For several years now rumors have been flying about that Apple was going to enter the gaming market with their clever design in tow. Rumors have circulated from an easy development platform within OSX, to a portable iPod/Gameboy hybrid, to a full on home console you’d connect to your TV. So far, none of these systems have materialized, though Apple has seemed to at least invite game developers to the Mac party, and the iPod has seen its share of casual titles ported to it.

But what if? What if Apple entered the gaming market with the some ferocity that Microsoft did, and now one generation later is a serious contender? What if Apple decided Apple TV wasn’t enough of a force in the living room, and they threw their considerable weight into the gaming market? What if we could see that system today?

Of course, much of the appeal originally of an Apple designed console was to be the intuitive interface and the simple, elegant design of the console itself. Well, Nintendo did that with the Wii…sort of. While the Wii’s startup interface is quite the departure from the Xbox 360 and PS3, it’s also not quite as elegant as the best Apple designs. For instance, the Wii’s photo channel lacks the smoothness we could expect from an Apple developed project, which would also likely include integration with Flickr, Picasa, and iPhoto. While the Wii’s Opera based web browser is a nice touch, it certainly lacks what we’d expect from a full implementation of Safari, such as on the iPhone. Along with a more robust web browser one could expect better integration with YouTube and iTunes, a la Apple TV.

Apple TV is a good analogy for the iGame, as certainly it would be the basis for any console system to one degree or another. The media serve applications of the system certainly exceed anything Microsoft or Sony have been capable of so far with their gaming machines, and while Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace has done exceedingly well as a media startup, it still cannot rival Apple’s iTunes. So, what is the Apple TV lacking?

It might be convenient to say it lacks an optical disc drive, but would Apple even bother including one? Their computers were some of the first to drop floppy disc drives and their recently announced MacBook Air has now dropped the optical disc drive. This is a pattern for Apple, as they try to leapfrog technology by declaring it obsolete long before anyone else. It makes sense that an iGame system could be the first game console to rely solely on digital distribution. With the iTunes architecture already in place, Apple would certainly have a head start on introducing such a change. Microsoft is already headed this direction as it makes Xbox Live Arcade more and more a focus of game development. It won’t happen this generation, but next? Apple could again leapfrog their competition by being the first to do so.

Other changes in the Apple TV architecture would only be minor. An upgrade from 720p to 1080p output seems certain, but that already seems likely in the next Apple TV hardware version. Apple would likely want to include a larger hard drive to hold all the media and games they’d want customers to download, but unlike with laptops having a SSD would not be an issue as who really moves a console around during use? Old fashioned hard drives are increasingly so cheap they’re almost given away, as evidenced by Apple’s new 1 TB router/backup device. The only thing truly lacking from Apple TV would be a bump in graphics and processing power, as well as the external controllers.

The controllers would almost certainly be Bluetooth based, akin to Sony’s PS3. I’d also expect Apple to throw some innovation into their controllers, while taking the best concepts from the big three-Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. So, expect some form of motion sensing (yes, it’s this generation’s rumble or dual analog). Would they try to out-Nintendo Nintendo with a weird new controller design? The truth is that there would be little motivation to. Apple could attempt to make a better Wii controller with more reactive and precise controls, but to what end? Unless you plan to force all your developers to focus on immersive, virtual-reality style games, there isn’t much motivation to get into a fight with Nintendo on the odd side of things. Instead, a more traditional controller, probably with some form of touch control (perhaps touch sensors on the back of the controller?), seems far more likely. The key would to include a packed in “simple” controller to play all the casual games sure to flood the system. Imagine the Apple TV’s current gum-stick remote with added Wii functionality? Now you can start seeing this as a system for both the hardcore and those that just want to play Zuma.

The last obstacle to overcome would be developer support. Apple hasn’t been too successful in getting major developers to flock to the Mac platform so far. Of course, there are the minor victories such as Doom III and Electronic Arts’ recent agreement to port over many of their titles, but all of this still pales in comparison to the PC’s support, which itself is dwindling as more developers jump ship and head for console exclusivity. How could Apple win their support? Simple, with the aggressiveness they use to woo content providers for iTunes. Yes, there are the occasional NBC Universal missteps (as NBC pulled all their content from the service), but there’s also their recent victory in movie rentals where they got all the major studios on board, including rival Sony. Apple might have problems wooing hard-line Japanese developers such as Square Enix, but does anyone doubt a concerted effort could win favor from EA, Valve, Midway, Ubisoft, Take 2, and others?

The Apple iGame might still be a dream, but not so much a far fetched one. Apple’s Apple TV product certainly has laid the groundwork, and now all it takes is a leap of faith for the big three to suddenly become the big four. Would this do anything to appease David Jaffe’s recent ponderous thoughts on a unified console? Unlikely, as Apple is an extremely proprietary company. Still, a four-way shootout may just be the frustration many big developers need to jump ship entirely to an open platform. It certainly would be interesting.

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