In the process of putting a “fun room” together for my kids, I picked up a new AppleTV yesterday. My kids are 4.5 and 2.5, so they’re not masters of a complicated controller. They like to play games, but even things like Mario Kart are too much for them to handle, at this point.
Enter the new AppleTV. I didn’t get it for gaming, but quickly realized that some of games that I’ve purchased for my iPad or iPhone were “universal” and available for free download on the AppleTV. Sweet! The new remote has a clickable touchpad at the top. Looks like this:
So this is pretty cool - for some games, there’s basically one button. Both my kids can handle this, it turns out. We’ve been playing Alto’s Adventure and some Oceanhorn. Sure, this isn’t the pinnacle of gaming, but it’s pretty cool that the new AppleTV gives them a very simple gaming platform at the same time that it allows us to rent movies, use Netflix, access our music, etc.
I’d like to get a dedicated controller. I guess it will work with any that support the iOS controller spec MFi. I also hooked up an old Windows laptop to the same TV with the AppleTV, so if possible I’d like to find a wireless controller that will work with both of them.
Anyhow… TLDR: bought a new AppleTV not even thinking about gaming and ended up with a funky little console that works well for my young kids.