Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs Dies aged 56
The man who brought games into mainstream culture
Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs died in the USA last night at the age of 56. The impact that the man, his ideas and products has had on modern culture, computing and gaming cannot be over-estimated.
Personally, back in the early days of Future Publishing when we published titles such as Amstrad Action, Your Sinclair, Advanced Computer Entertainment (A.C.E.), Amiga Format, ST Format, New Computer Express, SEGA Power... in fact all of the gaming titles, these were all pumped out by small teams, using Apple produced computers. These enabled us to take on the might of the London publishing centre.
In terms of gaming, well, in recent days the company has self-declared that the iPod Touch is outstripping both Nintendo and Sony's handhelds in terms of casual gaming. It's also brought heavyweight dev Epic with Infinity Blade to devices owned by people who hadn't even heard of Gears of War.
On this return to a failing Apple in 1997 having been ousted in in 1985, Jobs brought a passion and more importantly innovation to computing and specifically to the smartphone.
I recall having meeting after meeting in which we predicted when Apple would bring out a games console: iGame would happen, we were all sure of that. We were wrong, Jobs was right. He brought a games platform that put game-play back in the spotlight but he did so with gaming as part of the wider cultural landscape: an achievement that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are still struggling to achieve.
If for none of his other achievements - and no matter, right now, what you think of iTunes and the way that Apple ensures a closed system - we should thank Steve Jobs for enabling gaming to be quick, easy, innovative and above all fun.
As the man himself said to the Wall Street Journal: "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful… that's what matters to me."
R.I.P. Steve Jobs. 24th February 1955 - 5th October 2011.
Personally, back in the early days of Future Publishing when we published titles such as Amstrad Action, Your Sinclair, Advanced Computer Entertainment (A.C.E.), Amiga Format, ST Format, New Computer Express, SEGA Power... in fact all of the gaming titles, these were all pumped out by small teams, using Apple produced computers. These enabled us to take on the might of the London publishing centre.
In terms of gaming, well, in recent days the company has self-declared that the iPod Touch is outstripping both Nintendo and Sony's handhelds in terms of casual gaming. It's also brought heavyweight dev Epic with Infinity Blade to devices owned by people who hadn't even heard of Gears of War.
On this return to a failing Apple in 1997 having been ousted in in 1985, Jobs brought a passion and more importantly innovation to computing and specifically to the smartphone.
I recall having meeting after meeting in which we predicted when Apple would bring out a games console: iGame would happen, we were all sure of that. We were wrong, Jobs was right. He brought a games platform that put game-play back in the spotlight but he did so with gaming as part of the wider cultural landscape: an achievement that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are still struggling to achieve.
If for none of his other achievements - and no matter, right now, what you think of iTunes and the way that Apple ensures a closed system - we should thank Steve Jobs for enabling gaming to be quick, easy, innovative and above all fun.
As the man himself said to the Wall Street Journal: "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful… that's what matters to me."
R.I.P. Steve Jobs. 24th February 1955 - 5th October 2011.
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Comments
hope 6 Oct 2011 09:18
1/3
will drm die with him?!
config 6 Oct 2011 10:23
2/3
iGame? Pippin is where it's at! T'ra Steve.
DrkStr 6 Oct 2011 12:53
3/3
@hope Did he work for Ubisoft?