩 or 💀?

Apple Arcade's future: 🤩 or 💀?

Family-friendly focus makes indie game devs fear the worst.

Lewis Wallace
February 26, 2024

In case you hadn’t noticed, family-friendly games based on popular franchises are taking over Apple Arcade. And that has some indie game developers feeling left out — and even wondering whether the service is doomed.

A new report, which quotes several anonymous game devs, sheds light on behind-the-scenes forces shaping the future of Apple’s subscription gaming service.

It doesn’t sound pretty.

Focusing on kids’ games built around familiar characters like SpongeBob SquarePants might make Apple Arcade a convenient place for family gaming. However, these spurned indie devs fear it will snuff out creativity and doom the service to a slow death.

Also in today’s newsletter:

It sounds like the next-gen iPad Pro will be slimmer than ever. If so, Apple probably should have kept the tablet the same thickness and added these three features that power users want.
Ukrainian software companies love the Mac, and they continue to thrive despite Russian missile strikes.
Did you know you can use your Apple TV remote to control audio on your soundbar and other systems? Here’s how to do it.
If you feel like starting the week with some shopping, check out these new deals on MacBooks (save up to $400 on Pro and Air models) and an after-market CarPlay display.

— Lewis Wallace, managing editor

Apple Arcade’s future: Kids win, but devs fear ‘smell of death’

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How to set up the best Mac screensaver, Aerial

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^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

Add wireless CarPlay to your vehicle for less than $100

This affordable CarPlay display with touchscreen lets you enjoy features like navigating, calling and listening to tunes while driving.

Apple engineers reportedly explored working on a smart ring

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How to control volume with your Apple TV remote

You can set up your Apple TV to control audio on a separate sound system, like a soundbar. You don’t need to keep two or three remotes.

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

Take up to $400 off MacBooks while you can

Save $400 on MacBook Air or MacBook Pro at Best Buy, including a powerhouse 15-inch MacBook Air at a record-low price.

Apple continues plugging away at HomePod with large display

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Wild iPhone and iPad rumors, plus some Vision Pro sob stories [The CultCast]

This week on Cult of Mac's podcast: A new iPhone 16 Pro rumor comes with a mockup that looks like a fidget spinner. Will Apple really do that?

Today in Apple history: iTunes becomes No. 2 music retailer in US

On February 26, 2008, the iTunes Music Store became the second-largest U.S. seller. It's proof Apple transformed the music industry.

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Tweetz o’ the day

iBeer for Apple Vision Pro when?
— Basic Apple Guy (@BasicAppleGuy)
Feb 26, 2024

1. Everything
— ᴺᴼᵀ Jony Ive (@JonyIveParody)
Feb 25, 2024

David Smith (@[email protected])

Attached: 4 images I love the immersive panoramas on visionOS. However, for this to be convincing you really need the photos to be high resolution. When I started printing large format panoramas for my walls, but still wanting to capture them on my iPhone, I had to learn how to maximize my pixels. I capture 48MP frames and then merge them in Photoshop. The result is the equivalent of Retina vs Non-Retina when viewed on visionOS—or “That’s nice" vs “Oh, wow I'm on a mountain top" Examples: https://www.david-smith.org/blog/2024/02/26/super-resolution-panoramas/

Apple just launched an all-new service! 👀
With Apple Harmony, Apple is finally addressing the fitting and weight issues with Apple Vision Pro.
"[...]plastic surgery service designed to refine your facial bone structure, optimizing compatibility with the Apple Vision Pro." twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
— Leo Hess (@_hessleo)
Feb 26, 2024

One more thing ...

❝

Clearly, iPhone plus iPod touch have created a new class of gaming…. It's a subset of casual gaming, but it's surprising how good some of the games are. And some of them are even approaching console gaming in their sophistication and graphics.

— Steve Jobs, 2010.

Today’s poll

What kind of games should Apple Arcade make?

Results from Friday’s poll: Are you interested in collaborative playlists?

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