Pips and Pixels is a column from James Bentley, iMore's resident gaming expert, discussing all things gaming in the Apple ecosystem. Pips and Pixels explores the latest news, accessories, and titles you might have missed out on, and brings you commentary from the leading developers in the app market. As recent advancements in the Apple Silicon M processors and the brand new A17 Bionic chip show, Apple is becoming more serious about gaming. James looks to the rest of the games industry to see what could be next for Apple gamers.
Up until only recently, game streaming apps have been banned from the App Store as Apple couldn’t personally check and verify content for flagging purposes. If you wanted to peruse the catalog of Xbox Game Pass or GeForce NOW games to play on your best iPhone, you had to add the page to your Home Screen with a shortcut and play over the web. Though this works fine, it doesn’t allow for consistent update rollout and is a little more time-consuming to get right.
Over the last week, I’ve been testing out Antstream Arcade, the first-ever game-streaming app on iPhone, and it’s a good blueprint for what other companies should emulate going forward. A retro streaming app with 1,300 old-school games from Amiga to NES, to C64, it’s a particularly good choice for a nostalgic gamer.
If my time with it is anything to go by, it could prove both consumers and companies wrong and suggests game streaming could get much better in the future.
My time with Antstream
Starting with the strangest parts of the experience, even at a solid 75Mbs download speed, Antstream did have some small technical inconsistencies for me. As well as this, the app has a currency system in gems, that can be spent to enter tournaments to battle other users for a high score. This feels like a leftover part of the free experience you can get on a web browser and doesn’t feel fully thought out on iOS.
However, once I got past these growing pains, I saw an app bursting with potential. The sheer volume of games available is incredible, with a huge array of consoles and genres. Though the gams system seems not fully fleshed out just yet, tournaments are a great idea that feels reminiscent of taking turns on PacMan trying to beat your friend’s high scores. If you are a bit older than me or had an uncle who was a little too obsessed with retro games (also like me), you may recognize some of the games I tested out like:
- Zombies Ate My Neighbours
- Bubble Bobble
- Double Dragon
- Hogs of War
- Pong
- The Secret of Monkey Island
This is not only a need bit of nostalgia but a great way of introducing people to some classic titles. It’s especially great to take out and about and play without taking up any of your iPhone’s precious internal storage. All this made me wonder “Why aren’t others doing this?” Game companies have the green flag from Apple to put their services on the App Store but haven’t yet. Perhaps Apple taking a cut of proceeds puts them off, or maybe it’s not worth the extra dev time to get on the App Store?
When I asked GeForce about this a little while ago, it would not confirm if it had plans for an official app and, when asked for clarification, told me “We’re currently focusing our improvements for Apple users on the PWA (progressive web app) experience”
Hopefully, Antstream Arcade coming to the App Store will prove to other companies why they should put their services on it too. The ease of access is super convenient and the ability to manage it through Apple subscriptions only makes it better.
Calendar: July's Big Game Releases
- Though I was looking forward to Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, this review from our buddies over at PCGamer makes me a little less excited for it. It's a souls-lite RPG based on frenetic combat and gunplay. If you like the idea of Dark Souls and Elden Ring but want something a little less punishing, this is worth paying attention to.
Level Up — Gaming accessories on our radar
Though desktop speakers have a classic look and can work well to round out sound on a desk, I've recently become a soundboard convert thanks to how easy they are to use, and how good they can sound. Luckily, one I've been testing is now on sale.
Hitting the Arcade — What to play on Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade is filled with tons of exclusive experiences and fantastic games. However, with so many out there, it can be hard to decide what to play. Here’s what I've been testing out this week:
Outlanders 2, the follow-up to popular strategy game Outlanders, has finally landed on Apple Arcade. Tasking you with building towns and keeping villagers safe and fed, it has a much more cutesy aesthetic than the first game but is just as approachable. If you’ve found yourself running dry on content playing the first game, this is a worthy follow-up. It also comes with campaigns based on characters, that allows the game to tell more intentional stories. This is a great way of adding more to a world I’m quite familiar with.
Have you played any great games this week or seen some interesting Apple gaming news we've missed? Let us know in the comments!
