Beware Microsoft Xbox 720, Sony PlayStation 4, Nintendo Wii U: Apple to debut joypad in April

This could be huge, and Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have real cause for concern for their respective upcoming consoles, the Microsoft Xbox 720, the Sony PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Wii U.

Apple Disney Gaming console (CREDIT: PATENTLY APPLE)

The battle for domination in the white-hot gaming consoles domain just got hotter, with Apple throwing in its lot, and roping in Disney for the weight needed to crush the existing heavyweights.

xbox (AFP)

According to rumours, iPhone-maker Apple Inc. will, this month (April), announce its very own gaming console, with reports suggesting that the Cupertino-based tech giant has already developed its own dedicated gaming controller.

According to reports that surfaced earlier this year, Apple may be secretly working with Disney to unveil a gaming console code-named Toy Box. The initiative was reported to involve a gaming console with extensive mobile and other online applications including various Pixar and Disney characters that will be able to interact with each other for the first time.

A guest and a model play a videogame on Nintendo's "Wii U" at a booth of Japanese software house Bandai Namco at the annual Tokyo Game Show in Chiba, suburban Tokyo, on September 20. Some 200 companies exhibited their latest video game hardware and software as some 200,000 people were expected to visit the four-day event. (AFP)

Now reports point out that Apple could also go in alone, and put up its own contender for the king of consoles title.

If this is indeed true, expect a watershed moment in the video games industry, much on the lines of what happened in the smartphones market in 2007, when Apple unleashed the stunning iPhone, or in the tablets market in 2010, with the launch of the iPad.

PocketGamer reports that Apple executives were busy talking up games developers at the recently concluded Game Developers Conference 2013, in a bid to provide games support for a dedicated iOS game controller.

PlayStation Slim

On the other hand, these rumours are not new – even last year, before the launch of the iPhone 5, buzz got louder about the company working on a physical game controller for the iPhone.

Of course, it didn’t materialise then, but those rumours are returning, only this time they are backed by the physical presence of Apple execs at the GDC 2013, and sources claiming to be privy about developments.

While Apple Inc. did not feature in the official attendees list, sources claim that the firm’s executives were seen operating a meeting room at the show, albeit booked under a pseudonym company name to avoid media attention.

“Long rumoured – and hoped for – GDC 2013 has finally provided confirmation that Apple will release its own dedicated game controller. Of course, there’s no official word yet, but Apple has been active during the conference talking to developers about its plans and ensuring plenty of games will support the joypad at launch,” reports PocketGamer.

The gaming website also reported that a number of developer sources confirmed the news of an Apple joypad to it even as we expect that name – joypad – to finally give way to something more cooler and beginning with an ‘i’ closer to its launch.

It’s expected Apple will formally announce its plans during its annual April press event.

Although there are plenty of gaming controllers already available for the iPad 4 and iPhone 5, none of them have come from Apple itself.

That might change this month – with Apple planning a coup to claim the king of consoles title. As we all know, Apple is never happy to have the consolation prize, and it won’t be any different in the consoles domain.

Watch this space.

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